Chapter 11
The frantic, mind-scrambling vibrations felt through Daniel's clothes grew worse as time passed. Thump thump, thump thump, thump thump. It seemed the light presence of the woman was being replaced by her fiercely pounding heartbeat, to the point of eliciting a hollow laugh.
'A heart as honest as its owner.'
Even Valzak, his warhorse that trampled everything in its path on the battlefield, had been tamer than this. Daniel let out a silent chuckle in the darkness. Her efforts to hold the lantern as high as his eye level were equally amusing. It seemed she was doing it to light his way, oblivious that it was utterly pointless. Judging by how stubbornly she gripped it to steady the wobbling lantern. This labyrinthine passage, designed with intertwining paths like a maze, was the only place he had invested money in since receiving the castle. Built to evade the eyes of unwelcome spies monitoring him, considerable effort had gone into it. Secret passages connected to five rooms in the castle. The ducal couple's bedroom and study, plus two more even Dominic didn't know about. One could enter the passage through those, but there was only one exit leading outside. The end of the path led to light only here. Ricardo, Dominic, and Daniel. No one else could escape alive. The fearless who entered uninvited would likely get lost, starve for days, and die. Even walking slowly on purpose, the light swayed relentlessly, and each time, tendons stiffened on her slender wrist. If it was because of him, he considered telling her not to bother, but her thin fingers clutching the lantern handle looked too earnest. Earnest enough to evoke guilt rather than mockery. Her nonstop pounding heart and neck craning fearfully in the dark urged him to hurry. The moment he spotted the wooden door signaling the passage's end in the distance, a deeper sigh than before escaped him. Startled by the sound of his breath, his wife in his arms flailed like a freshly caught fish.
"N-Now you can put me down."
"Even if you insist, that's what I'll do."
Daniel set Frida down only when he was close enough to reach the door handle with a hand. He extinguished the persistently annoying lantern light swiftly, missing how her cheeks had flushed red. Before grasping the handle, Daniel pulled Frida's back snug against his chest.
"Close your eyes."
Without giving her time to ask why, he raised his hand to cover her vision. His hand was so large it completely shrouded her face with room to spare.
"Sudden light will make you dizzy."
Creeeak. The door opened with a grating screech that scraped the ears. At the same time, faint sunlight spilled over Daniel's large, broad hand. It was a warm, gentle sunlight, considerate like a husband shielding his weary, frightened wife from harsh rays—not just carrying her here. Duke Rihardt seemed accustomed to caring for the weak. It overflowed with the leisure of one born strong, something Frida could never have no matter how much she wished for it.
'This man... is strong.'
Handsome, enviable, grateful, jealous. Though not sad, her eyes stung inexplicably. As she stood dazed, trying to compose the surging unfamiliar emotion, her husband's breath now whispered into her ear.
"Close your eyes briefly and open them. It'll make seeing the sunlight much easier."
He must have thought she hadn't heard his instruction to close them. His endlessly courteous low voice brushed past, touching only briefly, yet it burned her earlobe as if it might melt away. Thump thump, thump thump. Her heart pounded wildly without regard for her distraught mind. She held her breath to muffle the sound, but it only quickened more. Her chest thundered so fiercely it seemed about to burst through her skin, ignoring pleas to calm. Even her tightly shut eyelids trembled helplessly to the relentless pulse. There had been days like this before. Days when her heart raced madly from consecutive thrilling events. Among the many merchants traveling the empire, Frida particularly welcomed those Turkic traders from the east. If lucky, once or twice a year, she caught them arriving at the count's estate during her parents' absence. On such days, she spent all day at the kitchen table, marveling at their exotic goods. Even the strict steward, who monitored her outings per her parents' orders, turned a blind eye then. Knowing how much she anticipated it. It was her sole chance to hear tales of the world beyond the Harkbon walls, which she had never left. If her parents' return was delayed, Frida sat by the kitchen hearth, lost in the merchants' mystical stories of the eastern continent. They said people there, with skin unlike Svergen's, wrapped turbans to shield from intense sun. Farther east than Turk, some shot fire into the night sky to bloom flowers. When the steward announced their late return, she tiptoed to bed, pretending sleep. Pressing her chest to hide her hammering heart from her parents checking on her. But now it trembled more than when deceiving them. The difference: she didn't know what had broken her heart this time.
"Now slowly open your eyes."
