26. Futile Effort
“……Shall we burn to death together like this?”
Jace barely managed to hold back from bursting into loud laughter.
He never imagined he would hear such words today.
In his life, no one had ever asked to die with him.
Begging to be spared or telling him to die, perhaps, but never this.
Jace Riverton extended his fingers and grasped the hand loosely draped over him.
He could feel the pulse beating under the back of her hand.
Today hadn’t been a good day. It seemed it wasn’t time yet. Killing her in this resigned state would clearly bring no thrill.
Jace slowly raised himself toward Rosaline, whose hand he held.
As if her earlier words weren’t a lie, Rosaline remained still, as though she had resigned herself to everything.
Indeed, it wasn’t interesting.
The locations of vital points protruding on her neck and body, which had seemed so tempting just moments ago, now felt as meaningless as looking at road signs.
Jace struck the back of her neck with one hand, his face expressionless.
Catching Rosaline as she collapsed forward, Jace slowly rose from his place.
Rosaline, leaning against his chest, was drawn to him like a wilted flower, having lost consciousness.
He could see red flames flickering through the door crack.
Black smoke that had seeped into the room spread around him as if about to swallow him whole.
The flames began to melt the door.
From the beginning, he had no intention of going outside through that door.
He kicked the window forcefully with his shoe. The glass shattered from the impact.
After confirming he had secured an adequate gap, he jumped out the window while holding her.
Behind him, the magnificent burning light flickered with a vivid yellow glow, visible even from the corner of his eye.
Taking advantage of the commotion as various people rushed about trying to extinguish the fire, Jace covered himself with his outer garment and slipped through the bustling crowd.
Robin Wellers, who had been waiting nearby as ordered, made a puzzled expression upon seeing him.
“What on earth……”
Jace entrusted Rosaline to Robin.
He hastily caught her as she was carelessly thrown to him.
“What happened……?”
Jace turned his back without answering that question.
As he was walking away, he momentarily stopped his steps. Because of this, Robin Wellers, who had been keeping his eyes on him all along, hesitated.
“I tested the performance of a time bomb purchased from abroad.”
“Pardon……?”
“It burned well. Right on time.”
Robin Wellers looked back and forth between Jace and Rosaline with wide eyes.
“A bomb……?”
For a bomb test, Rosaline appeared to have no injuries, not even a small burn, from what he could see.
That was natural from the common sense perspective of how one would treat a fiancée.
But with his master, the story was different. There was no rule saying he shouldn’t test it on her. Therefore, Robin’s suspicion that the bomb experiment Jace claimed to have conducted involved Rosaline was considerable.
However, Rosaline, as seen through his eyes, merely appeared unconscious but very intact.
❀❀❀
Countless ravens were flying in through the open window.
Jace Riverton, sitting on the wide-open windowsill, watched them with an expressionless face. His teal eyes were dyed red with the blood-colored sunset.
The ravens gathered around him as if waiting for something.
Jace threw pieces of meat to the large black birds.
As if this wasn’t the first time, the birds naturally accepted the meat he threw.
The flesh attached to the pieces of meat that left Jace’s hand had sparse, deep, thin needle marks.
Like from a syringe that had been inserted for a long time.
The meat already seemed to be in poor condition, as if decayed. But ravens were known to enjoy rotten meat.
The birds, circling while waiting their turn, flew in roughly one after another as if urging him.
Due to the birds’ wingbeats as they flew toward him, black, luscious feathers occasionally fell into the red sunset.
The birds circled in the air several times at his hand signal, then disappeared beyond the horizon, illuminated by the bloodied sunset.
With one leg propped against the window, Jace deeply bowed his head as if about to collapse.
In truth, he had been trying to empty his mind for quite some time.
But no matter what he did, it wouldn’t work as intended.
As always, the smell of blood still surrounded him today. It was his daily life.
Selecting an appropriate target and then purging it was his only joy.
And he never failed.
Jace picked up a black marble at his feet and fiddled with it between his fingers. The marble absorbed the sunset light and emitted a dark red glow.
When he poured red-colored alcohol over it, the marble dissolved without a trace, mixing into the drink.
According to the original plan, she should have died long ago from that poison. But when it came to actually doing it, he felt somewhat regretful.
Because of this, he ordered Robin Wellers to retrieve the poisoned liquor he had given to her.
Strangely, he wasn’t angry at Robin Wellers for making the ridiculous mistake of using too much sleeping drug, causing the servants to wake up too late.
When he heard that the retrieval was complete, the only thought in his mind was relief.
He was probably inwardly anxious about losing this rare entertainment.
So he decided to handle her himself.
Luring her by earning her sympathy was incredibly easy. He deliberately set a fire and cut off the escape route. He planned to slowly play with her for a long time after cornering her in a dead end.
That plan was perfect.
He was confident there was no room for failure this time.
Since he had taken direct action, all control was in his hands.
Unless a sudden tectonic shift occurred and he changed his mind, the fate he had planned for Rosaline would not change.
‘I’m scared. That this moment might be the last.’
Those words he spoke to her then were sincere.
He intended to finally take her life, putting aside such regrets.
‘No, that’s not true. That will absolutely never happen, young master.’
But suddenly, a strange anxiety seized him.
When she asserted that so firmly, he became curious about what would come next.
If he killed her right there, he couldn’t anticipate what would follow. Therefore, he immediately scrapped that plan.
Of course, it would have been unthinkable to waste her by leaving her in the burning fire.
He desperately hoped that Rosaline would not notice the time bomb he had installed in the downstairs corridor and would fall asleep.
Therefore, Rosaline suddenly coming to find him was not part of his plan at all.
He heard her surprised breath as she suddenly approached and touched his collar, but he pretended not to notice.
Her muffled, sobbing sound couldn’t deceive his ears either. Though he couldn’t understand it, he thought such behavior would only last for a very brief moment.
However, she continued to remain there afterward.
Because of this, he began to feel quite impatient inside.
The time for the installed time bomb to explode was approaching.
He wanted to spring up from his place and chase her away several times.
But his body wouldn’t listen, as if bound by chains. Perhaps it was because her gaze was weighing heavily on him.
She didn’t move even until the fire broke out and people rushed outside the building.
Though quite a number of bombs were exploding uncontrollably, enough for her to notice, she did nothing.
He could no longer observe the situation.
In effect, he had abandoned all the plans he had personally made and kindly let her go.
‘Rosie.’
He already knew from the sound that Rosaline was crying while looking at him. But seeing that scene directly with his own eyes was different.
‘You’re crying again.’
It was because the act of the detestable fiancé had become ingrained in him. His fingers almost reflexively wiped away the tears pooling in her eyes.
Despite his effort, she began to cry even more freely afterward.
Crying like that, Rosaline grabbed his hand and asked him.
If he would burn to death with her.
It was truly a strange question.
“How……”
No matter how many times he reconsidered it, it was a statement that couldn’t possibly emerge in such an urgent moment.
The faint touch of her hand on his shirt collar still seemed to linger at his neck.
Jace decided to give up his futile efforts to shake off thoughts of that moment from his mind.
