Celian was dead. She had escaped from him through death. Without giving him a chance to confess his newly realized love, she had vanished forever.

The ending Celian gave him was the worst possible.

She was true to herself until the end. 

 * * *

 Lieutenant Chesterfield was dragged in by soldiers while half unconscious. Hearing the soldier’s confession that they had been forced to hit the Lieutenant’s head with a rifle butt because they couldn’t subdue him by force alone, Jade heaved a deep sigh.

The tent flap was lifted. The military doctor tending to Izer’s wounds gave a salute.

Jade acknowledged his greeting and turned to his friend.

“Izer, can you see Winston?”

“I suppose I must.”

Izer replied coldly while receiving treatment on a makeshift chair. Blood seeped from his arm where it had been cut by a sharp rock during the final struggle in the snow.

“Rest assured I won’t kill him before orders come. I don’t have any means to kill right now anyway. Strangling would be too inefficient, wouldn’t it?”

General Schwenn had ordered Izer’s weapons to be confiscated. Jade silently followed his father’s will to somehow protect the young man who might commit suicide at any moment.

Jade carefully reported Winston’s condition.

“He was shot in the leg. ……Celian shot him.”

“……”

“Seems she just wanted to prevent him from escaping. She probably didn’t think he was worth killing herself.”

Izer cut off his words.

“Captain, my wife isn’t such a kind person.”

“……”

“She must have meant for him to die more cruelly. I’m certain that’s what Lian would have wanted. That woman, despite appearances, is incredibly cruel……”

His voice sounded deranged. Guessing it was resentment toward the wife who had left him, Jade couldn’t add any more words.

Instead, he walked out of the tent alongside Izer. As they got closer to where the criminal was held, the fact that the war had ended so futilely became more real.

Corpses were strewn everywhere they looked. Most of the tents were blackened from fire. Though dawn had long broken, the sky remained hazy — meaning the acrid smoke hadn’t cleared.

“Walk straight!”

The surviving prisoners were being led away in lines. Most of them were from Fairville, and their fate would be decided by Ferdinand II.

The criminal was prostrated before General Schwenn. Blood trickled from his leg that hadn’t received proper treatment. His face was covered in bruises, suggesting he had undergone quite a rough interrogation.

“You’ve come, Captain.”

“Was it as predicted?”

General Schwenn nodded at Jade’s question.

“The Prince was right. We’ll need to investigate further in Treven. This is enough for now here.”

A low but clear voice interrupted the father-son conversation.

“What will be done with this person?”

“……Lieutenant,”

Only then did the General turn toward the young man.

A soldier is a soldier even without weapons. Despite the tragedy that had befallen him, he stood straight-backed, glaring terrifyingly at the one who had caused his wife’s death while seeking superior permission for the man’s disposal. It was both pitiful and admirable.

Fortunately, this time the General seemed able to grant the young man’s wish.

General Schwenn whispered a few words in his son’s ear and left. The officers and soldiers who had been participating in the interrogation followed the Commander-in-Chief out of the tent.

Izer walked slowly to stand before William Winston. The criminal raised his gleaming eyes at the presence. His bloodied mouth split wide.

“Hey, Izer…… that uniform suits you.”

“……”

“Urgh, what a shame Celian can’t see how handsome you look……”

The man crawling on the ground suddenly raised his head. The fever from his wounds had taken over Winston’s mind. His mouth split into a cruel smile.

“Izer Ren, you know what?”

The man who sensed his death approaching spewed words shamelessly as if he had nothing left to hide.

“You should have died in that barn originally. Because I couldn’t kill you that day, Celian ended up like this.”

“You f*cking bastard.”

Izer cursed and stopped Jade who was about to step forward. Winston’s murky grayish-brown eyes flashed.

“I went there intending to kill you. Now you must understand too. You know how f*cking awful it feels to share a woman.”

“……”

“If that b*tch hadn’t interfered, you would have ended right there. Lian probably didn’t know the lover she saved by offering herself would end up getting her killed!”

Realizing the conversation was taking a dangerous turn, Jade hurriedly turned toward Izer. Izer was looking down at Winston with an expressionless face.

“F*ck, I didn’t know she wasn’t a virgin. I knew you two were f*cking, but I never thought it went that far…… I should have set conditions before promising to spare your life!”

