Please Kill Me - Chapter 152
“Then how about you explain what’s going on? What happened here?”
“…I don’t know the details.”
“If this is yet another situation where Leonid is in danger because of you, I can’t just stand by.”
“…”
“Did Leonid get hurt because of you?”
Yekaterina hesitated in silence for a moment before answering.
“I’m not sure. I was on my way to meet Leonid when I sensed something was off. When I went to check, I found him collapsed.”
“What about the attacker?”
“Leonid had already killed her. She was a woman with long silver hair, carrying two daggers.”
Yuri’s eyes narrowed as he processed the description of the assailant.
It began to make sense why Leonid had been in such a situation. During the Vesna festival, everyone wore masks, so a masked woman with long silver hair could easily resemble Yekaterina.
And Leonid had attended the banquet to meet her. For a brief moment, Yuri felt guilty.
‘Should I have just ignored it?’
If Leonid had been unaware that Yekaterina would be attending the banquet, this incident might not have happened.
This meant that whoever orchestrated this had to know both Leonid and Yekaterina would be at the banquet, as well as Leonid’s feelings for her. Above all, they had to realize that Leonid was aware of Yekaterina’s attendance.
While it might not be too difficult to meet those conditions, the real question was who could fulfill all of them.
Who set this up?
‘Dmitry Offenbach?’
He was the most likely candidate, but how could he know about Leonid’s feelings for Yekaterina?
Moreover, why would he want to kill Leonid so desperately?
Dmitry’s actions always gave Yuri a headache.
‘If it wasn’t him, who else would do such a thing to Leonid? And what would Dmitry gain from killing him?’
It wasn’t as if he was aiming to become the victor of the Arlan War.
If that were the case, he wouldn’t have sent his mother to the countryside to cut ties with the Empress.
Killing Leonid wouldn’t significantly increase Offenbach’s power. Rostislav and Offenbach were rivals, but they weren’t competing over the same territory. Their overly distinct families allowed them to maintain a bad relationship while independently growing their own houses.
Given that Leonid wasn’t burdened with the problem of Yekaterina like before, why on earth was Dmitry trying to kill him?
‘I need to understand his intentions before I deal with this.’
Not knowing anything left Yuri uncertain about what to do. Just as he struggled to find the right words, Yekaterina, who had been sitting quietly beside Leonid, finally spoke up.
“Thank you for your help today, Your Highness.”
“…I should be the one thanking you. It seems I always owe Leonid’s life to you.”
“It’s all my fault.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s because of me that Leonid ends up like this. You must have sensed it too—the long silver hair and the assassin with two daggers. She looked so much like me.”
Yekaterina replied quickly. The sense of guilt that everything was her fault was something Yuri had felt earlier as well. However, Yekaterina’s guilt was accompanied by a certainty that made Yuri respond cautiously.
“But… that’s not your fault.”
“It is my fault. I shouldn’t have gone to find Leonid.”
Her voice trembled. It was unlike her usual composed demeanor. In this moment, she couldn’t hide her distress.
“If I hadn’t gone to find Leonid, he wouldn’t have had to face this.”
I only hurt you, whether I’m by your side or not.
On that day when I first sought you out, you should have killed me. If you had, you would be living a better life now.
“Don’t you think so, Your Highness?”
“Of course… Regardless of my feelings towards you, I think you’re a dangerous person. But that doesn’t mean you’re the cause of all this, does it? I understand your guilt, but—”
“If this isn’t all my fault…”
Yekaterina’s words but Yuri’s attempts to comfort her. Her wide eyes were filled with distress, and her brows furrowed deeply, as if her chest had been hollowed out.
“What am I supposed to blame then?”
Her face was clearly colored with devastation, and she couldn’t even cry. It had been so long since she had shed tears that she found herself unable to weep in such a situation.
“My wishes have never come true. Since I was a child, everyone around me has died, and no matter how much I try to change things, it always comes back to this.”
If none of this was her fault, then what was wrong?
“What exactly is the issue here?”
What should I do to escape this situation?
What went wrong for only this to happen to me?
“No matter how much I think about it, I can’t find an answer, Your Highness…”
Yekaterina’s eyes dropped question marks instead of tears. The questions were so heartbreaking and chilling that Yuri couldn’t find the words to say.
