I Regret The Kindness I Gave You - Chapter 66

It was like a snake, or perhaps a crocodile.

Scales as hard as rock covered its long body without any gaps, and every time it writhed, waves as large as houses swirled and foamed, splashing and crashing.

“Have you two never heard of Leviathan, the monster that guards the primordial sea?”

Eyes cloudy and murky like smoke rising from an extinguished flame scanned Merche haughtily.

Though it was a monster that could not possibly speak human language, Merche felt as if those eerie eyes were expressing anger towards her.

How dare a mere human come to this place. The tail of the black body slammed down with a splash! It struck the water’s surface, creating a huge wave.

Even as an inescapable terror the size of a house enveloped her body, her mind grew hazy from the lingering pain.

Death. It was right before her eyes. The blade was finally about to sever her neck.

At the spot where Merche had fallen after being carried by the eagle, Diego’s eyes widened at the unbelievable sight.

“You, why are you here…”

“Greetings, Sir Diego. Ah, now that you have officially become the successor, should I kneel and pay my respects?”

“…Magnus Fondo.”

“I’m grateful that you remember me.”

Green eyes smiled beautifully. With an exaggerated gesture as if performing in a play, Magnus politely bowed in greeting.

“Hmm. But this is unexpected. That you’ve come here, Sir Diego.”

“How are you here?”

Fondo’s illegitimate child. The one who was scorned as lowly and groveled on the ground, Diego’s other cousin. It was definitely him.

“You previously went to Lupinus Castle with Louis… and then you stole an item from that castle…”

“That’s right. And then I disappeared for quite a while.”

“…What did you do to Louis?”

From the moment he was born, Magnus was always referred to as an illegitimate child because his own mother was the previous head’s illegitimate daughter, even though he carried Fondo’s blood.

Some of the direct line members who were bothered by him always sought an opportunity to kill him, and Magnus clung to Louis in order to survive.

Then one day, he went to Lupinus Castle with Louis and stole a precious item from the castle before running away.

Magnus, who had committed a crime, vanished as if he had sunk into the ground, and only Louis, who remained, was expelled from the family to pay for the crime.

And that was the last of it. Since his expulsion, Louis had also disappeared without a trace.

“Ah. Sir Louis, you say.”

There was such a person, Magnus blinked innocently.

Then, with an indifferent face, he dragged a corpse sprawled to the side and placed it under him.

Alonso’s shoulder, no longer breathing, limply dangled in Magnus’s grasp.

“Well, it’s been a long time since it turned out like this.”

Diego glared coldly at Magnus, his mouth tightly shut.

“Do you think you can get away with this unscathed? Alonso is not only a member of the Fondo bloodline but also royalty. You clearly know how great the sin of murdering royalty is.”

“Of course I know. Murdering royalty results in immediate execution. Moreover, as a mere illegitimate child, I killed a precious member of the Fondo family, so the Fondo won’t leave me alone either.”

“Then why on earth…!”

“But Sir Diego. Do you know this?”

Thud. As soon as Magnus let go, Alonso’s corpse collapsed.

Paying no heed, Magnus trampled over the corpse and stepped closer.

“Why, didn’t the others say this to me? That I’m a bastard who doesn’t even know his father, a lowlife who just showed up from who knows where.”

Diego gritted his teeth.

The mesmerizing eyes that approached right in front of him once again mocked him, drawing a gentle curve.

“Sir Diego. Do you know who my father is?”

A sense of foreboding rose to his throat. There was something. A card that allowed him to stand out so boldly and kill Alonso, who held the status of a prince…

“My father is Lord Eren.”

What? Diego was stunned, unable to close his mouth, and stood frozen in shock.

Lord Eren. The youngest son of the previous king, a notorious womanizer, Eren Schulz Iker.

Although his power was weak and he used that as a shield to beg and plead with the current king to spare his life, Eren was royalty.

Moreover, strictly speaking, he was a direct line, an undeniable bloodline.

“What happens when royalty kills royalty? Is that royalty still executed?”

Only when the salty sea breeze slapped his cheeks, making them sting, did Diego come to his senses.

He first denied it. You’re saying you’re Lord Eren’s son? That’s impossible. It was a nonsensical claim from the start.

“Don’t lie. If it’s true that you’re Lord Eren’s son, why would your own mother hide that fact?”

“…Well, it’s not a completely wrong argument. My mother, who was always pointed out as being lowly, may have wanted to reveal that her child was royalty so that I wouldn’t be looked down upon.”

