A Change of Husband - Chapter 70

“Why did you do it?”

The anger that had barely been held back burst out when he finally faced the person responsible.

After everything had ended, Cordelia confessed that it was Count Mirk who had ordered her to do everything, hoping to lessen the punishment she would receive.

She said that Count Mirk had persuaded her with his filthy mouth.

That if she succeeded in killing Esperad, he would save her by using the child in her womb as a reason. That once Esperad was dead and he became king, no one would dare speak against sparing one poor woman.

“You knew she would fail. Then why?”

“She would have failed. A little girl swinging a dagger could never have killed you.”

“…”

“But your coronation would’ve been ruined, wouldn’t it? And someone would have been hurt. Either that foolish girl or a knight trying to protect you.”

Count Mirk chuckled as he went on.

“And if that happened, every time you made a mistake, people would whisper, ‘It’s because he’s the king who spilled blood on his holy coronation day.’ Just having you haunted by that misfortune was worth the attempt.”

“You’re not human.”

“Of course, I never expected her blind blade to take the life of your fiancée. Hahaha!”

Esperad stared at him, unable to hide his contempt.

After a long silence, he began to speak in a trembling voice, one word at a time.

“Was all your evil not enough? You tormented my mother until the day she died! And still, that wasn’t enough for you?”

“You say I tormented Rihanna until her death?”

Count Mirk scoffed and looked up at Esperad.

His eyes, reflecting the light, glistened in a grotesque way.

“Well, that’s good to hear. Her suffering ended with death, but the pain I began because of her still continues to this day.”

Count Mirk was punished by having the crimes he committed carved into his body.

He lost so much blood that he died in less than three days, but Esperad did not allow his body to be buried in the land of Astel.

His corpse was thrown into a forest near the border and became food for wild animals.

This was the only time King Esperad, who was always known as fair and righteous until his death, allowed personal feelings to affect his judgment of a criminal.

Cordelia, who was found to be carrying an illegitimate child, was banished to Velkoz without being allowed to take anything from Astel.

No maids, no knights, not even a horse—she had nothing. No one knew what happened to her after she crossed the border.

When Velkoz later objected, saying she was still of royal blood, Esperad stationed a large army at their border.

They could no longer protest. Eventually, they apologized for the trouble caused by sending someone unworthy.

And with that, the matter of the past seemed to come to a close.

Afterward, the young King Esperad began a new kind of rule.

He changed many traditions and rules, but he never ignored the concerns of the officials who feared change.

He persuaded opposing forces with reason and gave fair compensation to those who were hurt by his policies.

Esperad closely followed foreign affairs and built a diplomatic strategy that made Astel a powerful nation.

That didn’t mean he neglected internal matters.

Many worried about his bold style of leadership, but the results were always better than before.

After ruling Astel for ten years, there were no more factions against him.

Not everyone loved him, but most people did.

He was a king who was supported and loved.

After that much time passed, it seemed like everything had turned out okay.

Astel became stable and rich, and in every way, it was better than before.

Though people said Esperad was cold and rarely smiled, most believed that was better than a king who wasted the treasury chasing pleasure.

Now, the officials thought it was time to fill the empty space at his side.

Though he had lost the woman he loved on his coronation day, that too had become the past.

Everyone must overcome painful memories, and a king as strong and firm as he surely could as well.

One morning, the officials gathered and made a request.

“Your Majesty, it is time to choose a companion and secure the future of the royal family.”

“That is not possible.”

“Why not, Your Majesty? Have you not found the right woman?”

“I have not.”

“Then we can…”

They were about to say they would help with the selection, but stopped when they saw the king’s face.

Since the coronation day, when the Duchess of Medici had died without even trying on the tiara, the king had never shown a tear—until now.

He stared blankly, unaware of his tears.

“Y-Your Majesty?”

The king, who had never once shown emotion since taking the throne, now cried. The officials could say nothing more and simply watched.

Esperad, still unaware of his tears, stared into space, then suddenly noticed something strange. He wiped his face with the back of his hand.

And when he saw the moisture soaking his hand—those tangled feelings that had never fully left—he realized something.

Ah… your absence has left me with a loss that I can never fill.

I truly loved you.

I can never forget your gentle smile, the one that always stood by my side and belonged only to me.

I kept turning away.

Every day, I denied and ignored the loneliness that hollowed out my chest, the loneliness that came from losing the only person I ever loved.

But in the end, I had no choice but to face it.

That love—yes, the love that would last until the day I breathe my last.

The warmth she gave him was still vivid.

When he held her. When he kissed her. When he brushed her soft hair.

When she took his hand first. When she smiled in his arms. Even her small hands that wrapped around his waist.

Not a single moment could be forgotten.

He remembered it all clearly. And all those emotions were still alive inside him.

Time, which moves the world forward, called those moments the past—but for Esperad, they were not the past.

Esperad had no desire to make someone else unhappy just for the sake of duty.

He knew that tying himself to someone he couldn’t love would only hurt both of them, so even until he stepped down from the throne, he never chose another partner.

To him, a companion meant only that one person who had already gone.

