Chapter 57 - 57: Backstabber(4) 18+
Not all the couple was meant to be, some died before another,
"I love you, Philip." -Marinette
Some abandoned each other,
"Richard is gone again, isn't he?" -Diana
Some chasing over love,
"Yes, your highness. I'll capture her dead or alive." -Flynn
Some obsessed with love,
"I'll be the emperor for you, Marinette. Prepare for war." -Asher
Some were confused with their feeling,
"It's gonna be my wedding soon, huh?" -Richard
Some wanted their loved ones to themselves,
"Promise me if I ever do that, you'll have to spare lady Marinette." -Victor
And finally, some didn't even get a chance to love,
"Aurora, we need to evacuate now." Aurora followed the baron her husband with the luggage glancing for the last time at her cat Eun-Kyung in the portrait.
+++
The final battle of the first timeline began,
Friends stabbed each other's back, sisters killed each other, brothers shot each other, and finally, lovers left each other,
The Royal Palace, Crown Princess Palace,
Ahhhh!!!
"Why???? Why did he tell me that now???" Diana tore her beautiful wedding dress to pieces, threw the portrait of Marinette which Richard kept for the whole twenty years across the room.
She went on a rampage, with the shard of glass stuck on her palm, she tossed all of the wedding gifts and burned it inside her room in anger.
"Her highness is at it again..."
"No...I have to be the one for him...he loves...me...he loves me...I didn't go to such length as killing Irene and everyone just for him to abandon me!!!" Diana swallowed the drug from the bottle down her throat crying over love.
"Your highness..."
"YOU!!! Are you laughing at me??? You're laughing at me, aren't you??!!!" she threw the vase at those maids who came into the room to help her.
Her tears destroyed her makeup which she prepared in the morning, she waited and waited for Richard to come by just to look at her in the wedding dress but he was already gone.
"Ahhh!!! Get out!!!! GET OUT Marinette!!!! I hate you!!! I hate you!!!"
Huff huff
She was out of breathing, her throat felt dry, she ran to the balcony staring at the army and all of the citizens leaving the capital.
Only she was left behind in the capital.
<You killed me...Diana...you killed me!!! I thought of you as my friend.>
"No...no, Irene!!! I didn't kill you...it was an accident!!" she shook her head constantly throwing the ripped pillow at Irene she was hallucinating.
<You stabbed me in the stomach!!!! You killed me!!!!!>
"No...Marinette did...I didn't...I didn't do any of that..."
<No one believed you anymore, Diana!!!! You were like a sister to me, but you asked Richard to send me to death!!!! Stop playing the victim card!!!>
"It wasn't me...I didn't know...I never asked...brother Tristan...I didn't..." she was pushed to the balcony by all those people she was hallucinating.
<You killed me...Diana!!! I raised you and yet you destroyed the duchy!!!>
"Father...you're already old...I--I...was doing the right thing...the duchy is mine!!! Richard will love me if he gets the duchy!!!!"
<Die!! Die!! Die!!!!!>
"No...no...it's Marinette's fault..." she lost her balance falling off the balcony, the maids screamed in fear rushing to the balcony seeing Diana bleeding on the garden of roses.
"Hurry, get the doctor!!!"
"Yes, head maid!"
+++
"Her highness is suffering from drug...we should cut off her drug." the doctor told the head maid from outside the door. The head maid glanced in a worried look to think a day like that would come, the little girl who used to be the height of her weight now turned into such a horrible person relying on drugs to calm down.
"It'll be her wedding soon, can you please heal the wound by then??"
"We'll need some amount of money to purchase the potion of healing, but you know..." the doctor was hesitant since everyone knew the money of the empire fell down drastically since Asher joined hand with the Eastern Empire and called war on the Center Empire.
A portion of the money was for the army who was fighting at the border and a lot of money was used on the emperor's funeral.
The emperor died many days ago, but the new emperor Richard had to use his pocket money till he managed to hold the funeral.
And Diana kept demanding her wedding had to be luxurious and had to be the best wedding of the empire. There was no money left for medication.
Diana stared outside at the north with her lifeless eyes and hands which were shaking every second because of the addiction to drugs.
"It's Marinette's fault."
+++
The hidden village,
"I love you, Philip." Marinette murmured in a low voice then leaned in to kiss his forehead. She wiped his body with the towel soaked with warm water and then dressed him up while she was crying about leaving him.
She will only help him from behind the scene when the time comes since memory magic wasn't useful in a battle.
Her back still hurt from doing it a moment ago, but she still managed to carry him out of the hut to bring him back to his bed in his own hut, she had to make it believable that he and she didn't do anything.
But in the middle of the way, an old friend of hers came to visit her right in front of Marinette who was still in the messy dress and hickey all of her body down to her legs.
"This is the reason you went missing??? I was finding you everywhere!!" Victor murmured miserably to Marinette.
Her eyes went cold glaring at Victor who was holding the dagger pointing at her ally Cooper.
"Release him!!" she raised her voice at him held nothing as sympathy or affection toward him.
"Answer me!!! Do you love that bastard??"
"Yeah!! I love him!!"
"Why does it have to be him??!! Why can't it be me??? I love you too, I was the one who met you first." he threw Cooper away running to Marinette but she avoided him while protecting Philip who was full of her scent and her love marks.
"Marinette...you know deep down...being with him will never bring you back the Mortel duchy."
"...I'm already a fool, Victor." she snickered in a sad tone glancing at Philip.
"??"
"I gave up on everything in this life already...my life is his...as long as he's happy...I'm..."
"No!!! What's about the words you said to me before???!!! You said revenge is more important than love!!! You used that excuse to push me away!!! Why are you falling for him??!"
