My Sweet Deceiver - Chapter 80

A few hours later…

 

It dawned darkly.

 

A carriage covered in black cloth came to pick up Tehez. It was a carriage sent by Richard. When the carriage with Tehez and her party stopped in front of the Marquis’ residence, a commotion erupted in the mansion.

 

All the lights were on in the mansion. It was early morning and no one seemed to be asleep.

 

Seeing her get out of the carriage, Richard jumped out. It seemed that he had stayed up all night. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, and there were black shadows under his eyes.

 

“Tehez!”

 

“Brother!”

 

Richard asked while touching Tehez’s face.

 

“Are you hurt anywhere? It was a lot of trouble.”

 

“Thank you. It’s all thanks to you.”

 

Tehez greeted Richard and looked behind her.

 

Behind Richard, the butler and other users were watching the thrilling reunion of siblings.

 

“Let’s go in, Tehez.”

 

“What about brother Max?”

 

“He’s in his room right now.”

 

Tehez directed her eyes to where Max’s room was.

 

The curtains were swaying as if Max, who hated unusual things, was watching from the room.

 

Returning to the Marquis, Tehez went to her room, which she used until her marriage. She never entered the room she occupied, although she stopped by the manor from time to time. Nevertheless, the room was preserved, not an inch different from before.

 

Tehez touched the dirty desk.

 

She studied at this desk, and sometimes hid under her desk and cried.

 

Even though she swept and wiped it every day, her fingertips did not have a speck of dirt on them.

 

“It is the same as before entering the palace.”

 

“Yes.”

 

As she spoke to herself, Danielle affirmed.

 

After a moment of silence, Danielle asked Tehez with a worried expression.

 

“Could there be no civil war? What do you think will happen?”

 

“Well. If I’m talking about my wishes, I hope that doesn’t happen.”

 

“…”

 

“It’s difficult to say either way. I think it would be more accurate to ask the Marquis when he leaves the palace.”

 

Tehez answered with a calm expression. Danielle’s face was not good, perhaps because she wanted to confirm even a little bit of her expectations.

 

“I’m sorry. I shattered your expectations.”

 

“No. You must be tired, so change your dress, Princess.”

 

Tehez looked down at the dress she was wearing.

 

The hem of her dress was quite dirty from passing through an old, unmaintained secret passage. Under the hem of her dress, she could see her wounded feet.

 

“Feet! Why are your feet like this? See the physician.”

 

Danielle looked at her feet in surprise.

 

Tehez hid her feet under the hem of the dress.

 

“It is all right. Just prepare warm water. This much is fine.”

 

“Still…”

 

Danielle still had a worried face. However, Tehez firmly refused.

 

She wasn’t hurt that big enough to be seen by the physician, and she didn’t want to cause trouble too much.

 

When Tehez refused, the maids came in to attend to her bath and dry her hair.

 

“Please rest well, Princess.”

 

When the door closed, Tehez sat down and raised herself. Fatigue, lack of sleep, and sudden relaxation of tension came all at once, and it felt like her body was going down.

 

The time had already become her usual wake-up time.

 

It was warm in her bedroom because they had lit the fireplace beforehand. Tehez sighed and sat on the edge of the bed.

 

She heard someone talking outside the bedroom.

 

They spoke in a low voice, perhaps noticing that the atmosphere in the mansion was unusual. But even a small laugh came through the room.

 

The room outside her and this room she was in felt like worlds separated from each other.

 

There was a routine beyond the door of ordinary people whose loved ones would never die, where something serious was going on but they would never lose their lives.

 

Even if the King dies and the leader changes, their day will not change. They eat, do the same thing every day, and wait for the day they go back home.

 

But it was not for Tehez.

 

She was caught in a whirlwind of events that would change her life forever. She barely survived her life, and it wouldn’t be strange if her husband died tomorrow. At least for this moment, she was deeply envious of the people beyond the door.

 

Tehez went inside the blanket and rolled her body into a circle.

 

The air in her room was warm, and after washing with hot water, her face was flushed, but it was strangely cold. She seemed to keep getting wind from somewhere. The door was tightly closed. It was the wind blowing through her chest.

 

Tehez opened the locket of her necklace, which she had never taken off since receiving it from him. She saw a bright smile on her face.

 

“If we meet again…”

 

The end of Tehez’s speech trembled thinly.

 

There are many things I want to say, Prince.

 

Prince, you don’t know about me, but I’ve had a crush on you since I was little. I fell in love at first sight when I saw you walking from the other side. Among those many, many people, only you shone.

