Chapter 286
Only after the pale-faced messenger departed did peace finally settle over his surroundings. Gently holding the woman’s hand in both of his, he whispered,
“Freesia. Was I too noisy?”
The sleeping woman gave him no answer. He was glad not to have disturbed her peace, but still, he felt a tinge of bitterness that she did not awaken.
He wanted to see her wide, round eyes looking at him…
But, kissing the back of her hand, he changed his mind.
“…No, it’s fine. You can wake up whenever you want.”
She could rest as long as she liked before waking. This time, he would be the one to wait.
He wanted more than anything to be right there the moment she opened her eyes. Perhaps, if the memories of those sorrowful days returned, she would awaken in anger toward him.
Perhaps she would resent him, telling him she never wanted to see him again.
“But that’s all right…”
Because it would be far better for her to awaken and curse him than never to have the chance to say ‘I love you’ at all.
So he could wait. For as long as it took.
But the world would not simply let Izar remain by her side.
* * *
The Emperor was genuinely bewildered by Izar’s reaction. He sent messenger after messenger, but as Izar had said, he sent each one back with only their head.
As one noble household after another fell, and more lands were covered in black ash, Izar shut his ears to it all.
Only then did the Emperor, now desperate, send messages of genuine consolation and urgent pleas, but there was no way to move a man whose desire for honor had already been broken.
“How long do you intend to go on like this?”
So when Albireo Deneb came to see him, Izar had no intention of even looking his way.
Albireo stared at Izar, who stubbornly ignored him, with troubled eyes.
Where had the once-intimidating duke gone? Now, he only appeared peaceful, brushing his lady’s hair.
That quiet madness was frightening even for Albireo, but he took it upon himself to deliver reality, even if it meant dying for it.
“Soon the enemy will threaten even the capital. What you defeated in the south was only a fraction, Duke. Please, I beg you, join the fight one last time.”
“……”
“If you simply do nothing—”
At that, Izar quietly cut him off. His voice was calm, but his cold eyes were filled with hostility.
“You once set your eyes on my woman at a banquet.”
Thinking back on it, a quiet wave of anger washed over Izar.
As soon as his wife became beautiful, there were men who immediately showed interest, men like this blond one before him. Did he think Izar didn’t notice those curious, friendly eyes fixed on his wife?
“I still regret not pulling out your eyes out of those sockets back then.”
“Your Grace…!”
“I’m only restraining myself now because I owe you a debt.”
If not for the wild berries his wife had wanted, he would have already cut off this man’s head and sent it back, just like the others.
“…If you do nothing, the enemy will come after your wife’s remains first!”
But Albireo, caught off guard at having his old interest exposed, called out in a hushed voice.
“You led the suppression of the rebels…! What the enemy will most desire as spoils is your wife’s corpse.”
“……”
“Isn’t that what you’re expecting? She is your wife, after all!”
At those words, Izar’s jaw tightened.
Why did everyone seem so desperate to trample his last bit of hope by insisting that she was dead? But just before he drew his sword, her image flashed across his golden eyes.
Scars, hidden beneath the hem of her dress, running all the way down to her ankles.
Her upper body, though mended by magic, once shattered and broken.
Why had she been so wounded? Why had she bled so much on the cold ground…?
〈Freesia!〉
Once, he had run to her on the surface, clutching that small body to him.
Desperately trying to gather up the blood flowing onto the earth, he had called her name again and again.
He could not understand what more the world could take from such a small woman that so much blood should be shed.
“……”
His golden eyes, as he gazed at the sleeping woman, wavered like ripples across the surface of water.
In truth, he had already known.
His woman. Freesia. She’s…
Albireo, facing Izar’s silence, spoke again.
“Move your wife to a safer place.”
“……”
“There is a suitable location in the materials left by His Highness the Imperial Prince. With the magic there, it would be easier to protect her remains than here—”
But he could not finish his words.
The duke bowed his head toward the woman, his shoulders trembling intermittently. Then, he burst out in a fit of laughter, the kind only a beast might make.
At first, Albireo thought it was laughter. But before long, he realized.
The sound of pain-filled howling and the sound of a man gone mad are not so easily distinguished.
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