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Chapter 1
Rudiche gazed at the sky that had turned a deep black.
Light flashed from various parts of the heavy clouds, as if they were about to pour rain. Each time, the weapons of the soldiers lined up in front of the castle gate glinted in the light.
A bitter, self-deprecating laugh rose to Rudiche’s face as she scrutinized them one by one.
“My, what a crowd.”
What were they so afraid of that they came in such numbers to this place that had nothing left? The master of this place, the Duke of DeFania, had died four years ago, and all that remained was the duchess in name only, fighting to protect the estate—her and no one else.
As she was looking outside with a sense of futility, she heard someone shout.
“Please take cover, Lady Rudiche! The Imperial army has invaded!”
Phil Evans, her aide, who had rushed into the office in a panic, stopped dead in his tracks. Rudiche, whom he had expected to find at her desk, was already fully armed and looking out the window.
“Are you planning to go into battle?”
“…”
Instead of answering his question, Rudiche merely curved the corner of her lips upward.
After checking the situation outside the window one more time, her gaze turned to Phil. Unlike the aide, who was pale with a mix of shock and fear, Rudiche was calm.
“The Imperial Knights have arrived, so I must go out and greet them. Wouldn’t that be the proper etiquette?”
Phil Evans inwardly clicked his tongue. He had spent the last four years managing the ducal household and had forgotten that the red-haired woman before him had once been one of the most renowned knights in the empire.
“It seems both the Ebron and Evnia Knight Orders have come. Did the Crown Prince himself come?”
“…”
Phil pressed his lips together. As if that were an answer, Rudiche let out a short, cynical laugh.
“That man would never put himself on the front lines.”
“…Sir Goudel has arrived.”
“I see…”
Of all people.
Rudiche owed a debt to Goudel Austin of the Imperial Knights.
‘So he sent him. That damn Crown Prince.’
He deliberately sent Goudel, knowing that she had a soft spot for the Evnia Knight Order and its captain.
Rudiche tried her best to suppress her bitterness.
The Imperial family hated the Duke of DeFania, Quinlan.
The person who most openly and shamelessly showed this was Crown Prince Verze. After Quinlan died in the war against the barbarians, he wished for the DeFania family to be completely extinguished.
That’s why Rudiche had fought back so tenaciously. Four years. How tormented the Crown Prince must have been, as he couldn’t get his hands on a place he thought he could easily have, and four years passed by without progress.
“Do not participate in the battle, Lady Rudiche. Please evacuate and…”
“Phil.”
When her calm gaze landed on him, Phil also regained his composure. When the fever of his panic subsided and his face returned to normal, Rudiche spoke.
“Have all the castle residents evacuated?”
“There are still some people left.”
Rudiche pondered for a moment before continuing.
“Divide half of the troops and evacuate the residents. Include the young soldiers. You can pass that message on to Sir Belmont. Hugo won’t leave his post at the gate.”
Rudiche added the last part with a faint smile. It was a beautiful, determined smile that didn’t fit the situation at all.
“It’s too late for this place now, so you should run away with them as well.”
“Lady Rudiche!”
Phil, who was about to say something to her resolute command, ultimately closed his mouth.
Looking at his bowed head, Rudiche recalled the letter she had been reading moments before. It was the last letter, four years ago, found in Quinlan’s embrace.
Rudiche. My lady, my wife.
The letter from Quinlan began with a neat and elegant script.
It was his genuine feelings, left behind.
After reading this letter, how could she abandon this place and run away?
Rudiche raised her head.
“But, my lady. Their forces are too great. It’s not enough for you to face them.”
“Did you forget? I was once the Vice-Captain of the Imperial Knights.”
Rudiche DeFania, Duchess of DeFania. Before her marriage, she was the young lady of the Roxburg family and a knight who earned the honorary position of Vice-Captain of the Evnia Knight Order through her skill.
During her ten years in the knighthood, no one was unaware of her prowess.
But no matter how outstanding her military strength, a single person couldn’t turn the tide of a battle that was already lost.
‘Still, I can at least put up a fight.’
Rudiche gave a command to Phil, who was standing with a bitter expression on his face and his lips tightly sealed.
“Move quickly.”
At her soft words, Phil bowed deeply.
“By the way, why hasn’t Jeff, who went to get Baros, returned yet?”
The Baros Rudiche was talking about was the name of the spear she had mainly used during her time as a knight before she got married. She hadn’t taken it out once after her marriage, but now was the time to use that weapon.
