Ch#205
Covered in dust, Varkas burst through the castle gates. He abandoned his lightweight horse, which was convulsing and foaming at the mouth, and sprinted across the training grounds.
Having heard news of the Grand Duke’s arrival, hundreds of mounted warriors poured out of the barracks. Varkas didn’t even glance at the knights as they bowed in unison, heading straight up the stone stairs and through the inner gates.
The garden, now filled with the unmistakable air of late autumn, flooded his vision.
He crossed the courtyard, where fallen leaves lay in thick drifts, in a single bound and strode into the Great Hall, where dozens of servants were lined up in a long row.
“Y-Your Excellency, you have returned.”
The head butler, waiting by the door, greeted him with a trembling voice.
“You must be exhausted after such a long journey. As you have likely already been informed…”
“What is Lucas’s condition?”
Varkas pushed back the hood covering his head, coldly cutting the butler off.
The man, whose wrinkled face was etched with grief, replied in a stiff tone.
“Thanks to the High Priest’s efforts, he has narrowly passed the crisis… but the wound to his neck is deep, and they say there may be permanent disability…”
The man couldn’t finish his sentence and pressed his lips thin.
In his stead, the head maid, waiting on the left side of the gate, carefully added an explanation.
“The High Priest said we won’t know the exact prognosis until the young master regains consciousness.”
“He hasn’t woken up yet?”
“The blood loss at the time of the accident was too severe. They said it will take some time for him to fully recover his strength.”
Varkas stood frozen for a moment before letting out a low, heavy voice.
“I wish to see his condition for myself. Where is Lucas?”
“We have settled him in his original chambers on the second floor.”
He did not hesitate and strode across the hall.
As he climbed the carpeted stairs, the door to the bedroom used by generations of Siertan Grand Dukes came into view.
The head maid led him past it and toward the double-story gallery.
“It is that room,” the head maid said, pointing to the double doors located in the wing.
Varkas stepped forward and pulled the handle. With a heavy creak of friction, the dim interior of the bedroom was revealed.
Stepping inside, Varkas slowly surveyed the room.
Maids gathered to attend to the patient, the High Priest with a somber face, and Laina, her eyes bloodshot, were all surrounding the bed.
“G-Greetings, Your Excellency.”
A maid who noticed him late hurriedly bowed her head. Following her lead, everyone in the room rose at once to pay their respects.
Varkas walked past them to the side of the bed. Beyond the veil, he saw his brother lying as if dead, his neck wrapped thick with bandages.
Staring down at the pale, bloodless face, Varkas directed a question to the priest standing at the head of the bed.
“Is there any improvement?”
The priest shook his head gloomily.
“We must observe him further. We are continuously casting recovery magic, but the wound was so severe that…”
Varkas looked down at Lucas again.
The face that had been full of vitality only a few months ago had turned ashen and gaunt. Since he had been hovering between life and death for over ten days, it was natural that he looked like a corpse.
He clenched his fists tight. At that moment, a sharp voice rang out from nearby.
“Are you satisfied now?”
His gaze shifted to the other side of the bed. Laina, looking every bit as haggard as Lucas, was glaring at him with eyes full of resentment.
“Even though all the vassals agreed that the wolf had to be dealt with, you ignored them and only listened to that woman. It’s all your fault that Lucas ended up like this. It’s because you left that wolf alone, Brother!”
“M-My Lady!” the head maid cried out in horror, trying to stop her, but Laina didn’t care.
“Get out right now! You have no right to be here!”
A scream that was almost a shriek echoed through the bedroom.
Varkas stared at his huffing sister with an expressionless face before eventually stepping out of the room.
In the hallway, six or seven vassals who had heard the news were already waiting.
One of them spoke up with a solemn air.
“Your Excellency, we can no longer overlook the Grand Duchess’s atrocities.”
Varkas didn’t offer a single response.
The man flinched as if intimidated by Varkas’s icy gaze, but soon continued resolutely.
