May Every Wound Be Fatal - Chapter 12.2
Reyna was beginning to feel, little by little each day, the reality that the Ducal House of Dazbel, which had been her last pride and her eternal shield, had vanished overnight.
She resented her father’s choice, yet she cried whenever she recalled his final moments. Then she would clutch her chest as she remembered that her father had been willing to kill her without hesitation, and she writhed again as she pictured the burning city of Kaldirak.
She resented Elizer. Yet the moment she imagined his head hanging on the wall, she felt as if all the blood in her body drained out.
Reyna could neither properly rage nor properly grieve.
In the end, she gave up thinking altogether.
One truth remained certain. No matter who won, her fate would be execution.
Her thoughts continued. Her father would have cast aside his useless daughter who chose to remain by her husband’s side without any hesitation, and her husband would never miss the opportunity to execute a wife he despised.
A hollow laugh escaped her.
The laundry maid who had brought her news from outside did not appear again. The newly assigned maid recoiled in terror whenever Reyna tried to speak to her.
Reyna seemed to have no remaining means of doing anything. Several more days passed in that state.
The Queen’s Palace was unbearably quiet.
Reyna felt as if her nerves were being scorched day by day. At any moment, it seemed as though the guards would burst through the door. Eventually, she even found herself thinking that if her head had to be cut off, it might as well happen immediately.
At that moment, Karla, who had been absently staring into the air like someone whose mind had gone blank and gently stroking her stomach out of habit, suddenly murmured.
“I want to protect this child.”
Her face twisted as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
“But I suppose I cannot, can I?”
Reyna, who had let go of everything and simply waited for death, felt her mind snap back into focus.
Karla was barely holding on, if only to protect the baby remaining in her belly.
Only then did the terrified atmosphere of the Queen’s Palace sink into her awareness. There were still people left who depended on her. Dozens of lives were still tied to her shoulders.
Reyna clasped Karla’s two hands, now so thin the bones were visible, with her own equally skeletal hands.
“You will live. So your child will be safe as well.”
Reyna still had something left to do.
Therefore, she could not die like this.
***
“Your Highness.”
The queen, who had been as quiet as the dead, began pounding on the door again and begging the king with a voice that was tearing apart.
Yet the door to the Queen’s Palace did not open.
She could not even know if her voice was reaching the king, but Reyna did not stop calling out.
Her weakened body easily collapsed. She ignored the heat surging through her entire body and clung to the door, desperately searching for him. She knew it was foolish, but she could think of nothing else she could do.
At some point, her vision turned pitch black.
“Your Majesty the Queen!”
A sharp scream reached her faintly, as though from beneath the water.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw the face of the royal physician looking down at her with a grave expression.
The physician said she needed rest, but Reyna ignored him and crawled back toward the door, calling for the king with a voice cracked like dried bark.
Then again, darkness.
Reyna awakened as she felt a hand brushing softly against her cheek.
Her entire body had no strength, and her eyes were burning. She did not even have the energy to open her eyes fully.
Yet to her astonishment, through her hazy vision, she saw the king. She saw him.
For a moment, she wondered if she was dreaming. She had clung to the door all day screaming his name, yet she never truly expected she would be able to meet him.
After all, this was the man who would not even blink if his wife collapsed right in front of him.
So she thought it must be a dream.
Reyna simply stared blankly at him, blinking her heavy eyelids from time to time.
He sat leaning against the headboard of the bed, looking down at her with a blank expression. He was like a ghost. She thought again that she could never understand what he was thinking. She blinked once more.
His large hand slowly reached toward her nape.
As Reyna blankly watched Elizer’s hand approach as if to wrap around her neck, she thought with a dazed mind.
‘So is this the end?’
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