Come and Cry at My Funeral - Chapter 243 - Nova

Nova

He had been deceived by someone he trusted.

No. Trusted might be too strong a word. Ever since Riegel had firmly declared that Freesia’s funeral must be held, his relationship with Izar had been nothing but cold.

But Izar had at least never imagined that Riegel would hide something from him.

‘About nothing less than my own wife and child?’

How… How could Riegel have completely concealed the fact that Freesia had come to him in the end?

And for three whole years, no less.

“Ha…”

Back in the study of the manor, Izar clenched his jaw as he stared down at the map spread across the wide table.

His face was so clearly twisted in rage that the retainers around him turned pale and swallowed dryly.

But the more he replayed the testimony he’d extracted from Van Dike, locked in the basement, the more his fury roared like a ringing in his ears.

〈…The Madam was in good condition when she departed, but on the way to the capital, her labor pains grew more frequent… By the time she arrived, her condition had severely worsened.〉

〈Then what happened after she reached the palace?〉

〈Once she was taken inside, we weren’t allowed to see her again. Later, His Highness the Imperial Prince informed us that she had passed…〉

Upon hearing that, Izar had truly felt his vision go white.

So that was it. Freesia… had died in the end.

The days he had spent wandering, clinging to the hope that she might still be miraculously alive, had all been meaningless.

It was the obvious conclusion, and yet the devastation still swept through him, quickly followed by an uncontrollable fury.

How long had he wandered, searching for Freesia? How many times had he inspected the lowest, most ruined corners of the world, praying that none of them would be her?

Did he not know that people whispered in fear behind his back, calling him the ‘mad Duke’?

‘Why…?!’

Why had Riegel kept silent about Freesia coming to him in the end? Just how gruesome must her death have been, for them to hold a funeral without even showing her remains?

From the pain of childbirth, just how much…?

But Izar’s next question during the interrogation had taken things in an entirely different direction.

〈The child?〉

〈…Pardon?〉

〈What happened to the child? Did the baby die with Freesia?〉

〈No. I heard… despite the difficult birth, the baby was delivered safely.〉

The map crumpled under Izar’s veined, clenched hand.

‘That sanctimonious bastard, who deserves to be torn apart.’

Riegel Betelgeuse. How could he not have told him that the child had been born? And yet, with that same shameless face, he had dared to say things like ‘You’ll be heartbroken, so let’s not hold a funeral for the baby.’

‘You couldn’t hold a funeral for a living child, so that’s why you said that, isn’t it?’

It was so absurd, it was laughable. To think that after toying with him like this, the Imperial Prince still planned to use House Arcturus during his reign. Izar wanted nothing more than to strangle him.

And he would.

This house, destined to be buried as a traitor’s line. No matter how desperately Izar struggled, in the end, it would meet that fate.

‘But not yet.’

If he drew suspicion, if he failed now… he might never see his child again.

〈I heard the baby was a girl… Forgive me, Milord. That’s as much as I dared to ask.〉

Even as his head throbbed from the rage-induced tinnitus, his chest was swelling with joy.

Nova.

‘You were born.’

His daughter had been born. She was alive somewhere, breathing.

Just the thought made his blood run cold.

“If she were being raised in the palace, the Emperor would have noticed by now.”

Izar muttered as he scanned the map, speaking toward his retainers. Even if power was gradually shifting toward Riegel, the Emperor’s longing for his granddaughter was no secret. No one would stay silent if she were nearby.

If that’s the case…

“Could the child be hidden at the Academy?”

Dafir asked cautiously, watching his master’s expression. It was common knowledge that the Imperial Prince favored the Academy, so it was a natural assumption.

But Izar shook his head at that.

“I’ve visited there often, but it’s not a suitable place. There are too many dangerous experiments underway, hardly an environment for raising a child.”

Above all, would Riegel hide the child somewhere Izar might show up unannounced? Surely, Riegel had heard the rumors, about how Izar had scoured every inch of the capital’s outskirts…

That made it unlikely the child was being hidden in the capital. But knowing Riegel, he wouldn’t settle for just receiving reports about his young niece. He would want to see her in person.

Should he begin searching the imperial villas, one by one?