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Chapter : 10
Overnight, Noren and Yohas became ill-fated lovers. He could not go against his father’s will. Worse still, rumors about Baron Jardin were terrible. He had married three times, and each time his wife had met a violent death. If Yohas married Baron Jardin, she would be marrying into death. Terrified, Yohas clung to Noren.
Noren bowed his head before Akkas IV and begged him to retract that decision, but Akkas IV remained cold. In the end, Noren followed his will and said,
“Then at least warn Baron Jardin. Tell him he must not lay even a fingertip on Yohas. If you do that, I will marry Meril. I will make Meril devote everything she has to me.”
“I will decide after seeing how you act.”
From that day on, Noren treated Meril with affection. Meril, who had liked him from the start, fell deeper for him with each passing day. Even when Elga passed on rumors she had heard through maids she had befriended, Meril refused to believe them. Meril’s eyes and ears were turned only toward Noren. Experiencing love for the first time in her life, even her soul was shaken to its core.
With gentle kisses and smiles, Noren thoroughly toyed with Meril. He whispered of the future to her and spoke of the children they would have together. Meril trusted and relied on him, showering him with her devoted affection.
As her attention became focused solely on Noren, she naturally neglected the affairs of her domain. Akkas IV took advantage of this, manipulating the ledgers and siphoning off enormous wealth. While the royal warehouses kept growing, those of the Rediahn domain shrank. Eventually, the Rediahn market was abolished, and the capital’s market flourished.
Bishop Benedi sensed something amiss and sent a letter to Archbishop Mille, but the reply was beyond imagination.
“I find it hard to believe such a thing. According to the ledgers sent from the Rediahn domain, both last year’s harvest and the wool trade should have increased. But if what you say is true, Bishop Benedi, then someone is surely deceiving His Majesty and embezzling funds. I will inform His Majesty.”
Archbishop Mille was absorbed day after day in the cathedral’s renovation work. He was so delighted that he felt full even without eating, for Akkas IV was supporting him generously. Thus, the words from Bishop Benedi struck him as irritating, sounding as if they implied that he himself had been plundering.
He immediately went to see Akkas IV and relayed Benedi’s words. Akkas IV responded in kind.
“Someone must be deceiving both Meril and me. Count Rediahn entrusted me with his domain and his daughter, and yet this has happened. We must send inspectors and investigate thoroughly, leaving no room for doubt.”
“Indeed.”
“We will investigate without exception. If the church happens to be involved…”
“Even so, it must be investigated. Servants of God must be without even a speck of fault.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
Akkas IV immediately dispatched inspectors. Everyone managing the Rediahn domain was tortured, and unable to endure it, they ended up making false confessions. The one those confessions pointed to was Bishop Benedi.
For Bishop Benedi, it was enough to drive him mad. He had only ever worried about the domain. Since the cathedral was sustained by the offerings from the domain, his concern had been natural. Yet calamity struck. In the end, Bishop Benedi was excommunicated. The news reached Meril as well.
“Bishop Benedi embezzled funds?”
“So they say. He promised your father he would protect both you and the domain, yet this has happened. I am truly sorry.”
“Ah… I always trusted and relied on him.”
“So did I.”
Meril fell into despair. The only person she had trusted in the Rediahn domain had been Bishop Benedi. She had never imagined even he would be tainted by greed and betray her. The one who comforted her in her dejection was Noren.
With gentle words, Noren consoled her and slipped into that final opening in her heart.
“Will you marry me, Meril? I wish to take you as my wife and honor and love you for the rest of my life.”
Meril succumbed helplessly. It had been only a year since she had come to the capital. Finally, in the winter of her sixteenth year, Meril married Noren. On their wedding day, she signed the marriage vow before Archbishop Mille.
“I, Meril Rediahn, take Noren Akkas and swear to obey him.”
That night, while Noren was enjoying a passionate tryst with Yohas, who had come to the capital as a wedding guest, Meril waited for him in the room prepared for their first night, her heart fluttering with excitement.
She waited a long time. When Noren finally appeared, he was dead drunk, and without a shred of consideration, he took her virginity. Meril suffered greatly, but believing that relations between a man and a woman were naturally like that, she accepted it quietly.
