I Regret The Kindness I Gave You - Chapter 71
“I apologize. I am sorry for thoughtlessly touching your belongings.”
“The King of the Sea”. It was the book Christine had sent as a package before.
The cover, depicting large waves and the figure of the king in a way that would appeal to young children, caught the eye once again.
“You must have read the part your sister separately marked inside. Could you not guess anything even after seeing that?”
“The King of the Sea threw himself into the lake. Without needing to come up to the surface midway to catch his breath, he could breathe in the water as he did on land.”
Thump. The anxious heart beat. Sweat seeped into the clenched fist.
“I…”
Mariette placed another on the table.
Because of that, the words she was about to say remained submerged in her mouth, and her breath was caught in her throat.
The letter Christine had sent.
That lilac-colored paper, which she had tried to bury and forget even by force under her consciousness, sucked at her nerves like a swamp.
Merche’s vision blurred dizzily.
“Do not blame your maid. I forcibly broke her will when she insisted it must not be done even if she dies, and took it.”
“This…, this is not true, Lady. Christine must have misunderstood something. So…”
“Are you going to deny it out of fear? How far are you trying to run away by denying it like that?”
“…Lady.”
Despite the earnest plea, Mariette shook her head firmly.
“Do not try to deceive yourself anymore, Merche.”
In this moment, Mariette was a wall more solid than steel.
Merche, who instinctively twisted her body, looked for a corner to lean on. Her fumbling hand grasped the collar of the man sitting next to her.
Looking down at the woman clinging to him, Rude smiled gladly, but rarely lowered his voice.
“Merche. Do you think you are a monster?”
A monster. If not that, then what is it?
Abnormal growth that would be impossible for a human, the uncanny underwater breathing, Claudia’s diary which should be called fiction.
Everything told her. You are a monster. A monster, not a human.
“Get a grip. Why are you acting like a fool, it doesn’t suit you.”
Then, Rude’s hand tapped her cheek.
Like a small pebble causing ripples, all thoughts scattered like smoke at that small gesture.
“It’s written here. Can’t you read it even after seeing it?”
“……”
“The King of the Sea. This is you. Your true identity is the king.”
Nonsensical words. The emotion that surfaced on the pale face was read as it was.
Rude also felt a bit stuffy at her reaction, which was still only fiercely denying it, and scratched his neck.
Tap, Mariette’s fingernail landed on the storybook in a timely manner. The blue eyes that had lost focus and were floating naturally turned that way.
“Loch Bahamut. The name of the author who wrote this storybook.”
“I do not understand the implication you are trying to convey to me, Lady.”
Well, of course.
Mariette nodded, not making a big deal of it.
“Merche. Loch Bahamut is different from the numerous authors who write down their delusions. He is the one who served as a historian in the past under the order of the first king in the royal palace. That storybook is what Bahamut made by roughly summarizing the history of King Iker that I know.”
Merche is not a dull child. She has a different fiber from her granddaughter who does not know how to use her head.
By this point, even if unclear, she would have grasped the gist of her words.
As if responding to her conviction, amazement gradually rose on the pretty face that had only been blank.
Around that time, Mariette drove the wedge in.
“You were washed ashore from the sea in the form of an aura, possessed superior dominance over other powers, and could breathe underwater for a long time that would be impossible for an ordinary human. …Merche. If this is not a king, then what is it?”
The neatly stacked pieces came together to create one complete picture.
In front of the large picture that could no longer be denied or ignored, Merche collapsed.
[This is the timeline separator]Kwaaaarung! An eerie thunder struck over the pitch-black sky.
The dark tomb where one could not see an inch ahead.
Magnus stopped his steps in front of the ornately patterned coffin where the first king, Iker, was said to be sleeping.
“San.”
“…Uh, Brother. This seems.”
It doesn’t seem right. The unfinished words went down the throat with dry saliva.
The green eyes staring at him without a word shone coldly. Even though he was smiling smoothly, it was a chilling gaze.
“Open it.”
Magnus dislikes saying things twice.
Several faces that were brutally crushed whenever he got irritated and took out his anger flashed by quickly.
Having no choice, San put his hand on the coffin. The trembling fingertips pried into the gap where the lid and the lower part were joined, and barely opened it.
Creak. Finally, with a noise, the lid shifted to the side.
“…Ha. I thought it might not be, but it was really here?”
There was not even any trace left by a skeleton or corpse in the coffin.
The only thing that proved there had been a corpse was a single laurel wreath left where the head of the corpse would have been placed.
The coffin of the first king.
It was a coffin that had been closed for at least several hundred years. It means that if it were an ordinary living plant, it should have already crumbled.
