TSMMT Ch 133

Redefining Dynamics

Revius wore a baffled expression. Dianna's reprimand seemed meaningless to him.

Coming here, she had been forced to endure all manner of humiliation as a noble from a defeated nation.

This marriage was never something she had wanted; they had been forced into wedlock. In a marriage forged through Guiscard's tyranny, she held absolutely no say.

Yet, this time was different. Dianna had returned of her own free will.

Her dynamic with Revius had shifted from before. He no longer despised her as he once had; though sly, he welcomed her in his own way and offered assistance. He had even knelt before her.

He was the cold man who had driven her to the brink in her past life. In truth, she understood why he was angry and what concerns he harbored. Yet, understanding him offered no reason to tolerate his behavior any longer.

A crooked, hostile smirk played on his lips.

[Revius] "Are you daring to suggest I am overstepping with Her Majesty the Queen?"

She shook her head.

[Dianna] "If I considered myself Queen, I wouldn't call you Revius, and I would have corrected your persistent habit of addressing me as 'my lady' first."

She didn't smile. In this moment, gentle words and an elegant smile would achieve nothing.

[Dianna] "You have always demanded that I convince you, treating me as though I were your subordinate."

[Revius] "...Me? I did no such thing."

[Dianna] "You are doing the exact same thing right now. Acting as if I must explain and justify this relationship to you."

Conversations with Revius were always like this. Yet, she wanted to make one thing clear: she didn't need his approval. She refused to live a life where even remaining by Guiscard's side required his permission.

[Dianna] "As Queen, a subject's recognition is naturally important."

She let out a dry chuckle.

[Dianna] "It is fine for the people here to observe and judge me, but you know as well as I do. Under the guise of being his friend, if someone meets your approval, you kneel to place them at his side. If not, you exclude and push them away more ruthlessly than anyone."

She recalled Revius from her past life. How he had hurled venomous words even when she lost her child. In some sense, his words had been true; Dianna had helplessly wallowed in self-pity. Yet, even so, there was absolutely no reason for her to take such lectures from him.

[Dianna] "You despise the weakness, arrogance, and complacency of the nobility. Yet, you are no different. Simply because you stand on higher ground, you judge my every action and demand that I persuade you."

[Revius] "How could I possibly stand above you?! You are the Queen, standing beside him. He supports you, and you..."

[Dianna] "Because I never wanted it, and Guiscard was unable to support me. Do you not realize that as a Queen in name only, my standing is far beneath yours, the Prime Minister?"

She spoke coldly.

[Dianna] "At least you chose your own path. I was dragged here against my will. Married against my will, in a kingdom I never wished to be in."

Perhaps those were words she had longed to say to the Revius of her past life. Yet, she wanted to say them to the man standing before her now.

Dianna Brienne had never been strong. And Revius, crossing his arms and casually passing judgment from the sidelines, was unequivocally a perpetrator, just like Guiscard.

[Dianna] "You knew why I left. From the moment Guiscard brought me here by force, a proper relationship between us was impossible."

[Dianna] "If you couldn't change his choices, you should have at least kept your mouth shut. How can you be so shameless when you are just as much a perpetrator?"

He stared at her with a stunned expression. Dianna, who had always humored his sly banter, now looked at him with an unfamiliar coldness.

[Dianna] "I will stay by his side for now. I will remain beside the man who suffered this plight in my stead."

[Dianna] "However, should circumstances demand it, I will leave this place at any time."

Yet, she could leave whenever she chose. Dianna was no longer a slave, nor the target of Guiscard's revenge. Their relationship would be decided by the two of them alone, free from anyone else's interference, guided solely by their own hearts.

A long silence passed. Revius didn't leave the room, while Dianna looked down at Guiscard with deep concern.

[Revius] "I apologize for my insolence."

---

His face burned as he walked away. Dianna's scathing reprimand felt like a sharp blow to the head. Gazing at her, Revius realized he had overstepped his bounds.

He had to admit it: He harbored resentment toward her. First, he loathed that she was the daughter of the family that had ruined his friend. Second, he despised that she was a noble of a conquered nation. By taking her, Guiscard had effectively forfeited the backing of prestigious families.

