Wrapping Up
“Ah……”
Like a flower petal drying up and withering away, Euphemia, who had been sitting there in a deathlike trance, finally stirred from her comatose state and staggered to her feet.
It was 8 a.m…… After a grueling major surgery that had lasted a full 11 hours, the ordeal was finally over.
Ferzen von Schweig Brutein emerged from the operating room.
Lying on the stretcher, his face was haggard, pallid, utterly drained of any color.
“The surgery is complete. The anesthesia will wear off in about three hours, but it may take much longer—perhaps days—for consciousness to return. Absolute rest is essential. Even if she awakens midway, you must sedate her again.”
Countless IV fluids dripped steadily into his veins, seeping slowly into his body.
The man who had always been so noble and dignified, at times terrifying and imperious……
Who could have imagined he could appear this frail?
With blurred vision, Euphemia quietly followed behind as Ferzen was wheeled into the hospital room.
“Then, we shall take our leave……”
To allow him undisturbed rest, the physicians—looking half-dead themselves—bowed deeply and exited the room.
Left alone with him, Euphemia fetched a chair from nearby, sat down beside Ferzen, and bowed her head low.
Even during the surgery, she had been like this, and now that it was over, she remained just as lost—a child adrift, anxious and confused.
The old Euphemia would never have been this way.
The proud, tenacious woman who had once led Ruerg would not have faltered in the face of such adversity; she would have stepped forward calmly and resolutely.
But the Euphemia tamed by Ferzen no longer knew how to take a step on her own.
Trapped in his cage, all she had learned was……
Surrender.
Submission.
Yielding.
And the lewd arts to please a man.
No, not just any man.
The arts to please Ferzen—her husband.
Yes, stripped of her very sense of self, all that remained for Euphemia was……
The time she had spent as Ferzen von Schweig Brutein's wife.
Her own colors had faded into oblivion, blending inseparably with those he had draped over her.
Not just her body, but her heart now bore his unmistakable imprint.
His touch lingered in every corner……
She was, quite literally, a cherished possession of the man named Ferzen.
That was why, even as the cage door that had confined her for so long creaked faintly open, Euphemia could not—did not—flee.
Instead, the habit of following him, leashed and pulled along, had become second nature……
She circled his fallen form, yearning for Ferzen to grasp the leash once more and lead her as always.
Get up soon…… End this moment, somehow……
She prayed desperately.
“……”
Perhaps because the surgery had gone well, exhaustion finally caught up to her body, which could have collapsed at any moment, bringing a wave of drowsiness.
Euphemia slowly rested her head beside Ferzen and nuzzled her cheek against him like a child.
……His scent wafted clearly.
……His body heat seeped through vividly.
Each time, a serene sense of relief washed over her……
And Euphemia naturally closed her eyes, slipping into a deep sleep.
Once, the woman who led Ruerg was no longer here.
All that remained was a fledgling bird, wings clipped, domesticated and bound to one man.
Day 2 after surgery, as Ferzen lapsed into a coma.
The Second Prince and First Prince of the Ernes Empire visited.
Day 3.
Imperial Princess Elizabeth of the Ernes Empire visited.
Day 5.
Nobles lingering in the capital for the banquet visited.
Day 7.
The Emperor and Empress of the Ernes Empire visited.
Day 8.
Uriel Wayne Daina Alfred came.
Immediately after, the quiet words “That little bastard……” echoed softly.
Day 10.
Ferzen did not awaken.
Day 12.
……Jeremiah von Berem Brutein, head of the Brutein family, arrived in the capital.
Jeremiah von Berem Brutein—Ferzen's older brother and current head of the Brutein family—gazed up at the cloudless sky as he made his way to an audience with the Emperor of the Ernes Empire.
‘Little brother……’
Ferzen von Schweig Brutein.
His younger brother had always been peculiar, even as a child.
It was true when he refused to wean from the wet nurse.
True when he finally learned to roll over and crawl.
Come to think of it, from the moment he began toddling around……
His mother.
His father.
Even he and the retainers……
It had been a grave mistake not to notice the signals Ferzen was sending.
In the end, when the immature child Ferzen gouged out his own eyes in a desperate act……
The family tried to cover it up and distanced themselves from him.
They granted him a freedom called neglect.
Unlike Jeremiah, born with mana and destined for the headship, Ferzen's claim was revoked.
Deprived of his parents' love, the boy became a stain the family could only hide.
