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PHYSIENTS WILL ALWAYS OFFER BEST STORIES AND LIVE STREAMING ALL TIME
LUCIA
Side Story 3.11 - HAPPILY EVER AFTER(11)
HAPPILY EVER AFTER(11)
Sometime after dinner was over, Fabian came to the ducal residence. While he was waiting for his master, the mistress, and the young masters to finish their meal, Fabian had gone to visit Jerome and his family in the outbuilding.
After Jerome got married, Fabian felt like a heavy burden had been lifted off his back. He didn’t say anything, but he had been worried to see Jerome only caring about taking care of the ducal house and not thinking about marriage, even when he was past thirty.
Now, Fabian was both happy and envious to see Jerome happy as the head of a decent family.
‘Lucky brat.’
It was already envious enough that Jerome got to marry a young woman despite their big age difference, but she was also extremely beautiful. After Fabian relentlessly pestered them to tell him about their love story, Olga answered him with a blush.
[I fell for him and chased after him.]
Fabian couldn’t understand. Why in the world? What part of him did she fall for? It was the biggest mystery of his life.
When he saw Jerome and his wife acting coy and bashful even after having two kids, he felt like something was crawling on his skin, so he quickly left for the main house.
Hugo told Damian and Bruno that the report of the observations from today’s meeting would be pushed to tomorrow then he went to his office with Fabian. Fabian turned in his report and verbally reported the most essential thing.
“News of Philip’s death came.”
Hugo, who was about to open the report, paused. He looked at the death certificate attached to the first page of the report for a while.
‘What a tenacious old turd.’
Seven years ago, Hugo ordered for Philip to be dragged to the dungeon in the north after his tongue was cut off and his ankle tendon severed. He left him in charge of treating vicious criminals in the underground prison where no sunlight ever came in. According to the occasional news he got, the old man silently devoted himself to treating prisoners. Hugo wondered how long he could endure in that grim underground dungeon despite his old age, and he finally died after seven years.
While he was searching for Philip’s family records, he also found the training camp for women to continue the Taran bloodline. It was actually in the capital. It was disguised as an orphanage and the women who were fed the mugwort(ssamyupsuk) herb were isolated and cared for as if they had a special illness.
Hugo wanted to kill them all, but he thought of his daughter and endured it. He didn’t want to stain his daughter’s birth with the spilling of blood and resentment.
The women didn’t know why their bodies became like that or for what purpose it was made like it. They were all given the cure and only after their menstruation came back and it was confirmed that they were normal again, were they released. This work actually took quite some time and only finished some years ago.
“How is a prisoner’s corpse dealt with?”
“If their family doesn’t collect their bodies then in the summer, every day, because the bodies rot easily, and in the winter, every few days. The bodies are all cremated at once.”
Philip had no family to hold his funeral. At this rate, he would be cremated with the corpses of other criminals and eventually, not even a chip of his bones would be found.
“There’s a burial ground for the family doctor. Take steps to have him buried there. No need to take care of a separate funeral.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
His resentment towards Philip hadn’t disappeared. Philip’s death didn’t make his crime go away. He was obsessed with a fruitless pretext, schemed, and threatened his master. Even if his body was torn to pieces while he was alive, his crime was deserving of it.
When he learned from Philip’s records that Philip had put a woman in his bedroom, he couldn’t believe it. He was so angry that he felt like steam was rising from his head. The reason why Hugo left Philip alive was because of his cold-hearted desire for Philip to be tormented for a long time instead of suffering a short death.
However, Philip saved his brother’s life. He brought Damian who resembled his brother to Hugo. And it was also because of his scheme that Hugo got his daughter, Evangeline.
Not all the results of Philip’s actions were bad. Strictly speaking, Philip didn’t do all that to gratify his self-interest. Philip was also a victim of his family’s shackles and he could never get free.
‘I have changed indeed.’
Just like Philip told him a long time ago, Hugo thought that he had changed. To think he was feeling pity for a criminal who deserved his death. If it were the past him, he would have dragged out even the old man’s corpse, ordered them to chop it to pieces and fed him to beasts.
