Chapter 85 A Bloodstained Christmas Eve: Who truly deserves to die? ...
Viscount Schmidl's castle was not a traditional fortified castle, but a palace converted from an abandoned monastery after the first patriarch was granted the title. It sat atop a mountain peak, with a bottomless pool of water at the foot of a cliff. When Heinrich was a child, his father warned him never to play in that water—a terrifying monster lurked in the green pool that would drag him into the abyss.
As Heinrich grew up, he realized that the lake monster was nothing more than a white lie fabricated by adults to comfort children. The truly terrifying thing was not the menacing monster, but rather the blood relatives who appeared friendly on the surface but stabbed him in the back.
When his father received the poisoned wine from his younger brother, how could he have imagined it would be his final farewell? How could he have foreseen that the hands pouring the wine were not a pair of hands, but the venomous claws of a demon? Those hands had once embraced him, once held Heinrich's hands, teaching him how to wield a sword and kill. And now, Heinrich wore black leather gloves, his hands hidden beneath a soaked black cloak, gripping the hilt of a sword tightly.
The sky was overcast tonight, thick clouds obscuring the moon and stars, and the woods were shrouded in darkness. The warm yellow candlelight reflected in the French windows of the castle atop the mountain seemed like a fleeting dream. Heinrich remembered the Christmas before his departure, when he prayed one last time with his parents in the castle chapel.
Everyone eagerly awaited his wedding to Liliana, laughing, offering blessings, embracing, and reveling in joy. Heinrich believed he would soon become a responsible and considerate husband and a just and excellent lord. But Liliana's arrival disrupted everything, and Helmut's murder robbed him of his last glimmer of hope. Liliana, if it weren't for Liliana…
The image of his lover nestled in his arms flashed before his eyes. She had disrupted his plans time and again. He had once thought he could, like all wealthy and powerful men, possess the woman he loved and force her to become his wife. But he couldn't. It was precisely because he loved her deeply and respected her dignity from the bottom of his heart that he was happy for her and sad for her, and that he couldn't go against her wishes, even if her wish was to never see him again, he would be willing to grant it.
After all, people need other things to care about besides love. For Lilith, it was her financial career; for Heinrich, it was his target for revenge. Kill Helmut, free his mother from having to submit to others, free his younger siblings from living under someone else's roof... As for himself, what would happen after that? He didn't know.
Fighting to the death in a battle for revenge, perishing alongside the enemy—what a heroic death, almost as poignant as a hero in an ancient Greek tragedy. After parting ways with Lilith, Heinrich thought ending his life like this might not be so bad. It would achieve his goal while minimizing casualties among innocent bystanders. After being Lilith's lackey for so long, he realized he truly didn't care about fame or fortune. Titles, power, and money were not what he strived for. As for what he truly wanted, he didn't know.
He had thought that death might be the best ending for such a meaningless life. Until Lilith entered his world again, he finally felt his heart pounding wildly in his dazed body, and he felt the reality of being alive again. She was always like a burning fire, forever full of fiery energy and lofty ambition.
Therefore, he would never let Lilith risk her life for him. Rather than ruin her promising future here because of his personal grudges, she should live and return to Venice, which she loves, to face a brighter future. She doesn't need him to live well; she can handle conflict and threats with ease, and even fight back when in dire straits. She's so outstanding; if she wanted, she would definitely meet a partner who is more capable, more handsome, and better at making her happy than him…
Heinrich felt a pang of sadness at this thought. If he survived… regardless of whether Lilith would still want to be with him… he hoped he could become as resolute and always full of fighting spirit as she was. Even if some of her methods were too extreme, and he didn't completely agree with them, he admired her courage to never bow to difficulties and her determination to fight against fate to the very end.
He wanted to live. For Lilith, and even more so for himself.
He wanted Lilith to wear a wedding dress for him, to be his wife before his family and the people of his lands; he wanted to dance with her by the campfire on the night of St. Woppurgis; he wanted to go back to Venice with her, to free her from the prison-like marriage that bound her, to grant her the freedom she longed for. As for what he himself wanted to do… he didn't know yet, but he would find out someday. This wasn't a question that could be figured out overnight. He was still young, he still had the opportunity to explore this vast world, to become a better version of himself through pursuit and exploration.
The church bells rang, interrupting Heinrich's thoughts and quickly pulling him back to reality. Through the dense bushes and the stained-glass windows, he saw a man and a woman in elaborate robes kneeling before the altar, surrounded by servants. Heinrich turned and exchanged glances with his men lying in ambush nearby. Then, an arrow shot from a nearby hilltop, shattering the church's stained-glass window and knocking over the ornate metal candelabras on the altar. Immediately afterward, several more flaming arrows streaked across the night sky, and the church was instantly engulfed in flames.
