Strategic Marriage with the Mad Villain - Chapter 60

The man seated at the pinnacle of the Asilut Empire. Those who had seen Den Aren Asilut smile often felt that he was pure and unblemished.

Of course, this was the impression of those who had not gazed into the cruel depths of the Emperor’s heart, made of pure evil.

“This monster…! Can’t you just disappear? Get it out of my room at once!”

Monster. That was the word the Empress, his mother, always spat out at him out of habit.

It wasn’t that the Empress was particularly treating her own flesh and blood like a bug.

She never openly treated him like a monster, but the Emperor, his father, was not much different.

No, it was the Emperor who most despised the Crown Prince who was different from ordinary people.

And Den knew all these facts.

He was someone who couldn’t understand the concept of laughter, so he wasn’t easily fooled by the kind tone and purposefully gentle face.

In his childhood, he just silently watched those who abhorred him and accepted things as they were.

But at some point, he felt like he was going crazy from the disgusted gazes that looked at him like a worm.

So he just killed them all.

His mother, who blamed him in an annoying voice. His father, who seemed to scold him with good words but looked at him with the coldest gaze.

After getting rid of the bothersome ones, Den’s world became chillingly silent.

The stench of blood emanating from those who could no longer make a fuss occasionally awakened him to reality. But he couldn’t feel any fear.

Instead, Den felt a strange sense of exhilaration and an unknown thrill running through his body.

It was from then on that he began to toy with people’s lives as he pleased.

Now that he had the throne in his hands, there was no one who could stop Den.

His brothers, who were originally supposed to take the throne before him, the son of the Empress. The annoying palace servants.

He just killed off the things that bothered him first and thought about it later.

But no one noticed the Emperor’s cruelty.

It was thanks to Den being born with superior intelligence instead of lacking emotions.

The Emperor was well aware of how his true nature was perceived by others and what benefits there were to hiding his brutal true self.

Thus, he also knew what to take and discard to get what he wanted, and how much patience he needed to have.

The Emperor’s death was an accident, and the Empress took her own life. The many other deaths also had plausible reasons attached to them, all originating from Den’s mind alone.

In this way, Den perfectly deceived people for a long time and took control of the imperial family.

It didn’t mean that Licasen Rochester, who was fooled by the monster wearing a gentle mask, was particularly stupid.

So how did the power of the Rochester family, which was kept in strict secrecy, reach the Emperor’s ears?

The full story was simpler than one might think.

Perhaps it started from the moment Licasen personally saved the monster, which could be called the beginning of the tragedy.

He thought of him as his one and only close friend, enduring everything and saving the Emperor from the danger of poisoning, but it only served to pique the monster’s curiosity.

Eventually, not long after, the Emperor gave an order to Cain, the shadow he used most handily.

“Pardon…?”

“Licasen Rochester. I told you to bring him to me alive.”

With those words, the only Grand Duke of the Empire fell into being the Emperor’s prey.

The two people who made the greatest contribution to capturing the prey were:

Count Ibelle, who caused a carriage accident after being promised the Empire’s largest mana stone mine, although he didn’t know the exact details. And Cain, who had survived the longest and was most useful among the Emperor’s shadows.

As planned, the carriage fell off the cliff.

The Grand Duchess and the coachman died instantly. The Grand Duke should have also died instantly, but the power of healing barely kept Licasen alive on the brink of death.

And Cain dragged the tattered Grand Duke in front of the Emperor.

The rest proceeded according to the Emperor’s original plan. He probably held a funeral with just an arm and kept his close friend from escaping.

Den, who no longer needed to wait, subjected Licasen to cruel experiments to take his power.

But the experiment failed.

This was a predestined outcome. The head of the Rochester Grand Ducal House was replaced through a special ceremony, and only the direct line of the Grand Ducal House could inherit that power.

No matter how much the Emperor held the Empire in his hands, there was virtually no way in the world for him to obtain that power.

The Emperor looked down at the tattered Licasen as if he was disappointed.

He was quite useful when he was alive.

The shell that had turned cold just because the body was a bit torn apart became a troublesome thing to deal with. Not to mention the heart that housed the core of the vast mana and healing powers.

The owner of the body was already dead, but the heart was beating on its own, becoming a headache.

The contemplation didn’t last long. It was only proper to discard what had become useless, albeit regrettably.

