“Why did you do that?”

Cassian murmured, facing Liam.

Even at a glance, Liam’s condition was not good. His once bright blue eyes were now cloudy as if covered in fog, and his handsome face was bruised.

“……”

Liam, half out of his mind, only added a hollow laugh.

Where…
What…
Went wrong.

Now that Valentine has come back to life? The moment Liam killed Valentine? The situation where Valentine became Astaire’s consort? When Liam swore allegiance under Cassian?

Going further back, the encounter between Cassian and Valentine? The tragedy of his parents’ death? The day Valentine was born? When Liam was adopted into the Blumir Duchy?

Or this twisted heart?

No matter how much he recalled and pondered everything, no answer came.

Liam just loved. He only loved. Someone he shouldn’t have loved.

“I know well that you are not someone who would fool around with the likes of Gwenael, Duke.”

When there was no answer from Liam, Cassian demanded an answer.

“Why did you act so disgracefully?”

“She…”

Liam stammered. Words that he couldn’t believe even as he uttered them himself escaped his lips.

“She said she was Valentine.”

A thunderous silence fell. Even the breathing of the two men stopped. The heavy, lifeless air caressed the suffocating darkness.

Liam’s voice, drained of spirit, shattered the momentary silence.

“She told a story that only Tina and I knew, she said she was Valentine…”

“Huh…”

Cassian clicked his tongue and furrowed his brow. Telling a story only the two of them knew, and claiming to be Valentine. A person who looks remarkably like Valentine.

His voice, still calm, parted his lips.

“You say it’s a story only the two of you knew?”

“Before Tina died…”

Liam slowly tilted his head sideways. A self-deprecating smile bloomed.

“Before I killed Tina with these hands…”

It was a statement tinged with terrible guilt.

“There’s… something I said to Tina.”

Liam added a hollow smile. It was fragile, as if it would shatter at any moment.

“She told that story.”

“What did you say then?”

At the question he coldly dropped, Liam opened his mouth and stammered. He recited that day’s unforgettable whisper without missing a single syllable.

‘While you wore expensive dresses and indulged in luxury and pleasure, the people of Sehera barely maintained their impoverished lives.’

…He hurt Valentine when she was facing death.

‘Exhausted from hunger, they had to eat the corpses of those who starved to death just to barely survive. That’s how they breathed, enduring day by day dreaming of a slightly better tomorrow.’

In that final moment, he could have just warmly embraced her once. He could have held those delicate hands and fled.

‘They throw stones at you.’

He inevitably planted a dagger in her heart as she was about to depart on an eternal journey of no return.

‘They say only seeing your final moments, spitting on you… seeing your bones and flesh crumble will calm their angry hearts.’

Just to ease his own guilt. As the price for taking the hand led by the ugly beast raging in his chest.

After hearing the brief story, Cassian clicked his tongue softly.

“You said things that didn’t need to be said.”

Cassian blatantly looked Liam over. He could understand why Liam had become so gaunt in just a few days.

“Lord Liam. Have you ever thought about it?”

“…Yes?”

“How do you think Belle felt living by Astaire’s side?”

At that question, Liam blinked stupidly.

How did Valentine feel─ living by Astaire’s side.

Ridiculously, it was a topic Liam had never once considered. Not just Liam, but probably no one living in Sehera had ever thought about it.

It seemed natural in a way for a tyrant to have a villainess by his side. There was always a beautiful woman cherished by those infamous as tyrants. The beauty was always described as causing political disputes that led to the country’s decline.

But what thoughts did the one and only consort who stood beside the greatest tyrant have?

“Astaire killed people on a whim. He would cut off the throat of a servant bringing washing water in the morning saying his dreams were unsettling, and break the neck of a maid dressing him saying he had a good dream that day. One day the tea was too bitter, another day too sweet… No one could predict Astaire’s actions.”

Cassian continued. Astaire was a child whose next move was completely unpredictable.

Two blue gazes of different temperatures met.

“Could you have handled that Astaire at close quarters, Lord Liam?”

