Chapter 11
It was something she would never have uttered aloud under normal circumstances.
Whether it was because her mind was clouded by fever, or because she had died and come back to life, or because she couldn’t tell if this situation was even real—whatever the reason, her tongue moved entirely of its own accord, brutally honest.
To Pheon, she had said, “I know you don’t even see me as a woman.”
And in doing so, she had declared, “No one thinks of me that way, and I know that too.” It was something the Ostein Duke’s Daughter, with her immense pride, would never have said. But she had let it slip.
“It’s no big deal.”
After saying it, she felt strangely indifferent. Above all, it was the truth. She had known it all along; she had simply kept it to herself.
“Is that so.”
Pheon, too, seemed to nod indifferently.
“I’ve done something unnecessary, then. I apologize.”
“Why did you save my father?”
Seizing the moment, Kaella asked him point-blank. It was a question she was dying to know the answer to, but one she could never have voiced in the Imperial Palace, brimming with the Emperor’s eyes and ears.
“You have nothing to do with His Highness, after all.”
That was the nature of their relationship. Strangers with no ties of blood, nor bound as family. Just two men with no connection.
Her mind knew it was probably for the best, but her heart felt hollow, and not knowing how to bear this emptiness, Kaella floundered.
“Rather, you might have gotten in trouble for it.”
Had the Empress not collapsed, that surely would have happened. He would have been berated by the Emperor for failing to extract the bullet—called a brute, uncouth, and unrefined. But Pheon answered simply and impassively.
“I’m already in enough trouble, so it’s fine.”
How could he tell her it was because he didn’t want to sin against her anymore, because he wanted her to be happy? How could he dare say such a thing? A sinner had no right to speak. He had to remain silent.
“Support for Lüsenford might have been cut.”
If the Emperor decided to reduce aid to the front lines battling the Evil Dragon over something so trivial, he was more than capable of it. It was already widely known throughout the Empire that he acted particularly irrationally toward Pheon.
“Lüsenford wouldn’t have been able to hold out then. Why did you do it?”
The Lüsenford Duke was a knight and a soldier. He knew well that his men had to fight without shivering in the cold or going hungry.
That was why he always endured humiliation before the Emperor, desperately seeking aid. Wasn’t his greatest goal, wish, and dream to slay the Evil Dragon Overlante, return home, reunite with his mother, and marry Beatrice?
Kaella thought that if Pheon had slain the Evil Dragon Overlante even faster than the Emperor could kill him, she probably would have been secretly murdered in Lüsenford.
Lüsenford had plenty of loyal retainers who would eliminate anyone standing in the way of their lord’s reunion, and he himself wouldn’t have left his wife—a suspected spy for the Emperor—alive. Either way, Kaella was doomed to die.
“We can hold out.”
Pheon answered curtly. There was even a hint of confidence in his tone. This was not the Lüsenford Duke who had struggled against the cold and the dragon.
“Thank you for your concern, but Lüsenford can endure. And before His Imperial Majesty, aren’t we both in the same boat, needing to help each other?”
With her fever-blurred vision, Kaella looked at Pheon anew. The words he spoke were utterly unlike the duke she had known. He felt unfamiliar.
She was deliberately addressing him with the same formality she had used as his Duchess, and he was responding in the same tone he had used as her husband, yet it still felt strange. Their speech was the same, but the content was different. Why had he changed?
“Yes. That’s true.”
Why had he changed? Was it because she had confronted and lashed out at him this time? Would he regret saving her father now? Had she fallen out of favor in Pheon’s eyes?
“Kaella? Duchess?”
Her head hurt terribly. Every jolt of the carriage made her blood vessels constrict, squeezing her skull tight.
“We’re almost there.”
Whatever happened, happened. She had died once already—could she really die twice? There was nothing to fear from ruining things with Pheon.
While Kaella was steeling herself in defiance, the carriage had already passed along the dim stone road and arrived at the brightly lit townhouse of the Ostein ducal family.
The carriage, escorted by numerous knights, came to a stop before the entrance with the clatter of hooves, where the butler and servants awaited.
A tall, broad-shouldered man swiftly dismounted and extended his hand toward the interior.
“You’ve had a hard day. Rest well and take care of yourself.”
It was the epitome of a gentleman treating a lady. Impeccably polite, as if they had only met today—no trace of the memories or friendship that had built up between them.
The hand that settled onto his was burning with fever. As the unsteady Kaella swayed, Pheon reached out with both hands to support her and help her down from the carriage.
“Thank you for seeing me home, Your Grace.”
