IRAWOMLC Chapter 73

Chapter 73

“Honestly, I didn’t think you’d actually come.”
Dandelion smiled softly at Arden as he spoke. Arden removed his cloak and handed it to the priest. Warm steam rose from the tea. Though his body felt weighed down from the rain, the thought that Leticia might be here reignited his energy. Still, he composed his expression and gave a formulaic response to the remark as he took a seat on the sofa.

His damp hair bothered him, but his thoughts were entirely consumed by the response to the letter.
“Sending an invitation so suddenly, then saying you didn’t expect me to come—how should I even respond to that? So, where is Arserion’s star? The sky was too cloudy to find it today.”
“You must have been in quite a hurry. It would have been better if you had come on a clearer day.”
“The stars I seek aren’t the kind to be obscured by a murky sky.”

Arden scanned the priests standing behind him. Their pristine white robes blended in with the walls, yet their presence felt oddly unsettling. Wasn’t he summoned through the back door precisely to avoid such an audience?
Though cloaked and bowing their heads, making them indistinguishable from the white walls, their very presence seemed unnecessary. Wasn’t their existence here superfluous? Arden kept his gaze fixed on those standing behind Dandelion. Sensing his stare, the priests flinched.

‘For some reason, I just can’t ignore them.’
They hadn’t done anything conspicuous, nor had they even looked at him, but Arden’s attention kept gravitating toward them. He suddenly felt an overwhelming fatigue and ran a hand through his hair.

Noticing Arden’s discomfort, Dandelion spoke up.
“Oh, they cannot hear, so you need not worry.”
“Then there’s no reason for them to remain here either, is there?”

Arden preferred to have only himself and the pope in this space. He had come with the sole purpose of asking whether Leticia was here, and if she wasn’t, he intended to leave immediately. He had no plans to linger, so he wanted to get to the point.
“In that case, let me ask directly: is the star I seek here?”

Even now, he refrained from mentioning Leticia explicitly. He didn’t fully trust the pope. This wasn’t his land, and he had lived through too much to trust Arserion’s sudden interest in Brivante.

“I’d heard the two of you weren’t exactly on the best of terms. I’m curious what your reason is. Of course, Arserion is eager to maintain good relations with Brivante,” Dandelion replied, showing no intention of playing along with Arden’s subtleties. His words, though vague, made it clear to anyone listening that he was talking about the queen.

Arden’s straight eyebrows twitched slightly.
“…Let’s not drag this out. Just exchange what we both want, and that’ll be that.”

Dandelion’s ambiguous attitude was beginning to frustrate him. He felt anxious, as though Leticia might be both present and absent from this place. If she wasn’t here, there was no reason to sit comfortably and sip tea. The sly elder seemed to have a different perspective, though.

Even as he maintained his unyielding smile, his silver eyes were calm, and the air in the reception room seemed to soothe the heart. Dandelion, noticing Arden’s slightly more subdued demeanor, offered him some tea.
“For now, it would be wise to warm yourself. The rain has been heavy, and returning will be difficult.”

The pope’s clear voice reverberated through the room, and Arden finally took a sip of the tea offered to him. He sighed and continued.
“The queen sent someone a letter. The content was so absurd I hesitate to even repeat it, but the handwriting was undoubtedly hers.”
“Are you sure it was truly hers?” Dandelion asked with a tone of surprise, as though he was certain she hadn’t sent it.
“I’ve already compared the handwriting; it’s hers—unless, of course, someone lied to me.”

Dandelion placed his teacup down, his expression troubled. He didn’t seem inclined to hand over Leticia so easily.
“Could you share the contents of the letter?”

So he replied nonchalantly, as if intending to withhold what the pope wanted until he got the information he sought.
“It was an impassioned love letter, professing love to someone other than me.”

At his blunt response, Dandelion’s expression subtly shifted. Arden clenched his teeth as the final line of the letter replayed in his mind: “I love you.” That’s exactly what it said. The memory of the letter, in which she confessed to carrying a child that wasn’t his, ignited a surge of anger. His hand trembled as it gripped the teacup, and fearing he might shatter it, he slowly set it down and sighed.
“I need to confirm if the child the queen carries is mine.”

“And if it is, will you believe it?”
Seeing Dandelion’s composed demeanor, Arden was certain now—she was indeed here. The pope’s calmness was too deliberate to suggest otherwise. A faint smile tugged at Arden’s lips.

The sudden change in his demeanor made the pope tilt his head slightly.
“To be honest, I can’t believe it. The reason is simple: she has been taking contraceptives because she didn’t want to bear an heir.”

“Why didn’t Your Majesty want an heir?”

“I didn’t want to risk losing something even more precious by giving birth to a child. Does that answer your question?”

Arden raised his head and looked past Dandelion. Then, rising from his seat without hesitation, he thrust his hand between the priests standing behind the pope.

Grabbing the arm of a bowed priest, Arden pulled them up.
“What are you doing!”
Eren, startled, rushed forward to intervene, but Arden casually swatted Eren’s sword aside with his other hand. Even as he pushed the blade away barehanded, his expression remained calm.
“This isn’t something for the likes of you to interfere in. Wouldn’t you agree, Your Holiness?”

His piercing blue eyes gleamed with a chilling intensity. Releasing a sudden burst of killing intent, Arden turned his gaze away from the retreating Eren.
Dandelion gave Eren a slight nod, signaling it was fine to stand down. Reluctantly, Eren stepped back. At the same time, Arden tightened his grip on the priest’s arm and pulled them closer.

“Ugh!”
A muffled groan escaped as the priest staggered under Arden’s grip. The trembling he felt through his fingertips, the texture of the skin—it was unmistakable. Arden held the arm firmly and spoke.
“That ‘precious thing’ I mentioned earlier—surely, you already know what it is. Don’t you, Leticia?”

Arden looked down at the priest he held, his smile deepening. As he pressed on her arm, she flinched, her body shivering. She struggled to pull back, resisting being dragged toward him.
In her resistance, her cloak slipped off, revealing her face entirely.

Their gazes met, and her blue eyes shimmered with a golden hue, like the light of a star illuminating the night sky. The star he had searched for so desperately.
She looked startled, as if she hadn’t expected him to find her. Her eyes wavered, filled with questions she seemed ready to ask, as though silently wondering how he had recognized her. Arden answered her unspoken query.

“I told you—it’s not a star that can be obscured by a murky sky.”

His words carried the weight of a promise, as though saying he could find her no matter where she was. It was unbelievable.
Arden’s lips curled into a smile as he pulled her closer. She stumbled fully out of the group and fell into his arms.

Arden drew in a sharp breath, his heart racing wildly. He was overwhelmed with joy at finally finding her. The fact that she carried a child, or that she had deceived him and fled, no longer mattered.

Thump, thump. The pounding sound in his ears grew louder, reverberating against his eardrums. He held her tightly, not wanting to let her go, and pulled her deeper into his embrace. His heart continued to beat rapidly, making his head spin.
But the faster thumping that seemed to hit his eardrums was not his own, but someone else’s. As her cold body settled in his arms, the fierce anger that had burned so intensely within him vanished as if it were a lie. Relief surged through him, and his grip on her tightened.

“How… how did you know?”
Her voice trembled with fear, and Arden smiled bitterly. Seeing it with his own eyes made it undeniable—there was life growing within her.

“That doesn’t matter.”
Arden’s gaze shifted to her abdomen. Startled by the intensity of his predatory stare, she tried to pull away, but he growled in a low, menacing voice.

“Answer me. Who is the father of the child growing inside you?”