Duke, Please Fail! - Side Story 2 (Part 1)

Side Story 2: Part 1

Had I forgotten for too long that there are names that don’t answer when you call them?

“Nelly.”

Is that why you can’t answer my call?

“Please, open your eyes.”

Even pleading was in vain. The weight of you falling into my arms still seemed palpable.

I carefully supported your back and pulled you into an embrace. Your limp arm hung towards the ground.

“Your Grace. It’s reported that arsenic was in the salad the manager ate.”

Your closed eyes resembled someone sleeping in the garden.

Yeah. You just fell into a slightly deeper sleep. It could be because you were exhausted enough to plead for a vacation. You might have fallen into a death-like sleep because you were tired.

I lifted you, deeply asleep.

“Your Grace. Where are you going?”

“Your Grace.”

Ignoring the voices calling from behind, I headed towards the western tower.

The maids I encountered silently greeted me with respectful gestures, seemingly not wanting to wake you. I entered the room and laid you on the bed.

Nothing was different from usual. Everything was the same, to the point where a sense of unreality crept in.

“But why…?”

Why can’t I hear your breathing? Why is your heart not beating as usual?

The only sound that returns while holding you and trying to protect you is the breath of one person.

No matter how much I hug and try to protect you, your body temperature rapidly drops. I felt your body gradually stiffening.

Changes that cannot be stopped by human strength were taking you away from me.

“No…”

After dinner, I had something to tell you.

“It’s not that I couldn’t trust you.”

Thanks to you, I escaped from nightmares. I could fully feel spring.

The reason I didn’t let you leave the estate was not because of distrust. It was because you were too precious, and I wanted to keep you by my side, not to lose you. So, I was greedy.

Sorrow permeates my entire body. Emotions I desperately tried to suppress surged up in place of blood.

“I love you, Nelly. You…”

I crouched towards you. The icy body touches my forehead.

My eyes feel hot as if burning. The vision alternates between blurry and clear. Tears flow down my cheeks like falling snow. However, even when soaked with hot tears, there was no warmth returning to the cold body.

With every exhale, it felt like I could hear your last words.

‘Your Grace, live… vengeance…’

At that moment, time passed very slowly, and at the edge of reminiscence, there was a distorted red iris, like capturing an unwanted prey.

“Uncle.”

Again, he did it. He took away my most precious person once more. 

Why? What wrong did you do? What sin did you have?

The fire clinging to the dried-up heart swelled in an instant. Anger, enlarged like a soul that would burn everything, burned my throat and settled in my stomach.

However, like a body already devoid of breath, the reason is cold and silent.

“Revenge… Yes, revenge. Nelly, if that’s what you want, there’s nothing I won’t do.”

I kissed the soft brown hair and rose from the seat. As I went outside, Arette appeared. He scrutinized me with a furrowed brow, then extended something in his hand.

“A maid who mixed arsenic into the salad was found dead.”

What Arette brought was a letter. It contained a confession without credibility, claiming to be the culprit and fearing exposure, leading to suicide.

Even so, nothing changed.

“Arette, go to Devondus’ mansion and bring back evidence. If there isn’t any, create it if you have to.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Arette turned around and left immediately.

As I entered my nature, Roger approached.

“The guests have been kept in the dining hall.”

The one who killed you is still there.

Revenge. Revenge.

Entering the room, I drew a sword that I had received a long time ago. As I extended my arm and turned around, Levance blocked my way.

“Your Grace. You can’t.”

“Step aside.”

“This is, this is not right. Killing without an investigation will only discredit Your Grace.”

That no longer mattered.

I pushed Levance aside and left the room, heading straight for the dining hall.

As the knights guarding the door hesitated, they opened it. The voices that had been seeping through the crack in the door abruptly fell silent.

The one who killed you looked at me directly and slowly stood up. Seeing the smile that had spread across his face, I realized.

This is my fault.

I’ve been too lenient, to the point of seeming like a coward, to the extent that they would mock me. I spared too many lives during this time.

So, the one who killed you must think they can smile arrogantly.

I set heavy steps into the dining hall.

Devondus showed no fear, even when faced with the sword as if he was certain I wouldn’t kill anyone.

“Duke. What is the meaning of this? To threaten the kin and vassals just because a mere manager died, hmph!”

Without hesitation, I stabbed the sword into the old enemy’s abdomen. Only then did fear creep into the crimson eyes resembling mine.

Blood spilled, tearing the silence, and screams echoed.

“Aaagh!”

