To Those Who Wish For My Destruction - Chapter 2

Paola let out an extreme, grotesque breath, and slowly opened her eyes again. Then she looked at her daughter, who whispered an ecstatic promise.

 

Instead of a seizure, a light was slowly coming into her empty eyes.

 

“So be happy for as many days as you can.”

 

Paola raised her hand and patted Leoni’s soft cheek.

 

Did she read her daughter’s mind through her hand? Paola’s dry lips twitched, creating what looked like a smile.

 

After Leoni’s visit, a miracle happened.

 

Paola was slowly recovering, and after a few days she even started to eat again. Leoni was by her side.

 

“Duchess, the weather is exceptionally fine today. Shall we go for a walk?”

 

Paola did not ask Leoni why she did not call her ‘mother’. She was confident that she had put up a thick wall against her daughter after all these years.

 

Listening to the mother-daughter conversation nearby, the servants helped Paola into a wheelchair and went out into the garden with Leoni.

 

Gideon, who was watching them from the window of his office, raised an eyebrow.

 

“She’s fine.”

 

Osmo carefully replied.

 

“According to the doctor, it’s not a recovery. She’s burning off the last of her last breath.”

 

“She’s a strong woman. I’m so sick of it.”

 

Gideon, who had been looking at the child outside the window with his gaze, quietly asked,

 

“How old is she?”

 

“The end of this month is her tenth birthday.”

 

“Is there a party?”

 

Osmo replied softly, his shoulders slumping.

 

“His Excellency has forbidden it since she was two years old, so no arrangements have been made for this birthday either.”

 

Gideon clicked his tongue briefly. It was a habit he got into when he was terribly offended, so Osmo was nervous.

 

Was Gideon uncomfortable with the mother and daughter walking around, or was he unhappy with the fact that they didn’t prepare for his daughter’s birthday?

 

No way.

 

In that short response, Osmo saw a faint hope.

 

“Here’s a report documenting the Young Lady’s recent routine.”

 

Not wanting to miss an opportunity, Osmo pulled out a thick stack of papers from his briefcase.

 

“Most of the time, when she comes back from the academy, she stops by the library, buys some painting crafts, and stops by a cafe.”

 

It was typical of what a noblewoman would do.

 

“Painting crafts?”

 

Osmo sighed. Gideon had no idea that his daughter, at the age of only seven, had painted a large work of art, over two hundred masterpieces.

 

“Yes.”

 

He gently wiped the dust from the report and carefully placed it in front of Gideon.

 

“Young Lady’s artistic talents are considerable. They want to have an exhibition at the Imperial Academy.”

 

“What exhibition? Turn it down.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

Osmo replied, hiding his bitterness at Gideon’s reaction that belittled Leoni’s talent.

 

“Have her grades remained the same?”

 

“She completed this semester in second place.”

 

“Her head does not seem to resemble her mother’s.”

 

Gideon pondered for a moment, staring at his daughter as she disappeared in the far distance. Then he asked in a heavy voice.

 

“Any signs of divine powers?”

 

The Bengler family, which was Leoni’s maternal line, had offspring with powers for generations.The mysterious powers they possessed were so diverse that they could not be pinpointed to a single ability. They could see into the future, change the weather, and sometimes they even showed the ability to pilot others.

 

In every household, at least one person had the potential, but their powers were slowly diminishing.

 

Paola once had the ability to read the thoughts and memories of others if she could get her hands on them. However, it was useless because she was too weak.

 

“The Bengler family’s abilities tend to appear around the age of fifteen. So we’ll have to wait and see.”

 

“Then what are her qualifications in swordsmanship?”

 

Heidegger was another warrior family with a long tradition of constantly producing swordmasters.

 

Gideon held a sword as soon as he began to walk, and at the age of ten he followed his father into the battlefield where he saw blood for the first time. Then, just the year he turned fifteen, he created an aura.

 

“Not yet.”

 

Gideon laughed inwardly at those words.

 

In fact, this was the very reason why the Emperor had forced Heidegger and Bengler to marry. Because he hoped that the union of a psychic and a swordmaster would produce an extraordinary talent.

 

He insisted on it, but the result was nothing like that. Gideon’s shoulders tensed.

 

“Are there any other peculiarities?”

 

“Um… “

 

Osmo hesitated for a moment.

 

“What is it?”

 

“Recently, Young Lady paid three visits to the shop run by Count Stein Mickelson.”

 

“Mickelson?”

 

Only then Gideon looked at Leoni’s report.

 

“Why did she meet that man?”

 

Count Stein Mickelson was an excellent lobbyist and a “necessary evil” of the empire who could even handle the dirty work of the nobles.

 

He was a thorough money-pourer. So the aristocracy felt comfortable entrusting him with their work, but ignored him for his vulgarity.

 

“According to the Informant, Count Mickelson brought valuable books to the East for sale. Young Lady never met the Count in person, but bought several art books with oriental paintings in them.”

