Love Letter From The Future-Chapter 384: Bread and Dagger (82

A cold night wind rattled the window.

An old man stared out with deep, blood-red eyes. His view was obscured by heavy snow, but his gaze never wavered.

He was an old man suffering from a serious illness.

Like most diseases, it crept up on him silently. The symptoms started one day, followed by years of fighting it.

And after that long struggle, he had to accept it.

The fact that he contracted a kind of incurable disease.

He had an incurable disease—’aging’.

The cold was seeping into every part of his once-strong body.

The old man found this simple truth particularly depressing.

Long ago, he would have easily laughed off a cold like that.

In fact, if he put his mind to it, he could do so even now. No matter how much his body aged, the level he had achieved in his prime didn’t just disappear.

But today, he didn’t feel like doing so.

It could perhaps be called resignation.

It was a fate that couldn’t be reversed anyway. No amount of ugly struggling would change the impending reality. If so, he might as well accept it.

And the old man who had accepted his fate only had one daily routine.

Sinking into the swamp of the past, reflecting on his glorious days.

Even that started to grow tiresome lately.

The man’s youth wasn’t as brilliant as others knew it to be. It was rather a time of being dragged along by shadows.

He knew he’d have to pay for his sins someday.

But he never expected that day to come so suddenly.

The old man’s wrinkled eyelids covered his retinas.

His breathing was becoming increasingly rapid. It was evidence that his lung function was deteriorating.

The end wasn’t far off.

The old man, sensing this internally, slowly opened his mouth.

“Lately, I’ve been hearing some itchy rumors. That you’ve been digging into my younger days... Is that how I taught you?”

“For victory, don’t be picky about the means and methods.”

At his daughter’s retort, the old man fell silent again.

It was a phrase he’d heard somewhere before.

He’d vaguely passed this on to his daughter long ago—that Yurdina’s destiny was only victory.

But there was no such thing as eternal victory.

For the sake of victory, one always had to get blood on their hands. One had to not hesitate to do dirty deeds, and yet, defeat was unavoidable in life.

Therefore, all the more reason not to be picky about means and methods.

The stain of ‘defeat’ could always be shifted onto someone else. The footsteps of Yurdina had to be a trajectory of victory.

Because Yurdina’s fate was the fate of the North.

For this, one had to be capable of anything. freёnovelkiss.com

Digging into others’ pasts?

It wasn’t even worth mentioning. That’s why Delphine’s voice remained bold.

“It’s a phrase I’ve held in my heart since childhood, Father... To be precise, since you killed Old Man Hanson in front of my eyes.”

“It’s been a while since I heard that name. ‘Hanson’... Was he the stable keeper?”

It was a memory he spat out with a bitter smile.

Delphine’s blood-red eyes grew darker, her expression tinged with faint hostility.

Delphine’s life completely changed after that day..

The lively girl loved by everyone died along with Old Man Hanson. In her place was only a madwoman obsessed with victory.

Yes, at least until she met Ian.

Even if it was family, it was impossible not to harbor resentment. The scar left on Delphine’s mind by the scene of that day was that deep.

“It was a regrettable incident for me too. He was an excellent stable keeper.”

“You didn’t seem to hesitate... Did you really have to kill Old Man Hanson? And in front of your young daughter, no less.”

“That’s not for you to decide, my daughter.”

His voice was calm but carried an immense weight.

The tone, tinged with regret, left a bitter resonance in Delphine’s ears.

“Didn’t I tell you? That you don’t even have the freedom to take responsibility... You are Yurdina. All the people of the North think of you as their sun. Your mistakes and your defeats, in the end, can only be shouldered by your subordinates.....”

“And what about you, Father?”

Now it was Marquis Yurdina’s turn to keep silent.

The woman’s gaze towards the old man was sharp. The dim lamp flickered, casting red shadows here and there.

Even in that dim lighting, her blood-red eyes remained vivid.

Delphine continued, as if spitting out her words.

“I suppose that’s what Father did too? Are you happy having sold off your retainers and subordinates one by one, all while clinging to glory so tenaciously?”

“.......You’re being particularly disrespectful today.”

“No, this isn’t disrespect. I am the next Head of Yurdina!”

It was a rare display of agitation.

Long buried emotions were regaining their color. The confessions spewed out with heat were almost like pleas.

Delphine, too, was just a person of flesh and blood.

There was no way she could be pleased with a situation where she had to suspect her own father. That confused state of mind was violently shaking her composure.

“Looking back, Father always had a troubled face. Not once did you ever look happy... What kind of burden did you have to bear?”

“Delphine.....”

“Someone is intentionally blocking information about the elves. And yet, I heard that Sir Alex was carrying on a solo mission in a place I’d never heard of before—and in an elven village, no less......!”

“DELPHINE!”

At his sudden outburst, her mouth snapped shut.

At some point, the old man had already turned away, yet his crimson eyes, still brimming with life, remained fixed on Delphine.

