Chapter 3

I steadied my mind. After all, no matter how conflicted I felt, my situation wouldn’t change.

Vivian Rondor staggered up from the bedside and approached me.

An unknown fragrant scent of flowers emanated from her body.

Tears kept streaming down from her red eyes.

I was locked in a staring contest with her, yet for some reason, it was hard for me to look into her eyes.

Just not avoiding her gaze was the most I could manage.

“K-Kylo Allen.”

“...”

“You—you know who I am, right?”

I swallowed hard and answered.

“...How could I not?”

We’ve been enemies as rival families for five years.

No matter what, I couldn’t not know.

Besides, when the eldest son of the Rondor family was our ‘prisoner’, I heard Vivian Rondor’s name countless times.

“Th-then... you—you must also know what your family did to us... right?”

“There’s no way I was brought here without knowing.”

“K-Kylo Allen.”

Her sobbing grew louder. Resentment and grief filled her face.

Anger swelled up inside her too.

“I hope you… at least, suffer as much as I did.”

At Vivian’s words, the Rondor servants gasped.

By her standards, it must have been a rather extreme statement.

On the other hand, the familiar scent of hatred washed away the pity I had felt for her.

My previous hazy mind gradually cleared.

Rather, this way I felt more at ease.

“H-How could you... sob... understand the pain of losing family?”

“...I was also torn away from my family.”

“But your family is still alive!!”

“Can I see them alive? Is your family going to let me go?”

“...”

“Besides, you have people who will side with you wherever you go... I’m in the middle of enemy territory. There are only people who look at me as if they want to kill me. Do you know how that feels?”

Perhaps because she was my peer, my honest feelings started to spill out.

Or perhaps she seemed so naive? An overwhelming desire to show her the harsh reality arose inside me.

“This was a war. Don’t act like you’re the only victim. Your family also killed countless of our people...! In war, the losing side is at fault! Blame yourselves for being weak!”

Vivian’s eyes trembled.

The soldiers watching the scene flinched, and the maids bit back curses.

Before I knew it, Vivian’s eyes shone with a menacing glare instead of tears.

“...Fine.”

She said.

“...Yes, it’s our fault for being w-weak. You’re right. So... you—you should also blame your weak kingdom from now on.”

“...”

“Now... it’s your turn to taste our family’s wrath.”

Vivian then spoke to the head butler, Pippin.

“I don’t want to cause any more commotion at my mother’s sickbed. Lock K-Kylo Allen in the underground dungeon until Mother wakes up. Don’t give him a sip of water or a crumb of bread.”

Pippin hesitated for a moment before offering some advice.

“...Lady Vivian. Kylo Allen is still a guest—”

“—Lock him in the underground dungeon.”

“Yes.”

Pippin did not speak twice.

—Thud!!

The soldiers grabbed my arms more roughly than before. And they began to drag me to the dungeon.

As I was dragged, I turned my head to look at Vivian Rondor again.

She was once again by the duchess’s bedside, trembling and shedding tears.

I didn’t feel any sense of relief watching her.

Only an uncomfortable heaviness settled in my chest.

I kept watching Vivian Rondor’s back until she was out of sight.

****

—Thud!

With a horrible sound, the centipede’s body burst.

Under my fist, only the remains of the bug were left.

“Ugh... seriously.”

I had already lost count by this point; This underground dungeon was full of all sorts of insects after all.

Even though I belonged to a famous family for being tough knights in the North… After all, in the Kingdom of East, there was no one who didn’t know the Allen family—A knight family that had been loyal to the royal family for hundreds of years.

Our family’s men were famous for protecting the lords they swore loyalty to until the end.

It was considered a great honor to be served by a knight of the Allen family.

Of course, the head of the Allen family always served the king, and the men who didn’t become the head went off to find their own lords.

Even so, they didn’t completely sever ties; the men who left also contributed to the family’s growth by pooling money, and as a result, our family became one that no one could ignore in the Kingdom of East.

We enjoyed vast lands and were wealthy as well.

As the eldest son of such an esteemed Allen family, trying to rest in an underground dungeon was something I could never get used to.

At first, the bugs were disgusting, and I didn’t want to touch them, so I just flicked them away with my hands here and there... It was around yesterday that I realized doing that would never end.

