He could understand the Empress being greedy and them fighting, but this result was unexpected. Valentine whispered an ambiguous answer.

“It might be, or it might not be.”

“Then?”

“I just awakened the doubt Liam had about himself.”

This incident was the natural progression from the moment she revealed herself as Valentine to Liam when she returned to Sehera.

“Doubt about himself?”

“Yes.”

Lumière’s white bishop moved. Valentine grabbed her black rook. She habitually rotated her wrist.

“Originally, all the luxury and pleasure of the imperial family were committed not by the Emperor, but by the Emperor’s mistress.”

As she said, the imperial family often used the Emperor’s mistress as a shield to avoid minimal criticism. The luxurious pleasures of the upper class were committed by the Emperor’s mistress, not the Emperor. The Emperor’s only sin was falling in love, having poor judgment in people.

“Even the mistresses of good emperors often didn’t end well… Did I really not know that only the future emperor could save the maîtresse-en-titre of a tyrant?”

She knew. Rather, because she knew too well, only groundless blind faith filled her.

That the ‘future emperor,’ her only lover, would never abandon her.

“I didn’t doubt because I loved Cassian. That he was someone who would truly let go of the hand he was holding. Covering my eyes, blocking my ears… I just believed in him.”

Sadly, this was exactly like the Cassian that Lumière knew. Though he was her brother, he was more ruthless than anyone else in the world—despite his gentle exterior.

He had been that way since childhood. Cassian judged others by the same strict standards he applied to himself.

“But Liam must have known. Liam, who saw my future by Cassian’s side, must have wanted to send me off as honorably as possible.”

Valentine murmured softly.

“…Yes, I understand such feelings. Mentally.”

She knew. The end of ‘Madame Marguerite,’ who couldn’t be saved by the future emperor, would have been miserable.

Because she trusted Cassian, Valentine’s future, which she had never once considered, wouldn’t have been rosy.

She might not have even been able to die easily. Perhaps she would have ended up like Solice of Ingrid, believing that posthumous humiliation was the lesser torment. She might have found herself crying and begging for death amidst endless suffering.

Liam said he had protected Valentine desperately. But that was entirely from Liam’s perspective.

The real reason Valentine was truly angry with Liam wasn’t simply because he killed her. Before that, it was because Liam did nothing.

Although Valentine had done everything to save Liam in front of Astaire, Liam, who spoke of love and protection, did nothing. Not even a single word.

Though he knew Cassian would abandon Valentine, he kept his mouth shut, and when Amaryllis handed over a strange medicine, he maintained his silence. Though he could have prevented misfortune, he only watched, thus taking away Valentine’s right to choose.

That was Liam’s true transgression against Valentine.

“No one told Liam that he killed Madame Marguerite for her sake. No one knows, no one acknowledges it.”

Rather, everyone gave different reasons. The prevailing opinion was that it was to pin the crime of killing a tyrant… After all, an emperor was an emperor, and the crime of killing one’s master was not small.

“They say the strongest thing is the human heart, but the weakest thing is also the human heart. But could there have been no doubt in Liam’s mind?”

The thing I did…

“Was that really the only reason I drew my sword and killed her? To tell truthfully, whose sake was it? those kinds of thoughts.”

Was it really righteous? something like that.

Thus,

“Liam is timid, affectionate, and small-minded. Yes… Liam is a ‘good person’ in many ways. Above all, Liam is…”

Even the person who committed the act can no longer know what the ‘truth’ is.

“A hypocrite.”

Valentine giggled. After long deliberation, the rook she had been holding finally advanced.

“And yet, he says he loves me more than anything in the world.”

Lumière, who had been listening, grabbed her knight. She captured a black pawn, clearing a path.

“Someday, wouldn’t someone tell me? Grabbing my shoulders, bringing their lips to my ear, wouldn’t they whisper? The true sin in my heart that I had only been thinking about. I just spoke it with my own mouth.”

The black queen moved. The black queen stood proudly in a straight line to the white king.

“Check.”

“…Can’t you go easy on me?”

Lumière grumbled, looking at the chessboard. The king would be captured no matter which way she responded.

“Don’t you think you’re being too harsh on an old woman?”

“As if you were going easy on me, Lumière.”

