Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: What Should I Do?
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“Aaah!”
Yohannis turned toward the sound. Father and son both looked toward the Emperor’s bedchamber. He spoke to his father, Duke Turbul.
“Has Asherad been in there all day?”
“No.”
Duke Turbul scowled at the closed door as he continued.
“He’s doing what he must as Emperor... but whenever he gets a chance, he spends time with that woman in there.”
Intermittent sounds from a small woman leaked through the door. They were well aware of what they were. Yohannis’s eyes narrowed further. Duke Turbul clicked his tongue.
“Looking at that, he takes after the late Emperor without a doubt.”
“What are you...”
“I mean he grew up watching him.”
Duke Turbul gazed at the Emperor’s bedchamber. Among the leaking sounds, it seemed sobs were mixed in as well. The moment Yohannis perked his ears at the noise, the Duke grumbled.
“I wonder if this’ll end up with an imperial grandchild on the way.”
“......”
Whether it was Daphne’s screams or cries, it seemed to mean nothing to him. Yohannis recalled Asherad smiling as he kissed Daphne after pulling her from the coffin. Asherad’s obsession wasn’t normal, but he thought it was love. Yet if it was love, it led right back to that kind of obsession.
He held Daphne whenever he got the chance. Sometimes when passing by, he’d see her neck covered in red marks. And now was no different. They probably wouldn’t emerge until tomorrow morning. And the sun had only just set.
“I’m not sure she’ll be all right.”
Yohannis gave a wry smile as he watched Duke Turbul nod in agreement.
“I mean Miss Daphne.”
“That woman is nothing to worry ab—”
“We need to worry about her.”
“Are you saying we should kill her?”
Yohannis furrowed his brow, frustrated at Duke Turbul, who still didn’t get it.
“Don’t you see yet, Father? To Asherad, that woman is the last thread keeping his sanity intact.”
“She’s the reverse scale that would make him lose his reason.”
Yohannis agreed with that too.
“Eeeek!”
For a moment, a loud, sharp cry spread outside the room. The Duke clicked his tongue and shook his head. Yohannis stared at the room. Asherad’s rage was beyond imagination. Deep down, Yohannis had wondered if he might not cut off one of Daphne’s arms.
When he’d returned to the Imperial Palace, he’d looked like a grim reaper dripping with murderous intent. Those frantic eyes had made him think he might kill Daphne for sure.
Yet Asherad couldn’t kill Daphne. Even after she wounded him, he left it as is.
What he did instead was hold her whenever he could. At this rate, Daphne might die.
If he was so worried, he should just go see her. But after that, Yohannis hadn’t visited Daphne. Truth be told, there was no reason to.
His dark brown eyes darkened further.
* * *
“Eat.”
At the curt voice, Daphne turned her head. It was bread and soup that Sara shoved toward her. Asherad truly had terrible taste. He’d ordered the Sara who betrayed him to attend to her.
Sara didn’t hide her malice. Daphne looked at the torn-up bread and the soup splattered all over the plate. She gazed at Sara.
Did she think this was malice? If it were someone else, they’d have brought a rock instead of bread, watery soup instead of one full of chunks. And they would’ve spat in it, of course. Sara’s attempts to torment her were clumsy. It had been like this for days.
Daphne asked cautiously.
“Didn’t His Majesty say he’d execute you if the food wasn’t whole?”
Daphne picked up a piece of bread. She worried there might be sand in it, but it was fine.
“Shut up.”
Sara ground her teeth as she spoke. She let out a hollow laugh as she watched Daphne chew the bread.
“Daphne, Amanda’s dead, and you can still swallow bread?”
At her incredulous words, Daphne chewed thoroughly and forced it down. Truthfully, it didn’t go down easy. She ate only because she didn’t know what Asherad might do if she refused. As she forced it down, tears welled up in her eyes.
She had no right to live while eating such things. The thought made her feel like vomiting any second. Sara looked at her face and spoke irritably.
“Your face is so repulsive. You know that?”
“......”
“That’s why I didn’t want to be your maid.”
Daphne bit her lip at Sara’s grumbling. She couldn’t say a word to Sara because her eyes were red-rimmed. Sara was grieving Amanda’s death. And the depth of her grief fueled her hatred for Daphne. Daphne couldn’t utter a word at the sight.
Then, the door burst open.
“If you want to blame someone, find another target.”
She turned at the voice to see Yohannis had come. He frowned at Sara.
