Chapter 2

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter Title: Chapter 11 - Single-Minded Devotion is Another Word for Obsession (2)

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엔딩인 줄 알고 돌아왔더니 장르가 바뀜

11화

Chapter 2. Single-Minded Devotion is Another Word for Obsession (2)

The clue came up while investigating Lucian.

The crown prince was pouring all his energy into wiping out the underground crime syndicates, and he'd even asked Shane for his cooperation.

Shane couldn't have cared less about who killed whom. It didn't matter to him one way or the other, but he couldn't leave Delmuse. It was the only place that still held traces of her, even without Edelaine there.

He had to cling to those traces just to breathe.

"If I'd known she'd risk her life to protect some saintess..."

He never would have bothered picking up that filthy little girl covered in grime. If he'd just left her to be kicked to death by her own father, Edelaine wouldn't have died.

She never spared him a glance, but she'd smiled at that girl with such warm sunshine. He figured the kid must have really grown on her, but he never imagined she'd throw away her own life to save her.

Shane regretted it endlessly.

If he could turn back time, he would.

If he hadn't picked up Genevieve.

If he hadn't left Edelaine's side.

If he'd just stuck to her relentlessly, regardless of whether she hated him or not, and protected her so no one could harm her.

But no amount of regret brought Edelaine back.

So at the very least, he had to honor her final wish: her legacy would save the world.

Shane poured money and power without restraint into getting Genevieve recognized as the saintess, and he sent her scurrying across the entire continent.

"Genevieve's human too, Shane. Even when you work slaves to the bone, you're not this ruthless."

"Mind your own business. She's not dying, is she?"

"Not dying doesn't make it okay."

"If she can't handle it, she'll say so."

"Like you'd ever listen."

Crown Prince Edwin clicked his tongue.

"Some people are saying you've gone head over heels for the saintess..."

His eyes must be playing tricks. No way was that how you treated someone you were smitten with.

"Genevieve's tormented by guilt, too. She says it's more than enough."

"I haven't said a word."

"You don't have to..."

Edwin and Shane were lord and vassal, relatives, and close to being friends. They'd spent more time together than anyone since childhood, so they could speak frankly like this.

It was just Genevieve he felt sorry for.

Told she had to know what to do as the one who survived in Edelaine's place, forbidden from dying pointlessly, treated solely as a tool.

To Edwin, it looked like exploitation, yet Genevieve endured it silently.

"I knew you were obsessed with Edelaine."

Edelaine had been like a friend to Edwin, too. The daughter of a fine noble house, straightforward, sharp-minded, and useful. He'd grumbled about always being used but always took appropriate payment in goods or favors—Edwin had liked her quite a bit.

But Edelaine hadn't cared much for Shane. She'd openly avoided him.

He'd thought it was one-sided, so the feelings couldn't run too deep.

"To think it hasn't changed even after nearly five years since her death."

After Edelaine died, Shane was like a broken man.

That kind of extreme single-mindedness was dangerous.

Edwin picked up the report he'd received and spoke.

"It's a bit awkward to bring up, but there's something I need you to confirm. Do you know the servant Edelaine kept around?"

"Yes."

How could he forget that damned brat's face?

She wouldn't even meet with him herself, but she'd picked up some little kid, fed him, clothed him, kept him by her side.

Shane ground his teeth. He remembered that face always clinging to Edelaine's side, strutting around like he was loved unlike you.

"Seems that servant had ties to the Rat Pack leader. Especially around six years ago—he was in and out of their place like it was his own home for nearly a year."

"Are you suggesting Edelaine might have been committing crimes with the Rat Pack?"

"No? No! Do I look crazy enough to say that to your face?!"

Even if he suspected it, he never would have said it in front of Shane.

"It's just that their movements around then were suspicious! She stayed frequently at the hotel that guy runs, and also..."

Shane snatched the documents from Edwin's stammering hands.

A spark lit in his blue eyes as he scanned the text rapidly.

One possibility took root.

