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Chapter 91
Thirteen Loaves of Bread. The Tower Built on the Swamp (11)
Duke McClure flinched away from Ellie as if burned by fire, tearing his hand off her.
Ellie staggered back and coughed violently.
If she had been a moment slower, she might really have suffocated.
She couldn’t even tell if she was coughing, breathing, or spitting—her vision blurred with tears until a vague outline finally came into focus.
‘Why do I keep getting strangled in this life? Is my neck a public punching bag?’
Iraine’s voice reached her ears.
“Ellie, are you okay?”
“Why… so late…?”
“I was too late. I’m sorry. I wanted to be sure of the right moment.”
Despite her worried tone, Iraine’s expression was hard, her eyes never leaving Duke McClure.
“I—Iraine. What are you doing here?”
“I’ve been in this house the whole time.”
“…You deceived me?”
“If only you had admitted that you killed Franz, things wouldn’t have come to this.”
The duke bit his lip in frustration and glared viciously at Ellie.
It was the kind of look that wanted to pin all the blame on her.
But before he could utter a curse, Iraine spoke again.
“Father, you’re insane.”
“Iraine.”
“I should’ve known sooner.”
“Iraine, that’s not true.”
Duke McClure quickly composed himself.
He could almost pass for sane when Ellie wasn’t in front of him—but the madness in his eyes couldn’t be hidden.
Iraine continued.
“If you were in your right mind, you’d know what you were doing. You just tried to kill Ellie, didn’t you? You tried to kill your own daughter.”
“No! Iraine, you’re my only daughter!”
“That’s not true! Why do you keep denying what’s right in front of you?”
“She’s not my daughter! She’s—she’s my father’s sin!”
“That’s what you want to believe.”
The duke’s face twisted more grotesquely than ever before.
It was a face Iraine had never seen—the demon-like expression he only ever showed in front of Ellie.
“I did my own research, you know. I tried to understand why you were always so cruel to Ellie.”
“…Iraine.”
“Did believing Ellie wasn’t your daughter make your crimes feel less vile? Did you convince yourself you were righteous—even if it meant defaming your dead father?”
“Iraine, stop.”
“You were like Seth Hastings—never good enough for your parents’ expectations. You hated the political marriage, despised your wife, and resented even her affection for your real son.
Then you met a woman who seemed pitiful, and helping her made you feel noble, didn’t it…?”
So that’s what it was.
Ellie sat down on the floor and looked up at him.
She’d thought the duke had shared some grand, tragic love with Iraine’s mother—but apparently not.
Now she wasn’t even sure he’d ever loved Iraine.
He was a man who loved no one but himself.
Duke McClure stared at Iraine with a ghostly pale face.
“Compared to a wife who constantly belittled you, a woman who relied on you must’ve seemed more lovable. I won’t blame you for that—it’s the reason I was born, after all. But still…”
“You don’t know anything.”
“…”
“That woman was horrible! She looked down on me, mocked me, clung to my father and tried to take my place!”
So what if someone looks down on you? Ellie sighed inwardly. This man’s ego is exhausting.
“You just wanted your parents’ approval that badly?”
“…”
“You hated your wife for stealing the love meant for you… and lumped everything together so you could hate it all. Did it make the pain easier to bear?
Did dividing the world into allies and enemies—making me your only ally—feel like revenge on the ones who were gone?”
“Don’t talk nonsense, Iraine. I don’t know where you heard such lies, but I would never do such a thing.”
“But you did.”
“Iraine—”
“I did wrong by Ellie too! But at least I have shame!”
Iraine shouted, voice cracking.
“Why did you kill Franz? Why did you hit Ellie? Why did you make me grow up believing lies about who I was? Because of you, Father, I became a thief without even wanting to!”
“You’re not a thief!”
“Please, stop it already! You think if you’re stubborn enough, lies turn into truth?
Whenever it’s about Ellie, you lose your mind! You act like you can’t see anything!
Just because no one says it to your face doesn’t mean your lies become real! We’ve just been pretending not to notice!”
“That—that wretch—”
“What did Ellie ever do! We were the ones who did wrong, so why take it out on her?”
Please… someone just leave me out of this already…
Ellie was so done with their shouting match.
She didn’t care, didn’t want to know.
He really was insane…
And to think she’d believed it was some sort of magical compulsion.
Ellie had thought Duke McClure hated her as a twisted way of showing devotion to Iraine.
Because that’s how it went in the novel—villains existed only to make the heroine shine.
There didn’t need to be a deeper reason for the hatred.
But of course, a man whose eyes turned bloodshot every time he saw her wasn’t sane.
