Chapter 25
As he was tormented by memories of his brutally murdered parents and younger sister, the tightly shut door creaked open.
At first, everyone trembled in fear, thinking it was Racton’s men coming to torment them again.
But the one who opened the locked door… was a young girl.
“If you cross the mountain on the other side of the lake, you’ll reach Middletown. There’s a port there where foreign ships dock often. Run away. Go far away.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the captives hesitantly rose and began leaving the warehouse.
When the first few fled outside, the rest poured out all at once like a flood.
Damon remained behind.
He was too exhausted to even try to move.
Like someone whose soul had already died, leaving only a broken body behind.
“Why are you just sitting there? Hurry and run.”
The girl approached him and crouched down.
Through the torn fabric of his pants, the thorn seeds stuck to her skirt pricked his skin.
Damon winced in pain, and the girl said softly:
“Sorry. That must’ve stung. But I can’t hate them. They’re pitiful… clinging on so desperately.”
“……”
“They’ll fall off on their own as you move. That’s how they spread. They’re just trying their best to survive—so let’s forgive them.”
Her clear violet eyes carried a sorrow far beyond her years.
“I lost my mother not long ago. I wanted to die and follow her… but I held back. If I die, there’ll be one less person left to remember her.”
She looked straight at him.
“So you have to live too. No matter what, you must survive. Just like these thorn seeds—clinging on to live.”
At her words, hot tears streamed endlessly down Damon’s face.
If he died, just as she said…
Even the existence of the Rochenka family would be forgotten.
No one would remember his parents and sister who died so unjustly.
Only then did he realize—he could no longer deny their deaths.
The living had to remember.
Their lives… and everything they had wished for.
As Damon sobbed, the girl hugged him and cried with him.
“You have to reach Middletown before dawn. Hurry.”
She took his hand and led him outside the warehouse.
“Go. And if living becomes too hard… then live for revenge. Even if that’s the only way—just survive.”
That day, Damon followed the direction the girl gave him.
At Middletown’s Foret Port, he met Murray Craig.
It was a fateful encounter—when the so-called “mad baron” was returning from a journey to the East.
Back to the Present
Remembering the past, Damon needed to ask Clarissa:
Were you the girl who saved me back then? Why didn’t you tell me? If I had known it was you…
Thud!
Something pierced into his back and burst through his chest.
An arrow.
Damon staggered a few steps before collapsing to the ground.
“Damn it!”
Clarissa had already disappeared beyond the field.
Screams erupted, and the imperial knights rushed in.
“Baron Craig!”
“Viscount Edwin! The antidote for Tara flower—!”
If it was truly Ingis Racton, then the arrowhead would certainly be coated with Tara poison.
Damon had some resistance to poison, but the arrow had pierced near his heart—his pulse was slowing.
With every breath, he could feel the poison spreading through his body.
“Ha… hurry… the antidote…”
As his consciousness blurred, he faintly heard Edwin shouting for help.
His eyelids grew heavy… and slowly closed.
Three Days Later
Damon regained consciousness on the afternoon of the third day after receiving the antidote.
The moment he opened his eyes, he shot upright.
Where am I…?
As he looked around the unfamiliar room with trembling eyes, Edwin approached.
“You’re awake. The physician said it’s a miracle you survived. I’ll go inform His Highness Valentine.”
Only then did Damon realize—this was a guest room in the Crown Prince’s palace.
“What year… is it in the Empire calendar?”
“…Pardon? It’s the year 528.”
“What month?”
“We’re just before the May Festival. You were struck by a poison arrow at the Rite River during His Highness Valentine’s engagement. Do you not remember?”
“No… I just wanted to confirm.”
His unusually calm demeanor made Edwin feel as if he were speaking to a completely different person.
“I’ll inform His Highness and bring the physician.”
After Edwin left, Damon slowly stood, enduring the lingering pain.
From the window, the imperial garden stretched below.
He leaned his forehead against the glass, staring blankly.
“…Unbelievable. This is my second life…!”
After being struck by the poison arrow, memories of his previous life flooded back.
