STGAAB Novel MTL - Chapter 765
Chapter 765: Secret Garden (6)
While I was reading the diary, Hyeonbyeol, sitting beside me, asked.
“How is it? Interesting, right?”
“Well……?”
To be honest, it’s a bit hard to say it’s interesting. I’ve never been a fan of the romance genre, and I’m not particularly interested in other people’s love lives. Still, it’s somewhat intriguing. After all, the protagonist of this story is none other than the Marquess himself. The reason why he eventually committed the insane act of rebelling against the king is all contained in this single book……
‘I still don’t quite get it yet……’
Just reading the beginning, it’s difficult to grasp the full reason. So, I continued reading the diary. I skimmed through the parts that could be skipped, summarizing the key points……
[She asked me if something was wrong, seeing how I looked as if I had seen a ghost. I answered that my pregnant wife was waiting for me at home.]
The reunion after six years ended just like that. The girl remained silent for a long time before saying, ‘Then you should leave early,’ and the Marquess replied, ‘Yes……’ and left.
And……
[Every day, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. What did that silence mean? Could it be that she felt the same way—.]
I skipped over how much the Marquess suffered and agonized over his feelings since it wasn’t interesting or important.
Time passed, and the Marquess’ son was born. The joy of raising his son was genuine, but……
[On the other hand, the Marquess couldn’t help but wonder. What if he had had a child with her? Would that child have been as beautiful and lovable as this one, or perhaps even more so?]
To erase such sinful thoughts, the Marquess devoted himself even more to his family and began handling the family’s affairs in place of his ailing father. As he busied himself with work and family, the memories of his first love seemed to fade.
But……
[She appeared again. This time, after another six years.]
It was the day the Marquess visited the palace to officially inherit his title. Nostalgia led him to the garden, where he once again encountered her.
[When I met her again, my first thought was, ‘It’s as if we met the very next day.’ This wasn’t a description of how much I missed her, but truly. Her appearance was identical to how it had been six years ago.]
Her appearance showed no signs of aging. The Marquess found it slightly strange but didn’t think deeply about it.
[She congratulated me on the birth of my child and the inheritance of my title, and I accepted her congratulations with joy. Time had buried the emotions, and only now could I finally ask her.]
What is your name, and why do you live hidden in the royal palace like this?
[After hesitating for a long time, she finally spoke. But instead of answering my question, she made a request. She asked me if I could help her get out of the palace.]
After much consideration, the Marquess agreed to her request. He thought that whatever her story was, he could handle it now that he was the Marquess. He also calculated that after fulfilling her request, he might learn about her story.
And……
[After successfully bringing her out, I used magic to change her hair and eye color. Then I took her to a secret safe house I had prepared long ago, around the time of Eltora’s birth, without anyone knowing.]
It wasn’t hard to realize that the place where I was now must be that secret safe house. But that wasn’t the important part of this story.
[After spending a lot of time at the secret safe house, I finally learned her name.]
As I continued reading the story somewhat disinterestedly, my eyes lit up. There were still many pages left in the book, but the moment I had been most curious about was finally here.
[Meirin Huinveina Rafdonia.]
…What?
[That was her name.]
Seriously……?
***
In the past, I had seen a portrait of a woman presumed to be Ragna’s mother in the Marquess’ secret chamber.
[Meirin Huinveina ————— ———.]
The part corresponding to the last name was so deeply scratched out that it was unreadable. But now, I finally knew her full name.
[Rafdonia.]
It was the last name reserved only for those who carried the blood of the king in this kingdom. As soon as I read it, a chill ran down my spine. Meirin Huinveina Rafdonia was likely Ragna’s mother. And that meant.
‘Ragna… is a descendant of the royal family……?’
Even though she was an illegitimate child, born out of wedlock by a princess who never married, the fact that she carried the ‘king’s blood’ didn’t change.
‘But then why did the Marquess rebel against the king?’
Of course, it was clear that the unnamed princess was the root of it, but since I didn’t know the full details, I returned to reading the diary. All the answers I was curious about would be in here.
[While staying at the secret safe house, I listened to her story over and over again. The stories were far more shocking than I had imagined. Who would have thought such a secret was hidden within the royal family……]
“Wait… does that secret come out later?”
“No?”
Ha, so that bastard Marquess deliberately glossed over it in the diary……
“Okay. I’ll keep reading for now.”
[The more I heard about her shocking secret, the more I felt pity for her, who had grown up as a sacrificial lamb. And that pity only grew stronger with time.]
[As a man with a wife and child, I tried to deny my feelings, but when she shed tears one day, I could no longer deny that my feelings were more than just sympathy.]
[Coincidentally, those feelings weren’t mine alone, and today, as I finally confirmed them, I felt a deep sense of fulfillment that I would never experience again in my life.]
However, the sweet time the Marquess and Meirin spent in the secret safe house didn’t last long.
[Considering the immense power the royal family held, it was remarkable that we managed to last even a month. Eventually, they found us, and I finally met ‘him’ in the audience chamber.]
[He was a man completely different from what I had expected. At first, it seemed like he was trying to intimidate me, but then he jokingly smiled and made a proposal. He mentioned that among his staff, there had to be someone who knew the secret anyway.]
