How can he lie about his wife’s death anniversary. Edward Bledel didn’t seem like a human at all. It was horrible that Lethenia had to live in the same house as him, but there was nothing he could do about it.
He had come close to death several times when he tried to find out what was going on in the ducal residence.
Duke Bledel had placed security enchantments on the windows, walls, and everything else that could be a way in, except for the main entrance where many people came in and out.
In addition, whenever he tried to find out something from Lethenia, she became defensive to the fullest and uttered prickly words.
<Why do you keep asking when nothing’s going on? Please don’t mind me.>
Theo knew intuitively that the more he dug into Bledel, the more she wouldn’t confide in him. He could only guess what was going on from what he’d heard from Lethenia’s mouth from time to time.
Theo was left speechless by her unexpected words, but as always, he chose not to offer the obvious consolations. Lethenia would take that as an insult.
<In such situations, I try to pretend I’m fine, act like nothing’s wrong. Well, with enough time passing, things might improve a bit.>
<That’s a lame answer.>
Lethenia chuckled and gave him a faint smile, but Theo found it odd that it came across as condescending. She also felt her answer was very lame.
He wasn’t sure if that was a good way to go about it, to pretend she’d moved on, and that it was all over.
As if there were no emotions left, Lethenia’s cold eyes lost their focus. Theo thought that her appearance was much sadder than those people wailing in sorrow.
Maybe it was that strange look that had been bothering him since the moment they first met.
<Yes, that was a rather lame answer, even for me.>
She continued in a dry, low voice.
<I want to go back to the old days, when I didn’t have to think about these things. All the things that used to make me happy now seem to be only in my memory.>
He often thought that Lethenia was like him: for them, happiness was an illusion.
Something you can never have, no matter how hard you try. Of course, there was a difference between him and Lethenia: he didn’t really want to be happy.
Because being happy felt like committing a crime for some reason.
<Sometimes I feel like if I make peace with him, I can go back to that time.>
<…….>
<Then I’ll be the person I used to be, and I’ll see my mother again, which is a stupid idea.>
As if in confession, Lethenia poured out her deepest secrets to Theo. For her, Ianhardt’s existence was a longing for the past – a desperate belief that she could return to a time when she was happy.
The deep-seated sadness within her couldn’t be healed by anything. Lethenia seemed to know her own fate long before.
Theo hesitated for a moment. He wondered how she would take it if he told her the truth, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
She will never let go of her love even after she finds out everything. As always, Theo couldn’t break Letenia’s will.
As she wished, he decided to leave Asha for a while. He didn’t want to see the tragic wedding.
His steps were heavy as he left her behind, but he didn’t look back. That was the last he remembered of the real Lethenia.
<I’m leaving the Imperial Palace.>
At her call, he scuttled all his plans and returned to Asha. But Lethenia, whom he saw again, had changed a lot.
He heard words he thought would never come out of her mouth, and the woman who spoke them didn’t seem to be the same person he knew.
There was something very foreign about her demeanor, her eagerness to get out of the palace as soon as possible. It was as if another person had entered her body.
At first, he dismissed it as a passing fancy, but her determination to leave didn’t change.
When they met again, her memory was unstable. No, she seemed to be hiding some secret, using the excuse that she had lost her memory.
As someone who had been watching Lethenia for a long time, he keenly sensed subtle differences that others wouldn’t notice.
“What is this?”
The magic notebook was something she’d wanted for a long time; it was said to contain a wish-granting spirit.
In reality, it was merely a tool for instant communication without the constraints of space. He understood why Lethenia wanted it so badly.
Perhaps because he was so desperate for Ianhart, Lethenia often believed in superstitions about love from an early age. It was for the same reason that she liked Favia.
Eternal love. The words that Lethenia had once said about Favia made Theo chuckle.
Is there anything that lasts forever in this world? As an adult, Lethenia still loved the flower and carried a sachet of its petals with her.
Whenever she was around, he could smell the faint scent of favia. What on earth happened to Lethenia?
