🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 3
Kali Herais.
She is a minor extra character who appears only a few times in the romance fantasy novel The Rose of Betrayal.
To put it simply, the novel went like this:
The female protagonist uses the male supporting character to win over the male protagonist. In the process, the male supporting character genuinely falls in love with the female protagonist, but later, upon realizing he has been used, his madness intensifies, and he tries to kill the female lead. However, the male protagonist stops him, and the male supporting character dies at the male protagonist’s hands.
Kali was the cursed bride of the male supporting character from this story, Grand Duke Leonhart Spencer.
‘Leonhart can only marry his cursed bride because of the curse.’
His great-grandfather, Grand Duke Arthur Spencer, approached a witch for her immortality elixir. He whispered words of love, stole the elixir, and then killed the witch.
Enraged, the witch cast a curse upon the Spencer family. As a result, the curse was passed down to Leonhart, three generations later.
Leonhart wanted to marry the female protagonist, so he abandoned his already-wed wife, Kali Herais, in the mountains.
‘And that poor squirrel bride meets her end there, devoured by wild beasts.’
A sigh of frustration escaped the squirrel’s lips.
‘And that’s me.’
Kali’s tail, stretched out straight and long, drooped limply. She gnawed on the blanket, deep in thought.
‘Of all things… of all things, to become a squirrel like this. Ah, I’m so drained.’
If I’m going to be possessed, at least let me be a human. And of all things, a squirrel that dies a futile death later on.
But Kali wanted to live. She had absolutely no intention of dying like this.
She was just about to start the second act of her life. It was so unfair that she hadn’t been able to sleep properly for the two days since she’d become a squirrel.
“Ugh. What is this squirrel nonsense? A new life, and it’s a squirrel’s body?!”
Kali got up from her spot. Sitting on the fluffy blanket, she quickly racked her brain.
‘If I don’t want to die like this, I have to do something. Be it porridge or rice, I have to try something.’
First, she couldn’t keep living as a squirrel. At the very least, she had to become human to survive.
To become human, she had to break the curse.
‘Then, to break the curse…’
Mmph. A small groan involuntarily escaped her tiny mouth.
There was only one way to break the curse.
It was the cliché: the Grand Duke must genuinely love his cursed bride.
‘Love? Lo-ove? Love isn’t something just anyone can do!’
Kali desperately wanted to meet the witch later. If she did, she’d slap her across the cheek. But unfortunately, the witch was killed by Arthur Spencer.
She flopped back down onto her back.
‘Love, huh. I have to make that Leonhart fall in love with me.’
Then, a brilliant idea struck her. Kali shot up from her spot again and paced around in circles.
‘No, think about it carefully. Love doesn’t have to be romantic love, right?’
Love encompasses various emotions. Love exists between friends, between family, between a teacher and a disciple.
So, simply put, she just needed to become friends with Leonhart. Then, everything would be perfect.
‘Yeah, okay. I’ll suggest we be friends. Friends are also in a loving relationship. How precious a feeling of love is friendship.’
Me, I’m so smart, aren’t I?
A satisfied Kali grinned. To achieve that, she had to persuade Leonhart.
An hour later, Kali asked Jane, who had just entered.
“Jane. Do you know where Leon… I mean, where His Grace the Grand Duke is?”
She asked with the momentum to go find him right away, but the answer she received was terribly disappointing.
“Unfortunately, His Grace the Grand Duke has just departed for the Dark Forest on a subjugation.”
She was told he had left to subjugate monsters to control his madness.
“What? No way… Then, when is he expected to return?”
“Hmm… I apologize, my lady. When His Grace departs for the forest, he never gives word of his return date…”
So, in other words, she didn’t know. Kali flopped down with a despairing face.
‘How long am I supposed to wait for a man who doesn’t know when he’ll return?’
But if she didn’t wait, what else could she do? It wasn’t like she could chase after him into the forest he’d gone to.
Unable to help it, Kali decided to wait for his return. But in the end, he did not return to the mansion.
It was two weeks later when the Grand Duke finally returned.
Kill, kill them all,
Hurry up and kill. Take their blood.
The incessant voice of the curse swarming in his ears showed no sign of stopping.
‘Shut up. Stop it. My head is splitting.’
The more it bothered him, the more he pulled the corners of his mouth into a smile. The more he smiled, the more he instilled a sense of fear in those around him.
Thud-
He coldly threw his sword towards a monster that resembled a giant earthworm. The sharply flung blade struck precisely at the vital point.
“Keugh!”
With a death rattle, the monster’s massive body collapsed onto the frozen ground.
“Your Highness!”
Knight Commander Gerald rushed over quickly.
Leonhart, still wearing a smile, moved his steps lightly. As he pulled out the deeply embedded sword, dark red blood gushed out like a fountain.
