Since I Don't Know Anything About It, Shall We Break Up, Your Majesty? - Chapter 56

The first to react to the king’s words was Count Igoster, who was at odds with Tartien.

“Wh-what are you saying……”

How dare a subject ask his master for the key to the treasury?

No matter how ridiculous they thought the master was, it was deception and overstepping bounds.

No, it was nothing short of rebellion that should never happen!

“Your Majesty, please don’t distort my words. I was trying to divert funds for the wedding of Your Majesty and my sister……”

“Well. Did you need to come at 11 PM on the night I had collapsed to say that?”

Even at Karl’s words, Landers did not waver.

Rather, he replied with his eyes wide open.

“I rushed over when I heard you had collapsed. You wanted my sister as your bride, so I gave her to you….. Wouldn’t she become a widow before even having the wedding? So shouldn’t we hurry with the marriage? But since Your Majesty’s condition is… not good, I, Landers Tartien, should gladly take on the trouble.”

“Young duke Tartien! Watch your words!”

Count Igoster burst out in anger.

But he was not enough to confront Tartien in terms of power.

Schultz slightly furrowed his brow and cut off Count Igoster’s words.

“My ears hurt.”

At Schultz’s single remark, the other nobles who were watching him quietly stopped Count Igoster.

Schultz looked at Karl without hiding his annoyance.

“Most of the time, what preparations can someone who’s lying down make? Leave the important matters to us. If you don’t like it….. Well, fine. How about we take a vote right here and now to decide?”

After saying that, Schultz looked around the audience without listening to Karl’s answer.

“If anyone opposes Tartien having the right to use the national treasury for the royal wedding, please raise your hand.”

Out of about 26 nobles, only two raised their hands.

Count Igoster and Fuego, who had been keeping silent.

This was the miserable reality of the current king.

Seeing this sight, the king who had been chuckling raised both hands as if admitting defeat.

“I see. Schultz, you’re right. I went too far. I must have gotten excited because my condition was good for once.”

Cough cough!

Karl deliberately coughed and staggered to his feet.

Slowly walking behind Landers, Karl placed his hand on his shoulder with a slow motion.

“……Why did you forcibly take the key? I got upset without realizing it. Hm?”

Pat pat.

After lightly patting his shoulder, Karl staggered out of the small conference room.

“The king who makes you uncomfortable will now disappear, so please discuss state affairs comfortably among yourselves, nobles……”

Landers followed Karl’s retreating figure with an unpleasant gaze as he dragged his legs out of the room.

“……”

Landers glanced down at the shoulder where the king’s hand had touched, then took off his jacket and handed it to a servant.

“Burn it.”

At that cold voice, the servant flinched in surprise and looked at him, but soon bowed his head as if he hadn’t seen anything and took the clothes away.

And so, Karl successfully had the key to the national treasury taken away from him in front of everyone.

But as if it was too early to smile that it was a satisfying day.

A messenger arrived from Lumiere’s mansion.

* * *

“Hya!”

[Traitor, attempted suicide in front of the young lady, failed.]

As soon as Karl read the note sent by the twins, he rushed out of the palace.

The dreary rain sprinkled like mist, wetting his shoulders, but it couldn’t stop him at all.

‘……She must have been shocked.’

He was only worried about Lumiere.

They said she wasn’t hurt anywhere.

But she must have been greatly affected mentally.

Watching someone try to take their own life in front of you.

And if you think it’s because of you…..

Karl’s heart grew heavy thinking of the hurt Lumiere.

He was so worried about her that he couldn’t stand it.

‘No, Lumiere. It’s absolutely not your fault.’

Karl blamed himself instead.

He should have taken action sooner.

Even if he had entered the palace.

Even if it was right after clashing with Landers Tartien.

Even then!

……It was all in vain.

What was important now was not regret that he should have done something in the past.

Karl arrived at the Lashantia mansion in an instant.

The twins, who had been pacing in front of the door waiting for him, greeted him.

“Where’s Lumiere?”

“She’s been in the studio since earlier and won’t come out.”

Karl ran up to the third floor as if flying, without even taking off his wet clothes.

Even though his whole body was soaked and heavy, he reached the closed door in an instant.

Seeing the tightly closed door, heat rose to his head unlike his chilled skin.

‘Calm down, Karl Winger.’

Karl collected himself and knocked on the door.

Knock knock.

Unlike the light knocking sound, his expression was terrifyingly sunken.

“Lumiere, it’s me. Can I come in?”

He called her in the gentlest voice possible.

There was no answer.

“Lumiere.”

He waited for a moment, then called her name again.

Then, instead of an answer, he heard a sound like something hard breaking.

He didn’t hesitate any longer and opened the studio door to go inside.

