The Secret Garden (6)

While I was reading through the diary, Hyun-byeol asked from beside me,

“How is it? Interesting, right?”

“I don’t know…”

Honestly, I could not really call it an enjoyable read. I never liked the romance genre to begin with, and I was not the type to care about other people’s love lives either.

However, it was still somewhat intriguing. After all, the protagonist of this story was the Marquis himself.

This book contained the reason for everything the marquis had endured that ultimately drove him to make the reckless decision to defy the king.

‘I still don’t get it, though…’

It was hard to grasp the full motive just from the beginning.

So I continued reading the diary, skimming through the fluff and focusing only on the key points.

[Seeing me frozen as if I had seen a ghost, she asked if something was wrong. I told her that my pregnant wife was waiting for me at home.]

And so, their reunion after six years came to an end.

The girl remained quiet for a while before saying, “Then you should go back early.” The marquis agreed and did exactly that.

[Every single day, the thought wouldn’t leave me. What did that silence mean? Could it be that she felt the same way?]

It was neither entertaining nor important for me to know how much the marquis suffered and brooded over his feelings, so I skipped that part. Time passed, and the Marquis’s son was born. Though his joy in raising his son was genuine…

[Yet sometimes the thought would come to me. What kind of child would we have had together? Would that child have been as lovely as this one… or perhaps even more so?]

To erase such sinful thoughts, the Marquis devoted himself even more to his family. Around that time he also began taking charge of the family’s affairs in place of his bedridden father.

As he lived busily, dedicating himself to both work and family, his memories of his first love gradually seemed to fade.

But then—

[She appeared again. Once again, after six years.]

It was the day he went to the palace to officially claim the title of marquis. Nostalgia led him back to the garden, where he met her again.

[When I met her again, it felt as though we had only parted yesterday. It was not just a figure of speech born from longing. She looked exactly the same as she had six years ago.]

Her appearance was untouched by the passage of time. The Marquis felt a faint sense of unease, but did not dwell on it.

[She congratulated me on my child and on inheriting my title, and I accepted her words gladly. Time had buried our emotions, and now I could finally ask her.]

What was her name?

And Why was she hiding in the palace like this?

[After hesitating for a long time, she finally spoke. But it wasn’t an answer to my question, it was a request. She asked if I could help her escape.]

No matter what her circumstances were, he believed he could handle the consequences now that he was the Marquis. Besides, by granting her request, he believed he might finally hear her story.

[I managed to take her beyond the palace walls, then used magic to change the color of her hair and eyes. After that, I brought her to a secret safe house I had prepared long ago, around the time Eltora was born.]

It was not hard to realise that the villa I was in was the safe house he had been referring to. Not that it was particularly important to the story, though.

[While spending a lot of time in the secret safehouse, I finally heard her name.]

Reading the story with mild disinterest, my eyes suddenly sharpened. Although there were still many pages left, the moment I had been waiting for had finally arrived.

[Meirin Hwenbenia Raphdonia.]

…What?

[That was her name.]

Seriously…?

***

Not long ago, I had come across a portrait of a woman in the Marquis’s hidden room whom I suspected was Ragna’s mother.

[Meirin Hwenbenia]

The surname had been scratched away with something sharp.

But now I knew the full name.

[Raphdonia.]

In this country, only those who carried royal blood were allowed to bear that surname.

The moment I saw it, chills ran down my spine.

Meirin Hwenbenia Raphdonia was most likely Ragna’s mother.

And that meant—

Ragna… is a descendant of the royal family?

Even if she was an illegitimate child born from an affair before the princess was married.

The fact that she carried royal blood didn’t change.

“But then why did the Marquis rebel against the king?”

The nameless princess was likely involved somehow, but since I didn’t know the details of their situation, I continued reading the diary.

All the answers I wanted were in here.

[During our stay at the secret safehouse, I listened to her story over and over again. The tales were far more shocking than I had imagined. To think such secrets were hidden within the Royal Family…]

“Wait… does it explain that secret later?”

“Nope.”

I sighed. So the marquis had deliberately left out the details when he compiled this diary.

“Fine. I will just keep reading for now.”

[As shocking as the secret was, I pitied the life she had lived as a sacrificial pawn. That feeling grew stronger day by day.]

[As a man with a wife and child, I tried to deny it, but on the day she shed tears, I could no longer deny that my feelings were not merely sympathy.]

[Fortunately, those feelings were not mine alone. When I finally confirmed it, I felt a sense of fulfillment unlike anything I would ever experience again.]

However, the Marquis and Meirin’s time together at the safe house was brief.

[Considering the overwhelming power of the royal family, the fact that we lasted a month was already remarkable.

Eventually, they found us, and I finally faced ‘him’ in the audience chamber.]

[He was a man completely different from what I expected. At first, he seemed to be threatening me, but then he laughed jokingly and made a proposal. He mentioned that even among the working staff, there needed to be at least one person who knew the secret.]

[Having taken a liking to me, he offered me the position of ‘Prime Minister,’ and I had no choice. It was the promotion I had always dreamed of, but knowing the Royal Family’s secrets, I couldn’t be purely happy.]

