168 - Evil Husband (15th Anniversary Edition) Chapter 168
168
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Aileen had a thought the moment she overheard the dancers' conversation backstage.
"I've heard that offerings are made to summon a god, and to fulfill a wish, an even greater price must be paid."
"In myths, humans who ask something of the gods always end up unhappy."
Hearing those words, Aileen recalled the ancient texts she had read. Hoping to find a clue that might help, she had read not only the founding myth but also various other myths.
Most of them were myths akin to unofficial history, but they differed greatly from the general myths Aileen had read in terms of content and ending. Unlike the widely known stories, the myths recorded in the ancient texts always depicted humans who made deals with gods meeting an unfortunate end.
The only exception was the founding Emperor.
The reason Aileen had never encountered such myths before was simple: they were not the kind that nobles learned.
Although she was the daughter of a humble Baron family, Aileen had been reading only expensive books under Cesare's care. Naturally, she had never come across books containing seditious ideas.
Since she had not been interested in myths before, she had not even thought to look for them, unlike her avid reading of various botany and pharmacology books.
However, as she encountered ancient texts, she learned that gods were not so kind to humans, and she began to question things as she listened to the dancers' conversation.
In a situation where things were moving so fast that she didn't even have time to contemplate, she met Cesare. In the moment she realized that despite her desperate efforts, she was still in the palm of his hand, a fundamental question arose.
What was the price that he could never reveal, even as she pleaded so desperately and ended up running away and being caught? Even to the point of using cruel means against Aileen.
Cesare bluntly told Aileen, who was struggling with her meager strength to save him, that it was meaningless. As if he had already given up everything...
A price for which the outcome was already determined, to the point of making such a firm assertion.
The numerous pieces that Aileen had gradually discovered finally fit together perfectly. The moment she inserted the last piece, Aileen came up with an idea.
The most absurd idea in her life, one that should never come to pass. She was even afraid to utter it, but she eventually asked him.
Whether the price Cesare had to pay was death.
She didn't want him to lie to her. But she hoped he would say no. Aileen heard her heart pounding. Like a prisoner awaiting a death sentence, she waited only for Cesare's words.
"P-Please answer me, Cesare."
Despite her almost pleading urging, Cesare did not open his lips for quite some time. The lights in the performance hall dimmed. It was the blackout between the end of one performance and the start of a new one. In the face covered by darkness, only crimson eyes were clear.
Aileen's eyes widened. Because at some point, Cesare's eyes curved into a crescent shape.
"Listen carefully, Aileen."
It was too dark to see properly, but he was definitely smiling.
"I'll only say it once."
However, it was not the perfect, arrogant smile of a god that Aileen had always seen. It was the most unstable and precarious look she had ever seen since she had known him from the age of 10.
Cesare hugged Aileen. Aileen, embraced by him, was trembling uncontrollably.
However, Cesare didn't care and held Aileen deep in his arms. It was the same gentle touch as when he had hugged young Aileen in the Lily flower garden. He pressed the back of Aileen's head with his hand and put his lips to her ear.
"I turned back time for you, who died. I offered the men of the Traon Empire as sacrifices to summon the god. Those who treated you badly."
His voice, whispering slowly, was even sweet. But Aileen's eyes widened, and she froze completely. Cesare held Aileen, who couldn't even breathe properly, even more tightly in his arms and continued to whisper.
"Only after seeing the blood of quite a few people was I able to summon the god, and finally, I made a deal. Just like you saw in your dreams."
The hand pressing on the back of her head slowly slid down to wrap around Aileen's neck.
"It's quite similar to the founding myth. The seven trials were about killing you. By my own hand..."
"Funny, isn't it?" he whispered, his voice tinged with laughter. The laughter, as if he still couldn't believe it even now, felt like a light joke.
But Aileen knew the weight of those words. Because the memory of Cesare strangling her with broken eyes was vivid.
"I struggled a bit with the last, seventh one, but I still managed to solve all the trials in the end. And only then did I finally promise the price and turn back time. In reality, it was seven years, and in the illusion... it took quite a long time, but still, you."
Cesare took a small breath for a moment. The lights in the Tavern came on again as the performance resumed. Aileen forced herself to look up.
Cesare, who had been pressing on the back of her head to prevent Aileen from raising her face, slowly released his hand. For the first time, he showed her his face, which he had always hidden.
"I love you, Aileen."
With crimson eyes that were completely broken, not like someone confessing love.
"Enough to die for you."
The price for saving one person's life was another person's life.
***
Cesare remembered the process of him going insane. It wasn't an accurate memory. Most of the time, it was unclear. Mostly because there weren't any events worth remembering clearly.
After Archduke Erzeht massacred the nobles of The Capital overnight, the entire continent, including the Traon Empire, was shaken. Among the nobles of The Capital, there were many who were involved with foreign countries, so war was the natural course.
Cesare accepted the war with pleasure. Since there was no child to read his news no matter what he did, there was no reason to have mercy in his actions anymore.
He subdued the enemy countries with more cruel methods than ever before, and no life remained in the places where the Imperial Army passed.
While Cesare was rampaging outside the empire, Leone, as Emperor, struggled to repair the Traon political world that had collapsed overnight. He urgently summoned nobles from the provinces to fill the positions, and the children of humble families rose to high positions with only their abilities.
Commoners were also actively employed as officials of the empire, so, ridiculously, the empire became even stronger. However, no noble, not even the Emperor, dared to oppose Grand Duke Erzeht any longer. The military held stronger power than ever before.
Cesare, who had created all this, was not interested in anything. When the war ended and he returned to The Capital, he always holed himself up in the dilapidated Brick house. He would either read Aileen's diary in the small room on the second floor or just sit by the window.
It was strange. He thought that his emotions would be resolved if he killed all the nobles of the empire to hold a requiem for the child. But Cesare didn't get any better.
In the Brick house, Cesare saw young Aileen. The child who sprinkled small flowers on him as he slept, exhausted from his mother's bloodletting. The child smiled brightly as she looked at Cesare wrapped in flowers.
"If I marry The Prince, I'll tell you that I like you every day. And I'll give you flowers like this too."
Her chattering voice scattered in his ear. Cesare leaned his face against the window frame and looked down at the garden.
He saw seventeen-year-old Aileen in the pit where the orange tree had been uprooted and the pile of dirt that was no different from a messy ruin with weeds. The child who cried in front of the orange tree when he took her to the Brick house after Baron Elrod's wife's funeral.
Even though her body had grown, her crying appearance was the same as when she was young. The tears she had been holding back throughout the funeral poured out in front of Cesare as if a faucet had been turned on.
"I don't know how to repay the grace you have shown me. I, ha, I'm always just receiving..."
How did he comfort Aileen, who was just repeating that she would definitely repay him while sobbing? He probably hugged her like he did when she was young. Aileen was startled, but she didn't avoid him and cried in his arms at that time.
Cesare raised the corners of his lips and smiled. He could see so clearly, and he could hear her voice... But why didn't she exist? Cesare smiled and called her name.
"Aileen."
But no answer came back. There were no big eyes looking up at him, no smiling lips, no chattering voice. After being endlessly cut by the reality that Aileen was not by his side, Cesare finally concluded.
That he seemed to have gone crazy.
