Chapter 49

Episode 49: Guilt

“…you’re back.”

After a while, Kailos opened his mouth and muttered fiercely, “I cut your head off and gave it as a crow’s meal.”

The raised corners of his lips twitched as if mocking.

“It is deplorable that a loser who has already died, lives and comes back in time.”

“This time you will be the crow’s meal,” Raymond responded coldly to his opponent’s ridicule.

Having already been woven into death once, it was a funny relationship to continue showing manners.

Seeing his half-brother’s attitude that changed from what he vaguely remembered, Raymond thought he would have returned just like himself and Raymond’s idea was right.

‘Then what about Chloe?’

I remembered her pitiful appearance as she looked at me and only shed tears. Although she said it was because she was sick…….

“Chloe, is she back?”

At Raymond’s question, Kailos visibly hardened his expression.  Seeing that, Raymond was convinced.

“She must have come back too.”

“Don’t put her name in your mouth!”

Kailos cried, grinding his teeth.

“Chloe doesn’t love you. She pretended to love you, but Chloe never loved you. It’s me she loves, not you.”

“I know, Grand Duke Ludwig,”

Raymond added, looking contemptuously at his half-brother who dared to remind him of what he knew.

“But I love her.”

“You love her? Don’t talk nonsense! Chloe is the woman who sacrificed your life for me! Nevertheless, do you love Chloe?”

With an incredulous look on his face, he opened his bloodshot eyes.

“Of course, I still love her.”

Last night, Raymond stayed in the Grand Duke’s guest room and pondered over and over until daybreak.

Chloe Garnet, a woman who stifled her own breath with her slender and lovely hands. A woman who knows so well what will happen again if she chooses him.

He came all the way to see her, but couldn’t figure out what to do, so he couldn’t sleep until late at night.

He was just about to open the door, wondering if the night air would clear his head. Raymond, who stopped due to the presence of someone at the door, raised his palm as if possessed and placed it over the door.

‘Raymond…’

Raymond. At least in this Duchy, no one was fearless enough to call his name.

But why does the voice that says his name, resemble hers? She had never really called him by his first name.

‘I’m sorry, really…… I’m sorry….’

The words mixed with sobs flowed through the door. At that moment Raymond groaned slowly and closed his eyes.

Yes, Chloe. You, you’re sorry. You could not bear to convey the guilt in front of me, so you are letting go of this feeling alone like this.

“Chloe will never be happy next to you.”

It was more like a belief than a conviction. Chloe Garnet will never be happy with Kailos Ludwig.

“So I will make her happy. I’ll get her away from you, Kailos Ludwig.”

At the assertive tone, Kailos trembled.  The hostility felt in his gaze was as sharp as being stabbed, but Raymond sneered lightly.

“Do you think it’ll work as you wish?”

His squeezing voice didn’t sound very good. After finishing his meal, Raymond stood up, shaking his hand lightly.

“Raymond Del Astaroth!”

As he was about to leave the dining room, Kailos caught him.  Raymond glanced back at him with an indifferent look.

“To Chloe… You’re not saying anything weird, are you?”

“Well.”

With a brief reply, Raymond turned with a clear poisonous purpose, and immediately went to her. Once he made up his mind, he was not going to stop.

Unlike yesterday, he gently grabbed her head as she greeted him politely. Her eyes were still red, Raymond didn’t like it.

“I’m a woman of no value to Your Majesty.”

Raymond’s eyes narrowed at her disparaging remarks. Maybe she has gone back in time as well, and she knows well what her feelings are for him.

‘….. guilt.’

She’s probably pushing him away because of her gloomy feelings. That’s why Raymond couldn’t bring himself to discuss ‘love’ with her.

She had an anxious look on her face all the time. He could so clearly see what her little head was thinking that it made him let out a heavy sigh.

‘You must be worried that I might fall in love with you again.  But what to do, Chloe, I’ve already gone back in time once, and I’m still in love with you.’

Raymond knew her guilt would destroy her the moment she spoke it out.

Chloe Garnet was an incredibly innocent and tender child, it was unbelievable that she was a person under Grand Duke Ludwig.

