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Chapter 40
Amid the crying, the field that had been constantly out of sync felt like a heartbeat. With each irregular breath, his heart jolted.
“Rene, I was wrong. It’s my fault. So please… don’t die. Please, don’t leave me.”
Don’t say it like it’s the last time.
The man wept endlessly. So did the woman. Both of them were thinking the same thing…
…If only we had realized it a little sooner.
“I still… love you…”
Perhaps sensing that this was the last inhale, the Grand Duke clutched Rene’s shoulders in grief and whispered:
“Rene, leaving my side was never allowed. Even if the end is death… I will follow you to the very end.”
The man’s low voice, murmured desperately, left no trace of reason at all.
“…I love you…”
Yet inevitably, her last exhale escaped.
Thunk.
The woman’s hand fell weakly. Even her faint breath stopped.
At the same moment, a distant darkness descended on me as well.
Just like Rene, dying fragilely in Genos’ arms.
‘Is this… death?’
If so, death is an incredibly distant thing.
Though my consciousness drifted far away in eternal blackness, Genos’ wailing stabbed clearly into my ears, threatening to tear my heart apart.
“Rene! Aah! No, nooo…”
“Ugh!”
A sharp sensation pulled me from deep inside, as if my mind was being yanked upward. I shot upright.
Was that just a dream? No, it wasn’t. This was definitely…
“Huh?”
As intuition surged, I opened my eyes suddenly. And what filled my vision was…
“Ah! Wh-what…? My chest?”
A sudden display of flesh!?
I froze for a moment in shock. Then, a scarred hand swiftly reached in, hastily adjusting the collar of my clothes.
I stammered, dumbfounded, when a familiar mid-low voice sounded:
“Talking about your chest first thing after waking up, really.”
“!”
I realized why that chest looked oddly familiar… and in the now-clear view, the Grand Duke was staring down at me, his face flushed red.
Covering his own chest with one arm, his expression was absurdly exasperated.
I felt a little dumbfounded at his “pervert-like” attitude. If anything, I should be yelling, not him. After all, I was lying on the bed in just a nightgown, and he was looking down at me.
‘Wait… bed?’
Reality slowly began to sink in. When did I fall asleep? And what in the world was that dream…?
“Ugh!”
As I tried to piece things together, a sudden, splitting headache hit.
“Are you alright?”
The Grand Duke, unusually concerned, bent down as I clutched my head.
“Rest a bit more. It’s still early morning.”
Following his gesture toward the window, the moonlit scenery outside became clear through the slightly parted curtains.
Blinking at the tangled memories, I asked, dazed:
“Early morning… when did I even fall asleep? I remember going boating with Katarina…”
Huh? What happened after that?
Perhaps noticing the confusion on my face, the Grand Duke asked seriously:
“You don’t remember anything?”
“…Unfortunately, no.”
Sighing, his red lips released a quiet breath. What he said next was even more shocking.
“Do you know that you’ve been unconscious for three days?”
“W-what? Three days?”
“Yes. You fell into the river during your leisurely boating trip. And only now have you woken up.”
His voice carried an unmistakable trace of anger.
Gradually, my memories returned.
‘Right, that’s it.’
I had accidentally met the noble ladies, gotten close to them, and later, went boating alone with Katarina. While trying to catch a flying hat…
Then:
“Katarina Hugo pushed you.”
The man’s deep voice struck me like a surprise attack.
“Excuse me?”
“She pushed you into the water on purpose. There were several witnesses.”
I just blinked, still processing. My mind raced, tangled with mixed emotions and memories. I couldn’t tell what was a dream and what was real.
But… even putting all that aside, something felt off.
‘If my memory is correct, that couldn’t be true.’
Fragments of information in my mind slowly began forming a coherent scene.
The Grand Duke looked down at me with a face colder than ice. What he said next was utterly perplexing.
“Katarina Hugo tried to assassinate the Grand Duchess. Her crime is severe. I’ve locked her in the underground prison.”
“Eek?”
Assassination? Prison? This isn’t something that should escalate like this!
I retorted urgently:
“Underground prison? But she’s a noble lady!”
“A noble lady who commits a crime must face the consequences. Isn’t that obvious?”
“She was the one who pushed me! That’s impossible.”
It was absurd. I could tell with certainty that Katarina wasn’t capable of such a thing. But I had no idea how to convey this strange conviction to the Grand Duke.
Naturally, his sneer came back at me:
“Lost your memory from shock? Or did your intelligence drop? Rene Blanche. Innocence has its limits. You almost died because of that woman!”
“Ugh!”
His shouting brought another stabbing headache.
“Sigh…”
He forced me back against the bed with his shoulder. But it didn’t hurt at all. Rather, it felt awkwardly careful. He seemed just as confused as I was.
I slowly rested my back against the bed as he intended.
“Rest for now. Don’t think about anything. I’ll move away.”
After brushing back his bangs repeatedly, he left the room.
Of course, I couldn’t sleep.
The piercing headache, memories clashing inside my head—mine and ones that weren’t mine—everything combined led to one conclusion:
‘I remember. This novel.’
I thought I couldn’t find any clue, but his words about shock affecting my mind seemed accurate.
And the first thought that came to me was…
‘I’m screwed.’
The novel’s title was The Grand Duchess of the North Knows No Spring.
Or maybe not? Honestly, I couldn’t fully trust my memory…
But one thing I clearly remembered: I couldn’t stop criticizing the ending.
Despite enjoying the story fairly well up to the penultimate chapter, the ending ruined everything.
To summarize:
The heroine, Rene Celeste, born illegitimate to the Blanche family, lived a life of constant persecution and was forced into a political marriage. She truly loved her husband, Genos, which was the beginning of another tragedy. Genos hated her, inflicting every possible wound upon her. Every time, I’d furiously pound my chest with a lump of frustration.
“Ugh, so frustrating! Rene, you fool! How long will you stay so naive?! Hmph… Still, with all that karma, Genos will pay dearly later, right? Hahaha! That guy… He’ll become Rene’s doormat immediately!”
Still, I assumed the author had reasons for treating the heroine so harshly. After all, this is a romance fantasy novel! No matter how bleak, readers expect the heroine to end up happy after all the hardships.
So I thought all the suffering was just buildup. Though the buildup was unusually long and frustrating… I never expected the ending to be destroyed completely.
The Grand Duchess of the North Knows No Spring, aka The Grand North Spring.
Even the title was cheap.
“…The heroine is terminally ill… and the story ends with her dying? What kind of ending is that?! The author must be insane!”
Why “knows no spring”? She should at least experience it! That should have been the real ending!
Instead, The Grand North Spring ended in complete opposition to a typical happy ending. The heroine’s illness worsened, she couldn’t act at all, and died. The male lead only realized his feelings and regretted deeply after her death. And that was it. End. Complete. No side stories. A fully closed bad ending.
“I… was ‘that Rene’?”
Damn it! Are you kidding me?!
