Chapter 136: A Fatal Blunder
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 136: A Fatal Blunder
In his past life, his ignorance of how the magic circle truly worked had led him to blindly keep his distance from Blair. He’d feared that mere proximity would be enough to disrupt his mana and trigger a rampage.
It was for that reason he had left for the Delmark Main Castle, abandoning her while she was pregnant.
Even after a proper investigation had revealed the truth about the imprint related to the Second Constraint, he had returned to the Imperial Capital only to keep his distance once more, all in a misguided attempt to sever Blair’s feelings for him.
Now, he knew that simply being by her side would not cause a mana rampage.
He also knew that hurting her would never destroy her love for him.
Of course, until the imprint was completely removed, the anxiety that dogged his every step would never truly vanish.
But he refused to leave her shivering in the cold for such a reason again. One foolish mistake was enough.
When he returned to the bedroom, a chill rushed over him. The maids had clearly warmed the room earlier, but the heat had long since dissipated.
Herdin lit the fireplace and approached Blair. As expected, she was sound asleep.
He stared at her peaceful, sleeping face before carefully reaching out to her cheek. His hand trembled slightly.
Her skin was soft and warm against the back of his hand, and he could feel the faint puff of her breath from slightly parted lips.
She was alive.
It felt like a miracle.
The sudden memory of the day Blair died made Herdin’s breath catch, but it quickly returned to normal.
In the past, he hadn’t been able to touch her, terrified his power might cause her harm. He was tormented by an endless nightmare where his father's dying face would morph into his mother's.
But that terrible nightmare was a burden he had to bear alone. It was no excuse to leave her to shiver in the cold.
He had realized this truth far too late. Only after he had already lost her.
In this life, he would not let that miracle shatter.
Herdin continued to watch the sleeping Blair, finally closing his eyes as the first light of dawn began to break, holding her close.
As his eyes shut, Blair’s quietly opened in the dim morning light.
“……”
Her eyes, reflecting the blue twilight, looked cold and unbearably sad.
Feeling the warmth at her back, Blair blinked slowly before closing her eyes once more.
* * *
Early that morning, Miella and the knights of Nerha visited the villa on the outskirts of town. They were there to investigate the collapse reported the previous day.
The knights who arrived at the scene clicked their tongues.
“Wow… It’s completely flattened. If anyone was buried under this, there’s no way they survived.”
All the knights had been mobilized the day before to deal with the sudden undead attack, so news of the villa’s collapse hadn’t reached them until late at night.
However, clearing a collapse site in the dark could easily lead to more casualties, so the knights had only been dispatched this morning.
Upon hearing the news, Miella had sensed Raymond’s unspoken desire for her assistance and volunteered to visit the site.
People, after all, tended to look favorably upon those who anticipated their wishes.
Raymond was the most influential man in Nerha, and there was no better way to solidify her position than by earning his trust.
Miella made her way through the horrifying wreckage of the villa. Seeing her approach, the knights tried to stop her.
“W-Wait! Cleric, please stay back. There probably aren’t any survivors. You might get hurt.”
“It’s alright. If some have unfortunately passed into God’s embrace, it is my duty to find them and pray for their souls.”
An angel. She’s truly an angel.
Whispers of praise followed Miella, as they always did.
Leaving the familiar praise behind her, Miella began to inspect the ruins alongside the knights.
Before long, one of the searching knights raised his hand and shouted.
“We found a body!”
Soon, another voice called out from a different direction.
“There are two more over here!”
“Recover them first, then identify them.”
The knights carefully lifted the debris to recover the bodies. Just then, something else was discovered beneath the ruins.
It was a fragment of a magic circle, still humming with residual black mana.
Even the knights, who knew nothing of magic, could tell at a glance that this was no ordinary circle.
“…A black magic circle?”
Although only a tiny fraction of it was exposed, the size of the fragment alone made it easy to imagine how massive the original circle must have been—likely on the same scale as the villa itself.
A sudden undead attack in a place they should never have appeared, followed by the discovery of a black magic circle on the outskirts the very next day.
Piecing together the events, one of the knights deduced a grim possibility.
“Vice Commander, could this be…”
Guessing what his subordinate was thinking, the Vice Commander furrowed his brow.
“…Yes. Perhaps this incident isn’t a simple collapse. It might be related to yesterday’s undead.”
While the knights were distracted by the black magic circle, Miella’s eyes caught something as she continued to scan the ruins.
It was a man’s hand, protruding from between the debris.
“H-Here, too…!”
