Chapter 31
That the story Ricardo told her—the one that grew more outrageous the more she thought about it—was nonsense? No. She couldn't agree with that. Even Frida, who hadn't experienced it firsthand, felt rage boiling up. Just recalling it made her teeth grind. She couldn't even imagine the shock the boy Daniel must have felt.
"Laura... Ah! You know, right? That the Duke's mother was the daughter of Massimo, our Mercenary Corps leader."
"Yes. Ricardo's first love."
"Haha. That's right. This is embarrassing."
Daniel's mother had noticed from the start. The reason the then-Duchess Dowager Empress was taking such peculiar care of Daniel.
"What kind of people are the Baichen folk? For those black-hearted sorts, deceiving a single child is as easy as breathing."
The previous Rihardt Duke, 'Bruno Rihardt,' unlike his wife Margret, was not a man of great ambition. Tormented by his wife's aspirations his whole life, he reportedly never had a single day of peace until his deathbed.
"Noblemen are all the same—one and all, they obsess over etiquette and customs, ignoring or neglecting household matters. Even watching the Duchess sweet-talk and manipulate young Daniel, the Duke said nothing. With the Duke like that, Laura had to fret alone protecting Daniel."
At age ten, Daniel was sent to his maternal grandfather Massimo's Mercenary Corps due to his mother's determination.
"Laura must have realized it couldn't go on. She'd heard the Duchess brainwashing Daniel daily. That for a bastard to be accepted as part of the ducal family, he must be prepared to lay down his life for the future family head, Leopold, and such. Goodness, that venomous woman."
From then on, Margret had planned to mold Daniel into a knight and place him at the vanguard of a future imperial throne usurpation. To serve as a shield for her own son Leopold's arrows. A truly terrifying woman. In the end, fearing Daniel wouldn't survive if things continued, his mother rolled up her sleeves. Laura tearfully drove out her resisting son from the ducal castle almost by force. Deeply resenting his mother in his young heart, Daniel desperately missed the duchy. After three years wandering the empire with the Mercenary Corps, he stopped by the duchy upon hearing his father the Rihardt Duke had taken ill—and that's when the incident occurred. That particularly harsh winter. It all began when Daniel handed a vial of medicine to Leopold, who was suffering from a cold.
"Mercenary Corps draw all sorts for pay. Folks the Duchess can't even imagine—lowly scum abound. One of them must have told the Duke that Echinacea potion eases fever and cough."
The decisive moment the benevolent Dowager Empress's mask—who even warmly embraced her husband's bastard son—slipped was none other than a cold remedy. Upon learning Daniel had given the Echinacea potion to Leopold whose cough had worsened, Duchess Margret flew into a rage. Ricardo wiped his forehead, saying even now the thought made him break into a cold sweat.
"Whew, what a uproar it was."
"Why? It was just cough medicine."
Pausing briefly, Ricardo picked up a pebble scattered among tree roots and hurled it far away. He seemed lost in thought before continuing to Frida.
"It's known to only a very few, but the Echinacea potion has another effect besides relieving coughs."
"Another effect?"
"Turned out later... it was something the camp followers with the Mercenary Corps told him. Apparently, drinking it steadily causes infertility."
"My goodness."
Upon learning her son—the future Rihardt Duke dreaming of emperorship—had drunk an infertility drug, Margret didn't stay silent. Accusing Daniel of doing it on purpose, she rampaged to kill him. The Duke, the only one who could intervene, lay bedridden, useless.
"Laura begged forgiveness, saying her young son didn't know, but Margret had no intention of sparing him from the start. She even prepared an execution ground to hang Daniel."
Yet the one who lost their life at the execution ground wasn't Daniel, but Laura.
"To save her son, Laura had no choice but to offer her own life in his place."
With that, Ricardo shut his mouth. His face looked so desolate she couldn't ask for more details. Though curious about what followed, Frida held her tongue. Somehow, it felt right. She wasn't entirely in the dark—she knew a few things about the incident. Of course, they were things anyone in the empire knew. The Rihardt Duke had long suffered illness before passing. The year he died, the Rihardts and Baichen family joined hands for a throne usurpation. Leading the rebels' vanguard was the genius swordsman Daniel Rihardt. Probably around nineteen then?
'So in the end, it went according to the Dowager Empress's plan.'
Unable to ask how it came to that, Frida rose with Ricardo. Escorting her to the castle gates, he hesitated before opening his heavy mouth.
"Later, the Duke confessed. He knew what Echinacea was. Out of jealousy, he said. He too wanted to live in the ducal castle but couldn't, so in anger, thinking if Leopold couldn't have children, maybe he'd seek him out..."
Moisture seeped into Ricardo's voice.
