Startled, Heathcliff jumped in place. He now knew the identity of the blood that had fallen on him. What fell and hit the floor before Heathcliff was nothing but the corpse of a rat!

But the twisted shape of its limbs was strange.

“This is…”

Heathcliff knew of a rat that had died twisted like this. A forgotten childhood memory quickly flashed before his eyes.

[Eat this.]

Young Heathcliff gestured to the boy standing before him. The servant standing beside young Heathcliff threw something with a disgusted face. What fell in front of the boy was nothing but the corpse of a rat.

Heathcliff sneered maliciously.

[Eat it.]

Despair deeply filled the eyes of the boy across from him. The color was green.

When young Benjamin did nothing, Heathcliff sweetly whispered, as if suggesting a trade.

[If you eat this, I’ll save the Empress.]

But Benjamin ended up not eating the rat’s corpse. Since Heathcliff never really intended to make Benjamin eat it, he thought he was not cruel enough to do so, and he let his halfbrother go easily.

However, after that incident, the Empress died.

Thanks to Greta’s breath, the modest funeral for the Empress, which was supposed to be modest, was held as a national funeral under Windsor’s patronage.

On the evening of the seventh day, returning from the hunting grounds with the knights out of boredom from the funeral and memorial service, Heathcliff heard a sobbing sound in the corner.

[It’s my fault. It’s because I’m a coward. If I… If I had eaten that rat, my mother would have…] [Your Highness. That matter has nothing to do with this. So don’t feel guilty.]

It was Benjamin, sobbing, and the commander of the 1st Division Eloniac, Cali, comforting him.

What did Heathcliff think then?

‘Maybe I…’

He seemed to have scorned the idiot for losing his mother over such a foolish thought.

Looking down at the rat’s corpse, Heathcliff’s body was drenched in cold sweat. His breathing became rough, and his mind was on the verge of delirium.

“Eat this.”

A familiar phrase.

“If you eat this, I’ll save Her Highness the Empress.”

A phrase he’d uttered.

His misdeed had come back to him.

The dry saliva wouldn’t even go down. His stomach was churning with nausea. In the end, Heathcliff staggered back and vomited right there. He felt as if he had eaten the corpse even though he hadn’t, with a nauseating taste in his mouth, as if maggots were crawling all over his body.

That was the moment when a certain light flashed in Benjamin’s eyes, who had been watching Heathcliff vomiting over and over.

The sound of footsteps echoed beyond the wall. The person whom Benjamin had invited to this place today was approaching.

‘He’s here.’

Benjamin, who had been sitting motionless all the time, stood up from his seat and walked towards the terrace, saying,

“How long do you think you can hide it?”
“나……. 아니야. 나 모르는 일이라고. 나는 절대로 황후 폐하를……. 이, 이제 와서 뭐. 밝힐 수라도 있을 것 같아? 내가 그렇게 한 것 같다고, 주장할 수라도 있을 것 같냐고! 하, 말할 테면 말하라지, 누가 너처럼 병약하고 힘없는 황태자의 말을 들어 주겠어?”

겁에 질린 히스클리프가 자아 분열이라도 온 것처럼 횡성수설했다. 그러나 대답하는 벤야민의 목소리는 평온했고, 또 히스클리프만 들을 수 있을 만큼 작았다.

“아니, 그거 말고.”

“……뭐?”

“네가 윈저 공녀의 구원자가 아니란 거.”

턱에 위액을 묻힌 히스클리프의 얼굴이 서서히 경악에 젖어 들었다. 그가 발을 직직 끌며 조금 더 뒷걸음질 쳤다. 그런 히스클리프에게, 벤야민은 테라스의 난간에 올라서며 던지듯 말했다.

“나잖아. 그거.”

그리고 때마침 히스클리프의 거실 벽 근처까지 다다른 유리시엔은 들었다.

“그, 그게 너였다고? 그럼 넌…… 내가 15년 전 호수에 빠진 윈저 공녀를 구하지 않았단 걸…… 전부 알고 있었어?”

흉악한 진실을.