Chapter 174

Duke Ruthius slumped against the wall, sitting haphazardly.

Had it been an hour since the emperor stopped breathing?

The emperor was dead. The nemesis he had killed thousands, tens of thousands of times in his mind was now truly dead.

It didn’t feel real. That this wretched fate had ended like this. Could this, too, be one of the countless dreams he’d had?

Duke Ruthius laughed weakly. The fingertips that swept back his hair were trembling faintly.

It wasn’t just a sword he couldn’t hold. Even everyday objects he used without a thought would incite a feeling of repulsion the moment he recognized them as a potential weapon.

He could be using a fork just fine, but the instant the thought, *I could kill someone with this,* crossed his mind, it became difficult to keep it in his hand. It was the same with everything. The only person who knew this secret was his butler.

That was why he had to constantly control his thoughts. He even had to grit his teeth and erase from his mind the fact that the specially crafted rod was a tool for murder.

He couldn’t let his guard down for a single day. The slightest lapse would expose his weakness. He gritted his teeth every moment, never relaxing his tension.

But now, there was no need for that anymore. Because his nemesis was dead.

As he let go of the taut string of tension, the incessant headache he’d endured was no longer there. The phantom pain, like his nerves were burning away, and his heightened senses all dulled.

A breeze drifting through the carelessly opened window caressed Duke Ruthius.

The fresh scent of grass and the heavy smell of wood. It was the first time in twenty-one years he had truly smelled the fragrance of summer.

Duke Ruthius swept back his hair, now short from being burned in the flames, and then stroked his left cheek.

He could feel the wrinkled, puckered skin from the burn. There was no sensation other than touch. It wasn’t painful or itchy; it just felt like he was touching someone else’s hide.

“You’re from an older generation, so you might not know, but looks are everything these days.”

“Everything?”

“When you have to judge someone without knowing anything about them, you have no choice but to rely on sight, right? It means what you see is that important.”

“…”

“Should I be more direct? It’s the same principle as a handsome villain being far more popular than an ugly, kind person.”

“…”

“Honestly, isn’t that how you were able to marry Mother?”

“I don’t know how such a misunderstanding came about… but Marcella didn’t love me for my looks.”

“Did you ask her yourself?”

“…”

“Then do you think your inner self is beautiful enough to be loved by someone?”

“…”

“You should be glad you’re handsome.”

A conversation he once had with Astell came to mind. A hollow laugh escaped him.

Astell was the kind of child who would unhesitatingly say someone was handsome, even if she hated them.

She readily admitted what needed admitting and never hid her likes or dislikes. A truly refreshing and easygoing personality. And sharp-witted, too.

Even Astell probably didn’t know that Duke Ruthius had taken care of his appearance to look good for his daughter.

Duke Ruthius always maintained a proper posture. A slouched body would wrinkle his suit. He was also careful not to get anything dirty on himself.

He always carried a cleansing artifact with him, hoping that if he looked neat, his daughter might like him just a little bit more.

“I suppose she’ll hate me even more now…”

The only thing she seemed to like about him was his face, and now it was ruined by a burn on his cheek. She would probably hate the very sight of him now.

At the time of the explosion, the Constellations had sponsored a healing potion along with a teleportation scroll. But Duke Ruthius had only used the scroll.

He didn’t even glance at the potion. What did it matter if his body, destined to die once his revenge was complete, sustained an injury or not?

He had been desperately clinging to life by the power of his vengeance. His will to live vanished with the end of his revenge. He had planned to kill himself with the same stick he used to kill the emperor.

“And yet…”

Strange. Why was he hesitating?

The completion of his revenge was ecstatic. He was so happy he wanted to die on the spot. He was burning with the desire to end his life quickly and meet Marcella.

The funeral would be over by now, and Duke Ruthius would have been declared dead. Staying alive would only complicate matters. No matter how he thought about it, dying was the better option.

But he kept hesitating. All he had to do was pull out that rod and thrust it into his own chest. He didn’t know what lingering attachment was making him dither.

Duke Ruthius turned his green eyes, which had been fixed on the dead emperor’s face, toward the window. The forest, veiled in night, was nothing but a black mass.

“Maybe I’ll just wait until morning…”

When the day broke, the beautiful forest would be revealed in its entirety. Absurdly, a desire to see it took hold of him.

“You have all sorts of ways to procrastinate, Axion.”

Duke Ruthius smiled self-deprecatingly and bent his long legs. He rested one hand on his folded knee and leaned his back against the wall.

It was a lax posture he had never taken even when alone in his bedroom, but it was surprisingly comfortable. Come to think of it, it was ridiculous to worry about aristocratic dignity now.

He would just wait for the sun to rise. As he sat there blankly, staring into the dark night, he felt a very faint presence.

A priest?

No. It was a presence so perfectly concealed that even Duke Ruthius, once a Sword Master, had almost missed it. This was not an aura a mere priest could possess.

