Chapter 46 – ​46

For ​him, ​who ​wouldn’t ​be ​strange ​to die tomorrow, ​love ​must ​have ​been ​a luxury. It wasn’t ​as ​if he were ​unaware of the ​relationship ​between ​Clope ​and ​Gail.

In ​such a situation, ​Clope ​had ​come to marry ​him through the Emperor’s ​machinations. Melione ​had not ​actively refused ​this. Thus, ​he ​might ​have harbored a ​certain sense ​of guilt.

Abandoned by life ​from birth due to ​a cruel fate, Melione ​likely learned ​despair ​before love. What else could he ​have done after giving ​up ​on ​everything? ​He ​probably lacked even ​the will ​to ​resist.

He might have ​loathed ​himself for it. The reason ​he followed ​the ​Emperor’s orders was ​simply ​that ​he ​’didn’t ​care.’ Since ​that ​complacency had ​driven someone else toward death, his mind ​could not have ​been at peace.

‘A ​broken person.’

Melione Carlton Spioren ​was a ​thoroughly broken man. ​Since ​Clope had walked ​into a death ​disguised as ​an ​arranged marriage, ​she ​likely had ​nothing ​to do ​but ​grieve.

Even ​if she had ​known ​Melione was ​a ​broken ​person, ​she wouldn’t have had the mental capacity to fix him. It was a tragedy predestined from the moment they met.

Much like Apollo and Daphne, who were struck by the arrows of fate.

“And the story was great, too.”

“…….”

“I know a similar story. In it, a man is struck by an arrow of fate. It was a prank by a fairy; if you are hit [stolen content]by a golden arrow, you [visit our site]fall in [visit our site]love with the first person you see.”

Euro intentionally changed Eros, the god, to a fairy in his retelling.

“But that fairy shot a lead arrow at the woman the man first saw. A lead arrow makes you hate the first person you see.”

“…….”

“The man came to love the woman, but the woman came to hate the man. In the end, they couldn’t be together. The woman hated the man so much that she turned into a tree.”

“What a preposterous story.”

Melione, who had been listening silently to Euro’s tale, spoke. At this, Euro burst into laughter.

“Right? That’s how stories usually are.”

“…….”

“The man breaks a branch from the woman-turned-tree to decorate his most cherished instrument, and he makes a crown from its leaves to place on the heads of those who win competitions.”

Daphne probably would have hated that fact even in death. Come to think of it, it’s a bit grotesque. If you hate someone, you hate them; I know it couldn’t be helped because she was hit by an arrow, but still.

“A bit creepy, isn’t it?”

Euro laughed and gazed out the window. As [unauthorized copy]always, he felt the most pity Read on Read BL Novelsfor Daphne, who ended up dying.

Apollo survived until the end because he was a god, but Daphne, a mere nymph compared to a god, ended up becoming a tree. It was the only way she could escape from Apollo.

“Still, that would have been better than being forced to accept someone you hate. Also, I think that even if the woman hadn’t been hit by the lead arrow, she might have hated a man who suddenly followed her around saying he liked her.”

“…….”

“Because love requires both sides to be present. That’s why, from the moment the man was hit by the golden arrow, that love was a tragedy.”

Thus, it was a relief that Clope and Melione did not love each other. If they had, Euro himself would be the one suffering the most in this moment.

ꕥ ꕥ ꕥ

Having spent quite a long time outside, Melione returned to the bedroom first, appearing tired. Euro was tired as well, but he wasn’t particularly sleepy, and since the lingering emotions of the opera remained, he headed to his office instead of the bedroom.

Fortunately, he didn’t feel motion sickness on the way back. He wasn’t sure if it was because he had focused on the conversation, or if he had been so tense from the anticipation of seeing the opera.

The office, lit by candles, was extremely quiet, and a fairly cool breeze blew in through the open window late at night. Feeling a pleasant chill, Euro sat on the sofa and picked up a book Dent had brought.

Through an auction, he had won several books with unknown titles and authors. Naturally, he didn’t even know their genres or contents.

Simply flipping through the books that had come into his possession because they were somewhat rare, Euro picked up a novel that looked quite interesting.

It was about a highly capable archmage who regressed ten times to take revenge on her ex-husband [stolen content]who betrayed her, only to meet a younger man visit our siteof great ability unauthorized copywho had loved her for a long time and start anew.

