Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 146

Revenge Comes with Interest 146

146. Crumbling Reason

2023.12.24.

The fact that a gang dragged Louis away felt suspicious. Terran looked at Salame and asked with a sly smile.

“Lord Roberto, are you any good in a fight?”

“I’ve never been beaten.”

Salame’s eyes were already dark with anger.

“Good. Luke, let’s go!”

“Yes.”

Terran winked at Leia and Chenelle. Then Chenelle shouted loudly.

“Don’t get beat up, husband!”

Luke, looking serious, said to Chenelle.

“What do you think I am…?”

Leia watched the men disappear, while Chenelle wrung her hands, anxious.

“Sister, let’s fight too. I’m worried about my husband.”

“You don’t have to worry.”

“What if he ends up hanging from a tree again?”

Chenelle looked around, moving busily as if looking for something to fight with.

“Waiting quietly is how we help.”

In reality, the gangsters who kidnapped Louis were the unlucky ones.

Meanwhile, Leia found more than one thing suspicious.

The ballroom was full of gentlemen vying to become the princess’s consort [a royal spouse]. So why target Louis, who was just standing there?

He had no interest in the princess whatsoever.

Leia took Chenelle to Theresa. On the way, they ran into Allen.

“Lady Vizak. May I have a word with you?”

“Sure, Chenelle, go to Her Majesty’s side.”

“Yes.”

Only after confirming that Chenelle was going to Theresa did Leia move.

Of course, she didn’t go to a secluded place.

“You said something strange to me during the dress review, and I wanted to confirm it.”

“Ah, you’re talking about Leia Hamilton’s death?”

Allen wanted to confirm something as soon as he met Lady Vizak.

How she knew so much detail about his conversation with Leia.

[All you had was a pretty face and the status of a hollow aristocrat. Weren’t you burning with the desire to succeed at once? Then you found a suitable woman, had a loveless marriage with her, and stole everything from her?]

It was as if Leia was speaking through the lady’s mouth.

Okay, let’s say Sarah knew this much and told the lady. But the subsequent words were hard to accept.

[On the day McDowell married Leia Hamilton, a carriage was waiting behind the church. To devour the merchant’s fortune in one bite, that woman couldn’t be around.]

He had never told Sarah in advance that he had prepared a carriage behind the church.

[You even promised to pick her up if she was hiding in the countryside. Of course, you lied that you would definitely save Richard Hamilton too… In the end, you gave money to the coachmen to drop the carriage Leia Hamilton was riding off a cliff. After whispering that you loved her, you gave Leia Hamilton a final farewell kiss with a sad face.]

It was chilling when she spoke as if it were her own experience.

“Did Leia leave any words with you before she died?”

“No. I only saw Miss Hamilton at the funeral.”

“But how do you know all of this?”

*Know?* Since Leia had known Allen, this was the first time she had seen his eyes, like a distorted moon, trembling with anxiety.

“Sometimes things happen in the world that cannot be explained logically. Maybe the soul of the dead Miss Hamilton entered someone else’s body?”

Allen’s brow furrowed at Leia’s words.

‘Is this woman making fun of me?’

She must read a lot of detective novels and be indulging in fantasies beyond imagination, spouting nonsense.

He had just been shaken by it for a moment.

“So you’re saying Leia’s soul is in your body?”

“Maybe.”

“Ha! Your joke is too much. It’s a tragic thing for me. My heart still aches when I think of Leia.”

‘You killed her, and that’s what you have to say.’

“Ah, could this be the case? In fact, Miss Leia Hamilton didn’t die and faked her death. She’s actually alive, hiding somewhere, and reconstructed her ruined face with surgery.”

“!?”

Allen took a step back without realizing it.

‘Fix her ruined face?’

Suddenly, Leia Frank, who had come to see him, came to mind. She looked unbelievably like Leia Hamilton. But he confirmed that she was not Leia.

But why is Lady Vizak saying such strange things to me? What does she want?

There is not a speck of connection between Leia and Lady Vizak.

“You have a rich imagination, Lady.”

“Did I?”

“I hope you have a pleasant ball.”

Allen fled as if running away. He only ended up adding to the confusion with absurd stories.

He was just spouting things that anyone could imagine, and it happened to coincide similarly; there was absolutely nothing more to it.

He shouldn’t be swayed by such words. But Lady Vizak was acting like someone possessed by Leia’s soul, and Leia Frank looked too much like the dead her.

‘No! That’s impossible.’

Allen’s reason, which had not felt even a hint of guilt, was cracking and slowly collapsing.

‘Your destruction starts now. I hope your soul slowly crumbles.’

The true revenge Leia wants is for Allen’s soul to be utterly ruined and fall into hell.

At least Allen should feel for himself how terrible the sins he committed were.

