That Piece Of Trash Was Me - Chapter 173
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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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Chapter 173
He hadn’t seen it wrong in that instant moment.
The star pattern was clearly engraved there.
“…What is that?”
Only then did Duke Assis also sense something strange and approached. The intelligence subordinates did the same.
However, Marquis Aster gave no answer. It wasn’t that he was ignoring them, but rather like someone who hadn’t heard Grand Duke Assis’s question at all.
Marquis Aster stood frozen like a faithful wife waiting for her husband’s return, quietly gazing down at that star pattern.
How could he forget this.
This pattern.
How could he forget it?
How on earth could he possibly forget it!
“I’m sorry, Aster.”
In an instant, his heart lurched as if being squeezed. His breath caught and Aster unconsciously staggered.
The memory of that day.
His wife who had looked at him with tears welling up in her eyes.
The tiny daughter who had been sleeping in her arms.
The mother and daughter with the same pink hair had left an eternally indelible mark on his heart.
* * *
Could there be any existence more powerless than a man who couldn’t protect his own wife and daughter?
She wouldn’t know.
That Marquis Aster had actually been punching his own cheek the entire time. Even then, worried she might be concerned, worried she might blame herself.
He had struggled to hit himself in ways that wouldn’t show.
He absolutely didn’t want to send just those two away. He wanted to follow along even if it meant serving as a lowly servant, or better yet, he wanted to go in their place.
But he couldn’t do that.
“For an arranged marriage, this is a romantic tragedy worthy of a popular novel, isn’t it?”
Strength entered Aster’s tightly clenched fists.
“We’re not a tragedy.”
“I suppose so?”
“Yes. Absolutely… we’re not.”
She laughed with a voice full of moisture. Like an actor who desperately hoped more than anyone that all of this would end as a comedy.
That was right.
The Marquis and Marchioness Frazier.
They had been united through an arranged marriage.
Though extremely few people in the Frazier Family knew this, in truth, Aster’s father, Assis Grand Duke Frazier, had gradually grown weaker after marrying the Grand Duchess.
No one else knew at all.
In appearance, he still looked like a beast who could tear apart a bear with his bare hands.
Who could possibly believe that the Grand Duke in his prime, who walked around so majestically with such a sturdy build and fierce eyes, was actually in a physical condition where he could barely survive by drinking extremely strong herbal medicine every day?
Assis Grand Duke Frazier grew weaker the longer he spent time with Grand Duchess Lishian.
Was it because of constitutional differences?
Or differences in their origins?
Now that his position as Grand Duke was firmly established, it would be better to just divorce.
“Do you want to cough up blood and collapse dead in front of me? I don’t want to see such a pathetic sight, so let’s separate. Don’t you understand what I’m saying?”
“Cough up blood and die? Don’t make me laugh. That must be your wishful thinking. No matter how much you wish for it, I have absolutely no intention of dying so pathetically for you.”
Grand Duke Assis was stubborn as a mule.
No matter how much the angry Grand Duchess Lishian punched the Grand Duke’s cheek and grabbed his collar and shook him, it was useless.
Grand Duke Assis threatened that he would absolutely never divorce.
In the end, even if it meant buying a large new mansion and decorating it luxuriously so they could live separately for half the year.
Even after receiving a terminal diagnosis, he persisted.
Grand Duke Assis knew.
His wife had already lost in the succession struggle within the Summer Continent when she came to the position of Grand Duchess.
The fact that the moment she returned, she would be caught by her siblings and completely torn apart without leaving a single organ intact.
Even now, they occasionally sent assassins whenever they felt like it. If he didn’t protect her, his wife would surely die in a horrible state.
How could a man who would send his woman to such a dangerous place sit in the high position of Grand Duke?
That could never happen. Even if it meant becoming a beggar living in poverty.
Thanks to such a conservative father and a mother who actually deeply adored that father.
“I will marry her.”
Aster, the eldest son, said he would have an arranged marriage with a woman from the Summer Continent.
With her, Railan, who was the heir of a small tribe in the Summer Continent.
The small tribe called ‘Hania’ was a fairy-like race that lived in groups under the World Tree of the Summer Continent.
Beings well-versed in medicinal herbs, born with sacred power wrapped around their bodies through the grace of the sacred Golden Constellation.
