11 – 11. The threads bound to the doll were loosened,
And she looked at me immediately, and smiled.
Compared to the carnage, she seemed overly bright.
“Refti!”
Her reaching hand was horrifying.
Her hand, covered in blood, was full of wounds, and her beautiful hair was in disarray with dust and debris.
Her elegant dress was torn here and there, and there were traces in several places that looked like the marks of a blade grazing the collar.
And behind her, there was the dreadfully ruined study of Count Lambert.
Several bookshelves were overturned, and the desk was split in two, forming a V shape.
And Count Lambert –
“Passive Skill: Indomitable Spirit activated.”
Thunk –
With a loud sound, he staggered as if he had been hit hard in the head.
And…
A raven. A raven appeared.
A raven with black eyes.
It flew towards me, perched on me, who was sitting in agony.
Turning its head repeatedly, it flew around me, making a clucking sound –
And soon, it became two.
No, four?
Eight, no, why –
Why are there so many?
Ravens that filled the crimson desert with nothing else.
Caw –
The raven that was in the center of my vision spoke.
And soon, the rest also opened their distant mouths.
Caw-
Wait, is this really a crow?
It’s not exactly a crow, something feels strange –
Caw –
No, it’s not just one or a few hundred.
But it’s not like there’s only one sound…
Caw –
It’s not the sound of multiple birds opening their mouths.
It’s the sound of just one. Exactly, just one –
From Noble mtl dot com
Caw –
And as if my vision is being sucked in, it focuses on that first crow,
And it’s not just closing its mouth with a snap.
…With eyes stained red, it deeply stares into my eyes.
And soon, darkness arrives.
The daytime whispers to the birds…
The creatures that listen to stories even in the night are many.
There are no eternal secrets or eternal truths.
Seeing through that is the power of my empty Malbus Gwa.
So I command you. Tell me your secret.
“Passive Skill: Indomitable Spirit is activated.”
…Let’s look at it again, once more. Darkness filled the void.
In the empty space, endless hunger.
I witnessed an indescribable emotion.
Desire, greed… a terrible thirst to fill my empty space.
Did that raven accomplish all of this?
Did that raven bring me this far?
But in the first place, is it really a raven?
Amidst such suspicion and fear, I wandered,
A hand in the darkness grabbed me and pulled me into the unknown darkness, where even the direction was uncertain.
Whether I was ascending or descending.
To a place even I cannot fathom.
*
“What on earth…”
Power is absolute. Especially to siblings. The weak ones who surrendered all spilled their secrets to my ears.
The darkness clearly enveloped him.
“Ca, ahh – “
“Levity! Levity – “
In such a case, humans are bound to spill their secrets. There was no one who could resist them.
Having held onto the deepest, darkest secrets and having trampled countless enemies with the power they’ve amassed –
If it’s not that, then it must continue with the strength they’ve built up –
This, this brat dares to… How dare he.
“You… How could you do this?”
With trembling eyes, I can see the affection given to the one who collapsed and convulsed.
Disgusting. It’s so repulsive that I feel like vomiting. My grand plan was ruined because of that one thing.
“Shut up! If you hadn’t gone out of my control in the first place – this would have never happened. It should have never happened in the first place!”
The images in my mind are crumbling into pieces. And I’m infuriated by it, as if driven mad.
But I must remain calm. I have to somehow maintain my composure.
Controlling ‘that thing’ in my grasp is impossible. It even threatens my position.
If I had kept that thing in my grasp, that damn brat wouldn’t have experienced any miracles…
To obtain my position, I have shed countless blood. Do I feel guilt about it? No.
I have a grand dream. A grand dream that satisfies its whisper.
To achieve it, even if I have to endure any actions. Any actions!
That woman is approaching me with filthy hands… However, the orders of the family are absolute.
Even a human tainted with fear and terror can only surrender before the ‘secret’ that strangles their throat.
“Block them.”
The feeling of humans obeying with just one word always sends a shiver down my spine.
Between uncertainty and certainty, my body moves uncontrollably.
“…Step aside. I told you to step aside right now.”
Their eyes tremble with fear. However… However, in the end, you will have no choice but to obey my command.
You all looked into my eyes and desired it, didn’t you?
The eyes of the black bird that carried Malbus’s sorrow.
And its hunger.
