MWLC 14

chapter 14

—Crash!

Elysia accidentally dropped the entire stack of dishes she was carrying.

“What did you just say…?”

The porcelain dishes shattered noisily against the marble floor. Fragments scattered in every direction, but Elysia heard none of it.

“Elysia Rottner. That’s your name, isn’t it?”

Why…? Why do you know my real name?

“W-Why?”

Elysia stared at Kaiel in shock.

There should have been only one person in the entire world who knew that her name was Elysia Rottner: herself. The Erasure of Records involved extremely powerful dark magic, so there was no possibility of an exception.

And yet Kaiel had called her by her name as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Why do you… know that name?”

Her violet eyes, filled with confusion, trembled helplessly. In contrast, Kaiel’s gaze as he looked down at Elysia was cold and unwavering.

“Have you already forgotten who the emperor of this country is?”

“……!”

“The people of the world may have forgotten you, but I haven’t. I told you I wanted you to survive, didn’t I? To survive in the most miserable and wretched way possible.”

For the first time, Elysia realized that there could be something more terrifying than the Erasure of Records.

“And yet, I never imagined you would actually survive and come to me like this.”

Elysia’s breathing grew ragged.

His words about her having survived sounded almost like mockery.

Did this man know what kind of life she had lived since that day?

The days she had endured, swearing revenge several times a day.

The time she had spent desperately struggling to survive after having her name, identity, and future all taken away from her.

Kaiel acted so calmly, as though he had watched every single one of those moments.

“You’re insane.”

The words slipped out before she could stop herself.

“You really are insane.”

“Is that supposed to be news?”

Kaiel muttered without the slightest change in expression. If anything, he raised an eyebrow slightly, as though he had heard something amusing.

“Didn’t my brother tell you? I’ve always been this kind of person.”

Elysia’s strength drained away. Completely forgetting that countless shards of broken glass were scattered across the floor, she collapsed into a sitting position.

Alix’s words suddenly came back to her.

“Kaiel doesn’t know how to love anything, whether it’s a person or an animal. If he likes something, he plays with it like an amusing toy, then throws it away in the most miserable state imaginable. He’s been like that since he was a child.”

Back then, Elysia had thought that even if the brothers were on bad terms, Alix couldn’t possibly speak so harshly about his own sibling.

But she had been wrong.

Because now, Elysia was the toy Kaiel had decided to play with.

“……Give it back.”

“Give what back?”

“You know. You know who I am. So… give it back. You can do that, can’t you?”

You have the power to do it.

I never had any grudge against you.

What you wanted was the emperor’s throne, and you achieved everything you wanted. So now, give me back my name and let me go…

There were so many things she wanted to say, but there were very few words Elysia could actually bring herself to speak.

“Then tell me.”

Kaiel crouched down in front of the kneeling Elysia and lifted her chin with one finger. Meeting her pitiful, trembling gaze, he gave a faint smile.

“Your real name.”

In an instant, the hope that had gathered in Elysia’s eyes vanished like the tide receding from the shore.

“What… did you say?”

If he knew that she had been subjected to the Erasure of Records, then there was no way he could not know that she was unable to speak her name.

And yet he was telling her to say it.

“The fact that you are Elysia Rottner is something only I know in this world. Unless I tell anyone, you’re nothing more than a maid without a family or even a surname.”

Perhaps reading Elysia’s thoughts, Kaiel kindly added, as though explaining something to a child,

“Do you understand now? I never let go of what belongs to me. No matter how cruel the method may have to be.”

At that moment, Elysia realized how futile the hope she had clung to until now had been.

She had thought that if she infiltrated the imperial palace, she would be able to uncover the truth.

She had believed she could find a weakness that would bring Kaiel down. She had even thought that perhaps she might discover a way to reclaim her name.

But from the very beginning, that man had been holding every card.

“Ungh…”

Only then did Elysia notice the large shard of glass embedded in her palm.

Blood, redder than her own hair, was flowing from the wound, yet she felt no pain at all. Instead, there was a throbbing ache around her heart, making her feel as though she might collapse at any moment.

“Oh… You should have been more careful.”

Kaiel pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket and carefully wrapped it around Elysia’s hand. When he pulled out the shard of glass embedded in the center of her palm, bright red blood gushed from the slightly opened wound.

As Elysia stared blankly at it, she picked up a shard of glass from the floor.

Wouldn’t it be better to just die?

Even though her very existence had been erased from the world, she had tried to live somehow.

She had wanted to reclaim her name, restore the honor of her parents, who had been falsely accused, and take revenge on Kaiel…

But could she really survive in the hands of a mad emperor who was willing to do anything to possess her, no matter how cruel the method?

Elysia’s hand, still clutching the shard of glass, slowly moved toward her wrist.

I should have done this long ago.

Just as she was about to cut into her soft, delicate skin—

Kaiel stopped her even faster.

“Don’t even think about doing anything stupid. If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you already.”

“Let go of me! What’s the point of living like this…?!”

Elysia sobbed and screamed as she struggled to pull her wrist free from Kaiel’s grasp.

Kaiel let out a small sigh before calling in the knight who had been waiting outside the door.

“I’ll show you exactly who your life belongs to.”

The knight hurried inside at Kaiel’s summons and flinched when he saw the broken pieces of dishes scattered across the floor and the blood staining them red.

Then he was shocked a second time when he saw Elysia, covered in blood and sobbing.

The only person in the room who looked completely composed was Kaiel.

With a cold expression, he ordered the knight,

“Lock her in ‘that room.’”

She must have passed out while being dragged away by the knight.

Elysia was terribly ill for several days afterward. She had no idea where she was being held.

She simply wandered endlessly through hazy dreams, desperately wishing that she had died.

So when she opened her eyes again and realized she was in an unfamiliar place, she felt relieved.

This must be hell.

It was surprisingly cozy for a place where sinful people were supposed to go after death, but Elysia simply wanted to believe that it was hell.

Anything was better than becoming Kaiel’s possession.

However, the moment she saw the white bandage wrapped around the hand where the shard of glass had been embedded, despair swept over her like a tidal wave and engulfed her entire body.

Not only that, but chains had been fastened around her wrist and connected to the bedpost.

“Ah…”

A short moan escaped her lips.

She was alive.

She had failed to die.

Only then did Elysia look around.

It was a small room.

There was a tiny bed barely large enough for one person to lie on, along with a chest of drawers and an armchair.

The strangest thing was that the room had no windows.

Not a single ray of light entered from outside, and only a kerosene lamp dimly illuminated the room.

It’s a prison.

Once she understood her situation, the crushing despair returned.

“…Come off.”

She gritted her teeth and pulled at the chains again.

“Come off!”