Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Rubia de Clarent
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Rubia de Clarent.
I still remember the day I first saw her.
It sounds absurd now, but the first time Damian laid eyes on Rubia, he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world.
Her lush hair and long eyelashes. Her porcelain skin and delicate figure. She had the look of a fairy, not a human.
She appeared as an innocent young girl now, but in just a few years, she would blossom into someone worthy of the Empress.
“Nice to meet you, Damian Renekht.”
“N-Nice to meet you, Miss Rubia de Clarent.”
Rubia approached Damian first as he wandered near the engagement ceremony venue.
Her soft smile made the young Damian blush without realizing it.
“Hehe. You look beautiful even when you’re flustered.”
Rubia covered her mouth and laughed, clearly amused by it.
As the central figure of the engagement ceremony, Rubia suggested they take a stroll through the garden together.
It was an odd move by any common standard, but Damian took her hand as if entranced.
“Ah.”
Just then, a small bird flew over and perched on Damian’s shoulder. When he held out his hand, it hopped onto it and nuzzled his feathers.
“Do you think this bird is cute?”
“Yes. It’s so tiny and adorable.”
Rubia kept her gentle smile as she stroked the bird with her slender finger.
“This...”
To the naked eye, nothing had changed. The bird’s appearance, texture, and warmth were all the same.
But it had no life force. Its form had been fixed by magic.
“This way, it’ll never lose this appearance.”
A strange static crept into the voice that had felt so sweet moments before.
The madness hidden beneath her beautiful exterior revealed itself right before Damian’s eyes.
“I wish you and I could preserve our beauty forever.”
A few days later, dozens of soulless birds were delivered to the annex.
Rubia’s magic was so refined that everyone except Damian mistook them for mere dolls.
“Display them in one of the rooms.”
Back then, Damian lacked both the courage and the skill to resist. He could only focus on evasion.
But Rubia’s obsession and madness were merely the beginning.
And that end result was...
Anna and Felix.
The deaths of the two families.
* * *
“Wh-Why is Miss Rubia here?”
“Her name wasn’t on the invitation list, was it?”
The hosts, Boris and Erewin, wore uneasy expressions. The other guests were just as flustered.
The orthodox faction hadn’t been officially formed yet, but these people were aligned with the Empress. Rubia couldn’t help but feel out of place among them.
“The Magic Tower is a place where mages roam freely. So there’s nowhere I can’t go. Unless you set up a barrier or something?”
Though it probably wouldn’t make much difference anyway. Rubia tacked on the remark with a sharp little laugh.
“Weren’t we going to see each other at the upcoming conference anyway? With that bizarre rule where mentor and disciple pair up, and men and women have to pair off too. Whose idea was that, anyway?”
Boris and Erewin’s faces grew a bit more serious.
Rubia had a mentor too. But unlike a typical mentor-disciple relationship, she had chosen her mentor.
That wasn’t the reason for Boris and Erewin’s tension, though. It was the “pairing” she mentioned.
“Does Miss Rubia participating in the conference mean...”
“That Brother Michael is coming to the Magic Tower?”
To produce an imperial heir to the throne from the Empress’s children, they somehow had to surpass Michael.
But so far, it was a distant prospect. The fully grown Michael already towered toward the heavens like a solitary northern peak.
“Hehe. Unfortunately, Sir Michael is too busy with northern affairs to make it. Instead, my cousin has agreed to join me.”
The finger that had brushed Damian’s chin slid toward his shoulder. Softly, yet deeply, digging into his skin.
“Of course, it’d be fine if another ‘family member’ joined us too.”
Damian simply listened quietly to the three of them converse.
Not for any other reason.
He wasn’t sure what might slip out if he opened his mouth here.
He couldn’t confront Michael and Rubia yet. He lacked the power. So he thought he should avoid them as much as possible.
But that wasn’t the only reason to avoid her.
Crunch. With Rubia this close, it was hard to suppress the urge to kill her.
Hadn’t he dragged this out long enough from the start? Damian’s revenge was fundamentally aimed at Michael and Rubia.
Ascending the throne was merely a byproduct of that.
Was it possible? If he used up every page of the Book of Hell he possessed, could he win?
The aftermath? He could worry about that after killing them.
Haa. Rubia’s breath tickled his ear.
Most men would be lost in ecstasy at this moment, but for Damian, it was just fuel for his vengeful flames.
“Lady Rubia.”
As the tension peaked, Agnes stepped forward.
“I didn’t expect to see you again so soon, Miss Agnes.”
“I’m surprised too. But...”
Agnes grabbed Rubia’s wrist and continued.
“Could you please step away? Sir Damian is uncomfortable.”
Rubia’s expression twisted slightly at Agnes’s declaration. Like a crack in a glass mask.
Rubia de Clarent was no ordinary noble.
She was a scion of the Clarent family, which had long supported the imperial family as one of the empire’s pillars, and she herself possessed exceptional talent along with her status as the 1st Prince’s fiancée.
What about Agnes, by contrast?
