Since I Don't Know Anything About It, Shall We Break Up, Your Majesty? - Chapter 69

“Ugh!”

Finally, the man grabbed Landers by the scruff of his neck.

As his air supply was cut off, his mind grew hazy.

He couldn’t die like this.

‘Who am I……. I am… Landers Tartien.’

Even as his consciousness dimmed, Landers couldn’t stand the fact that he was being subdued.

Gritting his teeth, he reached into his pocket with his half-broken hand to pull out an emergency knife.

It was a knife with a small blade that popped out when a button was pressed.

Summoning his last bit of strength, he plunged the knife into the side of the assailant.

Thunk!

It went in properly.

Though his strength was fading, he could clearly feel the blade piercing the flesh.

It surely did, but……

‘Why…… is there no reaction?’

The grip on his neck didn’t loosen at all.

Landers felt his consciousness slipping away.

I could die like this.

In that moment, countless images flashed through his mind.

It was the scent of death he hadn’t felt even when a bomb exploded right in front of him, and the soldier blocking him was engulfed in flames.

Landers hated the king, Laedro.

He longed for and despised the ‘real’ blood he didn’t possess.

He found the king, who had become ugly despite having such blood, both disgusting and satisfying.

Karl Winger.

He was the same.

Another royal connected by blood to the king, who had crossed the sea.

His face and gestures vaguely reminded him of the young Laedro.

Was that why?

Landers felt an inexplicable hostility the moment he first saw him.

……Ah, I can’t die like this.

‘I haven’t. Achieved. Everything. Yet!’

Landers twisted his face, which was turning from bright red to nearly black, and reached for the masked assailant’s face.

It was at that moment.

Bang, bang bang!

“Police! Stop right there!”

The sound of the police approaching could be heard.

The man who was strangling Landers glanced back.

Just before Landers’ hand reached his chin, the assailant released his grip and stepped back from Landers’ body.

“…….”

Then, glancing at the small knife embedded in his side, he swiftly pulled it out, as if it was a nuisance, and stabbed it into Landers’ thigh.

It was a deeper and more forceful sound than when Landers had stabbed his side earlier.

“Ugh!”

Unable to scream properly while gasping for breath, Landers heard the assailant whisper in his ear.

[I left you alive on purpose.]

Landers was half-conscious from excessive bleeding and pain.

[……I’ll make sure you die much more miserably than this, Landy.]

Did he just call me……?

“……Lord Landers!”

“There’s someone here!”

Beyond his fading consciousness, the voices of the officers and his secretary could be heard.

Landers struggled to open his heavy eyes.

Through his blurred vision, he saw a group of men running towards him.

Blink……

When Landers slowly opened his heavy eyes, the assailant who had attacked him had already disappeared without a trace.

* * *

[Extra! Duke Tartien’s ambition to swallow the dawn!]

[The cruelty hidden beneath royal blood! Is a human life worth no more than a fly’s life at the Duke’s house?

— The shameful faces of the nobility! Can power exist above human rights?]

[Gunshots and explosions at dawn! The horrors of Fondre Street.]

[There is no nation! Who protects the citizens? The royal family collapses, and the nobility only fills their own pockets!

— A report on the corruption and indulgence of Levania’s noble forces].

That night, the gunshots that awakened Fondre Street echoed throughout all of Karien.

Many were injured, but fortunately, there were no fatalities.

After that night, the residents occupying Fondre Street achieved a slight victory.

The Tartien side, which had offered only 10 gold per person as compensation, proposed a settlement to pay three times that amount.

They also promised that anyone who wanted could work on the construction site, and they would pay above the current average rate.

The shop owners, who would lose their jobs once construction began, accepted the offer.

The media made a fuss, but it was just a one-day news story.

The Duke’s house put pressure on the media, shutting them all down.

But even if it was just for a day, the nobles of Levania mocked Tartien, mentioning their name, which was stuck in the gutter, several times.

But despite that, Tartien was still standing.

For now.

* * *

Rustle.

The sound of reading a newspaper quietly echoed inside the rattling carriage.

Lumiere read through all five weekly magazines spread throughout the street with a serious face.

