PHYSIENTS WILL ALWAYS OFFER BEST STORIES AND LIVE STREAMING ALL TIME
LUCIA
C106 [part 1]
< — Negotiation — > (2)
After sharing the joy of reuniting with her husband after a long time, Lucia leaned against his chest and fell asleep in his arms while they were making small talk. After the incident, she had suffered from insomnia that made her toss and turn till dawn, but after his return, all her tension was released.
When Hugo came down from the second floor after properly placing his sleeping wife in bed, Fabian had already arrived and was waiting for him.
“The situation isn’t looking very good.”
Fabian handed in his report. Hugo kept receiving information about the situation on the way back home, so he was roughly informed about it. The only disappointment was the fact that the bitch and the bastard were already dead.[1] If they were alive, he would have given them the worst agony they had ever experienced as a gift.
It had been a week since the incident happened. If Hugo was there when the incident occurred, he would have found any way possible to cover up the incident, but a lot of time had already passed.
The acts that Roy committed had already become an established fact, so it was too late to deal with the rumors. The death of the King’s brother-in-law, Count Ramis, was not a topic that people would easily lose interest in. Rather, people were keeping a close watch on how this case would be resolved. There were also people making half-baked guesses, wondering if it would turn into a war between the two dukes.
The reason why the situation had become so difficult was because it completely excluded the Duchess. Hugo did not want his wife to even be mentioned anywhere in this case at all.
Rumors in the social circle were a tag that followed you throughout your entire life. If they were to resolve the case by using evidence that David and Anita had conspired to harm the Duchess, the harm to his wife would be too big. People would trample her with all sorts of speculative remarks.
“Is there any way to get him out?”
“We have looked through several methods, but it is impossible.”
Roy did not explain the situation at the time nor did he plead his case. He did not give any reason to justify his crime. In order to explain the situation, Roy would have to mention the Duchess, so he could never open his mouth.
‘What to do…’
Hugo thought of the most extreme way. That is, putting a crime on David’s head instead. The only crime that could justify the killing of the Duke’s eldest son, was rebellion.
‘No. The king will not cooperate.’
The scale was too big. If they wanted to steer it towards rebellion, they only had to fabricate the evidence. It just so happens that there was a good prey for that. They would have no trouble packaging the youth’s organization funded by David as traitors wishing to overthrow the country.
However, David was the successor of the Duke of Ramis. David’s rebellion was the Ramis family’s rebellion and it wasn’t an issue that would end with David alone dying. The surrounding people would not be left alone.
Being at the height of his power, the Duke of Ramis had as many political enemies as he had allies. Those enemies wouldn’t let go of this opportunity and would tenaciously drag the Duke towards his ruin. And if that happened, the Queen and the princes would be tied into it. There was no end.
Currently, the Duke of Ramis was a victim. The Duke of Ramis was the king’s father-in-law and right-hand man. Kwiz would not stand aside and let the Duke of Ramis, who had lost his son, be wrongly accused of rebellion.
‘Is there no way to secretly take him out…?’
They could also approach this by assuming Roy’s release was impossible and stealing him away. This method would definitely make him become enemies with the Duke of Ramis. The king would not approve and eventually, he would be standing against the king.
Hugo was not afraid to fight the king. He had more than enough strength hidden in the north.
However, war needed justification. In order to inspire the morale of those participating in the war, you must provide justification for them to fight. That way, they would be willing to bravely fight for the Taran family.
If a war was started to save one of the knights of the Duke that had committed a vicious murder, even if the soldiers externally pretended to follow, they would not be able to accept it, therefore it would definitely end in failure.
Even if he chose to stay in the north and not step foot in the capital at all, Kwiz would not quietly turn a blind eye. It was not Kwiz’s nature to leave an enemy behind his back. His nature was to remove any element that could become unstable by all means.
Hugo could always keep himself safe regardless, but his wife was weak. She couldn’t live a life forever anxious that something might squeeze into any gap in their defenses. He couldn’t do that to his wife.
In order to save Roy, he needed the king’s cooperation. Hugo folded his arms, sat back, and fell into deep thought.
Fabian stood, waiting for his lord’s decision with bated breath. Fabian was curious as to how the Duke would resolve this incident.
No matter how hard he thought about it, there was no choice but to suffer a loss by abandoning Roy. If they could settle this incident by abandoning a knight who murdered a Duke’s heir, it was a profitable trade.
The office was silent with a strange sense of tension in the air.
“I will go to the palace. Go and inform His Majesty that I am seeking an private audience.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Fabian first left for the palace and after a while, Hugo also headed to the palace.
* * *
Hugo secretly entered the palace, unseen by others. The fact that the Duke of Taran was back, would soon be known through the mouths of gossipers anyway, but it was better to handle everything quietly if possible.
“Hoho. Did you fly here, Gong? I heard you were at the border not too long ago.”
Kwiz said cheerfully as soon as he saw Hugo. Not being too serious in everything was a mask that Kwiz used. If he displayed a similar attitude regardless of what happened, it would be hard to read his intentions.
“As soon as I returned, I was met with a rather unsavory incident.” (Hugo)
“What are you going to do?” (Kwiz)
Without wasting time, Kwiz brought up the main subject. The situation was at its peak and there was no room left for counter measures. Just the fact that Kwiz did not touch Roy who was locked up in the dungeon so far, showed enough good faith. The Queen was a bundle of tears while his father-in-law visited everyday and expressed his sadness.
After investigating the circumstances, there were a lot of suspicious parts in the situation. Why did the Countess of Falcon have a magical tool owned by the ducal house of Ramis? Why did she led the noblewomen to Katherine’s breakroom? Even if they assumed that the Countess killed the princess’ handmaid in order to steal her clothes, why did she kill the Duchess’ handmaid afterwards? There were a lot of doubtful areas.
There was strong suspicion that the Countess was in some sort of agreement with David, but there was no real evidence. It was also unclear as to what exactly she was planning to do. Even after shaking out the Countess’ house and businesses, nothing came out. David often dropped by her bar but that was not a crime.
The Duke of Ramis claimed that the family’s magical tool was stolen and thoroughly denied any connection with the Countess.
He insisted that David, who had been down at the fiefdom, received special consideration from him, his father, to spend time at home for the founding day, so he came to the capital and purely entered the palace in order to attend the party.
Roy killed all the people involved, and the only party concerned, Roy, was keeping his mouth shut. There was no evidence to refute the claims of the Duke of Ramis. Therefore, David was murdered unfairly, and Roy was a vicious murderer.
“I heard the situation is not looking very good.” (Hugo)
“It is not good indeed. Sir. Krotin has to say something in order for us to piece the puzzle together. Even that is already too late. At this point, it is hard to turn things around no matter what he says. But seeing as Duke Ramis is not steering David’s death as a deliberate conspiracy of Duke Taran’s, one can see that he is holding back a lot. My father-in-law’s request is simple. He wants Sir. Krotin to be executed according to the law. With that, he will let things go. Rather, this King is surprised because he was very cool-headed in the face of his son’s death.” (Kwiz)
“…”
“Releasing Sir. Krotin is difficult. There’s also an issue with the fact that Sir. Krotin had a sword in the palace. If we handle the death of his eldest son in a passable manner, my father-in-law will make an issue out of it. If they claim that his purpose was to assassinate this king and they gather public opinion, it will lead to a political controversy and the Taran family will also be caught up in it. This king doesn’t want things to develop that way.”
The king’s anti-opposing forces were still holding their breaths. Right now, when they hadn’t properly sorted them out, if the king’s two greatest strengths were to fight each other, it would be exposing a gap to them. Since that situation would turn into a mud fight, Kwiz would choose to execute Roy.
“Why in the world is Sir. Krotin like that? The incident aside, I’m just so curious, I can’t sleep.” (Kwiz)
“Can I see him?” (Hugo)
Translator’s Corner.
[1] David & Anita
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LUCIA
C106 [part 2]
< — Negotiation — > (2)
The solitary cell of the castle dungeon was designed with a dual structure. When you entered through the stone gates, there was a room made of stone walls and a wall built with bars to confine the prisoner to another room. Even if the prisoner was able to somehow get out from behind the bars, they would have to deal with the knights guarding the stone gates outside. It was a prison made for holding dangerous criminals.
Although Roy was indeed a dangerous character, the reason why Kwiz put him in the solitary cell was to prevent people from having access to him. There was a possibility of Duke Ramis trying to assassinate the prisoner in order to get revenge.
Roy was lying on the stone floor, using his arm as a pillow, and when he saw the man coming through the stone gate, he rose to his feet. The stone gate closed, leaving only the two of them inside.
“Are you hurt anywhere?” (Hugo)
“I am fine.” (Roy)
Roy bashfully scratched his head. He didn’t expect his lord’s first question to be asking about his well-being.
“I heard you told Fabian about the situation at the time. Is there anything you haven’t said?”
“No, there isn’t. You really came fast, my lord. I thought you would take longer.”
Perhaps that Roy thought he might die before his lord came back.
“Will I die?”
Roy calmly asked, as if he wasn’t talking about himself. He knew that killing David would not be an ordinary issue. When he broke the bastard’s neck, he was already prepared to die.
Killing Anita was not his initial intention. But as soon as he saw the handmaid entering the break room, he decided to kill her.
Roy’s decision was the right one. If Anita was left alive and caught, she would have slandered the Duchess with all sorts of lies. Lucia would then be inevitably tied in as one of the parties involved and would have been at the center of all kinds of speculation and rumors.
