A Depressed Kendo Player Possesses a Reckless Aristocrat

The Severed Yesterday

It was a story from a long time ago.

Or, maybe it wasn’t such a distant story after all… it didn’t really matter.

Because it was yesterday that had already passed.

A hideous scar, too, that could never be undone.

“Lyden…!”

It was a day when Maharet clung to me, like any other day.

A year had already passed since I’d become a scoundrel, pushing everyone away after my mother’s passing.

People were slowly leaving me.

My father hadn’t shown his face once since the funeral.

The nobles I was close with turned their backs.

The servants, who were like family, became more and more stiff.

Lucy and Ariel, who always greeted me with a smile, now shed more tears.

‘Perfect.’

Everything was going according to plan.

Because I was in a period of obsession with becoming a loner.

In my increasingly isolated situation, I felt an indescribable satisfaction.

I wore them down.

And they grew weary of me.

That chain of events eventually ended with the severance of relationships.

“How long are you going to keep doing this…!”

“Move.”

“Please… you’re not like this…”

Of course, not everyone moved down the path I intended.

There were always exceptions.

There were two exceptions in my case.

Rachel, and Maharet.

No matter how viciously I tormented them, neither one would even consider letting go.

If anything, they seemed to grow more stubborn, gripping my sleeve even tighter.

“Why have you changed so much… The you I loved, you were like a warm spring flower.”

“You’re talking shit.”

“……You said you’d stay by my side.”

“What time are you even talking about? You’re in the way, get lost.”

Maharet just wouldn’t give up on me.

Was it because of the affection from the good times?

Even seeing how I’d changed, she would just reach out, offering to help.

“I believe it.”

“Bullshit.”

“I believe there’s still warmth left in your heart.”

Her red eyes fixed on me with a clear gaze.

I tried hard to shake her off.

As I walked away, agitated, I thought.

This wouldn’t do.

I’d have to use a harsher method, even if it’s a bit toxic, to get rid of Maharet.

.

.

.

“I heard you were looking for me.”

“Yes, Amelda.”

I had sought out Amelda.

She was the dedicated handmaiden who had been with Maharet since childhood.

She was also the only close friend Maharet, who’d grown up in a strict family atmosphere, could rely on.

That’s how special they were to each other.

I decided to use her.

To completely sever my tenacious, unbreakable bond with Maharet.

“I have a proposition.”

I proposed a play.

A messy, adulterous drama drenched in filth.

I intended to show Maharet the scene of my beloved fiancé and my most trusted friend writhing in bed together.

So her staunch heart would be utterly broken.

“I refuse.”

“Why?”

“Do you truly not understand why…?”

Amelda, upon hearing my insane plan, furrowed her brow.

Her gaze was filled with contempt.

“I will not do anything that could harm the young lady. Only her happiness is my priority.”

“I’ll grant you anything you desire.”

“Ha…! There is only one thing I desire. And that is for the young lady to escape from the monster that is you.”

It was a rather harsh reprimand, but I didn’t scold her.

Instead, I raised the corners of my mouth, as if I’d been waiting for it.

I knew this kind of reaction would come.

I flicked my snake-like tongue, softly coaxing the girl’s ear.

“Yes, that’s it. What we desire is perfectly aligned.”

“……Excuse me?”

What I wanted was a broken engagement.

I wanted Maharet, her will finally shattered, to leave me.

“I want to see other women. Maharet is, how should I say… I’m getting tired of her?”

“You…!”

“How about that, isn’t it a perfect proposal? You can free the young lady from a monster like me, and I can get rid of an annoying burden.”

It was a lie, in fact.

The thought of wanting to meet other women, or getting tired of Maharet, such base ideas had never even crossed my mind.

I was just anxious.

Afraid Maharet would become like my mother.

If she stayed by my side, I was afraid she would someday be tainted by misery too.

That’s what I hated.

I wanted Maharet to leave.

“If I don’t go this far, she’ll definitely try to cling to me. She’ll grab onto my pant leg and never let go.”

“……”

“Think about it carefully. You wouldn’t want your beloved young lady to marry a scoundrel like me and suffer her whole life, would you?”

It was a time when I was incredibly foolish.

But back then, I believed that such a self-destructive method was the best option.

I wasn’t in my right mind.

Trauma and depression had made normal thinking impossible.

“Choose, Amelda.”

Amelda was silent for a long time.

But I already knew.

She always cherished Maharet like her own younger sister.

In the end, she would move according to my wishes.

“……Please don’t forgive me, Young Lady.”

Amelda grabbed my hand, tears streaming down her face.

And so, we began a transgression that could never be erased.

.

.

.

That’s how it all unfolded.

Amelda and I staged a perfect play.

We timed it for when Maharet would enter her room, and I let out a moaning cry.

Making it sound as if she and I were in the throes of passion.

“Ah…!! Sir Rysht…!!”

“Haa, haa… You have a good body, Amelda.”

The fiancée I loved most in the world.

The dear friend I trusted most.

Maharet heard the disgusting sounds of the two people she believed in, lusting after each other.

“Maharet… that girl’s just a pain in the ass. She doesn’t know how to move her hips like this.” *xlsLzZadGd0VDdtb3RaUU0yL043ZA

“Ah, hngk…! Ah, please… don’t… insult the Young Lady…!”