By all accounts, the names and introduction were fitting for a romance novel, but as he read, the world-building grew larger, and Euro found himself completely absorbed in the book.

“This ex-husband bastard is a total piece of trash. Huh?”

Euro repeated the cycle of getting angry and laughing while holding the book alone. He had intended to read it lightly before going to bed, but he felt he had to see the ex-husband die to feel satisfied.

Unfortunately, the book Euro was reading was Volume 1, and Volume 2 was not among the books Dent had won. Just as he was getting into it, the lack of a continuing story caused a sudden surge of irritation.

“If you’re going to bring these, you should bring them all. Why is there only Volume 1?”

Could it be that the subsequent volumes don’t exist, and it became a rare book because only Volume 1 remained? Euro leaned back on the sofa and sighed.

He had little interest in the other books, and his eyes were starting to close; it was truly time for bed.

Although the rooms were separated by a door, he felt it would be better to sleep in the second-floor bedroom rather than going in and rustling around in the middle of the night. He didn’t want to wake Melione for no reason.

Setting the book down, Euro slowly rose from the sofa and moved while holding a candlestick. However, as he crossed the center of the office, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, feeling a tight constriction in his chest.

The hand holding the candlestick trembled violently. Fearing it would drop and start a fire, Euro sank to the floor and set the candlestick down.

Then, lying prone on the floor, he gasped for air. Not only did his chest hurt as if it were being squeezed, but a piercing pain surged through his lungs with every breath, making him gasp like a goldfish out of water.

The candlelight flickered as if it would go out at any moment, following his unauthorized copyshallow breaths. Unable to breathe properly, Read on Read BL Novelshis vision flickered and spun as if he had drunk heavily.

Why is this happening all of a sudden? Euro clutched his chest with one hand, breaking into a cold sweat. Had he gotten too angry while reading the book? No, could he really be in this much pain just because of that? Euro couldn’t understand.

Eventually, a groan escaped through his parted teeth, and Euro let out a violent fit of coughing, as if he were vomiting.

Instinctively, Euro raised both hands to cover his mouth. It was because his coughing sounded too loud in the silent mansion.

After coughing for a long while, Euro suddenly felt a metallic taste in his mouth and a strange scent hitting the tip of his nose; he slowly moved his hands and looked down.

The sight revealed beneath the unextinguished candlelight was quite shocking. The rug on the floor was stained with blood in several places. And the same was true for his trembling hands.

“B-blood…….”

His throat felt hot and stinging. It wasn’t simply the taste of blood from coughing harshly. He had actually experienced hematemesis.

In this unbelievable situation, Euro’s thoughts ground to a halt. Looking at the blood soaking his palms, he felt dizzy, as if he might faint at any moment.

Yesterday and today, he had felt strangely unwell. But it was abnormal to go as far as coughing up blood.

‘Is it because of the curse? This fast?’

No matter how quickly the Duchesses had died, there was no precedent for dying within a year. Euro’s eyes darted around as he decided he first needed to handle the situation.

However, the moment he roughly wiped his mouth with unauthorized copyunauthorized copyhis sleeve and staggered to his feet, the office door suddenly opened. At this late hour, there was only one person who could visit the office without knocking.

With a creak and a somewhat chilling sound, Melione entered, holding a candlestick in one hand. He stared at Euro, who stood startled in the middle of the office, and froze.

“I, I…… that is.”

Not knowing what to do with his blood-soaked hands, Euro waved them around before unconsciously rubbing them against his shirt to wipe them clean.

But unfortunately, the shirt Euro was wearing was white silk, so the more he wiped, the more disastrous it looked.

Unable to even meet Melione’s eyes, Euro struggled to fix his shirt before suddenly snapping his head up and speaking.

“A nosebleed.”

“…….”

“I had a nosebleed.”

Offering a nonsensical excuse, Euro forced a smile and hid his blood-stained hands behind his back. His voice trembled pathetically.

“I should have gone to bed early, but the book was so interesting that I kept reading…… I must have been tired. Honestly, I’m not a child.”

Watching Euro with a stiff expression, Melione strode into the office. At the sight of Melione approaching and staring at him without a hint of hesitation, Euro stepped back with a flustered face.

However, before he could get far, Euro stopped abruptly. His legs had hit the desk.