*

It had all been Edelaine's plan.

She'd staged a magnificent show. The audience was the entire world.

Of course she'd acted like someone about to leave far away.

If she'd prepared all this long ago.

"Ha, haha."

The white arm dropping before his eyes was still vivid.

The feel of blood-smeared fingers brushing his cheek was fresh.

All of it, lies.

He couldn't breathe.

He didn't know if he was happy or sad. Some heavy emotion just filled his heart.

One thing was certain.

Edelaine was alive.

She hadn't died.

"Nice to see you smiling, but could you move your foot off my head?"

"...Was I smiling?"

"You were. Creepily."

Shane lowered his gaze to the man pinned beneath his foot.

The man named Lucian was the head of the Rat Pack. He'd earned the nickname from Edwin because he was slick at hit-and-run tactics, scampering like a rat. Slippery, hard to catch.

But that was only if you played by the rules.

Shane didn't hold back when it came to anything involving Edelaine. Whether she was there or not.

"Where are you hiding Edelaine?"

"I don't kn—ghk!"

A groan burst out as Shane stomped down hard enough to crack his skull.

"Spill it, and I'll spare your life."

"Fuck, I really don't know! Lloyd hid her tight!"

"Find him."

"I tried contacting him through the newspaper ads, but I don't even know if he saw them, and it's been over three years since that dried up."

They'd tried tracking him, but Lloyd was too cautious. Annoyingly competent little shit.

Lucian looked up at the man who could crush his head any moment.

No expression on that neat, clean face. If he said no, he'd kill him right there.

Those blue eyes seemed cold at first glance, but beneath swirled emotions akin to madness.

Lucian knew well: with eyes like that, no words or logic worked.

The type utterly disinterested in anything but their goal.

He got called crazy himself, but this guy was the real deal.

"The kind you don't fuck with..."

And on top of that, loaded with status, power, wealth.

With guys like this at the empire's top, the world had gone mad.

If Edelaine had seen Shane's true colors and fled, he could almost understand her desperation.

"So, you can't?"

Shane said.

No point provoking a powerhouse like Duke Blancard, crisis or not. Rumors said he'd grown especially ruthless since five years ago.

Lucian quickly changed his tune.

"There is a way."

Favor and friendship past their expiration date? Who cared.

"It'll cost money, though."

To lure out the hidden Edelaine, he'd need a new play—and lots of cash.

*

He gathered the bright golden hair spread across the white bedsheets into a neat bundle and removed the veiled hat.

Shane touched a finger to Edelaine's nostril.

She's breathing.

"She's alive..."

Even seeing her alive and moving with his own eyes didn't feel real.

But the breath on his fingertip now was genuine. Her body heat was warm.

She's alive.

Shane exhaled deeply, covering his eyes with his hand.

It felt like the first breath he'd taken in five years.

The peacefully sleeping Edelaine was still beautiful. Nothing had changed.

Her, living happily, having forgotten trash like him.

"You wanted to escape me that badly."

He must have been that repulsive.

Forget me, be happy, she'd said.

If that was her dying wish, he'd tried to grant it somehow.

But he couldn't forget her for even a moment.

Of course he couldn't be happy.

Edelaine was still lovely and endearing, yet an impulse to strangle her rose too.

If not for Edelaine, Shane's life would have been dry but painless.

Not happy, perhaps, but without losing anything, gaining all he wanted, living wealthy and refined. He wouldn't feel this despair like living at hell's edge, having lost everything...

"But you."

Still smiling brightly, playful, beautiful.

If you'd just told me you found me so repulsive to get lost.

If you'd threatened to die before marrying me.

Shane would have begged with tears, but ultimately granted her plea.

He was weak only to Edelaine.

But she'd died before his eyes.

Made him lose the one he loved right in front of him.

Pushed his life to ruin in the cruelest way.

Couldn't let her have peace alone.

Whether she fled because she hated him so much she threw away everything.

"Time to wake up, Edelaine."

You're caught in my hands again.

You can't go anywhere now.