Chapter 581: The Nightmare That Came True

A sweet smile appeared on his face. But instead of making Rose feel safe, it only made her stomach turn.

Rose’s eyes trembled. Her fingers curled tightly against the ground until dirt filled the spaces beneath her nails.

She gathered what little strength she had left before finally asking, "Where... where is my family?"

"Your family?" The Cardinal tilted his head as if he truly didn’t understand. "But I’m your family."

A moment later, his eyes widened, and he let out a small gasp, as if he was mocking her. "Oh. You mean your husband and daughter?"

The Cardinal’s smile grew wider. "Right. How could I forget?"

He then raised one hand, and only then did Rose notice that he was holding something behind his back.

Before she could see what it was, the Cardinal casually tossed it toward her. It hit the burned ground and rolled several times before finally stopping only a short distance away from her.

For several seconds, she felt as if her whole body had gone numb, and she couldn’t even breathe properly.

The only thing she could do was stare at the severed head in front of her. Half of his face was badly burned, and blood covered what remained of his skin.

Even so, Rose was still able to recognize that face. Of course she did. How could she ever forget that face?

It was the face she woke up to every morning.

The face that always smiled when he saw her.

The face that leaned close to kiss her before they went to sleep at night.

The face of the man she loved more than anything.

"Ed...mond?" Her voice was barely a sound, and her whole body began to tremble. "No..."

Rose crawled toward him. "No. No, no, no..."

Her hands trembled so badly that she could barely reach for him. But when she finally did, Rose carefully lifted Edmond’s head from the ground.

"Edmond..." Her tears fell onto his burned face. "No... You can’t..."

She pulled his head against her chest as if she could still protect him, as if holding him close enough could somehow bring him back.

"You said..." Rose struggled to breathe between her sobs. "You said we would grow old together..."

Her fingers trembled as they gently touched what remained of his hair. "You promised me."

She wanted to scream.

She wanted to cry until her voice disappeared. She wanted to call his name over and over again until he opened his eyes and answered her.

But nothing came out.

Her throat felt completely blocked, trapping every scream inside her.

In the end, Rose could only sit there with Edmond held against her chest, her mouth open in a silent cry as tears continued to pour down her face.

The Cardinal watched her without a hint of pity. Instead, there was something almost satisfied in his eyes. "How long will it take for you to understand that you were never meant to go far from me?"

Rose didn’t answer his question because she was too busy holding Edmond tighter, crying silently so hard that she could barely breathe.

Unfortunately, no matter how tightly she held him now, he would never hold her back again.

The Cardinal watched her cry for a while before letting out a heavy sigh. "We found you a long time ago, Rose."

Rose didn’t react. Her fingers continued to move gently through what remained of Edmond’s black hair, as if she hadn’t heard a single word he said.

The Cardinal calmly looked around at the burning remains of their home. "Your husband was troublesome. His senses were far too sharp. If my men had simply entered this forest, he would have noticed them before they could even get close." He smiled. "So I blessed them with the ability to hide their presence. That way, your husband couldn’t smell them, he couldn’t hear them, and he couldn’t even sense that someone was watching him."

At that moment, Rose finally raised her head, looking at the Cardinal with an unreadable expression. "You... bastard."

She wanted to curse him even more, but she simply didn’t have any strength left in her body.

Her mind immediately went back to all those times Edmond had searched the forest.

Every morning, he checked the area around their home.

Whenever he heard a strange sound, he would immediately stop whatever he was doing and listen carefully.

Whenever Rose woke up frightened because of her nightmares, Edmond would search the forest again just to calm her down. And every time, he came back and told her that there was no one there.

But it turned out that the Cardinal had blinded Edmond’s senses by hiding the soldiers’ presence from him.

"Oh, don’t be dramatic," the Cardinal said as he slowly crouched down. He wanted to reach for her hair, but Rose immediately backed away. "It’s not like your husband was a saint. He burned innocent people just so the two of you could buy enough time to escape. Was it worth it, my dear daughter?"

Rose gritted her teeth and couldn’t answer his question. She lowered her head, looking at her husband’s severed head again.

"He killed all those people, and yet he still couldn’t save his family." The Cardinal chuckled. "He couldn’t even save his own daughter. How wonderful."

Rose suddenly felt as if something was crushing her chest. From the moment the Cardinal threw Edmond’s head in front of her, a part of Rose had already known that their daughter was gone too.

"This is the price of your sin," the Cardinal said coldly. He stood up again and looked at Rose with disgust. "Your husband took the lives of others. Now it’s God’s turn to take his."

When Rose no longer gave him any response, the Cardinal turned toward the soldiers. "Bring her back. Tie her up if you have to."

But Rose didn’t even struggle as they dragged her out of the forest. The only thing she did was keep holding her husband’s head in her arms, knowing that if she let him go, she truly would never be able to touch him again.