Revius recognized that distortion as well. Though Guiscard had never explicitly spoken of it, he picked up on it intuitively.

Why else would he have imprisoned her brother in the dungeon? He had repeated it countless times while drinking and laughing bitterly.

[Guiscard] "It's my fault. It's all my fault."

Dianna Brienne owed Guiscard no debt in the first place. She had lived differently from her father, taking pity on him and setting him free.

Revius had witnessed firsthand why their relationship fractured. Yet, he had pushed Dianna again—when in truth, even kneeling before her was hardly enough.

[Dianna] "At least you chose your own path. I was dragged here against my will."

He had considered himself a defender of the weak, yet reflecting on his behavior filled him with overwhelming shame.

Naturally, as Prime Minister, he had every right to evaluate whether Guiscard's wife was suitable as Queen. Yet, he had constantly acted irritated, implicitly demanding that she justify why she deserved to be Queen. Dianna's scathing reprimand finally laid bare his hypocrisy.

Guiscard had married Dianna by force, blinded by his own obsessive love. Revius was his friend, the man who shaped the place Dianna had to adapt to. Simply holding a high title didn't mean Dianna Brienne possessed actual power or standing above him.

He had always despised those who looked down on the weak, not out of righteousness, but because such contempt served no practical purpose beyond asserting status.

Seeing such foolishness, he had believed he would never behave that way if placed in power.

He had knelt before Dianna, offered assistance in his own way, and sincerely wished for her to become a true queen. That much was genuine. Yet, it had been laced with condescension and deceit. Through it all, he had constantly acted as her superior, completely blind to his own arrogance while looking down on her.

I was despicable...

He was at least capable of self-reflection. Embarrassment washed over him, acute and agonizing. Yet, alongside the shame, a strange thrill surged within him. Seeing her coolly point out his flaws sent a shiver racing down his spine.

The person who called me out like this... You are the first.

Revius looked back toward the chamber housing the King and Queen.

He was, above all, a strategist. While he possessed no right to dictate their relationship, he could devote himself whole-heartedly to serving and supporting them with absolute loyalty.

---

A week passed, yet Guiscard didn't awaken. He seemed trapped in a protracted slumber. Dianna received grim news.

According to Bill, after obtaining an immortal body, Guiscard had usually experienced 'death' through stabbings or poisoning.

Typically, his wounds regenerated within hours. Even visceral poisons that melted internal organs tormented him for a single day at most.

Catastrophic injuries where his entire body burned and his head was charred black were exceptionally rare.

How long would it take for his head and brain to regenerate? How much time was required for destroyed tissue to recover and function properly?

Guiscard would awaken. Yet, it might take not days, but seasons. This meant the throne remained vacant.

A king incapacitated by a dragon's strike. How precarious a situation.

Dianna needed to awaken him. Resolving herself, she rose to her feet and headed to Neust's capital branch.

---

Greeting her in a welcoming voice, Adel smiled, and Dianna offered a faint smile in response.

[Adel] "Dian!"

[Dianna] "As I mentioned, I came to see the dragon."

Then she had no choice but to ask the dragon directly.

Dianna followed Adel into the facility. This mages' research lab was strange. Constructed of stark white walls devoid of decoration, with floors and walls kept obsessively pristine.

Fearing her shoes might leave footprints behind, she followed close behind him.

[Adel] "It is right in here."

She nodded and stepped inside, squeezing her eyes shut before forcing them open at the harrowing sight before her.

[Dianna] "You promised you wouldn't torture him."

[Adel] "You can't expect this place to function like a lord's drawing room."

She felt a growing sense of dissonance between the 'Adel' she knew and Grand Duke Adelheit. Looking upon a living entity, his expression was completely detached.

The dragon was suspended with both arms chained to opposite walls. Its head drooped low, its spread posture exposing its torso and severe wounds all the more clearly.

The gash ran precisely from its shoulder down to its abdomen. A gruesome wound that would have spilled an ordinary human's vitals onto the floor.

Yet, beyond the horrific gash, something else caught her eye.

[Dianna] "This is..."

A slave restraint?

With a rigid expression, she looked at Adelheit.

Fitted around the dragon-boy's neck was a restraint collar. The very device that had tormented both Dianna and Guiscard.

---

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