He’s the kind of person who wouldn’t know what he did wrong for the rest of his life if he went to prison without knowing anything.

‘Allen, suffer. To the point where you think it’s better to die. And then stab your own heart with your own hand.’

He had to be made to roll on the floor like a beast, covered in blood, begging to be killed. That day was not far off.

‘Don’t be afraid. I have no intention of killing you easily. I’ll keep you alive. Because I want to be comforted by watching you suffer for the rest of your life.’

Leia glared fiercely at Allen’s receding figure.

* * *

Terran cut through the thugs and threw a punch. Like a panther with gleaming blue eyes in the dark night, he subdued them one by one.

*Thwack*—Before the thugs could counterattack, his feet attacked his opponents with the sound of wind.

“Luke! Grind those muscleheads into the ground!”

At Terran’s words, Luke grabbed the collar of the thug in front of him, lifted him up, and slammed him straight to the ground.

“Ugh!”

If Terran was a fighter who fought with animalistic instincts, Luke accurately crushed his enemies with trained striking techniques.

Terran and Luke took turns fighting five men. Meanwhile, Salame pulled Louis out of the water.

“Lord Roberto, can you feel Louis’s breath?”

Terran asked, punching the thug in front of him in the jaw.

“Fortunately, he’s still breathing.”

“Give him artificial respiration. Make him spit out the water in his airway!”

“Please concentrate on the fight, Your Grace, and let Lord Roberto handle it!”

Luke grabbed the back of the neck of the thug attacking the Duke from behind and kneed him in the abdomen.

Terran gleefully beat the thugs as if he were in his element. The thugs, realizing that fists weren’t going to work, charged with wooden sticks.

“Be glad I don’t have a sword in my hand. If I had a sword, I would have minced you into pieces.”

Terran soared into the air and knocked down two men at once.

“Your Grace, don’t kill them. We need to know who’s behind this, don’t we?”

Terran realized his mistake at Luke’s shout.

“That’s right, I mustn’t kill them.”

Terran’s hand gripped the thug’s neck. He had been beaten so badly that he was half out of his mind, so it was questionable whether he would listen even if he was spoken to.

“Who told you to do this?”

“Ugh…”

The thug couldn’t answer and only spat out blood. At that moment, Luke saw a man hiding in the darkness far away.

The man in a suit and glasses seemed to have been watching this situation from the beginning and didn’t look like a simple passerby.

Luke pretended to change direction and ran to him in an instant, grabbing his tie.

“Who are you?”

His face was not clearly visible in the dark, so Luke dragged him to where there was a gas lamp.

But he looked familiar.

“You’re McDowell’s secretary?”

He vaguely remembered seeing him in Bellis. That’s right. Who would Louis have a grudge against?

They must have terrorized him because he was Terran’s secretary.

Just then, Terran came running in an instant, fluttering his black cloak, and snatched the secretary’s neck. He pushed the secretary fiercely against the wall.

“How did your master find out about the princess?”

Terran drove him hard, like a hungry wolf growling.

The only reason Allen would have terrorized Louis out of many candidates was that he had found out the princess’s identity. For Allen, being chosen as the consort was like the only lifeline left.

“I don’t… know.”

“Well, even if you knew, you wouldn’t become the consort. Instead, you won’t be able to avoid being behind bars because of your master.”

“I’m sorry! Please forgive me!”

Allen’s secretary trembled and cried.

Just as Terran was about to let go of the secretary, who was too weak to even bother hitting, the dull sound of military boots echoed in the distance.

The Gardencia Imperial Guard had appeared. They picked up the men scattered here and there and handcuffed them.

Allen’s secretary, who had been begging Terran for forgiveness until the end, was also dragged away by the guards. Everyone’s attention turned to the back at the timely voice.

“I told Her Majesty!”

Chenelle ran frantically and hugged Luke.

Terran laughed out loud at the sight of Chenelle.

Her excessive curiosity was, in the end, what saved Louis.

Terran went to Louis, who had been pulled out of the water.

Thanks to Salame’s first aid, he had regained consciousness. But seeing Louis in Salame’s arms gave him a strange sense of déjà vu [the feeling that one has lived through the present situation before].

‘It’s like I’ve seen the same scene before.’

Is this what people call fate?

The two looked quite good together. And he thought it was a good thing he didn’t tell Louis the princess’s identity until the end.

Either way, the two had recognized each other first, so whatever the outcome, it was their responsibility.

Terran, who had been lost in thought, suddenly came to his senses.

‘Wait, Allen McDowell. I’ll send you to a good place too when the party is over.’

Terran hurried to the ballroom.

Allen was needed to decorate the end of the selection process splendidly.

He just hoped he wouldn’t run away anywhere and would enjoy the party with him until the end.