Though he ruled Astel well, the king was always harsh on himself. It was as if he had forgotten how to smile.

But as he aged, he grew gentler.

He handed the throne to Thomas, his adopted son brought in with Asilie and decided to spend the rest of his life at the Medici Mansion, where he had lived as a young man.

On the day he left the palace, all the people came into the streets to bless his journey to the Medici Mansion.

After leaving the palace, Esperad stayed only at the Medici Mansion and never went outside.
Sometimes, officials came to ask for his wisdom, but he refused them all.
The only ones allowed to meet him privately were his old friends—Edgar, Thomas, and Albert.

“You look better and better. You seem healthier than when you were young.”
At Edgar’s words, Esperad let out a small laugh.
“I guess I can’t hide my joy.”
“Joy? What do you mean?”
“When this body’s time is over, I can finally see Asilie. That’s why I can’t hide it. The weaker my body becomes, the more my appearance changes.”

Edgar was one of the few people who knew all about Esperad’s deep and long-lasting love.
Looking at him silently, Edgar answered like a joke.
“If you said that in front of Lydia, she’d be horrified.”
“Come to think of it, it’s been a long time since I heard from my sister-in-law. Is she well?”
“She always worries about you.”
“Tell her I’m very healthy and happy.”
“If she hears that, she’ll worry even more. She might think you’ve finally lost your mind.”

Esperad laughed at that.
He used to never show even the faintest smile when he was younger, so Edgar could truly feel that Esperad had become more relaxed than before.

“Would she be satisfied, I wonder.”
“With what?”
“With how I’ve lived. With what I’ve done. I tried to be a good king, a righteous king, just like Asilie asked. But I don’t know if she’d be pleased.”
“If a king like you doesn’t deserve applause, then no king ever could.”
“You never know. Sometimes I worry. She stayed just the same, but only I became old.”

Edgar felt a little sad that to Esperad, even talks about the afterlife—something yet to come—had become the most interesting topic.

“If the gods have any mercy, they won’t make you meet her again as an old man. Don’t worry.”
“Now that I have to hope for the gods’ mercy, I feel even more worried. The gods I met had no mercy.”
“You’ve become emotional.”
“I grow older each day, but all I think and talk about is the past. That weakens a person.”

Esperad’s old age was peaceful.
Unlike the wind, he outlived Edgar, but he didn’t suffer or curse the heavens for having so much time left.
He simply lived as time passed.
As if that was what he was supposed to do, the only thing he could do.

But even for Esperad, the end came.
His body became completely weak, thinned down so much he was barely recognizable as the man he once was.
Though he didn’t expect it, many people worried about him as he lived out his final days.
Many prayed for his recovery, but Esperad knew—
It was truly time to go.
He would finally see Asilie.

His mind became cloudy, his memory flickered, and he sometimes muttered to himself.
One day, when he suddenly came to his senses, Lydia was in front of him.
After Asilie’s death, Lydia had avoided seeing him. So it had been decades since he last saw her.
Her appearance had changed a lot, but he could still recognize her.

Feeling glad, Esperad opened his mouth.
“…I’m happy I got to see your face before I go.”
“It makes me sad that we’re having this kind of talk. Still, I feel better since you don’t seem sad.”
“Why would I be sad? I’ll finally get to see her.”
“You’re still thinking of my sister?”

At Lydia’s question, Esperad managed to pull up a faint smile.
“I haven’t forgotten her for even a single moment. Maybe that’s why I can enjoy this moment.”
“Don’t you feel any resentment?”
“Who would I resent?”
“My sister.”

Even though their faces were full of wrinkles, their conversation made it feel like they had gone back in time by decades.
At that Lydia-like question, Esperad laughed again.

“If I said I didn’t resent her for leaving first, or for telling me to find someone else… it would all be lies. But… even those feelings are faint now. And everything is okay. After all, we’ll meet soon.”

At Esperad’s reply, Lydia stayed silent for a while.
Only after looking at him for a long time did she finally speak.

“Do you really want to meet her again? Even if… even if you have to go through a long, tiring time all over again?”
“A tiring time…”

If he could be with Asilie, no time could ever feel tiring.
Esperad slowly shook his head.
“If I can meet her again, I don’t care if I lose everything.”

His confident answer left Lydia speechless for a while.
Looking into his amber eyes—so much like Asilie’s—Esperad felt his longing grow even stronger, even in this moment.

“Please, don’t regret it. And endure it. Hold on. Stay strong.”
“What are you…”
“It’ll be a world you know, but also one that’s strange. And the king there might have a different past from the one you remember. If you’re okay with that…”

Esperad couldn’t understand what Lydia was saying.
His mind couldn’t fully keep up with her words, and more than anything, all his thoughts were focused on the fact that he could truly meet Asilie.

Right now, there was only one thing he needed to say to Lydia.

“If you can send me to her, then please do.”

Even if it went against her wishes, he had made a vow—
If Asilie ever left, he would find her, no matter what it took.

So, to protect him this time—
Now, it was Esperad’s turn to go find his beloved.

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