Grand Duke of the Heibern House

＜Episode 34＞

“Grand Duke. No, Bocchan.”

A title that the butler Aguile calls herself.

His kind voice that I heard only when I was taking care of my nanny.

Ruin stopped walking towards the dungeon.

“Long time no see. Your eyes.”

Ruin smiled at the thought of Aguiler of the past, but he only hurriedly restrained his hand holding the set of keys.

“… … Put on your armor. Sinner Soene is an extremely dangerous person. I might incite the sinners to do harm to you.”

However, Ruin’s expression was still calm.

“This is a woman who has gone to prison herself. You may not have given up yet.”

My father did not punish Soene and his uncle Nizen according to the rules.

It was because their fall was ultimately your responsibility.

Even so, they voluntarily entered the dungeon.

That could indicate that the knights under his command had not yet been abandoned.

Aguiler’s concerns are not unreasonable.

“no. Aguiler.”

“yes?”

Unless he was enjoying a risky situation, the Archduke had to take his own advice.

However, Aguilera couldn’t understand Ruin’s faint smile.

‘Soene… … .’

Ruin remembered the gloomy look in Soene’s eyes that he had seen at the grand banquet of his clan.

She succumbed to the authority of the mighty lion of the kingdom’s rider.

It also drove her into a corner even more.

The children of the Heibern family, who have carefully nurtured them like flowers for a long time.

The fact that they were out of her control completely robbed her of hope.

Nizen alone can do nothing. She would know better than anyone else.

In the end, Ruin had no choice but to understand and acknowledge Soene’s feelings.

It’s not that she didn’t give up the knights for later days.

She is in charge until the end.

I want to share the pain with you.

The dream that had vanished without hope, their despair that they could never dream of becoming a knight again, was to be seen until the very end. If you turn away, you can enjoy the comfort of being a blood relative of the Bern family.

At least the last of her was like ‘Bern’.

‘She’s a really great woman.’

Only then did Ruin understand why his father did not show them the last mercy.

Those who decided to die together.

I will not be able to grant loyalty to those who have been united with such tenacious determination.

“Don’t wait and go back, Aguiler.”

clap.

Bubbly.

Ruin opened the heavy iron door and disappeared into the black basement stairs.

Aguilera looked at it devastated, then let out a long sigh.

“Princess… … .”

* * *

In fact, the basement beneath the Bernese castle was not a prison from the beginning.

The first head of household, ‘Sahol Lemadel Vicerisma Bern’.

According to legend, he rested here with his ministerial dragon, Bisherisma.

For this reason, the descendants of the Bern family thoroughly investigated the basement of the castle in order to recover the legacy of the founder Sahol.

But nothing was successful in excavation.

All that remains is a huge and complex maze created for exploration.

It was not until many years later that they began to build small rooms and imprison the criminals in such a useless labyrinth.

‘It’s really amazing.’

Ruin was stunned by the unimaginable scale.

The labyrinth, entangled like a spider’s web in all directions, is truly far away.

I felt the heart of the ancestors who longed for the legacy of the founder.

It was also possible to grasp at once how much the capacity of the brilliant Grand Duchy was.

Excavations of this scale would not be dreamed of by any other country.

‘Is this the end?’

The line of torches that lit up the maze no longer extended.

There were still many entangled mazes stretching in all directions, but only the entrance to the maze was used as a prison.

At the edge of such a prison, the guards and soldiers who confirmed the Archduke’s attire saluted him all at once.

“insect! Meet the Archduke!”

“insect! Salute to the Bernese!”

The entire dark prison was bustling with people.

It was because the voice of the jailer who broke the silence caught the ears of the sinners.

Archduke Luin.

The culprit who completely ruined their plans.

“I will meet Soene, a sinner.”

Luin’s cold voice.

The jailer did not hesitate to answer. It was because he had not received any orders from his superiors.

However, the one in front of him was the grand duke of the infinitely lofty Heibern family.

“… … Is this an order from the Archduke?”

Ruin looked at the jailer as if he was pathetic.

“Bern’s Gayul never decided on imprisonment or prison term for her. So my request is private. Do not be afraid to guide her.”

When I heard it, I was right.

The criminal Soene was a person who had never been sentenced by the family, that is, a person who was not responsible for the jailer.

The guard with a relieved expression led Ruin straight away and arrived in front of an iron gate.

“This is it. Archduke.”

Clap, thump.

The iron door hit the prison wall, revealing a dark interior.

Soene.

A face that repeatedly disappears and reappears with the flickering torch.

It was only in front of her that she didn’t feel alive like a person who had lost her emotions, and Ruin finally realized that his prediction was not wrong.

In this way, she became a soul who could no longer dream of ambition and was meekly enduring despair.

Her eyes, which had lost their light, stared at Ruin.

“Should I be bold? Should I say reckless?”

