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Chapter 26
Bang! BOOM!
At that moment, a tremendous explosion roared through the air, loud enough to make it seem as though the entire shop would be blown apart.
The floor lurched beneath them, and even the chains holding the chandelier twisted violently as it swayed overhead.
“…!”
“W-What in the world was that?!”
Desion snapped his head up and scanned his surroundings.
The vibration crawling across his skin sank all the way into his bones. For a split second, he thought the explosion had occurred inside the building.
But the interior remained perfectly intact.
Then what was it?
Just then, the acrid smell of burning filled his nose.
Don’t tell me…
A dreadful premonition ran ice-cold down his spine.
Without hesitating for even an instant, he sprinted down the stairs.
Bang!
The moment he kicked the door open, his pupils widened.
His heart skipped a beat, and his breath caught in his throat.
“Fire! Fire!”
“Oh my God! There’s still someone inside the carriage! Someone call a doctor!”
“I don’t think the coachman can be saved…”
The screams and cries of the crowd rushing into the street rang in his ears.
There was only one word for the scene before him.
Devastation.
The sturdy carriage belonging to the Marquis’s household had been ripped cleanly in half as though someone had sliced through an apple, and it was being consumed by towering flames.
What… is this?
What… is happening?
Desion’s reason shattered like the broken pieces of the carriage.
His body moved before his mind could catch up.
No.
No…
This can’t happen.
Splash!
Someone hurled a bucket of water onto the fire, momentarily forcing the flames back.
Seizing that tiny opening, Desion threw himself into the burning wreckage.
Near the rear of the carriage, which had been blown apart by the explosion, he spotted a small soot-covered body trapped between tangled planks and twisted metal.
“Eloise!”
He cried out her name like a man screaming in agony and pulled her into his arms.
Burning debris scraped against his arms, but he didn’t even notice.
“Get a doctor! Hurry!”
At Desion’s desperate shout, the people around him scrambled into action.
Twitch.
Twitch.
Fortunately, Eloise was still conscious.
“…Br… Brother…”
“Stay with me. The doctor will be here soon. Just hang on a little longer, alright?”
“…Fire…”
“Yes. There was a fire.”
“It’s… so hot…”
“It hurts… it hurts…”
“…Eloise?”
The next moment, the strength slowly drained from her body.
Something deep inside Desion collapsed.
It felt as though his heart had fallen straight into an endless abyss.
He knew.
From this moment onward…
His life would never, ever return to what it had been before.
Everything around him…
was burning away in the flames.
* * *
For a long while, Desion couldn’t continue.
He stared into the distance.
It was as though the heat of that day and the acrid smell of smoke still lingered on his fingertips, twisting his face in anguish.
“…To be honest, I don’t remember much after that. Only that the doctor arrived and brought Eloise inside the shop to begin treating her.”
“…”
“What happened afterward… you know better than I do, Heidi. For the past several years, it was you—not me—who stayed by Eloise’s side.”
Heidi slowly nodded.
Her eyes had already turned red.
Hearing the story directly from Desion was deeply shocking.
She had known that Eloise had been caught in a carriage fire, but this was the first time she had heard the full truth.
If this incident is the reason Desion needs me…
As she carefully replayed his story in her mind, Heidi’s eyes gradually widened.
“…Wait…”
she murmured under her breath.
Her face turned pale as she met Desion’s gaze.
“Do you… think the person who attacked Miss Eloise… was Princess Anastasia?”
“Of course, the one Anastasia truly intended to kill wasn’t Eloise.”
His voice remained calm.
“It was me.”
“I was supposed to be inside that carriage. She was trying to silence me.”
The revelation struck Heidi like lightning.
Her hands trembled violently as she clutched her skirt.
“How could anyone… do something like that…?”
she asked in a shaking voice.
“Did… did you have solid evidence?”
“It wasn’t difficult to identify the culprit.”
“It was the man sitting in the coachman’s seat.”
“He murdered the Marquis family’s original coachman and stole the carriage. He had been waiting to detonate the bomb once I boarded…”
Desion frowned.
“But apparently he made an unbelievably foolish mistake.”
He continued,
“The difficult part wasn’t identifying the culprit—it was identifying who he was.”
“The fire had badly disfigured his face.”
Heidi knitted her brows.
“So what did you do?”
“I kept watch over his grave.”
“…His grave?”
“For nearly half a year.”
“I waited to see whether anyone would come to visit him.”
“Ah!”
“Eventually, I found his wife.”
“And I obtained proof that she had received an enormous sum of money from Anastasia.”
“That was the moment my suspicions finally became certainty.”
Desion’s eyes darkened.
Suppressing his emotions, he remained silent for a long time.
Only after an extended silence did he slowly part his lips.
He spoke each word as though grinding it between his teeth.
“That day…”
“I swore before God.”
“I would avenge Eloise…”
“…even if it cost me everything.”
“…”
“I would take everything Anastasia possessed…”
“And I would make her endure the very same years of suffering that Eloise has endured.”
The veins stood out on the back of the hand gripping the oar.
At first glance, his face was as expressionless as ever.
But beneath the surface, something burned quietly within his eyes.
Heidi realized that Desion was enduring only because he had locked away the emotions that threatened to explode.
It was as though the fire from that day had never truly gone out.
It was still burning inside him.
A tight ache spread through Heidi’s chest.
She felt overwhelming pity and compassion for the man before her.
The wealthiest man in the kingdom.
A man powerful enough to vow that he would shake the entire nation.
A man who seemed to lack for nothing.
And yet…
At this moment alone…
He looked as small and fragile as she herself felt.
Whenever Desion looked at Eloise…
He must have remembered the image of her screaming amidst the flames.
He must have carried a crushing guilt toward the younger sister who had suffered the horrific fate that had originally been meant for him.
The thought made Heidi’s heart ache so painfully that she bit down hard on her lower lip.
“Heidi.”
At Desion’s call, she raised her head.
His face was tense as he looked directly at her.
“Our lessons are over now.”
“You kept every promise you made to me.”
“You were more diligent than anyone.”
He paused to steady his breathing before continuing.
“So now…”
“It’s my turn to keep the promise I made to you.”
“The promise that I would give you a choice.”
“…!”
Heidi’s eyes grew wide.
“If you tell me that you wish to leave…”
“I will pay you exactly as I promised.”
“If you want, I’ll prepare a home for you somewhere far from the capital—somewhere safe.”
“You said you liked Aras.”
“Starting a new life here wouldn’t be a bad choice.”
“…”
“You could return to the life you would have lived if I had never involved myself.”
“I will never come looking for you again.”
“And you will be safe.”
Desion lowered his long lashes as though gathering the courage to continue.
After another brief silence, his trembling lips finally moved.
“But, Heidi…”
“…”
“If…”
“If, by some miracle…”
“…you choose to stay.”
Slowly, he lifted his eyes to meet hers.
A blazing fire flickered within them.
“Everything I possess…”
“will become yours.”
He spoke as though carving each word into stone.
“Even my life.”
