Chapter 43

Translated by Watermelons and Doldrums.



The Sun is setting for the Falling Bird



Llewellyn nodded at Armandite's thoughtful remark. The shoes she was wearing had been hurting her for quite some time now. Could this be what Pamela had planned? For sure, climbing the stairs in that condition was proving to be difficult.



Llewellyn painstakingly made her way up the stairs and finally arrived at the altar. As she was panting out of breath, Armandite reached out to her.



Llewellyn looked down at the outstretched hand and felt a pang of nostalgia. Armandite had always been the one to reached out to her first.



Llewellyn placed her hand in his, and he tightened his grip to help support her. Llewellyn had barely managed to catch her breath, when she whispered :


"My stamina is not what it used to be."


Was Armandite having similar thoughts? At least, that’s what his mischievous smile, the very same one he used to have as a kid, seemed to suggest. Llewellyn turned away from him and let her eyes fall on the people below them. Everyone was looking at her, so she straightened her back and hold their stares, oblivious to the fact that Armandite was still gazing at her from the side.



“Do you really want to marry me that much?”



At Llewellyn's words, Armandite looked at her as if still trying to process what she had just said.



“I mean, you keep doing weird things like this.”



“Well, you’re not entirely wrong.” said Armandite



“I’ll do anything to achieve my goals, no matter what it is.”



“Is that why you persuaded my brother to make me the Golden Raven this year?”



“… … You knew?”



“The Royal Family’s actions are too predictable and my brother couldn’t have thought of this on his own.”



Llewellyn let go of Armandite’s hand and looked down at the attendees with an indifferent face. Her eyes found her brother’s handsome face among them. She had no clue what was going on in Armandite’s head.



“Armand, you’re well versed in military arts and are quite clever. You’ve managed to defeat the Dark Mages, and even got your hands on the Holy Sword. There’s no doubt that the Biserk clan will be able to rise again.”



Even if I don’t.



Llewellyn started walking towards the Fruit of Light hanging from the tree sitting in the middle of the altar.



“Llewellyn.”



What could he still have to say? Llewellyn turned her head and looked behind her. Armandite began to move his lips to say something, when his face suddenly turned white.



“Llewellyn!”



Everything happened in an instant. A low-ranking beast, that had been pretending to be a branch, shifted back and launched at Llewellyn as soon as she laid her hand on the Light Orb. The snake-like creature bared its teeth and tried to bite Llewellyn.



She was so startled that she unconsciously stepped back towards the edge, one foot hanging in the air. She had nowhere to go.



Llewellyn realized to her horror that the stairs had no railings. In other words, she was dangling over a precipice and was about to dive from the cliff next to the stage, with no stairs to slow her fall.



This was all part of Pamela's plan. If she was lucky Llewellyn would die on the spot, and if not, she would still be ridiculed and sustain a serious injury. Llewellyn laughed sardonically. She was amazed that she could think of so many things in such a brief moment.



“Llewellyn!”


Even in the midst of her daze, she could hear Armandite's desperate cry. She caught sight of his bewildered expression which revived her resentment. Why are you making such a face? You are the one who abandoned me !



You left me all alone.



So why after such a long time...



Why now?



Then Llewellyn's nape flared up.


*******

TL/N : The title in Korean is a play on words, since 낙조 originally means "sunset" but the author added the hanja 落鳥 to specify that it was the fall of the bird (which is a homonym of light 照) instead of the "fall of the sun" aka sunset.

Chapter end