33 - The Bride of the Great Lord is a Warrior from Hell
“Alisha.”
A low voice called Alisha, who was lost in deep thought.
“Try this.”
Pulled from her thoughts, Alisha brought a small cookie to Reikart’s lips.
Reikart hesitated for a moment before opening his lips.
Alisha stared intently as he ate the cookie.
“It’s been 24 years.”
Reikart said, embarrassed.
“Pardon?”
Alisha blinked.
“It’s the first time since I was five that someone has fed me something.”
Reikart said with a faint smile.
Alisha took a sip of her tea and set down the teacup.
Then, she picked up another cookie and held it out to his lips, which hadn’t tasted anything for three days.
“Have another one.”
Reikart obediently took the cookie and ate it.
As he moved his jaw, he said casually,
“But why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because I pity you.”
Alisha said more resolutely than ever.
Her violet eyes, looking at Reikart, were full of thought.
Alisha hadn’t felt hunger in hell.
She realized it only after spending almost a year there.
It was only when she realized that that she could accept that she was truly dead.
But unable to let go of her lingering attachments, she had forcibly swallowed dried-up tree bark and soil.
There was no reaction.
It wasn’t digested, nor did she gag.
Returning here, she had tried eating soil again, but as soon as she put it in her mouth, she gagged and gave up.
The sight of Reikart struggling in pain reminded her of her own past.
From the next meal onward, a portion of food was prepared for Reikart as well.
Alisha, as if it were natural, ate her own portion while taking care of Reikart’s meal.
Another three days passed.
The two found the best position to eat their meals while holding hands.
They grew accustomed to holding hands, eating, drinking tea, and enjoying refreshments.
And another three busy days passed.
Reikart’s pain hadn’t completely disappeared, but it was gradually subsiding in the morning.
An urgent message arrived from Imperial Capital Baden.
The Emperor was trying to have a child, conceived outside the Imperial Palace with a woman who was not an Imperial Concubine, delivered in the Imperial Harem Palace.
The woman who was pregnant with the child was the daughter of the Chief Minister, Lady Mode.
Lady Mode’s father, Marquis Manard, was the Emperor and Grand Duke Tessen’s greatest adversary.
It was time for Alisha to make her third prophecy to Reikart.
#8. Welcome to the Imperial Palace
When receiving an urgent message from the Imperial Family, Reikart usually left Tessen on the same day.
He set out with only a minimum of guards.
However, after the Lua Cycle, he refrained from traveling for about three or four days, considering the aftereffects and waiting for the pain to subside.
The Emperor did not contact Tessen unless a war broke out during the Lua Cycle.
Nevertheless, the fact that they were summoning Reikart this time meant that they needed the military power of Grand Duke Tessen for external reasons.
Traces could be seen of considering the messenger’s travel time and the time it would take for the Grand Duke to prepare to come to the Imperial Capital.
It could be inferred that the atmosphere in the Imperial Palace was in disarray.
The fact that the Emperor, who held absolute power, was stalling meant that the situation in the Imperial Palace was chaotic.
The Emperor and Empress.
The Empress’s family, the Isterun Duchy.
The Empress’s position within the Imperial Concubine.
The Imperial Concubines who had entered the palace through political marriages from various countries.
Even the nobles who claimed to be the backers of the Imperial Concubines or were trying to get in line.
The entire Imperial Capital was buzzing with the issue directly related to the heir, which could be felt even in distant Tessen.
But there was nothing they could do right away.
Physical distance was not something that could be easily resolved.
It took at least five days to travel from Tessen to Baden, even riding the fastest horse.
As usual, Reikart couldn’t move right away.
As the contents of the urgent message became known, Tessen Castle was engulfed in anxiety.
Henrik and Connie insisted that it would take at least three or four days to prepare to go to the Imperial Capital.
Reikart said that since the Lua Cycle was over, he would leave immediately tomorrow.
The Emperor’s messenger declared that if there was a day of rest, he would return to the Imperial Capital with the Grand Duke.
With the Grand Duke’s permission, the messenger sent a letter to the Emperor through a courier, informing him that Grand Duke Tessen would depart tomorrow.
Henrik and Connie, who strictly adhered to the period when Reikart did not allow anyone near him, argued in front of the Grand Duke’s room all day long.
Henrik, who had to go to the Imperial Capital with him, packed his bags and visited Reikart from time to time to ask if he was in pain.
Connie complained several times, crying about how His Majesty could be so cold when he was in pain.
Then, she just cried like a sad, lonely child without saying anything.
Jamie, who usually didn’t even show a trace during this period, came to the front of the door every day to inform them of the movements of Baron Langs’s couple.
He said things like his father, Henrik, packed only socks in a bag without packing any pants while packing his luggage.
Or that his mother said she was going to bake cookies, but she burned all the jam while cooking it.
Or that the two of them had flooded the tea table by spilling tea with the teacups overturned.
On the night of the second Lua Cycle, when Lua began to disappear.
Reikart’s excruciating pain stopped.
However, due to the aftereffects of the pain, the buzzing in his head was stronger than usual.
Usually, the annoying noise that grated on his nerves became louder when he left Tessen, sometimes accompanied by pain.
For Reikart, it was unusual to postpone his departure by a day even after receiving the Imperial order, and this was the reason.
