I’m Not Just Making Idle Remarks, Karin
“I’m not just making idle remarks, Karin. You never know. They say you can forgive an enemy, but never forget a kindness.”
Rebecca pleaded as though she were coughing up blood.
Please, open your eyes.
Your own brother might be the hidden hand trying to drive our family to ruin.
You need to throw that woman out at once and interrogate Gawain.
But.
“Enough, Rebecca!!”
Without even bothering to look at the letter that had been sent, Grand Duke Gareth slapped it to the floor and exploded in rage.
“I can understand that betrayal has blinded you and made you speak recklessly! But how dare you slander my own blood with such a vile accusation!”
The fortress of the fool, built brick by brick and now standing firm.
Ah… this man… he even sees Bayle as his little brother…
Gareth’s blind, stupid trust in his younger brother Gawain was so absolute that even his wife’s shriek could not pierce it.
“Gawain is my younger brother! That kind, gentle boy has done so much for me, and you would dare claim he’s setting his own brother up? Your father-in-law’s death is tragic, yes, but pinning it on Gawain is nothing but your delusion!”
“.......”
At her husband’s firm, idiotic answer, Rebecca understood.
The world she had been standing on.
The very existence of her husband, whom she had devoted her entire life to loving and protecting.
This foolish man... why did you have to become a grand duke... and love me...
If only he had loved her as a simple, witless woodsman who knew nothing at all.
If only she, who could live on love alone despite having nothing, had been the one to receive that love.
She could have loved such a penniless Gareth with all her heart.
Why did you have to have so much...
He would not expel Helena.
He would not suspect Gawain.
In the end, the position of mistress of this ducal castle would fall to that woman—perhaps already carrying a child—and even her daughter Veronica’s place would be in danger.
No one would protect her and her daughter.
If she did not step forward, this ruin could not be stopped.
“Ha... ha ha... hahahah...”
Driven to the cliff’s edge by her husband’s idiocy and the collapse of her world, Rebecca finally said it.
From the mouth of the Grand Duchess Rebecca, who had always been kind and wise, words that should never have been spoken even after death and rebirth.
The most venomous, horrible whisper of the devil spilled out.
“...Then kill her.”
“M-my lady...?”
“That woman Helena... make it look like an accident, or send an assassin... strangle her and kill her tonight.”
The order for murder came from her lips as she muttered with unfocused eyes.
Gareth froze at the appalling words and could not even breathe.
But right after she spat out that vile curse.
“...Ghk!”
Rebecca clamped both hands over her own mouth.
Only now did she grasp the weight of what she had just said.
The meaning of that ghastly killing intent.
What did I just say?
She had just ordered the death of a woman who might be carrying life.
A mother who might be bearing her husband’s child.
I, who raised Veronica and cherished the sanctity of life so dearly... was I trying to become a murderer?
The depths to which she had sunk, blinded by jealousy and betrayal, made her recoil in self-loathing and sickening disgust.
“Ugh...! W-wretcheeeed—!”
Rebecca collapsed where she stood, unable to bear it, and began retching bile and vomit onto the carpet.
Misery, guilt, and resentment toward her husband mixed together into filth that stained the hem of her dress.
“Cough... ghk...”
Watching his wife break down as she vomited, Gareth finally realized how thoroughly the sin he had committed had torn her soul apart.
“Rebecca...!”
Ignoring the fact that the vomit splattered his expensive coat and trousers, Gareth moved to her side in silence and wrapped his arms around Rebecca, who had collapsed onto the floor.
Even as the filth stained him.
Even as she struggled and shoved at him.
Gareth held her as if he meant to crush her, tears spilling down his face.
He still loved her desperately.
He cherished her more than his own life.
But.
“.......”
The Rebecca he held against his chest was cold.
In this embrace, with trust, respect, and even a woman’s pride all shattered to pieces, there was no warmth left between them at all.
Though they were husband and wife, not even a trace of heat passed between them.
Only the silence of a marriage in ruins and the stench of filthy vomit wrapped around them.
The winter of irreversible despair had come crashing down upon the Arteta ducal house.
* * *
“Haa, haa...!”
Rough breaths scattered heavily over the dirt floor of the training yard.
The sharp whistling of blade cuts had fallen silent, and the harsh clash of swords had quieted as well.
“Ghk...”
I planted a hand on my knee and bent forward, hissing out ragged breaths as I tried to ease the pain of lungs that felt ready to split open.
I was drenched in sweat, and the hand that had gripped my sword was trembling.
All over my arms and legs, red cuts from the savage sparring session were etched like medals.
I lost... by decision.
Through eyelids wet with sweat, I looked up at the figure in front of me and quietly acknowledged defeat.
Across from me stood Karin.
She too was soaked in sweat and breathing hard, but unlike me she stood straight on both feet, not one knee bent, her sword lowered at an angle.
For a full ten minutes.
Against the woman destined to become the Empire’s strongest swordmaster, I had lasted ten whole minutes without going down, matching her blow for blow.
In the past, I would have been sent rolling in the dirt after only three exchanges.
This was proof that the crude survival skills I had learned at the Wall, refined through Karin’s vicious training and Spartan corrections, were finally taking shape as a real sword style.
Though I lost in the end after losing my balance to Karin’s unpredictable low slash and taking a clean hit, this ten-minute bloodbath was an enormous step forward for me, a mere extra in the human world.
“Thank you for your hard work, Instructor.”
Just as I was catching my breath and trying to straighten up—
Tap-tap-tap!
