Chapter 128
Ever since hearing the news that a vellum stamped with the Imperial Seal (*the highest-grade parchment reserved exclusively for the Imperial Court) was found on the Sercadian official captured alive by Lionel, the Emperor had always been engulfed in anxiety.
It was out of the thought that if the letter sent to aid the asylum remained, then his own secret letter that had determined the beginning and the end of the war might also remain somewhere.
That secret letter containing the record of conspiring with Sercadia to incite and prolong the war for their respective gains, that is.
If the secret letter were exposed to the world, everything would be over.
For that reason, the Emperor had commanded Jerome to find and destroy that document immediately.
Thanks to that, without it ever being his destiny, Jerome roamed various places in the Empire and attempted to dig out the location of the secret letter by capturing and killing every single Sercadian official he saw.
However, as if to question whether that damned document truly even existed, all the Sercadian officials who were processed merely died with their mouths tightly shut.
“So I thought the secret letter didn’t remain, but……”
Yet a short while ago, didn’t he happen to find out the whereabouts of that secret letter by chance?
Namely, that the person who was the Chairman of the Sercadian Diplomatic Council was attempting to head to Marsen carrying the secret letter.
Jerome swept down his lower jaw with a rough touch.
“Now this nauseating life of catering to the Emperor’s mood is over too.”
If the truth of the war were to be revealed under the current atmosphere, it was not an impossible story for the owner of the Imperial Throne to change.
And if it came to that, the one closest to the next right of succession to the throne was none other than Jerome himself.
The Crown Prince, who was the Emperor’s last remaining child, passed away the year before last, and moreover, there were no other princes or princesses.
It was because the Emperor, unable to endure the possibility itself of his position being threatened, had eliminated those possibilities early on.
Jerome whistled.
Though it might not have been intended, it was no different from the Emperor personally paving the path to the Imperial Throne comfortably for him.
“That greed of yours, Brother, will ultimately drag you down from the Imperial Throne.”
A slimy smile spread across the corners of Jerome’s mouth.
Leaving the Imperial Palace, he began heading straight toward the harbor.
Now, it was truly time for his world to come.
Jerome did not doubt for a moment.
The fact that as long as he secured the secret letter, both the Emperor and Lionel would ultimately end up dancing in the palm of his hand.
Therefore, he did not know.
That behind his back, a shadow attached by the snake-like, cunning Emperor was quietly following him.
Elated, Jerome quickened his steps while humming a tune.
Without dreaming what kind of future was lurking ahead of him.
***,
In a truly long time, Agnes woke up from her sleep amid cozy warmth.
The air seeping above the blanket, far from being cold, was excessively soft to be called the end of winter.
The sunlight coming in through the window was likewise the same.
The sunlight was bright as if the season had taken the wrong path.
At that moment, together with a small knock sound, the door opened carefully.
“You were awake. The weather is truly nice today, isn’t it?”
Leuceviten, who had her silver hair finely braided to one side, showed a smile toward the direction where Agnes was likely to be.
“Thanks to the rain stopping, they say the ship heading to Marsen is setting sail today.”
Together with those words, Leuceviten presented the items she had prepared.
They were the identification tag of Emilia, Kain’s relative whose identity she decided to borrow for a while, and modest garments prepared according to it.
Receiving those items, Agnes was speechless for a moment.
Even though she had already received help multiple times, it was a kindness that she still could not get used to.
“Although it feels far too late to ask now, I want to ask why you are helping me to this extent.”
Leuceviten was speechless for a moment.
The sunlight reflected on the window slowly brushed past her facial line.
“To tell the truth, Young Marquis Guten. Ah, I should not call him like this now. I was guessing that Lord Raul might be Duchess’s biological father.”
“……! How…….”
Tinkering with the bracelet hung on her wrist, Leuceviten unfastened it.
Then, groping for Agnes’s hand, she awkwardly fastened the bracelet on her.
“This is something Ilena gifted to me and Lord Raul. You cannot imagine how much I regretted it upon hearing the news that Lord Raul was shot dead.”