The Schubert family had once served as captain of the imperial knights and held key positions in the empire, but that was ancient history.
She was exceptionally talented as a knight, but still a rookie. Moreover, she was low in her family’s hierarchy.
The gap between them was too vast for comparison.
“And you should attend the banquet with your cousin. You already have prior arrangements.”
But to Agnes right now, that was a trivial matter.
“You speak so assertively.”
“Well...”
Agnes held no sword in her hand at the moment. But her beaming smile was as resolute as when she stood on the battlefield.
“It’s because I’m his fiancée.”
A statement that should have been obvious here, yet wasn’t necessarily so.
Rubia’s obsession with Damian was a poorly kept secret.
“Hehehe. I guess my prank went a bit too far.”
Fortunately, Rubia chose to take a step back. As she pulled away from Damian, Agnes released her grip.
“Of course. With such a beautiful fiancée here, Damian would never choose me.”
She then bowed politely to everyone gathered in the banquet hall.
“I am interested in the subjugation. There are rumors of ruins in the devil worshippers’ hideout.”
It was true. Even before his regression, he had discovered those very ruins.
But he hadn’t uncovered the secret hidden there. Given Rubia’s interest, it was definitely connected to ancient magic.
“Then, enjoy the rest of your time.”
Crackle! With those words, Rubia vanished in a flash of lightning.
[You didn’t reply to my letter again today, Damian.]
Rubia’s voice echoed in his mind even after she’d left.
[You’re getting along better with that woman than I thought. Do you know? That she’s deceiving you.]
He couldn’t respond to words left so one-sidedly. Not that he wanted to.
[When I said you’d changed, I was a little worried. That your beauty might have faded... It was just my imagination. You’re plenty radiant now—more so than before.]
It felt like mosquitoes and flies buzzing in his ears. Unfortunately, Damian had no way to block it out.
[I hope you’re making good use of the gift I gave you. And remember this: the one who suits you forever is me.]
The banquet broke up naturally, thanks to Rubia’s bolt-of-lightning exit.
* * *
Damian walked the Magic Tower’s night streets with Agnes.
“Thanks for earlier. If you hadn’t stepped in, things could’ve gone really wrong.”
Without Agnes’s intervention, he might have actually lunged at Rubia.
His revenge would have remained forever out of reach.
“N-No, it’s nothing. You looked distressed, Sir Damian.”
“Was it that obvious?”
“We’ve spent enough time together. I had no idea Lady Rubia’s obsession ran that deep. I was clueless...”
Agnes had no enemies in high society.
She valued swinging her sword one more time over socializing.
As a result, she knew nothing of Damian and Rubia’s history. She only realized it today.
“I blurt out something embarrassing like ‘fiancée’ because I felt like I had to do something.”
“It’s not exactly wrong.”
“I don’t have the right to say that. Not after... deceiving you all this time.”
A shadow fell over Agnes’s face. Unlike when she spoke of swords, she couldn’t meet Damian’s eyes.
“No need to dwell on it. Noble marriages rarely involve personal feelings anyway.”
“It’s not just that.”
Agnes stopped abruptly. Her lips trembled.
“I vented my frustrations by deceiving you, Sir Damian. I felt a thrill watching you fall for it. I’m... ugly inside.”
She had lost her father to her half-brother. Her uncle, the current family head, was behind it.
It was a problem Agnes couldn’t resolve right away. So she sought an outlet.
That was Damian. She couldn’t call him her fiancé after that.
“After the attack, as I lay bedridden for days, I did a lot of thinking. That’s when I realized I still hadn’t apologized to you.”
Damian hadn’t made an issue of it. He hadn’t wanted an apology to begin with.
“But. Sharing the sword with you makes me happy, Sir Damian. I’m grateful you walk this path with me. That much is sincere. Is that... too selfish?”
Agnes looked up at Damian with eyes on the verge of tears. When he reached out, she flinched.
“It’s not. I don’t mind it either.”
Damian gently placed his hand on Agnes’s head.
“We talked about it at your place, remember? We agreed to keep this relationship going. It’s out of necessity for you, but for me too.”
Agnes called herself dishonest, but Damian was no different.
He maintained their relationship because Agnes could aid his revenge.
Anya, Saliba, Paruzan, Dylan. It was the same for all of them. He reached out because they had value.
He was convinced this path benefited everyone, but it was never about kindness or pity.
So he couldn’t condemn Agnes for it.
“...Thank you for saying that.”
Agnes smiled faintly. Moisture glistened in her eyes.
“Um... that... N-No, never mind. Let’s go. The night air is getting chilly.”
Agnes turned her head to hide her trembling expression.
Damian already knew what she wanted to say.
The fact that she agonized over it told him how she felt about him.
Knowing that, Damian decided not to rush things.
* * *
“Things got a bit messy.”
The next morning, Ezekiel rubbed his temples as he spoke.
Damian looked up at him from midway through breakfast.
To see a self-centered man like him wear such a pained expression was a novel experience.
“The Magic Tower old-timers want to see you.”
But those final words made Damian’s face mirror Ezekiel’s.