Chapter 54. Fragile, Soft, and Breakable Relationships
Knock. Knock.
“….”
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sound of dripping water echoed steadily.
Belladonna slowly opened her eyes, frowning.
Where am I…? She looked around.
Just a moment ago, she was in a cold, dirty cave, but now it felt like a completely new place.
{Are you awake?}
A low, gentle voice flowed into her mind.
Belladonna, startled, turned her head.
But all she saw was an empty blue space, filled only with the sound of water.
What is this… What’s happening…?
Someone appeared before her.
{How have you been?}
Belladonna gasped and stepped back when she saw who it was.
A woman with silver hair and blue eyes was smiling, sitting on a huge bear’s back.
Is that… me? No, Saint Belladonna?
{Pfft… “Me,” you say? Looks like you’ve gotten used to living as Belladonna.}
The saint, sitting calmly on the big bear, covered her mouth and chuckled.
Belladonna stared in confusion at her, remembering the threatening bear from before.
{How are you? Getting by alright?}
The saint asked with a smile.
Belladonna immediately shook her head.
“What is this? Are you really the Saint? Why are you doing this to me?”
{Oh my, asking me questions right away? About what?}
“Why… why did you make me be born again? And as the saint, of all people!”
{Hmm? You wanted this, didn’t you? Don’t blame me.}
I wanted this…? Belladonna drew in a sharp breath. But I never—
The saint tilted her head, watching Belladonna.
{Seems like Belladonna’s life isn’t going smoothly for you?}
“….”
{That’s a shame. I hoped you’d be happier.}
Belladonna sat down, speaking in a self-mocking voice.
“If you’re going to kill me, just do it.”
{Why are you talking like that? You’ve gotten so rough.}
“I ruined everything. I don’t know what you wanted from me, but I ruined it all.”
The saint hopped off the bear and crouched in front of Belladonna.
{What did you ruin?}
“Everything’s a mess. I listened to the Pope and made a contract marriage with Escallion. Living with him, I learned what I really wanted and thought I could find my own happiness. But it turned into poison, and the Pope used me, so now everything is tangled up and I’m just a liar.”
{Hmm…}
“And then some bad people kidnapped me and almost took my eyes.”
{Oh my.}
“And in the end, the bear—yes, that bear—tried to eat me!”
{No way.}
Belladonna pointed at the bear behind the saint, and the saint smiled.
{Don’t you remember where you saw that bear?}
“When would I ever see a bear…?”
{Oh, that’s sad.}
The saint turned to look at the bear. The bear, as if sad, lowered its head and blinked slowly.
Belladonna frowned. Wait… I have seen that bear before. Where…?
But her memories were a tangled mess. She looked at the saint and asked,
“When did I ever meet that bear?”
{I wouldn’t know. When would you ever see a bear?}
The saint joked.
Belladonna sighed.
“That’s not important. Anyway, I ruined everything. If you want my life, take it. I can’t do this anymore.”
{Why do you keep saying such scary things?}
The saint stood up, still smiling.
{You didn’t ruin anything.}
“….”
{But since you keep blaming yourself, I’ll help you out a bit.}
“Help…?”
{Yep! Let’s say… I’ll make things a little more dramatic. That could be fun.}
Dramatic…? Fun?
Belladonna didn’t have time to ask what that meant.
As soon as the saint finished speaking, the blue space started to twist and blur from the outside in.
“W-wait…?”
Belladonna tried to stand up, startled.
{Just hang in there a little longer. It won’t be long. When it’s time, you’ll come back.}
The saint said calmly to the frozen Belladonna.
“What? What does that mean—wait, what’s happening—kyah!”
The twisting space quickly closed in and swallowed both of them.
Thick, heavy boots pressed into the soft snow.
Escallion kept climbing the snowy mountain.
“….”
Whenever he needed to think, he liked to exhaust his body.
He used to spar with mercenaries, hunt like a madman, or throw himself into dangerous battlefields just to clear his mind.
Now, with nothing else to do, he just climbed the hill behind the village.
“Damn it…”
But this little mountain wasn’t enough.
Maybe he should’ve asked Graham to fight him with swords.
The more he climbed, the more his thoughts about Belladonna grew. He hated that.
<I—I’ll explain.>
He remembered her trembling, trying to defend herself.
In reality, she had nothing she could say.
He could always tell the Pope’s writing style, and he knew Belladonna’s soft handwriting by heart.
Everything was exactly as it looked.
But still…
<Please, bear with this dreadful marriage a little longer.>
He hadn’t expected she’d find their married life so awful.
He thought it might be hard for the saint of Astanya to live in this cold place, and meeting someone so different from herself wouldn’t be easy.
But he didn’t know she felt that way.
The worst part wasn’t her scheme about taking the dowry—it was knowing she thought their marriage was dreadful.
He slowed his steps, climbing the slope.
He wasn’t especially sad that their marriage had crumbled in just two months.
She was never really suited to him, or this place.
He never expected much, so he told himself not to be disappointed.
Usually, he hated lying, going back on promises, or betrayal more than anything. But somehow, her actions didn’t make him angry.
‘Maybe… I always felt it would end this way.’
Family was like that.
Fragile, soft, and easy to break.
If someone died, disappeared, or changed their mind, it was over in an instant.
“For someone like me, it’s a luxury.”
Even inviting Scarlett to the castle for a family meeting felt meaningless now.
He was more suited to a life of wandering—riding horses, eating meat and drinking wherever, then moving on again.
Maybe it was better they hadn’t spent more time together.
If they had… leaving would’ve been much harder.
‘Griblata…’
He suddenly thought about giving up his troublesome territory.
He wasn’t the kind of person to stay in one place for long anyway. Griblata deserved a better lord.
He moved forward, snow sinking up to his calves.
‘For Belladonna…’
He decided to do what she wanted.
He wasn’t happy about her keeping secrets, but after living together for a short while, he felt he could at least give her what she wanted.
‘When I return, I’ll give her the divorce she wants. If needed, I’ll donate more to the church. Money doesn’t matter to me.’
Escallion pushed aside the branches and kept walking.
After the divorce…
‘…I’ll never see her again.’
Suddenly, a burning feeling rose inside, and he kicked at a tree stump.
He was used to farewells. It wasn’t anything special.
Just…
‘Maybe I’ll miss that gentle smile a little.’
He shook his head and turned.
He was done thinking. There was no point.
Staying together would only hurt them both. He would tell Wolf to bring the divorce papers right away.
Escallion headed down the slope much faster than he’d climbed up.
He realized something was wrong only when he neared Griblata Castle on his horse.
Because it was winter, it was already dark, but the castle was brightly lit.
He hadn’t been gone that long—he left last night and came back the next evening.
So why was the castle lit up like this…?
As he galloped through the gate, servants holding torches rushed over.
“My lord…!”
“My lord! Something terrible has happened!”
“What’s wrong?” Escallion asked, jumping down from his horse.
He looked for Wolf.
“Wolf! Where is he?”
“My lord!”
Wolf, sweaty and teary, ran up.
His old face looked worn out.
Wolf dropped to his knees and cried,
“My lady… my lady has disappeared…!”
