RAMHM Chapter 108

Hell for Hell

After the historically spectacular Emperor's birthday celebration—after its final day, the capital's atmosphere turned into the complete opposite: thin ice.

The day Novian Trovika, who held criminal status, entered the palace by the Emperor's mercy, he attempted to assassinate the Crown Prince, his own lord.

Rumors spread that to curse the Crown Prince who couldn't protect him, he had preserved the corpses of the victims from the missing women case—evidence of his own crimes—beneath the Crown Prince's palace.

Rumors are truly fickle and terrifying things—the vicious rumors about Novian swelled in an instant.

Novian Trovika, who coveted corpses.

Since Adrienne Pirreta, whom he'd fallen for at first sight, had been famous for her fragile health, rumors that he'd waited for her death to preserve her corpse sent shockwaves through noble society.

If the imperial command to remain silent during the investigation hadn't fallen, these rumors would have spread beyond the capital throughout the entire empire.

And the birthday celebration's protagonist, struck by a bolt from the blue sky.

Emperor Julius was collapsing after receiving Baroness Kuroseida's corpse that Rhodness had brought to the audience chamber.

"All the other corpses will be compared with portraits from existing missing persons cases and returned home."

The dazed Emperor gave no answer.

Rhodness was similarly somewhat out of it, so Vincento, standing beside him, read the rest of the report aloud.

When the report reached the section about Adrienne, Rhodness, who had been maintaining silence, immediately explained.

"To detail the testimony of the guard protecting the Crown Prince's bedchamber more precisely: Countess Acacia entered the bedroom saying she had urgent word related to the Grand Duke, and soon after, the Grand Duke came seeking audience with the Crown Prince. So the Countess was merely present at the scene—she's a victim."

"How many times have I heard that story now? You said the Countess had a prior engagement with you, so you came to fetch her? She'd already sensed something was wrong."

The Emperor's face had turned deathly pale.

"Are you certain it was Novian who stabbed Bardenaldo?"

"...Yes."

His wrinkled mouth twisted painfully.

"Who killed Baroness Kuroseida..."

Rhodness's mouth, which had been answering promptly, closed.

The Emperor, whose gaze had been nailed to Baroness Kuroseida's glass coffin, turned his head toward Rhodness with flashing eyes.

"Was it Novian, as the rumors say? Or... was it Bardenaldo?"

"..."

Sometimes silence substitutes for all answers.

The Emperor staggered for a moment.

Rhodness didn't support him, simply watched quietly.

The moment Emperor Julius received yesterday's news, he had flown into a rage and stormed into the Crown Prince's bedchamber. But upon seeing the portrait of Empress Letina hanging at the entrance, he froze as if struck by lightning, then turned back and left.

If Crown Prince Bardenaldo had kidnapped and even murdered Baroness Kuroseida...

The Emperor leaned over the glass coffin, catching his breath for a long while before unsteadily regaining his balance.

"Rhoan."

"Yes."

"...I'll understand it to mean it was Novian Trovika's doing."

The Emperor's intention was clear.

His will to use Novian 'Trovika' to cover Bardenaldo 'Ronteaux's' sins.

"Your brother's mad actions have already been sufficiently punished by your uncle's blade."

"..."

"I just came from seeing him. You've been watching over Bardenaldo constantly too, so you know. That boy could die at any moment now."

"..."

"Damned wretch. This devil of a... Ah..."

Looking at Baroness Kuroseida's corpse, the Emperor clutched his chest as if suffocating and slowly sank down.

"However mad his actions were, he's still your brother and my son. If by some chance the Lord takes him... can you let his final path be dishonorable?"

Ah.

What profound paternal love this was.

If Novian Trovika, who had devoted his life to the Emperor, heard this, he would beat his chest and pour out curses.

"Think of your dead mother. If even Bardenaldo can't become Letina's light, how will my poor Letina be remembered by posterity?"

He meant that Rhodness was Letina's darkness, and if history recorded that after the ominous Rhodness, even Bardenaldo went mad, there would be no glory in Letina's death.

Rhodness looked at the Emperor embracing Baroness Kuroseida's coffin and praying.

Julius's face, immersed in grief, seemed to grow more and more distant from him until it became a dot.

The face of a father praying, unaware he'd spoken aloud the true feelings he'd kept pressed in his heart, looked unfamiliar.

The splendid, comfortable palace. His loving family, regardless of others' gazes.

What a life lived in so many delusions.

As the illusion he'd been standing on shattered with a crash, Rhodness fell endlessly downward.

And he barely managed to lock away the grief that threatened to burst forth.

After watching his sobbing father for a long while, Rhodness left the audience chamber without a word.

The deeply cast shadow followed his soundless steps, stretching long across the corridor before vanishing.

Crown Prince Bardenaldo's condition was critical.

The wound in his back that I'd inflicted was quite deep, but not fatal.

I'd stabbed him with my returned body, so I hadn't had sufficient strength, and it wasn't really a vital spot—with bleeding stopped and proper rest, it was a wound that could heal sufficiently.

But Novian's stab to the chest was serious—the blood loss was substantial and it was near a vital point, so Bardenaldo fainted several times from the tremendous pain while they extracted the dagger.

All the palace physicians were summoned to examine him, but most shook their heads.

They poured every rare medicine down his throat, so all they could do was pray for a miracle to occur—that was the best they could manage.

While Rhodness went to report the general situation, I stood guard by the Crown Prince's side.

Unable to possibly lay him in the Crown Prince's bedchamber in that chaotic state, Bardenaldo had been moved to a nearby villa after receiving only emergency treatment.

Bardenaldo's face with closed eyes was peaceful, as if last night's events were a nightmare—he even looked angelic.

