You, My Devil - Chapter 31

The boy knelt on the ground, bowed his head, and raised his small hands, clutching the sunflower tightly, above his head. Seeing this, Heina bit her lip hard, but she couldn’t stop the tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I’m getting off.”

A sobbing voice flowed from her mouth. Yuri coldly stopped her with eyes that didn’t let down his guard.

“Enough. Just stay here.”

“Let me get off… Let me receive that child’s flower directly.”

Heina bit her lip and turned to Yuri. Her face, wet with tears, was reflected in his eyes. Her jewel-like emerald eyes were filled with sadness and trembled.

Her eyelashes trembled with every breath, shedding tears. Her fist, clutching the dress tightly, trembled slightly. Her beautiful mouth twisted, and her breath was mixed with sobs.

She was truly sad. Seeing this, Yuri felt a strange twist in a corner of his heart and spat out gruffly.

“That’s not how you ask. Start moving, ignore them.”

It was then that Heina grabbed his arm.

“What is it?”

She looked at him with an indescribable expression, then finally slowly lowered her head. Her abundant blonde hair fell down, covering her face.

“Please… Please, please… Let me get off and walk.”

Yuri’s face contorted.

“Prince of Nike… I sincerely… earnestly beg you…”

Heina’s voice trembled. Yuri’s eyebrows twisted messily as he looked at her like that.

‘Is she bowing her head to me now just to receive some measly flower?’

Annoyed for no reason, he shouted loudly at the soldier pulling the chariot.

“Stop the horses!”

At Yuri’s command, the procession stopped moving. As soon as the chariot stopped, Heina got up from her seat and carefully moved her trembling steps. It was when she reached out her hand to the small boy kneeling on the ground and bowing his head.

“You traitor who sold out this country!! You filthy thing!!”

An egg flew from somewhere and hit her shoulder. Heina stopped her hand for a moment. Her mind went blank, and her whole body stiffened.

The yolk of the rotten egg burst and flowed down her dress, followed by the stench of garbage and filth thrown at her. It was a sudden event.

“A plaything of the enemy country deserves to be treated like trash!!”

In Heina’s blurry eyes, mixed with tears, she saw people buzzing around, and in front of them, a drunken man holding a handful of filth and shouting.

“Ha… Ah…”

Rotten milk with a foul smell dripped down Heina’s golden hair.

Her green eyes lost their light and shook erratically from side to side. She felt like she was losing her mind. Even in the midst of it, the man’s loud voice echoed clearly in her ears.

“Die! Heina!! If you have any conscience, you should take your own life!!”

“P… Princess…”

Heina hugged the little boy, who was trembling in front of her, not knowing what was going on. A rotten egg flew again and hit her back and broke. The sunflower the child was holding was crushed against her chest. Hot tears burst from Heina’s eyes.

“Sob… Haa… I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m really… I’m really sorry…”

Covered in filth and a complete mess, Heina repeated the words endlessly. Her whispering voice wouldn’t reach her people who had lost their nation, but she desperately hoped it would reach the young child trembling in her arms, and she begged for forgiveness with tears.

“That wench who betrayed Constance and sided with the enemy is no longer a princess but a traitor!”

The drunken man’s eyes rolled back grotesquely.

“A bitch like you deserves to die…!”

The moment the man pulled a small knife from his chest and lunged at her and the moment Yuri leaped from the carriage happened almost simultaneously.

“You… crazy…!”

Before Linus could even approach, Yuri kicked the man, knocking him down. The knife fell from his hand and rolled across the floor. The man, pinned under Yuri’s foot, coughed and choked out words.

“D… die, Hey… cough…!”

“How dare you cause such a commotion in front of whom!”

Linus, picking up the fallen knife, approached him with a thunderous voice. The citizens of Constance gathered in the square were shocked by what they had just witnessed and knelt on the ground, holding their breath.

Yuri spoke in a cold voice.

“Get out of the way, Linus.”

“…Lord Yuri.”

Yuri pressed down harder with the foot that was stepping on the man.

“You must be desperate to die.”

Linus bowed his head and stepped back. Yuri’s eyes blazed with fury. Linus was the only one who knew that he was about to explode, having seen him directly on the battlefield.

“Haa…”

Heina, who had been sitting on the ground, tightly embracing the child, finally raised her head. She saw the drunken man who had been shouting at her lying on the ground, pinned under Yuri’s foot.

‘…What happened?’

Heina had been so afraid that the child would be hit by the filth that she had held him tightly, unaware that the man had lunged at her with a knife. She struggled to focus her blurring vision.

Yuri had drawn the sword he wore at his waist. His face, reflected in the well-honed blade, had turned pale, looking as fierce as if he were not of this world.

“You have no fear. To dare to do this in front of me. Haha, your courage is so admirable that it makes me laugh.”

He looked down at the man writhing beneath his feet and continued in a cruel voice.

“According to the law of Nike, one should be killed by having each limb severed for causing a disturbance in front of royalty, but I don’t think my patience will extend that far.”

‘Is he going to kill him?’ Fear clouded Heina’s blue eyes.

“No!”

Heina ran to Yuri and knelt on the ground, weeping. Her gorgeous dress was soaked in filth and reeked. Rotten milk dripped from her hair, running down her tear-streaked face.

“Please… please stop! Please!”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t grant you that request.”

