To My First Love, With Regret - 42

—Don’t let him die.

Mikey turned the unconscious Duke onto his stomach to prevent blood from blocking his airway, and tore a piece of cloth to place in his mouth to stop the bleeding. In the meantime, Ethan gazed down at the lump of flesh in his hand for a moment before dropping it onto the floor with a soft thud.

His black shoe stomped down, crushing the red tongue into a pulp. Only then did Ethan breathe a long sigh, as if he finally felt some relief, and patted his subordinate’s shoulder.

—Let’s go.

Just as Mikey slung the Duke over his shoulder like a piece of game, the tenacious old man, whose will to live was commendably strong, awoke and groaned. Ethan showed kindness to the man who would be his companion for the next few days.

—Duke, we are going to spend quite a long time alone together. If you keep me entertained, I will tell you a story you will undoubtedly want to hear before you die.

He took a puff from a newly lit cigarette before revealing the nature of his gift.

—The end of your son, Harry. It is a story only I can tell you.

As they boldly kidnapped the patient, there wasn’t a single soul in the hallway, and no one dared to look out.

The nurse, who was alone at the station, pretended not to see them, as if they were ghosts. Of course, she would testify to the police that the patient had simply vanished without a trace.

In this manner, the Duke of Kentrell disappeared, leaving behind only his crushed tongue.

Two weeks later, a white, skeletal remains wrapped in smelly fish paper were delivered to Eve. It was confirmed to be her father’s remains because a finger with flesh still attached was sent along in a jar of formalin.

Eve wished to return the favor for his kindness, but regrettably, there was no sender’s address.

Thus, the 16th Duke of Kentrell, Henry Sherwood, passed away. The one who succeeded him as the 17th Duke of Kentrell was Anthony Sherwood. Legally, he was her son, but he was the seed of the foul demons whom the Duke had despised and shuddered at until his last breath.

The Duke’s death was not an end for Ethan Fairchild, who was unaware of this fact. It was merely the beginning of the vengeance he had risked everything for.

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A gleaming, luxurious sedan, polished to a shine, stopped in front of the castle chapel where the holy wedding was to be held. Ethan, watching the groom step out of the back seat from a distance, mashed the cigarette between his teeth.

That sick pervert bastard, he actually did it.

He laughed at his own thought and ground the unsmoked cigarette under the sole of his shoe.

She’s not even my lover anymore, so what if she shacks up with some pervert.

He waited for Mikey to light a new cigarette before letting out a sigh along with the cigarette smoke. Through the hazy smoke, he gazed at the groom, who was surrounded by guests and receiving congratulations, and asked his subordinate,

—Is there a word for an uninvited guest whose purpose is not congratulations?

—If the Boss doesn’t know, how should I know?

—Because I got my university degree through the back door.

At his self-deprecation, Mikey fumbled for a reply, stammering. Kingsbridge University was one of the triggers for His Highness, the Crown Prince of the Underworld, and must be avoided. Fortunately, the young Boss quickly changed the subject this time.

—What is the word for a husband who comes to watch his wife marry another man?

A cuckolded fool?

Mikey clamped his mouth shut, not wanting to attend the family Christmas dinner as a skeleton.

Is he planning to hit every type of trigger today?

The young Boss was about to play target practice with his triggers for a while, and Mikey needed to be on high alert if he didn’t want to get shot by accident.

—I haven’t even seen the inside of a university, so I wouldn’t know.

—We don’t hire gangsters based on their degrees, anyway.

—I actually wanted to go to college, sir. But there was no major in Smuggling Economics or Back-Alley Diplomacy, so I couldn’t.

—Ha… Mikey, how will I live without you?

Ethan burst out laughing and turned his gaze away from the crowd. As he turned around, the broad, green fields of early summer stretched out beneath his feet.

—Whitecliff Hall.

The manor, which occupied the field like a ruler, had weathered more than a decade of storms atop the cliff but seemed completely undiminished. He, however, was worn down.

—A bountiful Eden. Built upon the corpses of the powerless.

Ethan found his past self ridiculous. To have believed that place was a paradise no one dared to covet.

Paradise? It’s a den of demons.

No one can covet it? He had slowly gnawed away at the Kentrell Dukedom from the roots for ten years. The only reason the Sherwoods hadn’t collapsed yet was purely because the guardian demon of their family was exceptionally tough.