From that day on, because she might be pregnant, Meril was made to stay in a bedroom at the far end of the castle. That was the custom in noble society—supposedly a form of consideration for a pregnant woman, but in truth a cruel thing. She was stripped of all the freedom she had enjoyed before pregnancy. She was not even given a chance to see her husband.
Noren, too, made all sorts of excuses and did not visit her. When Meril expressed dissatisfaction, people around her instead whispered that she was childish.
Then she truly became pregnant. From that single night, Meril conceived. By coincidence, Yohas also became pregnant—from the tryst on the wedding night. But Meril had no way of knowing. Her bedroom was an isolated world.
As soon as Noren learned of Yohas’s pregnancy, he went straight to Akkas IV and said he would bring her to the capital.
“I will allow it if you bring me the seal of the Rediahn domain from Meril.”
For the first time since their wedding night, Noren went to see Meril. Seeing him after so long, Meril regained her innocent smile. Being alone with Elga and then seeing the man she loved made all her pent-up sorrow seem to melt away. She stepped toward him to embrace him. But Noren lightly pushed her away and brazenly said,
“With you staying here, there are many problems in managing the Rediahn domain. So how about handing the seal over to me?”
“The seal?”
The domain’s seal was the lord’s ring. Only with that ring could one act in the lord’s stead, for all documents were stamped with it.
“Yes. With your belly so big, what if you overexert yourself? I’m always worried about you.”
Those words made Meril very happy. Noren was convinced he would soon receive the seal. But unexpectedly, Meril smiled and said,
“I see. But I can’t give you the seal. My father always told me to keep it with me at all times.”
“Did he?”
“I’m sorry, Noren.”
It was the foresight of Count Rediahn. Had it not been so, Meril, rendered useless, would have been quietly killed long ago. Unaware of that, Meril hurriedly added,
“Once I give birth, I can stay by your side, so please don’t doubt my obedience.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Everything I have is practically yours already.”
Noren’s eyebrows twitched upward unpleasantly.
“And yet you won’t give me the seal?”
“With me by your side, there’s no need for you to own it. It’s not hard for me at all. I’m even glad, because at least this way I sometimes get to hear news about the Rediahn domain.”
“Very well.”
As Noren turned sharply to leave, Meril hurried after him and shyly said,
“Um, Noren… would you like to touch my belly once? It’s really grown a lot, hasn’t it? Aren’t you curious whether it’s a boy or a girl?”
Without turning around, Noren replied coldly,
“It must be a son.”
“Ah… but…”
“I want a son.”
Bang. The door slammed shut. Meril was left alone again with Elga. With tears welling in her eyes, she stared at the closed door. A heavy, silent sorrow pressed down on her shoulders.
Striding down the corridor, Noren burned with genuine anger. Akkas IV had used him to amass enormous wealth. With it, he rebuilt the capital’s walls, deepened the moat, and increased the number of knights and soldiers. The capital was no longer weaker in self-sufficiency than the Ake and Kisling domains.
Before he knew it, it had gained strength equal to those two domains. But it was still not enough. More power was needed, for it was Akkas IV’s dream to dominate Slorand with the capital’s might alone. And it was Noren’s dream as well.
That was why he had sacrificed himself to marry a woman he utterly despised—yet he still could not save Yohas. Noren ground his teeth. His obsession with Yohas came not only from love for her, but more from his inability to tolerate things not going according to his will.
Changing direction, Noren climbed up to the city wall. Looking down at the capital from there, he saw construction everywhere. Suddenly, he spotted Akkas IV, riding a conspicuous black warhorse, heading toward a construction site. Noren’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he watched.
A few days later, as usual, Akkas IV set out to inspect the capital’s construction. With the knights escorting him, he kicked his horse’s flank hard. “Hyah!” At that moment, the horse suddenly reared up wildly, lifting its front legs. Akkas IV lost hold of the reins and was thrown onto the hard ground.
It happened in an instant. No one could catch him. That wasn’t all. The horse, startled by something, kept rearing. It was a perilous situation. Akkas IV tried to avoid it, but his luck failed him. The horse trampled his head.
It was an odd coincidence—dying after falling from a horse just because it got startled. The deaths of Akkas IV and Count Rediahn resembled each other in a strange way.