However, that laurel wreath was rather full of life as if the leaves and branches that had just bloomed were woven together.
Pushing the trembling San aside, Magnus bent his upper body and grabbed the laurel wreath.
“To think it was the laurel wreath itself, not a crown…”
Isn’t this too direct a mythology?
As it was a symbol of the king and a sacred object, he had only thought it would be the crown decorated with gold that he wore at the coronation.
But to think it actually referred to a laurel wreath.
While regretting the time stupidly wasted until now, the pleasure heightened his mood.
He turned his body around and ostentatiously placed the laurel wreath on his head.
“How is it? Don’t you think it has finally found its owner, San?”
“Yes, yes… That’s right, Brother.”
“Are you sincere? For saying that, your reaction is very lukewarm?”
The smile disappeared from Magnus’ lips.
“Do you want to try it on?”
San shook his head as if having a seizure. He could read it just by looking. If he wore that, he would die. He would surely end up like those corpses and die like that…
“Why? You’re also my brother and royalty. Come to think of it…? Perhaps it might suit you better.”
“That, that is yours, Brother… It is your possession that I dare not take…!”
“…San.”
As expected, I like you.
Only then did the gentle smile spread again on the face that had been expressionless as if bleached.
San panted, shrunken, with a sense of relief as if he had escaped from the brink of death.
My, my. Poor San Iker. Knowing that it was himself who made him tremble in fear, Magnus expressed sympathy as if taunting him.
He naturally sat on the coffin with the laurel wreath on.
Sitting on the coffin, his body felt moderately cool thanks to the cold temperature of the coffin.
…Merche Venenum.
In the end, it’s that woman. No matter the situation, no matter what he was doing, all his thoughts constantly slipped into thoughts about Merche Venenum.
The white face that had been clean and the defenseless eyes came to mind.
Compared to others, she was a pure one who did not particularly show dirty desires. Strangely, that was more annoying and disgusting.
Suddenly, he became curious.
If he forced her to submit to him, would Merche Venenum give up everything and yield?
After much thought, he lightly got off the coffin.
He had to see for himself. What choice Merche Venenum would make when driven to the edge of a cliff.
[This is the timeline separator]“Merche. What’s wrong with you?”
“…What do you mean?”
“You’ve been out of it for days. Did something happen?”
“…No. I’m just a bit tired, that’s all.”
She shook her head, hiding her complicated feelings and evading the question. Karla furrowed her brows at the listless nod, but did not press further.
She seemed to have gauged that there was a secret she did not want to talk about, whatever it was.
One day, two days, three days… As Merche was lost in thought, time passed well.
Before they knew it, it had been almost two weeks since they came to the main house of Fondo, and the day of the banquet to celebrate the successful progress and conclusion of the meeting had arrived.
The hand of the attendant, who had decorated her sparkling golden hair with jeweled pins, fell away.
Seeing that, Merche was about to take her gaze away from the mirror and get up from her seat.
“…Merche!”
For a moment, her body swayed. The dizziness that had gone away for a while rushed back frighteningly.
“What’s wrong with you… Are you that tired? Did you stay up last night?”
“…I couldn’t sleep. It’s okay now, so you can let go, Karla.”
In fact, it wasn’t just last night that she couldn’t sleep properly.
From the day she heard from Mariette that she might be the protagonist of the prophecy, she hadn’t been able to sleep properly until now.
As she was the type to lose her appetite first when she lacked sleep, she had also lost weight in the past few days.
The dress that should have fit her body well was also slightly loose because of that.
“Why don’t you skip the banquet and rest? I think it would be better to lie down saying you’re sick.”
She desperately wanted to rest as Karla said, but in the end, she shook her head again.
It was a banquet she had already expressed her intention to attend a few days ago.
If she were to not attend now citing her physical condition as an excuse, such behavior of hers could bring shame to the Venenum name.
After calmly evening out her breath, she headed out the door to go to the banquet hall.
“Miss Merche, come quickly.”
As soon as she arrived at the banquet hall, Lena Aquila suddenly took her hand.
Her ten nails, which must have been repainted recently, were dyed blue today, unlike the bright red before.
As Merche’s gaze went down there, the hand with layers of rings stretched out into the air as if responding.
“Pretty?”
I got tired of the red color quickly, so I tried changing it to something else before coming here. The coquettish voice clung to her ear as if winding.
“It suits you well, Duchess Aquila.”
“Hmm. Is that so?”
She narrowed her eyes freshly like a cat and linked arms with Merche.
“That’s a relief. You know, I chose this color thinking of you, Miss Merche.”
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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