Hugo frowned.
“You won’t die.”
Hugo thought for a moment before saying.
“If you want to keep your neck, you have to throw away your honor. Is your honor more important than your life?”
“Honor?”
Roy grinned.
“I’ve never had such a thing.”[1]
Hugo chuckled.
“Then that’s fine. Hang in there a little longer.”
Hugo looked at Roy for a moment, then he threw out a brief sentence.
“You did well.”
Roy laughed playfully and called out, stopping Hugo who was turning around.
“With this, have I repaid your favor?”[2]
A ray of light flashed through Hugo’s eyes.
“You…”
Looking at Roy who was grinning widely, Hugo gave a faint smile.
“You’ll be owing me your life again, so it is far from repaid.” (Hugo)
“Wha— Wow, how did I end up like this? I should have run away when I realized you were a swindler.” (Roy)[3]
Hugo left the solitary cell, listening to Roy’s lamentful mutterings behind him. And when he got out of the dungeon, he called Fabian and secretly ordered him.
“Find a prisoner on death row. One with a similar physique and hair color to Roy. The physique has the first priority.”
Fabian’s eyes shone brightly. He bowed his head in reply and moved quickly. Hugo looked at the Fabian’s receding back in the distance, then he turned his gaze to the Inner Palace that was some distance away. Now, it was time to negotiate with the king.
* * *
Katherine dropped by the Queen’s palace.
“How is Her Royal Highness doing?”
“Her Highness is lying in bed. She cannot even eat at all.”
The handmaid replied with a cloudy look on her face. Katherine gave a small sigh before entering the queen’s bedroom.
Beth was greatly shocked by the terrible death of her younger brother and had been bedridden for several days. The palace people were afraid that something might go wrong with the fetus during the mourning period, so they were diligently running up and down.
“You have to recover your strength. You are expecting a child.”
Katherine took Beth’s hand and comforted her. Beth looked spiritless as she gave a weak smile.
“I didn’t do much for my brother. I only said objectionable words every time we met.”
Beth didn’t know that her younger brother would leave so suddenly. He wasn’t a brother that she wasn’t entirely satisfied with, but he was still her only blood brother. She nagged at him every time they met because she wanted him to turn out well. After her brother died, she was only filled with regret that she didn’t ever tell him that he did well, at least once.
Her father was someone who held the family as more important than his son, and her husband didn’t seem to care very much about his brother-in-law’s death. There was no one that was sincerely hurt about her brother’s death, so Beth was even more heartbroken.
“Sir. Krotin is someone that I’m also well-acquainted with. I know he has saved His Majesty’s life many times too. But why then, would he do this? Why would he do that to my brother?” (Beth)
“The truth will be revealed. There will be conclusion, some way or another. His Majesty is also very worried because Your Royal Highness has been so down.” (Katherine)
As Katherine comforted Beth, she recalled the night of the incident. When she heard that the King was urgently looking for her, Katherine had hurried to the Inner Palace. On her way to see the king, she happened to meet Kwiz, who was about to go to a meeting, in the hallway.
“The party is still going on, what are you doing here?”
As soon as Katherine heard the king’s words, she thought something was strange.
“You seem to be busy, Your Majesty. It is not an urgent matter, so I will tell you later.”
She angrily promised to track down whoever dared to forge a royal command and make them pay dearly for their sins. And after returning to the party venue, the incident happened right away.
Katherine testified that she came back from the Inner Palace and had been with the Duchess during the time that she was absent from the party. That is to say that the Duchess was never alone by herself during the party.
‘Falcon. I knew that poisonous bitch would do something one day. You dare to turn my break room into such a sight?’
Katherine did not know the real truth of the incident. It was handled with secrecy and her elder brother refused to tell her the specific details. However, there was some parts of it that Katherine could guess.
There was no doubt that Countess of Falcon tried to do something bad to the Duchess and things fell through.
‘That foolish wench must have had lingering feelings for the Duke of Taran. Doesn’t even know her place.’
She could sense the feeling of a woman who had once like the Duke of Taran alone. Although she was dead, Katherine didn’t want Anita’s little schemes to result in anything, so she had actively pulled the Duchess out of the picture. Due to this, it was not known that Anita had impersonated the royal command and sent Katherine to the Inner Palace.
If Kwiz knew this, the investigation of the incident would have proceeded in a slightly different direction. The only people that used the private break room were Princess Katherine and the Duchess of Taran. With this information, they could come to the conclusion that since Katherine was sent away, the person being conspired against was the Duchess of Taran. However, since that possibility was blocked, the case had fallen into a fog.
Translator’s Corner:
[1] He says he has never had such a shell. A shell meaning an outward covering/appearance.
[2] In Chapter 99.2 backstory, Hugo saved Roy when they were young, and Roy promises to repay the favor. That’s what this is referring to. Hugo thought that Roy didn’t remember what happened when they were young, but this proves otherwise.
[3] Also refers to 99.2.
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LUCIA
C107 [part 1]
Chapter 107 [part 1]
Negotiations with the king were easy.
Kwiz usually wasn’t pleased with his brother-in-law whose temperament was different from his father-in-law, and he was personally fond of Roy. In light of his experience of being guarded by Roy for over a year, he believed that Roy was not a brute that would kill people for no reason.
So when Hugo said that he would help with the chronic financial deficit, Kwiz gladly took the bait.
“But did Sir. Krotin say that he would do it? You people really…”
To nobles, honor was more important than their life. Knights were also the same. They couldn’t even conceive the idea of saving their life by abandoning their honor. Kwiz couldn’t understand both Roy, who agreed to such a thing and Hugo, who suggested such a plan.
Roy, who would recover fine even if he stepped in filthy dog shit. Kwiz, who could throw away his life for honor, like it was a worthless thing. They both stood at two extremes. Understanding each other would never be possible.
“There is one condition. It’s not enough with only this king agreeing to it. If my father-in-law agrees, then this king will also agree. As for persuading my father-in-law, I’ll leave that to Gong.”
“I understand. I have a condition too. Please turn a blind eye towards the truth of this incident.”
The dead could not speak, the less mouths that knew, the more secrets could be kept. Hugo was not troubled at all by the amount of effort he had to put in to completely detach his wife from this incident. He wanted to protect her like a flower cultivated in a greenhouse. He didn’t want her to have even a small scratch.
His wife was the Duchess and the Lady of the Taran House, whose every action and conduct drew people’s attention. As long as you were famous in the social circles, rumors that followed after your name were endless. It was something you had put up with unless it was a fatal scandal, but Hugo planned to thoroughly block any reason for his wife to receive public rebuke and be gossiped about due to an unsavory incident.
“Hm? Then you mean this king won’t know why Sir. Krotin did such a thing?”
Hugo ignored Kwiz’s grumbling that he was so curious that he couldn’t sleep.
“I will talk to Ramis Gong and inform Your Majesty of the outcome.”
* * *
Hugo promptly met with the Duke of Ramis that evening. The two sat opposite each other in an exclusive aristocrat club in the city. After exchanging brief greetings, Hugo immediately proceeded to the main subject.
He handed the three documents that he brought with him to the Duke of Ramis.
“The first document contains information about the day of the incident according to the testimony of my knight who is currently imprisoned. You will be able to know why your son became like that.”[1]
Hugo judged that he could not use money to negotiate with the Duke of Ramis. He was not someone that would exchange his son’s life for money.
He watched as the Duke of Ramis’ face darkened and clouded over as he read the document.
The Duke of Ramis thought that there was something off about David’s death, but he could not had guess that it was connected to the Duchess at all.
It’s not like he could ask his dead son, so he could not figure out what his son was trying to do in the princess’ break room or why he gave the magical tool to the Countess and could only wake up from restless sleeps and pound his chest in frustration.
Based on Roy’s testimony, the documents presented a number of circumstantial evidences to support it, with a recorded trail of David and Anita’s continuous meetings, information gotten from the people planted in the bar, and a track record of David making passes at the Duchess and so on and so forth.
‘That foolish boy. How could he…’
Sadly, the Duke of Ramis could not defend his son and say that his son would never do such a thing. He didn’t think that they had made up false evidence with the intention of slandering his son, instead he thought that this sort of thing was definitely something his son could do.
When he realized that, the Duke of Ramis felt deeply ashamed that he had raised his son wrong. The years he had lived so far, suddenly seemed in vain.
However, the Duke of Ramis was an experienced politician. He would never reveal his thoughts on the surface.
“I won’t say that the contents of this are fabrications. I admit my son’s mistakes. But I do not think it is enough to warrant for a Duke’s heir to suffer such a miserable death and be gossiped about by everyone.”
The corner of Hugo’s lips went up slightly.
‘Mistake? You should thank your ancestors instead, that your son died so unexpectedly. If that bastard was alive, I would have cut off all his limbs and turned him into pig feed.’
If he could not kill the bastard for practical reasons and as time passed, the bastard had actually succeeded the title of Duke, Hugo would have used all of his power to destroy the Ramis family. It was right to look at it as the death of that guy right now, was actually the guidance of their ancestors, looking over the future of the Ramis family from the sky.
“Please, read the next document. I wonder if that could also be called a mistake.”
The next document contained information about the youth association that was constantly being monitored. It had evidence that David was responsible for the funding of the youth association and results from the investigation of how dangerous the individuals that were leading the youth association were.
Of course, the youth association was still only a small organization and the chief executives were only just beginning to wriggle out from the shadows.