When Valentine smiled broadly, Lumière pouted and cleared away the chess pieces. Looking at the now empty chessboard, Valentine muttered.

“Now, it’s not me who will punish Liam. It’s Cassian.”

It wasn’t a great crime for a noble to kill servants. But killing quasi-noble retainers was a matter for public punishment.

“Then I think I’ll head to Blumir soon too.”

“Why Blumir?”

“Well, I am the master after all, shouldn’t I go see how the dogs are playing?”

To feed Lucifer, and to watch Liam struggling in the grave he dug himself.

Lumière shook her head.

“…I don’t think that’s a good idea. Who knows what tragedy might have occurred?”

“Even if it’s a tragedy, could it be more horrific than what I saw by Astaire’s side, right?”

Valentine rose gracefully from her seat.

“Please tell Cassian to come in time. Ah, has he already left?”

Though Lumière didn’t know, Cassian would know Liam’s whereabouts. So he would try to capture him quickly before he caused more trouble.

Valentine just needed to watch Liam one step ahead of that. With a faint smile, she took Lucifer’s hand.

* * *

Knock, knock…

Blood dripped from the tip of the sword he held. Unlike its eerie color, the sound of liquid meeting liquid was clear.

He mercilessly slaughtered those who screamed, begging for their lives. Every single one of them, without exception. Those who couldn’t even resist, just like… when he killed Valentine.

When the breath of life completely faded from Blumir Castle.

Only then did Liam collapse into a chair.

The chair of His Highness the Duke he had never sat in before. The throne that could never have been Liam’s.

Now it was entirely his. This position of Duke of Blumir belonged to Liam de le Blumir.

He killed them all and placed them beneath his feet. Now there was no need worry about losing his land, his people.

After sitting there for a while, breathing in the thick smell of blood, Liam suddenly─

“What…”

He sensed something strange.

“What have I…”

Like waking from an old dream, his eyes regained their reason, turning bright blue.

Darkness had fallen over the world. Even without lights, his eyes, adjusted to the darkness, recognized everything in the familiar castle.

But no matter how many times he looked around, the castle where he had lived for so long was filled not with the scent of life, but with the stench of corpses.

Corpses with distorted expressions were piled everywhere. Valentine’s nanny, their tutor, the head butler who managed the castle… Everyone.

His hands began to tremble. The blood-red sword he had been holding fell to the floor.

Splash… The heavy iron fell into a pool of blood. The thick liquid splattered in all directions. The red mist scattered in the air stained the eerie world even more chillingly.

“Ah.”

Then, a familiar voice was heard.

Something darker than the dark world, a gloom took the shape of a person. A tall man with a decadent air extended his pale hand from the darkness.

Liam lifted his head sharply. From the gloom emerged a white hand like marble. Valentine, who took the man’s hand, suddenly stepped into her castle.

Liam could only stare at her as if enchanted. While holding the man’s hand, she slowly moved her feet.

Click, click…

The sound of heels echoed distantly, like one he had heard before. Then splash, she stepped in a puddle. The unpleasant sensation of impurities sticking to white shoes.

Valentine tilted her head slightly. Her dazzling blonde hair became disheveled. Her innocent gaze rolled around. Even after seeing the fallen lives piled nearby, she didn’t bat an eye.

As if she’s looking at something meaningless, without expressing any particular sentiment, she turned her eyes.

At the head seat in Blumir Castle’s banquet hall. Like sitting on a blood-soaked throne, Liam sat in his father’s place against the backdrop of a bloody sanctuary.

Valentine’s red lips parted as she stared at that sight.

“How disappointing.”

It was a sound that particularly resonated in Liam’s heart.

Valentine extended her marble-like hand. Ostentatiously, she caressed the cheek of the man supporting her. It was more like petting a pet than treating an equal being.

Soon the man dissolved into deep darkness and scattered into the air. It was as if wronged souls that hadn’t found peace yet were screaming as they encountered the gloom in the silent night.

“At least the Liam de le Blumir who used to say he had to protect Blumir for me wouldn’t have broken over something like this.”

“……”

The irretrievable past…

Her impossibly clear gaze surveyed the cruel world. As she had told Lumière, regrettably, this tragedy wasn’t more tragic than what she had seen by Astaire’s side.

“Liam. Do you remember this person?”