Episode 106
Returning to the office, I found it impossible to focus on work.
Aiden, tasked with my protection by his master, stood like a statue beside the office door—a statue with a tormented expression that never met my eyes.
As I alternated between staring at his empty desk and his rigid figure, sadness gave way to anger.
This wasn’t right. Not for me, and especially not for Aiden, who looked utterly miserable.
Just a short while ago, he had been laughing beside me as someone precious. Now, here he was, bound like a dog on a leash, silently suffering. How could I not be angry?
Slamming the documents I was holding onto the desk with a sharp sound, I stood.
State affairs and meetings could wait—what mattered now was that Lothania find and destroy the marks of the oath as soon as possible.
I was just about to head to the archives when the office door burst open, accompanied by a hurried voice.
“Mother, we found it!”
Lothania stood in the doorway, Melbrid by her side.
It had been a while since I had seen the two of them together, and under normal circumstances, it would have been a heartwarming sight. But now wasn’t the time for such sentiments.
I approached Lothania and asked, “You found the marks of the oath?”
“Yes, Mother! In Father’s bedroom, in the painting—but you have to see it for yourself.”
Lothania grabbed my hand and tugged, almost hopping in place.
Taking her hand, I stepped out of the office, where I saw Tito climbing the stairs with a ladder.
With Tito in tow, we headed to the emperor’s bedroom.
The room, vacant for years since Nerian’s death, was now bustling with people.
A ladder was set before the painting, and Lothania climbed it, dagger in hand.
“Be careful, Lottie.”
“Don’t worry, Mother.”
Lothania grinned cheerfully as she plunged the dagger into the painting.
Tito audibly gulped each time Lothania slashed through the imperial treasure, but she didn’t hesitate, tearing through the artwork to retrieve the marks of the oath.
After a short while, she descended the ladder, holding a snake’s scale, an eagle’s feather, and a dog’s claw in her hands.
I examined the claw, brushing away the remnants of paint, and muttered, “So that’s why they painted it life-size—to hide the marks.”
“It seems so. Mother, does this just look like a claw to you?”
“Does it look different to you?”
“Yes, it’s glowing. Honestly, who would’ve guessed they were here unless they were the master of the oath?” Lothania said, waving the eagle’s feather.
Despite the passage of time, the feather’s barbs were immaculate, untouched by decay.
The snake’s scale gleamed as though freshly shed, and the dog’s claw looked as sharp and polished as ever.
Holding the marks in our hands filled us with urgency.
I held up the dog’s claw and asked, “So now we just destroy these?”
“Yes, Mother! That will break the oath!” Lothania replied, her voice brimming with hope.
We celebrated without hesitation, utterly confident that breaking the marks would bring happiness to everyone.
“Let’s start cutting it up,” Lothania said.
She decided to use the simplest tool first—scissors to shred the feather into pieces.
I nodded encouragingly as she grasped the feather in one hand and the scissors in the other.
Her expression grew increasingly strained as she pressed the blades together.
An ominous feeling crept over me.
“Let me try,” I said.
Maybe the child simply didn’t have the strength.
Taking the scissors and the feather from Lothania, I tried to cut it myself.
But before long, I found myself staring at her with the same grim expression she had worn.
It wouldn’t cut.
No matter how much force was applied, the feather refused to yield.
“T-Tito, bring another pair of scissors,” Lothania demanded.
Tito returned with every type of scissors available in Harriet Palace, including pruning shears from the royal gardener. After even those failed, I turned to Aiden.
“Aiden, try cutting this.”
Perhaps the marks could only be destroyed by their original owners.
Handing Aiden the dog’s claw, Lothania and I held each other’s hands tightly, watching him.
If Aiden, who had once sliced through steel bars with ease, couldn’t cut it, who could? Yet, he too failed.
Desperation grew, and Lothania resorted to invoking the power of the oath to command him. Aiden’s eyes glowed crimson as he summoned all his strength, slashing with his sword. Still, the claw remained unscathed.