The numerous pieces of plausible evidence that made them out to be extremely dangerous elements, was the work of the Taran Duke’s Information Division.
To verify the authenticity of the document, one would have to spend a lot of time and effort. To the eyes of those looking at the document right now, they could only see it as the truth.
The contents detailed that the Taran family were suspicious of a dangerous organization and as they investigated, an enormous root was gradually revealed and when they dug even more, they discovered that David was the key figure funding the organization.
As he was reading the document, the Duke of Ramis’ eyes shook tremendously. The Duke of Ramis also knew of the New Nation Youth Association[2]. He had believed his son when he said that he had washed his hands off them, but had no idea that his son was avoiding his eyes and funding them instead.
‘This scoundrel is determined to destroy our family.’
Disappointment and anger towards his son surged inside the Duke of Ramis. The family that he had protected and cultivated his entire life was more important to the Duke than his own life, let alone his son’s life.
For the Duke, his family was the most important thing. The reason why he could be so level-headed about his son’s death was because his son was pushed back that much on the Duke’s list of priorities.
There was another son to continue the family. There was no issue of the succession being broken off. What the Duke of Ramis was concerned about, was that his son’s death would damage the family’s honor.*
“I’m sure you can predict how His Majesty will react if he were to be shown the contents of that document.” (Hugo)
The Duke of Ramis heavily closed his eyes.
The King had a heartless side to him. He would never save anyone that he had deemed to be an enemy. He killed many of his brothers, defended his position as the Crown Prince, eventually, he ascended to the throne and would not hesitate to spill blood to keep the throne.
If the King learnt of the contents of the document, even if he ignored it right now, he would continue to have doubts in his heart. He needed the Duke of Ramis’ power right now, so he would leave it alone, but someday, when the power of his royal-in-laws became burdensome, the doubts in his heart would become distrust and he would strike at the Duke.
Translator’s Corner:
[1] Re: You’ll be know why your son ended up dead.
[2] As I mentioned before, the issue here is ‘New Nation’. The word used here represents the ideology of a better, divine nation. It is usually connected to the idea of overthrowing the current reign for a better one aka rebellion.
* Damn. And they call Hugo cold-hearted.
______________
LUCIA
C107 [part 2] - < — Negotiation — > (3)
< — Negotiation — > (3)
The Duke of Ramis opened the final document, fearing what the outcome might be this time. But then, he knit his brows and turned the page. The document contained information regarding his son’s sexual preferences, something that he had never wanted to know.
During this time, the Taran Duke’s Information Division had continued to search the red-light district for anything scoop-worthy that had to do with David. If David had a thing for abusing women, it would grow more and more extreme and they expected it to lead to an accident. During the investigation, they discovered that David had strangled a prostitute to death.
“That final document is my last resort.”
The Duke of Ramis frowned. The information in the final document had the most insignificant value among the negotiating tools that the Duke of Taran had brought today. He could not understand what the Duke of Taran wanted to use these things for, when his son was already dead. Dirty laundry such as the death of a few prostitutes, was a messy topic for nobles to talk about in rumors. Nobles liked rumors, but they were silent about rumors that hurt their reputation.
“The place where the incident happened, was Princess’ Katherine’s break room. As Gong knows as well, His Majesty has strictly forbidden referring to the scene of the incident as the princess’ break room.”
The King’s action proved to be effective and the public referred to the case as an incident that had happened within the palace. There were a lot more people that did not know that the incident had occurred in Princess Katherine’s break room. The king blocked the possibility of his sister being involved in this incident. It was similar to what Hugo had done.
“In the event of today’s negotiations breaking down, I will take that document to His Majesty. And I will inform him that two rumors will soon spread in the social circle, about Count Ramis’ ugly sexual preferences and that Count Ramis harbored lecherous feelings towards Princess Katherine. The princess’ break room happens to be the perfect place. I will ask His Majesty to choose between Ramis Gong and his sister.” (Hugo)(1)
“Are you saying that you dare…to threaten His Majesty?” (Duke Ramis)
“I’m saying that presently, there is nothing I won’t do.” (Hugo)
The Duke of Ramis’ hand holding the document trembled. After a long stretch of silence, the Duke of Ramis opened his mouth, looking very exhausted.
“What are you playing at.”
“I have to save my sacrificed knight to protect my wife’ honor.”
“Impossible!”
The Duke of Ramis responded fiercely before Hugo finished speaking.
“Listen till the end. I will protect the Count of Ramis’ honor.”
‘While you are alive.’
Hugo added inwardly. He wanted to quickly resolve this incident, and have it disappear from people’s memories. He planned to put Roy away, where eyes couldn’t reach him, only until the Duke of Ramis was dead, and around when the incident became faint in people’s memories, then they could use the excuse that Roy was unjustly executed when the real culprit was someone else and quietly reinstate him.
To do that, he would have to re-negotiate with the king and the new Duke Ramis, but that would not be difficult.
Hugo spoke briefly about his plan to switch Roy with someone on death row. The Duke of Ramis looked at Hugo with a strange gaze, almost like that the one Kwiz had given. It was an expression that said, ‘How did you come up with such an idea?’
For the Duke of Ramis, his family’s honor was the most important thing to him. He had no energy to fight against the Duke of Taran. He had already grown too old. He was an old man that preferred to compromise rather than smacking heads.
Unless it wasn’t an unjust situation where his son died an innocent death, he could close his eyes to his son’s death if his honor could be protected.
“In addition, not even His Majesty knows that my wife is involved in this incident. I have only revealed this truth to Gong in order to get your cooperation. I do not want this to be spread outside for whatsoever reason. Gong will take this to your grave.” (Hugo)
“…Alright. In return, please discard all the information you have about this youth association. And as for the youth association, I will deal with it myself.” (Duke Ramis)
“Sounds good.” (Hugo)
The negotiations had reached an agreement. Hugo took back one of the three documents, the one containing information regarding the truth of the incident involving his wife.
“Why are you going to this extent?”
“Just like Ramis Gong wants to protect your family, I want to protect my wife.”
Because it seemed like he was saying ‘you want to protect your superficially good-looking family, I want to protect my people’, the Duke of Ramis blankly gazed at Hugo. But there was no trace of ridicule in those cold red eyes.
The Duke of Ramis was amazed every time he saw Hugo. He was the owner of the vast land called the North and as the Duke of Taran, he was very forthright. He didn’t bother himself with petty tricks and always confidently did what he wanted to do. People were not displeased with him and accepted it ‘because he is the Duke of Taran’.
It was a great talent as a politician to not cause jealousy in another’s heart. And that was why whenever he saw his son who was the same age as the Duke of Taran, he always felt that his son fell short.
‘It’s my virtue that fell short. Who can I blame?’
Rather than blaming his son’s shortcomings, he should have guided his son’s good points and covered him magnanimously. The Duke of Ramis deeply felt his shortcomings as a father, and as the lord of a family.
* * *
While the secret deal between the Duke of Taran and the Duke of Ramis took place, the King pretended not to know, and the situation flowed like a stream of water.
Fabian search the entire nation and found a reasonable stand-in among the prisoners on death row. While being interrogated for his crimes, the man was beaten a lot so he was in a bad shape, but that made it even more believable. After all, if the knight who killed the Duke’s eldest son was in a good shape at his execution, people would think it was strange.
The King passed down a brief statement. There was no detailed information about the truths of the case, just that Sir. Krotin had admitted his crimes and was to be executed. Since it was a case involving such a high ranked person, even though people did not know the specifics, they would only speculate amongst themselves.
Roy came out of the dungeon, wearing a sack-like hood and after walking while bound in ropes, he was substituted in the middle. The one heading to execution was the death row prisoner imitating Roy.
The carriage carrying Roy did not even have windows and ran straight to the gate.(2) He had to leave the capital as soon as possible without being seen by anyone. Hugo had already used his influence to make it so that Roy could pass through the gate without going through the identification process.
Lucia was still impatiently pacing up and down the receiving room. Publicly, it was time for Roy to be executed.
Hugo went to the palace and was officially meeting with the King and the Duke of Ramis. It was a formality to show that the two close forces of the King had no animosity with each other.
‘Has he gone through the gate safely?’
Lucia felt regretful for not being able to give Roy her last farewells, but she could not take the risk of bringing a felon, who was known to be publicly executed, into the ducal residence.
When the door to the receiving room opened and Jerome came in, Lucia stopped her pacing around and lifted her head. Fabian was following right behind him and entered the room.
“Sir. Krotin…?” (Lucia)
“He left safely.”
Lucia heaved a huge sigh of relief.
“I feel so sorry, I don’t know what to do. Because of me, Sir. Krotin lost his honor as a knight and left for the north like he was being chased away.”
Hugo sent Roy to the northern border. It was region where Roy used to delightfully stir up trouble. Meanwhile, Roy had cheerfully asked if he could kill all of them because his body had been growing itchy for a while.
Fabian could not sympathize with the Madam’s sadness in the slightest, but when he thought that he would not see the guy for a long time, he had mixed feelings.
“Did you tell him that I was thankful and sorry, and that he should stay healthy?”
“Yes, I told him. But Sir. Krotin said that there was something he wanted to ask Milady…”
“What is it?”
That crazy bastard. Swallowing those words inside, Fabian said:
“He asked if Milady remembers all the noblewomen you meet at a party. Apparently, he was curious about that.”