The petty secrets and ambitions that couldn’t be fulfilled.
Those who submitted to it are ultimately my slaves.
“Please, my lord, have mercy – “
“Stop.”
“Sto… stop!”
Leaving behind the knights who drew their swords, I stepped forward with the burden of the crown on my shoulders.
…I will definitely, definitely repay this calamity.
By any means necessary, I will quench this thirst of mine.
Definitely.
*
In the end, when the knights blocking the way were liberated from terror and kneeled before another fear –
The mansion sank into silence.
The steward and the housekeeper gathered the servants and maids to tidy up the belongings in the mansion.
Except for some furniture that couldn’t be taken away due to the interference of a woman who tried to protect her man, the mansion was left empty – casting a gloomy shadow of danger.
Carriages circled the vast and hollow front of the mansion, and there were no more people entering.
That’s how the mansion became vacant.
Except for one man and one woman.
Irene had finally obtained her freedom.
She became aware of the threads that had been tied around her neck, hands, and legs, and succeeded in cutting them off.
She could now do things as she pleased.
She no longer had to be swayed by her man, and she was no longer under the control of the author, Count Lambert. She could be by his side, whispering love to him, and they could be together.
He no longer needed to tremble in fear or have any reason to do so because of her summons.
On the day when she wielded ruthless violence, she ordered all the knights to be dragged out into the corridor by her own hands and cleared them from her sight.
The unpleasant black things. She couldn’t blame them as long as they were stained. It was clear that her father had set them up.
Everyone who went in and out of that room said so… except for her mother and this man, the only people she had seen with her own eyes, who were not stained black.
That’s why she liked it even more. She had followed her own beliefs by thinking for herself and not following her father’s orders.
Did Lepeti call that freedom?
He fell asleep. Surely, Count Lambert must have done something to him. But seeing him breathe, he was still alive.
She wondered if she could see his blue irises if she turned his eyelids inside out – but there were only whites, so she quietly closed them in fear.
That blue color that she had come to like. It was different from the trees and grass in the distance… yes. It was like a color that reflected the sky.
She wanted to see it, but she couldn’t force him to wake up. His face, peacefully sleeping… it shone like refined black.
There must have been a more noble expression, but she couldn’t understand it. She had never learned it. She had never seen it, nor had she desired it.
Perhaps, that in itself was all she could express, she thought.
The golden hair and graceful jawline reflected in the moonlight of the night sky.
A straight nose and long eyelashes, and…
“…sigh.”
Red lips.
Shining it once, twice…
Ignoring the mess outside, she lay beside him.
Wouldn’t he feel uncomfortable wearing the conqueror’s attire… she wondered, but what could she do?
He was asleep. It was his will to wear it, so she couldn’t touch it.
She approached him gently. Her hair fluttered in the breeze.
She felt drawn to it. Occasionally feeling the warm stream of wind brushing against her forehead, she even reached out and touched it with her fingertips.
It was a small but pleasant feeling, making her heart flutter occasionally…
Was it similar to the intense feeling she had when she broke and threw her father’s knights?
But he was not something to be broken. Delicately, cautiously.
Like the nameless knights who taught her how to handle a sword.
His precious possession…?
It couldn’t be called an object. She couldn’t leave it in the same position as herself.
When it clung to her and showed her that smile only, it made her happy…
She couldn’t take it away. To show everything he had in front of me, she had to make them his.
Only then, just like he feels, wouldn’t this precious sense of liberation settle in every corner of his body?
In this arm, this neck, these lips…
“Page.”
Heh. These lips.
Warm and soft, incredibly light and pleasant.
She buried her head in his – not so broad – chest and hugged his body tightly.
However, this time, moderately. Even if he coughed, he didn’t want him to look at him with those strange eyes.
Similar to the last gaze when he saw my father… Yes.
Why? Why did he send that gaze towards me?
Or was it because he saw the Marquis Lambeau behind me?
…Certainly, there was no doubt that it was the latter.
It had to be the latter. It had to be.
If he were to look at himself with such a cold and terrifying gaze, trembling all over…
That future should not come.
I prayed for it not to come.
In the empty mansion of Marbus Ga, where the windows were open here and there, and the doors were not properly closed, there were two men and women.
And in the silence… in the night filled to the brim, it came to one woman.