TSMMT Ch 109

I Will Be Happy

Her footsteps felt lighter. She had intended to play nice until the end, but holding back proved difficult in the face of such brazen audacity.

She expected no redemption from Saruvia anyway. Nor did it matter.

In fact, it would be better if Saruvia tried to retaliate. The moment she attacked her, who had just shown her mercy, House Levian's honor would hit rock bottom.

With a strangely unburdened heart, Dianna exited the noble cells and headed toward the dungeon. One final matter remained to be settled.

Alerted by Guiscard in advance, the guards opened the heavily fortified dungeon doors without resistance. Dianna acknowledged the knights' bows and stepped cautiously inside.

The dungeons of the Lodbrog Kingdom were far grimmer. Dank and filthy, it bore no resemblance to Saruvia's cell. The further she walked, the thicker the dark, metallic stench became.

Her pounding heart evoked memories of the Brienne estate's cellar. Clenching her clammy, cold-sweat-slicked fists, she reached the final cell.

The stench of blood hung heavy in the air. Still, she steeled herself. This task had to end today; she refused to carry this filthy baggage a moment longer.

She stopped before Mirva's cell. Under the faint glow of a luminescent stone, she lay collapsed in a pathetic heap. Her low groans ceased the moment she heard footsteps.

[Dianna] "We meet here again, Mirva. It seems our ends always bring us back to places like this."

Mirva looked far worse than she had in the estate's cellar. Dianna stared unflinchingly at the body marked by clear signs of torture.

Mirva let out a ragged groan.

[Dianna] "His Majesty didn't cut out your tongue, I see."

At her mocking remark, a loud clang echoed through the corridor as Mirva grabbed the iron bars. Hauling herself up against the dense grid, she stood trembling. Dianna watched her miserable efforts in silence.

Mirva sneered through the bars.

[Mirva] "What a pity... failing to get rid of that woman."

Dianna tilted her head at her sneer.

[Dianna] "That woman? Ah, you mean Lady Levian."

She laughed softly.

[Dianna] "I never intended to get rid of her. Ah, so that's why you endured torture without speaking a word about the Lady. Remarkable loyalty—even though she abandoned you."

Mirva glared at her with murderous eyes. Dianna met her gaze head-on.

[Dianna] "Your plot to kidnap me and sell me into slavery failed. It seems you are the one who failed, not me."

Mirva snarled, grinding her teeth. Dianna mocked her openly.

[Dianna] "I ask out of genuine curiosity, Mirva. Did you think I was following your lead? I haven't lost my mind like you."

Seeing her venomous expression brought back a strange sense of familiarity. This was the face Mirva had worn back then. Knowing that look, Dianna had refused to trust her when they reunited in this life.

Mirva spoke through gritted teeth.

[Mirva] "Then why did you take me in? My Lady..."

[Dianna] "Because there was a tiny chance you truly came back out of concern for me."

Mirva spat out a harsh laugh.

[Mirva] "How naive! Ha!"

[Dianna] "Indeed. I was naive."

In her past life, she had been naive enough to rely on Mirva despite pushing her away, driven into a corner where she had no choice but to lean on the maid she had dismissed.

[Dianna] "Even so, I wanted to witness your actions firsthand."

I wanted to see how your presence dragged me into the abyss, how you isolated me.

In her previous life, Mirva had entered her service much earlier, likely engineered through Dianna's friction with Mable. Saruvia had undoubtedly pulled the strings back then as well.

Mirva had wormed her way to Dianna's side, effectively cutting off access to anyone else. She had framed potential allies as enemies and turned ordinary people against Dianna. She made her believe everyone looked down on her, while actively orchestrating situations where she was despised.

[Dianna] "You drove a wedge between Guiscard and me, too."

Though Mirva had driven that wedge far more aggressively in the past life, she didn't deny it now.

Dianna recalled how she and Guiscard had crossed the point of no return in her previous life. She had made peace with the deaths of her father and brother. Yet upon witnessing Mirva's death, Dianna had abandoned her last thread of hope in him. In the end, Mirva's death had sealed their complete division.

[Dianna] "Why did you do it? That's what I want to ask. I dismissed you, but the ones who cast you out and abandoned you were my father and Emil."

[Dianna] "Why pick on me, the youngest and easiest target? Why seek me out at all? You could have stayed by Emil's side."

Mirva slammed her body against the bars in sheer rage.

[Mirva] "You still don't get it?"

[Dianna] "Get what?"

[Mirva] "Because neither my son nor I could stand seeing you! Seeing you happy!"

[Dianna] "What?"

[Mirva] "It's all your fault! Because you freed that slave bastard, all of this happened! The Duke died, and my son was crippled!"

[Mirva] "Yet you get to marry that bastard and live happily? Absolutely not! You deserve to be punished again—by Emil's side! He promised he would welcome me back if I brought you!"

So that was it. Just to reunite with Emil?

Dianna let out a quiet sigh. With his temperament, Emil would never have accepted Mirva back.

[Mirva] "I'd rather die than watch a bitch like you find happiness! With Emil reduced to that state, you will never be happy!"