Even in her delirium, Kaella did not forget her manners, and she returned the cloak he had draped over her.
“Have a peaceful night.”
Hiding everything he wanted to say and do, Pheon left her side. A familiar sense of deprivation was wearing him down.
Leaving the Ostein ducal townhouse, he mounted his horse and rode back to the Imperial Palace. The streets were so dark that the brilliantly lit palace in the distance was the only guidepost.
The duke rode on in silence, without a word. No matter how close his accompanying knight was, no one could tell what expression he wore or what thoughts occupied his mind.
“Your Highness.”
Knight Renar had somehow slipped up beside him—whether he had been there all along or just joined, no one knew. His whispered words were drowned out by the clatter of hooves on the stone road.
“Lady Lavalle has secretly entered Soleil Palace.”
Knight Renar spoke while trying to suppress any suspicion, but the fact that ‘Beatrice’ had ‘secretly’ entered ‘Soleil Palace’—where the Emperor resided—was suspicious in every way. And Pheon nodded without so much as a blink.
“She hasn’t come out yet.”
“Keep watching her.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The loyal Knight Renar bowed without asking a single question and vanished back into the darkness.
Pheon remembered only his retainers who had never betrayed him until the end, and he moved them in secret. He could trust only those who had thrown themselves in front of the advancing Imperial forces, dying to protect His Highness the Duke.
Thus, Kaella—who had been confined to the northernmost tower of Lüsenford by his orders—had no choice but to be the most important exception.
From the moment he had encountered her again before the Monster’s Garden, Pheon had been compelled to follow her every action as if enchanted. He was utterly powerless before Kaella.
The moment she stepped down from the carriage and shed his cloak, he had wanted to tell her to keep it. He had done so little for her that he wanted to give her at least that much, but the butler had hurriedly offered a shawl for her exposed shoulders, so he couldn’t.
When this brief spring ended, he would return to Lüsenford, and Kaella would become his stranger forever.
Was that enough? If Kaella’s life became peaceful, was that the end of it?
‘No way.’
No, it couldn’t be that simple. Atonement and penance weren’t so straightforward.
The talks with Keruzhan, the fallen Empress, the deranged Emperor, Beatrice secretly coming and going from Soleil Palace, the Evil Dragon… There were plenty of things demanding his attention, but they were all already accounted for in Pheon’s calculations.
Even his mother’s collapse held no surprises, since he knew the cause. If anything, it was regrettable, but advantageous to him. He just needed to proceed as planned.
But everything Kaella had said and done today was completely unexpected. Kaella herself needed to fall within his calculations. Only then could he protect her safely, perfectly.
Who would dare spread rumors linking someone like me with His Highness?
For a duke’s daughter, raised in luxury with such immense pride, to voice such words and refer to herself as “someone like me”—it was unthinkable.
The eyes that had once sparkled toward him had gone cold, and she had drawn such a clear line that she seemed to be striking herself just to push him away.
What had Kaella been doing around this time? Despairingly, Pheon racked his brain but couldn’t recall.
By then, the curse had already ensured he felt no interest in her whatsoever. Had she felt nothing for him from that point on? And had he failed to notice that she hid it so politely?
Was there truly no chance, in this lifetime, to remain on good terms with Kaella?
The more he thought, the more painful assumptions arose.
It seemed this dark, endless night would never end, tormented by the shame, fever, anger, and the secret hidden behind the words flung by the duke’s daughter.
*
The event, prepared by the Ostein Duke’s Daughter with all her heart and soul, was a resounding success and long talked about among the nobles. The Keruzhan diplomatic envoy was greatly satisfied with the grand beginning.
In the morning, the Emperor had briefly met with Prince Elcanan, then quietly summoned the Lüsenford Duke, who had attended the military council in the afternoon.
Entering Soleil Palace, Pheon was slightly surprised inwardly to see the Ostein Duke—who should have been with the diplomats—and the Duchess—who should have been resting—already there. What now?
Kaella couldn’t possibly have recovered after just one night’s rest. Her constitution was particularly frail. But the Emperor, whose complexion was even worse than hers, waved off Pheon’s attempt to observe formalities.
“Enough. Come here. I’m not summoning busy people to waste their time.”
“Why speak such disappointing words, Your Majesty?”
Despite nearly dying at the Emperor’s hands just days ago, Ostein Duke Adeo had no choice but to humor him. Here, as the much elder, he bore greater responsibility than Pheon or Kaella.
“It is our joy to come gladly when summoned.”
“Empty words.”
“Your Majesty.”
Today, the Emperor was grumbling like a sulky old man.