Unpleasant blood splattered across his chin and cheeks. Tilt his head to the left, Leonhart wiped the blood with the back of his hand. His black gloves were caked with blood.
“As expected…”
Contrary to his beautiful face, his low, gravelly voice suited him well. Thanks to that, his decadent atmosphere was perfectly accentuated.
“Disgusting.”
“Are you alright?”
“What, this is nothing.”
He bit the glove off with his teeth.
“It’s always been like this.”
Just then, the monster, not yet completely lifeless, twitched. His golden eyes flashed momentarily.
With his ungloved hand, he moved swiftly. The monster’s life was extinguished in an instant.
“Excellent.”
“Is this the last one?”
“Yes. It seems the rest got scared and ran off.”
Gerald took out a new pair of gloves from his pocket. He threw the blood-soaked black gloves on the ground, received the new ones, and put them on.
“Your Highness. Wouldn’t it be alright to return now?”
“Return? Where to?”
He tilted his head as if he had no idea. Gerald scratched the back of his head, looking perplexed.
The bloodlust had subsided somewhat compared to before. It was after he had thoroughly enjoyed a festival of blood.
‘Should I think about returning soon?’
He recalled his mansion, which now had one extra foreign object. His brow furrowed involuntarily.
“Your Highness. A message crow.”
Just then, a white crow that had been circling in the sky spotted Leonhart and descended.
He extended his arm, waiting for the crow. Soon, the crow flying towards its master landed safely on that arm.
“It appears to have come from the ducal residence.”
“Probably. This one is my crow.”
Seeing its white feathers, a bundle of white fluff suddenly came to mind.
Round ears, a plump body, and a bushy tail. That was, by any standard, a squirrel.
‘Ha… How is that thing supposed to be my bride?’
It was the very person he absolutely had to marry, no matter what.
‘Marriage, marriage, huh.’
Marriage of convenience was extremely common among the nobility. Love marriages were rare.
Yes. A marriage of convenience was fine. After all, as the current head of the Spencer family, a marriage partner had been decided for him.
But of all things, his cursed bride wasn’t even human. If she were just plain-looking, that might have been different.
“Well done, Kay.”
As he scratched the crow’s chin with his fingertip, it happily shook its head from side to side.
Leonhart, who had placed the crow Kay on his shoulder, stood slightly askew and unfolded the letter.
“They’re telling you to come back, aren’t they, Your Highness?”
“Yes. They say I shouldn’t stay away too long.”
The contents written on the paper were simple.
When he had ordered them to quickly prepare for the marriage to his cursed bride, they had set the earliest possible date.
“They say I need to return to prepare for the wedding.”
“Are you really… going to go through with it?”
“I have to. What can I do? They say I’ll die if I don’t. Hey, Gerald. Do you want me to die soon? Hmm?”
His smiling face was rather frightening. Gerald flinched in surprise.
Just then, Peter, who had been running from afar, stood before Leonhart and saluted.
“Your Highness! The work on that side is also finished!”
“Ah, I see. And your voice is booming again today. It’s loud.”
“I apologize!”
Peter, who had been glancing at Kay perched on Leonhart’s shoulder, opened his mouth again.
“Are we returning today!”
“No.”
“Your Highness. Then, the wedding ceremony…”
“Huh? Wedding ceremony?!”
At Peter’s thunderous voice, which seemed about to shake the forest away, Leonhart’s brow furrowed involuntarily.
“Do I really need to go? It’s just a formal wedding anyway. There’s no need to hold it lavishly.”
Leonhart, holding the letter between his index and middle fingers, shook it. As the crow bit the end, he pulled the paper. The paper tore neatly in half.
“This wedding is different from a regular one.”
“Your Highness. But it is Your Highness’s one and only wedding ceremony…”
“Shut up. Ah… My blood is boiling again.”
Just thinking about the witch’s curse made his rage rise from his core.
Because of that curse, he suffered from madness, and the Grand Duchess was to be the cursed woman sent by the witch for life.
All because of that damned great-grandfather from three generations ago.
“Ah. This won’t do.”
His golden pupils flashed.
Again, the voice of the curse whispered in his ear.
You want to kill, don’t you? Then kill.
Hurry up and kill. Savor the blood.
He gripped the sword he was holding properly. Leonhart’s movements, as he stared somewhere, quickened.
A monster resembling a giant spider revealed its legs from behind a large rock. With a pervasive smile, he unhesitatingly severed the legs. Black blood splattered through the air.
“Gerald. Write back for me.”
“Excuse…? Wh-what should I say?”
Gerald stammered, flustered.
An act no different from one-sided slaughter. No one could open their mouths at Leonhart’s appearance.
Today, too, the northern lands were being protected in that manner.
“Tell them to make the preparations themselves in my stead.”
The white crow that had been circling around Gerald was waiting for an answer. Gerald sighed as if resigned.
“It’s not that important anyway.”
