Ravia tried to kill him.

He couldn’t help but turn back in the face of such a clear scheme.

He rushed home with a strong determination to confirm just that one thing.

The pain of being stabbed by his beloved was nothing compared to his will to find out what Ravia was scheming.

As he still couldn’t let go of Ravia yet.

Thinking that she could get away from him by killing him was a big mistake on Ravia’s part.

For the last twenty years, not even death was able to stop him, but why did it only get in his way now after so long?

So he canceled his plan to go to the imperial palace.

As it stood, he thought it was impossible to appoint Ravia to be the head of the family.

Tidwell wanted to let Ravia fly freely as long as she was still under his awareness, but it was a different story now that things had turned out like this.

He might have to listen to his greed when the situation called for it.

‘….Let’s make a decision after making sure of it.’

He wanted to hear everything Ravia had to say when he got home. He had to hear that first.

But what if the situation doesn’t get better?

‘If that happens….’

Just as Tidwell sweetened his dry lips, the carriage stopped.

He stopped in front of a residence which was so large that he wouldn’t be able to contain its landscape even with both of his arms outstretched.

Tidwell threw his sapphire cuff at the driver and went straight inside.

A maid who was running an errand with a gas lamp in her hand was shocked by Tidwell’s appearance.

“Young master? B-Blood…!”

“Screw that. Where’s my sister?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Did you not hear me asking about my sister?”

Listening to the stern words that sounded like he was ready to kill anyone at the slightest provocation, the maid’s complexion turned white.

Is this still the same young master who always spoke so pleasantly?

She recalled talking with the other maids about how envious they were of the noble ladies who would marry such a kind young master.

The maid stuttered to get words out.

“M-My lady should be in her room…I think….”

It sounded like she wasn’t sure of where Ravia was either.

He asked because he couldn’t possibly search the whole mansion in the middle of the night, but it had been pointless to ask her.

Tidwell left the terrified maid behind and climbed up the stairs.
With a mind as unstable as his steps, he limped through his path while clutching his pained chest.

Objectively, he wasn’t in a good state either.

He wasn’t seriously injured, but had it been someone other than Tidwell, that person wouldn’t be able to move by now.

He fought Vincent even at his injured state, so his wounds began to take a toll as time passed.

He recalled he tried to stop the bleeding on his way back to the Leontine residence.

His broken ribs, the shock from the collision, and the constant bleeding made it hard for him to remain conscious.

He had already given up on the thought of visiting the Imperial Palace, but even if he went to the Imperial Palace, he’d be taken to the royal doctor’s office the moment he left the carriage in this horrible state.

There was only one thing that kept Tidwell going right now.

His childhood memories flashed by as he gasped for air.

The memory of that night when he ran away alone from the burning mansion.

The boy ran frantically. Because he felt if he ever stopped, the poison that numbed his tongue would end up numbing his entire body. He felt like the fire that swallowed his mansion would catch up to him soon.

He couldn’t stop even if his legs buckled, and he was out of breath.

But a child who swallowed poison would soon exhaust his stamina. The boy finally collapsed.

It was in front of a tombstone.

A graveyard in the forest behind the village.

A white flower was placed on a stone engraved with someone’s name. The boy crawled over it as if it’d become his coffin if he lay down there.

As he smelled the faint scent of magnolia through his blurring consciousness, the boy could feel his death nearer.

Just as you can’t escape your own shadow no matter where you go under the scorching sun, the boy’s frantic run couldn’t free him from death.

But the darkness continued to support the boy even as death was closing in on him.

Just like the moment when he didn’t stop running even if he couldn’t breathe.

Even as his consciousness faded, he made a vow.

I’m not going to die in vain like this.

I’m going to survive no matter what.

Whether the boy’s plea had reached heaven, he actually survived.

‘So I won’t die this time, too.’ Tidwell thought, as he shut the third room door.

His goal was always clear even through his clouded consciousness.

The maid said that Ravia must be in her room, but it was already the third room without her in it.

She wasn’t in her room, Tidwell’s room, or even her study.

He thought about the garden and the annex, but Ravia wouldn’t move that far without the maids knowing. She must be in the mansion.

‘I’m dizzy.’

Tidwell’s brows narrowed after a brief period of slow walking.

There were plenty of places he had in mind. Tea room, powder room, drawing room, lounge, dining room, and balcony.

But he had a hunch that Ravia wouldn’t be in those places. Tidwell took a slow step and headed to the stairwell. But he went up instead of down.

The fourth floor, the attic, was the lord’s area.

Ravia and Tidwell were not allowed to enter that area.

By that logic, this place should be crossed out just like the garden and annex.

