May Every Wound Be Fatal - Chapter 38.1
The moment Reyna said that, Elizer’s mind snapped to attention.
She was smiling at him, just as she had when they first met in the king’s rear garden, and astonishingly, it was not a dream.
Memories flashed by rapidly from the instant he first saw her, to their unexpected reunion at the tournament, to his impulsive hiding in her quarters, the sleepless nights spent thinking of her, and the days he spent counting down until he could see her again while gazing blankly at the distant mountain ridges. And at the end of those memories…
“Elizer. You must live.”
Elizer had survived alone.
“……”
Remembering how he had ended up surviving alone, Elizer abruptly pulled away from her.
“Your Majesty?”
Sensing that something was wrong, Reyna struggled unsteadily to her feet after him.
Elizer looked around the room with disbelief. The opulent bedroom scenery felt unfamiliar. The naked Reyna called out to him with anxiety.
“Your Majesty, what is the matter?”
He realized that the woman he had so desperately desired had finally fallen into his hands. And upon realizing how he had obtained her, he felt an indescribable shock and horror.
Elizer had wanted Reyna. But he had not wanted to obtain her in this way.
Elizer gagged and collapsed forward.
Reyna screamed and tried to support him.
The knights and attendants guarding outside the bedroom rushed in. He was humiliatingly restrained by his limbs. Elizer flailed as if trying to escape from something.
And then, darkness once more.
Elizer did not remember how Reyna had left that day. Only that not long after that day, the duke’s daughter who had entered the king’s bedroom and shared his bed became the queen.
Elizer was believed to have survived, by sheer luck, the brutal war for the throne.
Reyna had only entered his bedroom to care for Elizer, who was said to have lost his mind from the shock during the process.
Elizer was not unaware that it was he himself, intoxicated by medicine and unable to distinguish reality from dream, who had assaulted her.
“It is because Reyna chose Your Majesty.”
He knew that was not the reason he alone had survived.
Elizer knew it was all due to the duke’s ambition.
Yet, he found it unbearable to face himself sitting on the throne, and to face her sitting beside him, watching him with worried eyes.
“Your Majesty.”
“……”
His life was composed of the kindness of an old maid, Cassian’s love, Noel’s sympathy, the Percy family’s goodwill, and other shining memories.
She could not be everything.
“Everything will be alright.”
It could never be alright.
Elizer remained trapped alone that day.
Staring blankly at Reyna wearing the crown, Elizer muttered in a dazed voice.
“You are so dreadful to me…”
Everything surrounding him was so dreadful that he could not clearly remember what expression Reyna had worn then.
***
Elizer’s role was that of a stud horse.
Having lost everything, Elizer was powerless. Thus, the only thing he could do was refuse to share a bed with Reyna.
Leonard understood Elizer’s sorrow, but could not understand his rejection of the throne
.
“You have risen to the highest position and even obtained the woman you so desired, so why can you not rejoice? Did Your Majesty not once sneak into my quarters seeking Reyna?”
However, nothing reached Elizer’s ears.
When Elizer, wandering in search of a way to atone, finally resolved to take his own life, Leonard spoke.
“Please fulfill your duty, Your Majesty. Must you not protect Prince Cassian’s queen?”
As Leonard anticipated, Elizer reacted.
“…What do you mean? Is Her Majesty alive…”
“Diegor found her hiding in her homeland. She is living very healthily and well within the duchy’s territory.”
“She is alive…”
“If you wish for her to remain alive, stay in your place.”
“……”
And upon hearing those words, Elizer realized that Diegor had, in fact, not even found a trace of Priscilla.
Priscilla was carrying Cassian’s child. By now, her belly must have swelled to where her pregnancy could not be overlooked.
Leonard would not have let the woman and child live. He would never have spared Cassian’s child.
Priscilla and Cassian’s child were alive.
Then, Elizer had to survive. He had to find the two of them before Leonard did, by any means necessary.
“Survive, and protect Priscilla.”
Thus, he had to keep his lord’s final command.
That was likely the only path of atonement for the foolish knight who had failed to protect his lord.
And so, Elizer did not die that day.
***
Shortly after that, a bit of luck followed Elizer.
A rebellion broke out in the western lands of the duchy of Kaldirac. It was originally land where the Dochioin lived, land that Leonard had massacred them for and seized.
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