DSFL | Chapter 112

~Chapter 112~

Hessen estate.

“Do you even realize what you’ve done?”

Enraged, Harness pointed his sword at Ricardo. Benjamin hurriedly tried to stop him.

“L-Lord Harness!”

“Everything I’ve built in my lifetime…!”

At those words, Ricardo let out a small laugh before he even realized it.

Who could Harness possibly blame?

If he had hidden his true intentions better, wearing that mask of kindness he always used, maybe things wouldn’t have turned out this way.

Even when Bianca had decided to leave this place, she still desperately tried to save his family.

Even when she hated Ricardo to the point of madness, she couldn’t bring herself to say the word “break off the engagement.”

She must have thought it was her way of repaying the love she had received from Bluea.

If Ricardo had done the same, maybe he wouldn’t have turned into the hunting dog that bit its master.

Harness’s eyes trembled with fury.

“You dare… laugh?”

Ricardo wiped the blood from his mouth with his fingers and stared at him.

“All the honor the ducal house has built has collapsed in an instant because of you! Now we’ll all be branded as traitors and marched to the execution block!”

“Lord Harness, His Majesty—”

Harness’s furious voice sounded so distant, like it was echoing from far away.

The Hessen family had always been his hell. Standing before Harness felt like standing on trial, and Ricardo was always the criminal.

He could never be forgiven unless he received punishment equal to his sins.

But…

‘…Since when was it like this?’

Harness’s hair, once dark, had turned snowy white like a blizzard had passed through it.

His back was hunched.

His face bore the full marks of age.

Ricardo narrowed his eyes as he looked down at Harness, who now stood shorter than him.

So small. Too small.

Long ago, Harness had seemed unreachable, towering far above him.

Now, if Ricardo stretched out his hand to grip his throat, Harness couldn’t even fight back.

His grandfather had once been like a mighty elm tree.

Now, he was nothing but a cut-down stump.

Someone who would self-destruct without Ricardo lifting a finger.

His trembling, overexcited figure seemed like nothing more than a candle about to go out in the wind.

The Harness in Ricardo’s memories had never been like this—he was a monster, a towering wall he could never surpass.

Maybe that was why Ricardo only felt empty.

‘What’s the point of revenge now? What meaning does it even have?’

He didn’t even know who he was asking.

“I only did my duty as a vassal—to guide His Majesty down the right path.”

Harness, overcome with anger, struck Ricardo across the face again. But Ricardo didn’t even flinch this time. He only smirked.

“My wound had just stopped bleeding. That was unkind of you.”

The more agitated Harness became, the calmer Ricardo’s mind grew.

Harness’s bloodshot eyes wavered, and finally he staggered. His chest heaved violently, as if even breathing was painful.

“I raised a tiger cub…!”

“Lord Harness!”

Benjamin rushed forward to support him, but Harness shoved him away and stumbled toward Ricardo.

“Was this your true wish—the downfall of the Hessen house? To drag me to the execution block and throw away everything we’ve built—!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be right behind you.”

Of course, he had no such intention.

Ricardo would survive—no matter what.

In the world Bianca wished for, he would survive and see her smile.

That was all he wanted.

‘…Bianca. Maybe that’s the reason I’ve lived this long.’

For the first time in his life, today felt alive.

Being born into the Hessen house, and meeting the woman he could follow—it all felt like fortune.

“How can you do this! Have you forgotten how Lord Harness saved you countless times?”

Benjamin shouted through clenched teeth.

“Lord Harness has lived his whole life in hell! Twisted by curses, yet he still treasured his bloodline and cared for you! And you—how could you…!”

Crash!

“Sir, I have gathered the knights.”

Just then, Elliot entered the room, followed by armed knights.

Surrounded by them, Harness didn’t seem to understand the situation yet. He shouted furiously,

“What insolence is this!”

But none of the knights moved at his command. They simply stood their ground.

The true master of the Hessen family was Ricardo. Harness, stripped of his title, was a master in name only.

Still clinging to his past glory, Harness trembled, unable to admit his fallen state.

“…I must go to Roygin, at once.”

He limped toward the door, but Ricardo blocked his path.

“What would you say to your dear friend there?”

Bianca treasured Bluea. That made him precious to Ricardo as well.

The Roygin estate was a pure, untainted place where Bianca resided. Harness had no place there.

He belonged in Hessen—until his dying breath, trapped in the very ducal house that was now his cage.

Ricardo wouldn’t dirty his hands to finish off this fallen hero. Instead, he would let Harness feel the same hell Ricardo had endured all his life.

“This tragedy was what you, the former duke, desired. I thought you had foreseen this much—but I was mistaken.”

Ricardo removed his gloves and handed them to Elliot.

“I’ve already informed His Majesty that we cannot lend him our troops. But it seems you haven’t heard that yet.”

A tree rotten to the roots will eventually fade away completely.

“You once told me to repay my debts. So I’ll grant you mercy, and give you two choices.”

He gave Elliot a small signal to hold back.

“You may die branded as a traitor. Or you may die peacefully, remembered as a hero. The choice is yours.”

“…!”

“Whichever you choose, I will respect your decision.”

That was Ricardo’s final mercy.

***

Somewhere, a crow cawed.

The sound made my spine tingle for a moment. I bit my lower lip hard.

“This is what you meant, right?”

But Arkan, who had been writing and erasing over and over earlier, gave no response. He only kept repeating the meaningless action, as if unable to find the right words.

‘…What am I supposed to do with this?’

I had collected the item from another world, just as Arkan wanted.

Wasn’t that enough?

I had walked the path he guided me on. Then why was he dissatisfied now?

I silently watched the eerie black letters appear and disappear, then let out a small sigh.

…Yes. He had said earlier that my expression looked strange.

Was that the reason?

‘But what’s wrong with that?!’

I was speechless at Arkan’s behavior. Not only did he always disappear after saying whatever he wanted, but now even following his orders wasn’t enough.

I gave a hollow laugh and turned away.

If Arkan wouldn’t show me the way, then I would find it myself.
Though the thought felt daunting.

At that moment, Count Rowein’s words from the meeting flashed in my mind.

〈War is a foolish choice when there is nothing left to recover!〉

‘Count Rowein… he was definitely…’

Yes, he had opposed Ricardo during the meeting.