ERTHMB Chapter 178

Begged-For Need

He could not tolerate those who coveted his position above all else. Those who lunged at him without knowing their place needed to realize their position even more.

So Beelzebuth broke Ian’s swords as soon as he saw them.

Yet Ian stubbornly wielded new swords and swept through the training grounds, until his limbs were finally broken and he seemed to realize something, beginning to hide.

Beelzebuth’s interest in talent that briefly sparkled and fizzled out quickly cooled. Beelzebuth no longer needed to endure watching that irritating silver tail.

However, as each year passed, the thorns in his eye multiplied, and Beelzebuth wanted to sit in a position where he didn’t have to tolerate such irritations.

So he decided to do just that.

It started with the 3rd Prince. Disguised as a carriage accident, he was pushed off a cliff.

Next was Marquis Eren’s family, the maternal relatives of the 2nd Prince. On the day of his cousin’s reception, he released a viper into Lady Eren’s dress.

Then came his uncle who smacked his lips in anticipation, the 5th Prince’s fiancée, the Emperor’s close aide knight, the powerful families who opposed his words…

He anchored himself deep in the imperial palace and erased them one by one. Drawing his sword before words, it was easy to rule through fear.

Beelzebuth wanted to stand as an irresistible force itself, and the day he dropped his father’s head, he completely became one.

“Please don’t feel wronged, Father. It was mine to begin with.”

When he reclaimed the stained crown, he saw the vermin he had been too insignificant to even notice.

How well they had held their breath and lived. Like mother, like children.

Without need for schemes, Beelzebuth unhesitatingly thrust his sword in.

—I love you, Ian.

Her mouth still babbling even as she died was annoying, so he deliberately twisted the blade as he pulled it out. Words he had never once heard made his eardrums ache.

Ian embraced his fallen mother’s body and said:

[I will definitely return, Brother. I will definitely stand in this place again and draw blood from your throat.]

Beelzebuth was inwardly impressed. It was something he hadn’t seen in a long time. Eyes that trembled with fear yet held not a shred of terror.

For the pleasure of stepping on a wriggling worm, instead of killing Ian immediately, Beelzebuth sold him as a slave.

He was curious whether those eyes could remain the same even buried in the mud. The more upright something was, the more pleasure there was in breaking it.

‘How arrogant a thought that was.’

Eight years later, Beelzebuth blamed himself for the first time.

Because Ian had returned, just as he had declared.

The eyes he possessed were entirely those of a predator. Beelzebuth barely managed to preserve his life by fleeing, the price for not being torn apart.

The damp streets and hard, rotting bread that Ian must have experienced became his shelter and meals. But he could not end his story with such a wretched conclusion.

The story of Beelzebuth Roel Knight Fevernheim had only just turned its first page. Driving out his wicked younger brother and reclaiming the throne was his destiny and ending. That alone had to remain as the world’s justice.

Fortunately, Beelzebuth knew how to win. He didn’t believe in the luck that protagonists commonly mistook—that victory was on their side.

He simply believed in the desperation and rage that could bring victory. He only pulled up those with such qualities and placed them under his feet.

Perhaps that was why.

[Magnolias that bloom in spring are truly beautiful, they say. Are you trying to die without even seeing them?]

He had brought Natasha into his fold.

He had merely thought to raise the young thing to his liking. He had never considered how the warmth of his back, offered so readily, would lodge itself in her heart.

He had never felt the need, and since it was something he had never done, it was unfamiliar. Struggling to master unfamiliar things he didn’t even need was what losers did.

[You don’t know how fortunate I am that Beelze appeared in my life. When I walk down the road or ride a boat with Beelze, I already feel like I’ve arrived at my destination.]

So it didn’t matter whether she regarded him as her salvation. If she could play the role of scissors cutting away a loose thread and be of help to him, she already had sufficient use.

Beelzebuth also knew how to add value to that usefulness.

His red gaze turned to the communication device screen before him.

“As soon as the Grand Duke’s forces are sent, prepare for battle at Kiera Plains, Natasha.”

It was an order he issued after instructing her to disband the assassins he had attached to Helena.

Natasha, who had been answering obediently, closed her mouth for a moment. She maintained quite a long silence, then blinked her eyes as if understanding the intent. Even after that, it took her a long while to finally murmur:

“You plan to use my army as bait.”

Five thousand in the guerrilla force infiltrating the imperial palace, three fleets arriving at Rusia Bay, another twenty thousand at Thebe Plateau.

And if they mobilized Eugene Evergale’s forces that Natasha would soon trade for with her outrageous act, there would be four fleets.

Among them, only three thousand could be deployed to Kiera Plains.

However, since it had been a major strategic point until now, Ian would deploy at least ten thousand cavalry and twenty thousand infantry there. And he would minimize Thebe Plateau.

That was the point.

To become a trap to overwhelm Ian numerically.

Perhaps gauging her woefully insufficient forces, Natasha’s complexion turned murky like muddy water.