The corners of Leuceviten’s mouth went downward.
She was blaming herself, thinking that if only she had informed Agnes of Raul’s existence earlier so that the two could meet.
“……Is that why you are helping me? Because you feel pity for me, who departed without even being able to meet my father properly?”
“It is not…… strictly for that reason alone. I told you before, didn’t I? That I was irreplaceable close friends with Ilena.”
Leuceviten’s cloudy gray pupils moved as if chasing the sunlight floating in midair.
“Even during the days when my eyes were going blind, Ilena guarded my side until the end. Thanks to that child, I was able not to collapse. Hence, it is my heart wishing to repay the gratitude of that time, even if now. Even if it is to the Duchess.”
Leuceviten’s pupils, which had been floating in midair, reached Agnes.
“It is not because I hope for anything from the Duchess, nor because I have other motives. I merely wanted to be of help. It is just that.”
“…….”
“Still, if my goodwill feels awkward, please just regard it casually thinking it is the useless meddling of an old woman who misses her close friend.”
Although she still could not fully understand this unrequited kindness, Agnes no longer dug further into Leuceviten’s true intentions.
Perhaps because she was too exhausted, she merely wanted to believe it.
That there was also this kind of destiny—at least one—in the world.
Let’s regard it as a precious connection left behind by my parents like a gift, Agnes whispered to herself.
Noticing Agnes awkwardly accepting the goodwill of another without doubting it, Leuceviten stroke the back of her hand benevolently.
“In Marsen, there are also many promising doctors who crossed over from other countries. Perhaps if it is that place, they might be able to examine the Duchess’s legs again as well.”
In an instant, at the word ‘doctor’, there was a name that brushed past inside Agnes’s head.
Andrew.
Because that person—who was once hope, and at the same time became a deep wound—suddenly came to mind, Agnes flinched, but soon nodded her head.
She could not be tied to the past forever.
Even if she could not walk again, she had to make at least the effort to try walking again.
In order to survive alone.
Agnes quietly tried inhaling the seaside morning air seeping through the window gap.
Deep inside her body where the cold air touched, it was the moment when a very small ember settled upon the will to live, which she thought had been extinguished by now.
***
After changing into the clothes Leuceviten gave and heading outside, the wharf was already bustling with people trying to board the ship.
Between the lines formed while harbouring their respective stories, this and that story floated around like noise.
“Guess who the person talked about the most in the Empire these days is.”
“Ayy, that is naturally the Duchess of Valheim.”
Agnes instinctively lowered her head and pressed her hood a little deeper.
Far from subsiding as time passed, the story Lionel lit a fire to was flying to and rooting itself at a harbor far away from the capital city.
As Agnes’s innocence was revealed one by one, people pulled out other stories in accordance with it.
Accordingly, the rumor that Agnes lost her legs while acting out of greed also began to be talked about in people’s mouths once again.
“So the Duchess’s accident happened when the carriage fell due to an order issued by the Duke while she was directly bringing supplies to the North?”
“I am telling you it is so.”
“Then the Duchess, who became unable to walk because of himself…… did the Duke mistreat her like that?”
Although rumors recently spread that Lionel cherished Agnes terribly, that was literally a recent matter.
The scene remaining most vividly inside people’s memory was separate.
The wedding where the groom wearing a gloomy military uniform left the place first, abandoning the bride. That scene was engraved far too deeply throughout the entire Empire.
However, people no longer mocked Agnes, who had fallen unsightly at the wedding venue.
Instead, they began to recall the person who made her that way.
The flawless hero. The God of War. The Duke of Valheim whom the Empire boasted of, Lionel Edmund Valheim.
Stories about how he had treated Agnes,
how he had despised her, and how he had mistreated her were now becoming gossip and talked about in people’s mouths.
The moment the hero’s flaw was exposed, people did not miss it.
Ironic
ally, thanks to that, Agnes’s flawlessness became even clearer.
As Lionel’s honor plummeted toward the bottom, Agnes became that much more noble.
It was truly just as Lionel had desired.
