Episode 141
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 141
“Damn it, damn it…”
Tick, tock. The clock cried out. She realized the hour of her death was approaching. Cold sweat trickled down her skin, and her mouth went dry.
Soon, the space wavered with a pale blue light. The time for the devil to reveal himself. Alma let out a hollow laugh and lifted her head.
Expecting the arrogant face of a master looking down on a lowly creature who dared defy his command, she was instead met with an unexpected sight and burst into laughter.
A man with a face pale with terror walked out of the distortion. Feeling her ears go numb, Alma let out another dry laugh.
A demonic power filled the room, ensuring no scream could escape. The man staggered, bracing himself on a table, and asked with a ghastly expression, “I’m certain I told you… not to kill her.”
“Haha… Hahaha!!! You madman, did you really think I’d listen to you…?”
The moment Elysia had jumped into the sea to save her, Alma had recalled Cain’s words.
“That man is that woman’s weakness.”
In that case, Cain’s weakness was that woman. Since things had turned out this way, she wanted to at least bring down the man she hated, so she’d dragged the woman beneath the surface.
Her reason for attempting murder was driven more by a desire for revenge against Cain than by any malice toward the woman herself. She was certain that the moment Elysia Hemming drew her last breath, the Little Count, who arrogantly sought to reign above all, would crumble.
And Alma sensed that her certainty had been correct.
The man, who had been staring down at the table with his head bowed, looked up. From beneath his blood-red eyes, tears like seawater fell in heavy drops.
His expression was one of rage so intense he could barely stand, yet at the same time, it was terrified. Seeing that face, Alma froze. It was bewildering to see the man who had always acted so inhuman suddenly reveal such a weakened state. But at the same time, a smirk crept onto her lips.
So it’s real, you madman. A bastard who covets something so far beyond his reach… Soon, Alma was cackling, wiping the tears from the corners of her own eyes.
“You… you’re just a half-wit moron…! How dare someone like you dream such an impossible dream? That woman will never look at you, not even if you lived for all eternity…!!!”
“Shut up…”
His tear-drenched eyes glared at her. With the sound of steel scraping against steel, he drew a dagger.
He couldn’t bear it. The thought of nearly losing the one being who could understand him, the one who knew the same things he did, drove him mad. The tip of his blade trembled uncontrollably.
Elysia Hemming, you must not die. You have to keep living and chase me. You have to choke the life out of me, push me to the very end…
Cain pressed the blade to the tip of her chin and forced a smile, feigning composure with a voice that trembled.
“For you, even death is too good. I’ll tear you to pieces—”
“Even if you tear me apart and kill me, she’ll pity me, not you. You can’t even grasp your own place, yet you dare to desire a woman like her. They say opposites attract. Is that why?”
Alma whispered to him, a triumphant smile on her face.
“What, you want to be loved by her or something?”
A poison-laced laugh echoed in the ears of the man who could not answer.
“Puhahaha!!! Heh, ahahaha! To think I’d ever hear such romantic nonsense from you.”
“…”
“You… you see yourself in her, don’t you? Is that why you believe it? That she’ll understand a monster like you?”
From the man who could only move his lips without a word escaping, Alma read his affirmation. Her venomous eyes blazed before she burst into a fit of laughter.
“You will never be loved.”
“…”
“Your fate is to die without ever holding her in your arms, without ever even receiving a single glance from her!”
The red eyes, which had been darting about without a focus, widened in shock.
Plunge. In that moment, the sharp dagger pierced her. Even as she writhed in agony, Alma smiled. Son of a bitch. A madman begging for the attention of a woman he can’t even touch, like a common beggar…
He wanted to rip apart the mouth that spewed such curses. Cain, having completely lost his reason, stabbed her again. Unnecessary attacks would only give Elysia clues. So he just needed to cleanly… take her life… but…
“Ah…”
At the same time, a strange excitement bloomed. He let out a languid moan and smiled. Will you be the one to find this body?
If so, will you search for the traces I left in this space? Will you collect them, analyze them, recklessly tear me open, and expose the deficiencies and thoughts I never even knew I had, then pierce my deepest places and enter me hotly? Just like you always do…
Ah, even in the midst of this, my thoughts are only of you. I love you so, as if by fate.