However, despite feeling this change in himself, Hugo was happy. He felt like he wasn’t just the Hugo imitating his late brother, but actually his own person.
With Philip’s death, everything was now over. No one outside the family knew his family’s secret. He thought it would be relaxing to know but he merely felt strange. The heavy weight on his body was still there. But this weight was not the terrible type he wanted to escape from, but a responsibility he ought to bear.
He realized that unless he tossed everything aside and ran away, he had to share his fate with the Taran family until he died. And for him now, abandoning his family was no longer an option.
The Taran house would protect his family, and he would protect the Taran house.
Philip’s death served as a force to free Hugo from being trapped in his late brother’s shadow. Henceforth, Hugo acknowledged that both Hue and Hugo were the same person. The young Hue who was mercenary slave and the lord of the north, Hugo Taran, were both himself.
“The other news that came from the north is about Sir. Krotin.”
Irritation flashed across Hugo’s eyes. Who knew where the guy had dug himself, not even his shadow could be found. So much manpower and time had been spent on trying to find him. Some time ago, he even ordered his knights that if Roy was found, he should be bound like a prisoner and dragged over here.
Two years ago, the Duke of Ramis passed away and his son, Robin, succeeded him. And about a year ago, Hugo negotiated with the king and the new Duke Ramis about reinstating Roy and succeeded.
Roy was no longer a heinous criminal. Since he had already been ‘killed’ as a death row prisoner, it would be difficult to have him conspicuously in the capital, but he could be reinstated into the northern knights with no issue at all.
The problem was Roy’s whereabouts. Shortly after he went to the north disguised as a death row prisoner, Roy could not be found and the last news of him was from a witness who saw him going into the barbarian territory. Hugo thought Roy would return soon but when nearly a year passed with no news from Roy, his knights entered the barbarian land to search for Roy. Dean had participated in the search party back then and was able to meet Roy in the span of a few days.
[I prefer going unnoticed, anyway. It’s comfortable here. You know I’m not the kind of guy to die easily, right? Don’t worry about me and don’t look for me. I’ll be staying here for a while.]
When Hugo heard of this, he told them to leave him alone. Roy was like a wild horse anyways, he couldn’t be reined. However, when Roy was reinstated a year ago, Hugo ordered them to call him in, but he couldn’t be found.
The barbarian land was very large. But because he couldn’t exactly gather a huge search party for Roy due to circumstances, it had been a year since only a handful of people began to search for Roy.
“Did you find him?”
Hugo ground his teeth. If the guy was brought before him, he would definitely beat him up first before talking.
“Rather than finding him…we got news from him.”
Fabian nervously continued speaking.
“A boy appeared before the knights and gave them a letter from Sir. Krotin. And…according to the letter, the boy is Sir. Krotin’s son. It’s at the back of the report.”
Hugo immediately turned to the back of the letter.
<< My lord. My son said he’ll pay the debts I owe you. He wants to be a knight so I taught him and if he’s useful, give him something to do, otherwise, you can chase him out. But you know, I taught the brat personally so he’s pretty good. I hear you’ve been trying to find me lately? I’ll come and see you when I want later, my lord. For now, I’ll live like this. >>
“Son?”
Hugo was speechless and forced a laugh. Even in the past, it was impossible to know what this guy would do but this time, he really struck him in the back of the head.
“His name is Khali. He’s eight years old this year.”
“Eight?”
Hugo felt like he was about to have a headache and massaged his temples. If the boy was eight years old then it meant that Roy had caused an accident a few months after he was sent to the north.
“And from the looks of it, the child’s mother is very likely a barbarian.”
“…he’s doing all sorts of things.”
As far as Hugo knew, Roy didn’t treat barbarians like people of the same species. They were preys to be hunted.
In addition, although Roy didn’t really kill the women and children, he didn’t think like a knight, but as a true hunter looking for strong prey; in other words, he was a crazy bastard. If there was a reason to kill a woman, he would; he didn’t do things that would lead to future troubles.
Now they were saying that such a Roy had a child with a barbarian woman. Before Hugo could even be surprised about, he found it hard to believe.
“Are you sure it’s Roy’s child?”
