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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Was It a Dream?
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In front of Maho Castle in Laker City, the capital of the Northern Territory, all the retainers were gathered to welcome the Northern Duke, who was returning home after a long absence.
At the very front stood Duke Tessio Hern, beaming.
"Father, were you really that eager to see His Grace, the Northern Duke?"
Grand Duke Andrei Hern grumbled, seeing his father looking happier than when he greeted his own son.
"How could I not be happy, with His Grace returning with the Duchess Consort?"
"But what if this Duchess Consort is just some unremarkable woman?"
"You fool, His Grace has such excellent judgment. She must be an extraordinary woman."
"I don't know. To begin with, I don't even trust the contents of the letter Isaac sent. That fellow's an idiot. He must have misunderstood a brief conversation His Grace had with a woman and sent that letter."
"Even Isaac wouldn't act so carelessly about the Duchess Consort, would he?"
Andrei thought that Isaac was perfectly capable of such a thing, but he refrained from pointing it out.
The letter, brimming with excitement, had arrived at the end of March.
"[We are delayed because we are escorting the Duchess Consort. His Grace is completely smitten with the Duchess Consort. She is truly beautiful and intelligent, so you can look forward to meeting her!]"
Duke Hern, who had been terribly worried about Cyrus's delay, couldn't stop smiling ever since receiving that letter.
Though Cyrus had taken the Northern Duke's position at a young age and no one was yet discussing the issue of a successor, the vacant position of Duchess Consort was a major concern.
Not only the nobles of the Northern Territory, but also some nobles from the Eastern, Western, and Southern Territories, and even the Empire's nobles, were constantly seeking opportunities to place their daughters in the Northern Duchess Consort's position.
Some secretly pulled strings to get their daughters into Maho Castle, while others overtly sent proposals. The subtle power struggles among nobles with daughters were a headache for the Northern Territory.
It would be easier if Cyrus were at least interested in women, taking one lover after another.
Then they could simply choose a woman from the best family to be the Duchess Consort.
However, even though Cyrus was at an age where he should be dating, he showed no interest in women whatsoever.
It was a miracle if he didn't kill the women who approached him to tempt him.
So, for Cyrus to bring back a woman he was completely smitten with, Duke Hern had no choice but to welcome her with open arms.
A room and even ladies-in-waiting had already been prepared for the Duchess Consort at Maho Castle.
"Here they come."
The white snow covering the road was kicked up by horse hooves, clouding the air. Through it, four riders galloped, their black cloaks fluttering.
As the man riding at the very front halted, his silver hair streaming, the retainers bowed deeply.
"Your Grace, you must have endured much hardship."
Duke Hern stepped forward and spoke.
Cyrus nodded curtly and rode his horse through the castle gates. The bowing retainers straightened and followed behind Cyrus.
Duke Hern kept looking around as he followed Cyrus, but nowhere did he see a woman who seemed to be the Duchess Consort. The only woman visible was Rui.
'Surely, he hasn't taken a liking to Rui, has he?'
Duke Hern swallowed his questions until Cyrus reached the building and dismounted. Cyrus walked down the corridor, his cloak flapping, and asked,
"Were there any problems?"
"No, Your Grace."
"What about the Paganus?"
"They caused a minor disturbance, but Andrei led the charge and suppressed it. We captured two Paganus warriors who haven't yet reached adulthood as hostages, but..."
"Kill them. Keeping them alive will only cause trouble."
"Yes. But... Your Grace, where is the Duchess Consort?"
Cyrus stopped dead.
Seeing Isaac, who was following behind him, turn pale, Andrei sighed inwardly.
'He's jumped to conclusions again.'
Cyrus slowly turned and glared at Isaac. His red eyes gleamed chillingly, as if to devour Isaac.
Watching Isaac instinctively bow his head, Cyrus commanded in a low voice,
"Explain."
"Well..."
The fidgeting Isaac suddenly dropped to his knees.
"Please, kill me."
"Yes. Kill him."
Cyrus spoke coldly and was about to turn away when Andrei knelt beside Isaac.
"Your Grace. I will share the punishment."
Cyrus twisted the corner of his mouth upwards.
"What remarkable friendship. Strip them and give them twenty lashes each."
Flogging was by no means a light punishment; each strike tore flesh from the body. Even if they had been friends since childhood, speaking lightly of the Duchess Consort, who was to be the mother of the nation, was a grave offense.
That was how it was in the Northern Territory.
Realizing that things had gone wrong, Duke Hern clicked his tongue inwardly.
'It was my mistake for trusting that fellow, Isaac.'
Cyrus, who had walked briskly without looking back as his friends were dragged away, arrived at his bedchamber and removed his cloak.
"I will rest. Allow no one in until I give the order."
"Yes, Your Grace."
Dismissing all his retainers, Cyrus entered the room, sat on the sofa, and slowly read the letters he had obtained in the Western Territory.
Letters exchanged between Rachel and the Western Duke while she was the Eastern Duchess Consort. They contained some truth about the war that had tarnished the honor of the former Northern Duke and Duchess Consort.
'Very useful, but still not enough.'
After Cyrus reclaimed the Northern Duke's position, the Northern Territory grew stronger.
But there were still too many enemies. Rashly revealing the existence of these letters would only give his enemies an opportunity to act.
'I need more evidence and power.'