Roy said that with a very serious look on his face and asked Fabian to get the answer and let him know when he came to the north later. Fabian really could not understand that guy’s state of mind.
Lucia burst into laughter.
“There’s no way that’s possible. I only act like I do.”
“…Yes, I’ll tell him that later.”
Fabian replied with a sour look on his face, and Lucia laughed again.
‘He’s really a good person. He’s being considerate of me till the end so that I won’t feel sorry.’
Lucia’s misunderstanding was growing bigger. And there was no one to correct it.
Translator’s Corner:
[1] If you couldn’t understand…well, he will make it seem like David was trying to do a lil something with Princess Katherine in her break room.
[2] Reminder: a [gate] is a magical device. I think a portal is the best way to describe it.
________________
LUCIA
C108 [part 1]
< — Negotiation — > (4)
“I am ashamed to face you.”
Hugo asked his wife for forgiveness after dealing with everything. The terrible things that happened to her, and the even more horrifying things that could have happened, that he didn’t even want to think about, the ringleader of the incident, they were all related to him.
The Count of Ramis and the Countess of Falcon, who were believed to have conspired together. Hugo didn’t know exactly how the two of them had hit it off, but he knew that the two of them held ill feelings towards him. But because they couldn’t dare to touch him, they targeted his wife.
Especially since the Countess of Falcon was involved, he really could not lift his head in front of his wife. It was an act committed by his ex-lover. It was the result of insufficient settlement and inability to deal with things neatly.
“You must have been disappointed with me.”
Lucia wanted to comfort her husband, who has a bitter look on his face. She did not think that this incident was his fault. It was just an unexpected connection, like walking along the streets and unintentionally bumping into people and an accident happened.[1]
“I am not disappointed, Hugh. I won’t be disappointed in you with just this.”
“…”
Hugo took her hand, which was covering the back of his hand in an attempt to comfort him and kissed the back of her hand.
“I’m sorry.”
“It is not your fault.”
“You went through something you shouldn’t have experienced.”
“If it is something I have to go through because I am married to you, I can handle it.”
“…You really.”
Hugo was touched by her brightly shining clear heart and wondered if he was really qualified to be with her.
“I don’t want you to feel sorry towards me due to this incident, but I have something to request.”
“What is it?”
Hugo wanted to give her whatever she wanted, even if it was the whole world.
“I want to give the remaining family of my late maid enough compensation. My heart hurts because I was unable to protect her.”
“If compensation will make you feel at ease then I will do so. But there is no reason for you to protect your servants. They are hired to protect you.”
“You are right. Their work is to protect me. And at the same time, I think I should protect them. Sir. Krotin protect me, and you protected Sir. Krotin in my place, didn’t you?”
Hugo thought that employees such as servants, were tools of convenience. He couldn’t fully understand what she meant by comparing them with Roy but he roughly understood what she was trying to say.
“They have thoughts and feelings too. They are sad and distressed when they lose their family. The maid’s remaining family will resent whoever killed their daughter or sister. Even they resent, there is nothing they can do. But there is no one who wants someone they don’t even know to hate them and resent them.”
Hugo also didn’t find a situation where the rest of the maid’s family resented and hated his wife, pleasing.
“Will they have no resentment if they are compensated?”
“How can money replace someone’s life? Instead, if they are given heartfelt consolation and sufficient compensation, they will be comforted. When someone is comforted, they will be able to stitch up their wound soon. That is why, Hugh. Give them sincere compensation. Tell them that their late daughter or sister did not die in vain but met with an accident while undergoing an important task, that we are sorry to lose an excellent talent, and that we offer our condolences with enough compensation. If I could, I would like to personally meet the rest of her family but…”
“That can’t happen.”
“Yes, I know. That is why you will go in my place and be considerate of them.”
“…Alright.”
* * *
The unprecedented event, that is, the murder of the Duke’s heir in the palace, came to an end with the execution of Knight Krotin. People whispered amongst themselves that many parts about the case were lacking, but that was all.
The King declared the end of the case, and the parties concerned, the two Dukes, Taran and Ramis, were silent. People were now looking for something new to talk about and were turning their attention away.
Now, all that was left was to wrap things up. Hugo called Fabian and ordered for the remaining things to be dealt with. In particular, he roughly took care of the things that were to be paid as a price to the King and handed the documents over to Fabian.
As Fabian roughly skimmed over the contents on the spot, his face paled and he trembled. He felt a lump in his throat and only after swallowing once was he able to ask the Duke:
“Your Grace, really…all of this…?”
The things on the document reached about 10% of the Taran family’s assets that were revealed. More than 90% of the Taran family’s assets were hidden and remained unrevealed. Argumentatively, it was not such a big part, but for Fabian, whose liver shrunk in the face of money, it was too much to bear. That crazy bastard’s life is so expensive! Fabian was dazed.
“If you can buy a life with money, the price paid is cheap.” (Hugo)
‘It is just as you say. I know. But even if I know, it is still too generous. Hoh. The King is also very shameless. What does he think he even did, to take so much?’ (Fabian)
Even though it wasn’t even his money, Fabian seemed like he was burning with regret inside.
‘I knew from the moment he gave the mine away as the Madam’s dowry. Is it because master spends money so senselessly that to balance it out, we have a frugal Lady of the House?’
Without any change in expression, Fabian continued to grumble inside.
“How do we usually compensate for the death of a maid?” (Hugo)
“We hand the body over to the family, settle any unpaid salaries, pay for funeral expenses as well as some compensation.” (Fabian)
“How much is the compensation?” (Hug)
“It is the equivalent of five years of that individual’s annual salary that they have customarily received.” (Fabian)
When a noble killed a commoner, they were not innocent under the law, but once they compensated with money, the case was practically over. With the exception of the capital city which had many nobles gathered in it, there were almost no opportunities for commoners to encounter nobility. The two classes had completely different places of residence and separate scopes of activity.
However, when a commoner voluntarily stepped into a aristocratic domain, that is, when they worked for and belonged to the royal palace or a noble family, they had to be prepared to die if they were unlucky. Despite that, many commoners competed fiercely to work for aristocrats due to the high pay. If you worked in a noble family for ten years, it was possible to support your entire family and buy a decent house.
Like most nations with a caste system, Xenon also established order with a noble-oriented law. Unless it was a case where an innocent commoner was killed by a noble while coincidentally crossing the road, when employees, such as servants or maids, were caught in the affairs of high-ranking people and died, they should be glad to even be returned with an intact corpse.
‘The compensation is not that much.’
Hugo recalled the conversation he had had with his wife. He still could not understand his wife’s excessive sympathy. But she had asked him to do it and it wasn’t anything difficult, so there was no reason not to do so.
“Give the remaining family of the deceased maid, 50 years of compensation for the maid’s service and send someone to offer condolences at the funeral. If someone among the remaining family needs it, provide them with a job.”
“…”
Fabian momentarily forgot how to speak and vacantly stared at his lord. When Fabian did not reply, Hugo frowned slightly. Fabian was startled and quickly answered in affirmative, going to the extent of even nodding his head.
“What of the others, apart from the maid that were killed by Roy?”
“The royal family will compensate them.”
It was a principle that those who worked in the palace were compensated by the royal family for accidents that occurred in the palace. From Kwiz’s standpoint, he suffered no loss in this incident. Even if it was said that they had compensate the dead, they only had to pay them with some of the Countess of Falcon’s assets, which had been used to replenish the national treasury.
The deceased Countess of Falcon was convicted with the felony of bringing poison into the Royal Palace and conspiring to assassinate the King. They executed her corpse, deprived her of her title, and took all of her possessions into the national treasury.*
“The royal family’s compensation will not be that much either.” (Hugo)
“That is quite likely.” (Fabian)
“Treat them in a similar manner as well.” (Hugo)
Since they all died to Roy who was trying to protect his wife, Hugo decided to neatly take care of everything.
Fabian’s expression was strange as he came out of the Duke’s office. He stood in front of the closed office door for a while, then he turned and looked at the door, thinking of the Duke who was sitting inside.
‘So people can change.’
Fabian’s way of looking at things was that people could never change. People had their own inborn temperament and the only time it could change was when they were children. He thought that even if they changed, their fundamentals couldn’t be changed, and the person that formed as they grew older did not change until the day they died.
Something that could shake Fabian’s distinctive personal view had happened under his very own eyes. He could not imagine ever hearing the words ‘take care of the late maid’s remaining family’ from his lord.
The Duke that Fabian knew, rather than calling him a wicked person, he was someone that had no interest in his surroundings. He only did things as he pleased, and apart from the minimum amount of people he kept at his side out of need, he let the others run their course regardless of the turnout and left things to his subordinate’s discretion.
Fabian thought that he was nothing more than a convenient tool for the Duke. Sometimes, that fact felt bitter, but still, he comforted himself that he was able to work for the Duke because his ability was recognized.
However, he was honestly moved upon seeing the way his lord had handled Roy’s case this time. For the person who risked his life for his master, his master mobilized all his ability and saved him.
Fabian was a realist who thought that surviving was the best and sneered at nobles who clung to honor. Which is why he thought that there was no method more perfect than this to save Roy. Belief rose in his heart that even if he was in a situation to die for his lord, he would not be abandoned nor ignored. He felt relief that even if he died an unlucky death, he wouldn’t have to worry about the rest of his family.
‘But still, the price of that bastard’s life should never be this much.’
Regardless, his way of thinking hadn’t changed. Fabian still thought that the money leaving their hands was such a pity.