In the dungeon here, there were those who were sentenced to death by the death penalty, but there were also numerous knights who had not lost their fighting spirit yet.

To think that the static of such dangerous people came alone.

Louin laughed.

“Well, you don’t look like a cornered rat.”

“You seem to be enjoying the humiliation. I thought he was a great guy, but in the end he’s just a kid.”

With her narrowed eyebrows and clearer eyes, Soene was also smiling at her.

“okay. Because the winner deserves it. You don’t have to resist the desire to trample on it.”

Soene took off her white top like a shroud.

Eventually, as her hand approached the precarious underwear, Ruin’s expression twisted into a stern expression.

“What are we going to do?”

“Shouldn’t you have brought a knife if you wanted to hear my screams? If you want to enjoy it, you should have prepared properly.”

She was smiling, but like her father, her emotions were empty.

Like his father, his aunt had become a heart that could no longer wear out.

How great was this woman’s aspiration that made her curse herself so much?

“… … What were you trying to do?”

“what?”

As the doubt spread in Soene’s eyes, Ruin’s cold voice came out again.

“If everything went according to plan, then what? What did you want to do with Dane as a puppet?”

The past life, the last choice Soene made right before she died.

It took quite a while for Ruin to understand her actions.

I knew it now.

How this woman lived with an impoverished soul after accomplishing everything.

The longing you’ve been dreaming of all along, the emptiness that comes only after you’ve finally achieved your goal.

Her mouth justified her actions with relentless hatred, but the emotion that tightened the end was longing.

Soene missed her deceased brother, their Lion King, who was bigger than anyone else, until she died.

“I am… … .”

A soul that has lived only with a longing for what it cannot have.

When Soene’s longings were all satisfied, her life became worthless.

She couldn’t manage the family properly. I just endured and lived.

The dream she had vaguely imagined came true, but she hadn’t really thought about it after that.

“That is your limit. He yearned for the lion’s power to death, but he did not think about what value he would dream of using that power. So you are a terrible disaster to this family.”

Soene hardened from the shock.

“Your dream was just a longing for something you never had. I ran for just that with the great talent that I have embraced countless knights.”

Soene could not open her mouth to refute.

As he said, his dream was only the lion’s authority, the pinnacle of the Heibern family. He really never thought about it after that.

That realization was so shocking that I felt like I was all naked in front of Ruin’s cold eyes.

“How would you feel if the numerous knights who followed you knew who you were? Are you truly a worthy Bern as a lord who carries their beliefs?”

Bern (Baron).

In the end, Soene collapsed in front of that heavy name.

I sobbed because I couldn’t handle the miserable feeling of being denied all of my past days.

Why did I find out only now?

That the life she had passed was nothing but childishness toward her brother and family.

Soene’s tear-stained eyes slowly turned toward the guard’s waist.

The jailer’s sharp sword.

Human beings who realized that their ideals were worthless urged their own death as usual.

Louin laughed.

“You are really tired to the end. To think of an ending like that.”

Soene’s helpless face looked up at Ruin.

“What your family wants from you is not boring things like atonement or penitence.”

“… … .”

Soene with a blank expression, as if not understanding.

“Bern’s belief is to advance until the moment one’s life ends. I don’t care if the process is ugly or the result is shabby. The chivalry of a knight is not originally a concept of perfection.”

“… … article?”

food.

“Isn’t the reason why you couldn’t give up the castle of Bern to the point of giving up marriage because you had a little desire to become a knight in your heart?”

No, it wasn’t like that.

His own ambition was too great to give up his position as a blood relative of the Bern family.

I’m sure the Archduke wouldn’t be unaware of the years of ambition he had passed, but why are you suddenly pouring out such words?

“If you really want to atone for your sins, find your value from now on.”

If a mere miserable suicide was the end of her life, her father would not be able to bear it.

Ruin couldn’t let his father’s love, which he had barely swallowed his hatred for, turn so worthless.

‘The Archduke… … .’

Soene blankly stared at Ruin’s blushing face.

She was able to immediately realize the true nature of the emotions he was struggling to swallow.

“Really, the Archduke is me… … This Soene… … .”

“Don’t bullsh*t. I never forgave you.”

Ruin, who had turned around before he knew it, shook his shoulders.

“It’s just that this situation, where even immoral people have to fix it, is just f*cked up.”

‘brother… … ?’

From Ruin’s indifferent and cold voice, Soene suddenly recalled memories from long ago.

Archduke Kazen.

Looking at it now, that back figure and that voice were very similar to her older brother’s back then.

‘With these two hands… … .’

trembling hands.

He himself killed his brother’s most precious woman.

Soene’s sorrowful voice, her boiling repentance finally broke out.

“Louin. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I am… … this i… … .”

Ruin’s face contorts like a demon.

But no hate came out of his mouth.

After the regression, it was an important internal change he went through.