Revenge Comes with Interest - Chapter 74

The man who emerged from the darkness was undoubtedly Terran.

Leah quickly assessed his condition. With glazed eyes, a dazed expression, and an exhausted body, he was a total wreck. It was clear without even asking just how desperately he had fought.

“It is me, Grace.”

“Have you come to kill me?”

He did not recognize his fiancée at all. She shouted toward the organization members.

“We have to put out the smoke from the poisonous herbs!”

If her hunch was correct, Terran and the soldiers were poisoned by the smoke. However, things did not go as planned.

“It will not go out! Good grief, this is strange! Even when we pour water or throw dirt on it, the smoke just keeps coming!”

Was this why even Terran had been rendered helpless?

“I killed all the thieves,” Terran muttered to himself repeatedly, as if he could not hear Grace. Still, Leah was relieved that he was awake, unlike the other unconscious soldiers.

Leah was shocked to see that Terran’s clothes, face, and even his hands and sword were covered in bloodstains.

“Terran, pull yourself together! Do you not remember me?” Leah shouted in a desperate voice. But the only response she received was pain.

“Ah!”

The tip of his blade pierced Leah’s neck. Terran watched without emotion as a red drop of blood rolled down her white skin.

‘I have to say something that will trigger his memory.’

In that perilous moment, her only thought was to keep him talking and help him remember so he could break free from the hallucination.

“I am Grace Vizak. I am your fiancée, and we agreed to get married in May.”

“Who sent you? Who ordered you to kill me?”

“You like me very much. And I feel the same about you.”

“Oho! You brought the others with you again!”

Terran muttered as he watched the torch-bearing party approaching.

‘Rapa is bringing the people.’ Leah felt a sense of relief.

“Terran, you promised you would return to me after wiping out the bandits. You said you would only be gone for a week.”

“I will kill them all!”

“That is why I came to save you.”

The two were having entirely different conversations. Leah eventually burst into tears, unable to contain her surging emotions.

“Please! Wake up! Do not let yourself be defeated by mere smoke!”

When Leah screamed, Terran’s pupils wavered for a split second. But it was only brief, and he began to intimidate Leah even more fiercely.

“My Lady! Fall back! The Duke has been inhaling the smoke for days, so he will not snap out of it easily!”

When Rapa shouted at Leah, she yelled back even louder.

“Grandfather! Put out that poisonous smoke!”

The biggest problem now was that the smoke covering the village of huts would not dissipate. Soon, Rapa and Sarubi began breaking off tree branches.

“This won’t go out normally. This is a gypsy method; it seems one of the thieves was a gypsy.”

“Agreed.”

The two covered the piles of smoking herbs with the branches. Miraculously, the smoke began to subside. Not only that, but the unconscious soldiers began to wake up one by one.

“Terran, do you see? You and the soldiers were intoxicated by that smoke.”

As Leah tried to move closer to Terran, he thrust his sword at her neck again.

“Ugh!”

Red blood flowed more heavily than before. Leah stood her ground and thought.

‘I have to get close to Terran somehow.’

Even if she was stabbed by his sword, she could not delay. It might have been better if he were unconscious; since he stayed awake while breathing in that toxic smoke, it was natural for him to be out of his mind.

“My Lady! It is dangerous! We will handle this, so please step back!”

Rapa pleaded with Leah, stomping his feet in worry. Soon, the members surrounded Leah and Terran with weapons drawn.

“Step forward if you want to die!”

Terran, perceiving them as the bandits, could not contain his agitation and swung his sword wildly.

Chenera searched all the huts for Luke. However, he was nowhere to be found.

“Is he really dangling from a tree?”

Recalling what Leah had said, Chenera scanned the tall trees. Eventually, she saw something hanging from a large tree behind the village. Without a moment’s hesitation, she ran toward the tree.

“Waaaah! If you die, I will kill you! I haven’t even had a baby yet!”

Chenera ran alone while crying, then turned back to grab Rapa’s hand to lead him to the tree.

“He looks dead.”

“No, no! He is not dead!”

Chenera hit Rapa while wailing. Suddenly, a faint sound reached her ears.

“Che… nera.”

At first, she thought she had misheard. She didn’t think it was a real sound. But then she heard her name being called again.

“Luke, are you not dead?”

Chenera tilted her head back as far as she could and shouted up at him.

“I woke up because of your voice.”

Chenera had firmly snatched back a soul that was about to fade away. It was not his time to die yet.

