TSMMT Ch 185

The Mad King (1)

Dianna isolated herself. The people of Lodbrog despised the arrogant, pretentious Panborough nobility. The queen, a haughty survivor of that ruined kingdom, made no effort to embrace her new subjects.

Revius often grumbled about her stupidity. Though he assisted her on Guiscard's orders, Dianna squandered every opportunity given to her.

Saruvia Levian also made subtle remarks. She claimed the queen harbored affection only for Panborough, clung strictly to her own people, and vehemently shunned public life, longing for nothing beyond her lost homeland.

Ever since Dianna struck the head maid, the servants held no respect for her. And from the moment Logaple was executed, the knights had turned their backs on her completely.

Guiscard brought Dianna to public occasions repeatedly, placing her where she belonged as queen, where others ought to pay her respect. Yet Dianna arrived ill-prepared, inviting nothing but mockery. Ultimately, she voiced no complaints to Guiscard, nor did she ever ask for help.

She surrendered her body whenever Guiscard demanded it, offering nothing more than a hateful gaze or a hollow, near-dead expression.

Was this for the best? Guiscard had defied overwhelming political opposition to spare Dianna from execution and marry her. Everyone else had opposed the union. The court mocked her behind closed doors, calling her the queen wearing a dog collar. Though Guiscard imprisoned anyone caught whispering such filth, the rumors refused to die.

In time, regret gnawed at Guiscard. He should never have married her while she was in shackles. He hated Dianna and her family, yet he realized his vengeance should have targeted Emil or Gren Brienne, not the woman who became his wife.

Eventually, Guiscard stopped forcing her into the public eye. He didn't expect her to fulfill the duties of a queen anyway. She had wanted the throne, so he granted her the title. Nothing more.

Yet, seeing the rejection burning in her eyes, he felt an insuperable chasm between them. A gulf that could never be bridged.

They were mortal enemies, after all. It was only natural.

It was entirely natural.

Or so he believed, until news reached him on the battlefield that she was pregnant.

---

When news of her pregnancy arrived, Guiscard immediately rode back to the royal palace without settling a single affair at the front. He turned his horse as if propelled by instinct alone.

A child.

A child?

A child.

A child with Dianna, a child belonging to Ann and him.

He rode without a single moment of rest. It was not as though he had never contemplated an heir. He had secretly longed for one. Dianna's position was precarious, and a child would anchor her status. Once born, the child could be designated as his successor. At last, her standing in the kingdom would solidify.

Yet an unfathomable feeling stirred within him at the thought of her carrying his child.

Will the baby have blonde hair like her?

Will it be a girl with large eyes like hers?

What if it's a boy as fragile as she is?

Or will the child look like me?

He had considered his own blood cursed. Yet strangely, wonderfully, warmth bloomed in his chest at the prospect of creating a child with her. A child with soft, pale skin. If the child resembled her, it would be adorable.

Would Dianna smile then? Just as she used to. Just as she had smiled at him long ago.

The river of stars across the night sky looked breathtaking. He snapped the reins, quickening the thunderous beat of hooves. He neither slept nor ate, yet energy surged through him endlessly.

As he rode through the night, a faint smile touched his lips.

---

Present Dianna watched the impending tragedy unfold once more.

Guiscard never met that child, for Levian had caused her miscarriage and framed her for it.

She remembered her past self weeping in despair.

[Dianna] "Did I ever call your revenge unjust? I accepted it, always!"

[Guiscard] "..."

[Dianna] "So why? A child? Did you want to play house with me? Wasn't this all just to inflict pain on me?"

Ah, could such agonizing hatred truly exist?

Dianna saw herself glaring at Guiscard with that very face, the face of a woman who had lost her unborn child and abandoned all hope.

[Dianna] "Why aren't you enjoying my suffering? That's what you want! Yes, it was horrific! It was horrifying knowing your child was growing inside me!"

Guiscard understood then that Dianna had wished the child dead. In that moment, a cold truth pierced him: nothing in this world could ever sway her heart. Nothing at all.

Despair crushed him. He understood that any further effort was futile.

[Dianna] "Living with you is unbearable! This existence is torment! Just kill me! Please, kill me!"

[Guiscard] "..."