* * *

‘I’ll find it.’

Lumiere searched the studio with fire in her eyes.

The sparks that had been crackling and jumping up suddenly spread throughout her heart.

She searched frantically for remnants of memories left all over the studio with blazing eyes.

‘I’ll find it, my memory.’

What they did.

What kind of pain I suffered because of it.

Why! Why they did that to me!

The studio she had cherished so much was in a mess.

Lumiere’s paints were spilled and jumbled over the bloodstains that Cindy had cleaned away.

“Where is it. Where is it, where!”

Red blood vessels burst over the whites of her eyes containing green irises.

Every time she repeated the thought of regaining her memories, her head felt like it was going to burst, but she didn’t care.

If she didn’t do something, it felt like her heart would burst, not her head.

It felt like an ominous dark energy was burning up her soul.

She frantically searched and searched the studio with tear-filled eyes.

Anything would do.

She turned the studio upside down, hoping desperately for even a small trace of the past to appear.

Not realizing her hands were getting scraped, her clothes were tearing, she searched frantically.

“Ah, ugh, huu……”

Lumiere felt it becoming harder and harder to breathe.

Her breathing quickened, and her throat felt like it was burning up.

Why did her whole body feel itchy, as though insects were crawling all over it?

Voices she had heard somewhere in a dream buzzed in her ears, and visions flickered before her eyes as if inspiration had struck.

A yellow garden spread out before her eyes, then red flames shot up.

Her vision became distorted in a mess.

At some point, an intangible acrid smoke choked her airways.

‘I can’t breathe. My head feels like it’s going to burst.’

She staggered and tried to breathe while holding her forehead.

But when her efforts were in vain no matter how hard she tried, she unconsciously raised her nails and scratched at her neck.

That’s when it happened.

A huge shadow and the damp smell of rain enveloped her.

For a moment, her airways opened up.

Unlike the wet scent, a hand so warm it felt hot grabbed her hand.

“No, Lumiere. Don’t scratch. You’re about to bleed.”

A sweet and soft voice like moonlight-soaked whipped cream embraced her.

Lumiere raised her tear-blurred eyes to look at the warmth holding her.

Karl.

Karl Winger.

The mysterious man who whispers that he loves me.

“If you can’t stand it, scratch my hand instead, please.”

Thick, long arms fully embraced her and comforted her.

At that calm voice, her wildly beating heart gradually found its place.

She spoke haltingly in a hoarse voice.

“……Memory. I want to regain my memories.”

“Okay. I’ll help you. Anything. If there’s something you want, I’ll be with you.”

“They, Tartien did something to me. Something bad. But… But I can’t remember it. Like an idiot. I can’t remember!”

Lumiere cried out sobbing in Karl’s arms.

“I want to find my memories. I need to know.”

“……I promise. If that’s what you want, anything will come true.”

Ah, damn it.

Unlike his gentle voice towards Lumiere, Karl cursed himself mercilessly.

He should have come to her side even a day sooner.

He shouldn’t have wasted time trapped in that collapsed mine.

‘……Landers!’

Karl gritted his teeth with his eyes flashing blue.

When he found the man who blew up the mine, he was already dead.

But it seemed the contractor didn’t know that man had an accomplice.

He persistently tracked the accomplice and finally caught the tail of the one who instigated it.

‘Landers Tartien.’

Yes. It’s Tartien again in the end.

Karl clenched his teeth and tightly embraced the slender body leaning on him.

All of Lumiere’s pain, big or small, was Karl’s fault.

It was a tragic pain that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t met you, if you hadn’t loved me, if I hadn’t loved you.

“Karl, Karl……”

Lumiere clung to him, sobbing.

It was hard to breathe, hard to think.

While standing still, it felt like the world was spinning around her.

She wanted to stop the headache and quench the burning thirst, even for a moment.

“My head hurts so much. I don’t want to think about anything, but I can’t stop thinking.”

Even the noise gnawing at her ears that she had been hearing since earlier.

— ……Broken.

— Now you are….. Not.

— ……ria!

A voice that seemed familiar yet so strange kept buzzing in her ears incessantly.

“Please. Help me. Karl, help me. Okay?”

Lumiere clutched Karl’s clothes with trembling hands.

It was a desperate gesture, as if he was the only one who could save her.

“……I feel like I’m going to suffocate and die at this rate.”

At that moment, the two hands that had been tightly embracing her gently lifted her cheeks.

Lumiere’s eyes, with tears still hanging from them, opened wide.

“If you’re short of breath……”

He approached without hesitation and parted her trembling lips.

A clear scent like mint rushed in through the opened gap.

Lumiere’s panting breaths subsided.

“……I’ll give you my breath.”

A gentle, caressing kiss followed.