Revenge Comes with Interest - Chapter 75

Why was he in the middle of a battlefield again? All he could see were the corpses of allies and enemies.

He felt as though he had recently spent days in peace, but he could not remember them at all. Before him stood only enemies threatening his life. Terran could not clearly hear the words the enemy was shouting at him.

‘I have gone deaf now, too.’

Soon, he would likely go blind. Yet, he felt a lingering regret about dying like this. Without even knowing the reason for his lingering attachment, he simply felt a singular desire: he did not want to die.

‘Was there someone waiting for me?’

Terran rummaged through his clouded mind.

‘Right, there is James, my loyal butler.’

The memory finally surfaced, but it did not feel fulfilling. It felt as if he was forgetting someone far more important than James. Who could it be? A person whose memory was gone, yet who made his heart ache continuously. Surely, there had been someone else.

“Terran! Look closely at who I am.”

Leah looked into Terran’s eyes, which were filled with confusion. It was not by his will that he had lost his memory to the poisonous smoke. How difficult and painful must it be for him? She took a step closer to him.

“I will truly kill you! Do not come any closer!”

Terran was making a terrifying threat, but in reality, he was the one who was terrified.

“Do you know? You are the person who made me live again.”

Leah found herself saying words she had never been able to bring out before.

“I was betrayed by the person I believed I loved. I lost everything I had. Even my life…”

She knew Terran would not understand, but somehow, she felt this moment was her only chance to be honest with him.

“The last person I saw before I died was you, Terran.”

Thinking back now, she wondered if God had guided her soul to him. Of all people, Terran had been there. Not only that, but he was the one who had recovered her broken body and even held a funeral for her.

“Looking back, I have only ever received from you. Even though I had no right, I shamelessly took everything.”

At Leah’s words, Terran’s pupils wavered.

‘Why is this person not attacking me, but only speaking with such sad eyes?’

It was frustrating that he could hear her speaking but could not understand the words. She was likely begging for her life. No one wanted to die on a battlefield, after all.

“Terran, I will not be able to repay the kindness I received from you until the day I die.”

Tears began to fall one by one from Leah’s eyes, and soon she was sobbing.

“I hesitated before coming here. In my heart, I wanted to come to you a hundred, a thousand times, but I felt sorry toward Grace.”

Because Grace’s body could be harmed or she could even die.

“But Grace gave me the answer.”

She could not bring herself to say exactly what that answer was. Grace had accepted it, but Leah still felt a sense of debt toward her.

“Terran, look at me. There must be a memory that comes back to you.”

Leah wiped her tears with the back of her hand. Honestly, it was more painful that Terran did not remember her than the thought of her own immediate death. Leah realized something as she told him her story.

‘You are the most precious person to me.’

Because they were always together, she had not realized how precious he was. She had thought her revenge was the most important thing in her life. But facing the fact that she did not exist in Terran’s memories, she realized she had been wrong.

“I realized too late that the moments spent with you are the most precious and happy. I am truly sorry, Terran.”

Like many others, she had lived with the word ‘someday’ always on her lips. A vague, distant ‘someday.’ Because of that, she had not known how important the present was.

“From now on, I will live while cherishing every single moment with you.”

On the other hand, Terran lost the desire to kill as he watched the enemy soldier crying and begging for their life.

‘Yes, you and I are the only ones left alive on this battlefield. What would change if I killed you?’

He slowly lowered his sword. At that moment, the men who had been waiting to bind Terran with rope drew closer.

‘To think I let shallow pity cloud my eyes. Truly, the most untrustworthy beings are humans—especially an enemy met on the battlefield.’

“How dare you! You tricked me!”

The numerous enemies who had vanished for a moment reappeared before Terran’s eyes. The soldier who had been piteously begging for their life was nothing more than bait to kill him.

“Fine! Come at me, all of you!”

As he shouted, the men began to approach slowly. Leah screamed.

“Do not come any closer!”

Getting the antidote into Terran’s mouth was more urgent than binding him with rope. At Leah’s desperate cry, everyone hesitated and stepped back. There was only one way to quiet Terran in this state.

‘I have to do it.’

She put the antidote Rapa had given her into her mouth and leaped straight into Terran’s arms. Immediately, his sword, stained red with blood, pierced deep into Leah’s abdomen.

“Argh!”

“My Lady!”

The immense pain of flesh being pierced and the shouts of the people echoed. Leah did not feel the pain. As long as she could hold Terran properly, it did not matter if her body became a pincushion. Leah wrapped her arms around Terran’s neck and kissed him.

