Come and Cry at My Funeral - Chapter 242

It had already been three years since Van Dike gave up life as a knight.

No longer the dignified figure of a knight he once was, he now wandered the provinces like a rough, raw-edged mercenary.

Yet even he, just this year, had secretly entered the capital and often watched from a distance the new manor House Procyon had established there.

And today was no different. He stood atop a hill, overlooking the district where noble estates clustered.

‘I hope she’s doing well…’

As the price for deceiving his former master, he could no longer see his family for the rest of his life. He had never once regretted the choice, but sometimes, he thought of his younger sister, to whom he hadn’t even managed to provide a proper dowry.

‘Maybe… it’s even more because of the madam…’

His sister had longed to enter the capital’s high society as the lady of a noble house. He had wanted to give her that chance.

Now that time had passed, he had mustered the courage to secretly send her a ‘gift’.

But unlike the bustle that came with his sister’s family settling down, today felt… off.

At first, he heard the sound of people crying. And then, even from a distance, he could see the white ribbons tied to silver bells fluttering in the manor’s garden.

“…What…?”

Those signified preparations for a funeral before the priest had arrived.

Which meant—someone had died suddenly.

‘Whose funeral is it…?’

A chill ran through Van’s heart as he looked down at the increasingly ominous manor. His sister hadn’t been in the best of health to begin with. Could her health have rapidly declined from the strain of moving to the capital?

Or had the newborn niece or nephew died?

‘I’ll just… take a quick look and go.’

Just close enough to catch a bit of what people were saying… to find out who had died.

Then he would turn around immediately.

Hiding his face beneath a hood, he rushed toward the source of the commotion. What if the first time he saw his family again… it was in death?

That fear made him careless.

And that carelessness caught his ankle in a dark alley—and brought him face-to-face with a brawl against his former comrades.

Though he had once been a knight, as a mercenary he could no longer best the younger knights who were armed with finer weapons.

“Guh—! Haa…!”

It took a bit of time, but in the end, he was forced to his knees on the dirt floor, both arms bound. His stomach and arms. There was no doubt something had broken.

Even so, through the searing pain in his vision, one man’s voice rang out with brutal clarity.

“You’re still loyal to your people, I see. That hasn’t changed, Sir Dike.”

“Ah…!”

“No, you’re not even a knight anymore, are you? You were supposed to be a corpse.”

Van strained to lift his head toward the voice. The moment he saw his former master after so long, he flinched reflexively.

He’d heard the rumors that ever since Van left the territory in secret, his old master had been turning the land upside down, searching for the madam.

But he hadn’t expected the man’s face to be in such a state.

“I asked several times about Freesia’s whereabouts at the Procyon estate… And every time, they shamelessly answered that they didn’t know.”

“……”

“And yet, they come to the capital using imperial funds?”

At those words, Van’s gaze fell to the sword at Izar’s waist.

Was that the reason for the funeral…?

“D-Don’t tell me. My sister… you didn’t…”

“Would I bother?”

Izar let out a dry, scornful laugh.

For a small, inconsequential house, if Izar personally ‘visited’ and shook life and death in the palm of his hand, nothing was impossible. In the end, the woman who knew how her husband had secured the funds confessed everything—for the sake of sparing her husband’s life.

〈Where is that bastard now?〉

〈Forgive me! I only received his letters… Please, Duke, I beg you to believe me!〉

〈…Then let’s see if he won’t show up even if his sister dies. We’ll wait and see.〉

Even the most cautious man would lose his reason when forced to stage a funeral for his family out of nowhere.

Izar took a step closer to the man who had betrayed him.

‘The last man Freesia chose.’

That alone was reason enough to die. But before killing this man, there were things he needed to know.

For example…

“…What kind of relationship did the two of you end on?”

Did Freesia die whispering words of love in that bastard’s arms? The mere thought scorched his guts like black flames.

But Van shook his head firmly at the question.

“The Madam… I merely, on my own accord, devoted my chivalry to her!”

“Hah…”

“I never committed a single act that would disgrace you, Milord. I swear it before Adamant Himself.”

“It’s too late to be spewing that nonsense after stealing away my wife.”

Izar let out a grim laugh. At least, he meant it to be a laugh, but to others, it sounded empty, stripped of all feeling.

“Where did you take Freesia? Was it Deneb?”

“No. She never went to Deneb. She… headed to the capital.”

“…To the capital?”

“Yes…”

Van lowered his head weakly.

“The day she left the Duchy, those who came to fetch her were already waiting at the border.”

“……”

“So I thought… I assumed the imperial family had already informed her of the arrangements. I simply… parted with her after making sure the ones escorting her would take her safely to the palace.”

Izar stared at the bowed Van with eyes that seemed to fixate on a far-off place.

The imperial family had known Freesia was coming all along. But if that were true, the Emperor wouldn’t have flown into such a rage, slaughtering those who failed to prevent his granddaughter’s disappearance.

Which meant…

〈It’s time we held that child’s funeral.〉

The Imperial Prince had lied to him.