A small shadow that had been holding its breath on a bench in one corner of the training yard, watching the fierce sparring in silence, sprinted toward me like an arrow.
“Bayle, Uncle! Are you okay? You’re bleeding!”
It was the little princess Veronica, clutching a small towel and a first-aid kit in both hands with admirable determination.
The princess crouched before me and pouted at the cut on my arm, where Karin’s blade had grazed me and drawn a little blood before I could get out of the way.
“Oh, Princess. I’m fine—”
“Stay still! They said it’ll get infected if you don’t!”
Ignoring my protest, Veronica carefully dabbed antiseptic onto the wound with her tiny, bean sprout-like hands and began wiping away the blood with the towel.
Every time her small, soft hands touched my rough skin, a swell of emotion rose in my chest stronger than the sting of the wound.
Wow... Our shy, villainess princess is personally treating me...
At first she had shrieked and run at the mere sight of my scar-covered face.
She had been a young lady who glared at me in jealousy.
And now she worried when I got hurt, came to me first, and carefully applied medicine herself—so much so that she trusted me deeply and felt completely at ease around me.
The bitterness of defeat after ten minutes of bloodshed vanished without a trace at Veronica’s warm touch.
I grinned, all but beaming.
Then a shadow fell over my head.
“Phew...”
Karin, having caught her breath, approached with one hand on her hip and lifted her chin with a proud expression.
“Well, Bayle. You must have felt today that even though I took a few days off recently because of a fever, my skill hasn’t rusted one bit.”
She must have worried that I had looked down on her during the days she was laid up, because today she seemed determined to reassert her authority.
Normally I would have backed down with a respectful, “Yes, Instructor. You were magnificent,” but after being treated by Veronica, my energy had risen far too high, and a sudden streak of mischief had kicked in.
I smiled slyly and tossed Karin a very casual joke.
“Well, I lost to you in swordsmanship, that much I admit. But...”
I lowered my voice by a notch and looked Karin straight in the eye.
“If it were another kind of contest... I think I could win. Wouldn’t you agree, Sir Karin?”
“......?!”
Another kind of contest.
That hot, secret physical entanglement from the night she had been struck down by fever.
I was pointing at the sight of Karin pinned beneath me, crying, “Forgive me! Please, forgive me!” as she clung to me and wailed.
Karin’s face flared red from the nape of her neck all the way to the tips of her ears.
So flustered that she nearly dropped the sword in her hand, she stammered in panic.
“W-what...! T-there’s a p-princess right here—what indecent nonsense are you spouting...!! Have you lost your mind, you shameless bastard!!”
Just as Karin, dying of humiliation, looked ready to rush at me and clamp a hand over my mouth—
“......?”
Veronica, who had been bandaging my arm, tilted her head and looked back and forth between the two of us.
To the innocent ten-year-old princess, who had no possible way of understanding the adults’ sticky little subtext, it must have looked like nothing more than teasing banter in the middle of a spar.
“Uncle Bayle, what did you win besides swordsmanship? Running? Arm wrestling?”
Veronica asked with wide, round eyes and utter innocence, and Karin went pale as death and sucked in a breath.
Her eyes pleaded at me, Please don’t say anything insane in front of the child!
I shrugged and smiled with complete ease.
“Exactly. I was just talking about running or stamina... so why is our Instructor Karin turning red like that? What on earth was she imagining all by herself?”
“Y-you... you...!!”
Karin trembled with rage and humiliation, clenching her fists tight.
But she couldn’t bring herself to curse in front of her beloved student, so she could only scorch herself from the inside out.
Looking at her flushed cheeks, I savored the winner’s privilege.
I had lost the sword match, but in psychological warfare, I was the victor.
And while the three of us were enjoying the lazy sunlight of the training yard and exchanging jokes—
Click, clack.
The refined sound of high heels, wholly out of place on the sandy ground of the yard, rang out.
“Oh my, I’m late.”
Our gazes turned in unison toward the sound.
A woman was walking toward us with a kind, relaxed smile on her lips.
Helena had come to find us alone.
“Sir Karin, Sir Bayle, was it? I’ve heard much of your renown from His Grace the Grand Duke.”
Helena came to a graceful stop before us and bowed politely.
“So the two of you were sparring. If I’d come only a little sooner, I could have seen the training of such splendid knights. What a pity.”
Her tone was as soft and sweet as any lady of society.
I stared at Helena and quickly rummaged through the only weapon I had in my head: the knowledge database of the original novel.
That woman... is she a character from the original The Rose That Blooms by Breaking?
No matter how hard I squeezed my memories, no woman named Helena came to mind.
But that made sense. The point in time I had been thrown into was a full ten years before the original novel truly began.
At the very least, she’s definitely someone from Gawain’s side.
Trusting that she was hiding venom behind that gentle smile, I did not lower my guard by even one percent.
“...Thank you for treating my wounds, Princess. I feel much better now.”
Rather than replying to Helena’s greeting, I first reached out and gently patted Veronica’s head before slowly standing up.
Then, as if Helena were a transparent ghost, I let my gaze slide past her and tossed a sudden question to Karin, who stood beside me.
“Sir Karin! Do you happen to know something?”
“...Hm? Know what?”
Karin looked up at me, puzzled.
“In this northern ducal house... if someone were to commit murder, what sort of punishment would they receive under northern law?”
“......?!”
At the sudden mention of murder, Karin’s eyes went wide.
Still unable to make sense of the atmosphere, Karin stammered in confusion.
I’m not just making idle remarks, Karin.
Just in case.
You may forget your enemies, but never forget a kindness.