Chapter 23…………………………………………..
“I’ll be going to the Imperial Palace for a while. If you need anything, tell Aubrian, and make sure you rest properly for a few more days.”
“The Imperial Palace? Are you going to see His Majesty?”
“Yes. I also need to settle matters regarding the imperial decree.”
“I’m not going with you? It would be great if His Majesty simply took your word for it, Duke, but wouldn’t it be easier if the evidence were right in front of him?”
After all, he had even used God’s Tears on me. I wanted to be of at least some help. But the duke merely smiled gently, as if it didn’t concern him.
“Don’t worry about that. Because of that bastard, the rumors have probably already spread everywhere. His Majesty isn’t someone lacking in common sense to the point of summoning a patient back and forth.”
That bastard? Was he talking about the person who attacked me?
But how does the emperor even know that I’m a patient?
Countless questions arose, but the duke only smiled dazzlingly, his face as beautiful as a masterpiece sculpture.
Today as well, Lillian, the dowager lady of the House of Enrilke, was enjoying her leisurely after-meal tea time as usual.
“You brewed the tea very well today.”
“Thank you, my lady.”
Lillian lifted the ornate teacup decorated with large floral patterns and took another sip.
Just imagining what kind of trouble Viscount Royster, whom she had sent to the House of Northdian, might have caused made the tea taste sweet even without a single cookie.
At that moment, the door burst open without a knock, and a middle-aged man with brown hair rushed in.
“Mother! Do you know what I just heard?!”
Count Enrilke, clearly agitated, sharply confronted her the moment he saw her.
“Berman, I’m a mage, not a mind reader.”
“This is no time for jokes! I just heard that because of Duke Northdian’s accusation, all the abuses Viscount Royster committed against his territory’s residents have been exposed. His Majesty was furious and personally imposed an enormous fine!”
His face had gone deathly pale.
“The Viscount Royster family has been completely ruined—so bankrupt they couldn’t even leave behind a single copper coin. They’ve fallen into disgrace!”
“Oh my, is that so?”
Seeing Lillian calmly bring her teacup to her lips made Count Enrilke feel like his insides were turning upside down.
“Mother, I heard that Viscount Royster visited here not long ago. What on earth did you do this time?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. What could an old woman who spends her days tending the garden in the back possibly be plotting?”
Roughly running a hand through his hair, Count Enrilke moved in front of her and slammed his hand down on the table.
“Mother. Even if I am only your adopted son, my respect for you—as a former mage of the Heavenly Ark—is sincere. But if you keep putting the family in danger like this, I can’t allow it.”
Lillian’s eyebrows shot up.
“How impudent. Who do you think took the third son of a baronial house—someone who was barely fit to become a provincial magic scholar—and made him the head of a count’s family?”
“Yes. I’ve never once forgotten my gratitude. That’s why I’m begging you, Mother. Please, don’t get involved with Northdian anymore.”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“Mother!”
Whether he shouted in frustration or not, Lillian rose from her seat.
“Leave. I have an appointment, so I must get going.”
But he didn’t give up and stepped in her way.
“I saw him slice through a sixth-tier defensive barrier, Sercal Bone, as if it were paper. You know that barrier is meant for large monsters like ogres. Sometimes I honestly wonder if he’s even human.”
“A fifth-tier mage being frightened of a mere notch—how pathetic. Well, in any case, he is a Northdian. …Unfortunately.”
Indeed, there had been a time when Rektarion had gone missing for several years during his childhood.
His appearance had changed slightly, so no one recognized him, but the emperor himself stepped in and used a magical artifact that only responded to direct descendants of Northdian blood to prove his identity.
Count Enrilke shuddered as if chilled to the bone.
“That’s exactly why it’s terrifying. None of the Northdian bloodline are right in the head. Have you already forgotten what Kaien did to become the head of the family? They’re people who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals.”
Kaien Shiva Northdian.
Despite his miserable magical power, he murdered his own siblings and father to claim the seat of Northdian—a parricide and fratricide.
At the mention of his name, the expressions of the two changed completely.
Count Enrilke—fear.
Lillian—rage.
She ground her teeth until they creaked.
“Kaien killed my son. I can never forgive Northdian!”
“Brother’s death was an accident. Didn’t the imperial family investigate it countless times?!”
No matter how many times Count Enrilke tried to persuade her, Lillian—who had already concluded it was murder—didn’t hear a word.