[He seemed to take a liking to me and offered me the position of Prime Minister and I had no choice but to accept. Though it was the promotion of my dreams, I couldn’t purely celebrate knowing the royal family’s secret.]
The story after the Marquess’ private meeting with the king could be briefly summarized. The Marquess returned to the secret safe house and continued to enjoy sweet times, and their love eventually bore fruit. She became pregnant. The Marquess felt a joy greater than he had ever felt, even when Eltora was conceived.
But……
‘If it were a happy ending, there wouldn’t be so many pages left.’
But the ‘incident’ that happened next was something I could never have predicted, even with all the media I had consumed.
[The happiness that seemed eternal wasn’t shattered by the king’s whims, a rival’s scheme, or a subordinate’s betrayal. It was something akin to divine judgment.]
[One day, as we lay in bed, tenderly whispering love while caressing her rounded belly, Meirin suddenly screamed.]
[Who am I, who are you, where is this place… Meirin started speaking incoherently, like a madwoman. And among the words she uttered was something she should never have said.]
.
.
.
[Dungeon and Stone.]
.
.
.
[Meirin’s body was possessed by an evil spirit.]
***
I felt shocked, as if lightning had struck my head, leaving my mind blank. As time passed and I regained my senses, a sudden question arose.
‘Can’t evil spirits only possess someone in the moment they reach adulthood……?’
I wasn’t sure of Meirin’s exact age at the time, but she must have already been passed reaching adulthood. Six years had passed since the description of her as a fully-grown woman. So how could something like this have happened? Although the Marquess, the diary’s narrator, didn’t directly address the issue, I could infer a bit from the diary’s early passages.
[Her appearance was identical to how it had been six years ago.]
The expression that it felt as though they had met the very next day instead of after six years. Perhaps, for some reason, Meirin’s biological age had indeed been frozen. Considering that the royal family possessed strange life-preserving devices, it wasn’t entirely out of the question that such a thing existed.
‘…Now I understand why Hyeonbyeol called this a tragic story.’
After an evil spirit possessed Meirin, the Marquess’s life turned into a living hell. He sought the king’s counsel, but even the king shook his head, saying there was no solution and that the Marquess could do whatever he wanted, whether he kill her or let her live. It felt like the sky was falling. However, even in hell, time marched on, and Meirin’s belly grew.
And……
[It—whether it was a he or she—committed suicide after giving birth.]
The evil spirit died after giving birth to Ragna. However, the Marquess told the royal family that the evil spirit had died ‘while giving birth’ to Ragna and then secretly took Ragna away. He wished for this child to grow up peacefully.
But……
“In that situation, even Eltora became an evil spirit……”
As time passed, his only son also became an evil spirit, leaving Ragna as the Marquess’ only remaining child.
“From the Marquess’s perspective, he probably wanted to tear every evil spirit to pieces.”
I couldn’t even begin to imagine what he must have felt. But from my point of view, the Marquess made a foolish decision. He planned to pass everything he had achieved down to Ragna……
[October 21st.]
The diary’s entries had reached recent dates, arriving at a point just a month before the Marquess joined the rebellion.
[The king woke up before all preparations were complete.]
[I must protect that child.]
Those were the last sentences of the diary. As I closed the book, I let out a long sigh.
“So, would do you think? Interesting, right?”
“Not really……?”
After reading the entire diary, my overall impression was that it was ‘boring.’ And isn’t that understandable?
“I was expecting something interesting to come up, but ending like this feels kind of anticlimactic.”
“Well, of course, the Marquess is still alive.”
“I checked it out myself just in case, but I should have just asked you to summarize it in three lines.”
“Come on, how could anyone summarize this in just three lines?”
“…Huh? Isn’t it simple?”
1. The Marquess fell in love with the Princess.
2. The Princess becomes an evil spirit, gives birth, and then dies.
3. As time passed, his only son, Eltora, also became an evil spirit and then the Marquess commits treason to protect his only remaining child.
This is how the story can be summed up, and if the person you’re telling it to is ‘Ragna,’ it’s even simpler.
“I love you, my daughter.”
This one sentence pretty much sums it all up, does it?
‘Certainly… it does feel like a letter meant for Ragna.’
It wasn’t just the fact that the ‘Royal Family’s Secret’ was vaguely glossed over; throughout the diary, there were clearly many parts that were hidden.
‘Well, if such serious contents were included, there’s no way he would have told Hyeonbyeol it was okay to read it.’
After finishing the diary, my head felt even more cluttered with unresolved questions.
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
“I’m curious about what the Marquess was thinking.”
“Why are you curious? Isn’t it obvious his goal was to succeed in the rebellion and protect his daughter?”
“Sure, but that’s Plan A. For him to go as far as writing this letter suggests he didn’t think his chances of success were high.”
“I suppose… that’s true?”
“Given the Marquess’s personality, he surely had a Plan B to save Ragna, but I can’t figure out what it might be. Just hiding her away in this secret villa and putting her to sleep? Doesn’t that feel too complacent?”
Hyeonbyeol thought deeply about my words before responding.
“Maybe… you’re Plan B, oppa?”
“…What?”
“I mean think about it, right? You almost married her before……”
Hyeonbyeol trailed off and then smiled softly.
“In reality, he probably knows better than anyone that you’re the kind of person who would even point a sword at the royal family if it meant protecting someone precious to you.”
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