ADLQ 01

Chapter 01

Patter…

Heavy rain fell onto black umbrellas. Dozens of people holding them maintained expressionless faces, stifling yawns as best they could.

A coffin wrapped in cloth was lowered into a well-kept grassy pit, soon to be covered again with earth.

“May we send her to the God of the Sun and Moon.”

Beside it, an elderly man in white priestly robes prayed. Despite the words of blessing and peace, his face, too, was void of emotion.

“It’s done.”
“Thank you for your service, Father.”

At the front of the crowd, a man in black mourning clothes stepped forward. He was Jonas Nurnbern, the father of the woman inside the coffin.

For someone who had just lost his daughter, Jonas looked unnervingly calm and composed. His light brown hair was neatly slicked back, and his face betrayed not the slightest change of emotion.

“Let’s go.”

Turning his head, Jonas signaled to his wife, Leah.

“…Yes.”

Leah, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, stood out even amid the colorless funeral with her striking red hair. Her neatly tied-up hair, topped with a small hat, made her appearance all the more refined. Light makeup revealed the care she had put into her presence.

Stumble.

Following Jonas out, Leah’s body swayed unsteadily.

“Mother!”

A young man beside her quickly caught her.

Meanwhile, Jonas, walking ahead, was not thinking of his late daughter but rather the gains her marriage had once brought him.

Not a bad trade, considering it was just the life of something useless.

In his eyes, she had fulfilled her role as a daughter. Her death had also conveniently severed ties with her arrogant husband, whom Jonas had grown weary of. Profit gained, nuisance eliminated—Jonas considered it a clean outcome.

Just then, one black umbrella drew close to Jonas. The brim was wide, concealing the face beneath.

“Who are you!”

The Nurnbern knight commander blocked the path of the unknown figure.

“……”
“You’re a nuisance.”

Jonas dismissed it coldly and placed his foot on the carriage step.

“Lady Ponedo!”

The knight commander’s shocked voice rang out.

“…You worthless bastard.”

Thud.

The umbrella dropped onto the rain-soaked grass. The woman beneath it was Ludiana Ponedo—Jonas’s first daughter and the deceased’s elder sister. She had always been the obedient daughter, bowing meekly to both Jonas and her stepmother Leah.

But the venomous words that slipped from her lips were swallowed by the sound of the rain. No one but the knight commander heard them.

Did she just… curse?

The thought stunned him. Never could he have imagined the gentle Ludiana uttering such profanity.

“Tch, pitiful thing.”

Jonas scolded her for dropping the umbrella and lifted his other foot into the carriage.

“Die… Die!!”

Suddenly, Ludiana drew a dagger hidden within her skirts and lunged at Jonas.

Because she had been so close, and because no one suspected the concealed figure had been her, the guards had let down their guard.

“Kh—!”

The sharp blade plunged into Jonas’s right side. By chance, it pierced his lung, and Jonas collapsed into the carriage, gasping silently for air.

“Kyaaah!!”

The faces of the gentlemen and ladies behind twisted in horror, so different from the calm expressions they’d worn while burying the coffin moments earlier.

“Husband!!”

Leah rushed to the carriage.

“Master!!”

The knight commander also leapt in, trying to pull Ludiana away.

“Uwaaaah!!”

But Ludiana’s rage did not stop. Her fury fell upon Jonas’s lifeless body again and again.

What strength is this…?!

The knight commander was shocked. How could such power come from a frail lady with bony shoulders and a body that looked ready to collapse at a touch? She shook him off and set her sights on Leah.

“Ahhh!!”

Leah screamed, stumbling back and falling. Just before Ludiana could reach her, the knight commander restrained her again.

“Uwaaaah!! Nurnbern!!”

Her agonized voice was swallowed by the falling rain.

“Ludiana Ponedo, you are sentenced to death.”

Days later, the noble tribunal convened. For killing her father with her own hand, Ludiana was condemned to the ultimate punishment.

“Do you have any final words?”

Ludiana looked around. Tears fell softly down her face as her eyes landed on her stepmother, Leah, glaring back at her.

That wretched woman.

When their eyes met, Leah lowered her fan slightly, her lips curving in a sly smile. With Jonas gone, the family title would naturally pass to her son.

It burned. She regretted it bitterly. Still, at least she had taken Jonas’s life—that much gave her grim satisfaction.

I’m just a discarded baron’s wife, a mere woman. What more could I have done?

But even so… the regret gnawed at her.

“I regret it.”

Her eyes shifted to the judge.

“You repent your crime?”
“Regardless, the sentence remains.”

Lowering her head, Ludiana suddenly burst into loud laughter.

“Pft—Hahaha! Don’t be absurd! What I regret is not killing that wretched woman too!”

“Such insolence! Take her away at once!”
“My goodness…”
“She’s mad, clearly.”
“No wonder the Baron abandoned her.”

The doors opened and knights entered—an elite unit assigned to escort such heinous criminals. Their immaculate white uniforms and imposing presence starkly contrasted Ludiana’s ragged figure.

“Ludiana, come.”

The knight in front roughly tugged the ropes binding her.

“Ugh.”

The rope bit into her skin, but she uttered no groan. She only gave Leah and her son a bloody, mocking smile.

As she was dragged out, she crossed paths with Allen Pianus, striding in hurriedly.

“You—!”

His shoes and trousers were caked in mud, showing his rush. His blue eyes trembled violently.

“What have you done?!”

Regaining his senses, his voice roared with fury as he strode forward.

“Duke Pianus, this is the parricide Ludiana. Please step aside.”
“You—! Tch…!”

The conqueror of the East, Duke Allen Pianus, clenched his fists so tightly they threatened to burst.

“…Let me go.”

Ludiana lifted her head, looking at him. Despite her disheveled hair, swollen lips, and cracked voice, she forced the gentlest smile she could.

“……”

Allen’s eyes twisted with pain. He said nothing.

She remembered—years ago, at her mother’s funeral, he had been the only one who shed tears. He’d introduced himself as her mother’s friend, his grief so deep that young Ludiana had wept in his arms.

“…Go.”

Seeing the same gaze in his eyes now gave her a shred of comfort.

“Damn it! If only…!!”
“Your Grace!”

Unable to reach her, Allen struck the wall with his fist, restrained by his knight, Karlos. Ludiana’s lips curved into a bitter smile.

Golden hair shining like sunlight, stormy gray-blue eyes, a stern face softened by gentle gazes—Allen Pianus was a man who had achieved perfection through his own efforts.

Another abandoned child… like me.

Born illegitimate, rejected by his father, yet he rose to become the Empire’s greatest sword. His fame was so great that even Ludiana, confined in a baron’s estate, had heard of him.

If I had forged my own path… would things have been different?

She had once found solace in his existence. Proof that even the abandoned could succeed. But she had always known—she had no such talent.

Her face twisted with despair as she was dragged on.

Not that it matters now.

“Thus, the criminal is judged.”

The next day, under the name of parricide, Ludiana was executed at the guillotine.

Until the very end, Allen watched with anguish. Karlos, too, offered her a final prayer of pity.

Returning his gaze, Ludiana closed her eyes with a faint, aching smile.