Before she could finish speaking, Yuri’s sword flashed through the air. Soon after, Heina saw the man’s head, cleanly severed, rolling across the floor.

The man died instantly without even screaming. His unclosed eyes, from his severed head, stared blankly at Heina, having lost focus.

“Nooo!”

A scream erupted from Heina’s throat at the horrific sight. Leaving her sobbing behind, Yuri turned and walked towards the young boy sitting on the ground. Blood from the man he had just killed dripped from the tip of his blade.

The boy was trembling with fear, his hands clasped to his chest. Yuri looked at the boy and raised the corners of his mouth in a cruel smile.

“Were you also part of the plan from the beginning? Was even pretending to offer flowers with those tiny hands all an act?”

“I… I… I was giving flowers to the Prin… hic!”

The boy barely managed to open his mouth. As Yuri took another step closer to the boy, hiccups burst from the boy’s mouth.

“No, no… no…”

Heina shook her head, muttering like a madwoman. She crawled towards Yuri on her hands and knees. Her hand touched the hem of his snow-white clothes. Heina brought her face close to his feet, knelt, and sobbed.

“Please… please… spare this child… I’ll do anything you want. No… just kill me instead. Rather than killing more citizens of Constance in front of me… just cut off my head… I’m begging you like this. Please… please! Waaah…!”

Yuri lowered his gaze towards her. His eyebrows arched upwards as he looked at Heina, prostrate and begging. He was enraged that she was stopping him from beheading those who had insulted her. He spat out between his teeth.

“Get up, Heina…”

“I’m begging you, please… don’t kill the child… please… Waaah…”

The people watching Heina kneeling and begging the prince of the enemy nation were also heartbroken. The women wiped away tears with their sleeves, and the men clenched their bare fists with burning eyes.

“I told you not to make me say it twice. Get up right now, Heina.”

Yuri commanded her again in a cracked voice. Heina raised her tear-soaked face and looked at him.

“Please… like this… I’ll beg you like this. So please… Yuri… Waaah…”

Clear tears flowed down her cheeks, stained with filth. Heina called his name and pleaded, and Yuri frowned for a moment, staring down at her.

“…Damn it.”

Finally, he sheathed his sword. Then, he bent down and lifted her up in his arms. Hot tears flowed down her messed up, wet eyelashes, dripping from her chin.

“If you resist, the boy dies.”

Seeing Heina’s lips tremble slightly, Yuri continued speaking to her as if threatening her.

“So you better stay still.”

It seemed Yuri wasn’t going to kill the child. The tension that had been sweeping through her body instantly vanished. Heina’s body went limp. Yuri supported Heina’s waist and the back of her knees with both arms, lifted her up, and slowly began to walk.

Lucina’s palace was right before her eyes.

In her drooping eyes, she saw the sunflower lying on the ground. She also saw the woman next to it, hugging the child tightly and bowing her head repeatedly towards her.

Heina looked at them receding over Yuri’s shoulder and smiled through her tears. It was the most pathetic and saddest smile in the world.

* * *

As Yuri carried Heina through the palace gates, the guards guarding the palace were all startled and rushed over. Yuri’s appearance with her, covered in filth, was a mess, unlike when he had left.

“Lord Yuri, are you alright…”

“I’m going to the bathhouse. Order a maid to prepare the perfumed oil brought from Nike and the cleanest robe.”

“As you command.”

One of the guards bowed his head and quickly began running across the vast palace.

Yuri tightened his grip on Heina and began walking again. Each time he moved, rotten milk dripping from Heina’s hair left stains on the floor. Heina, entrusting her limp body to him, opened her unfocused eyes and muttered faintly.

“Because of dirty me, a stench is permeating beautiful Constance.”

“I don’t feel any difference between before and now.”

Yuri replied in a monotonous voice. Heina murmured with vacant eyes.

“I shouldn’t have come back in the first place. As that man said, I should have killed myself a long time ago.”

“Get a grip, Heina. I understand you’re shocked, but it’ll be a problem if you go crazy.”

Yuri’s robe, as white as snow, was stained and dirtied long ago as he carried Heina. Yuri silently stared straight ahead and moved his feet.

“They hated me. I saw anger in thousands of eyes, and sadness far beyond that anger, so I couldn’t muster the courage to face them for even a moment.”

Long tears flowed from Heina’s eyes again. She didn’t even blink.

“…Just kill me instead.”

Yuri suddenly stopped walking. Heina grabbed his collar and whispered, trembling slightly.

“Cut off my head in front of them. I’m dirty and ugly… so I don’t even have the courage to die alone… So… so won’t you just end my life? If it’s in front of the people of Constance, I think I can die honorably. So please…”

Heina couldn’t continue speaking because her throat was choked up. She was looking at him and crying. Her reddened eyes, her furrowed nose, and her rose-colored lips trembling with sadness filled Yuri’s eyes.

Her soaked hair reeked. Yuri slowly brushed a strand of hair from Heina’s forehead and opened his mouth.

“If I kill you in front of the people of Constance…”

Heina was a mess, but she was still beautiful. Yuri unknowingly tightened his arms around her. His gray eyes stared intently at her.

“Even if no one else does, I think that little boy who gave you flowers would be very sad.”

Yuri saw her hand, gripping his collar, tremble. Yuri smiled faintly.

“You know better than anyone that the look in that kid’s eyes wasn’t an act, right?”

“……”