“According to Sir. Heba…they are very similar.”
Hugo flipped to the report before Roy’s letter and found the attachment written by Dean. As he read Dean’s report, Hugo’s expression gradually grew askew.
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From beginning to end, Dean was pouring compliments on Roy’s young son. In conclusion, Dean was saying he was a very talented boy who might very well bring the knights’ name to new heights, so he wanted to take him in and cultivate him as a knight.
‘If the boy is left to Dean and taught from a young age, he won’t act as recklessly as his father. Well, certainly if he’s Roy’s son, he will be talented.’
If his skills were as good as Dean claimed, he might consider bringing the boy to the capital later. A skilled knight was needed for when Evangeline grew up and debuted in the social circle, so this was a good opportunity.
“Tell the search team looking for Roy to withdraw, and have Dean be in charge of teaching Roy’s son.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Afterwards was just minor reports.
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LUCIA
Side Story 3.12 - HAPPILY EVER AFTER(12)
HAPPILY EVER AFTER(12)
By the time he arrived at Roam after a few days journey on his horse without sleep, the entire situation was already over and waiting for him. As soon as he entered the walls of Roam, he could feel a gloomy aura in the air. The people that came out to see him gave their greetings with utmost respect. Their attitude wasn’t that of meeting the young master but that of greeting a new master.
He slowly got down from the horse. He couldn’t take a step forward; it was as if his two feet were rooted to the floor. Someone approached him and said something to him but it went unheard.
“…Where?”
“Pardon? The two bodies are insi…”
“Not that!”
“Th—the west tower…”
“All of you…withdraw. Do not come until I call for you. If I catch you in my sight, I will cut off your head.”
His voice started off calmly but ended in a tone oozing with blood. He swept a cold glance over the wavering and unmoving figures of the people around him then thick bloodthirst burst forth from him. He was suppressing his desire to rip out the necks of everyone here and slaughter them.
Several weak-minded people held other people for support as they sank to their knees and dispersed with pale complexions. His cold red eyes gazed at them then he headed for the west tower.
As soon as he reached the top of the stairs and opened the door, he was swarmed with the smell of blood. A smell he had never found repulsive before made him feel nauseous. The stone floor was smeared with a large black blood stain.
The vassals were shocked by the fact that the culprit who murdered the ducal couple, was the spitting image of the young master so they couldn’t bear to move the body and left it there. All they did was take a wooden coffin and put the corpse inside.
He dragged his feet to the wooden coffin. As he looked at the closed coffin, he took in a deep breath like he had just ran a race. He slowly bent down and got on his knees, then he pushed the lid of the coffin aside with trembling hands.
A young man with a grey complexion, like that never seen on a living being, lay inside with his eyes closed. The cracked wounds on his neck were spotted with dried blood stains. The expression on the dead body was serene. The stench of the corpse that was beginning to decay pierced his nose.
As he looked at the face of the young man, which was just like him, extreme emotions swirled in his eyes. It felt like his blood was flowing backwards. Grief, and anger that seemed to drive him mad burst forth from within.
“AAARGGHH!!”
~
Hugo opened his eyes with a start. The warmth of the body next to him quickly dragged him back to reality.
A dream. Hugo heaved a sigh.
As he stared into space, he felt the own unstable pounding of his heart.
‘That damned guy.’
Even though he left like that, why was his first appearance in his dream that of the last time he saw him? Hugo inwardly spewed curses at his brother. He sighed heavily and carefully removed his hand that was wrapped around his wife’s back because he didn’t want to wake her up. He sat down motionlessly on the bed for a bit, then he came down from the bed.
Quite a long time passed after Hugo left the bedroom. The world was immersed in the deepest darkness that occurred just before dawn.
Lucia turned on the bed, wanting to feel his warmth but only felt a vacant, cold space. She woke up halfway and opened her eyes to realize that the space next to her was completely empty. Although her husband was the type to get up early, that didn’t mean in the dead of the night.
Lucia got down from bed to search for him. As she looked around, she noticed a small light coming from the door crevice of the receiving room. She approached quietly, opened the door and poked her head inside. The first thing she noticed was the three or so uncorked wine bottles lying on the table.