Winston foamed at the mouth. It was the typical raving of those on the brink of death, delirious with fever. Yet when Izer showed little reaction, he spewed even crueler words.

“She bit her lip trying not to moan, saying she couldn’t let you see her being f*cked by me, but that sight just made me harder!”

“……”

“She was screaming at the top of her lungs asking how could someone do this to a person, but when I actually f*cked her she kept her mouth shut tight so it wasn’t much fun. How was it for you, Izer? Was she quiet when you f*cked her too?”

In place of Izer who made no response, Jade growled.

“Shut up, Winston.”

“……”

Izer wasn’t listening to William’s words. Right now, he was in that old barn seven years ago.

The pain was so severe he couldn’t even feel the discomfort of dirt covering his face. He couldn’t move an inch as his broken ribs cut into his flesh with every movement. His crushed hands felt like they were on fire, and his swollen eyes had no strength to open.

As the man wished only for this pain to stop, he heard a woman’s scream.

‘Izer!’

The forgotten memory burst through the dirt floor of the tent. Before darkness overtook him, that blue light that had embraced him protectively, that color like the clear early summer sky, overlapped with Celian.

A voice filled with tears embraced him.

‘Izer, Izer, wake up. Open your eyes.’

‘Precious Miss, get out of here.’

‘How could you do this! What did he do wrong!’

‘Lian, this bastard dies today. If you don’t want to watch your lover die, leave now.’

‘……Save him.’

‘What?’

‘Save Izer. Please, I beg you. I’ll even marry you. I’ll do anything you want. Just save him. Please, William……’

The sound of her dress brushing the barn floor was followed by the men’s snickering laughter. Then came William’s cruel command.

‘Then strip and get on your hands and knees.’

The fragments of memories he had torn apart played again. Izer’s breathing became rapid. Only when William saw the pain starting to ripple in his eyes did he seem satisfied, wiggling his bound hands behind his back as he lay comfortably on the ground. Blood still flowed from his leg.

“She became so obedient after being hit. Her face while sucking my c*ck with tears streaming down was so pretty I almost came right away. The noble Miss Berienne crawled n*ked in front of me just to save you. Hah, our Lian’s br*asts were absolutely perfect.”

“……”

“How could I stop there after seeing that sight? I knocked her out and took her to the villa. Originally planned to keep her just one day and let her go, but I got carried away f*cking her and it turned into a week!”

A week — the period Izer had waited for Celian.

During that week, he had hoped the noble Miss would pay some price. Medical expenses, a direct apology to his parents, an explanation of how it happened — anything would have been fine, he just wanted her to show some sense of responsibility.

But Celian never came. Ending his brief wait, Izer accepted that the little Miss he had feelings for had abandoned him.

In reality, during that time she had been enduring the most cruel and humiliating time imaginable. William giggled.

“You look really shocked. Didn’t know? She’s got strong pride. That’s probably why it was even more arousing when she begged.”

He couldn’t breathe. He wanted to strangle himself. Noticing Izer’s state that seemed about to convulse, Jade hurriedly offered him a water canteen, but Izer couldn’t see it.

All the things he had done to Celian under the name of love flashed through his mind.

The woman who showed particular fear of locked doors, the chains he had used to bind her to the bed, mockingly ignoring her pleas to just leave the door open, promising she wouldn’t run away, how she had seemed to give up at some point and submitted to him after her resistance.

He had been the same demon to Celian as Winston was.

Nausea rose with self-loathing. Izer ran to the corner of the tent and bent over to vomit bile. Jade shouted and ran over.

“Izer! Are you alright?”

Despite the commotion, William continued chattering excitedly.

“My only regret is not bringing those shackles we used then when coming to Fairville. I wanted to hear her begging ‘please take them off’ again whenever the metal clinked, but that damn Letters wouldn’t let me bring them…… Arghhhh!”

The dog’s barking ended there. He might have barked more after that, but Izer couldn’t understand it. He might have begged him to stop from the pain of bones being crushed to pieces, might have apologized, but he understood none of it.

Thankfully, Captain Schwenn waited patiently until he had crushed both of the dog’s front legs.

Only after Izer stepped back his military boots now dirty with blood while catching his breath did Jade hand him a pistol.

Gunshots rang out in succession. Those cleaning up the burning outpost all lowered their eyes at once. 

 * * *