In fact, the stories were the same, just with different headlines.

The violent protest that occurred on Fondre Street last night.

The articles that claimed Tartien was behind it, trying to develop the street to build their own buildings.

They were densely written articles about how inhumane the Tartien side had acted during the process.

The gunshots at dawn, the pouring crowd, the night when torches blazed……

Lumiere stared intently at the silhouette photos from the previous night, taken with a flash.

It was truly the image of hell itself.

Gazing at the photos, Lumiere pressed her chest with an anxious touch.

“……It’s strange, why do I feel like you’re here?”

Through the carriage window, she could see Karl’s opera house approaching.

Though she had no concrete evidence, she had an unfounded certainty that Karl was at the scene.

It had been a week since he last visited Lumiere.

In his place, Chris came to the mansion every day to check on her.

‘The President had urgent matters to attend to, so he temporarily left Karien.’

Each time, he brought some sort of gift, which contained a handwritten letter from Karl.

It meant he either received a week’s worth of handwritten letters in advance or Karl sent a handwritten letter to Chris every day.

Prick.

Lumiere instinctively rubbed her neck and frowned at the pain.

She had been touching her body more frequently lately.

Perhaps it started when she began experiencing headaches and seeing visions.

— Lumiere.

The protagonists of the visions were mostly Karl and herself.

At all times, whether past or future, false or true, the visions clouded her sight.

……Maybe even now.

Lumiere stared blankly out the window.

As she gazed absentmindedly at the large fountain adorning the front of the opera house, she saw two familiar figures.

— I’m just saying, let’s enjoy it once. You’re acting coy, even though you make a living off actors’ faces.

It was when she had just started working at Cissus Opera House.

She drove away the guys who followed her around with useless talk about how beautiful she was to be left alone, or how they should become a couple, by throwing them into the fountain.

— Leave me alone, if you keep bothering me, I’ll throw all your stage costumes into the water too!

— What kind of crazy woman is this?

After cursing and spitting at the men as they walked away, Lumiere raised her fist and wrung out her wet hair.

Then, with a refreshing laugh, a handsome voice spoke to her from beside her head.

— If I jump in there, can I talk to you?

Suddenly, someone jumped in front of her with a splash.

Jewellike droplets splashed everywhere.

The round water droplets, soaked in sunlight, sank brilliantly like jewels, and through the misty spray, a man as beautiful as a statue stood drenched, looking at her.

— How about it? Is this enough?

The man, wearing a coat that looked too expensive to jump into the fountain with, approached her without hesitation.

— Hmm, is this not enough?

— No, it seems you’ve gotten wet enough.

— That’s a relief. Then, since I’ve jumped into the water, may I come closer?

Lumiere found it absurd that she couldn’t take her eyes off the man’s face.

What was the difference between him and the actors who approached her with trivial chatter about how her face was a waste?

Taking advantage of Lumiere’s confusion, the man approached her and offered a handkerchief.

Incredibly, his smiling face seemed to emit a fresh orange scent.

— Nice to meet you, Miss Lumiere. It’s my first time seeing you in person. I’ve only seen your paintings.

— ……You know me. Who are you?

— I’m Karl Winger. I’m the one who hired you here.

He smiled softly at her surprised face.

For some reason, he looked a bit like an embarrassed boy, which made it hard to look away.

He extended his hand to her, and Lumiere slowly took it.

— If I say it like this, I might seem no different from those fools earlier, but I feel like I must say this one thing.

The water parted.

Using the force pulling her, Lumiere moved toward him.

Holding her tightly as she staggered, he whispered to her with a slightly embarrassed smile.

— Haven’t we met somewhere before?

Throb!

“Ugh!”

Lumiere shuddered and curled up from the headache.

Following Tamia’s advice, she steadied her breathing and hurriedly drank the water Tamia had prepared for her.

A clear herbal scent rose.

It was different from any tea she had drunk before.

The scent was much stronger, and it calmed her condition much faster.

As she leaned against the carriage wall, taking a deep breath, Jeffrey knocked on the window.

“Miss, we have arrived at Lady Elina Buick’s residence.”