“So I lay in my grave thinking, and thinking again. Whether it was entirely my fault alone.”

“……”

“Count Glastia said I ruined Astaire. Isn’t that strange? Astaire was known for his cruel nature since childhood.”

With his mind hazily colored, Liam continued his thoughts. Was it entirely Valentine’s fault?

Valentine de le Blumir was certainly not a pure victim. But she wasn’t the only one who committed sins. If Astaire’s wrongs were nine parts, Valentine’s portion was merely added to that.

“Now that I’m back, I have many questions. Why is that woman you called your fiancée now the Empress?”

That was a blatant lie Liam had uttered out of sympathy for Amaryllis’s circumstances, because Sienne and Blumir had never been engaged.

However, after that day, he had different thoughts while watching Cassian’s coronation. When he saw the Holy Father acknowledge that Bastian, born as an illegitimate child, was not a product of sin.

If Valentine’s child that Amaryllis killed had been born safely, perhaps she wouldn’t have had to die… those thoughts. That meaningless hypothesis.

“Hmm? Brother. I haven’t asked much. Won’t you open your mouth and answer now?”

“Tina…”

Liam’s lips trembled as he finally managed to form words. Without realizing it, he grabbed Valentine’s arm.

It’s cold. Yet the warmth of a living person transmits.

“Really, Tina…”

“Yes. The Tina that brother killed.”

It was another voice that made Liam crumble. There was a scene that always appeared as a nightmare whenever Liam tried to sleep at night.

“Brother, brother.”

The sight of a blood-covered Valentine pouring out resentment toward Liam. Just like,

“Why did you kill me?”

“……”

Like now.

Why.

In that terrible dream, Liam had chewed over the reasons why he had to do it countless times. It didn’t matter if people clicked their tongues and pointed fingers at his belated regret.

Facts are facts and truth is truth. Even if they might be facts and truths that could be distorted, there was clearly one thing that wouldn’t change.

Holding that unchangeable thing, Liam couldn’t muster the courage to meet her eyes. Avoiding her gaze, head bowed, he muttered like an excuse.

“Because I… didn’t want to see you suffer.”

“Suffer? What suffering?”

“Tina. Who would let live a royal concubine who committed evil acts with a tyrant?”

“Evil acts?”

Valentine suddenly burst into laughter. Yes, she certainly did things that could be called evil acts. However,

“Everything I did came from Cassian’s mind. Brother should know that well, right?”

There was not a single thing Valentine did of her own will. She was merely a marionette with tied limbs.

“That’s not important. It was you and Astaire III who carried out all those acts.”

“The current Emperor is Cassian, isn’t he? He must have taken responsibility for such trivial matters.”

A voice so cold it was hard to believe it was Valentine’s fell.

“About my existence, it would have been enough for Cassian, who ascended to the throne, to insist on his version. Who would dare take the Emperor’s words lightly?”

It was something that rulers of not only Sehera but other countries routinely did. The Emperor, who held power bestowed by God and was sacred from birth, could turn even fire into water. Because if he insisted, that was enough. No one pointed out that what the Emperor said was right was wrong.

But didn’t that very Cassian have no intention of saving Valentine?

Cassian wasn’t someone who could do anything that would leave even the slightest scar on Sehera. If he were someone who could endure such things, he wouldn’t have thought of driving out Astaire in the first place.

A bitter smile appeared on Liam’s face.

“You might not think so. But before anyone could trample you… I did the best I could.”

This was sincere.

Finally turning his head, Liam looked down at Valentine with trembling eyes.

“I thought it would be better to die painlessly than to suffer as someone else’s toy and die cruelly. My… Tina.”

Liam, who barely managed to mutter, tightly clenched both fists. In Liam’s eyes looking down at Valentine, an old emotion seeped through. It wasn’t the look of a brother looking at his sister.

“That was my love for you.”

It was the look of a male who had lost his female during mating season.

Valentine in her innocently bright days wouldn’t have known the meaning of that look. She probably didn’t even try to understand what it meant.

