TSMMT Ch 187

A Dragon's Whisper

The funeral concluded with her body laid to rest. Only after forcing every person present to kiss her cold hand did Guiscard finally dismiss them.

His immediate priority was preserving her body. No matter how thoroughly he chilled her with ice, her skin began to darken.

No. She must not decay. Dianna must stay as she is. Death will not change a single thing.

He desperately sought a way to preserve her remains. Ultimately, he summoned Adelheit Blake, founder of the Mage Tower, and issued an order.

Though visibly displeased, Adelheit complied with a heavy sigh.

[Adelheit] "Must you go to such lengths?"

Adelheit looked upon the man driven mad by grief, sighing softly as he gazed down at Dianna's body.

[Adelheit] "I never wished to see her again in such a state..."

Closing his eyes tightly, Adelheit released an azure light from his palm. The dark discoloration drained from her flesh, restoring her to flawless perfection. She looked peacefully asleep.

He turned to the King.

[Adelheit] "It is a permanent preservation spell. Her body will remain soft, as though she just passed away. A trace of warmth will linger."

[Guiscard] "..."

[Adelheit] "Whatever words I might offer, I have no right to speak them. I hope it brings a measure of comfort to your heart."

Adelheit departed the chamber.

Guiscard offered a gentle smile as he gazed at Dianna, lifting her hand to press it against his cheek.

[Guiscard] "Ann."

Ah, it feels warm.

He uttered the intimate nickname he had lacked the courage to speak while she lived, whispering softly.

[Guiscard] "I am sorry."

His apology fell upon deaf ears. Gazing at her lifeless form, he recognized that she had been his entire existence.

Love? Such a trivial word could never capture it. It was not merely love; she was his very life. Dianna was his everything, and through his own foolishness, he had lost it all.

[Guiscard] "I am sorry."

He whispered. Only after losing her did the truth finally dawn upon him.

[Guiscard] "I shall slaughter everyone who reduced you to this state."

Tears welled in the corners of his eyes. The ruthless King wept like a child before her body.

[Guiscard] "Don't worry. I shall die as well. I could never live a peaceful life."

Neither apologies nor regrets could alter reality, yet atonement remained possible.

Yes, you need only watch me succumb to this madness.

Guiscard offered a faint smile. In an instant, his pupils slitted vertically like a dragon's before snapping back to normal.

His next act was the total annihilation of House Levian. He had permitted them to live far too long.

He couldn't stain Dianna's funeral with agonizing shrieks, not when she feared blood so deeply. Thus, the moment the mourning period ended, he exacted his retribution.

The assembled nobles watched Guiscard in tense silence, among whom stood the family of Duke Levian.

Guiscard sneered, looking down with utter disgust at the bound, trembling Saruvia Levian.

[D. Levian] "S-Spare us! She acted entirely out of adoration for Your Majesty..."

[Guiscard] "Adoration?"

He tilted his head.

[Guiscard] "Is that why you claimed to have bedded me and carried my child, to a woman who had just lost her own?"

[Saruvia] "Ah, aah!"

[Guiscard] "They say she lost her child after drinking the tea you provided, do they not? I failed to realize that nearly everyone in the palace answered to you, allowing you to fabricate everything."

Excluding Mable, most of the palace servants had been planted by House Levian, a natural consequence of her acting as interim Queen. They had concocted and spread malicious rumors regarding the Queen while fabricating favorable reports for Levian.

Saruvia Levian was vile to her core. She couldn't be forgiven. A retribution of blood was a must.

[Saruvia] "I-I never said such..."

[Guiscard] "You babbled falsehoods with remarkable ease."

[Saruvia] "..."

[Guiscard] "When you and I have never once shared a bed. Is that not so?"

[Saruvia] "Ah, aaaah!"

Levian clutched her abdomen.

In his mind's eye, Guiscard saw Dianna suffering, hands pressed to her stomach, pleading her innocence and reaching out for help for the very first time. In an instant, her face overlapped with Levian's.

As if trying to escape that suffocating guilt, Guiscard stroked the hilt of his sword and stepped forward with measured strides. Levian stared up at him.

[Guiscard] "Why did you do it?"

[Saruvia] "..."

[Guiscard] "Why did you torment a harmless woman so relentlessly?"

[Saruvia] "..."

[Guiscard] "Why? Others might not have known, but surely you did. You knew I desired my wife's safety and peace. You knew that I..."

That I loved her.

Divining the unspoken words behind his pause, Levian let out a mocking laugh.

[Saruvia] "You desired her peace? You tormented her yourself."

[Guiscard] "..."

[Saruvia] "Who marries the woman he loves in such a manner? Clamping shackles upon her, treating her so viciously?"

[Guiscard] "..."

[Saruvia] "Your Majesty threw her to us to be tormented."

She laid bare the harsh reality.

[D. Levian] "Child, stop! Please!"

Duke Levian pleaded frantically, but she shook her head.