"He blames himself to this day for his childish actions killing his mother. But madam, the Duke was only thirteen then. He didn't fully understand what he was doing."
Frida had nodded silently in agreement. As her reverie ended, golden flames leaped from the spilled lantern oil on the passage floor. No longer a thirteen-year-old boy but a twenty-eight-year-old man's blood-red eyes blended with the fire, obsessively pinning Frida. The dying lantern's light briefly illuminated the two. Facing Daniel's sturdy frame up close, Frida's head reeled as if trapped in darkness. She groped for support. The chillingly cold wall felt reassuring today. Before Frida could relax against it, Daniel stretched an arm over her head, lowering his shoulder.
"Ricardo, then. Dominic isn't that stupid."
His voice echoing through the passage carried an aura several times colder than the wall at her back. Instinct warned her. Admit it was him, and Ricardo's done for. Frida shook her head vehemently.
"N-No, absolutely not. I overheard it. I heard people passing by..."
Fearing he'd demand who, she rushed to add,
"I don't know who. Didn't see their face. Just the voice. Only the voice."
Frida squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head furiously. Shaking too hard made her dizzy, legs buckling. She grabbed something instinctively—Daniel's jacket.
"Eek!"
Firm as Altas-rooted trees, he didn't budge. As Frida lurched forward into his chest with a thud, he gripped her shoulders.
"Best keep your eyes shut."
"Pardon? Oh!"
Sweeping her up, Daniel strode down the passage. Eyes snapping open in shock, Frida met pitch darkness and shut them hastily again. The spent lantern rolled away kicked by his foot. Her grip on his clothes tightened involuntarily.
"D-Duke."
"If you want out of here even a moment sooner, shut your mouth and stay still."
He seemed furious, yet wouldn't abandon her in the dark. Relieved, Frida pressed her forehead to his chest. Unlike his icy tone, his warm embrace made the darkness less frightening. The problem was the returning dizziness. He walked so fast it felt like riding an untried horse. Held tight, she didn't jolt much, but the pace was too swift. Floating felt like flying. If flying felt like this, she'd pass. Nausea rising, Frida curled deeper into his arms. Fortunately, the door soon clanked open. Wow... arrived so fast? Three times quicker than last. Feeling light on her eyelids, Frida covered her eyes hastily. After the door slammed shut, Daniel set her down. Slowly removing her hands, she saw her husband bathed in bright spring sun and breeze.
"Thank you, Your Grace. And..."
His eyes still unyielding red.
"What I said earlier..."
"I don't want to hear more of that."
Daniel cut her off dryly, curtly. His toes already turned away.
"You know the way to Marian Hall, so return without delay. I'll take my leave."
"But. Y-Your Grace!"
What? He wants me to go back alone? Clutching her skirt hem tightly, Frida darted to block him. Red eyes or not, that wasn't the issue. Send me through that pitch-black passage alone? Lantern shattered too? And what do I know of the way back? Hastily blocking him, Frida forgot Ricardo's advice.
"Duchess, remember this well. If you see signs of the Duke's eyes reddening, shut your mouth unconditionally and bolt."
Especially 'shut your mouth unconditionally.'
"How am I to return through the passage alone without a lantern?"
"If you wish. But I meant the bright, wide path. For reference, it's that way."
Daniel raised his left hand toward the woodland path. One Frida knew.
'If I could take that path, why would I have asked your help to go through the dark passage?'
Outraged, Frida crossed her arms haughtily, mimicking him, looking up.
She'd always admired how cool he looked arms crossed impassively. Having practiced before a mirror wanting to try, the motion flowed naturally.
"You know I didn't ask for help because I don't know the way..."
"I'll be sure to tell Lady Rosivalt."
She sensed something off from the chill in his voice. Distracted by darkness and dizziness, she'd missed it—but his face had grown colder.
"Only the lord has the right to restrict the Duchess's actions within Munheim Castle, so don't act rashly."
Overly formal and polite, yet ice seemed to spill from his lips each time.
"Being rude to the Duchess is insolence to me, the lord. If she dares restrict the Duchess's actions again with talk of outing bans, I'll punish her severely."
"No, no need to go that far..."
"A warning to you too."
His eyes were hot red, scorching to touch. Yet sensing the chill within, Frida flinched back.
"Never repeat to anyone what you heard from Ricardo. Especially Lady Rosivalt."
Vivid red like flowing blood dominated the center of Daniel's eyes.
"Unless you want to see someone dear to you meet an unexplained death."
Finishing, Daniel offered Frida a formal bow. Terrifyingly courteous.
"Please conduct your business and return safely."
Frida couldn't bear to watch her husband pass coldly. Only then, like a thunderbolt, Ricardo's advice struck.
"Hesitate till his eyes turn fully red... and you'll experience hell."
