Wicked Husband-Chapter 153 - 152

That was all. The single sheet of paper contained no grievances about her unjust treatment, no mention of those who had slandered her, and no reproach toward Cesare for failing to protect her. Even after reading the letter repeatedly, Cesare found nothing more.

If only she had written down her anger or sorrow—at least then he could have heard her voice for a little longer.

The sensation of blood splattering across his cheek snapped Cesare out of his hallucination. Smiling faintly, he watched nobles fall one by one, their throats slashed by sharp blades.

It didn’t take long for all the nobles of the capital to be executed. A massacre of such scale would be forever etched into the annals of Traon’s history.

***

Cesare occasionally regretted the slaughter he had committed before turning back time. Consumed by rage, he had killed every noble in the capital on the same day, leaving him unable to fully investigate the circumstances of Eileen’s death.

At the time, seeking the truth had felt meaningless. What did it matter who bore the blame? The dead would not return. All Cesare had wanted then was to ensure Eileen received a proper memorial.

Now, however, that decision had become a poison.

Eileen’s death had been too smooth, too swift, to have been orchestrated solely by spies from the Kingdom of Kalpen. Even if the Kalpen king had planted seeds of conspiracy to tarnish Cesare’s name, the rapidity and efficiency of the events hinted at deeper complicity.

The king of Kalpen had been captured, and the crown prince’s resistance forces were being dismantled when Eileen was executed. At such a time, Kalpen’s agents within the empire should have been paralyzed, uncertain of where their loyalties lay.

Even if the Kalpen king had ordered her death in advance, the execution would not have proceeded so seamlessly without internal help.

There had to have been someone within the empire who had orchestrated or facilitated Eileen’s downfall.

But now, Cesare was in a time where Eileen had yet to be condemned. He moved with caution, determined not to repeat his past mistakes.

This time, he planned to unravel the web from the bottom up, sparing those who had not yet sinned while methodically eliminating those tied to Eileen’s demise.

The blood on his hands was inevitable, but he would keep it hidden from Eileen as much as possible.

This wasn’t her sin; it was his. Yet Eileen, with her compassionate heart, would undoubtedly take all the blame upon herself.

***

"What do you desire, Cesare? Please, tell me."

That was why Cesare couldn’t be honest with her, even though she pleaded for the truth.

To admit that he had turned back time because of her death. To confess that he had taken countless lives and even destroyed his own body in the process. Such truths would shatter her completely.

But he couldn’t hide it forever. The gods had given him the power to rewind time and alter the past—not for eternal happiness, but at great cost. To save one life required sacrifices of equal weight.

Cesare was prepared to die. He intended to finish everything before his time ran out.

Someday, he would tell Eileen the truth—that all of this was for her—or, rather, because of his selfish desire to bring her back.

For now, he guided her gently toward the truth, hoping she could piece it together herself without breaking.

Watching Eileen stand firm, holding back tears as she waited for his answer, Cesare couldn’t resist pulling her into an embrace. She resisted, pushing him away, but he paid no mind.

If he had cared about granting her wishes, he would never have turned back time to begin with.

"My desire has always been just one thing."

He would accept death willingly, but he could not bear for Eileen to forget him. Selfishly, sinfully, Cesare wanted to remain immortal in her memory forever.

The perpetrator of the gunfire at the hunting festival was captured on the spot by Grand Duke Erzet’s soldiers.

Though the assailant denied their crime, the weapon found at the scene bore evidence of two fired shots, leaving no room for doubt. Furthermore, it was revealed that the assailant had made a living through illicit contracts, solidifying their guilt beyond dispute.

The lingering question was the identity of the person who had ordered the assassination. Who dared orchestrate an attempt on Grand Duke Erzet’s life?

This wasn’t the first attempt on the Grand Duke’s life. Even during the banquet celebrating his victory over Kalpen, there had been an attack. However, none had been as brazen and violent as this one. The gunfire in front of so many witnesses was tantamount to an open declaration of rebellion against the Traon imperial family.

The soldiers cordoned off the forest where the hunting festival had been held and conducted thorough inspections of every noble present, rifling through their belongings. Faced with the unprecedented situation, none dared resist. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The investigation pointed to Count Bonaparte as the mastermind behind the assassination.

The count pleaded his innocence, but it was futile. Surrounded by the Grand Duke’s knights, he was dragged to the interrogation chamber alongside the captured assailant.

No one came to the count’s aid. In less serious cases, fellow nobles might have supported him, arguing for his innocence or at least mitigating his punishment.

But this was different—Grand Duke Erzet had been shot. His skin had been pierced by a bullet, and someone had to take the blame. The nobles, desperate to end the ordeal, offered Count Bonaparte as a sacrificial lamb.

While chaos gripped the empire, the Grand Duke, the very center of the storm, was recuperating at his mansion in the capital.

Through La Verità, the Grand Duke assured the public of his safety. The people, furious at Count Bonaparte’s attempt to assassinate their hero, left flowers at the gates of the Grand Duke’s mansion as a show of support and solidarity.

Count Bonaparte continued to proclaim his innocence, but each new piece of evidence only confirmed his involvement in the assassination plot.

In the whirlwind of events, the rumor that Eileen had distributed Aspiria for free at the hunting festival quietly vanished, swept away without a trace.

* * *