A Summer With Bitter Rivals - Chapter 124

Chapter 124: The One More Precious Than Life

At his desperate plea, Zenon stared at him in surprise.

Perhaps it was because he had only just regained consciousness—he wailed without regard for those around him.

It was to the point that onlookers felt pity just watching.

After watching him for a moment, Zenon realized his feelings were sincere.

Bernard Delzeier was not the kind of man to forsake his pride and cling so desperately, even in a moment of panic.

To reassure him, Zenon gently wrapped his own hand around the Duke’s trembling one, which was clutching his clothes.

Though his own hand was shaking as well, Zenon calmly asked, “Then… please tell me. Your Grace must have been with Emeline. Where did you fall from?”

Clutching his chest as if still unable to catch his breath, Bernard pounded his heart with his thick hand and answered, “Near the stairs… on the left side of the second floor. That’s the last place I saw her before we separated…”

The second floor…

Zenon felt like he wanted to shut his eyes tightly.

He was relieved it wasn’t higher, but that didn’t ease his sense of dread.

“I happened to be standing on a part that hadn’t collapsed and made it down through the right corridor… But Emeline wasn’t so lucky… I saw the floor she was standing on give way… Please, I beg you, just get her out.”

“……”

As he listened to him speak, an indescribable feeling washed over Zenon. He was terrified of what state Emeline might be in.

But even so, he couldn’t just sit and wait for the rescue team.

‘I haven’t kept any of the promises I made yet, Emeline…’

Without her, everything lost meaning.

Zenon’s expression was clouded for a moment, but soon his gaze hardened with resolute clarity as he looked at the Duke.

The same solemn gaze he always had when he looked at Emeline.

The gaze she loved most.

“Of course.”

“……”

“Your Grace, Emeline is more precious to me than my own life. So I will… absolutely bring her back. She will be safe.”

Bernard could only stare blankly at his confident eyes, which radiated undeniable trust.

He realized then that Zenon wasn’t just saying those words—he was convincing himself, too.

Zenon pulled up the corners of his trembling mouth in a faint smile, then gently released the Duke’s hand.

Then, without hesitation, he rushed into the place he would risk his life to enter.

The desperate urgency in his heart was palpable even from his back.

Bernard, staring after him, eventually dropped his gaze in silence.

“Father, have you lost your mind? How could you do something so vile to someone who risked his life to save me?”

It was something Emeline had once said to him after the angel statue incident at Edelroa.

‘…I see.’

He let out a hollow sigh, filled with regret and realization.

When he looked again at the entrance to Edelroa, Zenon Trancium had already disappeared deep inside the building.

Closing his eyes tightly, Bernard began to pray desperately.

That his daughter might return safely.

That she and Zenon Trancium might be reunited without harm.

***

“Haa…”

Emeline crouched among the rubble, panting heavily.

Her body felt as heavy as if soaked through.

Thankfully, she hadn’t been crushed by any large debris—but that didn’t mean she had escaped unscathed.

Her legs refused to support her properly.

Emeline blankly stared into the dim surroundings, where all power had been lost.

Breathing grew increasingly difficult.

‘I must have… overexerted myself earlier.’

When the floor beneath her collapsed, Emeline had managed to cling to a section of the second floor that was still intact.

As she dangled there, debris from the upper floors came crashing down.

Though she narrowly avoided the larger chunks, smaller stones pelted her shoulders and body.

Afraid she’d be swept away and die if she fell, she clung on and slowly crawled upward.

She finally managed to step onto the second floor.

Fortunately, the left corridor where Emeline was located had barely held together.

But attempting to move forward with her weakened body to avoid the debris had proven difficult.

In the darkness, she tripped over a fragment of a statue she hadn’t seen.

The body she had forced to keep going gave out at just that one shock.

She couldn’t even move a finger now.

‘I heard they completed the repairs and even did a final inspection…’

She tried to think as usual, but Emeline gave up.

Just moments ago, she had fought to crawl forward, and now her torn white gloves came into view.

Her appearance probably looked no better than those gloves.

Even just lying still, her body was too heavy to manage.

And so, overwhelmed by the hopelessness she felt, a faint smile broke through instead of tears.

‘Zenon…’

The memory of smiling at him just that morning felt like a mirage. She didn’t know why it seemed so far away.

‘Were we never meant to be together in the first place…?’

They had only just begun to be together, and then this happened.

Would they only be able to be together in peace after death and rebirth?

She hated the world that stood in their way so cruelly.

They had come so far, step by step, right up to the goal—and yet, in mere minutes, it had vanished beyond reach. It felt deeply unfair.

‘Maybe from the beginning… there was never a fate that could be changed.’

If they had just walked separate paths, if they had never been aware of each other—

Would things have turned out differently?

“No, and I swear this is the truth. We actually ran into each other by chance quite a lot. Honestly, about half of it was coincidence.”

“People don’t usually run into each other that often by coincidence.”

“Then I guess we’re fated.”

A playful voice rose in her mind, and Emeline slowly opened her eyes again.

‘They say if a coincidence happens enough times, it becomes destiny.’

Her breath, which had slowed as if fading, now surged with a sudden heave.

It was the swell of emotion that brought tears rushing to her eyes.

Zenon had never lied to her.

All those coincidences were real. They were fate, and destiny, and everything.

With trembling breath, Emeline painfully lifted her aching upper body.

‘We still… haven’t fulfilled a single promise.’

To give up so helplessly now felt unbearably foolish.

She had promises to keep—and had finally gotten the chance to chase her dreams.

More than anything, she had only just now become able to hold Zenon’s hand.

At last, she could fulfill the promise they had once exchanged in his arms—to get married.

‘If I just survive this, if I can just get out of here safely…’

Emeline wiped away the tears clouding her vision with her dirtied gloves.

Then she stood up and, without hesitation, pulled off the worn-out white gloves.

When she willed it, her body somehow obeyed.

‘I came to this building with Father so often, I know exactly where everything is.’

Avoiding the debris scattered irregularly across the floor, she headed toward the left corridor.

The floor was pitted with holes in places, so she couldn’t afford a single moment of carelessness.

Ignoring the sway of her unsteady body, she moved forward and finally found the stairs leading down.

A ragged breath escaped her lips. The lower floor would likely be even more devastated by the fallen debris, but there was no way out from the upper level.

Just as Emeline took a trembling breath and was about to step onto the treacherous stairs—

“Is anyone there? Please, help us…!”

A voice crying for help came from above.

‘Wait… Father said he cleared out the guests to make time with me, but didn’t send away a few key figures.’

Emeline stopped in her tracks and glanced down at her disheveled state, then turned to head upstairs.

‘If more of the building collapses now, I’ll be caught up in it too even if I’m on the first floor.’

That was simply her fate. Whether she went to the people above or not, the outcome might be the same.

Emeline had never thought of herself as someone who would step up to save others, but this time was different.

She had just been in that same terror herself. She knew too well what that fear felt like. How could she ignore that voice?

‘And more than anything… if they’re the ones Father kept back, they must be important people.’

It would be strange to ignore those who could prove useful one way or another.