Rather, it’s better to crush them with my fist whenever I see them; that way, fewer would appear.

I didn’t want to do it, and it gave me chills, but I ended up punching them like this.

Spiders, bedbugs, ants, centipedes, worms...

There were various kinds of bugs. But they all ended up being crushed to death under my fist.

I’ve gagged who knows how many times at the smell and sound when crushing them, and at their corpses wriggling even after death.

“...Sigh.”

I wiped my fist on the straw spread over the stone floor and curled up as much as possible, leaning against the cold dungeon wall.

Actually, there was something that turned my stomach even more than the bugs.

It wasn’t my mouth parched from thirst, nor my starving stomach.

Vivian Rondor.

She kept lingering in my mind.

“...She’s annoyingly beautiful.”

I muttered to myself.

I’m annoyed.

Annoyed that something like this was bothering me, and that I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

And it wasn’t just her appearance that caught my attention.

That pitiful aura...

“Sigh.”

There were many things I wanted to say, and many things I felt were unfair, but my mind went blank, and I felt like I couldn’t say even half of what I wanted.

No, I’ve never been like this before; so why am I like this after seeing her?

Do witches really exist? Is it the effect of a curse?

Or is it my shame that’s making me blame it on a curse?

I’m so annoyed that I don’t even want to think about it to anyone.

I sighed, closed my eyes, opened them again, and muttered once more.

“...Did I speak too harshly?”

Honestly, it’s not that I don’t understand her complicated feelings.

She lost her father, her siblings, and perhaps even her mother; how could she speak kindly?

Come to think of it, I was also in a similar state; I, too, was hit with stones and beaten, torn away from my family, and dragged into an unfair situation where I was bearing everyone’s hatred...

But perhaps the scales in my mind have tipped, as Vivian Rondor keeps coming to mind.

Then I clicked my tongue and rolled over.

“Ugh.”

Why am I worried about her, like an idiot?

I should be worrying about my own life.

Vivian Rondor doesn’t have to worry about her life, no matter what happens.

By that logic, isn’t she in a better situation?

—Clung!

At that moment, a guard entered the underground dungeon.

He placed a glass of water at my feet, opened the cell, and said,

“Kylo Allen, come out. The Duchess is calling for you.”

My hand, reaching for the glass of water, froze.

Finally, the time has come.

A more terrifying opponent than Vivian Rondor has appeared.

.

.

.

.

I entered the Duchess’s chamber.

Inside, several maids were busily preparing warm water and some light refreshments.

By the Duchess’s bedside sat someone who appeared to be a physician.

The physician and the Duchess were conversing in low voices.

Vivian Rondor was nowhere to be seen. For some reason, I was looking for her first.

Then I observed the Duchess.

She looked healthier than before, but the droop of her eyelids revealed the severity of her illness.

Her sunken cheeks and thin arms hinted at the beauty she must have once possessed.

I could tell, at least roughly, where Vivian Rondor got her looks from.

The Duchess slowly moved her eyes and found me.

My heart sank under her gaze.

I’ve never had a child, nor lost one... but I’ve heard the screams of mothers who lost their children countless times.

So I was even more nervous.

What kind of anger would the Duchess show me?

No matter how ill she was, taking revenge on me wouldn’t be too difficult.

All she had to do was open her mouth and give the order.

“...”

“...”

The Duchess looked at me for a long time. Then, she commanded the attendants in the room.

“Everyone except Kylo Allen… please leave.”

Her voice carried more strength than it seemed.

No one in the sick room dared to defy the Duchess’s order.

Maids, soldiers, the physician, and various retainers all left the room in a flurry.

—Thud.

And then, with just the two of us left in the once bustling space, the silence felt even quieter.

I couldn’t bring myself to meet her eyes and looked away.

Staring only at the floor, I waited for her to speak.

“...Hello, Kylo.”

“...?”

Her greeting was nothing like what I had expected.

It was a fresh, kind greeting, spoken in a gentle voice.

Startled, I looked at her and saw she was even smiling gently.

—Pat, pat.

She patted the bed a couple of times with her palm.

“Come here. Let’s... have a conversation up close.”

I blinked and, as if bewitched, approached her.

I couldn’t even remember how long it had been since I’d experienced kindness in Roctana.

I sat down on the chair where the physician had been sitting earlier.