The destruction of the Rochenka family. The deaths of his parents and sister.
Being captured and held for sale as a slave in Racton’s territory—
Everything was the same.
That girl who opened the warehouse door… was Clarissa!
The blonde girl with violet eyes.
The one who gave him the will to live—his savior.
It had been Clarissa.
“Ahhh…!”
Damon clutched his head in agony.
Because another memory surfaced—
In his previous life, Clarissa had died in his place.
Flashback — Clarissa’s Death
After killing Duke Racton, Damon quickly fled the territory.
He even erased all evidence that he was the murderer.
But later, Clarissa was captured—and her entire body was covered in the Duke’s blood.
She should have denied the crime.
But she didn’t.
Instead, she confessed.
Damon couldn’t understand why she would do something so foolish.
When he visited her in prison, she was barely recognizable from torture.
“Damon… why are you here?”
“Tell the judge it was me. Say I killed the Duke.”
“I can’t do that.”
“I don’t want to owe you anything. Even if you interfere, nothing will change. I won’t stop until the Racton bloodline is wiped out.”
He turned to leave.
“D-Damon…”
At her desperate voice, he stopped.
“Just once… please grant my wish.”
As he turned—
She stabbed her own neck with a needle hidden in her ring.
“—!”
“What are you—?!”
Damon froze, staring at her lips turning blue.
“I used a deadly poison. There’s no antidote—you know that. You made it yourself. My body will slowly stiffen… and I’ll die by tomorrow.”
“Why would you do this, Clarissa?!”
“I loved you… I truly loved you.”
His face twisted in shock.
“Just in case… Damon… don’t feel sorry. I was happy… living as your wife.”
“…Happy? I never made you happy. I ignored you. Treated you coldly.”
“Even so… I was happy. Because I was your wife. The only family you allowed me to be.”
“…!”
“Damon… please stop seeking revenge now—”
She coughed up blood and collapsed.
“Take care of yourself… my beloved… Damon Craig…”
As the poison spread, she lost consciousness.
“Don’t you dare die! Open your eyes! Look at me!”
He screamed, gripping the bars—but she didn’t move.
The next day, she was dragged to trial in an even worse state.
She was only alive for one reason:
“I… I killed the Duke.”
Even while dying from poison, she held on just to confess in his place.
“The Duke captured prisoners and slaves for forbidden black magic—”
“Lies!”
The Duke’s children shouted in outrage.
“Order! Order! The defendant has confessed. She is sentenced to execution by beheading!”
Only then did Clarissa collapse in relief.
Her life was fading.
No… Clarissa. Look at me…
From the audience, Damon watched.
She gave him a faint smile.
Goodbye, my husband.
Her violet eyes said it all.
She died before reaching the execution ground.
The execution was carried out anyway.
The crowd quickly dispersed, uninterested in a dead woman.
In the empty square, Damon walked forward and reached for her body.
As he lifted her—
Something felt heavy at her waist.
Wrapped in bandages…
Inside, he felt a book.
At that moment—
Tears burst from his eyes.
It was the Magic Tome.
She had hidden it until the very end.
“You… you went there alone for this? To give this to me?! You poisoned yourself just to protect it?! To you, this was nothing but paper—why?!”
His tears fell endlessly.
His chest felt like it was being torn apart.
“You hid it so you could give it to me even after death? Why, Clarissa?!”
If she had been alive, she would have answered:
Because I loved you. More than my life.
“Aaaaah!”
Holding her cold body, Damon cried out in agony.
As his tears fell onto the Magic Tome, a blue light flickered.
Though still sealed, a powerful force surged.
“O power of Rochen… have mercy on this woman. Let her soul go to a place where she will never again be used by family. Let her live in peace, beyond the reach of a husband who ignored her.”
The blue light wrapped around Clarissa’s body and rose into the air.
Thunder roared. Rain poured down.
Damon bit his finger, drawing blood—and broke the seal of Rochen’s power.
“Flames—burn! Burn everything!”
Dark clouds gathered, and lightning flashed across the sky.