But now it was all too clear to read. Even if she wanted to pretend not to know, she couldn’t.

The rational desire contained within.

The secret emotion that had been hidden and concealed until the end.

The unchanged heart until now.

Yet it is love. It is love that must struggle all the more because it is ugly.

“That look…”

If she had been the Valentine of before, even if she knew that heart, she would have pretended not to know. Though she might have been shocked, she wouldn’t have brought it up herself.

Because she knew what Liam, family but not blood-related, tried not to break. Because as a sister, she should have muttered that she understood him.

But now?

The woman’s red lips moved slowly.

“Now… now I think I understand what it means.”

“Valentine…”

“Ah, our Liam.”

As if teasing, as if playing, her exquisitely carved fingertips touched Liam’s cheek.

Thump, thud. The leisurely sound of flesh rubbing against flesh.

Ha, a sneer bloomed on her chillingly beautiful face. The mockery echoing through every corner along the stone walls sounded like a death scream.

The relentless ridicule continued.

“Did you desire me?”

…Yes, he dared to desire her.

“Did you want to possess me?”

Of course, there was never a time when he didn’t want to possess her.

He always craved and yearned for her. Even though the pure red rose that bloomed in Liam’s embrace had withered black. Even though his innocent love had degraded into terrible obsession.

Liam gazed down at Valentine blankly. His breath caught. He barely moved his ceaselessly trembling lips.

But neither affirmation nor denial. He couldn’t utter even the slightest excuse.

The hand touching his cheek slid down. The hand that deeply caressed his nape settled gently on both his shoulders. Everything about Valentine that once conveyed warmth was now so cold.

Like she was speaking of the boundary between life and death.

“Then shall I give myself to you, brother?”

The black rose that bloomed again after years had thorns sharper than anything else. Liam earnestly called her name with a groan.

“Tina…”

“How about it, isn’t it what you desperately want? Come on, answer me.”

The woman before him curved her eyes again. The venom blooming in her gentle smile was dark and cruel.

“If you give the right answer, I’ll gladly give myself to you to commemorate my return to Sehera.”

“……”

“Why did you kill me?”

She repeated the question again. This time, he couldn’t even utter an excuse.

“For my sake? Because I might die miserably?”

“Tina, please…”

Pleading was all Liam could do. Like his exposed heart, he felt he would inevitably hear words he didn’t want to hear from the lips of the one he loved.

“No, that’s not it.”

Valentine, answering her own question, shook her head. Her beautiful golden hair left afterimages in the brilliant morning, and her red lips drew an arc.

“You were jealous, weren’t you?”

At the brief words asked with certainty, Liam simply shattered. Torn and broken, thrown into a fierce snowstorm.

Others might not know. But Liam de le Blumir clearly knew the one and only answer.

Love and jealousy always coexisted. The unrequitable tenderness and bone-chilling horror were a pair.

Liam clutched his distorted face in agony. He muttered desperately.

“…Stop.”

“Because Liam de le Blumir could never become Astaire de la Fleur or Cassian Pendragon. Because without Blumir, you wouldn’t dare set foot in this world.”

The relentless words continued steadily. The face of his most cherished and beloved one captured in the man’s blurred vision twisted grotesquely.

“But even if you reach out, you can’t touch.”

Heh, a small sneer rang out together.

“You can only gaze hopelessly. While maintaining this relationship, continuously, lifelong, eternally.”

It was a demon’s whisper.

“If you remain as family, as a brother, you can at least stay by my side. Just seeing my face is enough. You’re fine with that.”

The undeniable time continued like that. Liam’s voice rose.

“Stop!”

“But when did it start? It’s not fine anymore. Why must I live like this? If I live like this, what do I gain?”

Gain.

Who was it that said love is giving without reserve?

But all humans were selfish beings. Liam was no exception. Though he loved her more than anyone in the world, he thought more about what he could receive from her than what he could give to her.

So Liam asked himself dozens, hundreds of times a day. If he watched from a distant place, if he gazed hopelessly, what could Liam grasp in his hands?

As always, no answer came.