Click. I heard the sound of the bedroom door opening carefully.

"Your Majesty...!"

"Shh."

Entering with Epero's escort was Empress Grace.

She looked momentarily surprised seeing me with golden hair, then walked silently to look down at Bardenaldo's face, worried he might wake.

Epero stopped at the door and didn't approach further. His expression was somewhat bewildered.

"I heard about his condition on the way, but where is the Crown Princess while the Countess guards this place?"

"I sent word to Her Highness the Princess immediately, but still..."

When I trailed off in difficulty, Empress Grace's expression, which had been keeping her voice low, also darkened.

She pressed her lips tightly and fell into thought for a moment before patting my shoulder encouragingly.

That's when it happened.

"Huk, gasp!"

The Crown Prince, who happened to regain consciousness just then, let out a startled cry upon seeing me.

Empress Grace hurriedly turned to him.

"Crown Prince. Are you conscious?"

"That woman, why is that woman...!"

"Isn't she Countess Acacia, the Crown Prince's assistant?"

"No. No, that woman is Ad-, Adrienne...!"

Bardenaldo thrashed his body, which couldn't move properly.

At the same time, pain must have found him because he clutched his chest, which had been firmly wrapped in bandages several times, and cried out in agony.

"Adrienne, Adrienne Pirreta..."

"..."

Empress Grace stepped back for a moment and shook her head at me in my silence.

The sight of someone who'd barely survived death trembling in fear while calling a dead person's name wasn't very pleasant.

"I came after hearing I could visit now... but His Grace still seems very unwell. Please understand, Countess. You dyed your hair golden, so he's confusing you with the deceased Grand Duchess."

"I understand."

The moment the somewhat dazed-looking Bardenaldo met my eyes as I finished my answer and slid my gaze away, he began trembling.

I smiled at him kindly.

"Since I'm Your Highness's assistant, I'll keep watch until Her Highness the Crown Princess arrives. Your Majesty."

"Would you do that?"

Perhaps finding it distasteful to stay longer with the Crown Prince in that state, Empress Grace—who had always feared the Crown Prince—brightened.

Epero, who had been standing at a distance watching us, escorted Empress Grace again. He seemed to have something to say to me, his mouth moving slightly before he finally left the room.

I pulled a nearby chair to the bedside and sat only after the bedroom door completely closed.

Bardenaldo squirmed, trying to get away from me despite having nowhere to escape.

"Gh-ghost... Ghost... You're definitely a ghost. Get away."

"I'll be going to testify soon."

The red hair that had been shaking stopped moving for an instant.

"I discovered the Grand Duke Novian Trovika's secret and noticed it was connected to Baroness Kuroseida. So I came to the Crown Prince's bedchamber in the middle of the night to report."

Bardenaldo's eyes, which had been unable to tear away from the lips producing the voice—as if amazed I was alive and moving—changed from terror to puzzlement.

"The underground chamber beneath the Crown Prince's palace was actually a space the Crown Prince didn't even know existed, and it was all arranged by Grand Duke Novian Trovika, who knew of that space's existence and brought the corpses he'd hidden in my estate through a secret passage to curse the Crown Prince."

"Wh-what are you trying to s-say..."

"Since His Majesty the Emperor's worries about the Baroness run deep, I thought time was of the essence and sought the Crown Prince's palace. And Novian Trovika, anxious that I who knew the secret might disclose it to the Crown Prince, chased after me and ultimately tried to kill both the Crown Prince who learned the truth and me as well."

The parched lips that had been trembling stopped abruptly.

The Crown Prince no longer trembled and stared at me speaking calmly.

"If Second Prince Rhodness hadn't come, I would have died. Everything was Novian Trovika's doing, and Crown Prince Bardenaldo is merely a victim."

"..."

"...What do you think of testifying like this?"

Subtle agitation rippled across the Crown Prince's previously docile face.

"...What do you want?"

His eyes looked as if he'd sell his soul to a ghost or demon as long as his wrongdoing wasn't revealed.

I barely managed to smoothly pull up the corners of my mouth that wanted to twist with surging contempt.

"The truth."

Even though I'd stated what I wanted, his eyes—unable to understand what I meant—scrutinized my expression thoroughly.

The thought that he himself might die doesn't exist for this monster. And I was pleased by that.

"A truth that if Adrienne Pirreta knew, would make her fall backward."

A monster's way for a monster.

Could there be a clearer demand for a monster who doesn't care about others' suffering?

"Everything in that underground chamber belongs to the Saint of Ronteaux, Crown Prince Bardenaldo."

"!"

"To keep those words from coming out of my mouth, speak properly."

And there could be no better threat than this.

The monster's expression upon receiving notice of exposure wavered and distorted like a candle flame about to go out.

Beneath his disheveled clothing, Bardenaldo's face—flushed red from neck to ear tips—didn't show the anger of someone about to confess secrets.

"Poor Adrienne Pirreta."

His slowly rising mouth corners stretched long like a demon permitted to claw me to death.

"Adrienne Pirreta who died without knowing she was destined to become the Crown Prince's mistress."

I clenched my hands tightly, suppressing the urge to slap his cheek.

"Such a thing..."

The eyes looking down at me while lying down now gleamed just as they had underground even here on the surface.

"...Did you think I planned it without your father's consent?"

The dying demon spit out each word with the single-minded determination to repay the hell I'd given him with hell of his own, one by one.

"...What?"

"Would you just fall backward if you knew? You'd want to find Duke Pirreta, your father, right now and strangle him."

Bardenaldo stood at death's threshold, and I was the one who'd died and come back to life.

"Still, will you listen, Aunt-in-law?"

At the unexpected form of address, somewhere in my reason snapped clean off. Why was I the one finding it hard to breathe?