Daniel's hand slowly withdrew. Light poured into the space it created. Little by little, gradually. Her fully liberated purple eyes captured him along with the sunlight. Her husband, extending a hand before the narrow door—half the length of the passage they had traversed.
"If you're dizzy, hold my hand."
She was dizzy. From the man standing amid sunlight piercing dense branches. Too... beautiful. Her heart plummeted more than any day before; she didn't even notice the sunlight stinging her skin. Frida thought: if this trembling persisted, she might not see her twenty-first spring. *** It didn't take Frida long to realize her quickening heartbeat wasn't solely because of her husband. Her heart raced quite often and easily. Especially severely before shiny yellow things. Doubting her darkness-weak eyes, Frida advanced step by step. She knew of the unused tower opposite Kember Hall—mercenary barracks—west of Munheim Castle, where no one entered. Dominic said he initially couldn't find the key and left it, then forgot as there was no need to open it.
"They say the lord's former lover haunts it as a ghost. See that window at the top? She was imprisoned there, died waiting for the lord, and still stands there, or so the rumor goes."
Who would imagine such a secret space in the tower abandoned amid creepy rumors. The duke's words about ducats weren't lies. Just that it wasn't only ducats. Amid pristine gold coins untouched by hands, they were merely one item.
"My goodness."
All these treasures filling over half this vast underground were the duke's?
"Use whatever you want from here. No need to report to me."
She couldn't help questioning if he meant it. If a joke, she'd grab his collar regardless of propriety and stop him.
"So, all these are yours, Your Grace? And... you're permitting me to use them."
Please say yes. Tell me I'm not dreaming. What if it's a joke? If a dream, she wouldn't wake. Seeing her honest eyes betraying her thoughts, Daniel nodded.
"May I interpret that nod as permission to use these gold coins freely?"
"Yes."
"Without Your Grace's approval?"
Despising foolish repetition, Daniel nodded more firmly this time.
"Yes. Precisely."
Gold coins that would refill even if emptied—no need for bothersome reports and approvals. Whatever Dominic saw in this small woman, she was a noble lady raised in protection, a greenhouse flower. What such delicately reared ladies did with money was predictable. Even a somewhat unique Harkbon daughter would be no different.
"Wow......"
Frida's pallid face flushed with color, her eyes widening round. Perhaps the multiple wall lamps turned her pupils golden. Round and gleaming like crisp gold coins. The light suited her, yet felt oddly regrettable. Her eyes showed joy too pure for greed. He had wanted disappointment to spread when giving then taking away, but suddenly didn't.
"No need to seek my permission each time. Use as you wish, Madam."
The situation diverging from his intent irked him entirely. Daniel swallowed against his prickly throat.
"But there is a condition."
"A c-condition?"
Frida's unease displeased him; his eye twitched faintly. Absurd to seem untrustworthy after giving wealth to buy half of Svergen.
"No need for concern. Nothing major."
"Even if major, I'd do it. What is the condition, Your Grace? Anything I can do, I'll fulfill."
To show resolve, Frida clenched her fists over her skirt hem upon finishing. So small they caught his eye. Enough misalignment from predictions for one day. Unwanting more, Daniel spoke hastily.
"Order a bed."
No more staying in that flower-scented room.
"Right now."
Nor sleeping in one bed with his wife bearing that scent. *** Ten days after Daniel awoke, the physician permitted riding. In truth, Anton simply held his tongue, unable to dissuade his liege determined to ride Valzak regardless. The one who might side with Anton was preoccupied elsewhere. Excited by the rare outing, Valzak pawed and snorted even back in the stables. Daniel gently stroked his warhorse's crest, on the verge of demolishing the stable.
"Calm down, Valzak. Tomorrow I'll let you run longer than today."
Grudging acceptance, it snorted powerfully and returned to its stall. Removing his riding glove with his front teeth as he exited, Daniel looked skyward. The sun sinking behind Altas peaks was quite scenic, even to his impassive eyes. Had Dominic not rushed over upon seeing him, he'd have lingered.
"Didn't I tell you not to give her the vault key? What now?"
Daniel leisurely admired the bloodshot veins in Dominic's deep brown eyes. Looking haggard, he'd suffered considerably today. For all his courtesy amid it, Dominic soon bared his teeth.
"At this rate, you'll be bankrupt in a year, you damned fool!"