“But why were you hanging there?”

“Can you let me down first?”

“Yes. Grandfather! Quickly, let him down!”

“Oh boy! What a mess! One is getting stabbed and the other is hanging from a tree. Hey! Come over here!”

At Rapa’s call, three or four men ran over and untied Luke. Luke’s condition after falling from the tree was equally poor. He was covered in blood and riddled with wounds.

“My brother!”

Chenera hugged his neck and sobbed. Although her heart was clumsy and immature, her feelings for Luke had never changed. She knew all too well that he did not like a lacking woman like her, but she loved him so much she couldn’t help it.

“Since you lived, I will forgive you. And I won’t pester you to get married anymore.”

“Chenera…”

“I prayed every day for you to come back quickly. So it is okay now.”

A hot lump rose in Luke’s chest, and he felt a strange, soft sensation. He thought he was dead, so he was incredibly surprised to see Chenera standing before him. Above all, he was madly happy.

“I am glad you came, Chenera.”

Luke gently embraced Chenera with one arm. Chenera clung to him, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed sorrowfully.

“I have liked you since the first time I saw you.”

Chenera brought out the feelings she had kept deep in her heart.

‘Since the first time?’

Luke was quite surprised. He had thought she was just a dim-witted girl who told everyone she liked them. Of course, he did not think that now. Having spent time with Chenera, he realized that no one was as firm in their tastes as she was. He was also surprised that she never approached people she had a bad feeling about, as her intuition was more developed than others.

“Why did you like me?”

He was suddenly curious about the reason.

“Because you are a person with a single heart. You don’t just change like that.”

She had recognized his stubborn personality from the start? Why would she like him immediately for a trait like that?

“And…”

Chenera blushed and hesitated to speak. But her shy face was surprisingly lovely. Why had he not noticed it before?

“And what?”

“You had a light shining from you.”

“Eh? That is a bit much.”

He couldn’t believe it. If it were Terran, maybe, but the idea of him having an aura was unreliable.

“Really.”

“Okay. I believe you.”

He didn’t believe it, but he wanted to. Would there ever be another woman in the world who would love him as much as Chenera did? Surely, not in his lifetime.

“Thank you, Chenera.”

He felt he would regret it for the rest of his life if he didn’t say this to her. Luke reached out and stroked Chenera’s head. Chenera lowered her head, unable to look him in the face.

“Chenera, what happened to the Duke?”

“He is not dead, but his condition is a little bad.”

Luke already knew his condition would be poor. There was no way he could be in his right mind after the poisonous smoke. Even Luke, who hadn’t inhaled much, had a splitting headache.

“But Luke! The Mister seems to have gone crazy.”

“Why?”

“He does not recognize the Sister. He has completely forgotten her.”

“What?”

Luke was so shocked he tried to stand up, but he immediately collapsed back down.

“His leg is broken.”

Rapa had checked Luke’s leg before he knew it. He then asked why he had been hanging from the tree.

“I injured my leg early in the battle, and the Duke hung me there on purpose. He told me to pretend to be dead.”

“Ho ho, I see.”

“Is it true the Duke does not recognize My Lady?”

“If he just didn’t recognize her, that would be a blessing. He is swinging his sword at her.”

Rapa shook his head. He mentioned that a gypsy skilled in medicine was looking into it, but the results were not yet known.

Allen was reading the newspaper in bed when he suddenly bolted upright. Doubting his eyes, he stared intensely at the paper.

“What is it, Allen? Is there bad news?” Emily, who had been touching him, also sat up.

“It says Duke Terran Courtois went to wipe out the bandits and has gone missing.”

“Oh my! Then is he dead?”

“Since they haven’t found him for days, there is a high possibility.”

“Oh my! What will happen to his fiancée?”

Emily spoke as if she felt pity. However, the corners of Allen’s mouth twitched.

‘What else? Grace will become my woman.’

If Terran, who had been a thorn in his side, died, nothing could be better. Meanwhile, Emily felt relieved internally.

‘If the Duke dies, the fact that I sent him love letters will be buried.’

That part had always made her feel uneasy, so this was for the best. She decided to stick close to the wealthy and handsome Allen. Allen prayed fervently that Terran’s obituary would appear in tomorrow’s paper.

‘Once that fellow is dead, I am going to Lubeck immediately.’

As expected, God was on his side. Everything was going exactly as he wanted.

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