The cascading moonlight bathed everything in its brilliance.

For a long while, Marquis Yurdina simply stared at Delphine in silence before finally letting out a long, weary sigh.

“Nothing good will come from investigating this anyway. You seem troubled lately because of that flesh monster... Leave it to me.”

It was an unexpected proposal.

Delphine was still glaring at the Marquis with eyes full of wariness.

Regardless, the old man’s persuasion continued.

“I’ll make you victorious.”

It was then that Delphine’s body stiffened with a jolt.

It was too sweet of an offer.

Although the trigger was unfortunate, it was a value she pursued all her life. It was impossible to easily let go of that obsession.

Especially when there seemed to be no breakthrough in sight.

Suddenly, a certain man flashed through Delphine’s mind.

lan Percus.

By now, he would be on the front lines, fighting for his life.. Though she hadn’t heard the detailed plans, frankly speaking, it was a hopeless battle.

If she accepted the Marquis’s offer, could she save him?

It was a calculation she was making for the first time in her life.

It was laughable.

The great Delphine Yurdina was conflicted over one man. And at a moment that could determine the fate of the North, no less.

If someone told this to Delphine just a few months ago, she wouldn’t have even sneered in derision.

But this was the stark reality.

“I hear you’re gathering all sorts of armies, but the situation isn’t good. I heard that friend Ian Percus is going to the battlefield, but... Unless he’s a Master, he alone can’t overturn the disadvantage.”

It was an extremely reasonable argument.

Inwardly, Delphine thought the Marquis’ words were right.. Any person with common sense would have reached the same conclusion.

Ian was strong.

But war wasn’t fought alone. Numerous troops to support him were essential. And in a battle of scale, a hero’s role was limited.

Raising morale, riding the momentum.

These were strokes of luck that could only be aimed for when the forces were evenly matched. The monster the North had to face was a mythical being born from devouring countless elves.

Delphine’s lips were involuntarily chewed.

“Be victorious, Delphine.”

Those words weighed heavily on her heart.

Could she be victorious?

The story was clear to the point of being excessive.

“I’m going to die soon anyway. Then you’ll inherit Yurdina... Until then, I’ll try to suppress that monster. If you reorganize our forces by then, victory is possible.”

“....how do you plan to suppress it?”

“Do you need to know? The important thing is that you can be victorious.”

The old man turned his back again, clasping his hands behind him.

Only those blood-red eyes remained fixed on Delphine.

“For victory, don’t be picky about means and methods.”

It was the second time this phrase had been uttered today.

Only the speaker had changed. From Delphine to the Marquis.

The woman could only close her mouth, just as the Marquis had done earlier.

Turning her gaze away and gritting her teeth.

Dozens, hundreds of worries passed through Delphine’s mind, to the point where she could almost hear a rattling noise.

After a long while.

Finally, Delphine reached her conclusion.

“.....I don’t want to.”

“Why?”

Surprisingly, the Marquis didn’t seem flustered or angry.

He simply asked back with a voice filled with pure curiosity. As if he really couldn’t guess the reason.

He too was a person who had lived obsessed with victory.

He wouldn’t be able to understand Delphine’s dramatic change.

So, Delphine deliberately didn’t try to convince him.

“Because a wife doesn’t abandon her husband.”

She simply repeated words she heard from a certain man once.

At that answer, Marquis Yurdina made a dumb expression for the first time.

He looked truly dumbfounded, not showing even the slightest movement for a long period.

After a while.

Having finally regained his senses, the Marquis smiled dejectedly.

“Kukukuk, they say raising a daughter is pointless... Fine, there’s only one way then.”

With those words as a signal, the old man started walking steadily. His steps, advancing without hesitation, reached in front of the countless swords decorated on the display stand.

Grabbing one of them, he threw it at Delphine.

With a heavy thud, the sword skidded across the floor, sliding until it tapped against Delphine’s toes.

The old man smiled fiercely.

“Let’s do it the Northern way.”

Those words meant only one thing.

A duel with real swords.

Delphine unconsciously made a tense expression. Because the Marquis who made this proposal was, for the first time in a very long time, showing the appearance from her memories.

It was the aura befitting the Northern Lion who knew no defeat.

The Marquis on the other hand, bitterly smiled.

Fucking thief.

Originally, this sword fight should have been aimed at that little shit. He was the enemy who had swallowed up the successor he raised with such care.

But that foolish youngster will soon realize. That war isn’t something you do by yourself.

You can’t change anything alone.

Yes, not alone.

***Meanwhile, Leoric, facing Ian, was screaming within minutes.

“I-Ian... Ian Percusss! Vanguard of the privileged!”

Holy bullets and arrows were raining down from the sky. Occasional lightning strikes filled the air with an acrid smell of flesh. It was certainly not a scene that could be produced alone.

The person Leoric was cursing stood a few steps back from this carnage.

With his arms crossed, Ian thought.

Life is a battlefield, you fool.