Chapter 188: Responsibility (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 188: Responsibility (5)
As a guest of honor, Frillite’s room was large, as was her bed. Perhaps the two pillows were there simply to keep the vast bed from looking empty. Or maybe one was for Frillite to hug in her sleep.
But for some reason, Lorian had a feeling that wasn't it.
He remembered.
He remembered the favorable way Frillite had treated Cloud.
“You… you two…”
He didn’t want to ask. He didn’t have the courage to ask. But he had to.
Lorian’s trembling lips parted.
“Don’t tell me… you’re sleeping together?”
Only then did their gazes turn to him. As their eyes fell upon him, he thought, I wish she would just get angry. He wished she would furrow her beautiful brow and rage at him, asking if he was trying to insult her. But reality did not unfold as he hoped.
“We are.”
Frillite answered, her expression unchanging. Her flat, toneless voice seemed to ask why he was bothering to state the obvious, and it also seemed to say it was none of his business.
Lorian’s eyebrow twitched.
“You are…? Frillite, do you have any idea what you’re saying right now?”
“I do.”
“And you’re saying it anyway?! You did it, knowing full well what it meant?!”
Frillite possessed everything Lorian did not.
One of the most prestigious families on the continent.
Power of unfathomable depth.
And with it, absolute authority.
To him, Frillite was like a flower on a cliff’s edge.
A beautiful, noble flower that no one could pick.
He knew she would be difficult to win. He had even thought that it couldn’t be helped if he failed. But he had never imagined she would fall into someone else’s hands.
Especially not the hands of the man he despised.
Lorian was feeling a rage and sense of betrayal that was difficult to put into words.
Watching him, Frillite wore a look of incomprehension.
“What’s so strange about sleeping with one’s fiancé?”
“F-Fiancé?!”
Lorian was aghast.
An engagement among nobles was not something decided by personal will alone. A noble marriage was a union between families. Even someone like Frillite would have needed the permission of the head of her family.
‘The head of the family gave his permission?’
Not long ago, Lorian had sent a letter to the head of the Ferdiac family, asking him to arrange a marriage with Frillite.
He had waited anxiously for a reply, but none ever came.
Only later did he hear that the family head had thrown the letter away the moment he read it.
Because of that, Lorian found it even harder to believe.
‘How?’
Though they were both Heroes, Cloud was a commoner.
The gap between him and Frillite was as wide as the heavens and the earth.
And the head of the family had accepted such a man as his son-in-law.
The more he thought about it, the more unbelievable it became.
“…Why?”
And he was angry.
He, the royalty of a kingdom, had been completely ignored, while Cloud, a commoner, was welcomed as a member of the family.
Lorian, steeped in his own elitism, felt a fierce sense of inferiority.
“Why him and not me?”
As Lorian finally spat out the words, swallowing his rage, Frillite’s brow twitched.
“What?”
“I asked why it was that bastard and not me!” Lorian shouted.
“I knew you before he did. I was the first to recognize your beauty. I was the first to recognize your nobility. I was the first to harbor affection for you, and it was far greater than that bastard’s—”
“Enough.”
Frillite cut off Lorian’s torrent of resentful words. Only when her cold voice pierced his ears did Lorian realize what nonsense he had just spouted.
He hastily clamped a hand over his mouth, but the words, once spoken, could not be taken back.
Lorian cautiously studied Frillite’s expression.
Just as he’d feared, she was glaring at him with eyes full of contempt.
“I was aware you held some degree of affection for me. But I didn’t realize you were thinking such things.”
“N-No…”
Lorian tried to make an excuse, but Frillite gave him no time.
“Let me be blunt. I have no interest in you. Not as a man, not as a person. Not in any capacity.”
In the past, she had paid him some mind.
As a fellow Hero, she had needed to watch him to ensure his depravity didn't go too far, and she had to make sure he didn't die so he could fulfill his oath.
But not anymore.
The oath had become meaningless.
And it was because of none other than Gis and Lorian’s wickedness.
Cloud had committed suicide, and his empty shell had been occupied by a human from another world.
With the oath now meaningless, Frillite found no value in Gis or Lorian.
“No, it’s more than a lack of interest. I find you repulsive. You are nothing but an exploiter hiding behind the title of Hero.”
Gis enjoyed taking other men’s women. If persuasion and threats didn’t work, he didn’t hesitate to rape them. He didn’t care if perfectly good families were shattered or relationships were destroyed. In fact, he watched and reveled in it.
Lorian sought to gain more power. He assassinated political enemies who didn't agree with him or framed them for crimes they didn't commit before executing them. Even among his own subordinates, if he thought their fangs were getting a little too sharp, he had them killed.
No one could stop them, no matter what atrocities they committed.
Why?
Because they were Heroes.
Sacred beings who would defeat the Demon King and save humanity.
In a world with a clear social hierarchy, they were practically inviolable.
Thus, the Emperor and the Pope overlooked most of their sins. Frillite, too, had forced herself to turn a blind eye, using the oath as an excuse.
Every time, she felt a sickening disgust at her own hypocrisy. That, along with her own lack of ability, had contributed to the corrosion of her spirit.
“And you claim to adore me… The thought makes my skin crawl.”
For these reasons, Frillite could not see Lorian in a positive light. Whenever he spoke of his affection for her, it felt as if parasites were crawling all over her body.
Unpleasant, disgusting, repulsive.
The impulse to smash the thing before her with her greatsword muddled her thoughts. But Frillite did not surrender to the urge.
Lorian would die eventually anyway.
A well-behaved, obedient hunting dog might be one thing, but who would keep a dog that bites indiscriminately, even after the hunt is over?