She frowned slightly. He was definitely not that much of a wine lover that he would go drink a few bottles of wine, alone, at this time of the night. She looked for her husband, and when she saw his rearview by the window, her heart throbbed. He seemed strange, as he stood there with the moonlight falling on him through the window.
For some reason, she felt lonely as she once again realized that no matter how much they loved each other, they could only be separate people.
Lucia wondered what it could be. Perhaps this wasn’t the first time he had come out here in thought and she had never seen it so she didn’t know.
Should she go comfort him? Or would it be better for her not to disturb him? She didn’t know what to choose, so she didn’t approach, and just stood holding the doorknob. She couldn’t even turn around and go back to the bedroom like she hadn’t seen anything.
‘Hugh.’
She merely called him inside, but like magic, he turned around. Then he smiled faintly and gestured to her, as if telling her to come here. Lucia walked up to him as fast as she could, almost like she was running.
She threw her arms around him and buried her head in his chest. His arms reliably wrapped around her waist. As his large hand stroked her hair, she lifted her face and he kissed her forehead.
“Did you have a bad dream?”
“You weren’t there so it felt empty and I woke up. What about you? Did you have a bad dream?”
“Yeah. Even though I’ve never had one before.”
Hugo smiled wryly. He had never even had dreams before. Perhaps he might have had a dream while he slept but he never remembered when he woke up. This was his first time waking up from a bad dream and being unable to go back to sleep because his mind was disturbed.
“A dream is just a dream, Hugh. You don’t have a pendant, after all.”
Hugo leaned on her shoulder and chuckled.
“The guy who made a mess out of your workshop in your dream. You really won’t tell me who it is?”
The fact that Count Matin got off so easy still annoyed him. So he tried to blow off steam with the other guy, but she completely refused to say anything.
“It didn’t happen in reality. He might be living a diligent life now, so I don’t want to blame him for a crime he didn’t commit.”
“I doubt he’s being diligent. I can assure you, people’s nature don’t change that easily.”
“Still, there’s no need for you to know.”
“But you told me about Count Matin.”
“Well, I couldn’t explain well without mentioning Count Matin, so it couldn’t be helped. Let’s stop talking about this. I’m never telling.”
“Tsk. Stubborn.”
Hugo swept her into his arms then he walked to the sofa and sat down. He sat her on his knees and hugged her soft body tight. As he breathed in her smell, Hugo felt his subsided feeling gradually rising again.
Lucia gently stroked his hair without asking anything. Although she wanted to know everything about him, she could understand if there was something he couldn’t tell her.
“Philip is dead.”
“…I feel complicated.”
“It’s just as you say. I wonder why I don’t feel lighthearted.”
“Because Philip was there for a huge part of your life.”
A long time after Lucia gave birth to Evangeline, Hugo gave her the full story of what Philip had done. Her heart ached when she finally realized how hard it was for her husband at the time. She felt sorry for not being able to share his pain.
However, she didn’t hate Philip that much. She simply felt that the life of the man called Philip was pitiful. Her connection to him in her dream was also part of it, and if it wasn’t for Philip, she wouldn’t have gotten Evangeline in the end. After all, Lucia wouldn’t have ever taken the medicine to treat herself, personally.
In addition, whether she hated him or not, Philip was a remnant of her husband’s lonely childhood. Her husband might disagree, but Lucia thought so.
“If you really want, you can take a visit to the north. Perhaps you need a break.”
“Shall we go together?”
“If you go with me, what kind of break will it be? We’ll just spend the time traveling in a carriage.”
“True. It’ll trouble you.”
“I didn’t mean I don’t want to go because it’s troublesome. If you want to go, I’ll prepare for it.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Then, later. When the children are all grown up, let’s go to the north. I know I went a year ago, but I miss it more as time goes by. I think we should go back someday.”
“Yeah. Let’s do that…”
They hugged each other for a while, not saying anything.
10 years of marriage. They had reached a point of tranquility where simply being together was enough, and it was never awkward no matter how long the silence was. Perhaps this peace of mind was more precious than a hot and intense love.
