Chapter 49: Revolution Era - Black Rose (3)
By the time I emerged from the mansion, night had fully descended.
My subordinates seemed slightly taken aback by my disheveled appearance and
the strong scent of blood, but none dared to speak.
“We’re heading back.”
“Yes, my lord!”
As we rode back and entered the central square of Lumière, we encountered a
group led by a man with a familiar face.
Maximilian Zidor.
This man, who had devoted everything to the republic and democracy, stiffened
at the sight of me under the moonlight.
Was he on his way to punish those who once followed him, after hearing about
the attack on Christine belatedly?
“...Duke Lafayette.”
“Representative Zidor.”
After a moment of significant silence,
Zidor slowly bowed his head to me.
“...I regret to hear about the unfortunate incident that happened to Countess
Aquitaine.”
“Regret?”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
As I dismounted from my horse, Zidor’s followers tried to block his path, but
he raised his hand to stop them.
I strode forward and grabbed him by the collar.
Despite his clothes becoming stained with blood, Zidor’s expression, behind
his glasses, remained unchanged.
“Regret, regret. Always regret...”
I couldn’t stop the sardonic laughter.
“Would it be truly regrettable if I were to cut off the Representative’s head
right now?”
After a brief silence, Zidor spoke.
“Those who harm the peace of Lumière and commit acts unbecoming of this
nation’s citizens should rightly be judged by the laws of the republic. If
necessary, I too will stand trial.”
Zidor’s eyes did not waver.
“However, if the Duke were to take my life without a lawful trial, the
republic will judge the Duke in turn.”
“Ha...”
What makes you so bold?
Why do you stand so proud?
“Maximilian, Zidor.”
-I, Maximilian Zidor, representing the citizens of the republic, hereby accuse
Duke Pierre de Lafayette of the following crimes and request his execution.
He who denies my life and calls for my death.
“Your followers, those who built hypocrisy with you, have disregarded the laws
of the republic and harmed my people.”
-Oh, so it’s innocent to attack one’s own citizens during a civil war? Tell
me, Duke, did the people of your domain directly support the Second Prince and
take up arms for him?
I recall his words, haunting my nightmares, clear as day.
“Tell me, Representative. Did Countess Aquitaine, did Christine violate the
laws of the republic?”
You claim justice, yet you’ve denied everything about me.
“Us, who compromised even our domains to negotiate with you, I, who betrayed
old alliances to protect your republic, my soldiers who stood on the
battlefield for this country! Did we ever raise a rebellion against the
republic?”
At the very least, you guys shouldn’t have done this.
“Speak.”
Even if not just, you shouldn’t have trampled on the justice you preached.
“Speak up if you have something to say!”
To those who trusted me and staked their future on you, you do this!
“...Duke Lafayette, I understand your anger-”
“Understand? Have you ever tried to understand me and my people?”
What have we sacrificed?
We gave up our privileges.
We supported the crumbling republic with funds and food.
We shed blood in the battle for them, even abandoning old alliances.
“Just because we are nobles, just because our thoughts differ from yours, you
dare to label us enemies and scheme to drive us out?”
So, have you ever sacrificed anything to stand with us?
“The sacrifice of a few is a sorrowful and painful matter, but sometimes
necessary for the greater good, wasn’t it?”
You believe only in yourselves, branding those who don’t submit as traitors.
“Through that, democracy will take root in this country, and true reform will
be possible.”
How significant, how valuable must it be?
“It is you, who are convinced only your beliefs are right and exclude those
who obstruct them as necessary sacrifices, who are more arrogant than any
noble.”
You guys, who preach these beliefs, commit unforgivable acts with ease.
“Self-righteous hypocrites who believe they are absolutely correct because
they are not corrupt. Can’t you see what those who followed you, those who
believed they were the only enlightened ones, have done, refusing to admit
they could be wrong?”
And yet, you have the audacity to spout hypocrisy with that brazen face?
“This country lacks the justice you sang of, the great cause you held as your
belief.
It is you who have degraded the republic, built through countless sacrifices,
to this state.”
Zidor opened his mouth as if to say something, but his lips moved several
times without producing sound, eventually closing again.
After a long silence, Zidor finally spoke again, his voice heavily suppressed.
“Even so.”
The exhaustion was evident on the face of the man who seemed unshakeable.
“If we give up on correcting it and destroy the order, only eternal chaos will
remain.”
I let out a scoff at Zidor’s words and turned my head.
In the corner of the central square stands the guillotine that ended my
previous life.
An instrument of justice erected by the republic, a symbol of the order they
established.
The revolution was inevitable in the old regime too corrupt to salvage.
But if the order that took its place requires the sacrifice of all who deviate
from their defined justice to be maintained.
Should such a bloodstained order be preserved?
“If an order can only be maintained like this, it’s better to let it
collapse.”
Turning my back, I drew my sword and aimed it at Zidor.
We, I, have sacrificed much to stand with the republic.
To prove that we truly intend to be with them.
“So prove it. Show whether this republic truly holds values worth protecting.”
So now, it’s your turn to prove it.
“If you cannot, if the justice you’ve sung about, the freedom, equality, and
philanthropy you promised to the people, are all just pretense.”
I spoke through gritted teeth, suppressing the boiling rage that felt like it
would consume me from the inside.
