Dirty Heart - Chapter 40

Alex, who had rushed over belatedly, quickly subdued Marco, but Courtney had already collapsed, unconscious.

In the horrific silence, the stench of blood filled the air, and her face grew paler by the second.

“She’s lost too much blood! We need to pull out the blade and stop the bleeding immediately!”

“Stop! If we pull it out in this state, she might die instantly!”

“Find a physician who can transport her first, hurry!”

The security force soldiers moved frantically. Some searched for cloth to stanch the bleeding, while others ran down the forest path to bring a stretcher.

Amid all that chaos, Lionel alone stood still. He stared down at the woman lying limp in his arms.

The cold blade lodged in her side. The alien sound of flesh being pierced. The image of the woman collapsing without even managing a proper scream. It had all happened in an instant, yet every detail remained unbearably vivid.

“I… I will never give you my heart. Just wait and see…. I will never die. I’ll survive, no matter what, I will.”

He couldn’t understand. Wasn’t she the woman who had desperately insisted she would never die, even while pressing rusted scissors against his throat?

“Why…?”

Lionel whispered slowly. This was an abnormal action that couldn’t be explained by any logic.

Why had she thrown herself toward the blade? Even knowing she was fated to die by his hands anyway, why would she make such a choice? If he had died at Marco’s hands, it would have been better for her.

As he felt the body in his arms growing colder by the moment, his mind felt like it was about to shatter, when a voice that ached to his very bones echoed again in his ears.

“My baby. To be honest, Mom wants to live too….”

Then again, was there ever anything about his mother’s actions that could be called reasonable?

After a long moment of thought, he gestured to Alex and carefully handed Courtney over. Then he gripped the hilt of the blade.

“Y-Young Duke, what are you planning to do? Huh?”

Sensing the chilling aura, Alex hurriedly called out to Lionel, but he already looked far from sane.

“….”

At last, his mind cleared. The tragedy of Marianne, who had desperately wanted to live yet gave everything up for her son, was no different from the tragedy of Courtney, who had willingly thrown herself toward the blade.

His mother’s death was a guilt he could never wash away, no matter how much he atoned for the rest of his life. He never wanted to experience that horrific helplessness again.

The fear he felt while staring blankly at Courtney collapsing after being stabbed was no different from the fear he had felt on the day he lost his mother.

Soon, Lionel’s gaze fell on Marco. The man who had just tried to harm Courtney was now trembling all over.

“P-Please, sp-spare me… kgh!”

In that fleeting instant, the long blade pierced straight through the man’s chest.

The horrific sound of flesh being torn echoed through the forest once again, and Marco collapsed, coughing up blood.

Even as he felt the sensation of his organs rupturing inside his body, Lionel twisted the blade, cutting off what little life Marco had left.

“Cough… ugh….”

In the eyes of the dying man, those clear blue eyes reflected not even a trace of pity. Soon, with a final scream, Marco’s body vanished over the cliff below.

Even after committing his first killing, Lionel remained completely composed. He sheathed the bloodstained sword and slowly turned around. The blood spattered across his pale face looked needlessly beautiful.

“Y-Young Duke….”

Alex stared at him in shock. The frail Young Duke, whose only training had been swordsmanship with wooden practice swords, had just killed a man. And without the slightest hesitation.

The security force soldiers also stood there, flustered and unsure what to do. It was a murder. Normally, anyone else would be arrested on the spot, but the man before them was an exception.

The Erhardt ducal house. The most powerful family in the Empire, beyond even what the imperial family could touch lightly. Before the heir of such a house, law and order were meaningless.

Leaving behind everyone’s stunned expressions, Lionel’s gaze fell on only one person. Courtney Balkan, lying as if dead in Alex’s arms. That insignificant maid he had once considered beneath him.

Before he knew it, Lionel had approached her and dropped to his knees. With trembling hands, he stroked her face and spoke a single line.

“Courtney… don’t die, please.”

It was pure irony.

***

Courtney was immediately taken to a nearby clinic in the village. Only after receiving intensive treatment there was she barely able to be transferred to the ducal house.

Though she still hadn’t regained consciousness, the blade had missed her vital organs, allowing her to narrowly survive the crisis.

Even so, there was no room for relief. The heavy blood loss had left her body in an extremely weakened state, and there was no telling when her condition might worsen again.

The Duke rushed straight to the infirmary the moment he received word that Courtney had arrived. Having devoted his entire life to curing Lionel’s illness, his anxiety had reached its peak.

“We have to prepare the surgery immediately, immediately…!”

The Duke muttered to himself like a madman. He had prepared everything, even fabricating the lie of a pig heart transplant to deceive his son, but the news that Courtney Balkan was on the verge of death made him lose all reason.

If the most important heart donor died, even the most perfect plan would collapse. It was only natural.

“The maid’s heart must be transplanted while it’s still alive. A dead heart is completely useless!”

As long as Courtney’s heart still retained vitality within her body, it was right to proceed with the surgery, even if it meant forcing the astrologer to move the date forward.

Even if his son refused, he would force the surgery through by administering drugs if necessary. Just like when he had once tried to transplant his wife Marianne’s heart into his son, Lionel’s will meant nothing to the Duke. The only thing that mattered was his son’s survival.

“What is the meaning of this?”

The Duke’s steps halted abruptly as he reached the infirmary. Alex and Lionel’s knights were standing in front of the door, blocking the entrance. At the absurd sight, the Duke’s face twisted.

“I asked what this means!”

The Duke’s voice sank coldly. Yet the knights did not move an inch.

“Open the door at once. I must confirm Courtney Balkan’s condition with my own eyes!”

“My apologies, but we have orders from the Young Duke not to let anyone in.”

Stepping forward, Alex tried to convey Lionel’s will in the calmest tone possible, but the Duke’s anger had already reached its peak.

“Ha! Have you forgotten who the master of this ducal house is?”

With a thunderous shout, the Duke snatched Alex’s sword. The hand gripping the hilt trembled violently, and the sharp blade pressed against Alex’s neck as if it could cut him down at any moment.

“Move aside at once!”

“Forgive me, Your Grace. But I cannot disobey the Young Duke’s command.”

The standoff between Alex and the Duke stretched on without either side yielding. Before long, sticky blood began to trickle down from Alex’s neck, yet he did not flinch.

“So you truly wish to die!”

The knights standing nearby wiped sweat from their brows, glancing at each other nervously. No matter that it was the Young Duke’s order, their true master was the Duke of Erhardt. To defy the Duke’s command meant accepting death.

“Even if my head is severed on the spot, I cannot step aside.”

At the height of the tense standoff where no one backed down, the infirmary door finally opened, and Lionel stepped out.

“My son!”

The Duke called out urgently.

“How is the maid’s condition?”

“She needs to stabilize first.”

“Is that so? So her life isn’t in danger?”

At Lionel’s calm answer, the Duke let out a sigh of relief. If the maid was safe, it meant the heart to be transplanted into his son was safe as well.

But only for a moment. Soon, another plan began to take shape in the Duke’s mind.

‘This works out perfectly. I was already concerned about it.’