How the Villainous Consort Avoids His Death Ending

I thought my body would be torn apart just like this. However, I felt neither the sharpness of cold metal nor the pain of tearing flesh. And the rowdy noise of the plaza suddenly died down. In the place where curses, profanities, and resentment had vanished, an strangely quiet silence settled.

I slowly opened both eyes. Before my eyes, he was there.

The solid back and broad shoulders blocking my front were straight and upright. He lightly deflected the blade flying toward me, twisted the sword to overpower the opponent, and brought them down in an instant. It was a familiar back view and a movement that was not unfamiliar. The moment I realized that, my breath caught.

The heat of the plaza, which had flared up as if about to explode, was gradually cooling down. The soldiers who had been scattered scrambled through the crowd and gathered here. Lord Mildred hurried over first and quickly bound the man who had been subdued in front of me.

And, he turned around.

A damp scent of salt came from his faded cloak. His face, covered in blood and dust, shone vividly in the sunlight. With an expression that was not disordered in the slightest, dry eyes quietly looked down at me. However, beyond his gaze, blue waves were rippling.

He slowly spread both arms wide.

“I have returned, Grand Consort.”

That single word pierced somewhere deep inside my chest. Just like that, my vision collapsed.

Tears poured out frantically, preventing me from seeing his face properly. Countless words slipped out vainly through my barely parting lips.

“Why… why do you only come now.”

Tristan approached without a word and stood before me. Long, solid arms wrapped tightly around me without a gap. In his warm embrace, his heartbeat reached me, and his soft breath touched my skin where we met.

“I am sorry I am late, Ruellin.”

A low, locked voice resonated from the ground up.

“The Grand Duke… The Grand Duke is alive…”

Someone shouted with a choked voice from a corner of the plaza. The crowd that had been blindly lunging flinched and began to stir. A dazed cheer spread out like a ripple. Taking advantage of that gap, soldiers who seemed to have been led by Tristan poured into the plaza. It did not take a long time for the commotion to be suppressed. The hatred, anger, and fear that had been burning like wildfire began to die down bit by bit.

The Grand Duke of Hezekia, Tristan, had finally returned to his land.

❖ ❖ ❖

The mast enveloped in flames collapsed with a loud snapping sound. A storm-like impact tore through the hull. The entire ship began to detonate and explode from the inside.

Hezekia’s Fire had finally completed its final mission successfully. The family secret, passed down covertly only to the direct descendants of the Grand Duke, would now never show its form to the world again. After Tristan’s death, no one would be able to figure out its manufacturing method and usage.

The six vessels of the Dearsby Fleet surrounding the flagship could not escape from the flames. Caught on the edge of his vision was the sight of the third vessel cutting through the water and moving far away. It was according to plan. Constantine would be safe, and the privateer fleet that succeeded in taking down the Grand Duke of Hezekia would withdraw, satisfied at this point. That is, if they could make it out of that pandemonium alive.

And Ruellin would safely arrive in Hezekia as well.

A faint smile hung on the corner of his lips. Before that smile could even fade, the hull shook violently, causing him to lose his balance and lurch to one side along with the collapsing deck.

A sharp ringing sound buzzed in his ears. In an instant, his vision was enveloped by smoke and flames, growing hazy. His back, pierced by material debris, felt as painful as if it were burning to ashes. He suffocated.

Wiping away the blood flowing down his mouth with the back of his hand, Tristan looked up at the blood-red sky. There seemed to be no way to escape from the burning and collapsing hull.

Finally, the flagship split completely in half. The half-sized hull, unable to withstand the weight, tilted vertically. His body suddenly slid down, and he was sucked into the ocean along with the massive ship. As he thought that this was the end, what flashed before his eyes was the image of Ruellin, smiling playfully and tilting his head.