RR 11

 Chapter 11

“Grrk.”

Bloodshot veins appeared in Ther’s gasping eyes. The pain, unlike anything he had ever experienced, rendered him incapable of thought.

In that moment, the ground shook. It was a precarious tremor, as if everything might collapse. The screams and shouts grew louder, and the beast-like howling voices were desperate.

The extreme pain, from which even a scream could not escape, dyed Ther’s face red.

*”Follower of Iphe. Fulfill your duty.”*

Ther knew what the voice constantly echoing in his ears meant.

The Orb of Iphe.

It was an inescapable covenant.

The shackle of the House of Motita that could neither be broken nor refused.

The slave must obey the master’s command.

“Aack.”

Callas’s pained groan was heard.

Even in the agony that made it difficult to open his eyes, Ther painfully lifted his gaze to look at Callas. Half of his body was burning.

“Calla…s.”

Ther knew a way to end the suffering of Callas and the lake castle.

If he simply signed the parchment contract sent by the Imperial House, all this pain would end. What was happening now in the lake castle was all because he had refused the contract.

*”Ther, I’m scared. I don’t like the Crown Prince.”*

Aella’s tearful face came to mind.

He had made a promise. That he would let her live as Aella Motita.

*Cough.* Dark red blood burst from Ther’s mouth. He felt his life force slowly ebbing away.

“Grand Duke.”

Callas called out to Ther with a pained expression.

The fire had nearly consumed Callas.

Ther realized it was time to make a decision.

Staggering to his feet, Ther moved toward the contract on the desk. His pupils were half-lidded as he stared at the contract.

*”I came because I was anxious.”*

Aella’s voice flowed into Ther’s ears.

“Aella.”

Ther whispered her name as if breathing it out, then lifted his pen and left his signature on the parchment contract.

That accursed name.

At once, the parchment contract emitted a bright light. That bright light shattered Aella’s smiling face into pieces.

At the fragmented face of Aella, Ther gave a sad smile and lost consciousness.

—

**\*\*\***

Wandering through deep darkness, Ther exhaled and opened his eyes. Gasping for breath, he sat up at the sound of Callas’s voice.

“Grand Duke, are you alright?”

“Callas.”

Sitting up in bed, Ther examined Callas. Considering that fire had burned his entire body, Callas looked far too intact. Seeing Callas unharmed, Ther wondered if he had just had a terrible nightmare.

“Everything has returned to normal. No one died, and no one was injured.”

But at Callas’s following words, Ther realized that none of it had been a dream; it had all been reality.

That he had abandoned Aella was also a terrible reality.

*If only it had been a dream.*

“That’s fortunate.”

Ther got out of bed with a hardened face.

It felt as if someone were stabbing his heart with a knife.

*How could it be fortunate? It cannot possibly be fortunate.*

“You should rest more.”

At Callas’s words, bitterness hung on Ther’s lips.

Having failed to keep his promise to Aella, what right did he have to lie comfortably in bed and rest? He didn’t deserve that.

Leaving the bedroom, Ther headed to his office. The contract that had been on his desk was gone.

Ther’s lips twisted as he stared at the empty desk where the parchment contract had lain.

He had clearly seen with his own eyes what happened when one refused the contract. The shackle he had never seen before now felt distinctly visible for the first time.

Ther’s face, enduring a grief close to pain, was pale. It felt as if half of his soul had disappeared.

With an expression devoid of emotion, Ther turned his gaze to the large painting hanging on the wall opposite his desk.

It was a painting of Iphe, the god of fire, reaching his hands toward the sky. In the painting, Iphe was flying toward the closing gates of heaven, his blazing red hair streaming behind him.

Ther’s reddish-brown eyes, looking at the god Iphe in the painting, rippled with rage.

*If not for you…*

Clenching his fist, Ther walked toward the painting.

*Creak.*

As Ther stood before the painting, it moved aside, revealing a staircase leading underground. Ther’s eyes, descending the stairs, sank deep.

Every time he passed the long corridor, flames rose in the wall lamps, illuminating the darkness. Each time the corridor brightened, Ther wanted to extinguish every fire in the world.

After passing the long corridor, Ther arrived before a door. It was the door leading to the basement of the bell tower.

“Ha.”

With a low sigh, Ther opened the door and entered.

In the center of a round space filled with a damp and gloomy atmosphere stood a large mirror. And in one corner, a coffin lay.

Ther walked steadily toward the mirror.

Though he stood before the mirror, it did not reflect his image. Because it was no ordinary mirror.

“One Orb of Iphe has been used.”

Ther spoke in a dry voice.

Then, someone appeared in the mirror. The back of a young man with blazing red hair was reflected in the mirror.

It was Iphe, the god of fire—the shackle of the House of Motita.