Translator’s Corner:
[1] Yea…I did a literal translation here. Not sure what she’s trying to say.
*T/N: They executed her corpse? Tf? And yes, I did double check.
__________________
LUCIA
C108 [part 2]
T/N: In the chapter, the [] signifies a different language.
The area of the northern border that Roy returned to after a long time, was close to the village where he was born and grew up. He lost his parents to the invading barbarians when he was young and swore revenge. Because of his extraordinary strength and size, he was called the village hulk from an early age, so he grew up hearing that he would do great things.[1]
And so, he was conceited. He lunged at the barbarians to take revenge, but was caught and taken away.
Because the young boy seemed to have useful strength, the barbarians decided to raise him and use him as a slave; that’s why they did not kill Roy. In order to remove malice from the stubborn Roy, they bound him up and whipped him for a month. Just when Roy thought that he was going to die like this, a certain boy secretly approached him and released him, saving his life.
The Roy, who escaped from that route, realized his shortcomings. He hid alone and lived by hunting down animals by himself. The experience taught him life’s strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes, he killed one or two barbarians that strayed too far from their tribe and steadily built up his skills.
And then finally, he took revenge for his parents. He could not carry out a frontal attack on the tribal village because he was alone, but he lured a handful of people into the forest and killed them all in the span of a few days.
Although it was refreshing after getting his revenge, he didn’t know what to do in the future. He just lived like a wild man, sometimes killing the barbarians that came at him, resolving food issues by hunting and practically spending his days in a lackadaisical manner.
Then, he met his lord. As soon as he saw him, he knew that the man was the benefactor that had helped him when he was a child. When he was asked, ‘Do you want to come with me?’, he followed along. He thought that he would have a chance to repay the favor if they were together.
“Tch. Just when I thought I repaid it, there’s a debt again.”
Roy grumbled as he lifted up his body, which was sprawled beneath a tree. Officially he was dead, which was probably why nobody bothered him and just left him alone.
As Roy wandered around near the border, he gradually drew farther away and entered the forest in the barbarian’s region. For a few days now, he had not seen anyone. The feeling of being alone for the first time in a long time, was not bad.
The night of the forest came quickly. After roasting the rabbit that he had caught for dinner, Roy covered himself with a blanket next to the bonfire and went to bed.
Around when the darkness of the night had deepened, and the campfire had become smaller after burning all the wood, someone stealthily approached Roy, who was lying down in the darkness.[2]
The mysterious individual pulled out a dagger from their bosom. They carefully went up to Roy’s side as he slept and brought down their dagger in the direction of his neck. No, they thought they did, but the mysterious individual’s field of vision suddenly flipped over, and they collided with the ground, falling on their back.
Their hand, which was holding the knife, was strongly gripped at the wrist while another powerful grip was fixed to their neck. Unable to last long against the pressure on their neck, they lost consciousness.
When the mysterious individual, Kuya, regained consciousness, the day was already bright. Their body was tightly bound to a tree with their hands behind them, so they could not move. They rummaged through their memories of last night and looked around in a hurry but did not see anyone.
After a while, the sound of rustling could be heard as Roy showed up behind the bushes. On his back, he was carrying a fawn.
He began to disassemble the prey he caught. He indifferently cut its throat, drew out the blood, used a small dagger to skin it and chopped it into pieces at its joint; he was obviously familiar with dismantling a prey.
It was just the process of retrieving meat from an animal but Kuya trembled as if they were looking at the most terrible scene in the world and glared at the sight with a gaze full of spite. As they watched the bastard build a fire, roast the deer, and begin to eat, Kuya thought that he(Roy) ate very well even though he was ignorant.
After a fairly time-consuming meal, Roy curtly spoke to Kuya.
“Who are you?”
[Red Devil!]
As he calmly watched the woman, who was screaming at him with a venomous gaze, Roy said:
[It’s been a while since I’ve heard those words.]
When Roy spoke her familiar tribal tongue, Kuya momentarily flinched before shouting again:
[Don’t humiliate me, kill me!]
[What have I done that you’re like this? You’re the one who tried to kill someone sleeping.]
[You’re my family’s enemy!]
Roy thought that the woman who was stubbornly grinding her teeth was like a wildcat.
[But I didn’t even do anything. Ah, was the deer I just ate your family by any chance? Sorry.]
The woman quivered with emotion and noisily shrieked that she would kill him.
Roy watched as the woman shrieked and writhed to the extent that her face had gone bright red. The petite woman was really energetic. She didn’t seem that old. If he were to guess, she had just passed adulthood?
After being flooded with the sight of noblewomen acting graceful in the capital, it was quite fun to see a woman full of venomosity.
[Red Devil. You killed dozens of people in my village as well as my father and my brother. Will you say you don’t know about what you did eight years ago?]
Hearing the words of the woman who was huffing as if she had lost her energy after screaming and raving, Roy searched his memory. Eight years ago, there was only one incident where he slaughtered dozens at mass.
[Your parents killed my parents. I was getting revenge too.]
The woman flinched. Then she went silent. After looking at the still woman who had her head bowed for a fairly long time, the bored Roy lay on his back and dozed off.*
Roy woke up from his nap, feeling the urge to pee and incoherently pulled himself together. As he pulled down his pants, he heard a sharp sound and turned his head. The place where Roy chose to pee was a couple of steps away from the woman. The woman was cursing with an expression that spoke disgust.
Roy scratched his head and went somewhere that wasn’t visible in the bushes. When Roy returned after resolving his issue, the woman said:
[I acknowledge your fair revenge.]
[Heh. You’re really straightforward. So you’re not going to kill me now?]
[This and that are different. I have to take revenge for my family.]
[So you have to kill me?]
[Exactly. So you should kill me.]
Roy thought for a moment then he pulled out his dagger and approached the woman.
Kuya closed her eyes. But there was none of expected pain and the rope on her painfully bound hands came loose. Suddenly being able to freely move her body, Kuya was confused but she would never let go of an opportunity. She nimbly dove away and distanced herself from Roy.
[Do you think I won’t kill you if you do this?]
[Do it. Since you acknowledge that my revenge was fair, then I also acknowledge you trying to kill me. However, I won’t obediently die. If you’re confident, go ahead.]
Kuya stared at Roy for a moment. She was a little confused. He didn’t match the monstrous figure of the Red Devil that she had imprinted in her head from a young age. But he was the enemy of her parents and brother. Kuya renewed her determination, turned around and disappeared into the forest. Roy chuckled.
“What an aggressive woman.”[3]
He didn’t know why he let her leave alive. He had never left a source for future trouble alone before.
‘Her smell’s not bad.’
He wouldn’t be bored for a while.
Translator’s Corner:
[1] The word for ‘hulk’ used here is ‘jangsa’, which means a person of great strength. I couldn’t think of another word for it.
[2] The raw says that they silenced their footsteps which I took to mean stealthily.
[3] Well, the word used for ‘unyielding’ here, can also mean aggressive.
*T/N: I was so taken aback by this, hahaha. Why take a nap right then??
ED: Why not, there was nothing really going on there at that moment, might as well enjoy a nap while a woman is watching over you =P
__________________
LUCIA
C109 [part 1]
< — Everything is as it should be — > (1)
On the day of the King’s royal birthday feast, the Queen showed up at an official occasion after a very long interval. Using the excuse of maternal stability, the Queen stayed indoors after the death of her brother, and rumors spread that perhaps the Queen had lost her child due to shock and was lying down at home in heartbreak.
However, the rumors were negated when the Queen appeared, calmly holding her bulging stomach that almost seemed mountainous. The noblewomen scrambled to approach Beth and gave her their greetings.
Lucia also approached Beth. The two of them hasn’t met for a few months as well.
Lucia inwardly felt sorry towards the Queen. Her husband said that the Queen would not know that Roy had disguised himself as a dead man and escaped. She was much better off not knowing that, but seeing as the Queen was unaware of the exact details and suddenly lost her brother, she would be in pain because of the loss.
Lucia was even more sorry that she couldn’t comfort the grieving heart of the Queen, who had to undergo this while she was pregnant.
“Have you been well, Your Royal Highness?”[1]
“Duchess, how have you been as well? It has been a long time.”
Beth’s voice was soft, unlike what Lucia feared, that the Queen would confront her sharply. Seeing the Duchess cautiously revealing an apologetic look, Beth smiled.
‘What has this person done wrong?’
After losing her brother, Beth resented the Duchess for a while. It wasn’t because she thought that the Duchess had done something wrong, but because it was just a time when she resented everyone involved.
Her father had come to see her as she was confined to bed in despair and he looked like he had aged ten years.[2] Seeing him, Beth thought that her father was also suffering from the pain of losing his son, but her father told her a slightly different story from what she had guessed.
“You should forget about it now, Your Royal Highness. That boy…he did something, that’s why he ended up like that.”
“What…Father. What in the world are you talking about?”
“I cannot tell you the exact details. Just know that that boy, David, did not die without blame. You are carrying a precious royal body within you. Don’t be too distressed and pull yourself together.’
“Father.”
After giving a long sigh, her father said:
“It seems your foolish father did not do well in acting as a father.”
Beth saw the years from the dropped shoulders of her father as he turned around. In that moment, he was not her always strong and reassured father. As she continued to dwell on the words that her father left for her, Beth felt a little resentful of her late brother.
‘How is it that until you die, you drive a nail into the hearts of the people left behind?’
