I Became the Wife of the Hero Who Killed Me - Chapter 67

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#Episode 67

* * *

Was it the price of speaking that name after so long?

For the first time, I dreamed of that day.

* * *

It was a night when dark clouds hung heavily overhead.

I hurried across the long corridor of the castle with quick steps.

The Lord’s Bedroom was a place I normally had no business entering, but today was different. Chief Chamberlain Bertol had urgently summoned me.

“Bertol, I’m here.”

“Sorry for calling you at such a late hour.”

“It’s fine. I was working late anyway.”

Bertol’s face, which had been anxious in front of the bedroom, briefly brightened.

But his expression darkened again.

Princess Elisia would arrive from the Imperial Capital tomorrow, yet the master had been drinking nothing but strong liquor since before sunset.

He was someone who was perfect in all things and never lost his composure.

But now he was drinking only strong liquor as if harming himself, so forget about greeting the Princess tomorrow—I was worried sick that something terrible might happen to his body.

“Most importantly, Edwin is my friend.”

I knew well Edwin’s hatred toward the Imperial Capital.

He had a gentle nature like a deep lake and rarely showed negative emotions, but when he recalled the death of his father, the Former Duke Lombard, he didn’t hide his resentment toward the Imperial Family who were no different from enemies.

“I know it’s above my station, but Edwin is my most precious friend. I’ll try to persuade him well.”

“Thank you…”

I took a deep breath and grasped the door handle.

In the darkened corridor, there were only me, Bertol, and Sir Cedric, the chief aide.

If Edwin, who had become senseless, went on a rampage, Bertol and I would be blown away like paper, but at least one person could handle it—a strange sense of relief came over me.

“I’m going in.”

I quietly poked my head inside the door.

Dark clouds hung heavily outside the windows, and the interior was dark without a single light, so I couldn’t see anything.

Still, this was Edwin’s bedroom, so nothing bad would happen—just as I entered and closed the door with that thought.

Crash! A shattering sound came from right next to my ear.

“I told you not to let anyone in.”

“It’s me.”

His manner was threatening, but his slurred pronunciation confirmed he was completely drunk.

I tried to calm my pounding heart from the surprise and answered with effort.

After a brief silence, I could sense him hurriedly getting up.

“Elze?”

“I came because I was worried about Edwin, but what a spectacular greeting.”

“S-sorry. I thought you were someone else…”

The deeper I walked inside, the more the smell of strong liquor and acrid cigar smoke stung my nose.

When I coughed repeatedly from the unfamiliar smells, Edwin hurriedly opened the windows, and as cold air came in, he immediately stoked the fireplace higher.

Even in the situation of having to endure a humiliating marriage by imperial decree, Edwin was kind and gentle.

“Damn, the alcohol wore off completely.”

Edwin, who had been making a fuss by himself, roughly dry-washed his face and slumped down on the sofa.

I groped through the darkness and quietly sat down next to him.

Edwin was leaning his head back with his arm covering his eyes.

“Are you alright?”

“…You.”

“Yes?”

“Are you alright?”

What would my thoughts matter? I’m not the one marrying the Princess.

I was about to answer that way, but for some reason, my words got completely stuck. The words “I’m fine” wouldn’t come out easily.

“I’m… a citizen of Lombard. We northern people never forget either kindness or enmity.”

“Is that all? That the Imperial Capital is my father’s enemy?”

“…”

Even in the darkness, eyes as vivid as the sun persistently scanned my face.

It was a gaze that was both cool and somehow desperate, as if trying to uncover hidden intentions.

In the end, I was the first to look away.

“Wait, Edwin!”

The suffocating silence was broken when Edwin grabbed the liquor bottle from the table.

I desperately clung to his arm, but Edwin drank the strong liquor that seemed intoxicating just from the smell without hesitation.

The deep amber liquid flowed down his throat.

“Should we run away, Elze?”

“Edwin?”