The story after the private audience with the King could be summarized briefly. The Marquis returned to the secret safehouse and continued their sweet time, and that love eventually bore fruit. A child was conceived. The Marquis felt a happiness far greater than when Eltora was born.

But…

‘If it were a happy ending, there wouldn’t be this many pages left.’

The incident that changed his life was something even I, who had seen countless kinds of media, could never have expected.

[The thing that destroyed our seemingly eternal happiness wasn’t the King’s whim, a rival’s scheme, or a subordinate’s betrayal. It was closer to a divine judgment.]

[One day, as usual, we lay together in bed, whispering our love while I gently touched her swollen belly. Suddenly Meirin screamed.]

[Who am I? Who are you? Where is this place…? Meirin babbled incomprehensible words like a madwoman. Then she said something that should never have come from her lips.]

[Dungeon & Stone.]

[An evil spirit had possessed Meirin’s body.]

The shock struck me like a bolt of lightning.

For a moment my mind went completely blank. Yet as time passed and my thoughts gradually returned, a question suddenly came to mind.

I thought evil spirits could only possess people once they became adults?

I didn’t know Meirin’s exact age at the time, but she must have been past adulthood, considering six years had passed since the description of her becoming a fully grown woman. So, how could such a thing happen?

Although the marquis, the author of the diary, did not mention this issue directly, I could make an educated guess based on one of the passages he had written earlier.

[Her appearance was exactly the same as it had been six years ago.]

Perhaps, for some reason, Meirin’s biological age had been frozen. Given that the royal family possessed strange life-support devices, I couldn’t rule out this possibility.

‘…I see why Hyeon-byeol called this a “tragedy”.

After Meirin was possessed by an evil spirit, the Marquis’s life turned into hell.

He sought advice from the king, but even the king shook his head and said there was no solution, leaving the decision to the Marquis. He could either kill her or save her.

It felt as if the sky had collapsed.

However, time continued to pass in that hell, and Meirin’s pregnancy eventually reached its final stage.

Then—

[Whatever it was, whether man or woman, it took its own life while giving birth to my daughter.]

The evil spirit died after giving birth to Ragna. The Marquis, however, told the Royal Family that the evil spirit had died in childbirth and smuggled Ragna away. He wanted this child, at least, to grow up peacefully.

But…

“And then, even Eltora became an evil spirit…”

As time passed, even his eldest son, the only close family he had left, became an evil spirit. In the end, only Ragna remained.

“From the Marquis’s perspective, he must have wanted to tear every evil spirit apart.”

I couldn’t even begin to imagine how he felt. However, from my perspective, the Marquis did something foolish. It seemed he intended to leave everything he had built to Ragna.

The 21st of the 10th month.

The dates in the diary were now approaching the present day, only a month before the marquis revolted against the palace.

[The King woke up before all preparations were complete.]

[I must protect that child at all costs.]

Those were the final words of the diary.

I closed the book and let out a long breath.

“So? Wasn’t it interesting?” Hyun-byeol asked again.

“Not really.”

My final verdict was simple.

“It’s not that interesting.”

I had expected something exciting at the end, but it just ended like that.

“It feels kind of empty.”

“Well of course. The Marquis is still alive,” Hyunbyeol said.

“I should’ve just asked you to summarize it in three lines.”

“Come on. How could you summarize that in three lines?”

“…What? Isn’t it easy?”

1. The Marquis falls in love with a princess.

2. The princess becomes possessed by an evil spirit and dies after giving birth.

3. Years later, even his eldest son becomes possessed, so he rebels to protect his only remaining child.

That was the entire story.

And if the story were told to Ragna, it would be even simpler.

I love you, my daughter.

That one sentence would summarize everything.

“It definitely feels more like a letter addressed to Ragna.”

Not only did he gloss over the ‘Royal Family’s secrets’, but I could also sense that there were many other things he was hiding throughout the diary.

‘Well, if those serious details were included, he wouldn’t have told Hyeon-byeol it was okay to read it.’

Having finished the diary, my head felt even more cluttered with unresolved questions.

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“I’m curious about what the Marquis is thinking.”

“Why are you curious about that? Isn’t his goal obviously to succeed in the rebellion and protect his daughter?”

“Yeah, but that is Plan A. Even he believes it has a low chance of success, considering he left this diary behind.”

“That… is true, I guess?”

“Given the Marquis’s personality, there’s definitely a Plan B to keep Ragna alive… but I can’t even get a grasp on what it is. Just hiding her and keeping her asleep in this secret villa? Isn’t that a bit too naive?”

Hearing my words, Hyeon-byeol thought it over before answering.

“Maybe… you’re Plan B, Oppa?”

“…What?”

“No, think about it. Including that time you almost ended up marrying her…”

Hyeon-byeol’s voice trailed off as she let out a small smirk.

“Actually, he probably knows better than anyone else. That you’re the kind of person who would point a sword at the Royal Family just to protect someone precious to you.”

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