Den decided to bury Licasen’s heart in the vast forest owned by Count Ibelle.

Thus, the heart of the Grand Duke of Rochester was trapped in some device and buried somewhere in the forest of Count Ibelle’s territory.

Next, the people who knew about this incident died one after another.

The only survivor was Count Ibelle, who was used without knowing the exact details.

It was quite an interesting turn of events, but to think it would end like this. The Emperor couldn’t hide his disappointment.

He thought everything was over, but it wasn’t.

Licasen’s heart, which even the Emperor himself couldn’t find now, somehow left traces in the world.

The vast mana contained within the core. It resembled the color of the dark night sky. The power that had lost its owner to control it flowed out endlessly.

And it didn’t take long for the mana to completely engulf the forest.

Thus, the forest of the Ibelle County was falsely accused of being a cursed land and even gained the name “Forest of Silence.”

Soon, the Emperor also became aware of this fact. But he decided to leave the forest as it was.

After all, no one but himself knew what it originated from. So, doesn’t it have its own meaning?

Den was only disappointed and disappointed again.

‘No matter how much I think about it, this shouldn’t have ended so anticlimactically.’

Maybe he should have kept at least one thing alive. Then this disappointment might have subsided a bit.

Or should he leak some facts about his father’s death to his dear Licasen’s son?

If he had gotten his hands on the power, he could have enjoyed the game of toying with either side…

But as said, Den was a person who knew exactly when to exercise restraint.

So he put Reus Rochester in his father’s vacant seat and made him submit to the one who killed his father, wrapping up the matter.

Seeing Reus’s ignorant face after losing his father made him feel as if the loss of his close friend was somewhat restored.

* * *

Reus read through the paper detailing all the full accounts of the incident.

Each and every written letter trampled on Reus’s heart. The hand holding the paper began to tremble slightly.

He couldn’t accept the fact that his father had to die for such an absurd reason. The unresolved resentment seemed to pierce through his entire body like thorns.

He wanted to rush to the palace right now and tear the Emperor to pieces.

But Reus was only ten years old.

There was nothing a young child could do but cry. Reus knew that fact all too well. So the deep-seated anger burned even more to the point of aching bones.

“I will take revenge.”

At Theron’s words, Reus, who had been crying with dead eyes, raised his head.

“So you should too.”

The raw emotions still rippling in the light brown eyes.

Reus could now fully understand. The raw anger thirsty for revenge and… the guilt.

Although it wasn’t his fault, Theron vaguely felt how heavy his father’s sins were.

Tears fell from Theron’s light brown eyes, weighed down by guilt as he directly witnessed Reus crumbling.

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry… So… let me help you. I’ll do anything. I’m sure I can be of help.”

Did Reus really have a choice?

From the moment he learned the hidden truth behind his parents’ accident and his father’s death, it was impossible to go back to how things were before.

Reus slowly nodded his head.

Thus, he ended up joining hands with the son of his enemy. The boy introduced himself as Theron.

“I think your father’s… heart is buried beneath the forest owned by the Count’s family.”

The forest suddenly shrouded in darkness. It was a clue that only those who knew the connection between the incident and Count Ibelle could notice.

Reus ran through the vast Forest of Silence until he was out of breath.

To put his father, who might be buried somewhere neither dead nor alive, at ease. And to regain the power of the Rochester family and complete his revenge.

So even while suffering from the guilt that he might be stepping on the place where his father was buried, he couldn’t stop running.

Reus’s hell was only beginning from now on.

* * *

Reus began to suffer from severe insomnia as he started going to the Forest of Silence again. As a result, Loel’s worries only deepened.

‘He was originally barely getting any sleep…’

It seemed like Reus couldn’t sleep at all these days.

When she woke up briefly, it was a given that he wasn’t by her side, and even when he was in the room, he was mostly sitting still on the sofa, lost in thought or endlessly gazing out the window.

But Loel couldn’t bring herself to ask what was going on.

She may not know the exact details, but she already knew the reason as if she did.

And even if Reus readily shared the story, there was nothing she could do to help.

‘It would have been nice if the original work explained Reus’s background a bit more.’

The only things mentioned in the novel were matters related to the imperial family, clashes with Casien and Iris, or his futile attempt at treason and his miserable end.

‘Is there anything I can do for him…?’

After being lost in deep thought for a while, Loel suddenly recalled what Shanette had said.