“It seems I should go to the castle gate now…”
Just then, her vision turned pitch black, and the air around her shuddered.
The moment her body swayed, Rudiche’s chest grew hot, and a lump surged up from deep within her. When the lump came out of her mouth, her silver-glowing armor was stained red with blood.
“Lady Rudiche!”
In the moment Phil, startled, was running toward her, he suddenly felt a sharp pain and looked down at his own chest. The tip of a sharp silver sword had pierced his chest and was sticking out.
“Phil!”
“La-Lady Ru-Ru…”
Phil, who was looking at her with eyes filled with horror, slowly collapsed.
But Rudiche couldn’t go to him. The inside of her body felt as if it were burning. The blood that kept rising was now black.
‘Poison! How?’
Rudiche lifted her head.
Standing behind the collapsed Phil Evans was Jeff, the man who had long served as her aide.
“Jeff…”
Ah, betrayal.
Rudiche remembered the tea Jeff had offered her moments before. She had thought it tasted no different from usual.
Now that she thought about it, had his hand trembled not from fear of war, but from the fear of being caught poisoning her?
Rudiche let out a hollow laugh. The black blood that trickled out with each breath was slowly melting her silver armor.
‘How strong must this poison be?’
Such a poison wasn’t easy to obtain. Whose command was it? The answer was already decided.
Rudiche stood upright, even though her legs felt like they would give out at any moment. If she collapsed now, it would only please the vile man standing in front of her, laughing.
Rudiche forced a cruel smile onto her face and glared at Jeff.
“They say you shouldn’t shelter… a two-legged animal… that walks on all fours…”
Even as she was spitting up blood and dying, her eyes were filled with murderous intent. Jeff instinctively took a step back at the sight of Rudiche’s piercing glare.
But he soon realized he had shown fear and shouted boastfully.
“Lo-look, Lady Rudiche. This place will soon fall into the hands of the Imperial family. No matter how much you struggle, you cannot defeat the Imperial family.”
A sneer appeared on Jeff’s face.
So, it was the Imperial family after all.
“To betray me… and still… talk so much.”
“Betrayal, you say? I never served you from the start. The reason I followed you to DeFania was to report your every move to the Imperial family.”
“I saved you… from that slum.”
“But you never helped me escape the confines of being a commoner!” Jeff cried out in a choked voice. “What could I do? They promised to make me a noble. What couldn’t I do? They said they would make me a noble if the Duke of DeFania and you died, so I had no choice but to find a way as quickly as possible. It was a pain that you held out for so long, though.”
Four years after Quinlan’s death. No, even before that, it was her own mistake to have failed to see that rat and bring him all the way here.
Rudiche gritted her teeth. As anger consumed her mind and heart, the pain subsided.
She vowed to drag this bastard to hell with her, even if she died, and cursed him as she spit up blood.
“Even if I have to… sell my soul to the devil… I will kill you. And the Imperial family who hired you.”
“Your bluff… is getting excessive… for a dying person!”
Overwhelmed by her presence, Jeff slowly backed away and moved toward the door.
“It’s over for DeFania now. I will become a noble and enjoy the glory you never had.”
With that, he quickly fled outside.
Ha.
Rudiche barely managed to support her collapsing body. In her fading vision, she saw the lifeless body of Phil Evans.
‘Is this… the end?’
If she died, DeFania would fall into the hands of the Imperial family.
Ah, yes. Four years ago.
She shouldn’t have hesitated then. She should have gone to Quinlan as soon as she heard the news. She was just paying the price for that hesitation, for what she had lost because she had hesitated.
‘Just once. If I could go back to that moment…’
Everything had happened because of her mistake, so it was her job to fix it.
If she was given another chance, she would never hesitate again.
Rudiche.
My lady, my wife.
You will probably never see this letter.
I am writing down the words I couldn’t say to you because I feel this might be the end.
I have never regretted marrying you, not even once.
So, live. Even if something happens to me, you must live.
Find yourself again and live for yourself. That is my wish.
Thank you for marrying me.
Quinlan.
Ah, Quinlan.
I’m sorry, in the end, I…
Just once, just one more chance. So I can repay all this resentment.
Just once.
Rudiche slowly closed her eyes.
Amidst her fading consciousness, his eyes suddenly came to mind.
The color of a chillingly blue sky.