What had happened with Beatrice Lavalle last night? He looked as if he had barely slept. Dark circles shadowed his wrinkled eyes, and he appeared utterly exhausted, as if worry had gnawed at him.
“Anyway, Hyperion, you said you’re twenty-eight this year?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“And how old is Kaella?”
Uncomprehending, Kaella answered first.
“Twenty-one.”
The Emperor rubbed his stiff face.
“As you know, the Empress is in that state. She shows no sign of waking. The doctors are useless, and the medicines don’t work.”
Watching the Emperor sunk in despair, Kaella remained silent. Should she call it fortunate that even he felt despair, or satisfying?
The man who had inflicted despair and misery on others while agonizing over his own affairs was the most selfish person she had ever known.
“I’ve finally looked back and done a lot of reflecting.”
It was a miracle that the word “reflecting” even came from his mouth.
“I’ve neglected things I should have cared for long ago. It’s shameful that I’m only tending to them now, Hyperion.”
“Your Majesty has always looked after me.”
Kaella struggled not to stare at Pheon in shock. She fixed her gaze on the red carpet, hiding her expression.
Was this really the Lüsenford Duke, matching the Emperor’s whims with such a curt voice and face, spouting words from the heart?
That man didn’t know how to fabricate lies. He was upright, never thinking to embellish his words, which sometimes left Kaella frustrated and pitying him.
Yet now, without batting an eye, he was flattering the Emperor—the kidnapper of his mother, who could drink oceans of blood—more obsequiously than even the Ostein Duke. The Emperor, evidently unprepared for such words from Pheon, blinked in surprise.
“You really think that?”
“Your Majesty has bestowed such grace that a lowly one like me holds the unduly grand title of duke and enjoys the honor of an audience with you.”
He muttered it as if reciting dry facts. These were all phrases the Emperor had drilled into him since childhood, like brainwashing. It was laughable that the very Emperor who had done so was surprised by Pheon’s words.
Kaella realized once more how deeply suspicious the Emperor was. He would trust no one to the end.
“No, the dukedom isn’t undue for you. You’re the Empress’s son, aren’t you?”
“I’m grateful for your words.”
What was the Lüsenford Duke planning, facing this obsessively suspicious Emperor?
For a moment, Kaella wondered if she hadn’t returned to the past but fallen into an entirely new world she had never experienced.
The Pheon she knew would kneel and endure humiliation before the Emperor, but never flatter him with a slippery tongue.
Yet he didn’t seem servile. The Lüsenford Duke was utterly matter-of-fact. Every word from his mouth rang like unbreakable steel, and the Emperor grew even more pleased.
“The Empress’s son is of noble blood.”
The Emperor emphasized. After twenty-eight years of calling it dirty, lowly blood, Pheon felt no urge to laugh at the sudden reversal.
“So, I must resolve the imperial marriage I’ve put off.”
The Ostein Duke’s Daughter looked at the Lüsenford Duke with uneasy eyes. He listened silently to the Emperor, not a hair out of place.
“Adeo, my brother.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Beckoning Adeo closer only when needed, the Emperor called him “brother” fondly.
“You’ve successfully arranged the imperial marriage as I wished this time. But your own daughter still has no match settled.”
An imperial marriage had been arranged? What was this? Hearing it for the first time, Kaella’s mind raced. Something must have happened this morning.
Unaware that his daughter’s fingertips had gone cold, Adeo hid his discomfort well. As a father, he had to protect her; as the Ostein Duke, safeguard the duchy.
“Everything has its order, but among the unmarried imperial children here, Kaella is the eldest. The duke’s daughter who will inherit Ostein needs a solid husband, doesn’t she?”
As he spoke, the Emperor extended his other hand toward Pheon.
“This isn’t a whim. I’ve thought long about it these past few days, especially since the Empress fell. I didn’t overlook Prince Elcanan. But the Ostein Duchy is a pillar upholding Crania.”
Pheon drew closer to the Emperor.
“Lüsenford is likewise the shield guarding Crania at the forefront, so if these two unite, the imperial family would be all the stronger—nothing more I could wish for.”
“Your Majesty.”
Adeo couldn’t help but panic at this point.
Everyone in the Kranian Empire knew whom the Lüsenford Duke had in mind. And yet, to pair him with whom?
Adeo expected the duke to rebel, but he stood wide-eyed, saying nothing. Or perhaps he couldn’t.
“I believe Kaella and Hyperion are the most suitable match for each other.”
Before the words finished, the duke’s daughter collapsed onto the red carpet of the audience chamber.