Whether by the Empire’s hand, a third party’s, or her own, Lorian would certainly die after the Demon King was defeated.
But he had a job to do before he died.
Just as a hunting dog earns its keep by hunting, he, as a Hero, had to pay the price for the benefits he had received by defeating the Demon King.
If he were to meet a comfortable end without fulfilling his duty, it would be an insult to all those who had been sacrificed.
Therefore, Frillite swallowed the powerful impulse that made her fingertips tremble and shot Lorian a cold warning.
“Get out. And never appear before me again. Don’t even think of looking at me, and don’t think of me, either. Erase my very existence from your mind.”
With that, Frillite turned her back, her posture resolute, as if she refused to exchange another word.
“F-Frillite…!”
He couldn’t leave like this. If he did, everything would truly be over.
Lorian felt it instinctively, and to avoid his own ruin, he reached a hand toward her. But his hand never reached Frillite. It was caught by another, stronger hand.
It was Cloud.
“Isn’t that enough?”
“What…?”
“You’re pathetic enough as it is. Don’t debase yourself further. Just go.”
He looked at him as if he were something pitiful.
Lorian’s face twisted into an ugly grimace.
“Whether I’m pathetic or not is none of your concern.”
“I suppose it wouldn’t be. If the target of your fawning wasn’t my woman.”
My woman.
At those blatant words, Lorian finally snapped.
“You lowly filth!”
Lorian’s hand shot toward his hip, but it only cut through empty air. It was a practiced, instinctive motion, but unfortunately, he hadn’t brought a weapon today. As he felt a pang of frustration, Cloud activated the ‘Ogre’s Pattern.’ He channeled the overflowing power from the pattern into his fist and drove it into Lorian’s stomach.
Crack!
“Kegh…!”
It was practically a surprise attack, and Lorian wasn’t even wearing armor. His casual clothes, made of high-quality material, might protect his skin from a blade, but they offered no defense against the shock of a blunt weapon.
And Cloud’s fist, now that he had surpassed Lorian in level and had his strength stat boosted by the Ogre’s Pattern, carried far more power than any blunt weapon.
Crunch.
It was no surprise that Lorian’s ribs cracked.
Unable to withstand the impact, Lorian staggered, and Cloud grabbed him by the throat. As Cloud walked forward, Lorian had no choice but to stumble backward to keep his balance.
Thud.
He soon found himself slammed against the wall.
“You bastard…!”
Lorian’s face flushed with shame, and he tried to attack Cloud. He may have been unarmed, but he too had learned hand-to-hand combat. At this close range, with Cloud’s hand on his throat, there was no way he could dodge an attack. Cloud could let go to evade, but that wouldn’t be a bad outcome either.
But Cloud’s instinctive punch was far faster than the one Lorian’s mind was just deciding to throw.
CRACK! CRUNCH!
“Guhk!”
A duller, heavier sound than before.
The crack in his ribs had worsened. A little more impact and they would break completely, piercing his lungs.
Cloud placed his palm over those very ribs and pressed down, just slightly.
An indescribable, horrific pain washed over Lorian.
“Gyaaaaaaaah!!!”
Lorian let out a bloodcurdling scream, as if he could not possibly be in more pain. It was a rather pathetic sight for a Hero, but it couldn’t be helped.
Lorian had no tolerance for pain.
He had been born strong, and with the excellent armor his family’s money could buy, he had rarely been seriously injured.
To have no immunity to pain because he was so sturdy.
It was ironic, but Cloud didn’t care.
Frillite’s room was soundproofed, so no royal guards would come running at the sound of the scream. He simply watched Lorian’s agonized expression and slowly tightened his grip on his throat.
“Ghak…! Hhck…!”
Unable to breathe properly, he couldn’t even scream anymore.
Just as Lorian’s pale face began to turn white and his eyes started to roll back, Cloud released him.
“Cough… Gack… Hck… Haaa…”
Lorian collapsed to the floor, coughing several times before gasping for air. Even that sent waves of pain through him, forcing him to breathe shallowly.
Cloud crouched down in front of him.
He met his eyes and said, “Get out. If you don’t want to die.”
“…”
Lorian bit his lip in frustration, but he didn’t resist any further. He staggered to his feet, slowly opened the door, and walked out.
After Lorian left, Frillite sighed as if trying to suppress a surge of irritation. Then she suddenly planted a kiss on me and said she wanted to be alone for a while.
It seemed she was worried she might take her anger out on me.
Understanding her feelings, I returned to my own room, where an unexpected guest was waiting.
“Lorraine?”
Lorraine, dressed in a fur coat, was sitting on the edge of my bed.
She had said she would come when she was ready. It seemed today was the day.
She had been staring down at the floor, but at the sound of my voice, she stood up.
“…”
The atmosphere around her was strange as she approached me in silence. Something is wrong. I waited quietly for her to come closer.
Soon, she stopped right in front of me.
The coppery scent of blood stung my nose.
Why did she smell of blood?
That question vanished from my mind the moment Lorraine’s thick fur coat slid to the floor.
A white bra, soaked in blood.
Below it, her stomach protruded like a small hill.
It wasn’t as large as a full-term pregnancy, but the meaning of that gentle curve was unmistakable.
“Cloud.”
Lorraine called my name.
Not in the venomous, spiteful voice of the past, but in a self-deprecating, powerless one.
When I lifted my head, the person I saw was not the immature young lady who hated to lose and could never be honest, but a woman so worn down by life that she had finally given up on everything.
With empty eyes, she said, “I’m pregnant.”