“Then I’ll die, Beelze.”

She answered, fumbling with her dry lips, but Beelzebuth merely nodded nonchalantly.

“That’s why I gave you that. Did you forget your pledge?”

At the place Beelzebuth pointed to, Natasha’s hand gripping the dagger trembled. She struggled to forcibly relax her stiff expression and asked with difficulty:

“Don’t you… don’t you have anything to say to me? This might be the last time.”

He knew what Natasha was expecting. Whether tears or his imagination, the corners of her eyes glistened.

Beelzebuth exhaled a faint sigh and shook his head. A sobbing sound came from Natasha. Beelzebuth’s sigh deepened.

This was why loving things were tiresome.

****

After ending the communication, Natasha packed up a heavy oil can and matchbox and opened the villa door.

Entering what had once been her room, she felt a strange sentiment. The dust-laden space was the same as before she left, but it smelled of settled death.

The furniture, the white walls, the surrounding air. Everything was gloomily dead.

Standing in the middle of it, Natasha gazed down at another death. The dagger carved with skull patterns was something she always carried with her like a second heart.

The first gift she had received, proof that she had officially become his person, the day she finally stood before him as a woman.

Natasha recalled the year she held her coming-of-age ceremony at eighteen.

Outside, a feast was in full swing celebrating the young people who had become adults and were recognized as official members of the revolutionary army.

Natasha turned her eyes from the commotion and looked up at Beelzebuth standing before her.

At first, no matter how much she craned her neck, she could barely capture that fine face in her eyes—he was such a lofty person. The eye level that had somehow grown closer was unbelievable yet so pleasing that Natasha couldn’t suppress the emerging smile.

He and she would stand in the same place like this, looking at the same things. Forever.

[Take it.]

As she smiled shyly, Beelzebuth handed her something. It was a dagger quite heavy for its size.

[From now on, you’ll officially go on missions too. Use it if you’re caught. You know where to stab to kill a person instantly, right? You should know at least how to cut off a cat’s tail by now.]

Unable to hide her joy, the smile embedded in Natasha’s lips deepened.

So this was a gift. Something Beelzebuth had specially given for her, thinking of her safety.

Natasha bowed with a beaming face and turned to leave. Beelzebuth caught her with a [Wait.]

[If necessary… use it to cut throats too.]

He added, lest there be any misunderstanding.

[Even if it’s your own throat, Nat. I trust you’ll have no hesitation.]

Click.

With the sound of the blade fitting into the sheath, Natasha’s consciousness returned to the present.

Natasha forcibly recalled his voice she had heard just moments ago.

[I have no failed subordinates, Natasha. I only have my people who succeed or die honorably.]

A voice devoid of warmth, one she had heard ad nauseam for more than a decade.

Natasha knew. From the moment she took his hand, only two choices had been given to her.

Succeed or die.

Beelzebuth didn’t want assassins who returned after failing missions. He wanted victors who accomplished them even in death.

Natasha gathered her long blonde hair and lifted the dagger to cut it off. The brilliant locks of hair fluttered down to the floor.

Trampling on them carelessly, Natasha sprinkled oil throughout the room.

‘But what should I do, Beelze?’

Her hand trembled as she lit the last match.

“I want to live.”

Knowing it was a wish that didn’t suit her station, she vaguely hoped anyway.

‘I struggled my whole life to stand by your side. But you never once came down to me. Still, it’s okay, because I can go to you. Even if the moment comes when you don’t want me, I’ll live to the end and guard your side.’

With her last wish, the flame fell.

The villa was engulfed in massive flames in an instant.

****

“Wait!”

Helena hurriedly stopped Ian from immediately destroying the brooch.

When Ian frowned in puzzlement, Helena took the brooch back from his grip and thought:

‘Now that I know Natasha is Cheshire… very suspicious. Why did she release me? What is she trying to do by stirring up the situation? The person who would be most disturbed by my escape is actually Eugene rather than Ian.’

Unable to find an answer easily, Helena approached it more fundamentally.

‘Of course, it was also to buy time. Then anyway, it’s to divert attention…’

Helena looked alternately at Ian and Elai and asked:

“Do you happen to have a map of Rihalt?”

Elai responded by unfolding something folded several times from his bosom.

As she scanned Rihalt’s coastline with her eyes, Helena asked next:

“Where are the military strategic points?”

This time the answer came from Ian.

“Primarily Kiera Plains and Rusia Bay, and the guards and units to defend the imperial palace, and Thebe Plateau.”

Helena tapped her chin thoughtfully, then met Ian’s eyes.

“The fact that you’re here means there’s someone reliable at the imperial palace. Is that commander at a level to handle Beelzebuth?”

“Currently Heidi is preparing, and she’ll soon move to Thebe Plateau.”

At the familiar yet long-unheard name, Helena’s eyes widened.

“…Heidi? That small, delicate sister of yours?”