Stopping mid-sentence, Magnus shrugged his shoulders.

His expression was so brazen that it made one want to clench their fists.

“But what can I do, Lord Eren threatened my mother, saying he would kill her immediately if she said such a thing to him.”

“What does that…”

“It just so happened that when my mother became pregnant with me, Lord Eren was about to get married to a woman from a fairly respectable family. If my mother had recklessly revealed the fact of her pregnancy, the engagement might have been broken off, so what could she have done?”

No way, no choice. And…

Magnus smiled nonchalantly. A gloomy, shadowy smile.

“It’s not like she had a reliable family to rely on. Even though she bore the Fondo name, she wasn’t a true Fondo.”

Magnus quietly gazed at Diego, who was at a loss for words.

Diego flinched and took a step back when he saw that gaze. Why? What was so frightening?

Unable to understand his own instinctive reaction, when he looked at the green eyes that glistened like blood in the setting sun’s glow, he felt suffocated again.

It was as if someone was strangling his neck. He inhaled deeply, barely able to breathe.

Magnus, who had been silently watching Diego’s floundering figure for a while, turned his head at the sound of the ground rumbling.

Soon, a light sneer flowed from him.

“…That stupid wolf, we keep running into each other…”

Diego also reflexively turned his head.

On the opposite side, now being swallowed by the black shadow, a Pegasus was rushing towards them like crazy.

Since it was a Pegasus, he expected it to be either Fabio or his companion, Juana Ardor.

However, the one who emerged on the galloping Pegasus was the head of the Lupinus family.

Rude Lupinus. Exuding the aura of a beast as if embodying a black wolf, he approached this place so quickly that every strand of his short hair fluttered in the wind.

Before long, Rude, who had reached near Diego in an instant, dismounted to the ground with a single motion.

He tilted his chin at an angle and looked down at Magnus.

“Your face looks familiar, you bastard.”

Although Rude was known for exhausting countless tutors who claimed he had no desire to learn, in fact, it wasn’t that he lacked “desire” but rather that he didn’t have a rotten brain.

In particular, his memory was exceptionally good, so Rude finally dug out Magnus’s face from his memories.

“The one who was sticking to the guy who had the audacity to propose to Merche, the creepy bastard who was grinning?”

“…It’s Magnus Fondo, Lord Lupinus.”

“Who asked you? I should have crushed your head back then. And you’re here grinning again?”

“That unrefined way of speaking is still the same. While your birth is noble, unlike me, your actions are low-class.”

“There are quite a few bastards who died by my hand for carelessly mocking me with their loose tongues.”

Even as the intimidating physique that could cover his entire body approached, Magnus did not erase his smile.

Rather, he directly faced the brutally cold eyes and spoke.

“Lord Lupinus. I don’t think you have time to be doing this with me right now.”

“What time? Time to beat you to death? I’ll make time for that even if I don’t have it.”

“…Merche Venenum.”

Just once. He uttered the woman’s name just once. But that alone made the aggressive stance disappear.

Overflowing killing intent that couldn’t be fully suppressed flashed in the violet pupils. He grabbed Magnus’s collar as if pressing down on him.

“Are you insane? How dare a cockroach like you call that preciously noble woman.”

Should I kill him like this? The killing intent intensified, doubling the strength of his grip. That’s when it happened.

“Ugh!”

Again. Again. This damn power.

His body toppled over and forcibly pressed his resisting knees to the ground.

Only when he was kneeling on the ground did Rude frown deeply.

This was the power Merche used. And this cockroach is using the same power?

“I heard you’re afraid of water, Lord.”

Rude swallowed a curse through his clenched teeth.

It seemed there was a rat in his castle too.

Thinking about how he had spared him without recognizing him until now, he felt a surge of anger. What kind of audacious bastard was he?

“Merche Venenum is in the primordial sea.”

Thud. His heart plummeted. As if all the blood in his body had turned cold, a tremor he couldn’t control gradually engulfed him.

“What… the hell… are you saying?”

Grabbing his neck and pressing down, Magnus whispered.

“Why don’t you try saving her? If you think you can do it, go ahead and try.”

Just then, the sea below began to churn violently, visible even from the cliff above.

In the transparently clear blue water, as if paint had been mixed in, the head of a giant monster rose up, and Magnus watched it with utmost satisfaction.

…I really want to see her dying with my own eyes. Licking his dry lips with his tongue, he swallowed even the clinging regret.

It can’t be helped. To make a proper entrance, preparation is needed.