As Iphe appeared, Ther’s clenched fist tightened further.

“Emperor Nikos Miden commanded the dissolution of the engagement with Aella Petra…”

Reporting to the god Iphe, Ther’s voice caught in his throat, and he paused briefly. Composing his emotions and voice, Ther continued.

“I have handled it accordingly. It is the first contract concluded since the ascension of Nikos Miden.”

The Iphe in the mirror still had his back turned and said nothing.

Swallowing his surging emotions, Ther turned away from the mirror. He had not known that the fate he had embraced would cut him so cruelly.

For the first time, he thought of smashing the invisible shackles. He wanted to cut out the slave brand stamped on his back with a knife.

“Aella.”

The name murmured as he walked down the long corridor was deeply engraved with guilt and longing.

—

**\*\*\***

Recalling the events of a year ago, Ther, who had been toying with Aella’s hair, smiled a complicated smile.

A year ago, he could never have imagined that Aella would return to his arms.

“You wouldn’t know, Aella. How my time has passed all this while.”

Ther murmured in a low voice.

He didn’t know how many nights he had spent in regret after letting Aella go of his own accord.

Even when Aella was suffering through painful days after being burned, he had visited her every night as she slept and poured out apologies.

After Aella married, he had been possessed by the desire to secretly take her from the palace and bring her to the lake castle, running to the palace many times.

“I won’t let you go now. I won’t let you go to anyone.”

The place where Aella belonged was here, by his side.

As if to confirm that, Ther bent down and kissed the sleeping Aella on the forehead.

At the sensation on her forehead, Aella slowly opened her eyes. Awakening, Aella blinked with a dazed expression for a moment.

Then, remembering the previous day, she abruptly sat up. Meeting Ther’s eyes, Aella blushed with shyness.

“Did you sleep well?”

Ther asked, gently stroking Aella’s cheek.

“Mm.”

Aella answered without lifting her gaze.

“Sleep more. It’s still dawn.”

“I have to go back to the palace. Everyone will be looking for me.”

Aella shook her head.

“Let’s go to the Petra mansion.”

Ther took Aella’s hand.

Aella lifted her gaze, her eyes trembling.

“What happens to us now?”

“We go back to how it should be. I’ll handle the Imperial family. Let me take you. Let’s go to the Petra mansion.”

“No, Ther. I want to go back to the palace. This is my affair too. I won’t hide in the shadows.”

“Aella, but—”

“Ther, you promised to let me live by your side. You’re not breaking that promise this time, are you?”

Aella interrupted Ther and asked.

“I’ll keep it. I promise.”

Ther nodded without hesitation.

“Then that’s enough. I’m going to demand an official divorce.”

Aella’s green eyes sparkled with resolve.

It was the look Ther loved most. But he was worried because the person Aella had to face was Seamus.

“The Crown Prince won’t let you go easily.”

Seamus was the kind of person who would choose to kill Aella rather than send her to Motita. Ther was afraid Aella would be hurt.

“It’s my problem to solve. I’ll solve it and come back, Ther.”

At Aella’s composed appearance, Ther pulled her into his arms and whispered in her ear.

“I know. Ell is a brave lemon.”

At those words, Aella burst into laughter.

It was the sound of Aella’s laughter that he had missed achingly.

—

**\*\*\***

In the dim dawn before the Crown Princess’s residence, Ther looked at Aella with an uneasy expression.

“Let’s go to the lake castle or the Petra mansion even now. I’m anxious leaving you here.”

“The Crown Prince can’t hurt me. Not as long as His Majesty the Emperor is there. So don’t worry too much.”

Aella looked at Ther and smiled as if to tell him not to worry.

Seeing that, Ther made a complicated expression and took Aella’s hand.

“I will meet the Emperor as soon as dawn breaks.”

“Mm.”

Aella nodded.

“After you get a divorce, we will marry.”

“Mm.”

Aella smiled a shy smile.

“When you return to the lake castle, I’ll tell you everything.”

“The reason we had no choice but to separate?”

“Yeah.”

Ther nodded at Aella’s question.

“It wasn’t because you hated me, was it?”

“Of course not.”

Ther answered, looking at Aella with a pained expression. His heart ached to think that she might have been thinking that all this time.

“Then that’s enough. Thank you for bringing me back, Ther.”

Aella gave a bright smile and headed toward the door.

“I’ll come for you soon.”

At Ther’s voice from behind her, Aella turned around.

At Ther’s words that he would come for her, Aella felt reassured. After sharing a shy smile, Aella turned back and went inside.

Separating from Ther and entering her bedroom, Aella gasped in surprise. The room was a mess. Fallen furniture and broken objects littered the floor.

Aella’s eyes, surveying the ruined room, trembled unsteadily at the voice she heard.

“Finally here.”

It was Seamus’s voice.