Swan Grave - Chapter 51

She deliberately pretended not to notice that wound. She thought there was no need to know…

She should have asked at least once. She should have stroked his hand, saying it must have hurt… Instead, she felt relieved at the sight of a child pretending to be fine and turned away from it all.

Belated regret shook her. A scream filled with grief rose up, but only the hissing sound of escaping air came out of her throat.

As if Anna’s tormented groans were the sweetest sound, Rothbart sneered as he continued.

“That little child split his palm with a dagger and bled until the summoning circle was soaked through. It was so pitiful… Well, it doesn’t matter to you, does it? Since he was a child you abandoned from the start.”

Rothbart’s eyes curved, and joy filled his red gaze. His humming voice cut into Anna, who stood helplessly.

“Do you feel sorry for Svan? Even though you never remembered Svan or me? While we longed for you and writhed in pain, you were laughing with your so-called ‘love’… You must pay the price.”

From Rothbart’s words, Anna realized that the letter she had left behind had never reached him. Though she had hidden it deeply, it wasn’t beyond finding, which meant someone must have deliberately intercepted it.

And she could vaguely guess who that was. Duke Albert, who hated his own son and spent over twenty years driving him into misery. It must have been him.

If it meant making Rothbart writhe with even greater betrayal, he would have destroyed however many letters it took.

When she left, she had thought she would never return and hoped his hatred would continue. That way, at least, she could remain with him. But that was only Anna’s selfishness. Because of it, Rothbart suffered, and even Svanhild was dragged into it.

The misunderstanding that spread under her silence had flared up like wildfire. To set it straight, Anna hurried to speak.

“…There was never such a thing as someone I loved. It was only…”

“That no longer matters much.”

Rothbart cut off Anna’s words with a rough shake of his head, as if he didn’t want to hear them. Whether it truly didn’t matter, or whether it was compromise and resignation, she couldn’t tell.

“You must have had your reasons for wanting to return. But in the end, it doesn’t change the fact that you abandoned me and Svan. I’m tired of being swayed by the whereabouts of your love. Now I… will focus only on definite results.”

Rothbart reached out and grabbed Anna’s neck. He didn’t use any strength, just encircled it with his hand. His fingertips undid the buttons beneath the collar of her neck one by one.

“Not love and trust… but sin and punishment.”

Anna couldn’t move. It felt as if every fingertip had been covered in paraffin and hardened still.

“Eleven years ago, I was the one deceived. I let my guard down, thinking everything would go as I wished just because of something as trivial as pregnancy. So this time… I tricked you in the same way.”

Rothbart’s lips touched Anna’s cheek. The feel of his skin against hers carried no warmth, like that of a corpse.

“Like the foolish past me, you’ll only realize something is wrong after giving birth.”

Pregnancy was only ever used for each one’s purpose.

For Duke Albert, it was a promise to his wife. For Anna, it was the price to learn how to return to her original world. For Rothbart, it was the means to pin down his wife…

Dignity of life, love for a child, all of it was absent. It was nothing more than an act to be used.

Anna’s hands had also aided in that sin. Therefore, swallowing the byproduct of that sin was her burden to bear.

“Mm!”

Rothbart’s lips swallowed Anna’s mouth. The atmosphere, which until just moments ago had only been quietly simmering, suddenly shifted.

His tongue snatched away every apology that had been lingering inside Anna’s mouth. As he ravaged her mouth, he seized her and dragged her onto the bed. Anna was helplessly pulled along, and soon after, she was thrown onto the bed.

Startled by the sudden situation, Anna clutched her dizzy head and tried to rise, but Rothbart’s body pressed her down first. He deftly loosened the cravat constricting his neck. His gaze, looking down at Anna, was grim. On top of that, with the moonlight at his back, shadows deepened, making it difficult to discern his expression.

“I had originally planned to wait until after you bore a child to reveal everything. To tell you it was all a lie. That with such a method, you would never be able to return to your original world.”

He wanted Anna to feel the pain of all trust and faith collapsing. Just as much as he had suffered, Anna too needed to endure agony…

“But… I began to waver at the sight of the way you looked at me. At each meaningless little action of yours, my fury began to ease. After all the gnashing of teeth, it felt so futile!”

Though he had resolved to exact bitter revenge on her, every time she, knowing nothing, showed him pure kindness, his heart shook. The moment he began to think that starting anew with Anna, who remembered nothing, might not be so bad, Rothbart couldn’t help but admit that his will was pathetically weak.

“So I pushed the plan forward. I decided to trust you once again… and decide how to deal with you.”

Rothbart lifted Anna’s chin with his finger. Her jaw trembled finely. Feeling the sweet fear flowing through his fingertips, Rothbart spoke slowly.

“Today… whether you would try to return to your original world once again by following that fool, or whether you would stay here.”

Indeed. It had been strange from the start that Sehyun had managed to escape from Odile. All of it had been within the demon’s grasp.

If that was the case… Then Sehyun too wouldn’t have returned to the original world. The future laid out before Sehyun would likely be no different from Anna’s. The fate of a swan who met a demon might, in the end, be just that.

Breaking through Anna’s thoughts, Rothbart pronounced judgment.

“But in the end, you left me.”

“I…”

Though she had no intention of leaving this time, in the end, she had planned to receive clothes from Sehyun. Anna, who couldn’t bring herself to claim innocence, kept her mouth shut.

But merely staying silent and receiving his punishment in full wasn’t atonement. Fully realizing the weight of her sins, Anna clung desperately to Rothbart.

“I won’t ask you to forgive me. Just…”

“Why not? Try asking for forgiveness. Of course… my forgiveness is another matter.”

The walls Rothbart had built in his heart were solid. Like strata hardened after accumulating over thousands of years, he didn’t budge in the slightest as he looked down devoutly at Anna.

“I won’t let you be free any longer.”

Rothbart’s hand slid past her waist and lifted her skirt. His fingers, trailing down Anna’s thigh, finally reached her slender ankle.

He stroked the protruding ankle bone as he murmured, “From now on, I will engrave each and every character of the demonic decree… Shackles alone are not enough for me to rest easy.”

“…What?”

Before Anna could ask again, Rothbart moved first. The sharp, cold sensation of a blade slicing her skin spread vividly.

“Ahhk!”

A scorching pain seared her leg. Struggling to rise, Anna at last saw what was happening to her leg. A blue blade, about the size of a palm, glinting under the moonlight, was mercilessly tearing into her ankle. It must have been something Rothbart had prepared in advance for this very moment…

The wound widened steadily. With unbearable agony like fire clinging to her flesh, Anna flailed unconsciously. But she couldn’t escape the rough grip of Rothbart’s hand.

“Ahh, ahhhh…”

“Even your screams are sweet, Anna…”

Anna’s gaping mouth spilled out indistinct sounds. Her body writhed on the bed, disheveling the sheets, but Rothbart didn’t budge until he had inscribed the entire magic circle into her leg.