Just as Miella was about to shout, the hand of the man she thought was dead twitched.
Her eyes widened in surprise, and she quickly corrected herself.
“A survivor! There’s a survivor here!”
* * *
As always, a nightmare woke Herdin at dawn.
The image of his father dying at his hands morphed into his mother, whose face then transformed into Blair’s. In the end, it was always Blair he killed.
The dream of his parents’ deaths had become a tedious, familiar torment, but the nightmare of Blair dying was one he could never get used to.
“…Damn it.”
Herdin muttered a curse, running a hand through his hair in frustration, but quickly fell silent when he saw Blair sleeping peacefully beside him.
Swallowing a sigh, he quietly slipped out of bed. He grabbed a lighter and a cigar from the nightstand and stepped out onto the balcony.
As he inhaled the smoke, his foul mood eased slightly. As his head cleared, his thoughts naturally drifted to a single question.
‘Who was it?’
Who was the culprit that killed Blair in his past life?
For now, only two people came to mind.
The one who had kept Delmark in check for so long, the one who had orchestrated their political marriage to absorb Delmark’s power.
‘…The Imperial Family?’
Of course, targeting the Duke and Duchess of Delmark—a power that rivaled the Imperial Family itself—was an incredibly risky move just to keep a political rival in check.
And harming his parents, in particular, seemed a risk that far outweighed any potential reward.
Something about it felt off, but considering Katrina’s nature—a woman who would use her own daughter’s life as a pawn—it wasn’t entirely impossible.
As he considered the possibility, Herdin’s eyes turned cold.
‘If the Imperial Family really was involved…’
His worry for Blair took precedence over any anger toward his parents’ killers.
Again.
Her family was going to inflict another indelible wound upon her.
In his past life, he had covered up the truth of Esmeralda’s death, worried about the shock it would cause her.
So, what should he do this time?
As he found himself at the same crossroads as his past life, the balcony door slid open.
Herdin turned instinctively and saw Blair stepping out. He quickly stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray, but he couldn’t clear the smoke that already hung in the air.
“Herdin. We need to talk.”
As Blair walked toward him, she coughed from the smoke. Herdin frowned and moved to her side.
“The wind is cold. Let’s talk inside.”
He led Blair back into the room, but she pulled her hand from his grasp and looked up at him.
“No. I want to go for a walk.”
She knew it was a petty, meaningless act of defiance, but his insistence that they remain inside only strengthened her desire to go out.
But he would ignore her anyway. He was, after all, a man who always put his own feelings—his own love—first.
Herdin watched her quietly for a moment, then let out a soft sigh. As she expected, he walked toward the sofa.
Just as Blair’s eyes clouded with pain at his predictable response, Herdin turned back toward her. In his hands was a thick blanket.
He draped the blanket over Blair’s shoulders and stood before her.
“Let’s go.”
Blair blinked, slightly surprised by his unexpected behavior, before leaving the room with him.
The early morning air was chilly with the sea breeze, but the refreshing scent of grass made the walk pleasant.
After a few moments of silence, Blair got to the point.
“You said you would find the person who killed me. Let’s talk about it together. I don’t want to just rely on you anymore.”
At that moment, Blair’s swollen belly caught Herdin’s eye, and his expression hardened.
This was not something she should be worrying about. He had to resolve this alone.
Just as Herdin opened his mouth to dissuade her, Blair spoke again.
“I know who killed me.”
At her words, unconcealed murderous intent flashed across Herdin’s face.
“Who is it?”
“It was Sir Caligo. He killed me.”
The unexpected name made Herdin’s eyes tremble violently.
But a moment later, they filled with a fierce, murderous intent once more. Mana laced with bloodlust began to shimmer around him.
Blair added quickly, as if to hold him back.
“But there must be a mastermind behind him.”
“……”
“I think the one who ordered him was my mother or my brother.”
Herdin, too, had suspected the Imperial Family first.
But it was a suspicion he hadn’t dared to voice, fearing it would hurt her. From her perspective, it would mean being abandoned by her mother yet again.
Yet, Blair was perfectly calm as she spoke, showing no sign of pain. She was just like she had been when she’d cleared Esmeralda’s name, confronting Katrina head-on.
Seeing her like this, Herdin let out a hollow laugh.
He had underestimated his wife. She was more righteous and stronger than anyone.
And in that moment, he realized something.
Perhaps if he had told her the whole truth back then, she wouldn’t have been so hurt.
Underestimating her—that had been his fatal blunder in his past life.