Episode 51

‘An assassin?’

The assassins usually go after Dietrich; they don’t come directly to my room. I opened my eyes and looked at the shadow covering the moon.

The figure of the shadow was very familiar.

“Detrie?”

“Yeah.”

I wonder what happened after avoiding me these days.

When I rushed to open the window, Dietrich fell into the room as rain was pouring. Frightened by the strong smell of blood, I lit the lamp.

“Hyop!”

Drops of blood were dripping through the cracks of the old floor. The wound, which was caused by a cut or something unknown, was so severe that it can be seen even without taking off the clothes.

I dragged Dietrich under the glimmering yellow light spreading throughout the room. He came with me, having no energy left, and leaned against the bed and exhaled a long sigh.

“Don’t make a fuss. It’s nothing.”

As usual, he talks as if his wounds were nothing. I was even more upset by that, so I pouted.

“How is this nothing.”

I held back my tears as I looked for the bandage. Dahlia was now supplied with bandages, ointments, medicine commonly used for bruises, and even pain relievers.

Dahlia was doing better than before now that Dietrich was much stronger. However, he’s not strong enough not to completely get hurt.

‘Why are you so easily hurt when you’re the villain?’

Dietrich kept silent, watching me crying and applying the ointment, covering his wounds without a word. He didn’t even moan as if he wasn’t injured. .

He was just a 10-year-old child, but he showed no sign of interest even though his blood was gushing out.

I felt terrible at that fact too late.

When I read the background of the demonic Grand Duke Dietrich Lagrange in print, I read it without conscience so I never thought deeply of it. 

“Ugh!”

Dietrich hates crying children.

I twisted my face to hold back my tears, struggling with every effort, and he opened his mouth with a sigh. 

“You’re ugly.”

When I didn’t respond, I felt a burning gaze pouring down my head, and I couldn’t even wipe my runny nose as I looked up.

“Why!”

“. . . . .”

“What are you looking at! ! Why are you looking!” 

“Why are you crying?”

“You show up out of nowhere and don’t even know why I’m crying!”

Normally, a frown would’ve graced his forehead out of habit, but Dietrich just laughed with a weak sound that disappeared with the wind. 

 He wiped the tears running down to my chin with his palm. His fair fingers glistened transparently.

“Don’t cry. There isn’t a crybaby like you in the history of Lagrange.”

“When you’re shad you cry, do Northern people not possess any tears? ”

He was silent again. He slightly frowned as the bandaged wound stung when he touched it.

“You always run away after you shee Anissa and then come back hurt like thish.” 

“. . . . . “

“I’m disawppointed. I’m uwpset.”

Dietrich must’ve been surprised to know that I knew he was avoiding me. He opened his eyes wide and soon groaned in pain, forgetting he was injured. He quickly replied as if making an excuse.

“I get confused when I see you.”

“What?”

“Because I don’t know if the decision I made is correct. I couldn’t find any answer and there is no other way than this making me feel troubled.” 

I glanced at him, who mumbled words I couldn’t understand, and slightly moved my lips. 

“. . . . . why not jush run away?”

“What?”

“Does Detrie habb to be the family head?”

I felt that Dietrich Lagrange becoming the Grand Duke seemed to be inevitable. 

He was the only one who could rival Hermann Euclid in ‘The Rose War of Men’ as the Grand Duke. 

But, was it a position that must be achieved with such hard work? Once he becomes the grand duke, he will start a war with Hermann and be sealed away.

He will be saved by Charlotte, but if he wastes the power of the demon to protect her, he will be eaten by Baal.

In the end, he didn’t have a childhood that could be summarized in one line like in the novel.

We had to endure this season every minute, without skipping every moment. 

“There’s no such option of running away in Lagrange, Anissa.”

“But—“

“I already have Baal, and Derek Lagrange is not the only one who wants him. I’ll swallow him before I get swallowed.”

Dietrich’s words slowed down, his mind gradually getting fuzzy. I wiped the cold sweat that had formed in his forehead.

“The back of the moon where children can hide is only in fairy tales.”

“. . . . .”

“I made up my mind. That’s all.”

‘What kind of decision did he make?’

As I got curious, Dietrich closed his eyes at the end of his sentence.