[Dianna] "Please kill me! I can't take this anymore! Please, no more!"

He knew. That was why he had kept his distance. But she had surrendered her life completely, leaving him no choice but to drag her back from the edge. So he had uttered the name of her deceased sister.

It may be a hollow shell of an existence, a life lived only because death escapes you, but you must live, Dianna Brienne. Don't die so recklessly. I survived, so you must too.

So I will not take a single step closer to you. Seeing me only feeds your desire to die.

Watching you from afar is enough. If my presence nauseates you, I will grant you a life without me in it.

Yet you will remain my wife, bound to me until death.

Until death. That is my punishment.

Only much later did he realize that he had wanted to stay by her side.

He had longed to see a smile upon her face. He missed her innocence, her warmth, and her gentleness. Even when resentment burned within him, longing swiftly eclipsed it. He missed the scent of her hair and the touch of her hand stroking his head. He longed for her, over and over again.

Yet he arrogantly assumed he had all the time in the world. Until the very moment of her death.

He had failed to understand that death was the permanent forfeiture of all second chances.

---

News of Alexa's death eventually reached Dianna's ears, serving as the final catalyst for her suicide.

His wife had intended to leap to her death with a smile, but who could have foreseen that she would obtain poison?

Confined under near-total imprisonment, she had somehow swallowed poison.

A fragile woman who lacked even the courage to die, a helpless woman, had ultimately chosen death.

[Dianna] "I shouldn't... have saved you back then."

[Guiscard] "You..."

[Dianna] "I should never have unlocked your shackles."

[Guiscard] "You!"

[Dianna] "I regret it. I bitterly regret it..."

As if he meant nothing to her. As if no hope remained. Just like that.

Guiscard demanded to know why, for death had never been an option in his mind.

Dianna.

Guiscard stared down at his pale wife. Her once-vibrant skin had turned corpse-like long ago. Her cheeks were sunken, and dark circles bruised the skin beneath her eyes, stark evidence of her lingering exhaustion.

Paradoxically, what rendered her stunning was the crimson blood she had vomited. The vivid red staining her lips evoked memories of the rouge she used to wear long ago.

She was gone. Dead. Life had been extinguished. No lingering curses or hatred remained.

Dianna Brienne had departed, finally escaping a hell where resentment and malice could no longer reach her.

[Guiscard] "I... I...!"

Dianna. Dianna Brienne.

It felt as though everything within him had been hollowed out. He had lost everything. No compass remained to guide his life, no fragment of joy.

Only grief, regret, and agony.

Guiscard drowned in that ocean of emotion, weeping relentlessly. He had never defined what Dianna was to him, for her presence at his side had been as natural as breathing.

From the moment he met her, she had never left his mind for a single second. Her existence had been an absolute given.

Because she had desired a seat on high, he abandoned his mercenary life, killed a dragon, and ascended as king.

He exacted his vengeance and claimed her, yet vengeance and Dianna could never coexist. In his arrogance and greed, he had believed he could possess both.

How had he dared to expect her to smile for him?

How could she ever have smiled?

He had never once smiled in front of her.

[Revius] "Enough, Guiscard."

Revius stepped into the chamber, grimacing at the horrific scene. Dianna's corpse lay neatly arranged on the bed.

Though three days had passed, she looked as pristine as if she had just died. Blocks of ice beneath the bedsheets preserved her frame. Guiscard remained on his knees beside the bed, clutching her cold hand.

[Revius] "Guiscard, have you lost your mind?! You can't stay like this..."

[Guiscard] "Revius."

He spoke with chilling composure, snapping Revius back to reality.

[Guiscard] "You lied to me."

[Revius] "...What?"

[Guiscard] "The one who wrote that letter... The person who saved me."

Revius flinched.

Guiscard rose to his feet, fixing him with a frigid purple gaze. Revius cleared his throat awkwardly under his stare.

[Revius] "It would have been an obstacle right before the conquest of Panborough. You couldn't afford hesitation at the tip of your blade."

[Guiscard] "..."

[Revius] "Knowing the contents of the letter was completely useless anyway. You despised that naive, foolish woman yourself!"

[Guiscard] "..."

[Revius] "Guiscard, let us be rational..."

Guiscard's blade impaled him through the chest. Revius collapsed backward.