“...What are you up to?”

“What do you mean?”

This attitude made me cautious, wondering if it was a trick to inflict even greater pain on me.

“...You know what I mean.”

At that, the Duchess of Rondor once again gave me a gentle smile.

“It’s a pity that someone so young is already tainted by the adults.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why do you treat me as an enemy? Do you have a reason to?”

“...Are you kidding me? Please stop pretending not to know. Our families have been at war for years.”

“Were you by any chance involved in that war?”

“...What?”

It was something that had always been sitting in my heart.

I hadn’t participated in the war, yet everyone was pouring their hatred onto me.

But since it was a family matter, I tried to understand to some extent. Until the Duchess of Rondor pointed it out like this.

“You didn’t participate, did you? It’s not a war you started. You were just swept up in adult affairs. Why on earth would I hate you? What responsibility do you bear?”

“...”

“Don’t misunderstand. I really... really hate your father. But pouring that hatred onto you wouldn’t be mature. It’s not right, either.”

I bit my lip and spoke as if challenging her. Maybe it was a tantrum toward the first person who understood my feelings.

“...The townspeople don’t seem to think that way.”

When the Duchess showed a questioning expression, I pointed to my torn forehead.

A look of pity crossed her face.

“Children are the ones suffering from adults’ battles. The commoners just needed someone to vent their anger on.”

“And you, Duchess, don’t need someone to vent your anger on?”

At my question, she smiled.

“If I said I did, would you become that target?”

“No.”

“Then I don’t want to do that either. And honestly, I don’t really hate you.”

“...”

Assuming everything the Duchess said was true, one question arose.

“If what you’re saying is all true, and you didn’t hate us who didn’t participate in the war... then why did you demand a hostage?”

“...”

“I heard everything. That you strongly demanded a hostage from our family. If you have no ill feelings toward us, why am I here? You know it’s because of you that I’m here.”

She took a deep breath. Finding it hard to answer, she fiddled with the blanket covering her legs a couple of times.

After letting out a weary sigh and repeating powerless gestures, she replied.

“I didn’t have a personal grudge against you, but I am governing the territory in place of my husband. I needed something to take responsibility for the commoners’ anger. Something to show that the soldiers’ deaths weren’t in vain.”

“And that was me?”

“That’s how it turned out.”

The Duchess of Rondor shifted her gaze, which she had been avoiding, back to me.

She extended her pale hand and held mine.

Her touch was colder than I expected.

“I apologize for this, Kylo.”

“No...”

I slowly closed my mouth, which I had opened to argue.

I had nothing more to say.

In fact, I had only thought that the Duchess would demand an apology from me, so receiving an apology instead felt awkward.

We maintained silence for a while. Though there was much to say, we just sat there quietly.

Breaking the long silence, the Duchess of Rondor asked,

“Have you met Vivian?”

At those words, my breath caught again.

I awkwardly cleared my throat and nodded.

Then the Duchess, either truly unaware or pretending not to know, gave me a gentle smile and said,

“I hope you two get along well.”

“...Are you saying that sincerely, or are you teasing me?”

“I’m sincere.”

“...Do you not know who locked me in the underground dungeon for the past two days? Vivian Rondor doesn’t seem to have any intention of getting close to me from the start.”

“And what about you?”

At her question, I replied hesitantly.

“...I don’t like her either.”

“Kylo, think about it. It would be better for you to get along with Vivian, wouldn’t it?”

I snorted at her words, intending to be sarcastic.

I was old enough to discern adults’ empty words.

But the Duchess continued.

“It’s not empty words, Kylo. You, of course... want to return to your homeland, don’t you?”

I looked at the Duchess with an expression that seemed to ask whether there was any need to ask.

“Kylo... As you might have guessed, I don’t have much time left. I will soon leave this world.”

“...What?”

She didn’t look well, but hearing her speak of her own death made it feel much heavier.

“When I leave this world... Vivian will rule this place. I don’t intend to appoint a regent in the Rondor family. Then, the decision about your fate will also be Vivian’s responsibility.”

“Wait a minute.”

The Duchess continued without pause.

“When you’re old enough to leave, if you’re on bad terms with Vivian, will she really let you return home? But isn’t there a high chance of her releasing you if you’re both at the very least friends?”

– – – The End of The Chapter – – –

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