Episode 60

Chapter 4: The Secret of Lagrange

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The merchant, whose head was trampled by Dietrich’s foot, could no longer open his cheeky mouth. 

“But the supply of money will really be cut off. Then, it’ll be even more disadvantageous in the game of succession. Will you be okay?” 

Veronica whispered, who avoided the bodies of the unconscious merchants like obstacles. Even she couldn’t easily understand Dietrich’s sudden choice. 

Initially, he was a person who had no great interest in humanity’s moral of good and evil. But why was he suddenly arresting slave merchants? 

“If you fail to become the grand duke, we will be in trouble, too.” 

Dietrich caught a glimpse of Veronica’s strange smile. 

In the cruel and cold North, it was common to catch helpless children and sell them as slaves so there were many parents who lost their children as they were snatched away. 

Even if one complained of injustice, there was nothing to be done. 

It was their fault that they did not have the means nor the strength to find their child, thus the only principle of the Northern people was to blame themselves. 

‘So those who used the weak to fill their stomach couldn’t wag their tongue even if they were trampled on by a stronger force.’ 

Veronica shrugged her shoulders and looked up at Dietrich’s indifferent face. 

“There’s no way that you, of all people, would suddenly want to imitate those foolish southerners.” 

“............”

“Is it because of Anissa? Because the slave merchants are aiming for Anissa in this gambling house?” 

A child like Anissa would stand out. Naturally, she was going in and out of Saint-Dena to buy lottery tickets and became a target of slave merchants.

There must have been a lot of perverts who wanted to keep that soft pink wavy hair and her red eyes that shone like rubies. 

Of course, Dietrich did not just sit idly by and let the merchants touch Anissa. Swallowed by Baal’s shadow, they had long since been taken care of without the knowledge of even rats or birds. 

‘Maybe that was not enough?’

“Your love for your younger sister is quite amazing.” 

“Shut up.”

It was only then that Dietrich’s heavy lips opened at Veronica’s provoking remarks. Veronica laughed out loud and left the warehouse with Yuric.

“I believe Your Majesty’s judgment is right.” 

Only when Veronica’s laughter was so far away that it can no longer be heard did Baal appear, whose shadow had melted into the shadow cast by the barrel. 

He stretched his devilish red mouth into a grin. 

“Because the sacrifice shouldn’t be scratched. There’s nothing more certain than protection in pretending to cherish it preciously, by all means.” 

Sshk. 

Dietrich thrust a sword into the careless demon’s throat. 

It was so fast that even the demon could not avoid it. Of course, demons were not affected by physical attacks.

Baal’s eyes went round and hesitantly retreated.

“I guess this isn’t enough to kill you.” 

“Demons can’t be killed by humans.” 

Baal swept his neck with his hand and let out a sigh. The boy he served as king was really a human who was difficult to understand. He couldn’t believe he suddenly got angry. 

“That’s right.”

Dietrich nodded briefly and sheathed his sword. 

“Ah, the princess almost destroyed the curse of Asmodeus.” 

Baal continued to speak, twining his long fingers together. 

“I’ve never seen a Lagrange child who was born with such a talent -- to be able to remove the curse of the first head.” 

“That curse, what’s its effect?”

“Well, it’s nothing special. It just makes one lose their humanity and become evil. Sometimes, it makes people feel they’ve gotten stronger. It’s the game of Asmodeus.”

Baal slowly stuck out four legs. 

“Of course, Your Majesty is not affected by such a trivial curse in the first place. You’re already perfect. Completely! Unlike! A human at all.” 

The boy’s fingertips trembled slightly at the demon’s words, but neither of them noticed it. 

As the slave merchants, barely holding on to their life, were dealt with one after the other, a creaking noise was heard from the door. 

“Hide the corpses.”

Whispering low, the boy hurriedly wiped his blood-stained hands on his pants. A small child wearing a white one piece dress came down the stairs with short steps. 

Dietrich, who was already familiar with darkness, recognized her right away, but Anissa wandered around looking here and there. 

‘How did she come down here?’

The person holding the candlestick was himself, but he couldn’t figure out why the light was shining from her. 

The subtle scent of dahlia was mixed with the bloody smell. Dietrich tried to hide himself for a moment, but Anissa managed to find him. 

“Dietrich?” 

The surprised child approached me. 

“Don’t come here.” 

As I was trying to stop the approaching child, I was surprised by the blood marks I left on her shoulder and stepped back. 

‘I definitely wiped it off, but why is it still dirty?’ 

The palms I looked down at in a hurry were dark. Of course, it was dirty. 

Were all these blood stains just from the merchant? It wasn’t just one or two necks I had cut down on the battlefield. 

No matter how much I wiped it over and over again, it seemed that it wouldn’t disappear for the rest of my life. 

“Why are you trembling?” 