[Saruvia] "Is it not hilarious? After doing all that, you lay the blame entirely on me."

Guiscard stared down at Levian. Not a shred of remorse touched her features.

With a twisted grin, as if sensing her end was near, she plunged verbal daggers into his heart.

[Guiscard] "Yes... you are right. I threw her to you."

He muttered softly. Raising his blade, he plunged it straight into Levian's abdomen.

Agonizing screams echoed through the hall.

Guiscard didn't stop at a simple thrust. He slowly dragged the embedded blade upward, slicing her open in a long vertical tear.

She writhed in excruciating agony as her internal organs spilled onto the floor.

Duke Levian turned deathly pale at the sight of his daughter. Blood and viscera dragged across the velvet carpet.

The surrounding nobles covered their mouths and lowered their heads in horror.

[Guiscard] "Look at her properly!"

Guiscard bellowed. He watched the woman crawling on the floor like a maggot, a creature who had deceived everyone with her beautiful face and gentle words.

A slashed abdomen didn't bring instant death. Levian writhed frantically in agony.

The Duke and Duchess of Levian shrieked in grief, their horrific cries echoing through the audience chamber in a discordant chorus.

The more she writhed, the more gruesome her state became: a horrific end for the ducal lady famed as the most beautiful in Lodbrog.

Retching sounds filled the room.

[Guiscard] "It seems there was no child."

At his casual remark, the Duke tried to rush forward, but knights seized his shoulders.

[Guiscard] "Ah, they say you were the one who procured the poison fed to Ann, correct?"

He thrust his sword directly into the Duke's mouth. The blade, stained with his daughter's blood, pierced through his skull, killing him instantly.

He then approached the Duchess of Levian, who backed away screaming. The Duchess was far from innocent. She had conspired with her daughter to set traps and aid her schemes. Giving birth to such a creature was a sin in itself.

[Ds. Levian] "S-Spare..."

He had no need to listen and severed her head in a single swing.

Thus, the entire family perished.

Guiscard offered a manic grin at the river of blood.

Ah, look, Ann. I slaughtered them.

I killed them all.

He stabbed again and again at Levian's neck as she lay limp until her corpse was reduced to shredded flesh.

The King has gone mad.

Such rumors circulated through the capital. Yet it mattered not. In truth, he had ascended the throne solely because he wanted Dianna Brienne as his Queen, to maximize the efficiency of his vengeance and claim her for himself. For those ends, the crown had been necessary.

He gazed down at Dianna's closed eyes, finding her sleeping face endearing.

[Guiscard] "Ann."

He chuckled.

[Guiscard] "I verified it myself. That woman was never pregnant."

Dianna was dressed in fresh, immaculate garments. He spoke to her as though she were still alive.

[Guiscard] "Claiming to carry my child was a lie, and being pregnant at all was a lie. I wonder if I ended her life far too mercifully."

Had Dianna been alive, he would never have engaged in such intimate conversation.

Like a devoted lover, Guiscard whispered the details of his day to his sleeping bride. Sunlight filtered into the room, illuminating Dianna in a radiant glow.

This moment was peaceful. He stroked her hair, savoring its soft texture.

[Guiscard] "Do you know something, Ann?"

He looked down at her pale platinum locks.

[Guiscard] "When I was a slave, I always loved the fragrance of your hair."

With an exceptionally gentle expression, he spoke as though offering an apology.

[Guiscard] "I once claimed it disgusted me, did I not? That was a lie. It was suffocatingly wonderful. I am sorry."

Suddenly, a lock of hair snapped off in his hand. The gentle warmth vanished from his face, contorting into pure horror. The illusion shattered, plunging him back into the brutal reality that he himself had driven his beloved to her death.

[Guiscard] "Ah, aaaah!"

He shrieked in agony as he stared at the severed hair in his palm.

[Guiscard] "I am sorry! I am sorry!"

Clutching his chest, he begged for forgiveness.

[Voice] "Do you wish to revive her?"

Guiscard listened intently to the voice.

What is that sound?

He remained motionless for a long time.

As the mysterious conversation ended, a commotion erupted outside the palace.

[Bill] "Your Majesty! You must evacuate!"

Bill and Inez rushed into the chamber, shouting. Bill narrowed his eyes when he realized the King's strange condition. Guiscard knelt on the floor, clutching his head and muttering under his breath. He had undoubtedly remained in that posture for a long time.

[Bill] "Your Majesty!"

As he called out once more, Guiscard snapped his head toward them. His gaze was so terrifyingly lucid that Bill involuntarily stepped back before regaining his composure.

[Bill] "It is a rebellion! Duke Kragel and Duke Islag have joined forces—ghk!"

His blade severed Bill's head in a single stroke.

Before a stunned Inez could react, his blade cut through him as well, sending another head tumbling to the floor.

Guiscard burst into a manic, unhinged laugh.

[Guiscard] "Hahahahahahaha!"