“Your fate is to die without ever holding her in your arms, without ever even receiving a single glance from her!”
Alma’s mocking words had made him lose his mind.
No, don’t be ridiculous. That was the weak me from before, not the me I am now. There’s no way the me who has escaped the deception would be buried in such an unproductive emotion…
The corner of his mouth, forced up in a pretense of composure, quivered.
“No, she will look at me, not you. When she finds you dead here, she’ll come running to me…”
His eyes twitched as he plunged the knife down once more. There is nothing I cannot have. I am the one who has broken free from the script, the one who knows the truth. Therefore, I will not be blinded or deceived by something as foolish as emotion.
But for a moment, the image of the man she chose to keep by her side flashed in his mind.
Swallowing the sharp, stinging pain that squeezed his heart, Cain whispered.
“Why don’t you understand…?”
Why can’t you see that I’m the only one you can lean on, that I’m the only one who can understand you perfectly? A clear tear streamed down his cheek. He shook his head and let out a laugh.
Elysia, you’ve just lost your way for a moment. You’ve been deceived by a fake, just as I once was. I find that endearing. And that is why I wish to save you.
“This is the last chance I’m giving you. Confess.”
In that instant, he recalled her cool, gray eyes. That ash-gray color swallowed him like a wave. She stormed into him—through his eyes, his nose, his parted lips. He felt he might suffocate and die from this love.
The blood on his hands was thick and sticky. If I were to spread this on your lips, how would those eyes, always so cool when they look at me, crumple? Perhaps they might even grow hot. Then I would smile with joy.
He clamped a hand over his mouth to steady his breathing. The blood drenching his hand smeared his face with its coppery scent. But he had no time to be distracted by something like smell.
His mind was filled only with those eyes, that expression, those lips, the curve of her legs as she ran forward—only those things.
Ah. He was desperate to touch her.
Alma, trembling, seemed to have lost consciousness. Cain stared blankly at the dagger in his hand, then placed it in her right hand and walked toward the window.
Below, soldiers of the Sylvester family stood guard. He smiled faintly and loosened the tie choking his neck.
Were these guards posted because of me? The thought sent a rush of heat to his head. He rubbed his brow anxiously and gazed down at the chair across from Alma.
Did she sit here?
His elegant fingers reached out of their own accord, tracing the back of the chair. He imagined her sitting with her back straight, the slight curve of her waist.
He grimaced and finally managed to exhale. His fingers, feeling the smooth grain of the wood, froze as he heard a voice from outside the door.
“Everything all right?”
Cain turned his head, holding his breath as he listened to the woman’s voice from the hallway. Elysia was checking in with the soldiers.
After confirming that no one had tried to break in and that no sound had come from the room, the soldiers began to ask her questions.
“Are you alright, ma’am? Phew, you went through a lot. Even we don’t go into the winter sea that easily…”
“Ah, well… some days you just step in shit.”
His heart dropped at her voice, which sounded huskier than usual. Is she not feeling well? Is she hurt somewhere? He realized he hadn’t even checked how badly she was injured. His red eyes darted around restlessly as he gripped and released the doorknob over and over.
“You shouldn’t be out here, you should be inside! It’ll be a disaster if you catch a cold.”
“I was thinking of taking a little walk before heading in anyway. It’s damn cold out here… you guys are working hard. Well, keep it up.”
He heard the soldiers’ cheerful laughter, followed by the sound of Elysia letting out a lazy yawn. As if mesmerized, he walked to the window and looked outside.
Elysia, having left the building, stretched her arms wide as she walked. Then, as if sensing his gaze, she whipped her head around and looked up at the window. He hastily hid behind the wall, clenching his fists without realizing it.
After a long moment of staring at the window where he stood, her gray eyes finally turned away. He couldn’t take his eyes off the woman’s back as she disappeared into the distance, becoming a tiny dot.
Ah, you are so fucking charming. I want to gouge out the eyes of every person who looks at you and swallow them myself.
Her brown hair, touched by the cold winter wind, fluttered, revealing the nape of her neck. The gentle curves traced by her well-fitted green dress. Blood pooled heavily, sinking downward.
He smiled, his face a mask of feigned composure that couldn’t hide his agitation. Then he muttered to himself, as if in a soliloquy.
They were words that did not belong in the cold, silent scene of a murder.