Chapter 90
That evening, Daiven Ainruke finally opened his eyes in his sickbed.
“I’ve been asleep for six years?”
His memories of the accident were faint, like pieces of a dream.
He vaguely remembered hearing voices visiting him while he lay unconscious,
but now that he was awake, his mind was still foggy and disoriented.
“I suppose Alperen must have had a hard time because of me,” he murmured.
That was all he said.
Everyone in the Ainruke household was overjoyed that their former lord had recovered.
Six years—six long years had passed, full of danger and instability in his absence.
Despite his long illness, thanks to Alperen’s constant healing magic,
Daiven’s body hadn’t weakened too much.
He was merely suffering from the effects of being immobile and unfed for so long.
The physician said that with a few months of rest, he would be back to normal.
Daiven turned to look at his son.
The boy who had been just a youth before now stood tall and mature.
“You’ve grown quite a bit,” he remarked.
“It’s been six years, after all,” Alperen replied curtly.
That was all.
The two had never been talkative with each other—
they’d rarely exchanged more than a handful of words at once, even before.
Then Daiven’s gaze shifted to the young woman standing beside his son.
The girl had been smiling brightly next to Alperen the whole time,
someone he’d never seen before.
“And this lady is…?”
With a cheerful, almost teasing expression, she answered,
“Hello, Father! I’m Rodelia Ferris.”
“…Father?”
Daiven blinked, startled, and turned to his son.
Alperen’s ears flushed red as he replied in an unusually shy voice,
“She’s… my lover.”
“What?”
Daiven stared between the two, speechless.
They were holding hands tightly, fingers interlocked.
Rodelia Ferris?
Could this really be the precious youngest daughter of the Ferris family?
He knew his son was friends with the Ferris heir, Adrian,
but he had never met the man’s sister before.
Daiven looked to his steward, Isaac, in disbelief.
“What about the imperial engagement?”
The way his eyes narrowed suggested he feared Alperen had taken a royal fiancée as a mistress.
Isaac hurried to clarify.
“The engagement with Her Highness Princess Nanael Barnard was annulled several months ago.
The young lord met Lady Rodelia after that.”
“Annulled?”
It had been an arranged engagement, but Alperen had never complained about it.
And though Daiven hadn’t particularly liked Nanael,
he’d left the matter alone as a form of political insurance.
But to think that while he was unconscious,
his son had broken the engagement entirely—
it was shocking.
Before Daiven could even process it, Rodelia spoke up brightly,
“So, when do you think we should hold the engagement ceremony?”
“Engagement… ceremony?”
He’d just woken up,
only to hear that his son’s previous betrothal had been canceled
and that a new one was already being planned?
“I told Alperen we should wait until you woke up to discuss it!
Right, Ren?”
“Of course. If you want, we can have it as soon as tomorrow.”
“…Huh?”
Daiven could only sigh, utterly dumbfounded.
His son’s lovestruck expression was equally baffling.
For a moment, he wondered if some imposter had taken over his son’s body.
This was not the calm, quiet boy he knew.
“Am I the only one here who doesn’t understand what’s going on?”
He turned to Isaac, who rubbed his nose awkwardly.
“I’ll explain everything later, my lord.”
The look in the steward’s eyes clearly said: We’re already planning the wedding.
“Please leave the engagement preparations to me,” Isaac added eagerly.
Then the head maid, Sofia, spoke up as well.
“I’ll personally oversee the event!”
At that point, Daiven had seen enough to realize the truth—
while he had been asleep, this sweet, smiling young lady
had completely taken over the Ainruke household.
But what stunned him most was the way his son looked at her—
like a man utterly, hopelessly in love.
He had never seen Alperen want anything before.
And yet now, his desire for Rodelia Ferris was written all over his face.
Well… this is certainly something.
Daiven could only stare at Rodelia, half amazed, half bewildered.
It was obvious that she was the one behind all these changes.
“I’ll speak with Duke Ferris about it,” he said finally,
his tone as calm and businesslike as ever.
But deep down, he couldn’t help the faint smile tugging at his lips.
***
Meanwhile…
News of Daiven Ainruke’s awakening spread quietly—
and eventually reached Queen Rosaria.
The moment she read the message, she shot to her feet.
“What? Impossible!”
She had been so certain he would never wake again!
This outcome was completely outside her calculations.
Even after all the holy water she’d sent over the years,
Daiven’s condition had never improved.
Even Alperen—hailed as one of the most gifted mages of the empire—
had failed to cure him for six years.
“And now he’s suddenly awake?” she hissed.
Had Alperen somehow realized something—
and acted before she could stop him?
Pacing restlessly, Rosaria chewed her nails in agitation.
Eight years ago, during a summer retreat,
Rosaria had met a man named Pierre—a sorcerer.
He claimed to be a survivor of the fallen Serac Kingdom,
the land that had been destroyed by the Barnard Empire long ago.
“O great descendant of the Serac royal line,” he had said,
“I am a humble servant who inherited the ancient sorcery of Serac.
For the sake of Your Highness, I would gladly give my life.”
From that moment, Pierre had become one of her closest aides.
To make her son Cesare the next emperor,
Rosaria had decided to use even the forbidden powers of her lost homeland.
Pierre was loyal and cunning,
a man who always provided the perfect solution to her problems.
“Duke Ainruke’s reluctance to support Cesare is troublesome,”
she had once complained.
“His son would be far easier to sway.”
“Then why not simply remove the duke?” Pierre had replied coldly.
“Remove him? Do you realize who you’re talking about?”
“Just give the order. I will grant Your Highness’s wish.”
And so, the sorcerer began plotting the duke’s downfall.
Two years later, he succeeded.
He cast a curse upon a slumbering Ice Dragon
and lured Duke Daiven Ainruke to hunt it.
The moment Daiven struck the final blow,
the curse transferred to him,
plunging him into a deep, deathlike sleep.
It was a slow, cruel curse—
one that gave false hope to the family watching him fade away.
When news of Daiven’s collapse reached the palace,
Rosaria had immediately gone to the Emperor.
“Please, Your Majesty, we must help him!”
The Emperor had sighed.
“I’m sorry, Rosaria. But this is beyond human power.
His mana core is damaged—there’s no saving him.”
“How can you say that? The royal family has holy water!
Even if we can’t heal him, we can at least preserve his life until a cure is found!”
“Hmm…”
“He’s the future father-in-law of our Princess Nanael.
If the palace does nothing, the Ainruke family will resent us.”
Her plea had worked.
The Emperor, realizing an opportunity,
used it to bind the Ainruke family even tighter to the royal house.
He gave them holy water—but at a price.
From then on, Alperen became shackled to the palace,
forced to depend on them to keep his father alive.
The Emperor had assumed that, unlike the stern Duke Daiven,
his young son would be easy to control.
But Alperen had turned out to be just as unpredictable.
He had broken off the engagement with Princess Nanael—
and now, Daiven Ainruke was awake.
If the duke discovered that his “accident” was caused by sorcery,
Rosaria knew he would never forgive them.
Her heartbeat quickened.
If she didn’t act soon, everything could collapse.
“Summon Pierre,” she ordered sharply.
“Tell him to come to the palace—immediately.”