“I will be at the forefront of dismantling your order.”
***
The next day, rumors about the attack on Christine spread throughout Lumière.
There was also rampant talk about the gruesome murder of 10 representatives
and their followers at the Saint-Just club.
For the first time, the National Assembly convened without the attendance of
Maximilian Zidor, an unprecedented event, and no one mentioned the incident.
Instead, the entire Assembly seemed paralyzed with fear, and the
representatives were more cooperative with us than ever before.
Feeling a mix of emptiness and bitterness amidst this chilling reality, two
days passed before Christine awoke.
“...Christine.”
“Pierre.”
Though she looked gaunt, Christine’s eyes were open and looking directly at
me.
It was then I felt as if I could finally breathe again.
I had so much I wanted to say to her upon awakening, yet none of it took the
shape of words.
After a silence, Christine was the first to speak.
“...I heard you saved me. Thank you.”
“No, it’s ultimately my fault that you were put in danger-”
“No.”
Christine firmly denied it.
“I brought this danger upon myself. Even knowing their schemes, I waited to
deal with them all at once politically when you returned, instead of taking
them down first.”
Christine, still seemingly weak, took a moment to catch her breath before
adding,
“So, this is my fault. It’s not your responsibility.”
Her demeanor seemed aimed at alleviating my guilt.
...It also appeared as though she was trying to put distance between us.
I approached Christine, who was seated slowly on the bed, and knelt on one
knee before her, lowering my posture.
Gazing directly into her deep, dark eyes, I reached out to lift her long,
black hair and kissed it.
“...Pierre.”
Perhaps, if we were to restore our relationship, even if just for formality’s
sake.
Would she then allow herself to lean on me a bit?
“Shall we get engaged again?”
Her usually calm dark eyes were trembling.
“...You jest cruelly.”
The look in her eyes, as if she might cry, and her inability to maintain her
usual composed expression, were both signs of her exhaustion.
In exploiting her vulnerability, rather than showing consideration, I too must
be too weary.
“...You have been thinking of passing Aquitaine on to Louis.”
Christine looked taken aback but didn’t deny it.
“I will wait until Louis comes of age and you pass Aquitaine to him.”
We know each other too well to pretend otherwise.
“So, once you’ve returned the rights to Louis as you wish, I’m asking you to
be with me.”
“What nonsense are you speaking?”
Christine’s expression seemed genuinely angry, yet also steeped in sorrow.
Her dark eyes, initially wavering at my words, slowly but steadily settled.
“Do you intend to disgrace the Lafayette name? Or are you mocking me? Either
way, I-”
“To me, you are more valuable than the prestige of Lafayette, more than the
influence of the Aquitaine trade guild.”
Christine fell silent.
After a lengthy pause, she reached out and gently touched the black rose
brooch pinned to my chest.
An artifact she had given me, meant to protect me.
Her voice quivered slightly as she asked in a low tone,
“Do you know the meaning behind the black rose?”
When I didn’t respond, she continued,
“It signifies farewell.”
With those words, Christine’s eyes turned completely cold and dull.
I was the one who made her like this.
To involve Christine in my plans, I had incited her to seek revenge against
her family who betrayed her.
Knowing she was shivering in a terrible sense of emptiness, I kept my distance
under the pretext of respecting her wishes.
Instead of comforting her, I pursued a vain ideal, deceiving even myself,
promising to hand her a better future after fighting for Francia.
Slowly, I removed the brooch pinned to my chest.
Christine looked at me with indifferent eyes.
“Christine.”
“Speak, Duke Lafayette.”
“So, do you despise me?”
The mask Christine had been wearing shattered.
“If you truly despise me, please reject me and tell me never to approach you
again.”
Christine raised her hand to cover her eyes.
“How can I, that is...”
“If it’s not that, then please don’t reject me.”
Before my return, we had barely exchanged a few words.
I had left her to die, betrayed by her own family, without even knowing who
she really was.
Christine bit her lip and asked as if sighing,
“Why, why go to such lengths? How much more selfish do you intend for me to
be?”
Saving her was the beginning of everything I had done to change the future.
Everything I’ve changed so far was made possible with Christine’s help. She
was always my top priority in every effort toward a better future.
And yet, ironically.
Leaving the most precious person to me barely clinging to life, where could I
possibly find a better future?
“...There was another meaning to the black rose.”
Whether she genuinely didn’t know or hoped I would understand, I couldn’t
tell.
Did she think I wouldn’t be curious about the meaning behind a gift from
someone I care about?
Seeing Christine’s usually calm demeanor completely undone, her face
contorted, I spoke as kindly as possible, yet with a tone that etched my
words.
“You are forever mine.”
Tears finally streamed down Christine’s face.
“I already belong to you.”
Slowly, I extended my hands and pinned the black rose brooch I had removed
from my chest onto hers, and asked,
“Will you also be mine, my lady?”
With tears streaming, she nodded, and as she collapsed, I embraced her.
The sobs of the person who had danced with a smile in her eyes, as though
about to cry, after killing the family that betrayed her, resonated in my
heart.
To her, whom I couldn’t save before my return, who could now finally shed
tears, I apologized.
“...I’m sorry for making you wait so long.”
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