I exhaled and looked down at him as he fell asleep.

“. . . . .”

I clenched my fist. A groan escaped through my gritted teeth. 

If Dietrich’s becoming a grand duke was  an inevitable fact, maybe the degree of the process could be varied.

‘If Dietrich could suffer a little less difficulty.’

I looked at the three red jewels I had dropped on the floor and closed my eyes. 

‘Purify. I said purify!’

It was a terrible thing that made the children of Lagrange lonely. A curse that prevented a family from being a family.

I couldn’t believe that a demon, sealed hundreds of years ago, was still tormenting the children. 

I hated Asmodeus and couldn’t stand it.

I only thought that Eredia’s ability should be exercised with a good heart, but my hatred toward Asmodeus fostered my ability more than I thought.

The white aura that escaped from my fingertips wrapped around the jewel and began to shake wildly.

‘Oh!’

The black fog hidden in the jewel gradually faded, and the red jewels turned blue.

‘I hope it worked.’

I was able to easily see the change in Lancel who was easily affected by the curse but I was afraid that others might not have been affected in the first place.

I fidget with my hands in front of Dietrich who was sleeping deeply before me.

Unbeknownst to me, the curse that I purified became the trigger of an unexpected wind that would blow in Lagrange. 

────── 〔✿〕──────

Dietrich woke up to the warmth that kept wriggling and digging into his arms. When he opened his eyes, pink tresses greeted him, making a rustling sound and fluttering in the wind.

Moonlight poured over the child’s round, white forehead.

In the cool breeze that came through the cracks of the open window, Dietrich covered Anissa’s body up to her neck with a blanket.

“Huuum.”

He reached out his hand to clean up the hair stuck on her cheeks, but he was startled and drew back his fist.

Dietrich furrowed his handsome forehead and stared at the shadow that had fallen over them.

Not knowing when he showed up, Baal smiled with his red mouth open.

“There are no eyes watching, Your Majesty. Agares has torn his limbs, so he wouldn’t be able to chase after us for a while.”

Dietrich listened silently to his unexpected report. The demon grinned and glanced down.

“I’m saying there is no need to pretend to care for the Princess. It is only me and Your Majesty here.”

“. . . . . I see.”

The boy slowly nodded at Baal’s words. There were no eyes spying on them so he didn’t have to pretend she was precious. Baal wasn’t wrong.

“Agares and Derek seem to have been completely deceived. They only think that Anissa is your precious sister.”

“. . . . .”

He was upset even though he realized that what Baal said wasn't wrong. The demon continued, not seeing Dietrich’s face hardening.

“I don’t know how you’re pretending to value her in order to make her a scapegoat. Now if you cross this gate well—“

“Noisy.”

Dietrich cut off Baal’s gleeful words. The embarrassed demon snapped his long finger and tilted his head.

“Oh, if the Princess wakes up, you will be in trouble. You’d have to pretend to care for her again. You must be bothered.”

At the demon’s words, Dietrich gritted his teeth silently. However, the demon, who had no idea of the delicate emotions of a person, simply approached the window with refreshing steps.

“How much does she care about that ugly doll Your Majesty gave her? If I were a human being, I would have thought nothing of it.”

Dietrich looked back at Baal’s finger pointed at the raccoon doll. Perhaps because he raised himself up, Anissa was now burying herself in a doll almost as big as her body.

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Look at how old and worn the doll is. She’s been dragging it around a lot here and there.”

Baal licked his lips with his long tongue and stretched out his shadow to rummage the doll’s limbs. As the demon said, the doll, which was clearly new, had seams loosened everywhere.

Dietrich slowly removed the dry leaves from the gray-colored soles of the raccoon.

“It isn’t that much.”

He looked at Anissa’s insignificant doll for quite some time.

“Are you not going to tell her you’re leaving to investigate the whereabouts of Euclid?”

The demon indirectly asked Dietrich who was staring at the doll without saying a word. 

He slowly rolled over three necklaces that seemed to have flowed out in her sleep, although it seemed that Anissa had hidden them tightly. 

“You said Josef Euclid was in Romendov, wasn’t he?”

“That is right. The plan was to contact the informant planted by Euclid there.” 

“I have to check Anissa’s ability.”

 

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