“The Grand Duchess secretly released the magical beast that attacked Young Master Lucas. She has no concern for the safety of us Easterners! How much longer must we stand by in silence and watch her misdeeds!”
As if in agreement, another man chimed in with an agitated tone.
“We must eliminate that beast that attacked Young Master Lucas immediately! And please, hand down an appropriate punishment to the Grand Duchess as well.”
Varkas looked out at the hallway where darkness was beginning to settle, his face unreadable.
A deep shadow hung over the door of the bedroom he and she had once shared.
At the thought that she might be hearing the accusations they were hurling, his nerves stood on edge. Feeling a strong sense of self-loathing, he closed his eyes tightly before opening them again.
“Form a subjugation party immediately. I will deal with that wolf myself.”
“And the Grand Duchess…”
“I will see that she receives an appropriate punishment as well.”
As a man stepped forward as if to demand what kind of punishment it would be, an elder vassal quietly held him back.
Varkas passed them and climbed the stairs to the third floor. Entering the room adjacent to his study, he saw a neatly made bed and a fireplace already lit.
Varkas stripped off his robe, which was no better than a rag, and tossed it carelessly onto the floor before unbuckling his breastplate and placing it on the rack. He then removed his tunic, which was a mess of sweat and dust, and was washing his face with water from a basin when he heard a knock at the door.
Only after a long silence did he speak.
“Come in.”
Soon, a pale, ghost-like figure entered the room. Varkas stared at her with frozen eyes.
Talia Roem Siertan looked much like she had when he first woke up after hovering near death.
The woman, her thick hair hanging loosely down her back, looked up at him with eyes full of anxiety.
After staring at the face he hadn’t seen in months for a long time, Varkas indifferently picked up a towel and wiped his face. Then, he gave a chilling order to the guard waiting by the door.
“Escort the Grand Duchess to the third-floor inner chambers. For the time being, she is strictly forbidden from leaving her room without my permission.”
The soldiers stepped toward her to carry out the order. Avoiding the soldiers, the woman rushed toward him and spoke pleadingly.
“W-Wait, just a moment. Just talk to me for a second.”
Varkas, who was pulling on a clean shirt, slowly turned to look at her. Her body, wrapped in a crumpled linen dress, was noticeably thin.
In an instant, an unknown rage heated his brain. Suppressing it desperately, he gestured to the soldiers at the door.
“Wait outside.”
The soldiers withdrew as soon as the order was given.
As the sound of the door closing reached her, her shoulders dropped slightly as if the tension had broken.
Watching her closely, Varkas took a new doublet from the shelf and spoke in a cold tone.
“I cannot give you much time. If you have something to say, say it quickly.”
“Is… is Lucas okay?”
He let out a dry laugh at the hesitant question.
“How do you think he is?”
The woman bit her lip hard and lowered her head.
Varkas, who had been watching her with eyes like ice, turned away with a weary sigh. He threw the wool doublet over his thin shirt and picked up his wyvern-leather armor from the display stand.
As he began to put it on piece by piece, a faint, tearful voice broke the sharp silence.
“Please… save Khan.”
Varkas froze mid-motion and slowly turned his head. She grabbed his arm and continued desperately.
“I-I’ll do whatever you say from now on… anything. I won’t argue with the vassals anymore… and I’ll be kind to the servants. If you tell me never to leave my room for the rest of my life, I’ll do it… so please, please, don’t kill Khan.”
In an instant, his insides burned as if he had swallowed boiling oil.
He roughly grabbed her chin. Leaning his face close to hers, he spat out threateningly.
“My brother is hovering between life and death right now. And yet, you’re worried about the safety of that mere beast.”
The blood completely drained from the woman’s face.
Varkas glared at her pale face as if he might devour her, then threw her hand off. He turned away heartlessly and said,
“I’m done indulging your whims. Since it has harmed a person, I cannot leave that beast be.”