“What is this, what is this!”

The sound of the door closing behind me echoed.

A middle-aged man from the distant past, once trusted and feared, now writhed in agony beneath my feet. Surprisingly, I felt no emotions.

I only regretted it.

“It should have been like this from the beginning. Isn’t that right, Uncle?”

Laughter escaped me at the revenge that ended so easily. Why had I hesitated at this moment that was so easy and so short?

I should have disposed of him before you died.

No, maybe even earlier. What if I had killed him when he returned from the battlefield? Then your life might not have been threatened.

Or what if I had killed him when he tried to kill me?

After he killed my parents?

There were countless opportunities. Even after becoming a duke, I could have killed him at any time if I had the will. But I didn’t.

“Do you know why I spared you, Uncle?”

“Keukk, kkk.”

“At first, I was too tired to do anything. But afterward…”

I didn’t want to show you a cruel side.

I didn’t want to shatter the peace you had brought.

I wanted to be a person worthy of you, like the sunshine. Just as I changed because of you, I believed that if I showed kindness, they too would change someday.

“Everything is something Uncle brought upon himself.”

I lifted my head. Someone retched, cursed, blamed, collapsed, and screamed. The earlier silence was chaotic, but none of the noises felt as loud as your whispered words.

‘Your Grace, revenge.…’

Your voice, which once spoke of revenge, gradually transformed. 

It was now instructing me to kill everyone who took you away from me. Cutting through the chaos, I identified the faces of those who had aided or participated in the killings with Devondus, and I exposed them all.

When my breath became shallow and my movements ceased, the dining hall was entirely bathed in red. There were scarcely any living individuals left. However, your voice persisted.

Yes, some hadn’t come here. Those who hid in the shadows, not revealing themselves like cowards. I opened and left the tightly closed dining hall.

Roger’s face was visible, but I couldn’t read his expression. Even though it was a very simple expression, it seemed as if he had opened his eyes while still being blind.

“Prepare the soldiers.”

“…Understood.”

He immediately mounted his horse. The sticky, lukewarm liquid that had coated his entire body cooled and dried.

I sought out the vassals and relatives who had committed the atrocities, confiscated the land and properties I had bestowed upon them, and expelled them from the family. Those who had committed crimes tantamount to capital offenses were executed.

When everything was sorted out and I returned, your funeral had already concluded.

I went to the western tower where you had stayed to find traces of you. I entered the empty room and remained motionless, unable to do anything. I couldn’t do anything.

Grief consumed the soul.

Slowly, from the tips of the toes like sinking into a swamp. It enveloped the entire body without a single gap.

Drawn endlessly, with nowhere to step.

It would have been better if it felt like falling.

If only I could close my eyes.

When I lifted my head, you were still there.

Even though everything was finished, your whisper didn’t cease. The warm and cruel voice, like a spring breeze, constantly caressed my ear.

‘Revenge.…’

Suddenly, I lifted my head.

My reflection appeared in the mirror.

Only then did I realize. Revenge was not yet over. The person who contributed most to your death was still alive.

My inadequacy that couldn’t hide my emotions, my arrogance in believing I could protect you, my selfishness in not wanting to dirty my hands with blood, and my complacency in thinking that with the queen’s approval, I could tidy up my surroundings peacefully—all of it killed you.

I killed you.

So, it seems you are still lingering around me. Because I’m still here.

Your voice, asking for revenge, was mixed with interference. 

There was a knocking sound on the door.

“Your Grace, it’s been already two days.”

“How can you not sleep at all? What about your meals?”

Soon, Arette and Levance’s voices followed in succession.

But I couldn’t answer the questions.

I couldn’t feel the passage of time. Neither hunger nor the desire for sleep could be sensed. It felt like I was perpetually trapped in the moment you died.

Even now, you appear.

Your face, once vibrant, now stained with black and white, leans against the wall. You speak to me.

‘Your Grace, please finish the revenge.’

If that’s what you want, if that’s the only way you can stop wandering like a ghost and rest in peace.

I staggered as I tried to approach you, but someone forcefully pulled me back from behind. When I turned around, Levance, with a pale face, was trying to convey an impression of concern.

“Your Grace, where are you looking? You keep muttering strange things…”

I pushed Levance away and stepped toward you, but before my foot touched the ground, dizziness overcame me.

Arette grabbed me. Even in the haze of my mind, I reached out to you.

Nelly, please.

I’ll finish the revenge, so keep me by your side.

But, as always, I never reached you.