Vitrain, summoned to the palace, made his attempt, but he too was unsuccessful.
What followed was a parade of tools and methods.
They tried slicing it with cleavers, smashing it with hammers, piercing it with iron spikes. They attempted burning, boiling, frying in oil, and even burying it in the ground. Nothing worked.
With each failure, our frustration mounted.
By the third day, we had run out of ideas.
Gathered in the Empress’s parlor, I sat with Aiden, Lothania, Melbrid, and Vitrain, all wearing grim expressions. Into this heavy atmosphere, Lian was carried in by a guard.
Seeing Melbrid by Lothania’s side, Lian offered a faint smile before kneeling before his master to hear what had transpired.
Though the marks of the oath had been easily located, the inability to destroy them left Lian visibly shaken.
Unable to contain her frustration, Lothania asked, “Is there a specific way to destroy the marks?”
“Perhaps only the marks’ rightful owners can destroy them,” Lian suggested.
“We already tried that. It didn’t work,” Lothania replied with a sigh, handing him the serpent’s scale.
Her desperate gaze urged Lian to examine it closely, but he too found no solution.
Aiden, in a moment of exasperation, even tried biting through the claw.
All he succeeded in doing was nearly damaging his perfect teeth—the mark remained untouched.
I hadn’t expected Lian, barely able to stand, to accomplish what even Aiden could not, but seeing his furrowed brows made my chest ache.
These were said to be the marks of the oath, gifts from Barbados I to the first beasts. Yet, here we were, unable to undo them. The very promise they represented seemed irreversible.
What had really happened 300 years ago?
As I shook my head, my eyes met Aiden’s.
The man who had avoided my gaze so persistently was now looking at me directly.
Though I felt a flicker of relief, I was also frightened. His crimson eyes burned like embers, on the verge of something dangerous.
Vitrain and Lian, sensing the tension, turned to Aiden with wary expressions. I realized I needed to calm him down.
At that moment, Melbrid, who had been silently contemplating, spoke cautiously.
“What if the rightful owners of the marks aren’t the beasts?”
The room, tense and on edge, stilled as everyone turned to him.
Lothania, holding the scale, examined it again before asking, “It looks like a snake’s scale to me. Doesn’t it?”
“The scale may have come from a snake, but what if it wasn’t the beasts who gave these marks to Barbados I?” Melbrid suggested.
“Then who did?” Lothania asked, wide-eyed.
“Do you remember where Barbados I met the beasts? There was someone who introduced him to them.”
“The spirit of Lake Beryl?” Lothania’s eyes widened even further.
Melbrid nodded solemnly, and Lothania’s already large eyes grew impossibly larger.
“Wait, you mean the lake spirit is real?”
“If the marks of the oath left by the first beasts are real, wouldn’t the lake spirit be as well?”
“Then you’re saying the founding myth is true? That Barbados I attended a festival of the lake spirit and was introduced to the beasts by them—everything?”
Though skeptical, Lothania acknowledged the plausibility. At this point, denying the spirit’s existence seemed stranger than accepting it.
With the first emperor and the first beasts long gone, the only one who might hold answers was the lake spirit.
“Lottie, let’s head to the summer palace. We must meet the spirit of Lake Beryl.”
“But Mother, how? There’s no record of how Barbados I was invited to the lake spirit’s festival.”
Her face showed a mix of hope and despair.
Another pair of similar eyes watched me—Aiden, my fierce yet endearing lover, looked at me with the pained expression of a trapped animal.
“No invitation is necessary, Lottie. If I have to drain the entire lake to find the spirit, I will,” I said firmly, placing my left hand over hers.
Then, I extended my right hand to Aiden.
For the past few days, as Lothania focused on her awakening and destroying the marks, I had exercised all the patience I could muster.
But no longer.
Oath or beasts, I didn’t care anymore.
Aiden wasn’t merely a beast serving my daughter—he was the man I loved.
With trembling, jewel-like crimson eyes, Aiden stepped forward.
Ignoring Lothania, he knelt before me and kissed the back of my hand.