Lucia caress his head like she was comforting him as he held her tight with his face buried in her soft chest.
“…It feels strange to see Damian the same age as his father when he died.”(Hugo)
His brother had died at eighteen years old. At the time, Hugo thought his brother was an adult. He thought that when Damian was eighteen years old, he would be able to comfortably entrust everything to Damian like Damian had received the title.
However, when he looked at Damian, he realized it was a very young age. Even though he acted like an adult, the expressions he clumsily revealed without even realizing it showed Hugo that he was still a child.
“It’s because you pamper him so much.” (Hugo)
“What’s this all of a sudden?”(Lucia)
“I’m talking about Damian. He’s still a kid. I wasn’t like that at his age.”
“Since you’re saying this, I have something to say too. You also pamper Eve too much. She’s like a spoiled five year old.”
“What do you mean? Eve is young. She’s only seven now.”
Lucia glared at him. Her husband’s standards were way too different for their son and daughter.
“You sent Damian to boarding school at six. I thought you said that at six, your child should be able to survive even if they were thrown into a desert?”[1]
“That…! Who was it? Who told you? Damian? Jerome?”
“I’m definitely not telling you.”
“You think I don’t have another way if you don’t tell me? I’ll just grill the two of them…”
“Hugh!”
When Lucia’s eyes slanted, Hugo shut his mouth. Then as he grumbled, he buried his lifted head back into her chest.
Lucia hugged his head and giggled. Her husband got more adorable as he got older. Sometimes, when she saw him acting like a stern father in front of his son or acting cold and indifferent in front of other people, she inwardly burst out laughing.
“It’s because you’re looking at Damian with the eyes of a father. In the eyes of parents, no matter how old their child is, their child is young. When Eve grows up to twenty or thirty, do you think she’ll look like an adult in your eyes?”
“…”
“Damian is all grown up. He might be young in your eyes and mine, but to others, he’s an adult. Even if you tell him about his birth father, I believe he can understand now.”
“…Can he really understand?”
“Of course. He’s a very considerate child. How much are you willing to tell him?”
“I was planning to burn down the secret room in Roam. I mean, I was going to secretly take him to my brother’s grave.”
“You’ve changed your mind?”
“I think Damian should know too. It’s up to him to accept it or not.”
Even now, Hugo occasionally flipped through the records from Philip’s hideout. The medical knowledge accumulated by Philip’s family from generation to generation was capable of saving the life of a dying person.
In addition, there were experimental records about whether a Taran female could have a child with a normal man. Fortunately, according to the records, Evangeline could marry an ordinary person, have a child, and live a normal life.
The couple of times that Evangeline was sick, Hugo was helped by the records. He realized how precious the medical knowledge in them was as he smoothed down his chest in relief after his daughter’s high fever quickly subsided. The knowledge gathered by a family for hundreds of years was a treasure. Of course, he also realized that the knowledge in the secret room was a treasure.
“I think you’ve made a good choice. If Damian were to take over from you without knowing anything, it’s like only inheriting half.”
“Do you want to come along when we go to Roam?”
“No. Do not make exceptions. That way, in the future, it will remain that only the head of Taran can enter than room.”
Hugo kissed her lips then he stood up with her in his arms.
“I don’t know about anything else, but Damian won’t get a better wife than mine.”
Lucia smacked his chest as she laughed.
“What are you saying? Damian will have a wife much prettier and wiser than me.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Don’t try to compete with Damian in strange areas. Our Eve too, will get a husband more wonderful than you.”
“It looks like our daughter won’t get married.”
“What?”
“No such man exists.”
“Oh you, seriously.”
Hugo entered the bedroom, kissing his laughing wife’s lips. As Lucia lay on the bed, snuggling in his embrace, she said:
“Hugh, I have a present for your coming birthday. You can look forward to it.”
“What is it that you’re so confident about it? I will look forward to it.”
The completion date of the brooch commission would roughly match the date of his birthday. Lucia wanted to give him the brooch and also tell him the story from her dream. What could be the identity of the brooch from her dream? She felt like it would be fun for both of them to put their heads together and solve the mystery.
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