CH 96

*******

A meeting of the ducal faction was taking place today in the small mansion on the Count of Salide’s territory.

After the Duke of Theodore, who was the biggest variable, agreed to join the cause, Yulif’s movement accelerated. At the increasingly frequent gatherings, the nobles of the ducal faction had an intuition that Yulif’s idea of ​​a date was close enough to hold in his hand. Yulif’s condition, which became more sensitive as the day passed, also supported that intuition.

“Recently, Count Enderk is visiting the territories of the imperial nobles. It looks like he’s trying to hire soldiers.”

“Actually, some nobles are gathering soldiers to Cissina on the pretext that the security has deteriorated.”

“Including the secret knights, there seems to be a number that is hard to ignore. Even if the numbers are similar, it may be difficult to enter the capital.”

Yulif was silent, with one hand on his forehead. There was no expression on his face, heavily shadowed, making it difficult to read what he was thinking. There was no semblance of emotion, whether he was upset, whether he was angry or satisfied.

The nobles gulped nervously and shut their mouths. There was one reason why they were on the side of the duke, who was sometimes more difficult to deal with than the emperor. Because the emperor was a maniac who did not understand words, and the duke was a rational man who could speak.

At least the duke didn’t slice anyone in the conference room just because he was in a bad mood.

“No need to worry about entering the Imperial Palace. I’m going to go in first and open the way.”

“Will the emperor call you to the Imperial Palace?”

“Sooner or later, the emperor will try to persuade others that I am a traitor and try to remove me from the palace.”

Traitor. Yulif spit out words that could make his throat fly just by putting them in his mouth.

In fact, the word ‘persuade’ was the wrong word. Yulif was a traitor. Who else was but a traitor who would kill the emperor, put the crown prince on the throne, and try to entrust the regent to the empress who would become the empress dowager?

Before the return, it was a false accusation. He wasn’t resentful, but anyway, Yullif couldn’t touch Deltinus because of an oath.

If he had made that decision back then. Had he done so, he would not have lost Canaren. He wouldn’t have let her go so vainly.

Belated regret strangled him, as always. Yulif closed his eyes. Canaren, who was bleeding with a pure white face, came to mind as vividly as if it had just happened yesterday. And on top of that, the Canaren he met in the morning was superimposed.

He was pretending to be listening to Rena Harrodsell, but all his nerves and senses were directed at Canaren. Disturbed breath, chapped eyes, moist eyes, tightly bitten lips… It was all engraved on his chest.

If he could, he wanted to hug her right away. He wanted to hold her in his arms as if imprisoned, and to nurture and comfort her.

He was not in love with Rena Harrodsell. The only person he loved was Canaren. With only her, he didn’t need anything. From the day she rescued him from the lake, he only had her on his mind.

So please, please don’t cry.

Before and after the return, he was a sinner. The irreparable sin and karma tore his heart to pieces, and there was nothing more to be ripped.

But Yulif never dared to claim that he was sicker than Canaren. Even if his whole body and soul were torn apart, it was nothing compared to the wounds he had inflicted on Canaren.

In his first life, he hurt her because he realized love too late, and in his second life, he hurt her because he loved her so much.

‘It was because I love you. It happened because I wanted you. Still, Canaren, if there’s one thing in my two lives that I don’t regret.’

‘That’s what I love about you. My life was filled with brilliant light and color while I loved you.’

Yulif opened his closed eyes. The eyes of the nobles were fixed on him. Just as each had a different purpose, the eyes also contained different emotions. Anxiety, confidence, belief, expectation, fear.

Their feelings were cumbersome and annoying. He wanted to think only of Canaren. He wanted only for Canaren. He had no time to think and take care of others.

Above all else, he was not confident that he would fail in this life.

“I plan to move troops after I enter the Imperial Palace. Duke Theodore has agreed to help from the inside, so you can rest assured.”

“There is nothing to worry about if the two dukes come out in person.”

“Yes. If Duke Rubius used magic, who would be able to resist?”

The nobles murmured with brighter faces. Yulif pressed his throbbing temple. There were piles of agendas left to discuss, but the headaches were already starting. After Canaren rescued him from the lake, his body, which was fine, began to deteriorate.

‘I don’t have much time.’

The three months he told Anera was a guess. The gates of time did not tell him exactly how much time was allowed. He was just guessing how much was left with the state of his body, his magical powers, and his sixth sense.

One thing was certain, it would never be longer than three months. After joining the Duke of Theodore, this was the reason why he was preparing for the event in a hurry. Since he would never know when or how the end would come.

‘Maybe I can’t die well.’

Anything about time was taboo. He opened the door of time, and he had no idea what kind of end awaited him because he was the only human being who had crossed time with his lifespan as collateral. It would have been nice if he could just come back after everything was done.

At the last moment, he must send Canaren away. Or he would put her to sleep with his magic. After all, after he dies, his magic would dissipate.

It was a carriage waiting for the headache to subside, imagining the end that could not be drawn properly.

“…Ugh.”

“You Grace?”

