Chapter 22
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"When did you start smoking these?"
"Two months... no, it's been almost three months. He always had some insomnia, but it wasn't this severe."
Three months.
It was right after Odelia 'returned'.
'...The cause is too obvious.'
Odelia looked down at the Cigarettes neatly arranged in the box with a heavy heart.
Could you really call that a sleeping pill?
If a person can't sleep at all, they can't live, so it was an unavoidable measure, but.
It was close to the last resort to barely get a person who was unknowingly breaking down into bed.
"Was there no other way?"
"Unfortunately, no. His Highness also knows that it's not a fundamental solution. But without this... he suffers a lot."
The head butler seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying the word 'a lot'.
It sounded like he was refining the words 'going crazy'.
"His Highness doesn't take care of himself at all."
This was the head butler who thoroughly took care of even Odelia's health.
How much he must have agonized until he not only condoned his master's self-destruction but even helped him directly.
Odelia watched the head butler carefully put the last Cigarette into the box and thought.
'I have to get him to sign the marriage papers no matter what.'
By any means necessary.
That's the only way to step into Ludeviel's daily life and have the justification to reach out to the things that are destroying him.
That night.
Flags began to appear from the end of the western snowfield.
A cavalry unit cloaked in black was advancing through the snow, and at the very front, a man who seemed lazy was riding a horse.
Ludeviel Excepcion.
He returned this time as well, invariably covered in the smell of death.
His armor was stained with dried dark red blood, and Monsters' fluids were dripping from his scabbard.
Ludeviel took off his helmet with one hand and jumped off his horse without hesitation.
He threw off his blood-stained gloves and nodded to the soldier who saluted him, without saying a word.
"Were there any incidents in the castle?"
"No, Your Highness, nothing special."
The head of the guard politely saluted his lord, then suddenly made a dumbfounded sound, "Ah."
"There was a thief."
"A thief?"
"Yes, he had been embezzling for ten years and was caught this time, and he was caught stealing valuables."
Ludeviel paused for a moment.
"Why are you reporting such a petty criminal now?"
Then he asked, as if wondering.
That level of issue should have been handled quietly by the head of the guard, according to the laws of the Grand Duchy, without reporting it.
"The Princess caught the thief."
"...What?"
The moment he heard those words, Ludeviel thought of the woman who had proposed a contract marriage.
"The Grand Duke's current internal problems, unnecessary external attention, and even his position within the aristocratic society... there are areas where I can help. Quite a lot."
He remembered the sight of her pale, beautiful lips moving.
That calm and clear tone still seemed to linger in his ears.
"She caught a thief alone..."
After hearing the details from the head of the guard, Ludeviel was speechless for a moment.
The North is the land of warriors.
Most of the people in this castle, regardless of gender, know how to wield a sword.
Even if you grabbed a trained soldier, a lower-ranking gatekeeper, or even a passing maid, they would be stronger than the supposedly sickly Princess.
But she not only lured the thief out alone but even caught him?
And a embezzler who hadn't been caught for ten years?
Then the head of the guard carefully added.
"...But that thief, he tried to kill the Princess on impulse."
At that moment, the whole world became strangely quiet.
His breath, the face of the head of the guard he was facing, all seemed to be pushed away from Ludeviel's perception, as if beyond a cloudy window.
All that remained was that one sentence.
Princess Cardel almost died...
That word kept circling in his head.
His hand, which had been stopped for a moment, slowly picked up the glove he had thrown off again.
He pressed each finger into the glove, whose original color was unknown due to the dark red bloodstains, and said.
"I'll interrogate that thief myself."
The soldiers instinctively swallowed their breaths.
The man who had maintained an indifferent attitude even when Monsters were right in front of him was now not hiding his murderous intent.
He erased his expression coldly and immediately moved towards the underground prison.
Then, suddenly, a question flashed through his mind.
'...Why is this so annoying?'
It's just a simple betrayal by a servant.
It wasn't an assassin specifically targeting the Princess.
Just someone who impulsively reached out because the woman in front of him was weaker than him.
Someone who becomes strong against the weak, a moronic piece of trash.
Why am I so angry at such an insignificant existence?
'No, even if it was an assassin who came to target the Princess, what does that have to do with me?'
Because I agreed to protect the Princess for fifteen days.
It would be troublesome if something happened to her.
So, if that's what I thought, I could just strengthen the punishment and be done with it.
But why do I feel like my blood is running backwards like this...?
He closed his eyes tightly.
An emotion that cannot be rationally explained keeps raising its head even when suppressed.
That damn headache came again.
"......"
Ludeviel quietly opened his eyes.
There was no more hesitation in his eyes.
And he moved again, stepping onto the stairs leading to the underground prison.
'Did the reason matter?'
That kind of thing has been meaningless for a long time.
If you want to do it, just do it.
In the dark of night, all that was heard from the underground prison was not cries for help or screams.
Just the sound of ruptures.
The sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing.
And a silence like a tomb.
It was the next morning, just as the sun was rising, that Odelia heard the news that Ludeviel had returned.
"He did something again as soon as he came back."
Leona avoided giving a detailed explanation.
She seemed reluctant to say specifically what Zeke, who was imprisoned, had become.
After hesitating for a moment, Leona carefully chose her words.
"If His Highness personally intervened... um, anyway, don't go near the underground prison."
Then she shook her head.
'...He must have tortured him.'
Odelia didn't ask any further.
She felt like she knew too well, even without hearing it.
However, the fact that Ludeviel had personally intervened in such a petty criminal's affairs was a bit concerning.
In her previous life, Ludeviel regarded people only as resources and made ruthless, optimal judgments.
It couldn't be said that that was a good thing, but at least he had a clear goal at that time.
The determination to save Odelia.
Now, he was just acting emotionally, embracing only a sense of loss, without any purpose.
So precariously that he might collapse at any moment.
It was as if Ludeviel would go about his usual daily life and then, without warning, take his own life...
Odelia was so afraid of that.
'I need to solve the insomnia first.'
