A drop of blood that had gathered at the tip of Nigel’s helmet fell in a straight line.

“……It’s me. Theo Duque.”

The sword was withdrawn. Theo shuddered as he turned and braced himself against the ground.

He couldn’t believe what he had just seen.

His lord’s eyes were red!

Perhaps blood from his head had stained his eyes?

That must be it.

Theo raised his confused face.

“Pendras remain! They’re moving to the chapel!”

A soldier shouted.

His lord mounted the black horse and turned toward the chapel, holding the reins with one hand.

Theo looked questioningly at his lord’s left hand, bloody and limp without its gauntlet.

* * *

“Madam, please reconsider! This is not a matter to act on emotion!”

“Don’t follow me, Miss Rose. I will act according to my convictions.”

“Madam! The Duke is in mortal danger! You know that rash actions will only harm him! You must trust him and wait!”

The Duchess walked quickly through the arcade next to the cemetery, sword in hand.

Marienne followed and tried to stop her, but it was futile.

“Ugh!”

Her heel got caught between stones. The twist made Marienne’s ankle give way and she fell forward. The shoe wouldn’t come loose.

“Madam! It’s dangerous to go alone!”

Marienne tried to remove her shoe but gave up and followed the Duchess barefoot, limping.

Behind the chapel building stood four graves in a row.

The cemetery surrounded by trees was especially full of blooming Nucria flowers.

“Madam, you’ve confirmed the graves are safe, please return.”

Olivia Bernac’s hair, once called the model of noble ladies, was disheveled, and her enraged eyes were bloodshot.

“Miss Rose, you don’t understand my feelings. So go back.”

“Please, Madam!”

“Even if I die, I will stay by my children’s side. I will protect them from being desecrated by filthy monsters. Even God cannot be so cruel as to tell me to abandon my children and hide.”

“Madam……”

“My baby who never opened its eyes. My child who was lost as a mere blood clot, my baby who withered without crying once. Go back, Miss Rose. I have waited countless times for this moment. I endured these long years only waiting for the day I would meet my children.”

“But Madam, don’t forget your son. He lives and breathes, shedding blood for us even in this moment!”

The Duchess’s resolute face finally crumbled.

The tip of her sword fell limply to the ground.

“Nigel……”

BOOM!

With a thunderous sound, the chapel’s roof collapsed.

As marble columns fell crosswise, rocks of various sizes rolled down.

Seeing the falling statues, Marienne wrapped herself around the Duchess and rolled toward the graves.

Behind the crumpled chapel, a hideous pendra raised its body.

The Duchess gasped in shock and fumbled for her sword.

The pendra’s fully raised head plunged fiercely toward them.

Golden light flashed in Marienne’s eyes as she held the Duchess.

In the instant brilliant light spread everywhere, Marienne saw it.

The sight of Nigel leaping along the pendra’s body and swinging his sword to strike the monster’s neck.

Then she met pitch darkness.

The pendra’s heavy head rolled, destroying the arcade before coming to a stop.

The knights who arrived a moment later gaped.

“What is all this?”

Tree roots that shot up from the ground tightly wrapped around Marienne, the Duchess, and the four graves.

Flowers, grass, sturdy stems and branches, thorny vines all tangled together and continued to cover them.

Nigel ran over and cut through the grotesquely writhing stems with his sword.

“What are you all doing! Not helping the Commander!”

At Vice Commander Benwick’s rebuke, the other knights rushed in bewilderedly.

Only after a long while did Marienne and the Duchess emerge.

Both were in a state of sleep.

Benwick hurriedly carried the Duchess. When Theo ran to Marienne, Nigel blocked him.

“But Commander, your hand…… Please let me help.”

“Not needed.”

Nigel curtly refused and easily carried Marienne with just his right arm, heading toward the castle.

The knights and guards piled up the pendra corpses.

The brutally transformed banquet thus came to an end.

* * *

“How is the Duchess?”

The butler and Veronica anxiously asked the herbalist who had examined the Duchess’s condition.

“The Madam appears to be sleeping, just like Miss Rose. Her breathing and heartbeat are fine, so let’s observe. However, Miss Rose has twisted her ankle and should avoid walking for a while. I’ll provide medicine to apply regularly. But where is the lord? I’d like to check his condition before examining the knights.”

The elderly butler straightened his back.

“The master is fine. No need to worry.”

“But is it alright not to examine the lord alone?”

“He said he doesn’t want to be disturbed. The knights are waiting. Please proceed to the annex.”

After the herbalist left with the guard, the butler hurried to the Duke’s chambers.

Guards stood in strict vigilance before the master’s room.

When he opened the door, the stench of blood mixed with acrid smoke of herbs stung his nose.

He had just stepped out after putting the Duke, covered in pendra fluid, in the bath and checking on the Duchess’s condition.

The butler confirmed the empty bathtub and quickly approached the bed.