So Raymond denied his feelings. At least he didn’t intend to show it in front of her.

Of course, lying in front of her that he doesn’t like her was more painful than he thought.

But he could put up with it. Raymond Del Astaroth was a man who could do anything for Chloe Garnet’s happiness.

“Chloe, if you need my help to be happy, tell me anything.”

In response to his low whisper, she asked him for help in less than a day.

“There’s only one thing I want.”

She said, putting poison in her pretty eyes.

“I want to twist his neck pretending to be friendly.”

Her answer to the question of whether she had found her happiness was quite absurd. As Raymond stood still, she spoke her words as if trying to elaborate a little more.

“I want revenge on him. If you use me, Your Majesty will be able to bring him down. Your Majesty, use me as bait, as Kailos has intended to do to His Majesty. I will be your bait.”

The word revenge made Raymond’s eyebrows wriggle softly.

“No, Chloe, That’s not your happiness.”

“But I…….”

Her eyes wandered and shed tears at the firm refutation.

But Raymond had no intention of breaking his will before her tears. Of course, the Grand Duke of Ludwig needed a punishment suitable for him.

Raymond doesn’t know what happened to her after his death. However, from the reaction of her and Grand Duke Ludwig, he only assumed that she was unhappy, contrary to his wishes.

He didn’t mean to ignore her desire to wrench the Grand Duke’s neck with that small hand. It is only because he knows that there is something else that must be preceded by looking at her face which was tired of long misfortunes.

“I can get you out of here if you don’t like being at my brother’s side.”

Chloe Garnet needs to be happy. In his previous life, he even gave his life for her happiness.

And yet, if she was still unhappy, Raymond was going to make her happy.

That way, I don’t think the death of my past life will be in vain.

So erase the tears from that pretty face and smile again.

“Okay, then Chloe, now let’s say it again. What do you want?”

“I want to get away from him.”

She replied, while trembling her moist, wet eyelashes.

“Then say it again, It’s not a deal, I want you to help me.”

“…please help me, Your Majesty.”

As soon as he heard the answer he wanted, a smile appeared on Raymond’s lips.

“How can I help you?”

“…….”

Chloe stared at Raymond silently for a moment. Raymond had to suppress the doubts that had raised in his head several times in the face of those eyes.

‘What on earth has happened since my death that you want to run away from the man you loved? The man who ruined you, whom you loved, what sin has he committed to make him so desperate for you?’

He was curious, but didn’t intend to ask. As soon as he asks her, she will know that he has travelled back in time.

“I’m going to lie a little. Please cooperate only once. I want to leave the castle, but Kailos doesn’t want that. No matter how much you say, you can’t get me out without a good reason.”

“Yes.”

“So I’m going to make a good reason out of it. I need your help in that lie.”

Raymond immediately recognized what lies she was telling. But he never thought she would suggest the method first.

“About ten days later, I will tell him that I have a child of His Majesty.”

Chloe said, while gritting her teeth. What did she think of when she thought of this lie? Raymond clenched his fist, thinking perhaps she was thinking of the same scene as him.

‘Estelle….What happened to Estelle after that, Chloe?’

The question he had been ignoring all along echoed in his heart.

“The roots of the Duchy flowers that grow in the alpine regions west of the empire slow the menstrual cycle and cause symptoms similar to those of pregnancy. It must be hard, but if you get it and take it, even the doctor of the Duchy won’t be suspicious.”

“I’ll get it for you.”

It was a clear answer that came out without having to reconsider, but she hesitated and looked around. When Raymond was wondering, she said timidly,

“Of course, once I have escaped from the Duchy, I will find my way and leave immediately to avoid harm to His Majesty. Just ten days…  …  Even if I don’t have a child, please stay by my side so he believes it.”

Her troubles were so cute that Raymond burst into laughter.

“Who do you think I am?”

“Yes…?”

Blinking her bewildered eyes, she was exactly what he remembered.

“You alone won’t cause me any harm or trouble. So you only think about your happiness.”

“Oh… “

The softly flushed cheeks were so lovely that Raymond touched the ends of her hair for a long time with a relaxed expression.