[Chapter 128] Help Me

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Despite Lottie's words, Roaldness's eyes continued to flicker.

Vincenzo, who was still kneeling, straightened up.

"Your Highness. The reason why I wanted to inform you of Bardenaldo's twisted reasons is not simply to ask you to replace Bardenaldo because you are the true heir of this country."

Vincenzo looked up earnestly at him, his eyes simmering like water just before boiling, as he realized the immense truth.

"Though it's too late... I wanted to tell Your Highness that you were the light, not the darkness, of Empress Retina."

Whether he was the successor or not, or who was the true successor.

In fact, more than that, Vincenzo wanted to correct those words that had tormented Roaldness all his life.

He couldn't bear to see Roaldness, whose eyes had gradually lost their luster in recent months, clinging to Acacia Countess as if the meaning of his life was only her.

"Do you think that just by looking at those past situations, Lord Bardenaldo never loved you even once? He was so twisted, but he truly loved you until he saw that record. Until he saw that record."

Vincenzo had watched Roaldness's devotion the longest.

The feeling of self-loathing for having dedicated his life to someone who never loved him.

The guilt of contributing to his brother's death, even if it was such a brother.

The sense of debt for having crushed his mother's will with his own hands.

With such a dark heart, his lord was too great and precious a person.

What Roaldness needed was not just the truth, but comfort. Vincenzo knew it better than anyone else.

"So you don't need to suppress your sorrow inside, and you don't need to bear everything alone like that. You don't have to hesitate. Just take whatever you want."

As soon as Vincenzo finished saying that, he burst into tears.

Roaldness looked down at Vincenzo as if he were seeing him for the first time in his life.

Neil, who had been staring blankly at the two of them, felt a chill run down his spine when he looked into Roaldness's eyes.

The eyes, which had been flickering with various colors, cracked like glass, and then a dark darkness emerged from within and spread out like light.

Seeing the eyes that suddenly turned darker as if his personality had changed, a chill ran down his spine.

Although he had seen his lord's terrifying appearance countless times, it was the first time he had seen such completely mad eyes.

Even Epero, who had a furious expression in this situation, couldn't help but hold his breath.

The beautiful face was distorted by the torchlight.

The cold, dark red eyes, which were so creepy, slowly turned downward.

The long eyelashes were beautiful, but at the same time cast a shadow that made one's heart ache.

"How dare you comfort me."

"...I'm just apologizing for my cowardly silence."

Vincenzo whispered, unable to even raise his head.

Roaldness's face, which had no warmth, tilted slightly to the side.

Every time the hardened blood-stained platinum hair fell over his forehead, those who saw it were breathless.

"If you want forgiveness..."

The red bloodstain that spread from his strong lower jaw to his jawline throbbed.

"...prove your usefulness to me now."

A strong torch burning in the darkness.

Roaldness's red-burning eyes clearly urged Vincenzo with such a color.

"So that I can have what I want."

The descendant of Caldeion, who exterminated all monsters and unified Ronta into an empire, commanded coldly.

****

Vincenzo, who had jumped out of the cave, followed by Neil who was dumbfounded and the frightened Count, and Epero who had a mountain of questions for them, left the cave.

"Let's awaken your magic tomorrow. It seems you need time to organize your thoughts now."

When even Lottie shook her head and slowly exited the cave, only Roaldness and Adrienne remained inside the thorny fence.

Roaldness's eyes sank even darker after hearing the truth and Vincenzo's comfort.

He probably wouldn't feel anything real. Just like I did at every moment when I faced the truth.

I hung the torch given to me by the Count on the wall.

Roaldness stared at Empress Retina's corpse, a few steps away, like a well-made statue.

As I watched his gaze that repeated itself from dark to light, I quietly approached him and took his hand.

Because his hand was stained with the blood of a monster, Roaldness instinctively flinched and tried to pull his hand away.

I bit my lower lip, like my mother scolding me, and firmly grabbed his large hand, which still had a thick red stain, and pulled it towards me.

His dark gaze shifted to me. His eyes were like a fake jewel that had shattered into pieces.

"...Your hand is bloody, Adrienne."

"It doesn't matter."

As if to show him, I pulled his hand into my arms and hugged him tightly.

His flickering eyes silently watched the scene. It was heartbreaking that his hands, which were always warm, were now cold.

"...Weren't you scared?"

"Of what?"

"When I killed the monster."

Was that all he was worried about?

Even after hearing such an incredible story, Roaldness was asking me if he wasn't scared of himself covered in monster's blood.

It would be a lie if I said I wasn't scared. But I felt more sadness and pity than fear.

At that moment, I saw young Roaldness.

Not the hero of a story who coolly sliced monsters, but the image of a young boy who struggled with all his might to kill a monster.

Roaldness looked down at me with difficulty and eventually looked away at the glass coffin without meeting my eyes.

His insecure face, clearly visible only to us two, stood out as he was unsure of his existence despite hearing what so many people had said.

His dark, gleaming eyes, which had frightened people, looked like those of a wounded animal to me.

"Roan, you heard."