 

I was happy when my father asked me to marry you, but I couldn’t even express it. Because it’s in front of my father, and I know you hate my family terribly. So the first night I spent after marrying you was sad and lonely. Knowing you and actually seeing you were two different things. It was clear to me that you hated me.

 

Still, it’s not just painful memories. Your touch that nursed me when I had a fever and your warmth that saved me from drowning. Your confession that you think of me. Hearing that, I couldn’t help but love you. Your words sounded like a confession of ‘I love you’ to me.

 

I felt that the time so far was not meaningless. I’m glad… I’m happy, too. So I thought the time we had left would be the time for only the two of us to think and look at each other. But you and I…

 

Leaving all those words behind, Tehez put only one sentence into her mouth.

 

“…I miss you so much.”

 

* * *

 

The day before that.

 

The rebels who invaded the main palace and the Royal Knights fought each other. And in the Prince’s palace, Dennis and a man were confronting each other.

 

Dennis asked in front of a man with a gun in front of him.

 

“Where is Robert?”

 

It was a calm tone, as if the muzzle was invisible. The man continued to point the gun at him and answered softly.

 

“All the moderates are dead. You will never see him again.”

 

“Hah!”

 

“So, the terms of the contract have changed a bit. You should give me a seat in the revolutionary government.”

 

The man’s front teeth were missing, and the empty space was filled with something yellow. It was hideous.

 

Dennis said with a determined face.

 

“I certainly expressed my refusal to Robert. I decided to support the establishment of the government and leave.”

 

Dennis’ condition to Robert was that he would not assume the post of prime minister in exchange for the necessary supplies and funds. Robert asked him to reconsider several times, but Dennis was adamant. Because of his wife.

 

If the Empire collapses and a new world comes that the people want.

 

Dennis thought of going down to a quiet place alone with Tehez. South or East, anywhere was good. Still, if he left, he wondered if he would go east.

 

Because there was a place the woman liked there. Tehez was not alone in missing the time they spent in the Skane forest.

 

Dennis also liked the atmosphere of the Skane forest.

 

‘When everything is done, we will go there and live together.’

 

He was picking the right time to bring the words out to Tehez.

 

However, Robert, who had been in constant contact, suddenly lost contact, and as the events broke out one after another, there was no time to talk quietly with Tehez.

 

In addition, malicious rumours targeting Tehez followed. As Dennis watched the series of events, he made up his mind to live a quiet life without appearing in public. He did not want to hurt her.

 

However, the atmosphere in the capital suddenly changed.

 

The starting point was when the suppression of the protesters by the King began to intensify. Even among the demonstrators, factions were divided into moderates and radicals.

 

Until now, the moderate faction had stood at the forefront of the protesters, but when his comrades disappeared or lost their lives one by one due to the King’s oppression, the radical faction took advantage of the opportunity to grow in power.

 

In the meantime, the moderate faction proposed to ask the King to establish a National Assembly through negotiations, and the radical faction divided opinions to enter the main palace first.

 

Then, when a man from Herzan joined the protesters, the voices of the radicals grew dramatically. Because he insisted on killing the King. The protesters who prepared guns and knives with the money Dennis gave them and advanced to the main palace were no longer the peaceful people he knew.

 

Henry, the man standing in front of Denis, said with a mean expression.

 

“There are things in the world that don’t go your way. You’d better be willing to cooperate. Otherwise, the life of your beloved wife will not be safe.”

 

“…”

 

Even when the radicals said they would establish a revolutionary government, they tried to put Dennis up because he was popular with the people. A prince of common people’s blood with a temple as his back.

 

And since the moderates had already baked and boiled the Prince well, the man thought that he would be suitable to be used as the face of the revolutionary government while inheriting the legitimacy of the royal family.

 

But not his wife. Wasn’t she the blood of a family that sucked the blood of the common people and became a great aristocrat? She deserved to be killed as a symbol of the old system.

 

It was not right that the wife of the would-be head of the revolutionary government was an old-fashioned figure.

 

If they kill her and put the Prince on the front, they will be able to persuade even those who are not convinced of the legitimacy of the revolutionary government.

 

Meanwhile, the rebels who held Elliot hostage said they would spare his life if the requirements were met. Elliot, who has lived his life lightly trampling on other people’s lives, raised his hands when a gun was pointed at his own throat. He resisted briefly, but not for long. Elliot was a human whose life was more important than anything else in the world.

 

The King and ministers sat side by side in the conference room, where radicals held guns. On the other side sat the head of the rebels. The rebels put down the paper with their demands written on it.

 

“This is our request.”

 

Elliot accepted the paper they held out. The King’s expression as he read the letters changed moment by moment.

 

“This…”

 

Elliot groaned.

 

“This doesn’t work!”

 

(To be continued in the next episode)

***