Beth thought of her baby and tried to shake off her brother’s death, little by little. Katherine, whom she thought she wasn’t in a very fond relationship with, came to see her everyday and offered her a lot of comfort.
When she felt the first movements in the womb after refraining from external activities and focusing on her child, Beth shook off all the remaining negative sediments in her heart. Her heart as a mother, wished to convey only beautiful thoughts to her yet to be born child.
“I’ve gained quite some weight, haven’t I? When you carry a child, your body changes like this.” (Beth)
“Rather, you look more at ease.” (Lucia)
“Indeed. These days, I feel at ease. My child is also having fun inside.”
“When are you expecting?”
“There is about a month left. Now that I think about it, it’s around time to hear the news from you, Duchess. I believe it’s been two years since you’ve been married?”[3]
“…Yes.”
Lucia smiled faintly and glanced at Beth’s swollen belly.
‘How does it feel to have another life growing inside of you?’
Lucia was curious about the feeling that she had never experienced in her dream and would probably never experience in reality. She had heard that as a baby grew, they would move and kick inside. How did that feel, too?
She heard that the pain of childbirth was terrible enough to die. There was also no small amount of women who had things go wrong after giving birth to a child. It was a life-risking experience for a woman to give birth to a child.
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‘Even then, it’s fine. I think I can bear any pain.’
Lucia looked at her husband, who was standing some distance away, talking with the king and a few nobles. He had never once brought up the topic of a child.
‘Does he still not want a child?’
Maybe it was because it was peak spring and the weather had gotten distinctly warmer. The rustling spring breeze wove into Lucia’s heart, shaking it up.
She wanted to have a child. She wanted to lovingly carry his child and become their mother after giving birth. ‘Should I take the infertility cure without telling him?’ she had thought about this a few times. She knew that the two of them were still young and had a lot of time left. But Lucia felt that the days passing by were a pity.
“I heard that His Majesty is pushing for the marriage of the princesses remaining in the palace.”
“I heard that too. Exactly how many princesses are still remaining in the palace?”
From being occupied with the thought of a child, Lucia’s interest was instantly shifted as she concentrated on the topic of the clamoring noblewomen.
Hugo acted like he was listening to the person chattering at his side while he searched for his wife with his eyes. He didn’t like the customary practice of men and women gathering separately to discuss.
He wanted to keep his wife by his side, but the problem was that nobody else was doing that. And his wife didn’t like standing out.
Sometimes, he checked on her. It was something like a habit. If he couldn’t spot her for a long time, he got needlessly nervous. He saw her gaze shift somewhere momentarily as she talked with the noblewomen.
At first, he didn’t care, but after seeing her do it a few times, he wondered what she was looking at and followed her gaze. The queen stood where his wife was looking at.
‘Is she still bothered about the things from a few months ago?’
He was worried that his wife had still not forgotten about the incident behind David’s death.
But after looking more closely, he realized that she was not looking at the Queen but slightly lower, at the noticeably prominent stomach of the Queen.
Suddenly, it felt like a bang resounded through his ears.
Translator’s Corner:
[1] I used ‘Your Royal Highness’ instead of ‘Your Highness the Queen’ as I’ve been using.
[2] Her father is Duke Ramis.
[3]Hear news: about time to hear news of Lucia’s pregnancy.
***The next one is…twice as long ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
_______________
LUCIA
C109 [part 2]
< — Everything is as it should be — > (1)
After finishing his bath, Hugo headed to his wife’s bedroom while his mind continued to contemplate on the thing that had been on his mind since the party.
‘Does she want a child…’
He could give her anything she wanted, even if he had to comb through the entire world, but there was one thing alone he couldn’t give. A child. She could not have his child. No matter how many seeds he planted, it would never sprout in her womb.
His cursed blood could never grow without taking cursed measures.
He once thought that it was a fortunate thing. Because no matter how much he womanized, there wouldn’t be any incident of a woman that he didn’t remember, coming to find him with a pregnant, bulging stomach. The thought of a woman he only slept with a few times, giving birth to a trace of his disgusting blood and raising it, made him feel very dirty and full of dread.
If there were no constraints or specific conditions that had to be satisfied for impregnation, he would have probably killed every woman that appeared with his child.
When he became Duke after the death of his brother, and saw the things in his family’s secret room, his hate for the blood flowing within him reached an extreme. He thought about cutting his arteries and pouring out all of his blood several times a day.
Hugo abrupted stopped in front of his wife’s bedroom door.
‘What about now?’
He felt a strange sense of incongruity. He looked down at both of his hands and clenched his fists.
The feeling of being alive. The sensation of breathing. These were sensations that he usually tried not to be conscious about, but there were times when he felt that his existence in the world was too revolting, and he couldn’t bear it. And when that happened, he ran on his horse until he was dead tired and couldn’t run any faster, or he spent a few days burning the midnight oil and throwing himself into work like crazy.
[You have changed.][1]
Upon remembering the words of the unpleasant old man, Hugo knit his brows.
‘Have I changed?’
He wasn’t conscious of it, so he didn’t realize. But something had definitely changed. Hugo moved his gaze and quickly scanned the familiar sight of his wife’s receiving room.
It was warm. It wasn’t really because the room inside was heated up, but because of the feeling it gave. Every time Hugo passed by this receiving room to get to his wife’s bedroom, he felt good. His heart throbbed at the thought of holding his wife’s soft body and kissing her moist lips.
Her body temperature felt hot to the touch and his former self who could only distinguish between coldness, was doing childish things that filled him with emotions.[2]
Hugo looked at his hands again. The feeling of being alive was not as terrible as before. Rather he felt that it was fortunate that he was able to touch and feel her, because he was alive. In his life that had always been lonely, she was now with him.
He didn’t know when it started but, he now thought about the future, and in the future he envisioned, she was always there.
In his mind, he drew a picture of his wife holding a child and smiling brightly at him, after a few years. A wholesome feeling floated to the surface of his mind, but it soon sank down heavily.
‘I cannot give her a child.’
Should he tell her that she could not have a baby? Should he tell her about his dirty birth, or should he confide in her about his family’s secret that he wanted to seal forever?
He hated the mere idea of that. It felt like he was being swarmed with an offensive smell. That part of him was a darkness that he never wanted to reveal to the woman he loved. He was afraid that she would look at him a little differently after hearing everything.
He didn’t know what to do if she said that she wanted to have a child. Hugo opened the door to his wife’s room, feeling gloomy unlike how he usually felt.
Almost at the same time Hugo entered the room, Lucia was also entering the bedroom after finishing her bath. Lucia held the towel wrapped around her wet hair and warned her husband who was standing some distance away.
“I have to dry my hair. Don’t come here.”
When she slept with her hair wet sometimes, she had to toil in the morning to arrange her disheveled hair. She was also embarrassed to look at the maid, who had to spray water on her hair in an attempt to tidy it up. When she had to go out, she couldn’t manage it at all, so there were times when she had to wrap her hair up again in the morning.
She didn’t have to completely dry it. It was enough to apply lotion that would make it settle down neatly after drying it moderately. But her husband did not even wait for that amount of time to pass.
Hugo calmly gazed at his wife, who was vigilantly fluffing her feathers like a small animal, then he took a step forward.
She had slowly moved to the dressing table and upon seeing him move, she was startled and raised her voice to say, ‘I said, don’t come’.
Seeing her expression as she repeated for him not to come and stepped backwards, Hugo gave a perverse grin.
‘This is fun.’
The feeling that had sank down rose to the surface again. He was also excited.
Lucia felt spooked when she saw him look at her with his arms folded, grin, and then suddenly approach her faster. It was a feeling like she had suddenly become a feeble prey being pursued. So she turned around on the spot and ran away.
Lucia tried to get over the bed and was about to run to the other side, but she was caught by a strong hand just before reaching the bed. In that short moment, she felt the fear of being bitten on the neck by a wild beast.*
“Kyaa!”
His arms were firmly wrapped around her waist and his chest stuck to her back. He bit her earlobe and chuckled.
“Why are you screaming? Do you like this kind of thing?”
“No!”
He kissed her flushed neck and cupped her breast with his hand that had dug into her bathrobe. His other hand went between her legs, rubbing the area that had begun to get wet. Her body shuddered at the stimulation and he hugged her even tighter and whispered into her ear.
“My wife. Shall we play a little wildly today?”
“Hugh!”
Because she was already caught and lifted in his arms, Lucia’s body was thrown onto the bed. Before Lucia could lift her body, he quickly climbed over her. Because she was trapped beneath his arms, Lucia couldn’t look straight at his eyes, which were staring down at her. Her face burned like it was on fire.
Hugo grabbed the front of her bathrobe and spread it aside, revealing her breasts underneath. Her naked body was dyed red, looking as appetizing as a peach.**
“Your whole body is red. What is making you excited?”
“…Will you keep teasing me?”
Seeing her with reddened eyes that were as if she would cry, Hugo felt a certain stiffness at his waist. Half of it was a desire to put it in right now, and the other half, a desire to taste her extremely sweet body. This time, the latter won.
Hugo squeezed his leg between her closed knees and pried them open. Her amber eyes which were shaking in confusion became another stimulant for him. He grabbed her thighs with both hands, spread them apart and buried his head in the wetness between her legs. He kissed it and insert his tongue in the open gap.
“Ah!”
The delicate stimulation on her private part was electrifying. His wet tongue licked and explored while his lips rubbed against her skin as if kissing her there, as he sucked and bit it slightly.