“Ugh!”

Terran must have been shocked, as he opened his mouth and let out a sound. Leah did not miss that moment and pushed the antidote from her mouth into his. She sealed her lips tightly over his to ensure he could not spit it out. Only after she saw his Adam’s apple move as the medicine went down did she slowly pull her lips away.

“I… love you. Enough to die.”

Only after saying the words she had never managed to tell Terran did the overwhelming pain hit her, making it hard to breathe and causing her legs to give out. Even as she collapsed weakly like the last leaf on a branch, she did not lose her smile as she looked at Terran until the very end.

Even though Terran looked down at her with a devastated face, unaware of the situation he was in, she was happy just because he was alive.

‘It is enough that you are alive.’

At that moment, she was perfectly happy. Happy enough that it was okay even if she could not take revenge on Allen. To her, Terran was already more precious than revenge.

‘I would be happy to die by your hand.’

Though she hadn’t achieved her revenge or saved her father, she had no regrets in this moment. It was a body that had already died once anyway; if the man she loved was the one to send her to heaven, she would go gladly.

‘I am okay. Because you did your best for me.’

Leah’s consciousness slowly flickered out. Still, her heart felt full because she had accomplished one thing.

‘Grace, Terran is safe. So you can rest easy now.’

Now everything would return to its proper place. If she died, Grace would regain her soul. It had been a short life, but one satisfying enough that she had no regrets.

Leah lost consciousness. Some time later, when she opened her eyes, the person looking down at her with concern was not Terran.

“Empress?”

Leah doubted her eyes. Why was she with her?

“Young Lady, do not worry about anything now.”

Vivian’s voice echoed like an aria floating in the air. It was hard to tell if it was a dream or reality.

“Did I die?”

“Neither you nor the Duke died. So rest easy.”

“Please help Terran. It will be hard for him because he inhaled a lot of poisonous smoke.”

Leah smiled brightly without realizing it. It was fine if it was a dream, and fine if it wasn’t. Although she was curious why the Empress had suddenly appeared, her heart was at ease knowing Vivian would look after Terran.

“Right now, you are in more critical condition than Terran, Young Lady.”

“Empress, I am… sleepy.”

“You must not fall asleep, Young Lady.”

A hand tapped her face. Leah repeatedly opened and closed her eyes as she was carried somewhere.

On a sunny morning, the Red Cavalry hurried into the Imperial Palace.

“The bleeding is severe. Call a doctor immediately!”

At Vivian’s command, the palace servants moved busily. Soon, doctors in white gowns appeared and took Leah away.

“Do not take my sister!”

Chenera, who had come to the palace together, thought suspicious people were taking Grace away.

“Young Lady Vizak, your sister lost a lot of blood and needs surgery.”

“Surgery? What is that?”

Chenera found it hard to tell if it was something she simply didn’t know or a new type of medicine.

“Hmm, it is a medical technique that has not been tried yet. She lost a lot of blood, so we need to do a blood transfusion. With blood of the same blood type.”

“Blood transfusion? Blood type?”

She had no idea what that meant. Vivian had said it on purpose, knowing Chenera wouldn’t understand. Still, she wanted to explain it in a way that was easy to grasp so Chenera wouldn’t suffer from worrying about Grace.

“Young Lady Vizak, you are good at making lace, right?”

“Yes!”

“Well, I like creating medical techniques that do not exist in the world. Researching and experimenting, I mean.”

“Ah! The Empress likes playing doctor.”

Chenera’s eyes sparkled as if she finally understood.

“That is right. I like playing doctor. So do not worry about your sister.”

“I am not worried. Because I believe in the Empress.”

“Then, what I said just now is a secret between us.”

At Vivian’s request, Chenera nodded. Strictly speaking, it was a state secret, but she could tell Chenera.

“Then, Sister won’t die?”

“She won’t die. Never!”

Chenera hugged Vivian tightly in her joy, then suddenly pulled back and looked at her.

“Then, please fix the Mister who turned into a stupid idiot, too.”

“The stupid idiot Mister? Are you talking about Duke Terran?”

“Yes, the Mister became an idiot and forgot the Sister.”

“Hmm, that brat—I mean, that stupid idiot Mister needs to suffer a bit. He will get better on his own if we just leave him be.”

“Ah, so you just let idiots suffer! I understand.”

Vivian liked the innocent Chenera. In fact, she was so cute that Vivian wanted to keep her by her side always. Vivian wiped the face of Chenera, which was soaked with tears.

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