Chapter 189
It was a waste. If only he had looked at the apple sooner, he could have eaten it before it rotted. Then, he would have known what the apple tasted like. He wouldn’t have let Johann’s effort to steal it for him go to waste.
It was a sudden thought, but Herix now felt that, in this moment, he was rotting away like that apple.
No one was watching him, the rotting apple. Just like the apple that would be discarded.
The one who broke Herix’s thoughts was none other than Johann.
“Your Highness! To allow a marriage between a noble and a commoner, what are you thinking?”
Johann said, frowning as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Are you truly trying to go against the Emperor?”
To go against his father, the absolute ruler—how could that be possible? This was something Herix could never have imagined just recently.
Yet, there was a reason why Herix was making such a claim.
“That woman… was troubled.”
It had been a long time since he had spoken, and his voice was hoarse. The sound of his tongue and roof of his mouth sticking together was clear, the silence and dryness noticeable. His voice was low.
“That woman…”
Johann hesitated as if something was dawning on him, stretching out the end of his sentence. What followed was a bitter sense of regret.
“You mean… Ivonne Ulfest, the Countess who married recently?”
Just hearing her name made Herix’s heart sink. The unfamiliar sensation made him forget to respond, and he instinctively felt his chest. His pulse thudded, beating in his palm.
His heart was there, of course. But why did it feel like his insides were turning as if he were falling?
“Ah… yes.”
He answered late. His voice was rough. With the hand that had been on his chest, he wiped the back of his neck. A layer of lukewarm sweat had formed.
Johann looked at Herix, who seemed unsure of what to do next and turned his head away. It was even difficult for Johann to speak. He knew exactly what Herix was feeling toward Countess Ulfest, but that was something Herix should not be feeling.
‘To fall in love with another man’s wife.’
His lord had truly been born into a tragic fate. Of all the people to fall in love with, it had to be a woman who was married to someone else. Johann wanted to comfort him, but even that felt difficult. For comfort to work, Herix would have to realize what he must give up.
“That woman… was a commoner, right?”
“Yes.”
“So, for that woman to marry the noble Count Ulfest… Hah. Understood. I’ll manage the public opinion.”
“…Yes.”
Without saying anything more, Johann grasped the situation and left.
Herix then realized he was sitting in his office. His mind had been so scattered that he hadn’t noticed where he was.
‘I need to pull myself together.’
Rising from his seat, Herix walked straight to the small washroom in the corner of the office. He turned the faucet, and cold water poured out in a rush. Without hesitation, he shoved his head under the stream.
“Apple…”
Cold water dripped down his sharp jawline and slender cheek. The water, brushing past his muttering bottom lip, was ticklish. The thoughts he had before Johann came in, which had been lurking like a monster in the depths of his mind, began to consume him once more.
Apple, rotting apple, an apple no one had noticed, an apple that had served its purpose.
“…No.”
Herix shook his head.
“It’s been noticed…”
He opened his eyes. His reflection appeared in the sink, staring back from the water. His purple eyes, the color that had driven his life to the depths of hell.
— What a pretty color.
But it was the first time someone had told him that, that his color was beautiful.
— Oh dear, you’ve hurt your neck and legs. Who could hurt such a beautiful fox like you?
He wanted to say it then, to tell her that she was even more beautiful. But he couldn’t say it. At that moment, Herix had been the fox.
What was the problem? What had he done to anger his father? Did it even have a reason? Arnold had made Herix into a beast on a whim, mocking him.
When a human fell from grace, becoming a mere animal, losing its form, and having life denied, Herix had called that moment punishment.
That day had been one of those days. Blitzen Ulfest, who had struggled with mediocre magical talent as a child, grew into an extraordinary wizard and eventually inherited a title. The Emperor, intrigued by Blitzen’s remarkable growth, attended the succession ceremony, and Herix followed him. Even though he had been turned into a beast, chained near the Count’s estate.
While breaking the chains and returning to the estate, he stepped into a trap. Normally, he wouldn’t have made such a mistake, but the disorientation from the collar digging into his neck as he broke free had clouded his mind. Every moment had felt cursed, but that curse soon became a blessing.
Because he had met her.
— Now I see… this is a curse.
She had found him when he had been no different than a rotting apple, unnoticed and forgotten.
— A dreadful curse. If you speak of the one who cast it, the curse grows stronger. This kind of curse… only an ancient wizard could handle it.
And so, she had brought spring into the long winter that had consumed his heart.
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