“Ang!”
Lucia moaned and covered her face with both hands. Even if she twisted her body, he held her firmly from below the waist, so she couldn’t even move. The sound of him lapping up the liquid flowing from her body was embarrassing.
It wasn’t as hard as a finger, but the tip of a rather wet, soft flesh shallowly entered her vagina, withdrew and re-entered a little deeper.
Her body trembled intensely. The moment he sucked and suckled strongly, Lucia uttered a cry of pleasure and moved her waist restlessly.
Hugo licked her twitching entrance at length with his tongue, then he lifted his head. Her blurred eyes which were dropping because of her climax were erotic.
Hugo caught the face of his wife, who was turning her crimson face away and covering her lips with the back of her hand. He tried to meet her eyes, but she kept looking away.
“Vivian. Why do you keep avoiding my eyes?”
“…I’m embarrassed.”
“What.”
When Hugo asked a few times, Lucia hesitantly said in a small voice:
“…it’s obscene…”
Hugo carefully thought about the meaning of her words then he grinned.
“Are you embarrassed because it feels good when I do it with my mouth?”
The sight of her giving him a reproachful look with her reddened face looked so cute that he couldn’t help but laugh. He caught her face by the chin and rubbed her slightly parted lips with his thumb.
Lucia wrapped her tongue around the finger entering her mouth. Every time she licked his finger, her red tongue poked out a little.
She glanced up slightly at him and there was already no more laughter on his face. His eyes were filled with the desire of a hungry beast before its prey.
He removed his hand from her mouth and raised his upper body. He spread her legs that she kept closing and took a position. He grabbed both her calves with his hands and pulled her body downwards with his strength.
The moment Lucia shut her eyes, expecting what would follow, a hot rod instantly plunged into her.
“Aah!”
The sharp tingles disappeared after a very short moment, and a orgasmic sensation flitted across her spine. Just with him entering her, Lucia’s body shook with an electrifying sense of pleasure. He grabbed her hips and pinned their lower abdomens tightly close to each other.
As her thighs went on top of his thighs, her butt naturally lifted in the air, and his member entered all the way to the hilt, filling her up. Lucia gasped for breath at the sense of pressure that took her breath away, while he stayed still for a moment, also taking in rough breaths.
“Your insides…are pulling me in.”
As he watched her red face get even redder, Hugo moved his waist slightly.
“Hn…”
“Hha… so tight, seriously.”
Her tender flesh was clinging to his penis, moving along with his movements and squeezing him tightly as he moved.
Hugo held his wife almost everyday, but it was a marvel how her insides always moved unpredictably, bringing him infinite pleasure whenever he held her.
The more he held her, the more addicted he became, and lately, when it was the night corresponding to the one-in-five-days rule, he had to spend the whole night fighting off his desperate desire.
The satisfaction of sharing his love with the woman he loved, gave him more emotional pleasure than physical pleasure. The extreme orgasm resulting from the two pleasures coming together and overflowing could not be expressed in any words. Once you tasted it, it was an amazing experience that you couldn’t forget until you died. It was a feeling of satisfaction from sharing an emotional connection, not a vulgar impulsive pleasure.
He grabbed her butt and began to move slowly. As he moved along the smooth path made by the fluids of her body, he explored her insides deeply and thrust in and out of her repeatedly.
Her inner folds became bumpy, stroking his penis and stimulating him as he moved. A pleasured cry escaped from her parted lips and a stiffening, but exhilarating sensation crawled up his spine.
The most sensitive nerves in his body were all focused on the hot, slippery, pressuring, and squeezing sensations that his penis was currently feeling. The pleasure it was bringing was no less than the pleasure at the moment he came. He moved as slowly as possible, and tried to maintain his sense of the present.
Lucia looked up at him as her body shook slowly, in accordance with his unhurried movements and desire for her. His red eyes were clouded as if he was intoxicated and his brows were slightly furrowed. Upon seeing this sight, Lucia’s body grew even hotter.
She abruptly had the thought of trying out what Katherine had taught her.
‘What did she say again? When it’s coming in, relax, when it’s leaving, clench…’[3]
When she diligently manipulated her body according to what she had learned, the effect was immediate. He knit his brows and his hands on her butt gripped it tighter.
As she repeatedly relaxed and clenched a few times while watching his expression, he swallowed a moan and growled.
“Don’t do that.”
Lucia feigned ignorance as she gasped for breath.
“What do you mean…?”
“You’re doing something you didn’t do before.”
Lucia was perplexed because his reaction was different from what she expected.
“…But they said a man would like it.”
Hugo stopped moving and frowned.
“Who?”
“…”
“It’s obvious. Those tea party women must have gathered together and said stuff like that.”
Watching him as he clicked his tongue, Lucia felt kind of bad towards the innocent noblewomen.
“You don’t like it? When I do this?”
She clenched her lower abdomen tightly again. He huffed, swallowing his breath and his red eyes that were looking at her sprang into a blaze.
“Don’t excite me when you can’t even handle it.”
Hugo moved his hands from her butt to her ankles, lifted her ankles to his shoulders and then heavily rammed into her. Lucia’s eyes smarted at the stimulation of his rigid crown piercing her deepest insides.
“Hk!”
“You can cry a little harder. Do you know how much I was holding back?”
He sped up and began to powerfully thrust into her. His desire-filled member filled up her insides and ravaged her.
“Ah! Anng!”
She could feel his excitement as he ruthlessly pounded into her, piercing, prodding and just scraping her down. Lucia’s body shuddered as her sensitive insides were stimulated countless times.
She felt a slight ache when he reached deep inside and she shivered at the frictional pleasure from being roughly rubbed against inside. As he ravaged through her inner walls, he pulled back and quickly reentered, drilling into her.
As she listened to the sound of flesh slapping against flesh, her eyes heated up and the forming tears slid down her face.
“Ah! Hugh! Uuhk…”
Lucia screamed as she reached an intense climax. Her vision flickered repeatedly with the sensation of falling endlessly and at the same time, her entire body trembled as she was dazed with pleasure.
Her insides achingly squeezed his member and began to twitch and spasm. He slammed into her a few more times before spraying his semen into her womb.
The pressure of him holding her tightly, and the sound of him moaning in her ear gave her chills from head to toe. She wrapped herself around him with her arms and legs.
As the sound of two people gasping for breath mixed together, the time of the long and short climax flew by. As she fought for breath amidst sobs, Lucia thought that she should just bury what she had learnt from Katherine.
Translator’s Corner:
[1] This is Philip, from when Hugo was in the north to subjugate barbarians. I’ll look for the chapter or if you remember what chapter it was, do tell.
[2] I don’t know what this sentence is trying to say so I translated literally. Here you go.
[3]I know this is an odd question to ask…but does this work? Like fr?
*T/N: So…dramatic.
**Have you guys ever had peaches before? How do they taste?
_______________
LUCIA
C110 [part 1]
< — Everything is as it should be — > (2)
Because of the conversation she had with the noblewomen at the party today, Lucia looked back on her memories from the dream, that she had forgotten for several months. The dream memories that Lucia called another future, had already changed a lot in reality.
In order to sort out her jumbled childhood memories, Lucia sent someone to the village where she grew up and found out a few facts.
Rossa, whom she played around with when she was young, had grown up and was about to marry a neighborhood youth. And the more surprising fact was that the tree at the village entrance that they used to play around on, only had a stump left.
Apparently, many years ago, when Lucia was about five years old, the tree was struck by lightning and burnt hideously black, so it was chopped off. Since there was no tree to climb on in the first place, Lucia’s accident when she was a child did not happen.
Lucia believed that the future had split from the moment the village tree was struck by lightning. There was a future that had changed but there was also a future that was still flowing the same way. This could be seen in the case of the King pushing for the marriages of the princesses.
Lucia had lightly asked a noblewoman, who was well-informed in high society rumors, about the news of the Countess of Matin.
[They divorced a few months ago, that is, earlier this year. I heard the Countess was going down to the west, where her family’s home is.][1]
Lucia felt shocked out of her wits; it was as if she had been hit in the back of her head. The reason why Lucia got married to Count Matin wasn’t because their conditions matched specifically, but because Lucia was the oldest princess in the palace.
Now that Lucia was gone, the oldest princess, although younger than Lucia, would marry Count Matin. It was a case where her terrible future was being shifted onto another person’s head.
His arm, which was wrapped around her waist, tightened around her. He turned his body slightly to the side, meeting Lucia’s eyes for a moment, then he kissed the corner of her eyes.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?” (Hugo)
Hugo had been listening to her as she gave small sighs from time to time, unable to sleep. He thought she was worrying about a child, so he also couldn’t sleep and was panicking. He knew he had to talk with her about the issue of a child, but he was deeply worried about what extent he had to talk about it.
“What about you?” (Lucia)
“You keep sighing beside me.”
“Did I do that? I’ll be quiet now. Go to sleep.”
“What is it? Are you worried about something?”
‘Does it have to do with a child?’ The words hovered in his mouth.
“…Do you know that His Majesty plans to marry off the princesses of the late king?”
When Hugo heard the unrelated words coming out of her mouth, his tense nerves lost their energy.
“Mm, I’ve heard.” (Hugo)
While she hesitated as if picking what to say, Hugo waited without urging her.
“Today, I heard that the Countess of Matin had gotten divorced.”
“Matin?”
“You probably don’t know it. It’s not a family that people usually talk about.”