Those who carried on the noble mission of protecting the Golden Constellation that stood tall above the World Tree as their tribe’s duty.
Lishian, who had been a princess of the Summer Continent, knew well that only the divine power and herbalism of the Hania tribe could cure the Grand Duke.
That was how the arranged marriage proceeded.
“You should return to the World Tree and guard the constellation. There’s no need to care for me anymore.”
Railan, the heir of the tribe, was a lovely woman with tart pink hair, but she was also a woman with the dignity befitting a tribal heir.
At first, he thought she was a benefactor they should bring over and simply worship appropriately.
“…Your hair looks like it’s been dyed with flower water.”
“This is my natural hair color though.”
When did Aster fall in love with Railan?
Railan smiled brightly and stared directly into his eyes as she asked.
“Does my hair look like flowers to your eyes?”
“…It’s pink. So of course.”
“Do you know your face is pink right now too?”
“…”
The lively woman was lovable, yet also possessed a solemn aspect. In short, she was a woman who did as she pleased.
“Marquis. You’ve tied your tie backwards again?”
“…I made a mistake.”
Every day, because of her mischievousness, Aster would go out with his tie tied backwards for half the year, but he still liked it.
He also liked that his father Grand Duke Assis’s herbal medicine was gradually becoming lighter.
The World Tree, the Golden Constellation.
Aster would secretly give thanks to those mysterious powers.
Since she was the heir of the Guardian, the two of them had been able to meet like this.
That was the kind of love it was.
Giving their children names of flowers, days that were gentle and abundant like spring days.
Her face, which had always been smiling brightly, turned coldly rigid when Tulia had just learned to walk.
The Hania Tribe Members and priests had come to visit.
“Heir. The divine power of the land has been depleted. The World Tree is collapsing and the Golden Constellation is falling.”
Railan asked in a cold voice.
“What about Mother?”
“The Guardian’s fate is also coming to an end. You, as the heir, must return.”
Railan hesitated briefly, thinking of the children who were smiling innocently without knowing anything, but soon decided with a resolute expression.
“Alright. I’ll go.”
“You cannot go alone, Successor.”
“….”
“You know this. The Guardian’s fate flows through her daughter.”
I know. I know, but. Tulia was too young.
“Not my daughter.”
“Successor. The constellation that protects the continent may sink forever. Please think of the greater good.”
“My daughter is young. If you take her now to inherit the successor’s fate, she’ll have a terminal illness at minimum, or die suddenly otherwise. I can never allow it.”
“Successor!”
“I said I cannot allow it! I’d rather stake my own life!”
A cold and stern expression. But her hands had already turned pale white.
That’s right.
No matter how much she denied it, she had already sensed the fate that she would have no choice but to go with Tulia.
In this inescapable destiny like a massive natural disaster, Railan made a cruel resolution.
She would protect Tulia no matter what.
Coming outside, Railan saw Aster with similarly sunken eyes and smiled. It was a sad smile.
“You heard everything. I told you not to listen.”
“I heard it. …What can I do about having sharp ears.”
“I’m sorry.”
Aster said through gritted teeth.
“How far can I interfere with your decision?”
Railan, who had been staring at Aster intently, smiled while tears streamed down her face.
“Yes. I like this side of you. Since I’m the successor, I like how you worship and respect me.”
The way he didn’t bark at her not to go. Yet the appearance of a man thoroughly in love, holding his breath with wet eyes, wanting to cling and beg her not to leave.
“I’ll go to the World Tree with Tulia and come back.”
At Railan’s words, Aster said without the slightest delay.
“I’ll guard you. Let’s go together.”
“No.”
“Railan.”
“It’s about offering up all the divine power I was given as my mission and all the divine power Tulia was born with. It’s not just going there to sit on the altar for a moment and come back.”
Railan was scared too.
But she was the successor.
She had to protect the constellation for duty’s sake, and she also planned to completely offer up the divine power her daughter Tulia possessed so that fate wouldn’t flow to that child.
She would bring this to a complete end through this.
So she wouldn’t pass such trials to her precious daughter.
Since it was going against fate, she knew many things would attack and interfere.
“Aster.”
But in the end, this was the only way.
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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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