“I don’t think you have any right to say that, considering you’re fucking the Young Lady’s fiancé… on her bed.”

“Such low-class, hhh…!”

Of course, it was all an act, and we hadn’t touched each other, not even a fingertip.

But it was enough.

Not long after, the sound of sobbing came from beyond the door.

Maharet stood there blankly for a long while, weeping, before staggering away.

The plan had succeeded.

Too perfectly successful.

We each replayed the fading sound of her cries with troubled expressions.

“…Get up, Amelda.”

Amelda, following Maharet, was sobbing quietly.

I forced her to her feet, her spirit completely gone.

The situation was already beyond repair.

No… maybe there was a way back, but.

It wasn’t among our options.

“We need to finish this.”

I left the room at once.

I had to meet the person who would bring this plan to its conclusive end.

My legs were shaking, but I forced myself to move.

Hesitating here would truly amount to nothing.

-Knock knock…

The person I sought was none other than the Duke.

Upon entering his office, Raymond greeted me as if he had been waiting.

“Yes… I heard you came with a request.”

He spoke so casually, as if he knew nothing.

“You know what I’ve come to ask for, don’t you?”

I tossed the words out bluntly.

He knew.

Raymond understood everything about the current situation, from start to finish.

There was no way he wouldn’t know what was happening within his ‘domain’.

“Your silence implies complicity; it’s as if your hand was already in it.”

“……What is it you desire?”

“Help me deceive the Princess.”

The role I desired from the Duke was singular.

To control the information, so that Maharet wouldn’t, by any chance, approach the truth later on.

“To ensure she never learns the truth about this incident… in her entire life…”

So that she would hate and despise me.

So she could never love me again.

I wanted her pushed into the shadows of ignorance.

“Your Excellency also… wouldn’t want to marry your precious only daughter to a crazed lunatic, would you?”

This was a bargain.

We were joining hands to get what each of us desired.

I, hatred.

The Duke, the annulment.

What we both wanted was aligned, so perhaps it was a rational choice.

“Choose, Your Excellency.”

I extended my hand.

His crimson eyes, clouded with torment, stared silently at it.

.

.

.

“……Back then, what if I hadn’t taken your hand?”

A landscape swept by winter wind.

Looking at the world cloaked in darkness, Raymond suddenly muttered this.

It seemed old times had come to mind.

“It’s my fault.”

“Why are you blaming yourself?”

It was I who had made that proposal.

It was also I who had inflicted an indelible wound on Maharet.

It was all my doing.

When you think about it, it was as if I was holding Maharet’s life hostage while blackmailing the Duke.

That’s why, with no other options, Raymond agreed to my deal.

“At least for what happened back then, it’s all my responsibility.”

“You were young. Your mind wasn’t sound… while I was a perfectly sane adult. I should have guided you onto the right path.”

The Duke released a complicated sigh.

Following the long exhale, a white puff of breath bloomed.

“But I have no regrets. Even if I could go back, I’d make the same choice.”

“I understand.”

It was obvious.

Raymond just cherished his daughter.

He wouldn’t have wanted his only kin clinging to such a madman, living an unhappy life.

Knowing that heart, I had proposed the deal.

“Weren’t the choices you made for the sake of your daughter, Your Grace?”

“Back then, I certainly thought it was for her sake… but now, I’m not so sure.”

Raymond muttered with a vacant gaze.

After a moment of silence, he turned his eyes towards me.

“You might think I’m shameless… but I have a favor to ask.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Have pity on Maharet. She was a child with many wounds.”

“……I will try.”

I lowered my head with an unsure voice.

I still didn’t know.

What form the relationship between Maharet and I would take in the future.

That’s why I couldn’t firmly reject, nor accept, Raymond’s request.

“That’s enough.”

Raymond nodded at my answer and turned his back.

The Duke’s steps walked away.

I watched his back leaving the terrace for a moment, then shook off my complicated thoughts.

The Duke’s request lingered in my ear like an echo.

I let out a shallow sigh.

“Haa…”

It was a difficult relationship.

In the past, I had inflicted deep wounds on Maharet.

And Maharet, consumed by the hatred that had taken root in her heart since then, wounded me in kind.

In the end, it was a conclusion where nothing remained for either of us but scars.

I held a grudge against Maharet, in my own way, while also feeling guilt.

This would surely be the case for Maharet too.

We thoroughly hated each other, yet at the same time, we loved each other.

It was a relationship in complete disarray.

Could a bond so shattered really ever be mended?

“Is it… is it even possible for us to forgive each other and accept each other again?”

I muttered to myself.

Then, I lowered my gaze, which had been fixed on the stars in the sky.

Perhaps the most certain way to deal with this issue was to hear from the person involved.

“What are your thoughts on this, Princess?”

I quietly pose the question.

The gentle ripple of sound echoes through the night air, reaching the corner of the terrace.

Then, something hidden behind the thin curtain twitched, showing movement.

That thing, seemingly flustered, quickly grew more frantic.

Before long, it revealed itself, parting the curtain with trembling fingertips.

“…Ryden.”

Burning red eyes.

Silvery hair that cascaded down to her waist.

A clear, curvaceous figure and beautiful features visible beneath her neat attire.

“It has been a while, Princess.”

I greeted Maharet with a composed tone.