“Were you close with her?”
“…I just know her a little bit.”
Lucia was not the type to tell Hugo every little bit of gossip in the social circle. Which is why Hugo thought that she was quite close with the Countess, seeing as she had brought up someone else’s private affairs.
Lucia lifted her head as she lay, leaning on his shoulder. She stretched out her hand and cupped his face. As she felt his skin and body temperature through her palm, she once again confirmed that this was not a dream.
Once in a while, Lucia grew afraid that everything would be a dream. The days she spent peacefully and happily in his shade seemed unreal.
“…What?”
Hugo took her hand off his face and kissed her palm. Then he gently stroked her forehead and swept a hand through her hair.
Lucia liked his affectionate touch. She took his big hand and rubbed her face against it. Because her spoiled act seemed somewhat sad, Hugo suddenly felt anxious.
“What’s wrong?”
“Please do something to prevent Count Matin from marrying the princess of the late king.”
Lucia couldn’t just let it pass and act like she knew nothing. If one of her half-sisters whose face she had never even seen, were to take her place and experience everything she had seen in her dream, Lucia felt like she would feel guilty for a lifetime.
“I know how strange I sound right now. She’s my half-sister whose name I don’t even know, but I can’t act like I cannot see the obvious misfortune ahead. I cannot let her marry that person. That man… beats his wife. And he does things even worse than that.”
“Vivian.”
Hugo tightly hugged her trembling figure.
“If I hadn’t married you, I would…I would have probably married that person.”
“Why makes you think that?”
As Lucia talked, her anger unconsciously rose as she recalled her memories in the dream and she couldn’t control her heated emotions. When he hugged her tight and stroked her back, Lucia’s boiling emotions slowly cooled down.
“It looks like you’ve talked with the Countess a lot.”
“…”
“Okay. I will take care of it, so you just forget about it.”
“…Really? You can…do it?”
Hugo was struck speechless by her question. She was asking him if he could do this mere thing? He could change the king if he wanted to.
“Of course. Your husband is very capable.”
She gave a small laugh in his embrace. Only after, did Hugo give a sigh of relief. Her anxiety spread to him too, so he was tense.
He was annoyed at the Countess of Matin who babbled about the unpleasant details of her marriage to his wife, making her worry needlessly and he was even more annoyed at the bastard known as her husband.
Translator’s Corner:
[1] This is the noblewoman speaking. She doesn’t say Countess, I put countess for context.
________________
LUCIA
C110 [part 2]
< — Everything is as it should be — > (2)
Hugo soon held a detailed investigative report on the Count of Matin in his hands. The more he read, the more unpleasant the document became and as he flipped through the increasingly unpleasant document, he clicked his tongue.
In the Count’s first marriage, he got divorced after five years; in his second marriage, the wife’s family took action and invalidated the marriage in about a month. And his third marriage ended in a divorce, a few months ago. And it was just a month ago that the Count made a marriage proposal to the royal family for his fourth marriage. It was not an uncommon thing for an aristocrat to get divorced, but the Count was over the top.
His official children were three sons. There was the eldest son, who was born from his first wife, and the second son, who was an extramarital child, entered into the legal registry by his first wife. His first wife seemed to have used the legal registration as a condition to get divorced. The third son was born from his recently divorced wife and there were a few more illegitimate children that the Count did not retrieve.
It was written in the report that the Count likely had a problem with his male function, due to the fact that he was promiscuous when he was younger and had not had a child for nearly a decade.
Although the man was garbage, Hugo thought there was a high chance of Kwiz accepting the bastard’s marriage proposal because he offered quite the dowry.
Kwiz only acknowledged his sister from the same mother, Katherine, as his blood relation. His brothers were opponents that he wanted to kill if possible, and his sisters were deadweights eating away at the royal palace budget. When he was Crown Prince, Kwiz greatly despised the way the previous king had crapped out children all over the place.
The late king placed kingship in sight and idly watched as the princes killed each other. Rather, he thought that his children’s fierce power struggles increased his influence.
For a king like Kwiz who loathed his father’s debauchery, he was the type to practice moderation with women. He had only three concubines and even that was due to the need to further his interests. It was unknown what means he used but there were no children between him and his concubines.
If Kwiz were to accept the Count of Matin’s proposal and push ahead with marriage, the target would be Princess Cecil, who turned eighteen this year.
‘How did my wife know that he would make a marriage proposal to the royal family?’
Hugo wondered for a moment, but he didn’t linger on the thought for long. This was because another thought occupied its place. Just as his wife said, if she had stayed in the palace, the princess to marry this bastard would have been her. Princess Vivian would have become the wife of this garbage.
He felt like shit. It was something that didn’t happen but the mere possibility that it might have happened made him burn with icy fury.
Hugo thought carefully about how to deal with his wife’s request. It was quite cumbersome to retrieve a marriage proposal that had already been sent to the royal family. Asking the king would just create another chance for the king to make demands and he didn’t know what the king would ask for.
Hugo called Fabian, gave him the report and ordered him:
“Get rid of this man. I don’t want him in my sight.”
“Should it be complicated or simple?”
“Simple.”
“Yes, sir. But about the pendant you ordered me to find previously. I apologize. I have not found it yet.”
Fabian was uneasy every time he came to the ducal residence to give a report because his lord had not mentioned the pendant all this while. There was no place he didn’t ask his subordinates to comb through, but he didn’t even get a single clue.
“Hm? Ah, you can stop looking for that.”
Hugo had forgotten to mention that they didn’t need to look for the pendant anymore. But he didn’t feel sorry at all for the people who had been diligently looking for it. Not knowing the exact circumstances, Fabian was just glad that he wasn’t reprimanded.
And about a week later, the Count of Matin died in a carriage-flipping accident.[1]
* * *
Hugo informed Lucia about the death of Count Matin. Of course, he didn’t say that it happened under his orders.
“I looked into handling your request and learnt that he died in an accident.”
His reaction was impassive as if it was an unknown stray dog that had died. Lucia understood. To him, the Count of Matin was really nothing, his existence was even worse than a stray dog.
“…An accident?” (Lucia)
Lucia couldn’t believe it. How much had she cursed him in her dream? She pleaded and begged for his death, even if she was punished for it. Maybe her desperate curses were heard and caused him to meet a miserable end by decapitation, but he was a someone that seemed like he wouldn’t die from something as fleeting as a carriage accident.
Hugo wrapped his arms around her absent-minded figure, as she had fallen into deep thought.
“Is it shocking that he died?” (Hugo)
“…Shocking? Yes, perhaps…” (Lucia)
“Why?”
“For it to be that trivial…I thought he was someone that wouldn’t die even if you killed him.”
Hugo thought that for the standards of his innocent wife, who had lived sheltered in the palace and married him immediately after, the Count’s behavior was very shocking.
When the standard was the world which was overflowing with evil, someone like Count Matin was nothing but filth clinging to the soles of one’s feet. But she didn’t need to know stuff like that. It was enough for her to know someone like the Count of Matin as the standard for the peak of evil.
“He’s already dead. Stop thinking about it. He cannot marry anyone now, let alone the princess.”
“…I see.”
Suddenly realized something, Lucia wondered aloud.
“Then what will happen to the Count’s household…”
“He has a son, so his son will inherit his title.”
“The divorced countess has a young son.”
Since the Count of Matin was dead, the future where the Matin family was exterminated after being caught up in a plot of treason would change, and the future of Bruno fleeing to a foreign country would also change.
Lucia thought the precocious Bruno missed his mother a lot, even though he didn’t say it. He was still a young child who needed his mother’s embrace.
Count Matin’s eldest son, who was to inherit the title, did not seem like he would care and attend to his younger brother. From what she saw in her dream, they were brothers who treated each other like strangers.
“If the Countess wants, I can arrange for her son to be taken to her parent’s home.”
Hugo pressed down the irritation deep in his heart and spoke kindly. He didn’t like it when her attention was somewhere else. He wanted all of her attention to be on him.
He didn’t tell her that the Countess might not want to take her son back with her. If the Countess remarried, her son would become a burden.
And if the Countess chose her son, she could not remarry for at least ten years, until her son became an adult. There were not many cases where a noblewoman sacrificed herself for her child. The Countess was more likely to think of her well-being first, before her son’s.
“Really?” (Lucia)
Can you really do that? Seeing her sparkling eyes, Hugo chuckled. His wife tended to underestimate him too much.
There were few things in this world that he could not do. Even the role of an envoy that reaped people’s lives was his. Only the divine ability of reviving the dead was never his.
“So forget about it now. And don’t worry about these things anymore.” (Hugo)
“Okay.”
She smiled sweetly as if she was shaking everything off, and finding that so pretty, Hugo bit her tender cheeks. Startled by his action, Lucia stared at him then she wrapped her arm around his neck and hugged him.
“I’m really thankful, Hugh.”
“If you’re thankful then give me a gift.”
Lucia burst into laughter then lifted her head and kissed him lightly on the lips.
“I love you. Is this not enough?”
He hugged her tightly and whispered into her ear:
“It’s more than enough.”[2]
Hugo couldn’t believe how much happiness this small woman brought to him. He wished there was someone to tell him if it was really okay for this to keep on being this way. He felt uneasy because it seemed like his fate, which had only been cruel to him, was suddenly acting fickle.
Translator’s Corner:
[1] His carriage flipped upside down and he died. Not sure how else to word this.
[2] Overflowing is the exact word used here but I tweaked it to make sense.
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