But that woman was not a hindrance to Ethan’s grand plan; she was an indispensable tool. Once the true obstacle, the young Duke, was removed, the Kentrell Dukedom would be his.

Ethan’s gaze shifted to the white lighthouse at the edge of the cliff, which was connected to the manor by a winding path. It was as if his dear grandfather’s voice was carried on the sea breeze.

—If you only look at the summit, you’ll never reach it. You’ll be overwhelmed by the goal and give up on your own.

The Captain was right, after all. Slowly, step by step, without rushing. He had climbed by stepping on his enemies one by one, and now the summit was within sight.

My final chapter of revenge has begun.

As the black sedan, which must have been carrying the bride, left the manor and started racing toward the church, Ethan sharply tightened the knot of his black necktie, which he had deliberately left loose.

It was time to trample the devil’s paradise.

The first step was to turn the holy wedding into a vulgar nightmare.

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Even after the wedding, sis lives here with us, Eve’s sister had taught Tony. She explained that the tradition was for a male family member to take the bride’s arm and guide her to the groom.

After explaining, she had asked:

—Tony, can you do that?

Of course, he could do it. He turned nine last month, after all.

But he didn’t want to.

But still, he didn’t want to. He didn’t know why he didn’t want to.

If I don’t go, the wedding can’t happen, right?

As the wedding approached, now only an hour away, Tony hid in his mother’s bedroom. That was because his mother always took Tony’s side, even when his sister scolded him, and his sister, who had a bad relationship with their mother, would never dare to enter here.

His mother wasn’t in the bedroom. This was his chance. Tony went into the dressing room, opened the closet, and used a coat hanger to defeat the monstrous dress-ghost.

Thwack! Thwack, thwack!

He was out of breath from fighting so hard. He dropped the hanger and collapsed onto the carpet. As he gasped for air, he saw his reflection in the mirror. His blonde hair, which his mother had forced him to slick back neatly with pomade—even though he hated looking like a stupid doctor—was wildly messed up.

Good. He messed it up even more with his hands. Then, outside, the bedroom door quietly opened and then shut with a thud. Whispering voices followed.

Is Mom here?

Tony peeked into the bedroom and froze on the spot. His mother and Tony’s doctor, Dr. Kallas, were pressing their lips together.

—Sigh, mm, mmm…

His mother was kissing a man who was not his father. But adults said kissing was only for people in love.

She said she loved Father…?

Maybe now that he was dead, she was allowed to love another man.

But doesn’t Dr. Kallas love Eve? That’s why he’s getting married today, right?

But instead of going to Eve, his bride, Dr. Kallas knelt before the woman who was about to become his mother-in-law, and showered kisses upon the ring on his mother’s ring finger as if he were worshipping it. The very wedding ring she had worn without fail even after his father’s passing.

—Promise me you’ll never waver for that girl.

—Chantal, you are my only wife.

Eve’s fiancé had deceived Eve.

With his mother.

Tony suddenly disliked his mother. He had always disliked his sister’s fiancé, but now he felt sickened by him.

It was the moment he unexpectedly gained a reason to hate his sister’s wedding.

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The maids clustered around the bride sitting at her vanity, diligently working on her final touches. However, the bride, despite being on the verge of the most important moment of her life, was listening to a report on the manor’s affairs from the butler, just as she did on any other day.

—I have finalized the list of occupants received from the military up to this point.

The entire household was in a state of emergency, and not just because of the wedding.

Eve’s homeland, Mercia, had constantly alternated between conflict and truce with its neighboring state, Constance. Even when Tony was born, a war erupted and dragged on for four years; the truce was only settled barely five years ago.

She had hoped the peace would last this time, but early last year, the long-time friend, Crown Princess Helena, was assassinated by a Constance-affiliated rebel group, shattering the fragile truce in vain.

Helena had cut ties with Eve when she became a woman who had lost her honor after being abducted and imprisoned by the man who killed her brother. So, while they could no longer be called friends, Eve still felt pity for her as a fellow woman.

The life of a woman born into a ruling family begins as a means and ends as a means.

Whenever men lamented that they were mere breeding stallions tasked with continuing the lineage, Eve could barely suppress a sneer.

Do men give birth to children?

The lineage is continued by the woman who gives birth to the heir.

They were incompetent beings who could only produce excrement, yet their tongues were so long.