“Mother. Please, go and ask for forgiveness first. That man must already know that you were behind Viscount Royster.”
“What? Are you telling me to go and beg him for forgiveness myself?”
With a long, weary sigh, Berman turned away.
“They say the duke treasures that young lady dearly. He personally nursed her through the night and even gave her one of his heirlooms—God’s Tears. That young lady was injured because of the viscount. If this continues, we’ll become enemies with the duke.”
As one of the few nobles who actually ran businesses himself, he felt keenly how destructive Duke Northdian’s influence was in the economic world—even though he was shunned in high society for being a mage.
That was why he understood better than anyone how great a crisis Lillian’s actions could bring upon their family.
But it seemed only one word reached her ears.
“He gave God’s Tears to that lowly notch woman? The very thing I—I—begged for so desperately when Tepis was dying?!”
The fact that it was Kaien, not Rektarion, who had refused her then seemed utterly irrelevant to Lillian.
Count Enrilke finally gave up on replying and clutched his throbbing forehead.
“Mother, come to your senses. You’re not a Northdian—you’re the dowager lady of Enrilke. Will you only regret this after our house collapses completely like the Roysters?”
“No. I won’t give up. I’ll take Northdian no matter what I have to do! They took the person most precious to me—so shouldn’t they give me what’s most precious to them in return?”
Revenge was the only meaning left in her life.
“That’s impossible! Don’t you understand yet, Mother?!”
They glared at each other, neither willing to yield even an inch.
“Avenging my brother may matter most to you, Mother, but the family matters more to me! Because I am the Count of Enrilke!”
Having confirmed that the dowager lady was neglecting the family in her obsession with revenge, the count hardened his expression, resolving that he would no longer turn a blind eye—no matter how great his debt to her.
“For the time being, do not leave the annex. I’ll handle the Royster matter somehow.”
Bang!
The door slammed shut violently.
“After all the trouble I went through to adopt him! How dare he treat me like this! That insolent brat!”
Overcome with rage, Lillian staggered.
“My lady!”
A maid who had been watching hurried over to support her.
“Please calm down. You’ll collapse again.”
Though the maid clung to her, begging, Lillian paid her no heed.
Something she had to do immediately came to mind.
“You.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“I’m going out. Prepare things—I’m going to the Northdian estate.”
The maid looked flustered.
“B-but the lord just said not to leave the annex—”
Smack!
The maid’s head snapped to the side. But the slap didn’t end with just one.
Smack, smack!
The sound of repeated slaps echoed through the room. Unable to vent her fury, the sixty-year-old woman struck the maid again and again, until the maid collapsed to the floor, trembling helplessly.
“I’m s-sorry, I w-was w-wrong, m-my l-lady…”
She had bitten her tongue, making even her apology slurred.
After panting angrily for a while, Lillian straightened herself.
“Bring someone else. I’m going out.”
“Y-yes, y-yes, of c-course.”
The maid staggered out, and another maid who had been waiting immediately entered the room.
As she was helped into her clothes, Lillian ground her teeth.
Rektarion. How dare that lowly thing threaten me? I’ll make you understand, down to your bones, what it means for a notch to challenge a mage.
Her gaze fell on the small vial glowing faintly blue on the table, and she smiled meaningfully.
About three days after the duke left for the Imperial Palace, Elden finally gave permission for me to eat normal food again.
He said my stomach—completely wrecked by shock and irregular meals—needed time to recover, so for three days I’d been fed nothing but thick, flavorless soup. I’d started worrying I might lose my sense of taste altogether.
“Miss, this way—it’s the grand dining hall!”
Sina, even more excited than I was, guided me inside. The spacious grand dining hall on the first floor held a massive table that could easily seat twenty people.
But the moment I saw what was laid out on that luxurious table, I was left speechless.
“…Sina. The duke isn’t at the estate right now, is he?”
“No!”
“Then this… all of this is my meal?”
“Of course!”
She answered as if it were obvious.
Without exaggeration, I stared blankly at the table set so heavily it looked ready to collapse.
A fluffy omelet, vividly colored fresh fruits, a comforting cream stew, and golden-brown roast chicken. Beside them, baskets overflowing with various kinds of bread, and neatly arranged jars of fruit jam and pale yellow butter.
Just looking at it made me feel full.
“The master told us to make sure you eat everything.”
“All of it?”
Duke, you said you trusted me. Is this a silent threat to eat until I burst?
Cold sweat broke out.