He only ever showed that side when no one else was watching.
People who commit violence while fully conscious are frightening enough—but those who seem normal until they switch? That’s true horror.
Madness is terrifying.
Whatever. I don’t care. I don’t want to understand him.
She only felt hollow—because the reason she had been beaten her whole life turned out to be so petty and childish.
So, a spoiled son from a prestigious family, crushed by his brilliant wife’s shadow…
The more she pieced it together, the more pathetic it sounded.
Unable to overcome his inferiority complex, he ran away, got another woman pregnant, she died, the child survived, and when his family refused to accept him back, he got angry.
His parents sided with his late wife, so when everyone else was gone, he took it out on me instead…
Abuse bred more abuse.
As things spiraled beyond repair, he lost his sanity and began believing his own delusions just to justify himself.
Ellie’s refusal to scream only worsened his violence.
The more she stood her ground, the more his rage demanded proof of dominance.
A single insult could escalate to a kick or a blow in seconds.
And when her blue eyes stirred even a trace of guilt in him, he tried to “prove” his goodness by loving Iraine more.
What a pathetic excuse for a human being.
Was I just running from someone like that? Even after all that pain…
What made madmen terrifying was that they looked sane until they snapped;
what made bad men terrifying was that they could do horrible things for such trivial reasons.
Ellie concluded that the real problem was that he’d had too much power.
“I’ll stay by Father’s side for the rest of his life. That’ll be my penance.”
“What…”
“I won’t meet anyone else. I won’t marry.
If he thinks everyone else is trash to be discarded, then I’ll make sure there’s no one else to discard.
I’ll stay beside him until the day he dies. So don’t worry, Father.”
“No! You have to be happy, my daughter—”
“I can’t be happy. Because of you.”
“…”
“I’m your only daughter. Fine—let’s call it that. If that’s what your world is, then so be it. Are you satisfied now?”
As she asked, Iraine smiled—a cold, brittle smile.
A chill ran down Ellie’s spine.
For the first time, Iraine looked exactly like the heroine of a tragedy novel—beautiful, broken, and lost.
Pushed too far by emotion, both of them had reached an extreme, irrational conclusion.
“It was hard because we tried to fit the truth into the world you built, Father.
But now, it doesn’t have to be hard anymore.
It’ll just be the two of us. That’s how it was meant to be from the start, right?”
“I just wanted you to be happy…”
“This is my happiness, Father.”
Iraine had loved the “Father” who once promised to make her happy.
Even when she’d realized he was hiding someone, she’d pretended not to notice.
She’d never asked.
“Father… hey.”
“Hm?”
“…No, never mind. I love you too.”
And that one little word of love—this is how it comes back to me.
The duke went silent, like a marionette whose strings had been cut.
Out in the corridor, Ellie spoke cautiously.
“Did you use the drug?”
“Mhm.”
“I knew it.”
“I gave him a little before you came—just in case things went wrong.”
Iraine winked with one eye and nodded.
“No wonder he got all worked up…”
“I’m sorry. You must’ve been in pain.”
“It’s fine. I’m tougher than I look.”
“…You’ve gotten so thin, though!”
“Huh?”
“My god, you’re half the size you were…”
“…Did you take something too?”
Ellie pushed Iraine’s hands away as she poked and prodded her arms.
“I’m serious! You’ve lost so much weight—you’re practically half a person.”
“Well… maybe a little.”
I need to look in a mirror when I get home, Ellie sighed.
Nothing works better than stress for weight loss, apparently.
“Don’t worry about Father anymore, Ellie. I’ll make sure he keeps taking the medicine, and I’ll watch him myself. I’ll take over all his duties.”
“Wouldn’t it have been easier just to drug him into a coma from the start…?”
She wanted to ask if her shop really had to be ruined—or if she really had to be strangled—for this outcome.
“If I’d done that, he would’ve just come after me again once the drug wore off—telling himself it was all for your sake. He’d hypnotize himself into believing he was doing the right thing.
He wouldn’t even feel guilty.”
“I’m not sure he feels guilty now…”
“His life’s goal was to make me happy. After ruining my life, of course he feels guilty.”
If there was one thing Iraine was certain of about her father, it was that his love for her had been real.
And so was his guilt.
“Well, if you say so.”
“What about you now? What will you do?”
“…”
“The Tower Council and House Cronin only gave advice—they didn’t threaten or force us.
Even if Father steps back now, your friends’ situation won’t change.”
“Yeah…”
Ellie ran a hand through her hair.
Did Damien see all this coming from the start?
What a terrifying man…
