Chapter 159

Chapter 159

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous? If… if Fredhi really has something that can control the monsters.”

“You don’t have to think that far. In all honesty, the one among us who’s in the safest place right now is probably Lucius.”

She knew that her worries were unfounded. But the very moment she kept the letter from Fredhi a secret from Lucius, her useless worries began to linger around her head like a curse.

“I should write him a letter.”

She didn’t mean to say it out loud.

“The Emperor must have already known. And yet, they keep Lucius strapped to Carford.”

Deatrice wasn’t even sure what she was saying. She knew the duke wasn’t the type of person to sympathize with her anxieties. Still, she felt compelled to speak as if voicing her concerns aloud would ease her burden.

“Lucius must return immediately. It is clear that the name of the emperor is unjust.”

“What are you worried about?” The duke said as if he couldn’t understand. Deatrice pursed her lips before replying weakly.

“I just don’t know why he has to stay there for so long.”

It had already been three months since Lucius went to Carford.

Deatrice’s days were full of appointments with countless people who came to the duke’s house, but she never felt that time passed quickly. She always missed Lucius. A short letter from Lucius was not enough to endure her longing. She still couldn’t even give a proper answer to his undeserved confession that he loved her and that he wants to give himself to her once more.

She picked up the pen a few times, but failed spectacularly.

The words that swirled in her head seemed far too empty or meager compared to his sincerity and naivety. She felt contrived, as if she had made something up, and as if she was just saying what she had to say.

‘I need to see him.’

Was the thought that she had. Every day after sending a terrible letter back, she regretted it and wanted to see his face, so she thought she should tell him how she felt.

However, Lucius’ return was being delayed more and more, and the emperor had no answer. Deatrice thought it was no coincidence that the emperor, who must have known about Fredhi’s survival and rebellion first, put Lucius in Carford.

It seemed that the duke had read such anxiety. The duke rarely viewed Deatroce as a father, not a duke.

“But Deatrice. It doesn’t matter to the Emperor unless you understand it.”

Of course, that wasn’t helpful advice.

After that day, relatives once again gathered in front of the Duke’s study to hear about Fredhi’s situation. They talked about the fall of Galaba’s castle as if watching a bullfight.

Ponto, Harkil, Remus, and Brodoria fell one after another, and soon the king had no choice but to call his second son into the castle.

It is said that Frederick “Fredhi” walked up to the king with a sword wrapped in cloth, and when he untied the sword, all the nobles, who had frowned at the mercenary and ignorant way of rebelling, marveled.

“It is said that he appeared with Panimer’s sword.”

The duke conveyed the news in a solemn voice. Then, in an instant, the audience became quiet, and one of them even dropped a cigar he was smoking. No one could blame him, because Panimer’s sword is a legendary sword.

King Panimer, who is said to be the greatest of Galaba kings, appeared with Panimer’s sword just before the kingdom fell, and said that he made the Galaba dynasty great again. At that time, the empire wasn’t even an empire, it was just the kingdom of Balond, and it was said that the most influential country was Galaba, some 300 years ago, probably because of that sword.

However, it was said that one day, during the war between Vallonde and Galaba, King Panimer disappeared with the sword. He must have died during the war, but many people were puzzled because neither the body nor the sword were found.

That’s how Panimer and his sword became a legend and remained. And Fredhi returned with that sword.

After concluding his private meeting with the king, Frederick, still a prince, had confided that he had been promised the throne to inherit in five years’ time. Although the news was unofficial and kept under wraps, it was only a matter of time before it spread beyond the confines of their inner circle.

As word of the prince’s claim to the throne reached not only the relatives of the duchy but also the nobles of the empire and neighboring kingdoms, it was clear that the delicate balance of power in the region would be greatly affected.

Deatrice was sitting on the couch near the door with the Duchess at these gatherings of relatives, and whenever Frederick’s name was mentioned, some would blatantly glance at Deatrice’s direction.

They still believed that the marriage of Deatrice and Lucius was made of love and stubbornness, and they accused her of visiting her former lover without burying her dead fiancé’s coffin.