Heinrich drew his longsword and calmly stepped over the window frame into the fire. His black cloak was soaked, and his face was covered by a bird-beak mask filled with filter material, making him look like a monster crawling out of purgatory. He quickly scanned his surroundings and found his uncle and mother among the fleeing priests and servants. Helmut held his hand tightly, trying to pull her away. Heinrich immediately rushed forward and swung his sword fiercely at his father's killer—but his mother sensed his attack and picked up a candlestick from the ground to block his blow.
"Mother……"
Heinrich immediately sheathed his sword, watching in disbelief as his mother shielded his father's killer from a fatal blow. Cries and shouts of battle, along with his mask, drowned out his soft murmurs.
After a year apart, his mother's complexion was rosy and radiant; she seemed not to have aged at all, but rather had become younger. Heinrich belatedly realized that she was no longer his mother, but Helmut's wife.
"Get out of the way," Heinrich snapped. His deep voice surprised even himself. He had almost forgotten that his voice had been distorted by smoke during the fire that burned Lilith's house to the ground, and could never be the same again.
But his mother stood firmly in front of Helmut, holding the candlestick high as a weapon, and shouted defiantly, "I will not let you hurt my family!"
Just as Heinrich was at a loss, his companion suddenly rushed forward and stabbed her in the heart, knocking his mother down in front of him.
"No!!!" Helmut screamed shrilly. Immediately afterward, a dozen or so armored guards, swords in hand, rushed out from behind him. They all drew their swords and pointed them at the unfamiliar intruder, their eyes filled with a death-defying resolve.
To Heinrich's surprise, not all of these people were Helmut's confidants; several faces were old men who had once served his father. He remembered that it was the bearded Hans who taught him how to ride a horse, the horse-faced Zieg who took him hunting in the paddock, and Johan who brought him Blitz, who had just been weaned, from the kennel of the pregnant and newborn dog at home…
All of this is because of Helmut.
Hatred and rage instantly filled Heinrich's heart. A primal, beast-like instinct for killing drove him to raise his sword and swing it at his former loved ones. Firelight, black smoke, sharp blades, and blood blinded him. Enemies and comrades fell one after another amidst the sounds of fighting and the clanging of metal, the sharp blades slicing through his skin time and again. Soon, Heinrich found himself alone behind him.
He had to retreat step by step until he reached the suspension bridge between the mountains outside the church. Suddenly, the crossbeams of the church roof collapsed, blocking several soldiers from following him. Heinrich took the opportunity to remove his blood-stained mask and discovered that only Helmut had followed him all this way.
Helmut looked very much like Heinrich's father; they both had light blond hair, high-bridged noses, deep-set eyes, and wrinkles that deepened with age. When Heinrich finally saw the face clearly by the flickering firelight, he even momentarily thought it was his father standing in front of him.
“You are…” Helmut lowered his sword almost instinctively the moment the other person removed his mask, “Heinrich?”
"Do you have any last words?" Heinrich seized the opportunity to suddenly raise his sword and place it against his neck; a little more force and he could sever his throat.
“You probably think I killed your father and that’s why I planned this attack,” Helmut said, surprisingly calmly. “But I have to tell you the truth for Claudia. She personally served the wine to your father after she found out he had been having more than a dozen illegitimate children behind her back.”
"You're talking nonsense!" Heinrich exclaimed in shock. "My parents had such a good relationship, how could this be..."
“She used to think the same way,” Helmut sighed. “Claudia gave almost everything to play the role of a good mother and wife in front of you, only to be betrayed by the husband she trusted her whole life. She almost thought of ending it all, but for your younger siblings, she…”
Heinrich couldn't bear to listen any longer. Reflexively, he swung his sword and severed Helmut's head. All his previous understanding of family crumbled along with the burning castle and church. His year of scheming, love, and hate was more absurd than any farce. He had thought his parents were the happiest couple in the world; he had thought he had a harmonious and happy family—all destroyed by Helmut's murder. But the way his mother stood resolutely in front of him clearly demonstrated their love.
Perhaps Helmut wasn't lying to him at all. His true "father's killer" was his mother, who killed someone who perhaps truly deserved to die. Then what was Heinrich's purpose in all this? Was it to vent his foolish, ill-fated anger by recklessly pushing his most cherished family and friends into the fire? His mother had finally managed to end the life of her truly deserving father and live the life she wanted with the person she had chosen, only to have it all destroyed by him.
He finally understood why Lilith had insisted on killing him. After all, his father had only made a mistake that "all men in the world" would make. How could Lilith, as his fiancée, be so sure that the man who was going to marry her wouldn't commit the same crime?
Yes, perhaps killing him was the best course of action. It's better than being kept in the dark for most of her life like his mother, only to realize the truth later. Even without Heinrich as a threat, Lilith could live a wonderful life. His existence was utterly meaningless, a complete joke.
Heinrich lowered his head, looked into the bottomless pool below the suspension bridge, closed his eyes, and jumped in.
-----------------------
Author's Note: I spent a long time writing this chapter, and I'm very happy with the final result. I hope you all like it too!
The next chapter will be even more exciting tomorrow! [starry-eyed] Daily updates until the end!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