 At those words, Anissa paused for a moment. He froze at the fear that bloomed openly on the child’s fair face. 

It was because I didn’t want to get caught up in this feeling that I precisely avoided her. 

The boy was terrified. He, who was never afraid of dying, was terrified of that child. 

Now, he knew the identity of fear. 

I’m not afraid that my plans would be discovered and things would go wrong. I didn’t have the confidence to see the face of the child resenting me. 

The confidence to drag that thin neck and offer it to the devil -- it’s impossible for me. 

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I wanted to apologize to Dietrich. I was sorry I avoided his hand. 

I forgot for a moment that he was just Dietrich, not some flat villain in the novel. 

However, as if laughing at my regret, he was again sent to war without time to talk to me. 

‘There’s no way he’ll come back in the middle of war.’

After winning the first rose war, the Dietrich who would return would already be seventeen years old. 

All the children who possessed useful demons, including Dietrich, Alphonse and Yuric, were sent to war against Euclid. 

The only direct descendants of Lagrange left in Nature were me, the triplets, and Veronica, who were judged to have no fighting power. 

“They’re thinking of getting rid of Dietrich under the pretext of war.”

I closed the book I was reading and lifted my head at Veronica’s nonsensical words. 

“Henri is dead. It’s because that scum, Alphonse, is the commander. What the hell did he believe in that stupid bastard?!” 

She clicked her tongue and sat on my desk. I closed my eyes as I looked at the floating dust. 

The children were gifted with the ability to wield shadow demons, but with the exception of Dietrich and Yuric, their physical abilities were not excellent. 

“....I’ll have to tell Riesling.” 

Among the triplets, the child who was closest to Henri was Riesling. 

Although the curse that affected the children was no longer there, the awkward relationship could not be restored immediately. 

The child who played the role of the bridge among the children was Riesling, and because he was friendly, he was close to many children. 

‘That’s why it’ll probably be the saddest.’

More than half of the children who were recruited died. 

They were all Derek’s biological children, but he didn’t even bat an eye. 

When one child died, they were only replaced by another child with similar abilities. There was no proper funeral. 

‘Even mercenaries wouldn’t do that.’ 

Ever since Dietrich left, I often had nightmares. There was even a time I dreamt that he couldn’t come back because he was dead, but the most terrifying dream was, 

“Even if the children came back alive, it’s no different as if they’re dead. Since they’ve wasted their abilities like that, they’re in a state where they could be called half-crazed.” 

It was a nightmare of Dietrich becoming a brother I no longer know. 

“Everyone must be in a frenzy except for Alphonse whom Derek is protecting. The scum who calls himself the head is getting involved in the game of succession -- it’s the same as the end of Lagrange.” 

“Someone might hear you, sister.”

I tried to stop Veronica from saying cutting remarks. 

“Let them hear. Now, mother too…”

She smiled bitterly and trailed with her words. I reached out and stroked the back of her beautiful hand. 

“How is Miss Liatris?” 

“She’s better than after Neil died, but still the same.” 

Neil was the only child of Liatris who was not born with an ability; as most of the children had given up on the succession, his life was not threatened. 

The baby was safe, until Derek, who lost an important turn, stopped by the castle and threw the baby out of the castle in a fit of anger. 

“In the past, she didn’t even feel sad when the children died.” 

If the infant mortality rate of the Bernoulli Empire was about 30%, not even half of Lagrange’s children survived. 

A cold weather was still a weather, but this was a place where children who were not strong enough were left for dead. [1]

That was why Derek’s wives were unusually insensitive to having their children kill someone and their children killed. 

‘It must have been because of the curse of Asmodeus.’

However, after witnessing Neil’s death, Liatris went insane on the spot. 

‘It’s because of me.’

I never imagined that there would be such side effects.

Was it because of me, who was not even a protagonist but a supporting character, dared to change the contents of the novel? 

“I need to buy flowers. Rose said hydrangeas came from Ardel. Miss Liatris likes hydrangeas.” 

I got up from my seat and grabbed Veronica’s hand.

Due to the fact that a succubus was of little use in battle -- and Dietrich took Zagan -- she remained in Lagrange and spent more time in Dahlia than in Liatris.

“After the succession is over and the restrictions are lifted, I will go to Valliere, the capital city. If we run away now, we’ll be pursued, but if Dietrich becomes the family head, the shadows won’t be tracked.” 

“.............”

“You come with me, too.” 

T/N: Liatris has a -nim attached to her name which is an honorific in Korean so I decided to add ‘Miss’ as her title this time. I know she’s married but she isn’t called a madam (and it doesn’t seem like she’s happily married anyway LOL) 

[1]  I’m guessing it means that whether it was cold or sunny, it was still considered a weather and no discrimination, but children were heavily discriminated - if you’re weak, you die and if you’re strong, try and survive.

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