She was pointing out the contradiction in Liam’s words.

Though many people care for and cultivate the territory, its true owner is only one person.

Sometimes truth hurts more when heard. Especially when it’s something you don’t want to acknowledge.

This was exactly that kind of moment.

“You…”

Even the hand gripping her shoulder began to tremble. Liam barely managed to murmur word by word.

“If it weren’t for me… Blumir would have long ago…”

“Yes, I’ll admit that. Without Liam Cheval, Blumir would have been taken by someone else.”

Amaryllis’s voice, who had shouted that she always acknowledged what he had done, brushed past his ears. Unlike the unstable Amaryllis then, the violet gaze fixed on Liam now showed not even a hint of wavering.

A clear questioning voice came.

“But is that really the important issue?”

“Regardless of importance, I’m saying I too have the right to care for Blumir. It’s not as if I’ve done nothing for Blumir.”

“Ah yes, Liam Cheval has done much for Blumir. So it’s justified that you now possess it.”

Valentine tilted her head slightly after mulling over Liam’s words. Her gentle fingertips caressed Liam’s black hair that were falling over her.

Instead of repeating the same words, she asked something more fundamental.

“Then what if we went to Blumir right now and asked the vassals to choose between you and me?”

“……”

Gentle gestures, sweet voice. Unlike the cold reality. The woman’s red lips formed an elegant curve.

“How many vassals would remain loyal to you?”

None…

The vassals were originally prepared for Blumir’s pure bloodline. It didn’t matter that Liam was Blumir’s adopted son, his origin was still that of a vassal. Even now, they must have some dissatisfaction serving him.

The vassals would gladly run to Valentine if she called. Rejoicing at the return of their true master.

No matter how much Liam loved Blumir, no matter how much he had devoted himself alongside her to protect it, there was a clear limit to his birth.

With a sneer, Valentine muttered.

“Without me, Cassian couldn’t have so easily driven out Astaire. But even without me, would Astaire still be Emperor to this day?”

“……”

Understanding the meaning of Valentine’s words, Liam kept his mouth shut.

In the end, it was because of Liam that Valentine had safely protected Blumir. It was because of Valentine that Astaire walked into his own hell.

Humans met irreversible consequences due to their organic entanglement with other humans. The ‘what ifs’ of ‘how things might have been different’ were mere hypotheticals. There was no meaning in discussing hypotheticals about things that already ended.

“Ah, Liam. Since we’ve met like this, shall I tell you a secret?”

Her eternally beautiful face twisted grotesquely. Her most secretive voice uttered something utterly unbelievable.

“I killed Matthias de la Glastia.”

Boom, a thunderous sound echoed through Liam’s world. Who… killed whom?

Liam asked back after a delayed beat.

“What did you just say?”

“Ah, it sounded so good. Looked so good. Him crawling on the ground like a dog, wailing.”

Her expression was as if she was watching something truly ecstatic. It wasn’t the face Liam knew.

His mind, unstable from long-accumulated guilt, overturned. The world that had made the thunderous sound became more distorted.

“Even someone like him showed anger before his own grave. He struggled and thrashed in frustration when confronted with the inevitable.”

“Valentine de le Blumir!”

“Furthermore, I told Lumière I would hand over Blumir.”

“……”

Momentarily lost for words, Liam’s lips quivered.

…Right.

No matter how many days they talked, it might be incomprehensible from Valentine’s perspective. After all, it was an extreme contradiction that he, who had killed her, now possessed her land and her name.

Despite the fact that Liam had reasons why he had to harm Valentine.

“Liam, this is just the beginning.”

A woman who had walked through terrible resentment knows no forgiveness. She had rushed forward for just one purpose.

“Starting with Blumir, watch as everything in your hands is taken away, one by one.”

“…Starting with Blumir?”

Liam repeated in a dull voice.

“Blumir is my everything. Without it, I cease to exist.”

Blumir wasn’t just the beginning. It was the beginning and the end. For Liam, Blumir was where she was, where her parents were, his very identity containing all his past years.

“I swore to my parents. That I would dedicate my everything to Blumir.”

So he didn’t want to lose it. He couldn’t lose it. To anyone.

“You were part of that too. Were, part of it…”

Yes, surely at first she was just a part. A part of Blumir to which Liam had to dedicate everything.

At some point, she had grown larger than anything else. Now, excluding her from Liam’s world would leave nothing but a pathetic phantom without even a name.

“You made a promise to me too.”

Valentine rarely screamed, almost at the pitch of a shriek.

“I’ll protect you, so you protect Blumir! That was your promise to me!”

Ah, it was a promise vivid in Liam’s memory too. When they were thrown alone into the wide world. The words he had spoken to bring her back to her senses when she was out of her mind.

Looking down, her face was tragically shattered. Seemingly screaming hell’s screams from betrayal that had not yet faded.

“But Liam, you didn’t protect me in the end.”

“…Valentine.”

A bitter smile bloomed across Liam’s face. From the moment Valentine became Astaire’s consort, no, from the moment Valentine decided to take Cassian’s hand and go up to Gabrienne.

From that moment, when she abandoned him and her identity, Blumir, and left.

From that day when he contributed to that choice, perhaps the two had seen the end of their diverging paths. This fate must have been determined.

“You might not acknowledge it, but I… always…”

Liam’s rough hands dug into her delicate shoulders. His touch felt out of place, and his voice faded away—fragile, as though it were about to break.

“Protected you, desperately.”

“By killing me?”

As though she heard something utterly ridiculous, Valentine burst into laughter.

“My, what a desperate way of protection.”

Was he dreaming again?

In the moment Liam blinked once, Valentine had vanished without a trace.

It felt like he was being possessed by a ghost. Liam sat there stupidly for a while.

The grass where she had been just moments ago. The warmth he had felt so clearly. Yet this strange space where not even a single strand of golden hair could be found…

Wind blew across the place where he was now completely alone. The wind that ruffled his loosely flowing hair also stirred his heart. His reason, knowing it wasn’t a wrong choice, mixed chaotically with his emotions full of guilt built up over years.

His mind, tangled like a ball of thread, pursued just one desire.

‘I don’t want to lose them.’

Not her, not the territory, not the title.

Suddenly, a small animal burst through the grass. Liam instinctively swung his sword at the prey.

A rabbit fell helplessly to the ground. Drip, drop. Bright red blood flowed down the sword, soaking the vegetation.

Rolling his eyes, Liam blankly watched the rabbit taking its final breaths. White fur turning crimson red. The gradually fading life was hot.

Killing animals was familiar to him. Nevertheless, this act now gave Liam one realization.

“Ah…”

A small lamentation parted his lips. From the moment Valentine reunited with Liam, she had been consistently showing him something.

‘Then perhaps, it would be better to kill.’

The one way for Liam, who’s merely addressed as ‘Your Grace’ and not ‘Your Highness’, to possess Blumir, his very identity.

The way to prevent losing it to Lumière, who eyes Blumir with petty excuses, or to Amaryllis, who shows inexplicable greed and protests against him.

‘But if I kill them, at least, they won’t be able to take it from me.’

The reason Valentine spoke of— about how Liam killed her.

Upon this realization, Liam covered his face with trembling hands.

─Don’t you hate losing things?

The wind blew again. A demon’s whisper bloomed in his heart.

“…Yes.”

At his small murmur, once again, the seductive voice reached him.

─Do you want to possess them?

“If I don’t want to lose them…”

─Your desire is justified.

“Then killing them… would work.”

Just as you said.

Liam raised his vacant blue eyes. Flutter. An ornamental bird that couldn’t possibly exist here, having met its end, flew past his eyes.