He always gave clear and definite answers, so much so that one couldn't even muster the will to resist.
Like when he dropped me into the abyss.
Indifferently and nobly.
But why now...
"You're right, Lucia."
"......"
"Clearly, you were nothing to me. But why am I..."
Around this point, I regretted asking him the question.
The more he spoke, the more I bled.
'I don't think he should talk anymore.'
His complexion seemed to be getting paler, too.
It was unlike the Duke, who had always shown a steely demeanor.
"Stop, stop talking."
I didn't want to hear anything more.
It wasn't just because I was worried about his worsening injuries.
'I shouldn't hear any more.'
If I heard any more of his words, the image of the Duke that was firmly frozen within me might change.
'I don't want it to change.'
I want the Duke to remain as I know him.
Only then will my feelings for him remain intact.
Even with a very slim chance, I don't want my feelings for him to change.
I was afraid that his words, which he might let slip without much meaning, would shake me again.
'I'm scared.'
Even though I know it won't happen, I'm so scared that I might go back to my old self, begging for his affection and only looking at his back.
So please, stay the same.
Stay cold, heartless, and terribly cruel.
I looked at him with such earnestness.
"......"
The Duke silently stared at me like this.
After a moment, he quietly murmured.
"Okay, I won't say any more."
That's a relief.
The moment I thought that to myself.
"Instead, let me ask you just one thing. You don't have to answer right away."
"Yes?"
What is he suddenly asking?
I looked up in confusion, but his expression, like a sheet of iron, remained unchanged.
Just the same as always.
"What kind of existence are you to me?"
He asked a strange question.
What kind of existence am I to you?
'Why are you asking me that?'
You know that better than anyone.
I was bewildered by the strange question, but I parted my lips to answer anyway.
"Illegiti-"
"I said you don't have to answer right away."
"......"
The Duke cut off my answer.
"You better think carefully before you answer, Lucia Rodbel."
"......"
It was a question that didn't need much thought.
To him, I was just a 'dirty bastard.'
Or a sacrifice prepared for the glory of Rodbel to shine brilliantly in the future.
Nothing more, nothing less.
But the Duke forcibly shut my mouth with a forceful gaze.
As if avoiding an already determined answer.
More than anything, the question itself is strange.
What kind of existence am I to the Duke, and even if it is, what does it matter?
'What's the point?'
The Duke in front of me was incomprehensible in many ways.
I was doubtful whether this man was really the Duke I knew.
'Could he have been switched?'
I was seriously doubting when.
Rumble-
I heard the sound of something collapsing.
"Keuk."
At the same time, the Duke's body tensed even more.
I could tell instinctively.
The ceiling had collapsed again. And the Duke was bearing all the weight.
A terrible sense of helplessness washed over me.
I could only watch his struggling figure with trembling eyes from within his arms, unable to do anything.
At that moment, our eyes met.
Even in this situation, his purple eyes were straight and beautiful.
His lips slowly parted.
"Lucia."
I suddenly wondered.
Since when?
Since when did he start calling my name so casually?
"Are you scared?"
Asking about my feelings.
"I won't die, so you can rest assured."
Since when did he start saying such unsuitable things?
'You won't die?'
I answered his words inwardly.
'Of course.'
It was so obvious that even speaking it out loud would be boring.
'I won't die. No matter what it takes.'
Even if it means breaking something.
But...
'It's strange for you to say that.'
I looked up at him with such meaning.
We were close enough that our faces were reflected in each other's eyes, but neither of us could see into each other's hearts.
'It's strange for you, of all people, to say that.'
Is that right?
You, who raised me from the beginning with the intention of using me as a sacrifice.
I couldn't convey it in words, so I just made eye contact.
With resentment and doubt.
Then what did he look at me with?
In that moment when a strange silence settled.
Rumble...
A vibration of a different level than before echoed.
This is, really dangerous.
My instincts screamed. At this rate, I could really die.
I reflexively looked around.
If there was something to support the collapsed debris instead of the Duke, we could both escape this place.
As I looked around like that, something suddenly caught my eye.
'That's...'
As the stone walls shifted, a gap just big enough for a child to pass through opened up.
If it's that size, I...
"Get out, Lucia."
"......!"
I was startled and looked at him.
The Duke's gaze went to the gap I was looking at, then returned to me.
Blood and sweat mixed together and pooled in the corner of his eye.
He says.
"Go out through that gap. You should be able to get out like you did when you came in—"
"Wait, just a minute!"
I hurriedly cut him off.
It would have been unthinkable in normal times, but that wasn't important now.
What was important was.
"Are you telling me to run away alone right now?"
"Yes. You understood well."
He was saying something that didn't make sense!
'...No, actually, it's not that it doesn't make sense.'
As he said, if I escape through that gap, I can safely escape the building.
But...
"...What about you, Duke?"
"......"
"What happens to you if I get out alone?"
He quietly stared at me in response to my question.
But.
'...Huh?'
For a moment, I doubted my eyes.
That's because.
"You're worrying unnecessarily."
Saying that, he seemed to smile.
'He smiled?'
I closed and opened my eyes tightly at the sight that was hard to believe even after seeing it.
I wondered if I had seen it wrong.
When I opened my eyes again like that.
"I won't say it twice. Lucia Rodbel, move quickly."
He had returned to the usual self I knew.
'That's right.'
I must have been seeing things.
Even so, to see such an illusion.
'I must be having a hard time right now.'
Well, it couldn't be helped. I threw myself and ran around, and I even injured my leg.
In fact, my vision blurred from time to time.
As if I would lose my mind if I let my guard down.
"Lucia Rodbel."
His voice became even more stern.
"Can't you hear me? I told you to get out."
I suddenly wondered.
'Is he really okay?'
Can this man, made of ice, overcome even this crisis?
Is that why he's so unwavering?
I don't know. In fact, that wasn't very important right now.
That's because.
"No way."
I shook my head.
I said with a hollow smile.
"My ankle hurts too much to move."
I re-examined the condition of my ankle.
'It's more swollen.'
I didn't think it could swell any further, but my ankle had swollen even more in the meantime and was thicker than my fist.
I can't move in this state.
"You're talking nonsense."
He quietly rebuked.
"If you can't walk, crawl out. That's an order, Lucia Rodbel."
Was that even something to say...
It wasn't an order that would be given to an ordinary child.
And an ordinary child couldn't have listened to such an order either.
"......Yes."
I accepted his order.
I squirmed and barely got out of his arms and crawled towards the gap.
As if running away from reality.
As if running away from something.
I was tired and exhausted, and I didn't want to think about anything anymore.
I just wanted to aim for simple survival.
As I crawled towards the gap like that, I suddenly wondered.
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