I tried to answer calmly, suppressing my trembling voice.

"I told you."

It was something I had always wanted to tell Roaldness, not Vincenzo, not Lottie, but me.

"You were never, and will never be, the darkness of your mother."

Wasn't his life proof of that? He is not someone's darkness.

"You are the light of your mother, and my light."

I pulled his hand towards me as if to draw Roaldness's gaze, which was still fixed on the corpse.

And I hugged him deeply, staring into Roaldness's trembling eyes for a long time.

My heart was filled with joy that I could finally hug Roaldness who had avoided my eyes all day.

Roaldness, standing tall while being hugged, was as solid and huge as always.

****

Roaldness felt his mind gradually brighten, not by Vincenzo's words, the old records, or Lottie's conviction, but by Adrienne's voice.

His flickering eyes, like a torch, turned to the sleeping Retina.

'Wasn't I the darkness of my mother?'

Tears fell down his firmly hardened cheeks, drawing thin lines.

'Is it also a lie that my brother never loved me once?'

Even while looking at Bardenaldo's ugly past, he was only looking for Bardenaldo's sincerity.

He knew it too.

As Vincenzo said.

It's a lie that Bardenaldo never loved him even once.

When he was very young.

When he hid in a corner, avoiding people who shunned him, it was Bardenaldo who always reached out to him.

When he fell asleep crying, he would stroke his hair until he woke up and smile, saying he had been watching over him in case he had a nightmare.

He was the brother who touched his forehead and whispered, "Don't be sick," when he fell asleep unable to bear the sadness during the time he was going in and out of the royal library.

'There was such a time.'

Because of the immense betrayal, he had to endure the pain. Because he didn't stop Bardenaldo from dying, even though he thought of him as his mother's only light.

Roaldness had to hold back his tears for Bardenaldo's death, out of shame towards Retina.

"You can cry, Roan."

As if to soothe his heart, Adrienne leaned her lovely cheek against his chest and whispered.

It was something he had always longed to hear.

"It's okay to cry."

It wasn't about forgiving Bardenaldo.

The tears that were flowing now were tears of letting go of young Bardenaldo.

Roaldness, who had never properly cried after losing two of the people he loved most in his life, buried his face in Adrienne's shoulder.

Hot tears that he had kept hidden even at Bardenaldo's funeral poured out.

As he embraced Adrienne who was clinging to him, he belatedly pondered over his mother's true will.

'Not for someone else's glory, but live gloriously yourself.'

Everything felt like a dream.

Vincenzo's words, Bardenaldo's illusions, Lottie's story, it all didn't seem real yet.

The afterimage of Bardenaldo, which floated up like a haze in his mind, twisted Roaldness's lips.

'Mother, it seems that Bardenaldo is not the only one who is twisted.'

The sun of Ronta that Lottie talked about. A light so intense that it could burn monsters?

'To hell with that.'

He didn't care at all as long as he could make the woman in his arms live in the light, not in the darkness.

'Mother, if I can protect Adrienne... I'll be anything, whether it's an emperor or a god.'

He clenched his teeth and vowed.

The image of his mother, who had slept peacefully like the day he had guarded her last, flickered in his blurry vision.

'Can such a light shine on my mother?'

It was a question mixed with a little self-deprecation.

"Let's go out, Roan."

Adrienne carefully led Roaldness out of the cave.

Adrienne, who had gone out into the bright sun first, stopped at the entrance of the cave and reached out to Roaldness who was looking at her.

Adrienne, shining in the backlight, was so beautiful that her eyes ached.

"If you want to be emperor, I'll help you. I'll make you... the emperor."

Roaldness's heart ached at Adrienne's voice, who didn't seem to know why he wanted to be emperor.

"Me, not Doris."

Adrienne, who had boldly said so, blushed slightly.

Roaldness smiled wryly at her words. Adrienne stared blankly at him.

No matter how dark the place, Roaldness's smile was so beautiful that it made his heart ache.

It was a completely different reaction from when he had stared blankly at Doris's offer to make him emperor.

Adrienne reached out her hand to Roaldness again.

Roaldness, staring at the faint bloodstain on her hand, slowly reached out his hand to her.

Adrienne grabbed his hand tightly without caring.

His boots, which had been submerged in darkness, took a step forward into the light.

"...Yes, please."

A low, sweet voice. Adrienne's face gradually brightened.

This dangerously beautiful prince, who would make him emperor, smiled even wider as he embraced Adrienne.

Even though his body was still soaked in blood, Adrienne didn't avoid it. Roaldness's heart swelled instantly.

He had completely escaped the dark cave and whispered in Adrienne's ear.

"Help me, Adrienne. So that I can truly become a bright light."

For the first time in his life, Roaldness asked someone for help.

"I need your help more than anyone else."

It couldn't have been happier.

"Help me, Adrienne."

With those words.

His eyes, which had been gleaming darkly, suddenly sparkled like a beautiful jewel, and his lips, which had found their color, immediately swallowed Adrienne's lips.

With the gentle breeze, the smell of the monster's blood that had been swirling around the young lovers disappeared at once.

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