 

Gideon took his eyes off the report and looked out the window again.

 

If Leoni was an adult and in contact with Count Mickelson, he would have instructed his subordinates to find out more.

 

But since Leoni was a ten year old who lived like a dead person, Gideon dispelled his suspicions quickly.

 

“I should say I’m glad she has a good appearance. Eventually, we need to look for a partner for her.”

 

It was a cold conclusion that dashed Osmo’s faint hopes that the Duke would come to care for his daughter.

 

For “aristocrat” Young Ladies to look into marriage issues without even making her social debut meant two things.

 

One is that she’s flawed, and the other is that she’s sold out.

 

“Choose the family that will pay the highest price, regardless of the opponent. Hopefully it’s as far away from the capital as possible.”

 

“Very well, sir.”

 

With that command, Gideon wrinkled his brow as if he was dissatisfied with something.

 

“And call the doctor.”

 

“Is there something wrong?”

 

“I feel a little dizzy, and my headache is getting worse.”

 

“I’ll get him right away.”

 

Osmo bowed deeply and left the office. Immediately after he left the room, a bitter smile appeared on his lips.

 

He respected Gidon Heidegger’s sense of justice and noble temperament. However, it was heartbreaking to see his Lord changed so rapidly with the emperor’s coercive marriage.

 

Maybe his Lord didn’t change….maybe he was good at hiding his true emotions. Walking to fulfill his orders, Osmo spotted the mother and daughter through a corridor window and paused briefly. To his eyes, they looked like endlessly pitiful scapegoats.

 

But, well….

 

No matter how loyal and how competent he was, he was just a part that could be easily replaced by someone else that his Lord wanted. He didn’t have the strength to help the mother and daughter in this situation.

 

A feeling of helplessness washed over him like a wave.

 

He paced again, watching Leoni walking along with her mother in the wheelchair, like a duckling following her mother.

 

***

 

The mother and daughter walked past the central garden and into the greenhouse.

 

It was filled with exotic flowers and trees, and gorgeous winged butterflies were flitting about.

 

“I like it here.”

 

They sat down at a small tea table on one side.

 

“I’d like to be alone.”

 

Leoni told the maidservants.

 

The servants went out and silence followed. The mother and daughter looked at the flowers and butterflies without saying anything. After a while, Paola opened her mouth.

 

“What are you going to do?”

 

Sitting in an adult chair and swinging her short legs in the air, Leoni smiled softly. An innocent, childlike voice followed.

 

“Why don’t we warm it up slowly? Like a frog swimming in the water without even knowing if it’s boiled to death.”

 

“Are you trying to get killed?”

 

Leoni shook her head and handed Paola a cup of tea. The dry hand she lifted trembled finely.

 

“Leoni.”

 

“Yes?”

 

The silence continued again. The appearance of a small daughter pooled in Paola’s empty pupils. The child’s dark green eyes were also filled with confidence.

 

“When you have a child someday, will you be able to understand me?”

 

“….I do not know.”

 

Leoni smiled softly and muffled her words. It was a distant expression that the socialite made full use of, meaning that she didn’t want to hear any more.

 

It was the answer she expected, but Paola couldn’t hide her regret.

 

“To see the person you hate the most in the loving child…. It’s a terrible curse.”

 

Large tears fell on Paola’s hollow cheeks.

 

“Did you ever love me?” Leoni asked bluntly.

 

Paola hesitated for a moment, then nodded helplessly.

 

“I prayed every day, every moment, that you wouldn’t have to live your life the way I did. Isn’t that love, too?”

 

At that moment, Leoni’s long, dark eyelashes trembled finely. She inwardly swallowed the answer to that question.

 

“That prayer has been answered, Mother.”

 

Paola leaned back helplessly in her wheelchair and let out a long sigh.

 

“3774 days and 15 hours.”

 

“You spent a lot of time in hell, didn’t you?”

 

“I’m sorry I left you alone.”

 

“It’s okay.”

 

Leoni shook her head.

 

“I’m not going to dwell in the past. I won’t close my eyes helplessly like you. No more.”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Paola repeated her apology, something she hadn’t been able to do for a very long time, and quickly fell silent. Leoni chuckled faintly at the butterfly fluttering at her shoulder.

 

Soon Paola’s ragged breaths that had filled the languid greenhouse slowly died away.

 

Leoni, who was watching the swarm of butterflies flutter in heavy silence, slowly turned her head and looked at Paola.

 

“I believe you.”

 

Her small, dainty hand gently swept her mother’s eyes, which Paola couldn’t close.

 

“Goodbye, poor mother.”

 

As Leoni stepped out of the greenhouse, a waiting maid approached her.

 

“Anything you need….”

 

“Prepare for a funeral.”

 

“What?”

 

Leoni left the bewildered, wide opened mouth maid behind and headed for her bedroom.