‘Taking possession of a soul is black magic with the power of destruction, and there is only one being in the world who can do it.’
The reason why he visited Schubert was not just because it was a royal order. There, he met a Xenos wizard who was hiding his identity.
The fact that there was only one being capable of such a feat stayed in his mind without ever leaving. There was still no certainty, but he wanted to believe it was just a wrong gut feeling.
He pulled the covers over Lethenia’s sleeping body. Her brow furrowed slightly as she tossed and turned.
Theo brushed a stray strand of silver hair over Lethenia’s face. Her face was peaceful once more, and she had fallen into a deep sleep.
She didn’t smell like Favia anymore.
*****
I could see the morning sun out of the window as if I had been asleep for quite a while. The liquor that Theo had given her must have been quite strong, unlike the sweet taste that children would like to consume.
In the end, did it mean that lovers’ eternal love required strong alcohol? I woke up with a hangover and a throbbing headache.
My memories were fuzzy, but for some reason, I felt a deep sense of regret at the thought of showing my embarrassing side in front of Theo. I felt even more embarrassed when I thought of Theo, who, unlike me, remained unfazed.
I might have been relieved when I saw how casually he held his drink, as if he were drinking light tea.
However, it seemed that my delicate body couldn’t handle even that level of alcohol intake. Sadly, even after being possessed by another person, it seemed that alcohol wasn’t my fate. I called Stella, and she gave me a look of concern and reproached.
“It seems like you had too much to drink.”
“I don’t think I drink that much…”
“That’s the excuse drunk people always make.”
Stella sighed softly as she handed over a cup of milk with honey to me. Before losing consciousness, I recalled my last memory.
A warm body heat enveloped my entire body and that feeling that my body was floating in thin air. It must have been Theo tucking me into bed.
I gulped down my milk to hide my unnecessary burning face. Stella stared at me, and then, as if remembering something, she spoke again.
“Colin Baird is scheduled to enter the Empress’s Palace soon to receive the content of the first article.”
“I see he has finally made up his mind.”
“The newspaper’s situation seems urgent.”
As expected, Colin accepted my offer. I retired to my office and skimmed through the material on the scandal in the aristocracy.
Soon, the nobles will realize that the Empress is the one behind the great scandalous story that is about to begin. And the Duchy of Bledel will be the one to suffer the most.
Suddenly, I remembered Duke Bledel gazing fondly at Rachel at Rosetin’s celebration. Ever since he met her, his abuse of Lethenia has become more extreme.
She despised Lethenia not simply because she was her husband’s ex-wife’s daughter, but because of her young appearance.
I thought it would not be bad to tell the world about Rachel’s story through the Locale newspaper someday. But now is not the time.
Rachel’s secret private life would serve me well in the future. Until I got what I wanted, I decided to keep her story in a drawer for a while.
I’ll break it at the right moment, when the mood is ripe and people are looking for more stimulation. It was almost comical to think of Duke Bledel’s face contorting as the story about Rachel broke.
I debated who to target first, and then picked the one I thought would be most appropriate and handed it to Stella.
“Let’s start with Baron Tullouf.”
“Are you talking about the Baron who is said to have a reputation for secretly enjoying sodomy? Is there any particular reason you chose him?”
“The story written here is a bit creepy.”
The homosexual Baron Tullouf bought young male slaves who suited his tastes and used them as instruments of sexual pleasure. If they didn’t comply with his demands, he would beat them so severely until they were crippled.
When one of the slaves ran away after enduring his harassment, he took out his anger on the remaining slaves and tortured them severely.
“Isn’t this a little too provocative as a starter article?”
“But it’s a story that people might like to read.”
Homosexuality was a hard pill to swallow for Asha. On top of that, Baron Tullouf was resented for extracting huge taxes from the commoners for all sorts of reasons.
The more malicious the noble’s story, the more excited the people would be, talking about it endlessly.
“There’s going to be an uproar in Asha soon.”
Stella seemed to have understood my intentions, giving me a meaningful smile.
