To the Love Born in the Lowest Place

“Oh my, was she really going to stab her neck just now?”

“No way. She was probably just trying to threaten.”

Amidst the whispers about Liv’s actions, Emmett continued, glaring at her. His eyes seemed to hold half concern for Liv, but at least the other half was definitely anger.

“Were you really trying to end your life?”

“No, I wasn’t going to die anyway.”

As if misunderstanding her words, Emmett looked at Liv with a face devoid of any affection, as if something had snapped inside him.

“So now you’ve stooped to taking your own life hostage to threaten others. I’m truly disappointed.”

“But I…”

“I can’t believe you tried to pull a stunt like this in the sacred banquet hall of the imperial palace. And so soon after His Majesty the Emperor left.”

His Majesty the Emperor. At those words, Liv’s heart sank. She feared that name.

“Is… His Majesty the Emperor more important to you than me?”

“Isn’t it obvious? His Majesty the Emperor is the ruler of this nation who must be revered!”

“So His Majesty is the most valuable…”

“Why are you even disappointed by that fact? Have you forgotten everything I taught you about what kind of person His Majesty is?”

Because Liv had dared to try to overstep the Emperor’s authority, Emmett’s eyes now held a glimmer of contempt as he looked at her.

“Miss Hamelsvoort.”

“Yes?”

Startled by the stiff form of address, Liv’s head shot up, but Emmett was looking down at her with the coldest gaze.

“Please refrain from sending me letters or visiting the Lartman Ducal residence in the future. And address me by my formal title.”

“Emmett, I…”

“It’s Duke Lartman. You seem to be under some misapprehension, but I have no obligation to treat you well.”

Each of his words painfully carved into Liv’s heart. For a moment, Liv felt one of the dazzling fragments of light that made up her world shatter into pieces.

“The only reason I’ve been kind to you all this time was out of pity.”

“Pity…”

Just as the Hamelsvoort couple had said, he didn’t love Liv. His actions of treating her well had been purely out of sympathy.

“And I no longer even pity you, Miss Hamelsvoort. I hope to have no further connection with you in the future.”

“Why, why? You know…”

Even though she instinctively sensed that it was all over, Liv tearfully continued, trying to somehow gain his sympathy.

“You know that without you, Emmett, I really have nothing. You know that everyone hates me…”

“Now I think I understand why people dislike you, Miss Hamelsvoort. Even those who approach you with goodwill will end up leaving you in the end. Because you have absolutely no intention of reflecting on your own actions.”

“What did I do wrong?”

“How could I not be disappointed in you for using your life as a means to an end? I regret my past of treating you kindly.”

The Holy Church strictly forbids using one’s life as a means and considers it a grave sin.

Then to Emmett, a believer of the Holy Church, Liv was no different from a sinner. Realizing this, Liv spoke in a desperate voice.

“I’m sorry, I was wrong. I will learn from now on…”

“Miss Hamelsvoort.”

Emmett called Liv’s surname in a rigid tone.

“I can’t believe that despite being a noble, you fail to fulfill your own duty of dedicating yourself to the nation. Instead of devoting yourself to the country, you tried to use your life as a means. Consider yourself fortunate that you weren’t thrown into Abgrund. This is the last consideration I can show you.”

Leaving those words behind, Emmett turned sharply and left. Liv stared at his back with a blank face and spoke tearfully.

“But I didn’t know.”

“Ignorance is no excuse!”

Emmett said in an agitated voice. It was far from the noble-like demeanor he usually showed.

“You were unfit to be adopted into the Hamelsvoort family in the first place! Your original fate was to remain where you were. When given a new status, you should have tried to adapt to it, how could you act that way? Was it not enough that I kept helping you?”

Liv could no longer say anything. As she stood there motionless, those who had been watching the confrontation between the two in bated breath slowly began to speak.

“Hahaha, look at her face. How ridiculous.”

“Seems like she’s finally realized her place?”

Liv wanted to erase the existence of these noisy people from the world, but remembering what Emmett had said, she endured it. He said not to use life as a means. She couldn’t do what he hated.

But Liv no longer knew what to do. Even the man she loved had abandoned and left her.

It wasn’t that Liv hadn’t tried at all. Even when the gods made such a racket as to burst her head, Liv endured it and didn’t run away in front of the Emperor. She somehow learned the etiquette that the Hamelsvoort couple didn’t teach her. She spent nights learning letters and reading books.

But all those efforts ended up being in vain.

Everyone Liv knew hated her.

The servants of the Hamelsvoort family ignored Liv.

The Hamelsvoort couple despised Liv.

The nobles in high society considered Liv a laughingstock.

The temple loathed Liv.

Even Emmett, whom she loved, was angry at Liv.

Liv was practically abandoned by everyone. No one understood her.

‘Was I really destined to remain there forever?’

Was it Liv’s mistake to dare set foot in a world with people like Emmett?

Child, it’s alright. We love you.

The gods comforted Liv like that, but it only made her feel more miserable.

‘So what? Humans hate me.’

The gods’ love isolated Liv from humans. But Liv could never escape the gods’ love. She probably never would in her lifetime.

Finally, Liv came to a conclusion.

‘Humans hate me.’

As long as the gods were attached to Liv, humans wouldn’t understand her and would hate her. Liv would live forever in people’s hatred.

But still, still…

“I will love.”

That voice, which sounded like a vow to herself, carried a solemn and noble heart like the figures in the myths Liv had heard.

It was said that love was the greatest emotion humans could feel. It was said to prove that humans were human. It was said that love made humans live.

So Liv would love.

Because all Liv learned from the gods was unyielding love, she would cherish it and live.

Even if this world tried to destroy Liv’s love, Liv would live with love in her heart.

“My love will not die.”

Liv bit her lip tightly.

Even if all humans hated Liv, and even the man Liv loved abhorred her.

Her love for him would never die.

* * *

“Sister, Sister?”

“Huh? Ah…”

Liv, who had been lost in memories of the past for a while, finally recalled that she was on her way home with Hildegard after the banquet.

The day she first faced Emmett’s sharp anger, she got in real trouble after returning home. Liv had to be locked in her room for a week.

But since vowing not to give up on love, Liv had adapted a lot to the new world she belonged to. She was now unfazed by people whispering about her and wasn’t upset even as she bore people’s hatred.

She had also learned to express her feelings without giving up, no matter how much Duke Lartman pushed her away.

“Sister, so did Duke Lartman really not change?”

Liv quietly stared at Hildegard. Right, they were talking about Duke Lartman.

But leaning her powerless body against the carriage, Liv spoke in a calm voice.

“He was always like that.”

“What? But Duke Lartman was originally…”

“No, humans are like that.”

Liv’s eyes held a bitter light as she said that.

“Humans are inherently incomprehensible.”

Liv had only gotten used to it, but she never deeply understood humans. So Duke Lartman’s suddenly changed attitude wasn’t particularly strange.

The world was always full of things Liv couldn’t understand anyway.