Jeremiah still remembered it vividly.
Right after the incident, locked in his room…… Ferzen, refusing food and water, self-harming.
And…… when his OCD finally spared his eyes, the first radiant smile, the tears and sobs crying, “Thank goodness……”
Of course, Jeremiah had been too terrified back then to face him.
But as he grew into an adult, he came to understand the boy's loneliness and isolation.
Yes, though he couldn't comprehend the OCD itself, Jeremiah could fully empathize with the pain it brought.
So, awkwardly, he accepted Ferzen's congratulations—and apology—at his own coming-of-age ceremony.
But…… the boy was devoured by his OCD once more.
And afterward, he thrashed about in desperate rebellion.
Jeremiah knew.
He couldn't not know.
The sad, cursed habits Ferzen had forged in fierce resistance to his OCD.
Mental illness cannot be cured.
It can only be overcome.
But the boy had failed.
Surrendering at the end, eking out a life through unhappy compromises.
His spilled sins could no longer be forgiven merely as symptoms of mental illness; sympathy and pity were beyond reach.
Yet…… Jeremiah was his only blood kin.
His brother. His family.
Even after becoming head of Brutein, he hadn't known what to do for a boy who needed nothing.
But for the first time, the boy had asked for help.
Begging desperately for justification to take as his wife a woman immune to his OCD flare-ups.
So Jeremiah dug through old ledgers, unearthed traces of funds funneled to Ruerg, and handed them to Ferzen.
Euphemia el Lerenne Ruerg.
He felt no small regret toward her……
But even as head of Brutein, his arm bent inward.
“……”
This incident was surely an extension of that.
Jeremiah knew the name Ciel Midford too.
“Is Your Majesty…… within?”
“Yes! He awaits Marquis Jeremiah.”
At the knight's words guarding the throne room doors, Jeremiah took a short breath and pushed them open.
There sat the sun upon the throne of the Ernes Empire.
“Jeremiah von Berem Brutein comes before His Imperial Majesty.”
Perhaps Ferzen, attending the banquet as lord of Ruerg, had intended to sever ties with Brutein.
He could not tarnish the family's traditions.
‘Ferzen……’
The family's sore thumb, my one and only brother in this world.
Even now, those memories keep me from meeting your eyes squarely, laced with fear……
But how could I, who monopolized everything you deserved, turn away from you as you wail in your first desperate plea for affection?
To you, who never leaned on family or house……
This shall be the first love I extend.
“You must have much to say…… We shall hear you first.”
“Brutein intends to intervene in this war of succession by lending the fief of Ruerg. But know this is but a facade.”
“Your true intent differs……”
“Indeed. To stabilize imperial authority, do you not plan to bind the daughter of Count Aslan—the leader of the northern nobles who have long eyed the center—to the princes?”
“……”
“Ruerg shall be the foothold to pacify those northern lands. To that end, Ruerg required achievements to embellish it, leading to this decision.”
For the greater good of loyalty's path.
Thus spoke Jeremiah.
But the Emperor knew.
That Brutein sought to bury a single transgression……
Stuffing ears and blinding eyes of all.
Even he upon the throne was no exception.
This defied history, yet demanded no record in its annals……
A proclamation from the imperial crown.
The Emperor, who even as sovereign must look up to that towering giant's will, silently covered his ears and closed his eyes.
Thus, the Empire fell silent.
“How did it go……”
As Jeremiah departed the throne room, the Emperor turned wearily to his daughter—Elizabeth.
Her sole question to Jeremiah had been this:
Was there even a shred of falsehood in his words?
And Jeremiah's true heart……
“Even if the world weighs one scale, and my family the other…… the world would be far lighter.”
“……”
“Such was the mind of Jeremiah von Berem Brutein.”
“I see. So it is……”
This confirmed Ferzen's actions as solitary.
Yet Jeremiah, head of Brutein, chose to embrace rather than abandon him.
Brutein would bear one deviation……
But none would hear, see, or speak of it.
Even so, knowing Brutein harbored no other schemes.
No ambition to seize the Empire.
For that alone, the Emperor's heart eased.
“Is this the end……”
“You must soon meet the elder of the Alfred family.”
“Ah…… yes.”
Thinking he had merely forgotten, the Emperor rose from the throne.
Yet facing Brutein had made the name Alfred feel like a mere child.
Day 14.
Ferzen finally rose from his sickbed.