Cyrus closed his eyes tightly.
When his parents died, Cyrus was too young. There were many who sought Cyrus's life, both within and without, forcing him to flee.
The wet nurse who fled with Cyrus was killed by enemies, and Duke Hern, who later found Cyrus and helped him, lost his right hand.
Enemies were many, allies few.
The Emperor, who coveted the Northern Territory's powerful army, seized the opportunity and sent people to the Northern Territory. He claimed to 'temporarily' take over the vacant Northern Duke's position while simultaneously searching for Cyrus's whereabouts.
Cyrus had a premonition that if he were found powerless, he would die.
He lived with a heart full of anguish. He had to become strong, and he had to gather strong allies. He had to reclaim the Black Knights, scattered by the lost war, and cultivate power that no one would dare touch.
After spending several years chewing on dirt when there was no food and drinking horse urine when there was no water, he proudly returned to the Northern Territory.
He was 14 years old at the time.
'Six years since then.'
Cyrus simply could not believe the dishonor of his parents.
The former Northern Duke was accused of trying to conquer the Empire by joining hands with the Eastern Duke and using the power of the Paganus, only to die at the Eastern Duke's hand due to internal strife.
The Emperor was harsh on the former Northern Duke but merely stripped the Eastern Duke of his military command, imposing no other major sanctions.
While moving to uncover the hidden truth, he discovered that Western Duke Rodian Oblen was behind it. He also learned that Rachel, the Western Duke's daughter, was the Eastern Duchess Consort at that time.
The letters found thanks to Ariana contained stories related to that war.
'Revealing these letters to the world now would only look like a desperate attempt to clear my parents' names.'
The Western Duke was trusted by the Emperor, so it was obvious he would talk his way out of the crisis. To hold those involved in the former Northern Duke's death accountable for their crimes, more power and evidence were needed.
'This must be the best I can get from the Western Territory. The Western Duke's castle is difficult to enter freely, so observing Rachel Bronte was the right approach.'
Thinking of the Western Territory brought Ariana to mind.
Her rounded forehead and sparkling clear blue eyes beneath her neat eyebrows were like looking at a clear sky on a sunny day.
When he last saw her, Ariana walked straight and boldly towards the castle gates. Her back, with the hood of her cloak pulled low, was very small, yet she carried herself with the dignity of a triumphant general.
He wondered what Ariana might be doing now.
'The Eastern Duke has been consistently sending letters to Rachel Bronte asking about Ariana's well-being, so he wouldn't treat her poorly, would he?'
If she were treated as she was in the Western Territory, he would not stand idly by, regardless of its connection to the former Northern Duke's death.
When Cyrus first encountered Ariana, he felt both intrigued and a chilling sense of familiarity.
This was because a mere sixteen-year-old girl, a young girl who had been confined and abused in a mansion, possessed the same gaze he had during his own time, when he had to constantly be vigilant and act to survive. The reason he could discern the tempestuous hatred hidden behind her calm expression was because Cyrus himself had gone through similar times.
Thus, his heart went out to her. He didn't even realize he was more preoccupied with tracing Ariana's footsteps than with searching for potential evidence with Rachel.
The more he watched Ariana, the more it felt like he was seeing his younger self.
Suddenly, Ariana's smile, which he had seen in the dungeon, came to mind. Her true smile.
"I'll smile if I need to. And I'll smile even when there's a reason to."
Recalling her unyielding demeanor even in front of him, the icy rigidity on Cyrus's face, which had been present since entering the Northern Territory, softened.
Although he had eliminated those who had killed the former Northern Duke and Duchess Consort and tried to seize the Northern Duke's position, he hadn't eradicated them completely. Cyrus did not feel at ease even within the Northern Territory.
He could not show any weakness to those who coveted his position and wished to cut off his head, so he had to be even sharper than when he was elsewhere.
But Cyrus did not realize that this moment, as he thought of Ariana, was different. He sat with his legs crossed, a more relaxed expression than usual, and a faint smile on his lips.
+++
Rui carried out the flogging.
Isaac, who had endured all twenty lashes without a single cry, groaned and said,
"Rui, you're really merciless."
"My duty is done, so I will take my leave. Both of you, please rest comfortably."
"Do we look like we can rest comfortably?"
Isaac grumbled, but Rui left the punishment chamber without looking back.
Isaac groaned and crawled to where their belongings were, retrieved an ointment, and returned to generously apply it to Andrei's back.
"Why did you send such a useless letter?"
"I'm telling you, it's true. His Grace is completely smitten with that girl—no, woman. She has the bearing of a woman. Anyway, he's completely smitten with her. I doubted my own eyes, but it truly happened."
"Nonsense."
"Nonsense? Do you know why we were late? We were delayed because we were escorting the Duchess Consort to the Eastern Territory."
"The Eastern Territory?"
"Oh, right. I hadn't told you that."
While Andrei applied ointment to Isaac's back, Isaac explained what had happened in the Western Territory. Andrei couldn't make any sense of what Isaac was saying.
Cyrus flirting with a woman? Helping her? Bringing her food, talking about her 'usefulness'? Smiling? Arranging a place for her to sleep? Matching his horse's pace so she could keep up? Pretending to have business in the Eastern Territory just to take her there?
When Isaac finished his story, Andrei let out a scoffing laugh.
"Did you dream all that?"
