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“Put the bullshit away.”
I contorted my face and said to Raymond.
Knowing that I had come to kill, he was as optimistic and immature as always. I hated that stupidity to the point of disgust.
“Then how about this? To have a drink in memory of our deceased father.”
“Father?”
An absurd laugh erupted from my mouth when I heard the word “father”. He shamelessly said those words while listening to what he had left next to me…
Unlike me, who was angry, Raymond was full of emotion. A face that was wretched as if it were about to cry.
“We don’t have time to mourn properly even after our father’s death.”
“You are very sad.”
Why should I mourn his death? If I had such a duty just because of my blood, I would choose to drain all my blood and replace my blood with the water of the Styx River.
“That’s right, you always hated our father. Our father didn’t like you very much either.”
Raymond’s blue eyes were wet. He looked at me with a soft face, like a blade of grass that would drop dew when touched.
I did not want to see that weakness. I hated trying to tie the relationship that was lacking by saying that I like having the same blood as my father and Raymond.
“Why are we like this?” Raymond asked.
I wish that sentimental questions were appropriate for the sunset in the West.
I didn’t care why it happened. From the time Dorothea Milanaire was born into this world, It had to be like this.
“I wish you had trusted me a little bit. No, you would not have come this far if you had given me a little more time.”
“Trust you? Give you more time? Then you must have made a plan to defeat me in time. ”
“Dorothea.”
“What?”
Raymond’s eyes fell heavily at my harsh question.
Without affirming or denying it, he took up his glass and drank the wine. I didn’t like Raymond’s behavior, which seemed to be ignoring me even when he was about to die.
“I’m here to kill you, Raymond.”
“Dorothea. I hope you do not regret your choice.”
“Regret? Only you have to do that.”
I thought the word regret was a word that would never come to me. My choice was to avoid the worst and survive.
I had no other option. So no regrets. But Raymond looked at me with sad eyes. as if to guarantee my regret. I was furious at Raymond’s pitying eyes.
“Do you know what’s annoying at this moment? If I kill you, I will be criticized for rebellion, but if you kill me, you will be praised for doing something worthy to preserve the throne.”
I already knew what people would call me. Even if I win this battle and become the emperor, my modifier has already been decided.
The emperor who rebelled killed her brother and usurped the throne. Blinded by power, a greedy tyrant drove up an army to her father’s funeral and killed even her brother.
Such was the fact that I, who had not seen the spirits and had not been recognized by the Emperor, had the throne.
But what if Raymond followed the Emperor’s will, removed me, and ‘kept’ the throne?
He will be a legitimate and strong emperor who has eliminated forces that threaten him. He will slay the traitor and carry on the great legacy of the Milanaires.
“Isn’t that surprising? From birth, you are good and I am evil.”
“….”
“What, that expression that you didn’t know at all?”
The corners of my lips twisted up in disgust.
“You’ve always been like that, Raymond.”
You were loved for having everything with ease, and I always had to be turned away from behind. It became a sin if you have many things, and a virtue if you have more than me.
tangible or intangible, nothing could make me surpass Raymond.
I self-helped, remembering the countless discriminations that are hard to understand.
“That’s what you thought, Dorothea.”
Raymond muttered like someone repeating a foreign language.
Ha, you really didn’t know anything.  No, are you pretending not to know?
But thanks to that, I was able to completely conquer my heart. I raised my sword.
Raymond stared at the red glow of my blade at the end of the setting sun, and calmly closed his lips. Raymond also accepted that there was no other way. He pulled out the sword he had around his waist. Raymond’s sword was better than the sword I was wearing. As always.
But I didn’t care.
I have come this far after breaking many differences and discriminations bigger than that sword, so I will win. I faced Raymond, who was always in front of me. In the meantime, Raymond’s eyes had changed to the eyes of a warrior holding the sword.
Suddenly, the sun completely disappeared over the horizon and became dark. However, Raymond lit up the room surrounded by the light of the spirits surrounding him.