"Because...it's just because...even I don't know!!! I love him, I can't find an excuse to push him away...he kept coming again and again..."
"...Marinette...it's not too late...let's run away...Richard already promised me..."
"What?? What are you saying, Victor??"
"As long as I captured Philip...you will be spared." she went on monster mode pulling the hairpin out to protect Philip from Victor.
"Victor...how did you sink this low??"
"Forgive me!!" he pulled the firework round orb out of his pocket in front of Marinette with wide eyes.
"No...no...don't do it...please...please Victor, Philip won't be the one captured if you did that!!"
"Forgive me, I won't listen to you this time." he threw the orb breaking it even seeing Marinette shaking head begging him. The red firework emerged into the dark sky.
BOOOOOMMMM
The fire started spreading everywhere, the agony sound of the children crying in agony was everywhere.
Not only the firework was red, the lake was also starting to get red as minutes passed by, and then the one who killed all of the people in the village who had the hair of red walked to Marinette, her former knight reunited with her again as the servant of Richard.
"Capture Marinette and Philip!!! Other than those two, kill all of them!!!" Richard commanded far over there thrusting his sword in Moana's stomach and then killing Robert who was trying to protect her.
The barrier was cast, one by one, all of Philip's soldiers lost their composure and all the training they did the past years when seeing their loved one die. They all got their head cut off when trying to escape from the barrier.
"You bastard!!!!" Marinette cried tears of blood pointing the hairpin at Victor and Flynn who were pushing her to the corner.
She used all her strength to protect Philip, it was her fault, she blamed herself for making Philip unconscious, if he was conscious, none of that would have happened.
"Marinette, let--" she wounded Victor's hands which tried to grab her wrist.
"Lady Marinette!!! Help us!!" she turned her head at the one she held dear in the village, she didn't even see it clearly yet in the fire, but then Richard emerged from the fire slashing their head off.
If she still had her death roses magic, if she...
The negative emotion overwhelmed her, she started to lose her breath.
"See?? Marinette, you will never win against me!!" Richard took Philip away from Marinette and then put the electric collar on him.
While Marinette fell on the ground as the curse of Mortel caught up to her faster than expected.
The Mortel wasn't allowed to transfer the death roses magic out of the body was one of the curses.
"Lady Marinette!! Run!!!" Cooper went behind Richard and immobilized him in one place, not finished shouting, his eyes were staring at Marinette from her feet as his head rolled to her.
She panted in despair and pain, Victor who made the promise to Richard was supposed to help her but handcuffed her instead.
"Victor??" she noticed something wrong with Victor when looking at him in the eyes, his pupil had a mark in it. He was hypnotized!!
"Oh...poor Marinette...you lose!!" Richard pulled her chin mocking her and then showed her the cruel reality she had to face when she went against him.
The entire village was annihilated.
She screamed at Richard biting his right hand till it bleed.
One of her teeth fell out as she was blown away hitting against the tree by Richard.
Cough cough
Blood dripped on the black dresses she was wearing, her legs didn't even listen to her anymore. No one will come to save her, she lost.
And then...Flynn nodded at Victor pulling his sword out.
"Now!!"
Blood splattered on Victor's face as he stabbed his eyes with Marinette's hairpin breaking out of Richard's hypnosis, and Flynn thrust his sword directed at Richard while Richard pointed the sword at Philip's head from above.
Marinette got up and stopped Flynn from doing that ended up getting her stomach stabbed trying to protect Philip from getting killed by Richard.
"Lady Marienette!!!"
"You traitor!!! I know you would betray me!!!" Richard slashed Flynn's right hand off cutting Marinette's long hair in the process.
Victor broke out of the hypnosis but Richard already had a trump card as he already knew something like that would happen.
Victor was electrified fainting on the ground.
The one who had the victory on top of many corpses was Richard!!
Richard pulled Marinette's hair and then drag her to the tree she first kiss Philip.
"I'll show you my power, Marinette!!! No matter if you can go back in time or not, I'll defeat all of you in every life!!!"
Light Magic: Blessing of Goddess
He healed Marinette and tied her to the tree, and then put Philip laying down in front of her.
"This is my power!!!!! Bwahaha!!! I am the emperor!!!!"
He stabbed his sword in Philip's stomach, Philip groaned in agony bleeding.
"Stop...Richard..." she begged him looking at Philip being stabbed alive.
The cracking sound continued when Richard broke Philip's hands and legs then healed him again and again.
"No...no...please...I surrender...cut my head off, burn me alive, anything...spare him..."
"No!!! I don't want that!!! I want the answer!!!! Why did you look at my crown when you were with me??? But why did you look at him at his face when you're with him??? What's the difference between me and this bastard??!!!"
"Richard...I surrender...just kill me..."
"No...Marinette. I was forced to marry you ever since I was young...I didn't refuse the ridiculous engagement because I trusted my gut that you will bring me power!!! You will be with me climbing the stair to stay on top of everyone else!!!!" Richard stabbed and stabbed carving Philip's eyeball out then healed it back.
Heal, heal and heal.
"For the first time, my gut went wrong...you kept messing with me!! And now?? Now you create the time travel spell??!! Don't joke with me!!! I'm already on top of everyone!!! I won't start over again!!!!"
"How did you know..."
"Your aunt, Jessica...she knows about it!!! And I killed her too!!!"
"You...I hate you, Richard!!!! I wish this world didn't have a person like you!!!!"
"Tonight...Marinette!!!! I'll do whatever it takes...seal you, froze you, I won't let you die!!! I won't let you go back in time!!!!! This timeline will vanish if you ever use such a spell!!! And I...will be weak again..."
"In my next life, I'll kill you, Richard!!!"
"There's no next life, I won't let you go back in time!!!!"
"We'll see about that!!"
To be continued....!