But he didn’t stop walking.

The gut feelings that helped Tidwell through the earlier life-and-death situation were now guiding him to the fourth floor.

The only loud whispers repeated amid his waning senses.

I’m sure she’ll be at the end of this path.

Every step climbing the stairs felt like he was falling– until he could see the door.

It was the first thing he saw when he reached the fourth floor. The lord’s office.

Tidwell noticed that the door was slightly open just like a bookcase just before it was closed.

The moonlight streaming through the darkness where no one else had ever set foot was like a perfectly cut slice of cake.

Stepping on the light, Tidwell opened the door and walked into a room that felt foreign to him.

But there was a woman leaning against the window as if she was familiar with the surroundings.

“Hi.”

A woman, her back to the moon, smiled.

A cold smile in the shape of a crescent moon.

A thinly-veiled mockery without malice.

“You look fine.”

It was a smile that Tidwell didn’t know.

She was someone that Tidwell didn’t know.

She was someone who could kill Tidwell.

While Tidwell was stunned, she began to talk.

“I expected that you’d talk a lot after looking for me so hard in that state, but you’re surprisingly quiet.”

“….”

“Then let me do the talking. The carriage fell, right? You wouldn’t be here had it crashed against the wall, after all. You must have rolled on the square floor or under the bridge.”

Ravia’s voice was deep. She spoke like she was reciting a sonnet.

“You have two choices to survive. Either you go to the Imperial Palace as you were supposed to, or you come to me, the obvious culprit.”

Was Ravia really trying to seek revenge in the same way that Tidwell killed her father by tampering with the bell?

The answer was ‘no.’

There was a reason why she hid behind an amateur servant and ordered him to kill Tidwell. There was a reason why she used a similar method to the one Tidwell used to kill her father.

The only thing that was unexpected to Ravia was the fact that Vincent threw his life away despite her advice.

She already painted it all on her canvas.

Ravia used the same method he used against Duke Leontine for her revenge and guessed the outcome.

By deliberately using a very conspicuous method to draw attention in the square and using a poorly planned revenge to prevent him from dying on the spot.

Why did she do that? Because she wanted the surviving Tidwell to crawl to her.

“I’m sorry if you thought I wouldn’t do anything just because I was cooped up in my room.” Ravia whispered.

Any trace of laughter had already disappeared from her face.

“If you need confirmation, I will give you one. I was the one who tried to kill you.”

I don’t need you.

Even in this fleeting life.

Ravia knew exactly what had kept Tidwell alive.

His selfishness.

One who lives by trampling on others. He was a man who couldn’t possess precious things without destroying them.

But he must know.

That selfish desire was a recipe for disaster.

When you plucked a beautiful flower, what remained wasn’t a beautiful flower, but a dead flower.

So Ravia asked.

“Tidwell, were you happy to survive the accident?”

Was he happy? Was he grateful? Or was he angry? Ravia wondered.

Because she had never been happy to be alive since the day her father died.

It wasn’t just about her father’s death. That was just a minor reason for her.

Because she experienced how someone’s selfishness broke her that day.

A deep-seated anger stemmed from her helplessness to defy fate despite being fully aware that the Summer had foretold her demise.

The selfishness of the man she loved was killing her.

Her entire plan and her life had collapsed due to that person’s selfishness.

Just because of him.

The problem was he was so persistent on keeping Ravia by his side.

She could picture herself just breathing and existing like this in his hand till she withered.

People are bound to adapt, after all.

There will come a day when this intense hatred and misery would grow dull.

And eventually, she would be subdued to the point where there was nothing left of her.

She lived just to satisfy someone’s selfishness.

What a sad way for Ravia Leontine’s life to end—having made sacrifices to please others.

That’s ridiculous! So ridiculous! What a terrible joke!

When she envisioned that, every moment of her life became terrifying.

Her self-worth would be so little that any kind of emotions would be rendered pointless.

So he must feel the same.

He must feel the pain of being alive.

He must know how it feels to be a living corpse who finds no meaning in life.

So she made a commitment.

Let’s tear that heart of yours in the most desperate moment. In the most brutal way.

The things your selfishness destroyed are my memento.

Ravia opened the window. The cold wind blew in and scattered her hair.

Tidwell had frozen, but slowly his eyes widened, and he hastily rushed toward her.

However, what could someone who is limping and dying possibly do in an instant?

Ravia smiled with her back to the open window.

“I hope you regret all the joy you have felt, Tidwell.”

As I did, so do you.

I regret loving you with every bone in my body.

As someone screamed, the woman crashed just like that.

Bang.

That grand fall ended with a dull noise.

It was an early winter night.