The n*ked Duke lay face down on blood-stained sheets.

Judging by the medicine bottles scattered on the floor, he seemed intoxicated by painkillers. Or had briefly fainted from the intense pain.

The butler put dried Nucria flowers and leaves in the brazier.

Strong smoke with calming effects rose up.

Touching his lord’s hot forehead, the butler sighed.

Only the Duchess, Aaron Ballock, and Rockshield’s elderly butler knew about the seizures.

A considerable amount of blood had pooled on the floor from his lord’s left hand dropped below the bed.

The butler gasped at the wound that was unbearable to look at.

“How could this……”

The butler hurriedly poured liquor on the back of his hand and wrapped it with cloth to stop the bleeding.

A groan bubbled up from Nigel’s throat.

The fierce fireplace’s heat licked red tongues across Nigel’s bare back.

Nigel’s eyelids lifted heavily toward the butler wiping his cold sweat.

But then he leaned his head out of the bed and vomited blood.

Nigel wiped his mouth with the cloth the butler handed him and took heavy, hot breaths.

“How are Mother and Marienne?”

“Thanks to Miss Rose, both of them are safe.”

Nigel’s lips curved slightly as he barely endured the intense pain.

As he lay face down with his cheek against the sheets, the butler covered him with a blanket.

Nigel stared blankly at the fireplace’s flames.

“Robert, she’s my woman. What do you think?”

The butler’s hand stopped as he wiped his lord’s cold sweat with the cloth.

“I have never seen such a brave woman.”

Nigel’s blood-stained red lips curved into an arc.

“Master, shall I bring water?”

“Robert.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Deep futility settled in his eyes touched by firelight.

Though knowing it was pointless, Nigel opened his heart to the old man who knew all his secrets.

“I want to be with that woman for a long time. Could we make that happen?”

“My lord.”

“Speak.”

“Do you wish to marry Miss Rose?”

“Marriage……”

Nigel turned over, muttering the awkward-feeling word.

On the ceiling was carved a relief of a knight courting the goddess.

“Since you ask, I dare share my opinion. Uphold the late Duke’s dying wish. For your sake and House Bernac’s honor, you must discard temporary emotions. While Miss Rose has remarkable abilities, that cannot bridge the status gap between commoner and duke. The public will focus on the private circumstances that drove their lord to take such an extreme step to marry a healer. They will dig. Never forget there are always the Empire’s eyes and ears near us.”

Nigel sat up and perched on the edge of the bed. Then he picked up the liquor bottle on the nightstand.

The liquor pouring down his throat scraped his insides raw.

The butler lowered his head.

“I apologize.”

“Leave.”

“Please allow me to attend to you.”

Nigel raised cold eyes.

Reading the clear rejection, the butler left the room with heavy steps.

The liquor bottle emptied quickly. Alcohol dripping down his chin wet his constricted chest.

His breathing gradually softened and the sharp pain dulled somewhat.

It was the sweet rest that came briefly between seizures.

But it was also the dangerous moment when death’s reaper drew closest.

Now, when nerves were on edge from fear of coming pain and anxiety about fading peace.

The thing that crawled up from his toes whispered as it gripped his throat and wrapped around his head.

To throw away the terrible pain and yoke of family, to go to peaceful rest. To find instant comfort.

“Kugh!”

His waist buckled as the seizure hit like a tidal wave.

Nigel collapsed to his knees on the floor.

It was a time of monstrosity devoid of human dignity.

A wearisome life of thrashing about shedding tears and snot, groaning like a worm.

Though he had briefly forgotten after meeting Marienne Rose, it was still the abyss that existed.

How much more of life’s pain remains, and how far does it go?

Was there even an end?

Must he live aimlessly without reason or purpose to endure?

I want to rest. I want to let everything go.

Hasn’t this half-monster endured well enough by now, Father?

The bottle struck the nightstand corner. Nigel gently stroked the sharply protruding glass edge with his thumb.

A red line drew across his silently cut skin.

He lifted his chin and brought the glass shard near his throat.

When he pressed down firmly, blood trickled thinly.

Just once for eternal rest.

This insultingly terrible life. This false life of only pain and endurance would end.

Red monstrous eyes flickered in the polished silver candlestick. He had lived so long, pointlessly struggling to hide the monster.

Yet why hesitate at the threshold to peace?

What lingering attachment remained?

The glass shard dug into his finger instead of his neck.

‘Those words sounded just like a confession. Could anything be more heartfelt than saying I am the entire meaning of your life?’

‘I’m sorry. Please forgive me for appearing so late.’

‘I’ll do as you wish. You can torment me. I don’t mind if you frighten me. Just please, fill me even a tiny bit. So I can live on.’

‘Nigel.’

His twitching eyebrows finally crumbled.

A pain-filled groan escaped through his clenched teeth.

The glass shard offered by death’s reaper fell to the floor.

Nigel curled his large body and buried his face in his palms.