Chapter 79
The members of the imperial family who attended the foundation ceremony were escorted by Marquis Dion and arrived safely at the imperial palace. It was only then that the Emperor felt truly relieved and praised Dion’s work.
“Thanks to you, we have returned safely. Thank you.”
“Not at all. Your Majesty is the father of the Crown Princess, aren’t you like my father? I just did my duty as a filial son.”
“It’s a blessing to the imperial family to have accepted the marquis as a member of the imperial family.”
“It’s too much praise, Your Majesty.”
At the empress’s praise, Marquis Dion smiled shyly and spoke with a worried expression.
“However, this is a big deal. The atmosphere in the capital will be in turmoil for a while. The Imperial Palace is where the best knights of the empire gather so it’ll be safe, but what about the other nobles and the common people…”
He blurted out the end of his words, and when he glanced at Mikaela, she started talking as if she was waiting for it.
“Honey, didn’t you say that your uncle made something new this time? It emits a smell that monsters avoid, preventing them from approaching…”
“You mean blocking the approach of monsters?” Christian was immediately interested in Mikaela’s story. Marquis Dion explained as if he had just remembered something he had forgotten.
“Ah, that’s right. There was something like that. My uncle, Viscount Magenta, said he made a perfume that repels monsters. Wouldn’t it be possible to lessen people’s anxiety by distributing those items?”
“That would be great. Tell Viscount Magenta to start selling it quickly.”
“I will heed your Imperial command.”
As soon as the Emperor’s command was issued, Marquis Dion nodded to his assistant. It meant to convey his orders to Viscount Magenta. The aide, who understood his order, bowed his head to the emperor and other members of the royal family and hurriedly left the room. When the door was closed, Marquis Dion returned to the main subject.
“How on earth did this happen? Monsters rarely raid far from their habitat.”
“It has been a while, but I don’t know what’s going on. Unless the monsters thought of committing group suicide…”
“Oh, right. Isn’t Duke Rubellin in charge of clearing out the monsters around the island?”
The emperor did not deploy knights and soldiers outside the capital to save money on the national budget. Because of that, monsters occasionally appeared on the outskirts, but the nobles did not suffer any damages because they lived inside the capital. It was always the helpless people living in the outskirts that suffered. Richard was in charge of voluntarily cleaning up the monsters around the outskirts since his days as the young heir to the Duke’s house. He does it for three reasons: to protect the people, to raise the reputation of Rubellin, and to train the knights. When Richard stepped forward, the emperor, as if waiting for such an opportunity, entrusted him with the security of the outskirts of the island. It was as if he had ordered Richard to do it thinking about his people.
“That’s right. I have definitely given that order to the Duke.”
“Not being able to do it even after being given an imperial command. How has he been working all this…”
Marquis Dion was indignant as if he could not stand the injustice.
“You must hold the Duke accountable, Your Majesty. His Majesty was in danger because of him, and his people were not harmed?”
“Yeah, It’s really like that, it’s all because of him, right?” Christian responded to Marquis Dion’s words. This was the perfect opportunity to tarnish the image of Rubellin, who was like a thorn in his side, so he couldn’t miss it. The emperor, who was quietly listening to the story, nodded as if he agreed with Marquis Dion.
“The Marquis is right. I’m going to call Duke Rubellin over tomorrow and hold him accountable for this.”
“It is a wise decision.” After hearing the answer he had been hoping for coming from the Emperor’s mouth, Marquis Dion smiled cunningly.
Things were going as planned.
* * *
The monster attack was subdued to some extent as Aiden and several knights of noble families joined forces. Aiden brought all the wounded into the temple and formed a barrier around them using the purification spring. The Holy Knights stood guard in front of it.
Aiden went to the annex with Elisha and Richard. It was to check Richard’s condition. Before entering the annex, Richard had spoken to Elisha, who seemed extremely nervous.
“Elisha, go and give Thompson the order. First, go back to the Duke’s residence, lead the rest of the knights here and go clean up the remaining monsters.”
“But…”
“You said you wanted to save people.”
Elisha did not respond to his words and just bit her lip. He was right, but she was reluctant to leave him alone for even a moment.
“…I’ll be right back.”
