My Ruin to You - Chapter 136

“No. I don’t understand. At first, I thought it was just a plan to implicate me in that experiment to blackmail me, but it doesn’t make sense.”

For a moment, she just shook her head vaguely. Then, her blurred eyes turned towards Valen.

“For that plan to be perfect, the plague actually had to break out, didn’t it?”

The pieces finally fell into place. A hollow laugh escaped Roseline as the realization struck her. The plague was an accident. A sudden accident that occurred precisely when he had planned it. In other words, it was an event that was bound to happen someday, if not that day.

Ah, just how stupid was I? How could I have ever thought this man was perfect? He’s this twisted.

It’s pitiful. The thought struck her that she, who had waited for the Emperor and dreamed of a future without him, was utterly pathetic. It suddenly occurred to her. Wouldn’t the greatest revenge against him be loss itself?

“Right, I thought about it. I can think about things, you know.”

“…….”

“But I didn’t do it. Okay? So please, just calm down.”

A soothing, hushed voice, a face twisted with worry.

His flickering gaze even looked quite anxious. As he took one step forward, Roseline took two steps back. When her back met the cold, hard wall with no more room to retreat, the uneasily swirling magical energy around her began to surge. As if the anxiety had transferred to him, his pupils dilated.

“Merrick!”

Valen shouted loudly towards the outside of the cell. It was the first time he had ever raised his voice like this. His low voice echoed as if creating a reverberation, and the floor vibrated faintly. The reason for calling Merrick was obvious. Since she wouldn’t listen, his scheme was undoubtedly to put her to sleep again.

Roseline squeezed her eyes shut. She wanted to e***t a protective barrier, but the wildly fluctuating magical energy made even that simple task difficult. As Roseline staggered, a startled Valen abruptly grabbed her arm. Roseline jerked her arm away as if having a spasm and thrashed out.

“……Don’t touch my body. Don’t lay a hand on me.”

In contrast to her precarious stance, as if she might shatter at any moment, the eyes now tinged with a rising red glow were clearer than ever before. A red glow. That light was not the magical energy of a healing affinity.

“Calm your magic, Roseline. Okay? I won’t do anything. I’ll just watch until you’re calm and then go. So please, Roseline, just……!”

The man, who always maintained flawless composure, was now beset with anxiety and unease, unsure what to do. As if he was terrified that Roseline might break apart completely.

As if to show he wouldn’t touch her without permission, he showed his palms to Roseline and stepped back. “Dammit, Merrick!” he called out again, raising his voice to find Merrick. Urgent footsteps could be heard faintly from afar. Roseline’s magical energy surged a little more, rough and sharp, as if it might consume her at any moment.

Valen’s pupils also began to tinge with red.

“Stop. You don’t only have Schnitzel.”

Driven to the peak of anxiety, he played the card most certain to shake Roseline’s heart. As he always had, he desperately wished for Roseline to be drawn in according to his will.

Roseline’s gaze stopped. A silence flowed, punctuated only by the sound of her trembling breath, which seemed on the verge of breaking. It was then.

“But you… have no one but me.”

The words he had thrown became a spark that rapidly spread. The magical energy floating in the air surged toward Roseline all at once, and a flash erupted. A red glow swallowed Roseline whole. She was reflected in his pupils—Roseline, engulfed, as if swallowed by flames, by the magical energy.

It was a rampage.

“No, Roseline.”

The moment he reached out, Roseline’s body went limp and collapsed. Valen hurriedly caught and held her. Her face, drained of color, was pale and bloodless, and a stream of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

“……Your Highness.”

Merrick, who had rushed over, stopped before the iron bars, unable to bring himself to enter. The red aura had subsided, but a fragile tension, as if something might shatter, hung in the room.

“Get anyone, anyone from the healing affinity. Quickly.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Merrick bowed his head with a grave expression and turned away. Valen did not look back. He only looked down at Roseline, fading away in his arms.

“It’s okay. Just hold on a little. Everything will be alright.”

It was a promise to himself as well. Roseline blinked her heavy eyelids and stared at him. His expression was miserably contorted, his eyes completely red.

He was crying, silently and quietly. My God, this man is crying. I made this man cry.

Roseline let out a very small laugh.

“……It’s you.”

“Don’t speak.”

“I take it back… what I said… about it not being love.”

“Roseline.”

“How can this… not be love? You’re crying……”

Roseline raised her hand with great difficulty. As her fingers touched his tear-streaked cheek, Valen clasped her hand as if caressing the most precious thing in the world and kissed it.

“Just a little. Okay? Just hold on a little longer.”

“What do we do? I’m the one… ending it……”

“Roseline, please.”

Plop. The moment a hot teardrop splashed onto the ring, Roseline closed her eyes.

“……You should hurt enough to die, too.”

We should never have met.

That final phrase clawed at his heart for a long, long time.