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| Prologue |
Elia Richard.
She liked people. She simply liked talking with others and sharing hearts with them.
Without realizing the dark intentions hidden behind Livius’s gentle smile as he approached her.
“You’re going to die soon? What a waste of my time.”
“……Livius?”
Not long after the news spread that she had an incurable disease and that her body was growing weaker day by day, Elia’s fiancé — and the person who meant everything to her — came to visit.
Elia felt unfamiliar with the way his sweet, loving eyes had suddenly become sharp enough to tear her apart at any moment.
“There’s no reason for me to pick up trash even His Majesty the Emperor threw away. You expect me to live as a widower because of you until I die? What a joke. Because of that damned law, even someone like you is still called an imperial princess.”
There was a law in the Empire that forbade remarriage after marrying a member of the imperial family, even if the spouse died.
Livius was declaring that he would break off the engagement with Elia.
He was abandoning her after she had already been driven to the edge of a cliff.
“What… are you… saying?”
“Is your brain not working because you’re about to die? A useless princess with nothing left but the title, whose support has all been cut off, is worthless to me now. Do you understand?”
“H-How could you… Aah!”
Elia burst into tears and grabbed onto Livius, but his hand quickly shoved her away, throwing her onto the floor.
The fiancé who used to whisper that he loved her, that he would stay by her side no matter what danger came — that version of Livius had vanished without a trace, as if he had only been an illusion from the start.
“Don’t touch me with those filthy hands. I already told you. Even His Majesty the Emperor threw you away because you became useless. Do you really think someone like you matches me? Maybe it’d be better if you just died right now. Before you end up seeing something even uglier.”
“Hngh, haa…!”
After crashing onto the floor, Elia clutched at her chest, struggling to breathe from the shock while Livius continued spitting cruel words at her.
Then suddenly—
“Urk.”
A mouthful of blood spilled from her lips, and the pain that followed made Elia break down into sobs.
“I… hic… want to live. I d-don’t… want to die… ugh…”
“What the— are you seriously dying in front of me?”
Seeing the lifeless look in Elia’s eyes, Livius panicked and ran out of the room.
Soon after, the maids rushed inside, calling for a physician while cleaning the room now covered in blood.
‘I don’t want to die like this. Livius, Livius!!’
As Elia slowly lost consciousness, only one image continued to repeat inside her mind—
The back of Livius as he abandoned her and ran away while she writhed in pain.