Eventually, Elisha headed to Thompson, who was waiting in the central chapel of the temple. Aiden looked at Richard, who was watching Elisha moving away. He was the one who was really sick, but his eyes showed he was more worried about Elisha. Perhaps that was why he sent her to Thompson.
“Then let’s take a look.”
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Richard, who came into the annex with Aiden, took off his jacket to show Aiden the pain he felt on his back. However, except for the wounds from the battlefield, there were no abnormalities visible on the surface.
“From the outside, there is no problem. Since when did the abnormal symptoms appear?”
“…I have had a pain in my back since I arrived at the island around the end of March. I thought it was a muscle problem because it was just a brief pain from time to time.”
“Did nothing else happen before that?”
After hearing Aiden’s question, Richard searched back in his memory for a moment and answered as if he had remembered something.
“In early spring, I went over the canyon to investigate the polluted land, but there may have been some bad energy there.”
“Certainly, it’s a story with some potential.”
Aiden placed a hand on Richard’s back on the left side.
“Let’s try purification first. If you’re correct about it being connected to the energy from the polluted land, it may be a little painful.”
After finishing the explanation, Aiden concentrated his energy of purification in his hand and injected it into Richard’s back. As expected, he felt a tearing pain. Richard bit down hard on his molars to hold back his moans. As the power of purification permeated, the black energy subsided to some extent but did not completely disappear. After a while, Aiden put down his hand.
“…I can’t completely purify it with my own strength right now.”
Currently, he was struggling to maintain the shield on the outside of the temple, so he could not concentrate his full energy on the purification.
“Once things stabilize, I’d like to try one more time. If that doesn’t work, then I’ll have to find another way.”
Having said that, Aiden thought of Elisha who could barely leave Richard’s side with worried eyes, and added,
“It’s not a big problem since we’ve cleaned up to a certain extent, but just in case, for the time being, keep your distance from the Duchess.”
“…That sounds terrific.” Richard put his clothes on and got up.
Aiden went out of the annex with him to see off Richard. At the same time, he saw Elisha approaching this way.
“Then I’ll get going.”
“Keep an eye on it. If you have any problems, please come to me anytime.”
Richard bowed silently to Aiden and walked away. Elisha, who was approaching Richard, heard him and kept her distance, not approaching any further. Aiden looked at her as she was moving away and suddenly remembered what Leon had said a few days ago.
“Water came out of noona’s hand earlier.”
At the same time, he remembered what he had seen in front of the temple a while ago.
‘That power was obviously divine power.’ The faint light emanating from Elisha suppressed Richard’s dark power. However, holy power was a power that can only be used by children who have inherited the blood of the Serriot family, and the Viscount Lohengrin had nothing to do with the Serriott household.
‘Is she a child adopted from a branch family?’ It couldn’t be said that there was no possibility. While it was not common, it was more likely that was the reason rather than any other conclusion he could come up with.
Much more likely than the possibility of that child being his and Julia’s child. But how come? The smiling face of Elisha and the figure of Julia in his now blurred memory kept overlapping.
‘Julia…’
When Aiden found Julia’s body, he found traces of childbirth. He only learned from Olivia that Julia had been pregnant. However, when Julia’s body was discovered, she was less than seven months pregnant. Considering the time when the child was born, the child was born less than six months old.
“Even though seventh-month born children are very rare, a child born in the sixth month has no hope of living according to our current medical findings.” The doctor asserted that the child must have been born dead. Even after hearing the story, Aiden traced Julia’s path, holding onto a very slim possibility that the child could be alive. However, he could not find anyone who had helped Julia to give birth, and everyone who had seen her just before her death said that she was not carrying a baby with her. After years of searching, he finally accepted the fact that the child was stillborn. He didn’t meet new people, and of course, he didn’t even think about starting a family and passing on his name to a new generation. Even though he knew that somehow succeeding his family was the best way to get revenge on the emperor, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
‘How can I meet other people? Leaving you behind.’
“…”
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Aiden, recalling his memories of Julia, swallowed.
‘Whoever she is. If that child inherited the power of our family, we should find out.’
Perhaps it was that he hoped for some discovery that could give him the revenge that he had not yet achieved. Besides, if it was true that she had inherited Serriot’s power, there was a high probability that Richard’s dark energy could also be purified.
Aiden decided to let go of any expectations about Elisha’s identity and focus on the latter fact.
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