She slammed frantically against the bars, the harsh metallic banging ringing in Dianna's ears. Watching her, Dianna reflected on her past life.

Mirva in the past life had been no different. The Duke and Emil were dead, Dianna was the sole survivor, and Alexa's whereabouts were unknown. Seeing her become the Queen of Lodbrog, what action had Mirva taken?

Naturally, she had wanted to ruin her happiness. This woman had remained entirely consistent. Had Dianna fallen for those pitying eyes and followed her, in the worst-case scenario... Mirva would have dragged her into hell by any means necessary.

Some things had changed between that life and this one, but others remained constant. Mirva was one of them.

[Dianna] "Then you must die, Mirva. Once you are dead, I will be happy."

She whispered. Mirva shrieked in response.

[Mirva] "No! You will never be happy!"

[Mirva] "Do you have any idea what your father did? He chased that slave bastard's mother relentlessly! When she refused him, he branded her a witch and burned her alive—right in front of that slave boy! She didn't die easily, screaming for death until the end!"

[Mirva] "He will never forget that! Do you think you're special just because he made you Queen? No, you are merely the daughter of his enemy!"

She cackled wildly.

Dianna squeezed her eyes shut. She had looked up the name Herya before and discovered she was the late King of Panborough's half-sister.

That meant Guiscard possessed royal Panborough blood. She had known that much—she had heard it in her childhood.

Her father had killed his mother. She hadn't known about the burning at the stake, nor that that bastard father had enslaved and brutalized the woman's son as well.

A cold chill ran down her spine at the brutal depth of their ill-fated connection. Still, she fought not to let the words shake her.

Mirva pressed on relentlessly.

[Mirva] "What about you, Dianna? Aren't you the same?!"

[Mirva] "You insane bitch! You lived as a slave because of him, too! Haha! He doesn't even know, does he?"

[Mirva] "Do you think the two of you could ever be happy? Even without my interference, you were doomed from the start! You can never be happy!"

Hearing those venomous curses, Dianna bowed her head.

Misinterpreting her quiet demeanor as submission, Mirva laughed louder, carrying herself not as a prisoner, but as a righteous executioner acting out a noble crusade.

[Mirva] "A foreign queen at best—the daughter of the enemy who murdered the King's mother. Do you think you can be a real queen? Why can't you see that the monster is exacting his revenge on you?!"

Her sharp screeches struck a chord. These were the exact words Mirva had repeatedly spouted in her past life—that Guiscard was merely seeking revenge.

Dianna fought to still her trembling heart. Quelling her turbulent emotions into a cold calm, she looked up.

[Dianna] "Right. I understand his position. If he seeks revenge, I must bear it—it is my father's sin, after all."

[Dianna] "Yet you are the foolish one, Mirva. I never raised my slave to be an ungrateful beast."

[Dianna] "You said it yourself—I was the one who saved him. I freed him. So he doesn't wish for my misery. He doesn't want me to get hurt. He would go to any length to grant whatever I desire."

Echoing Guiscard's own words, she flashed a deliberate, radiant smile.

[Dianna] "You think I'm lying? That I'm deluding myself?"

She resolved to break free from Mirva's lingering nightmare once and for all. To do that, she had to invert every curse thrown at her.

[Dianna] "The proof is right here."

[Mirva] "W-what?"

[Dianna] "Look at yourself, Mirva. You are locked in this cell. You are rotting here because you dared try to harm me—the wife of the very man you mocked as a slave."

She fixed her with an unwavering gaze, causing Mirva's eyes to waver in sudden panic.

[Dianna] "I decide my own happiness. Your curses mean nothing to me now. Whatever Guiscard does to me, I don't care. I will make an effort. And if it fails..."

[Dianna] "I'll simply die."

Having ended my life once before, a second time won't be difficult.

Resolving this gave strength to her eyes. She could do this; she could live differently. With eyes cleared of doubt, she whispered to her former maid.

[Dianna] "And... I will have my revenge as well, Mirva. His Majesty told me to invite the Panborough nobility—all for my sake, to soothe my troubled heart."

Sgw smiled like a woman deeply cherished.

[Dianna] "Think about it. This is the Kingdom of Lodbrog, and Panborough is effectively destroyed. His Majesty even gave me permission to invite my family—including Emil."

Mirva gasped out a sob.

[Dianna] "You said Emil is waiting for me, right? I think I'll wait for him this time."

Why hadn't I realized this sooner? Why did I try to run?

At first, she had no such intentions and only wanted to escape. Yet listening to Mirva ignited a stubborn fire within her.

[Dianna] "Since you are so consumed by revenge yourself, surely you understand how I feel."

Mirva paled.

[Mirva] "M-My Lady!"

[Dianna] "What a pity that you must die without seeing Emil again. Farewell, Mirva. Let us never meet in our next lives."

She offered a bittersweet smile as Mirva's face twisted into utter despair.

[Mirva] "Spare me! Please, let me see Emil just once!"

[Mirva] "I beg you, don't do anything to Emil! It was all my fault!"

[Mirva] "My Lady! My Lady! Don't abandon me! I was wrong!"

Her pleas were frantic, but Dianna didn't look back even once.

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