Chapter 89
BANG! Tristan, who had kicked the door with all his might, shouted at the top of his lungs. His thunderous voice made my eardrums vibrate.
“Come out! You damn brother!”
I gaped at Tristan’s outrageous behavior. The sound of kicking the door continued in succession.
BANG! BAANG!
“If you don’t come out right now, I might blow you up along with the door!”
I could understand why Lucas wouldn’t come out.
Could Tristan’s career aspiration be a loan shark? Otherwise, he couldn’t play the role of a street thug so convincingly.
It was exhausting even to point out what was wrong with his approach.
‘Who would come out when treated like that?’
Even someone who had been locked in a room for a year and wanted to go outside probably wouldn’t come out. Maybe I should have left Tristan behind.
“Brother. If you stay cooped up in there, you won’t grow any taller!”
“……”
“If you don’t come out, I’ll burn your favorite Kashian books later.”
“Tristan, I think that’s going a bit too far.”
Imagining Lucas crying, I stepped forward.
Then, from inside the previously silent room, a sound was heard. Footsteps approached, and Lucas’s small voice was heard from the other side of the door.
“…Liat?”
“Yes, brother. Liat is with me, you know? Jealous?”
I covered Tristan’s taunting mouth. To understand why Lucas had shut himself in his room, I needed to quiet Tristan.
Pressing my ear against the door, I could sense a faint presence.
Lucas’s voice, traveling through the door, was slightly hoarse.
“If you play too much with that Tristan fellow, you might be corrupted too.”
“Yes. Then how about Lucas comes out and stays with us?”
“Not now.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to be alone.”
I understood the desire to be alone when going through a difficult time. Still, if there was a part of him that wished for someone to be by his side, wouldn’t a friend be there at times like this?
Raising my spiritual perception, I could sense Lucas hesitating with his hand on the doorknob.
I leaned my back against the door and spoke so he could hear me.
“Lucas. If you don’t want to talk, you can just listen from there. I’ll tell you a story you might like.”
This was the story of the most fearful knight in the world.
“Once upon a time, there was a knight who couldn’t love herself.”
One could say her environment wasn’t good from birth. Her parents were people who cared more about their own lives than looking after their children.
Until she was thrown onto the battlefield, she didn’t know what she was good at.
“By chance, she discovered her talent with the sword, but she also had to feel powerlessness.”
Even becoming strong couldn’t save people from dying on the battlefield. Unwashed regret and self-blame always heavily stained the hand that held the sword.
“I want to run away.”
She mistakenly thought she couldn’t run away because she was carrying everything.
“Even in her messy life, there were things she had to protect.”
“……”
“Although it wasn’t known, she ran away dozens of times. But no matter how far she went…”
She always had to return.
She knew that as long as she had attachments, she couldn’t run away forever. Just that the road back was a little longer than others’.
If that was the case, she might as well run away as much as she could when she could.
“So she decided not to hate herself for having run away.”
She hoped this failure wouldn’t continue. Everyone has moments of inexperience.
From beyond the door came Lucas’s hesitant voice.
“Liat. I think it’s okay for me not to be strong anymore. But when I think this state might continue, I feel lost.”
“You know it won’t continue because you’ll work hard.”
“I think I need more certainty.”
“Lucas, that’s being spoiled.”
It was like a horse running quickly, being jealous of an eagle.
‘It’s enough that you’re running.’
Does it matter what animal I am or what place that is? Everyone runs in search of their own path and purpose.
We were the same in not knowing what lay at the end of this path.
“No matter what you become, you have people who will stay by your side.”
Like Tristan or the Grand Duke.
It’s a happy thing to have family to think about, even when walking a long road. I thought of Juno, who wasn’t by my side for now, then erased her from my mind.
“Tristan, what do you think? Would you dislike Lucas if he weren’t strong?”
“What?! Me? Of course, I’d like it better! Because I could tease brother more.”
“Did you hear that? He says he’d like it better.”
Lucas, on the other side of the door, was silent for a while. I pressed my ear closer to the door. Tristan also put his ear against the door.
Lucas’s hesitant hand seemed to grip the doorknob firmly.
I spoke encouragingly so he could come out.
“Lucas, come out of the room and be with us.”
“Brother. I don’t know why, but the little one says she needs you.”
Creeeeak.
A faint light leaked through the firmly closed door. Tristan’s eyes curved into half-moons when he saw Lucas standing at the door. Bursting into laughter, Tristan hugged Lucas.
Surprised, Lucas received the hug without being able to avoid it.
“Tristan?!”
“What, brother, you could come out on your own feet!”
“It’s disgusting and suffocating, so release this arm! Liat!”