A presence of this level belonged to a knight.

For the sake of his children and his family, the fact that he had killed the emperor must never be known.

Therefore, the intruder had to be killed.

The moment he made the decision, every muscle in his body tensed.

Duke Ruthius quickly stood up and pulled the rod from the emperor’s body. The hand holding the murder weapon began to tremble violently.

*‘This is a staff. A staff.’*

No matter how many times he repeated it to himself, he couldn’t calm down.

Clutching his trembling wrist with his other hand didn’t help either.

What a pathetic sight. To think he could kill someone in this state. And an opponent who was clearly highly skilled, at that.

*‘Killing them is impossible. I’ll have to give up on a direct confrontation.’*

Making a swift calculation, Duke Ruthius tore a long strip from the bedsheet. He wrapped the cloth around the rod to secure it in his hand, then pulled his hood down low. He then pressed himself flat against the wall next to the window.

He had only one chance. The moment the person came through the window, he would strike and then leap out. As long as his identity wasn’t revealed, there would be no problem.

*Tok.*

He heard a sound. It was the sound of a foot kicking off the wall.

Cold sweat trickled down his spine. The sound was so faint he would have missed it if he hadn’t been concentrating. It meant his opponent was just that skilled.

*‘In that case, they might sense my presence as well.’*

Duke Ruthius instinctively relaxed his body, completely erasing his presence. It was a stealth technique he had mastered to avoid assassins who had frequently targeted him on the battlefield.

Though he could no longer hold a sword, he had strived not to forget the skills his body had learned. He was glad he could use it now.

Duke Ruthius calculated his opponent’s speed. Predicting the time it would take for them to climb through the window, he raised the rod.

The instant he was about to bring the rod down with all his might, he saw a black boot stepping on the windowsill.

*‘That’s…’*

The dust-stained toe of the boot looked familiar. The thought that it looked just like the boots Astell wore made the strength drain from his arm.

*Damn it!*

It was before the faltering Duke Ruthius could retract the rod.

*Thwack!* A hand shot through the window, snatched the rod from mid-air, and a face poked in.

“A-Astell?”

To think the opponent who had made him so tense was Astell.

Dressed in her uniform, she leaped deftly into the bedroom.

“Hmm.”

Letting out a hum of indifference, she glanced around the room with a lack of interest. Then she walked over to the emperor and nudged the stiff corpse with her foot.

“He’s dead.”

Duke Ruthius could only stare blankly at Astell, who spoke in a manner completely unbecoming of a noble lady.

“It must have been hard to stab him with an ordinary staff. Did you have it custom-made?”

“…”

“Then again, a sword would have been useless to you. Well, you did a good job.”

Even seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn’t comprehend the situation. He felt like he had suddenly become an idiot.

Astell abruptly held out her hand.

“Let’s go now.”

Her tone was as if they were out for a walk.

Astell didn’t ask a single question. How he was alive, why he had faked his death, what on earth he was thinking. She must have had so many questions, yet instead of asking, she offered her hand.

Duke Ruthius looked down at the child’s pale hand.

“Go where?”

“Where do you think? Home, of course.”

Duke Ruthius reflexively clenched his fists. If he didn’t, he felt he might grab his child’s hand.

“You know that’s not possible. I am already a dead man.”

“No, you’re not. You’re alive and well right here.”

Astell retorted coolly. The moment he heard her sulky, pouting voice, his eyes began to sting. It felt as if an invisible chain was tightening around his heart.

The reason he had postponed his death was not to see the forest under the bright sun.

It was because he wanted to see his children, the ones with eyes of verdure, the ones he had ruined.

He, the culprit who had stolen his children’s smiles, was now using them as an excuse to delay his death. Even after swearing he would never become a burden to them.

*‘The absolute worst.’*

The reason Astell was telling him to go back was probably because she was worried he would cause trouble. Duke Ruthius took a deep breath.

“Astell, there’s no need to worry. I will disappear just like this. As for today… just forget about it. I will never appear before you again.”

“I’m sure you will. Since you’re planning to go off into some mountain and kill yourself.”

Was it just his imagination? It sounded strangely like an accusation.

But Astell hated Duke Ruthius so much, that couldn’t be it.

He was probably just hearing what he wanted to hear now that he was about to die. Duke Ruthius laughed inwardly.

“I’ll take care of that myself. You should hurry back. You know you mustn’t be caught, right? I can create a diversion if you wish.”

“You’re going to help me escape safely and then go kill yourself in the mountains?”

“…”

He hadn’t specifically planned to die in the mountains, but…

But Duke Ruthius kept his mouth shut. He had a feeling it was best to stay quiet.

“Do you remember our alliance?”

“I do.”

“I helped you to the best of my ability. In the end, you succeeded in your revenge thanks to me.”

“I admit it. Your help was significant.”

“Then from now on, it’s my turn to get revenge. Do you agree?”

Duke Ruthius raised his head and met Astell’s cold gaze.