His heart ached.
His throat tightened painfully.
I don’t want to see her die again.
Without realizing it, Richard bit down hard on his lip.
Please.......
Lady Daphne....
Please, let her suffer no longer.
The more he repeated those words, the more desperate they became.
More desperate than anyone else in this world could possibly understand.
“Her Majesty the Empress has passed away.”
When Richard first heard the news, he thought there had been some mistake.
But she was....
She had been smiling so happily.
Even if it had been at another man’s side rather than his.
When he saw her face at the wedding, radiant as a star,
he had believed she would be happy.
Why......?
The question burrowed into his mind.
The cause of death was suicide.
Why would Lady Daphne make such a choice...?
Could it have been an assassination disguised as suicide?
Was there still some faction seeking Lady Daphne’s life?
All manner of thoughts ran wild through his mind, tearing it apart and leaving it in disarray.
A month passed that way.
...I have to know.
Richard made up his mind.
He would uncover the truth behind her death.
And when he secretly entered her bedroom, what he found was.......
[Notice of Broken Engagement]
A notice of broken engagement, crumpled beyond recognition.
“......”
With trembling fingertips, Richard slowly set it down.
His parched eyes once again read the words written in her hand.
...I wish to dissolve my marriage to Cailus le Regnantia...
......Why...?
He could not breathe.
His heart slowly, silently collapsed.
And then—
“......Your Majesty!”
He burst through the door and stormed toward the Emperor’s chambers.
“Your Majesty!”
His footsteps struck the marble floor as he strode roughly forward and stopped before him.
Cailus stood by the window.
Without turning around, he gazed quietly down at the spring scenery outside.
“......What did you do... to her?”
Cailus did not answer.
He was merely silent. Like the wind. Like emptiness.
Richard seized him by the collar with violently trembling hands.
He was so furious that he seemed to have forgotten the difference in their rank.
“Answer me!”
His voice was thick with tears on the verge of breaking free.
His eyes were bloodshot, openly betraying every emotion he had suppressed until that moment.
“You must know why Lady Daphne made that choice! Why she left behind a notice of broken engagement and chose to die!”
Cailus still said nothing.
Neither his breathing nor his gaze wavered in the slightest.
“......”
In the end,
he did not even offer an excuse.
“......Ha.”
Richard lowered his head, his shoulders heaving.
“Ha, haha....”
Broken laughter spilled endlessly from him.
Do you have any idea what it cost me to give her up...?
And you.......
“......”
Richard returned to his room.
He locked the door, shut the windows, and extinguished the lights.
Then he quietly took out her portrait.
Daphne.
The name alone tore his heart apart.
“......I’m sorry.”
His trembling fingertips gently stroked the portrait.
Tears silently ran down his chin.
“I’m sorry... I couldn’t protect you.”
His hand moved toward the sword.
The blade’s chill traveled through his palm and settled beneath his heart.
“...I’ll join you soon.”
Murmuring softly, Richard raised the tip of the blade.
At that moment,
wind brushed past the window.
The sound of laughter from his memories lingered briefly before vanishing.
And then—
In that blood-soaked room, Richard’s body slowly crumpled to the floor.
Thus,
Richard returned to the past for the first time.
Please.......
It was not a prayer.
It was a plea. Begging.
Since that “first life,” he had watched her die dozens of times in succession.
Now—
O God, please, no more....
Richard did not think he could bear it any longer.
As he prayed with his hands clasped without even realizing it—
“......You.”
A dry voice cut through the silence of the prayer chamber.
Richard slowly raised his head.
Cailus was looking at him.
Amid the flickering candlelight and darkness, his face was expressionless as always—
but his gaze held an unfamiliar depth.
“...You are in love with Daphne, aren’t you?”
“......What?”
Richard could not properly react.
His reddened eyes, his dry lips, and his still-labored breathing—
all of it stopped for a moment.
Cailus continued without emotion.
“At the hunting festival. When she gave her handkerchief to the Princess. You were unusually concerned about Daphne then.”
“...That was...”
“And several days ago.”
His gaze sharpened and darkened.
“You also suggested transferring the wish rights to Daphne rather than anyone else.”
Richard flinched almost imperceptibly.
Cailus silently observed his reaction before speaking in a low voice.
“...After seeing all of that, it would be impossible not to know.”
“......”
“I have spent no small amount of time watching you.”
“...That was...”
Richard barely managed to move his lips.
“It was only.......”
He averted his eyes.
His fingers quietly curled against his knees.
Was there any need to deny it?
Cailus had already discovered the full extent of Richard’s hatred for him.
“......”
“......You are right.”
After a long hesitation, he finally spoke.
“I am in love with Lady Daphne.”
And that was why—
I hate you.
He loathed the man who had driven her to her death time and time again.
“......”
“......”
A long silence passed.
Only the heavy air lingered between the two men standing wordlessly across from each other.
Then—
Clatter.
A candlestick toppled over on its own.
Though there was no wind, it slowly tipped and struck the floor.
“......?”
Before Richard could raise his head,
stifling air suddenly swept through the chamber.
Rumble—!!
The prayer chamber shook.
A vast, low vibration resounded as though rising from deep beneath the earth.
The chandelier hanging from the ceiling swayed, and the holy flame flickered.
“......An earthquake...?”
Just as Richard started to rise in alarm—
“Stop.”
Cailus spoke curtly.
“Do not move.”
Before he had even finished speaking,
light suddenly erupted from the altar engraved with sacred symbols in the center of the prayer chamber.
A pure white beam.
Blinding radiance surged upward, piercing the ceiling.
The silent, reverent chamber was overwhelmed by divine will.
“......What is that......?”
Richard murmured in a trembling voice.
Then—
Boom.
A tremendous sound rang out, and a voice descending from the heavens filled the chamber.
It belonged to neither man nor woman, but to a formless existence.
Overwhelming yet resolute, sacred yet cold.
[The balance of the world has been broken.]
Light flooded the entire prayer chamber.
The two men’s shadows wavered across the floor.
[Someone is deliberately distorting the order of this world. Their transgression continues even at this very moment.]
Every candle went out.
Even the light stood still.
Within that silence, the final words descended with unmistakable clarity.
[I deliver this warning to you who have grown so insolent.]
In that instant—
Across the entire temple, from the floors and walls to the ceiling,
crimson patterns appeared like bolts of lightning.
An ominous, alien presence rose from beneath the earth.
Richard’s heart gave a single heavy thud and sank.
He stood frozen, unable to move.
Two shadows stretched across the floor.
One of them was growing noticeably darker as it reached toward him.
......It’s me.
There was no question whom the warning was meant for.
It was not directed at Cailus.
Not Daphne or the Emperor—
God is... watching me.
His breath caught.
Cold sweat slowly trickled down his spine.
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