“I greet the Viscount.”
“Raise your head.”
At Yohannis’s words, Sara cautiously looked up at him.
“Aren’t the ones to blame here me, who killed that maid, or His Imperial Majesty?”
“......”
“What has this young lady done wrong, exactly?”
At that, Sara bit her lip and replied flatly.
“Her very existence is a sin. How many people died because of her...”
“Did Miss Daphne kill them herself? Shouldn’t you resent the ones who actually caused those deaths?”
Daphne was startled. ‘The ones who caused those deaths’ meant Asherad or the late Emperor. Could such words come so naturally from a knight?
Was it because he was nobility?
Sara’s face flushed red. Her eyes changed, and with a glare fiercer than her usual meekness, she shot Yohannis a look and stormed out.
“If something like that happens again, it’d be best to get angry.”
“......”
Daphne didn’t look at Yohannis. She recalled his sword coldly piercing Amanda. The moment Amanda breathed her last would haunt her forever. As she closed her eyes, tears fell from them. She turned away from him.
“I won’t make the cowardly excuse of not resenting me with the same words he used.”
Right. Even when Daphne begged him not to, Yohannis had thrust his sword right through. He could have stopped Asherad, but he killed her as if it were the most natural thing.
“Why... why did you do that?”
Daphne asked Yohannis in a trembling voice. He didn’t answer at first, then looked at her before averting his gaze.
“Because I had to kill her.”
What...? Amanda wasn’t someone who deserved death. She glared at him with anger-filled eyes.
“Isn’t it obvious? His Majesty could have killed you too. I told him a way to vent his anger without killing you, and I followed through.”
Daphne’s mouth fell open slightly. Was that right? Was that just?
What about Amanda’s life sacrificed in the process?
“When you ran away, didn’t you effectively abandon that woman’s life yourself?”
Yohannis was too cruel. He laid bare the painful truth, and her eyes reddened.
“No!”
Daphne shook her head in denial and cried out. Fresh tears poured from her bloodshot eyes.
“No, no, no.”
Right. She knew it well—Yohannis was correct. Daphne had contributed to Amanda’s death. Daphne sobbed. She should have stayed put instead of running... Tears soaked the floor drop by drop. Yohannis watched it all.
“You were a kind person.”
Yohannis looked at her quizzically. Daphne bit her lip to swallow her sobs and spoke.
“You let me paint, taught me how to act in the Imperial Palace. You granted me all those conveniences. To someone worthless like me.”
Daphne resented him. She knew full well the target of her resentment was Asherad. Yet this man was resentful too. He shouldn’t have been kind at all.
“Well, you’re the bird Asherad caught and caged.”
“Pardon?”
Daphne stared at him blankly. Yohannis continued with the coldest expression she’d ever seen on him.
“Asherad loves you.”
“......”
“It’s only natural to help someone going mad from love.”
Daphne parted her lips slightly. A sense of betrayal washed over her. Of course Asherad came first to him. He was his subject and friend. Even so, she couldn’t understand why she felt this way.
“You tried to flee from him. So I asked for a splendid cage and even tried to give you breathing room.”
“......”
“Asherad is clumsy and full of jealousy, so I provided those conveniences for him.”
Daphne’s face paled. Yohannis spoke as if he couldn’t comprehend her.
“If you’d stayed put, Asherad would have devoted himself to you. You could have married, even become the official Empress. But why...”
“Because I didn’t want it.”
Yohannis stared at her with a stiff expression at her flat, tear-choked words. The woman forcing a smile through her tears said.
“I... don’t want a relationship with him anymore.”
Tears fell again at those words.
“Even if His Majesty treats me well... what about me? Do I have to just follow along?”
Yohannis was at a loss for words as Daphne boldly spoke of her free will before the Emperor. Her blue eyes, dulled by hatred, flickered with vitality at the mention of freedom from him. But the problem was that it stemmed from hate.
“Well, what’s the point of saying this.”
Daphne gave a bitter smile. Like a flame snuffed out, the light vanished from her face. Seeing it, Yohannis felt a sudden impulse. A twinge of guilt—shouldn’t he help the bird he’d tried so hard to think of her as? He was startled by his own thought.
What should I do, Asherad? She thinks escaping you is freedom.
“By the way, what brings you here?”
Yohannis was momentarily speechless. He’d hesitated outside the room, heard Sara’s venomous words, and barged in. He had no real business.
What will you do, and what should I do, Asherad.