Lucas struggled to escape from Tristan’s embrace. Tristan even used magic to prevent Lucas from moving.
Seeing the two fighting, I could finally shake off my anxiety. I walked toward the warehouse where the party would be held, taking the two with me.
***
The Grand Duke’s office.
Yurian drank his completely cold tea. After having tea time with the child, he couldn’t focus on his work.
‘She called me father.’
When he heard that word from the child’s mouth, his heart sank. Without realizing it, he replayed the child’s voice in his head several times.
The corner of the Grand Duke’s mouth, lost in thought, formed a subtle upward curve.
All the retainers in the room sensed something unusual about the Grand Duke, but no one dared to speak up. After hours of paperwork not decreasing, an aide finally spoke.
“Your Grace. Is there a problem with the documents?”
At those words, he reviewed the documents on the desk.
It was the investigation report on the Heiderus family, which he had completely eliminated recently. Gerard seemed to think he had found some evidence to remove the Heiderus family, but the truth was different.
The reason he eliminated that family was closer to “they were annoying.”
“…They were preparing a rebellion?”
The investigation he had ordered to prevent the nobles’ backlash had yielded unexpected results.
[The investigation confirmed that the Heiderus family was separately gathering troops. Everyone admires Your Grace’s foresight… (omitted)]
This had been happening since his ascension.
He knew the Heiderus family had been allied with the previous Grand Duke. However, he hadn’t thought such an ancient family would conspire to overthrow the Grand Duke’s house.
After all, the fall of the Grand Duke meant a crisis for the entire North.
“Stupid fool.”
It seemed they had planned to divert related documents and side with the Imperial family if he raised troops against them. If he had known then, the impact would have been great.
‘Should I thank the child?’
The Grand Duke knew it was the child’s own will to eat the poisonous herb. Come to think of it, he hadn’t asked why the child had tried to eliminate the Heiderus family by creating evidence.
“I support you. What the Grand Duke is doing.”
Perhaps the child had swallowed the poisonous herb for him. After knowing that the Heiderus family was traitors.
His expression hardened as he called his aide and asked.
“Claude. What was the power passed down in the Imperial family again?”
“Foresight, Your Grace. But why do you suddenly ask?”
“Something’s been bothering me. How far can foresight go?”
“Probably the Crown Prince, who inherited the strongest power, can only read the weather. I hear the Imperial family’s power weakens with each generation.”
Rumors circulated that power obtained through improper means rejected the Imperial family. Since dealing with mysterious powers itself was evidence of mythology, the Imperial family tended to be obsessed with power.
“What do you think would happen if a descendant who could foresee the distant future appeared?”
“Since they value the Divine Beast’s power. Unless it’s an illegitimate child, wouldn’t the balance of power shift in that direction?”
“Even if it were an illegitimate child, forces wanting to use them would gather.”
In the worst case, they could be forced into inbreeding like breeding horses. He wasn’t sure if it was right to ask the child if she had power.
When the child affirmed, he wasn’t confident that he wouldn’t use that power.
“Claude, go find out where Liat is.”
“Yes.”
Just after he made his decision and sent Claude away, there was a knock.
“Your Grace. It’s the head butler.”
“Enter.”
The head butler who entered the room questioned the particularly haggard expressions of the retainers today. He couldn’t have known that work hadn’t been done all day due to the Grand Duke’s unusual state.
“Your Grace. I understand your evening schedule is empty. Could you accompany me to the warehouse for a moment?”
“The warehouse? You mean where the fire occurred?”
“Yes. The Grand Princess said she wanted to do something there.”
The indifferent Grand Duke put down his documents at the mention of the Grand Princess. The retainers’ faces darkened, having thought work would finally continue.
“I’ll be back soon.”
The Grand Duke’s leisurely pace quickened as he approached the warehouse.
‘Has she caused trouble again?’
Recently, he had left her with Lucas and Tristan, but the child invariably got hurt when he took his eyes off her. The head butler omitted detailed explanations, saying he would have to see for himself.
“Why are the lights on?”
He stopped when he noticed light leaking from outside the warehouse.
“Open it.”
As soon as the door opened, finely cut paper flower petals scattered. Holding a paper flower that landed on his palm, he stared at the picture hanging on the wall.
Below the picture, which depicted several lumps, words were written.
[The Grand Duke, Tristan, Lucas, and me]
He couldn’t take his eyes off that crudely drawn picture.
The child, Liat, scurried over and grabbed his waist. Despite the surrounding noise, the child’s voice reached him clearly.
“Grand Duke, you’re late.”
He felt as if he had recovered a piece he didn’t know he had lost. In that warm scene, his two sons were also present.
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