I rushed towards Raymond, who was shining brilliantly in the dark. The spirits of light lit a light for the two of them as if to incite a fight between them.
If only Raymond was defeated, the throne belongs entirely to me. I felt more joy than fear.
Raymond was much stronger than I had imagined, and whenever the sword collided, the light spirits retreated from a distance and then gathered again in a strong wave.
Raymond’s sharp eyes seemed to tear me apart.
I liked the look in his eyes that was closer to evil than the stupidly bright one. Eyes that could bite the nape of my neck and eat my heart right away.
Yeah, do you want to kill me too?
Tension filled the room as if walking on a thin string passing over the flames. The cushion cut by the sword was torn, goose fur flew like snow, and the pottery was broken and shattered on the floor.
“Argh!”
Raymond’s sword, surrounded by the spirit of light, brushed past my ear and cut off my long blond hair.
Raymond let me know that I had a chance.
“Give up, Dorothea.”
Raymond warned me to give up. At the end of the day, the words to give up were a strong command battle like an emperor. But I only smirked.
“If you want me to give up, you have to cut my neck, not my hair.”
I wouldn’t even start if it would have been so easy to give up. At that word, Ray’s eyes immediately collapsed.
Why do you have those eyes? why…
The only thing I could do to overcome Raymond was treason. In both strength and stamina, Raymond was superior to me, and he was also superior to me in handling the sword.
Even if he had a bad study brain, Raymond was always excellent at swordsmanship.
But I had nowhere to retreat. Either you die or I die. One of us must die to end this fight. I ran to Raymond again, and we exchanged moves again.
He bit his lips tightly, and Raymond’s sword cut deep into my waist again. As the sharp blade thrusts in, I realize that this is not a minor wound. A red line was drawn along the trajectory of the blade, and blood flowed out.
That moment.
“Dorothea… !”
Raymond’s sword swayed with his eyes.
I did not miss the gap.
hook-
My deep-seated sword turned Raymond’s chest red. the sword fell from his hand. When you fight, you should only think about winning until the end, you stupid Ray.
My blue eyes were drenched with a tense ecstasy that judged victory. There was no feeling of blood or pain in my waist.
I won finally…!
But it was Raymond who smiled first.
I froze as if my smile had been stolen from the smile that spread across his lips.
Why are you smiling…? You lose right? You dying now!
Raymond took even the victory’s smile away from me until the very end. A warm hand, which had not yet cooled, reached my cheek.
“Dorothea.”
He wiped the blood from my cheek. I stared at him with trembling eyes. He clenched his teeth as if to break his chin.
“Don’t cry, Dorothea.”
With a dying voice, the spirits of light enveloped me.
Am I crying? What are you talking about? I’m so happy I’m smiling like this! You are the one who is crying!
I wanted to shout at Raymond, but for some reason, my voice not came out.
“It would have been better…Dorothea”
Raymond’s whispers came caressing me. I was overcome with indescribable discomfort.
“Stop talking nonsense…!”
If you tried to shake me off with words sweet like candy, you’d be wrong. I don’t fall for those words.
I stroked Raymond’s hand on my cheek. Then Raymond, unable to withstand the strength, fell to the floor helplessly. His breath was so harsh that it seemed like it was going to break at any moment, and he would sometimes stop breathing as if he didn’t exist.
Among them, Raymond looked up at me standing alone. I clenched my fist at the innocent regret in Raymond’s eyes.
I already knew that it would not be an honorable thing to rebel and kill him.
But Raymond caught me even at the end of death as if dragging me down to a deeper hell.
A good smile that vividly proves that I am a villain.
Raymond who should be cursed, resentful, and blaming me as if I was a thief, but he was good until the end.
“Sorry, because I’m not good enough…”
Even the tears that fell at the end were absolutely terrifying.
I choked as my tears choked my throat. I couldn’t breathe well, so my head was dizzy and I was sweating in a cold sweat.
It felt like my legs were going to lose strength and collapse at any moment, so I held out as hard as I could.
The spirit of light hovered around me as if comforting me.