“What’s going on! Suddenly, your complexion…!”

An agonizing pain, like an awl piercing his spine, ran down his back. At the same time, a familiar kind of pain came over his heart. Yulif grabbed his chest and lowered his upper body.

As his health deteriorated, the flow of his magical power was no longer the same. However, it was impossible to break the barrier placed on the castle with Pionia, so Yulif used his body to amplify his magical power to the limit. In particular, he tried not to miss a single suspicious sign by connecting the barrier surrounding the castle to his body.

The shock applied now was caused by the breaking of a part of the barrier. The hole in the barrier wasn’t large, but the dirty magic that was brimming with malice flowed into Yulif’s interior through the barrier, causing considerable pain.

He squeezed his magical powers to restore the barrier and got up from his seat. There must have been an accident with Canaren. He had to go back to the castle wall.

“Duke, blood!”

Someone shouted like a scream. Where was the blood coming from? Yulif lowered his head and found a drop of dark red blood falling on his table. He put his hand on his face, and blood gushed out. His nose was bleeding.

It was too black to be blood. It seemed to reveal the inside of him that was rotting. But strangely, he felt nothing but pain from the barrier. Even the feeling of dripping blood.

‘This feeling…’

“Are you okay?”

Count Salide came up to him, supported him, and held out his handkerchief. Yulif wiped his nose and mouth with his handkerchief and nodded his head.

The blood stopped quickly, but the nobles were restless with an anxious expression on their faces. Yulif was the cause of the coup and was the most powerful force. If it went wrong before he even started, there would be an uncontrollable situation.

“It seems that there has been an accident at the ducal estate. This is it for me today. Count Salide, please take over.”

“Yes. Don’t worry, leave this to me.”

Yulif disappeared before Count Salide finished speaking. In the conference hall where he disappeared, there was only heavy silence for a while.

*******

“Canaren.”

For some reason, tears welled up. Canaren chewed her lips to hold back her tears that were about to burst.

Yulif’s fingers pulled her lips out, preventing them from biting. His fingers, which were always warm enough to be hot, were cold.

It would be nice if the touch was that cold, but the movement of caressing her lips was indescribably careful. Canaren couldn’t help but feel sorry for that.

“It’ll hurt. Don’t do that.”

「Why… Did you deceive me?」

Yulif glanced at Canaren. His cool, outstretched eyes were, as always, straight and blunt, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

He let out a short breath, like a sigh. His hand that had touched her wounded lips fell apart.

“We’ll talk later.”

「No more! Yulif is like that all the time. You don’t tell me anything important. I’m going out of Pionia. I don’t want to be with you anymore!」

“Canaren.”

“Aaackk!”

Yulif reached out his hand. One of the wizards preparing for the space movement magic flew from behind Deltinus and grabbed his head.

“Close your eyes.”

It was an undeniable command. Canaren’s eyes closed against her will.

After a while, there was the sound of something falling to the floor. The wizard, who had been deprived of all of his magical power, lost consciousness and fell to the floor.

「You’re… Human, right?」

Muasa, who had his wings severely injured, muttered as if he were groaning. Yulif looked at Muasa with cold eyes and went straight to Deltinus. Deltinus raised his sword and took a stance.

“You are turning into a monster every day.”

“It’s not something I should hear from Your Majesty.”

“Heh. There is no difference between you and me. Born of the same blood, is there any difference? We’re both monsters, oh my.”

Same blood. Same monster. If possible, Yulif wanted to drain out all the blood that was flowing inside him. However, what Deltinus said was not wrong. To Canaren, he must have been a monster just like him.

Therefore…

With a single gesture, the sword that Deltinus was holding flew away and crashed. Deltinus was caught up in the illusion that a black shadow was flickering from Yulif who was approaching him. No, it was not an illusion. It was a phenomenon that appeared as magical powers were entangled in Yulif’s life.

“Only monsters can catch monsters.”

Yulif’s fist hit Deltinus’ face. His magic-covered fist was harder than a stone and sharper than a sword. Deltinus fell out and rolled on the floor in a single attack. His nose bone collapsed, and his blood gushed out with terrible pain.

“Yulif, how dare you, how…!”

“You seem to think you still have my leash.”

“Crazy!”

Yulif’s foot stomped on Deltinus’ chest. Rather than the fear that his lungs would be pressed and suffocated, the humiliation of being buried under his brother’s feet by being buried on the ground drove Deltinus crazy. He grabbed Yulif’s ankle with his trembling hand.

Above his head, with his back to the sun, Yulif looked at him with blazing blue eyes.

“Or do you want to believe that?”

“Ack, ahhhhhhhhhh!”

Deltinus’s efforts were of no use. Yulif ignored his hand on his ankle and gave it a bit of strength. The sound of hard bones breaking and collapsing penetrated Deltinus’ ears clearly. It was the sound of his ribs breaking. Blood gushed out of his mouth, mixed with an airy cough.

“The oath is gone.”

A long time ago. With his poor and pitiful love, with her who thought only of him until the last minute.

“Now nothing can protect you.”