“Should we abandon Lombard and the title and run far away?”

In some countryside where no one knows us, I’ll hunt to earn money and you can write books or teach children.

Like ordinary citizens… should we also live without any worries like that?

Edwin’s voice, muttering as if vomiting out the words, was heartbreaking.

He knew better than anyone that this was impossible. Even so—

“Elze.”

He called my name as if grasping a lifeline, as if looking at his only savior.

But I couldn’t bring myself to look back at him.

‘Edwin isn’t in his right mind right now.’

He had suddenly inherited the ducal position due to the Former Duke Lombard’s death in battle.

Of course, he had been an outstanding heir before, and everyone had no doubt he would become a praised lord, but he was too young now.

He had to protect Lombard’s position among the cunning lords, and he also had to fend off the Imperial Capital, which needed Lombard’s powerful military force while watching with suspicious eyes.

On top of that situation, a humiliating marriage by imperial decree.

Everything around him was strangling Edwin. It wouldn’t have been strange if he had collapsed long ago.

“You’ll definitely regret it when you sober up.”

“No, I won’t.”

“Edwin, when I lost my parents as a child and was broken, you were the first to extend your hand to me. To become lifelong friends with someone as good as you—that alone is more than enough kindness for me.”

“Don’t say that, Elze. Don’t diminish yourself like that. I… you…”

How much time had passed?

Unable to bear the heavy silence, Edwin was the first to turn his gaze away.

Moisture had formed in his faded eyes.

He was someone who hadn’t shown tears even when the Former Duke Lombard passed away. He had chosen to shoulder responsibility for the anxious citizens rather than the sadness of losing his only parent.

That Edwin was…

“Say something, anything, Elze. Please.”

“Edwin is stronger than anyone else.”

“Elze.”

“So you’ll be happy. The merciful god won’t leave you in misery.”

“…”

A tear dropped onto Edwin’s pale cheek.

I wanted to reach out to his eyes that were becoming pitifully wet, but I lowered my head, remembering my own position.

How presumptuous.

He was someone who lived in a completely different world from mine. He stood in the heavens while I could only lie flat on the ground and look up at him.

My feelings don’t matter. To voice this… no, even having such thoughts was irreverent.

I could only earnestly pray that Edwin would somehow find happiness, that the merciful God would save him from his suffering.

That was all I could do.

* * *

Bellamare Square had been burning through the night.

The soldiers who had oppressed the princess had all breathed their last after their ordeal, and the Governor, thrown alive into the plaza, was being torn apart by the enraged citizens.

Surely not even a corpse would remain.

But amidst all this, only Edwin stayed by the side of the fallen Elisia.

His nerves were stretched to their limit, and except for Gilbert, the princess’s personal physician, no one dared enter or leave the bedroom.

They couldn’t even make a sound.

‘Did I think wrongly?’

Looking at the battered Elisia, Edwin endlessly blamed himself.

He had wanted her to live as she wished, unbound by reality.

In this life, she had achieved a noble status that would bow to no one, so he thought his role was simply to respect her choices and watch over her.

Yes, that was all.

“But I never thought she would throw herself away like this…”

Elisia’s condition was devastating. There wasn’t a healthy spot on her body.

Her previously injured wrist was so swollen it had lost its original color, and her ankle was broken and dangling.

Her entire body was scratched and torn by the sharp cave walls, covered in blood.

When Gilbert muttered in amazement about how she had managed to stand in that condition, Edwin nearly lost his sanity.

“I don’t want to bind you.”

He had resolved countless times not to turn her, with her free spirit, into a canary in a cage.

But every time he saw her in danger like this, every time she mercilessly threw away her own safety for someone else…

He could no longer endure it.

If he had been even slightly late, if he had truly lost his way for even a moment and delayed, the soldier’s spear would have pierced through her chest.

Just imagining that scene caused a sharp ringing sound in his empty eardrums.

His vision turned black.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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