Queen of Revenge - Chapter 104

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 104
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Kairon arrived at the Count’s Residence the moment Iolet finished tea with Count Valenstein and his wife.
“My goodness, Commander Winterbark himself has come! I heard you were taking the Princess on a date through the Capital! We were just thinking of going out for a stroll ourselves! Would you like to spend some time together, Kairon?”
“That won’t be possible. I haven’t seen my wife in quite some time.”
Kairon flatly rejected the Count couple’s invitation and pulled the vacant-looking Iolet to his side.
“I appreciate the thought. We’ll be going now.”
A small canal flowed through the Commercial District of Hespelt, the Capital.
The water’s surface reflected the lights of the night streets, rippling across the heart of the city.
The original plan had been to dine and walk through the night streets, but Kairon, concerned that Iolet might be jostled by the crowds, suggested they take a boat instead.
Iolet agreed, and they boarded a two-person gondola waiting at the dock.
They had to row the boat themselves, and the space was so narrow their knees nearly touched. At a glance, it was clearly designed for lovers.
Several gondolas, each carrying a couple, glided across the water’s surface with soft lanterns hanging from their bows.
The beautiful scene, rarely seen in Elovis, filled Iolet’s blue eyes completely.
Kairon, observing her intently, suddenly asked a question.
“Iolet. Are you unwell?”
Iolet, who had been reaching out to brush her hand against the water’s surface, shook her head.
“No, I’m fine.”
Despite her words, she had been unusually quiet today.
While it was pleasant to admire her delicate features at leisure, as this state persisted for hours, Kairon began to feel a subtle sense of unease.
Kairon set down the oar and leaned forward, placing his hand on her forehead.
“You don’t have a fever. Did something happen with the Count couple? Or with your escort?”
“Lucian and I had a small disagreement, but we resolved it quickly.”
“Your expression doesn’t look resolved. What’s made him trouble you?”
“It’s not his fault. Something’s been on my mind, and I haven’t been sleeping well.”
“What’s been on your mind?”
“…You.”
Kairon rested his elbows on his knees and tilted his head playfully.
“Me? Why me?”
Iolet gazed at the man whose eyes widened like a boy’s.
“How was the Grain Storage you visited today?”
“Overall, it was satisfactory. Well, the Grain Storage Facility was always a place the princes were eager to control, so naturally certain areas fall into neglect when there are multiple owners. For what it is, the condition wasn’t poor. There were a few warehouses where grain dust scattered heavily, but it’s nothing. I plan to return in three days, so tell me if you’re curious about anything else.”
Kairon’s answer was, as always, straightforward.
Even as he continued speaking, he never took his eyes off Iolet, and he clicked his tongue.
“It seems that’s not really what you want to ask?”
“I’m curious about something. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“What could it possibly be…?”
“How was my neck?”
Kairon’s laughing expression froze in place.
The gondola, which had been moving forward, came to a stop on the calm water. Passengers on other gondolas passing nearby glanced at them.
A suffocating silence hung in the air.
Kairon’s face reflected in Iolet’s impassive eyes twisted gradually.
Since last night, Iolet had been contemplating this new variable: Kairon Winterbark.
A proposal without hesitation.
The way he seemed interested only in Iolet herself, not the throne.
An arrogance and composure as though he had already placed the world beneath his feet.
Even the suspicious remarks he had made all this time.
She gathered every suspicious moment and thought about them again and again.
“I apologize. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt the need to ask anyone’s permission.”
“To waste such a brilliant mind like that is truly…”
“Well, it doesn’t make sense that the throne isn’t mine—something close to that sentiment, I suppose.”
“I’m dying to dig into it again—.”
After synthesizing it all, the conclusion was singular.
Kairon was likely of the same kind as her.
Someone who remembered a life that had vanished like foam.
‘Why didn’t I realize? Looking back, there were so many signs.’
It was because she had never imagined there could be another who remembered the past besides herself.
She had suspiciously fixated on Benedix, but the truly suspicious one had been right before her eyes.
Resurrection and regression are powers of the Demon Tribe. Kairon was someone who had returned alive from the Unregistered Territory, the Demon Tribe’s land. There was likely a connection.
She still hadn’t found clues about regression in Count Valenstein’s Study, but it was a matter she had to confirm with Kairon at least once.
Iolet calmly waited for the breathing of the man who had stopped at some point.
The interval between Kairon’s blinks grew subtly longer.
As though gauging what had been discovered and how much had been revealed, Kairon asked.
“Did you know?”
He was quick even to admit it.
“Since when?”
It was so clean that Iolet, who had asked, felt rather deflated.
“I began to suspect yesterday. But thinking about it, you’ve dropped quite a few clues all this time. Whether intentional or not, I’m not sure.”
Kairon touched the corner of his mouth.
The emotion that appeared on his face was unmistakable bewilderment. It meant he hadn’t revealed himself on purpose.
What he said about first seeing her at the Elovis Founding Day Festival was likely not a lie.
The question itself had been flawed. He should have asked how many times he had met me there. Or perhaps asked how many times he was living through this moment now.
Iolet glanced at the man whose expression had vanished. Then she dipped her fingers back beneath the water’s surface.
“If this topic is unwelcome, we don’t have to discuss it. It’s not really what matters anyway.”
“….”
“Let’s return to the matter of the Grain Storage. The story about the princes debating over the Grain Storage Facility. According to Princess Anastasia, the grain exported to Bilebach is also stored in that warehouse, and the transportation of export grain is handled by a merchant association in which the Decart Grand Duchy has invested—.”
“Then what matters?”
Kairon cut off her words as though he didn’t understand. Confusion was evident in his crimson eyes.
“If this isn’t what matters, then what is? A grain storage or something?”
“The future ahead matters more than the past that has gone. Always.”
“So you’re saying I don’t need any explanation from you? Do you find me so unworthy of curiosity?”
Kairon raised his voice slightly.
Iolet pulled the corners of her mouth down weakly.
“I don’t think there’s any need to be curious.”
“Why not?”
“Because if you know the past—or rather, the future from this point in time—you certainly have an advantage. For example, you know how to raid the Capital with minimal forces. You’ve already done it.”
“That’s all that matters?”
“That’s sufficient.”
Whether Kairon had regressed or not made no difference. He remained her most vital partner.
“Everything else is private, so I decided not to ask. It seemed easier for me not to concern myself with it.”
“…So you don’t care? What kind of man I am, what life I’ve lived?”
“No.”
“You have no interest in what I think of you?”
Kairon’s tone shifted into something dangerous. The formal address he’d used to call her vanished.
My stomach twisted, and my knees trembled.
Abandoning all restraint, Kairon leaned forward and braced his hand against the side of my thigh.
“That can’t be right. I’m not fool enough to entrust my life to someone I have no interest in whatsoever.”
For the first time, Iolet’s impassive expression wavered. The intensity of his gaze at such close range felt as though it were searing through her entire body.
Until now, Kairon had never fully revealed his true self before her.
Her contractual husband, a commander of the Borderlands dreaming of rebellion, a bastard who had never wielded power, and a courteous husband who displayed his desires in moderation while maintaining certain boundaries.
None of these were his true face.
This man had turned Kalande into a sea of fire and plunged the entire Continent into terror.
A tyrant whom the age would remember and history would record—not merely one destined for such a fate, but the Tyrant himself.
I had forgotten during these months of apparent obedience. Witnessing his circumstances at the Northern Fortress had made me foolishly sympathetic, and I had let it slip from my mind.
I must never release the leash on Kairon Winterbark.

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