“……”

Liam moved his bleeding lips. While Liam had been blinded by jealousy, Valentine had endured years by that Astaire’s side.

If she had been someone twisted who enjoyed such terrible things like Astaire, that would be different. The Valentine that Liam knew wasn’t that kind of person.

Just… because she loved, because she had loved. That fragile child must have endured with just her love for the person standing before Liam’s eyes. Dreaming of the day she would step into the light with him.

What is love… that it makes humans so strong?

Finally, tears rolled down from Liam’s blue eyes. An unbearable feeling was still burning inside Liam.

What is love… that it makes humans so ugly?

“According to Count Glastia, Belle… committed many evil deeds. Most were things I planned to bring about Astaire’s downfall.”

Sehera was already declining under Astaire’s tyranny. They just needed an opening to drive Astaire out.

That was all that mattered, all they thought about. The guilt that came with the means to achieve their goal was a matter for later.

“I won’t deny that fact.”

Even at a moment like this, Cassian remained calm. His sunken gaze was utterly cold. So Liam wanted to ask.

If Cassian really felt nothing at all.

Liam always had an unresolved question. How does Cassian walk through the world with such a face? As if…

“But one question arises here. Did Belle want to do such things?”

As if nothing had ever happened.

“Belle just wanted to live.”

…That must have been true.

Valentine, that pure child, must have just wanted to live. She must have desperately wanted to continue living.

With this person before his eyes.

“Being by Astaire’s side must have made it most desperate. Before speaking of her wrongs, Your Grace should have considered that her situation was not favorable.”

It was like a cat caring for a mouse, since it was actually Cassian who had thrown Valentine into that pit.

“Don’t forget. The root of the sin is Astaire.”

Liam blankly stared at Cassian before blinking. He was someone who walked a world too different for Liam to understand.

“Even if, as Count Glastia claims, Belle blinded Astaire’s eyes and ears, in the end, it was Astaire who chose and carried out all those actions.”

“……”

“Moreover, for her to be Belle… I won’t say more.”

Changing the subject, Cassian let out a small sigh.

“Surely you don’t think I wouldn’t recognize Belle.”

“Your Majesty…”

“She was someone I was going to take as my wife. I couldn’t not recognize her.”

Though he said this, even Cassian was half in doubt. The resemblance was so surprising. He had never been so uncertain in his life.

However, ‘Belle Laure’ was young. Compared to Valentine in full bloom, she was closer to a demure flower bud.

If pressed, she reminded him of the time when Valentine had come up to the capital city of Gabrienne. When Cassian had just been polished and shone most brilliantly.

But above all…

“The Empress has already confirmed it. She said there was no scar.”

“What scar?”

“The one Belle got while saving Astaire before.”

“Ah…”

Liam let out a stupid groan.

Although Astaire had gone around boasting about the glory of being saved by her… He hadn’t even thought of it.

“If I may dare say something disrespectful, Lily… I’m sorry, the Empress could have lied, couldn’t she?”

“By chance, I saw it too. It was definitely not there.”

Her pure white, smooth back seemed to flash before his eyes. Something he couldn’t see after the day Valentine caught Astaire’s eye.

“Sad as it is, the dead cannot return to life. If Belle came back to life, I would be the happiest.”

“……”

Liam, who had been moving his lips, raised his head sharply. It was a story no one could believe.

Hadn’t Liam been unable to believe it too?

“But what if, by some chance, Tina really did come back to life?”

“By some chance, you say.”

Cassian’s lips curled crookedly as he mulled over Liam’s words. Standing leisurely in place, he moved his steps to press close to the window.

The candlelight flickered. His face was reflected in the transparent glass. As he pressed closer, light finally passed through the clear glass.

He could see only pitch-black darkness settling in the garden.

In a corner of that garden, under the pouring moonlight, that passionate night when he enjoyed a secret meeting with Valentine.

Her shadow still lingered there. A delicate illusion that seemed within reach if he stretched out his hand.

“If God has sent her back, we should welcome her with joy, and if it’s the devil’s trick, we must all bear that curse.”