The Strongest Daughter-In-Law Of The Black Lion Family [EN]: Chapter 159

#159.

“What on earth is this….”

As soon as the realization hit him, memories surged forth like a tidal wave, bursting free as if a long-blocked dam had finally broken.

Hearthcliff shuddered, writhing in agony. There was no stopping the torrent of memories now.

‘It hurts. Please, just kill me.’

Back then, Heathcliff would have welcomed death. He’d been forced to sign a treaty selling Ella with his own hands, driven to madness, and made to slaughter those he cherished.

“Kuh―!”

Overwhelmed by the flood of agonizing emotions, Heathcliff clutched at his chest.

He hadn’t wanted any of this, but he couldn’t escape the self-loathing for the tragedy he himself had unleashed.

He didn’t know how he had regressed [returned to an earlier point in time]. But one thing was certain: Ella had known all of this long before his memories returned.

‘So that’s why she hated me so much.’

Only now did Heathcliff truly understand Ella’s actions. As she’d said, he wasn’t worthy to be in her presence.

Just then, Ella’s closed eyes fluttered open. She groaned, and Heathcliff flinched.

“Ugh.”

Ella blinked, rubbing her throbbing head. After a moment, her pupils dilated.

“Ah, I remember now.”

The reason she had fainted was the sudden onslaught of memories. Like Heathcliff, her blocked memories had returned in a rush, and the shock had overwhelmed her.

Ella vividly recalled her last memory before the regression, even the face of the being she had encountered in the underground prison.

Ella murmured, dazed.

“It was Cersia.”

The existence of ‘that person,’ whom she had struggled so hard to remember, was now crystal clear.

Ella was still trembling from the strange sensation when she noticed Heathcliff standing at a distance.

Only then did Ella speak to Heathcliff.

“Why are you standing like that?”

Hearthcliff didn’t answer. He simply hung his head like a sinner, motionless.

Frowning at his strange behavior, Ella said,

“You used to beg me to stay by your side. Now you’re acting like we’re strangers?”

“……I was wrong. I wasn’t worthy. You should leave my side, Ella. It’s for the best.”

Ella frowned at Heathcliff’s sudden self-reproach.

Then, belatedly noticing his red eyes, her own widened.

“Are you crying?”

“…….”

“What is it? Did you suddenly lose your voice?”

At Ella’s questioning, Heathcliff spoke with difficulty.

“You must have wanted to kill me all this time, right?”

“……Pardon?”

“You must have thought I betrayed you.”

At the word ‘betrayal,’ Ella’s face froze. The reason for his sudden outburst was clear.

“Your memories have returned, I see.”

“Yes. I remember everything now.”

Hearthcliff moved further away from Ella, as if poised to flee.

Seeing this, Ella murmured quietly.

“So, you’re going to run away again?”

“……It’s not like that.”

“If you remember, tell me. Why did you betray me?”

Ella asked the question with difficulty, clinging to it like a lifeline. It was a question that had haunted her since her regression and reunion with Heathcliff—no, even before her regression.

Why did he betray me?

He even marked me, binding me to him, so why? Why on earth?

Beasts could communicate with their marked partners. Thus, if the marked partner died, they would feel the same pain as if they themselves were dying.

So, if he was going to sell me off, he shouldn’t have marked me in the first place. That’s why she couldn’t understand or believe his choice. She was simply confused, and she was so curious about his thoughts.

She thought she would never know.

If his memories had returned, she wanted to hear it. Why he had betrayed her back then. And…….

“Heath, did you ever love me?”

At the deeply piercing question, Heathcliff’s eyes widened. As if he couldn’t bear even that to be denied, he wore a pained expression.

“How can you say that?”

“…….”

“How could I not love you?”

Hearthcliff collapsed to the ground. He couldn’t run away, nor could he get closer.

He could only hang his head and offer cowardly excuses.

“It may sound like an excuse, but I didn’t want to betray you.”

“……I saw the pheromone signature you signed yourself.”

“That wasn’t my will.”

“Does a beast exist in this world who could force you?”

“……I lived believing that too. Meeting him made me realize that was my arrogance. It was the first time I had ever felt so powerless.”

“…….”

“There was such a being. You saw it earlier, didn’t you?”

“Could it be…”

Ella frowned, suddenly thinking of someone.

“Janus. Just like that person controlled Zerachiel, I was also bewitched by that red orb.”

Before he knew it, tears welled up in Heathcliff’s eyes. Eventually, a tear escaped and ran down his cheek.

“Hebel and Luden were in league. Janus said so. Hebel and Luden serve the same person. Hebel didn’t reject Ebenesev. He was completely subservient.”

“Ah.”

At the mention of Janus, Ella thought of the masked woman who had taken Zerachiel away earlier.

She was clearly Janus, the village chief she had seen in Dane Village.

‘I don’t need you anymore.’

The merciful appearance was nowhere to be found. She indifferently watched the cold corpse of the Sarvan family head, who had been following her until just now, with a heartless face.

Then, entrusting the rest to the masked man who called her ‘the leader,’ she disappeared with Zerachiel.

When the masked man called her ‘the leader,’ Ella realized that they had been played by her all along.

Giving them the Ebenesev Bible in the first place and making them come here must have been all part of her plan.

‘Come here. Be a good boy?’

At Janus’s call, Zerachiel became a docile lion.

Thus, Janus disappeared leisurely with Zerachiel. It happened so quickly that there was no time to stop him.

After that, masked men appeared and confronted Heathcliff. Each of them possessed powerful pheromones. They were all people who had undergone pheromone manipulation.

Of course, Ella immediately thought of her because of a past memory.

‘Janus was also there when I was sacrificed.’

Ella recalled Janus, whom she had encountered at the Mishr altar. Her face, without a mask, closely resembled the statue of Larien in Hebel.

Except for her jet-black hair and black eyes, she looked exactly like Larien.

With a smile on her face, she had plunged a sword into Ella’s heart.

At the time, she thought it was the incarnation of the Saintess Larien.

Because Ebenesev was not well known to the outside world, she had misunderstood.

And after visiting Dane Village, she realized that it was Ebenesev, not Larien. Because there was also a statue of her in Dane Village.

‘That’s why she wore a mask.’

Larien’s twin sister, Ebenesev. She was known to have a completely different personality from Larien, who looked exactly like her.

Unlike Larien, who had silver hair and golden eyes and was the epitome of holiness, her sister Ebenesev was all black.

Only then did Ella realize the reason for the déjà vu she had felt when she first saw Janus.

“Janus was also the one who performed the ritual at the Mishr altar when I was sacrificed.”

“Is that true?”

Hearthcliff trembled, unable to hide his shock. Seeing him like that reminded her of her own despair in the past.

In fact, even though Ella suffered from his betrayal, she never hated Heathcliff. She had simply been avoiding him because she was tormented by conflicting emotions.

“Both you and I were just being used.”

Ella shed tears at the truth she had belatedly learned.

To think that the person she had both loved and hated, or rather, thought she hated, was actually being used just like her.

Confirming that fact made her feel so sorry for both herself and him.

Ella reached out her hand.

“Come here.”