Reikart informed Alisha that he would spend tonight alone.
He expressed his gratitude for her help and said that he would repay the compensation for the transaction soon.
All night long, Reikart and his people argued back and forth.
The night passed quickly.
And the morning dawned.
Alisha was standing in front of the Grand Duke’s room.
It felt unfamiliar to wait in front of the room where she had stayed for several days to have an audience.
Alisha found herself amusing, feeling awkward as if that place had become her own room in just a few days.
“Come in.”
Henrik, who came out of the room, said, opening the door.
Henrik’s face, looking at Alisha, showed some kind of lingering attachment.
“Thank you.”
Alisha greeted him lightly and went inside.
Until the door closed, Henrik cast a gaze full of regret.
Unlike the night of arguing back and forth, the morning was quiet.
Reikart, who had looked unwell when Alisha left the room last night, had a much more relaxed face.
“Your Highness.”
“Greetings are unnecessary. Are the preparations complete?”
Reikart said to Alisha, who was about to pay her respects.
“Yes.”
Reikart asked Alisha to accompany him to Baden.
She had intended to go with him even if he hadn’t asked.
Alisha knew what would happen next.
Everyone was not expecting it, but Mode Mannors’s childbirth was imminent.
The Emperor and the Mannors family said she was eight months pregnant, but the child would be born before spring.
Alisha looked up at Reikart, who was not yet wearing his coat.
“Why are you looking at me like that again?”
His face was free of illness, but when he smiled, she felt a sense of familiarity.
“Because I pity you.”
“That’s not why I’m asking you to come with me.”
Reikart added, bursting into laughter at Alisha’s rude words.
“Your Highness.”
“Speak.”
Reikart was choosing leather gloves.
She had thought they were all the same gloves until now, but it seemed they weren’t.
Dozens of pairs of achromatic leather gloves, with details that differed very subtly, were laid out.
Alisha approached Reikart, who was examining the gloves.
“I’ve been thinking.”
“About what?”
“About you being sick at certain times. And about how you get sick when you leave Tessen. You said that it gets better when I hold your hand or when I touch the area where you feel pain. You said that it’s most effective when bare skin touches, and that it works through fabric, but it doesn’t work through leather.”
Violet eyes, looking at the various leather gloves, were calmly lowered.
“It’s alright.”
Reikart chose three black leather gloves that looked the same.
He slightly moved his head to the side, as if to prevent Alisha from touching his forehead.
If necessary, he seemed ready to put on gloves and climb somewhere high.
“It’s not alright.”
Reikart, having chosen his gloves, was about to turn around.
Alisha quickly stepped ahead of him.
“Alisha.”
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Reikart was about to say that he was really alright.
It wasn’t common to hear noises in his head within Tessen, but it wasn’t unheard of either.
The aftereffects were disappearing as time went on.
He would be better by the time they left.
Before he could say anything, a soft body embraced his defenseless chest.
Alisha was small compared to Reikart.
She wasn’t short compared to other women her age, but she certainly wasn’t tall either.
“……!”
Reikart froze in place.
He simply watched Alisha, who had rushed over and embraced his shoulders, hugging him tightly.
The moment her lips, whispering calmly, brushed past his jaw, he stopped all movement.
Alisha was almost clinging to him as she hugged the shoulders of the man who was much taller than her.
She found the reaction of Reikart, who stiffened his entire body and remained motionless, interesting.
Standing still, Reikart couldn’t push away Alisha, who was hugging him, nor could he hug her back.
“How do you feel?”
A soft breath echoed in Reikart’s ear.
“About what?”
He unknowingly uttered fragmented words.
The warm hands that had been holding his shoulders slowly fell away.
The soft warmth that had been leaning against him also receded.
“The noise in your head.”
Alisha looked up at Reikart and asked with a face that seemed to be asking what he meant.
His face, which had been in a panic, slowly returned to reality.
Looking at his puzzled face, Reikart finally realized that the annoying noise that had been pricking his head had disappeared as if washed away.
“I’m alright……”
“Right? I was thinking that the larger the contact area, the greater the effect might be. It seems like this method could be used in an emergency.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
Reikart reacted immediately to Alisha’s bright words.
He didn’t even put on his coat and was about to put on his gloves, but he put the gloves in his back pocket, noticing the gaze watching him.
“Your Highness.”
Alisha stepped back, hearing the sounds coming from outside.
It was time for both him and Alisha to leave.
“Speak.”
Alisha took the posture of stepping back.
When Reikart was about to act according to formality.
Alisha, who had stepped back further, said,
“Ride in my carriage.”
It was a tone that was beyond rude and even arrogant.
“Why would I?”
Reikart had been badgered by Henrik and Connie all night to ride in a carriage, if not on a horse.
He had mercilessly rejected their pleas.
But if he were to ride in his betrothed’s carriage the next day, his position would become ridiculous.
“I just hugged you.”
Alisha said something that could easily be misunderstood if someone heard it.
Reikart hurriedly said,
“Alisha.”
“It was much more effective than holding hands. You made a deal with me, didn’t you? That you would grant me anything each time I held your hand. I’ll take my leave.”
Alisha, having said what she wanted to say, left the room.
Reikart, left behind, was stunned for a moment.
“Not anything.”
The words, with no one to hear them, echoed sullenly.
