TMLOH 136

Chapter : 136

The dark scenery was already eerie, but layered upon itself, it became so ominous and grim that it was terrifying.

‘If you’re going to kill me, please at least make it painless.’

I was muttering a pointless wish when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the Regent Duke’s exhausted face.

‘Eh?’

I’d expected him to radiate a murderous, oppressive aura as if he might attack me at any second. But there was no sign of scolding or anger at all, and without realizing it, my tension eased. And then—

‘Something’s different.’

Unlike his usual sharp, poised demeanor, he looked tired and tormented.

What was going on?

“So,”

His calm green eyes settled on me.

“What’s your impression after seeing my true bottom?”

I couldn’t help sighing. I had suspected something after seeing the state of this room.

“Why are you living like this?”

Ludwig laughed.

“Well now, why am I living like this? I’m curious about that myself.”

That wasn’t an answer at all.

When I stared at him irritably, the Regent Duke released the hand he was holding and patted my head.

“Don’t come here again.”

“Why not?”

“This isn’t scenery a child should see.”

A strangely normal statement?

Startled, I widened my eyes. While he carefully examined my face, the Regent Duke suddenly asked:

“Are you afraid of me too?”

I blinked quietly.

At first, I had been scared…

‘But not anymore.’

Instead of answering, I glanced around the room and asked:

“Where’s my mother?”

“She’s not here.”

“Why?”

“She ran away because she hated me.”

Ran away…?

Did that mean she was still alive?

“She’s a truly cruel woman. To deny me even a scrap of her heart, even a piece of her own shell, she fled to a place I could neither follow nor reach.”

His muttering, which mixed laughter and tears, scorn and self-derision, made my head spin.

“Will you run away too? Because you hate me?”

“I do hate you…”

I had been planning to push him away coldly and run off, but when he asked it like that, I couldn’t bring myself to say it.

An expression I had never seen before.

Looking into eyes shredded and wounded, it was somehow hard to firmly say, ‘Yes, I’m going back.’

As if he had already read my hesitation, he smiled knowingly and returned to his cold expression. That only made my feelings stranger.

For the first time, this man looked like a living human being.

And then—

‘I’m really curious now.’

What on earth had happened between my mother and this man?

“Did you really love her?”

For a moment, Ludwig said nothing, his gaze deepening.

“Well.”

Perhaps because the room was plastered with Sione’s traces, his cool voice today rang even lower and deeper.

“Someone once told me that whatever that was, it wasn’t love.”

* * *

Ludwig had been a man who could have anything, and yet wanted nothing.

Until he was seventeen, until he met Sione Sigria Halbern.

The might of Paital was rooted in the blessing of a forgotten ancient god, and so the imperial family obsessed over pure bloodlines.

Despite the many side effects from frequent inbreeding and fixation on blood, the Imperial Law stating “Only bloodlines bearing the god’s blessing may become Emperor and Empress” endured.

Ludwig was the flawless successor of such a Paital.

“If only this were an ability rather than a blessing, we wouldn’t have to suffer like this.”

The mania plaguing the imperial family had twisted into jealousy and envy toward those with abilities, which in turn spewed out as inferiority toward Albrecht.

Though called the same empire, it was a relationship neither side could surpass nor equal. The desperate antics of those unwilling to admit this filled Paital daily.

Ludwig found it all tedious.

‘So what?’

As long as the blessing remained in this land, no one could seize it by force.

No matter how mighty Albrecht became, it could never swallow Paital.

That was when—

“Brother, I keep seeing strange things… What should I do?”

His half-brother had developed the family’s madness.

Seeing invisible worlds, growing gaunt and haggard day by day, Ludwig had no choice but to turn to Albrecht.

“Ahhh, a monster’s coming to get me, brother!”

Even if they had grown up apart and he was sick of the imperial family, he couldn’t help but feel pity watching his brother lose his mind.

That was when Halbern extended a hand.

And in the Halbern estate—

“It’s our first time meeting. Who are you?”

Ludwig met her.

That terrible, beautiful woman.

* * *

Sione Sigria Halbern.

The eldest daughter of Duke Morden Halbern, a woman of striking beauty and ability who drew much attention.

Some said that had she been born male, she would already have surpassed Duke Morden to become the head of Halbern. Even as a woman, she had changed much of Halbern.

Though the principle of primogeniture meant no one called her Halbern’s heir, she was in practice exactly that.

He couldn’t help but fall for her.

But what truly stole Ludwig’s heart was—

“You say strange things.”

Her answer after hearing his torment.

“If your younger brother went mad and begged you to kill him, could you do it?”

His younger brother was going mad day by day.

Though they tried to soothe him with Halbern’s relics, his hallucinations showed no sign of fading.

Ludwig had to decide.

Before his brother’s madness worsened and he became a true monster—kill him, or not.

“I’d kill him gladly. I couldn’t entrust the end of my beloved brother to another’s hands.”

Her unwavering voice.

Her clear, straight gaze.

Her tender touch.

Her firmly pressed lips.

When Sione smiled at him, Ludwig realized his tedious life had just ended.

And he sensed that if he couldn’t have this woman, he would go mad.

The only woman Ludwig had ever wanted.

Was that where the catastrophe began?

At the time, Sione was locked in sharp conflict with her father, Grand Duke Morden Halbern.

Morden tried to kill his own daughter and had already executed several plans.

When Ludwig learned Sione was close to death, he couldn’t endure it any longer.

He would take her out.

Paital was a dwarf kingdom, but not as much as Halbern.

“A political marriage would be ideal. I was thinking of disposing of my daughter anyway; you’ll do.”

To make Sione his wife, Ludwig could not become Emperor—because Paital’s Empress had to be of Paital blood.

This was how Ludwig, the strongest imperial candidate, received the grand ducal title and became regent, and why he struck a deal with Morden Halbern.

Sione fiercely resisted.

But Ludwig thought it didn’t matter. He couldn’t let Sione die.

Compared to the cunning and skillful Duke Morden, Sione seemed like a helpless puppy charging a tiger.

“Tell him you won’t marry immediately. Tell him to give up on me.”

He couldn’t grant her request.

He knew what she wanted but thought he could ignore it.

He thought ignoring it wouldn’t stop him from having her.

It was arrogance.

‘I should have known a woman I fell for wouldn’t be ordinary.’

“You ruined everything. You know that? It’s all because of you.”

“I saved you, didn’t I?”

“Who are you to decide that? Listen well. You ruined it.”

On their wedding day, Sione cried and cried again.

“Ah, Valer…”

Searching for what she had left behind.

“My poor brother.”

“…”

“He won’t even know.”

Sione pleaded.

“It’s not too late. I’ll give you a chance to undo everything. Annul this marriage now. Send me back.”

He had barely managed to hold her in his arms—how could he let her go, and send her back into such a hell?

Impossible.

“I’ll do anything, just spare me that. Sione. You must stay here.”

Ludwig even cast away his pride and fell to his knees, begging.

“Are you just afraid of dying?”

“I’m afraid of you dying.”

“I can die anytime.”

It didn’t work on Sione.

“I’ve lived my whole life ready to die.”

There had been a moment of hope.

That Sione, like others, would break, give up, resign herself, and become indifferent.

Until she declared—

“I won’t give you even a scrap of my heart.”

“If you want to take it, go ahead and try.”