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Chapter : 11
Noren sat upon the throne, steeped in sorrow. He became Accus V. The very first thing he did after ascending the throne was to banish Meryl to the castle tower. She was the queen and the ruler of the territory of Rediang, so he could not divorce her. Instead, he isolated her completely.
After that, he summoned Yohas to the capital. Because of Meryl, he could not marry her, but Accus V openly kept Yohas by his side. And so everyone came to know: the true queen of the capital was Yohas Lorem.
On the day Accus V held a lavish banquet for Yohas, Elga burst into tears. It was because Meryl had asked her to prepare her to attend the banquet.
“Why are you crying, Elga? Are you so moved?”
“Your Majesty the Queen…”
Meryl, seated on a chair, urged her on.
“Hurry up. I want to go to the banquet. There can’t be a banquet without its hostess, can there?”
Her voice and expression were full of excitement. It was the happiest she had looked in a long time. But Elga could not hide the truth and said through tears,
“It’s a banquet for Yohas.”
“What? Yohas?”
Meryl’s expression stiffened, then she forced a smile again.
“So she’s coming as a baroness, I suppose. I’ll be generous and forgive her. I am the queen of this country, after all. I’ll forgive her just this once.”
“That’s not it. They say she’s moving into the castle to live there. And she’s heavily pregnant.”
Meryl’s gaze drifted to her own swollen belly. Heavily pregnant… Her lips trembled. Still, she denied it again, shaking her head.
“That can’t be. Noren loves me. That can’t be.”
“Your Majesty…”
“Where did you hear such lies? Did that woman make you say this?”
“Meryl…”
“Fix my hair, now!”
Elga had no choice but to begin doing Meryl’s hair, though she couldn’t stop sobbing.
Meryl muttered to herself as if she hadn’t heard anything.
“This is a place I must attend. I’m the flower of the banquet. I’m the hostess. Not Yohas—me.”
She looked at her distorted reflection in the mirror. She looked grotesque, like a monster. Speaking to herself, she said,
“I just need to bear a son. Only a son.”
She was the queen. If she bore a son, he could inherit the throne and the title of Rediang—everything. It had to be a son.
Stroking her belly, Meryl said,
“You must be a son. To save me—and to save yourself—you must be born a son.”
Her hair was done and she was dressed, but Meryl could not take a single step out of the tower. The soldiers Noren had sent blocked her way. No matter how she explained, pleaded, or raged, she couldn’t move forward even one step. In the end, she collapsed to the floor.
It felt as though the tightly held threads of her sanity were snapping one by one. She stared at the gray walls surrounding her—the cramped, filthy tower. This was her reality… so cruel. Suddenly, she began to scream.
“Aah! Aah! Aah! Aah! Aah!”
She, who had endured so long, finally broke down completely.
Meryl and Yohas gave birth only days apart. And yet God abandoned Meryl once more. Meryl bore a daughter, while Yohas bore a son.
Meryl fell into despair. She had wanted a son so desperately, but the child born to her was a daughter with turquoise eyes just like her own.
She cursed the baby, hated her, despised her. She blamed the child for all the suffering she had endured. She left the baby in Elga’s care, did not tend to her, did not hold her. Then, when her mind cleared once in a while, she would clutch the baby and cry, saying she was sorry. This repeated over and over.
Noren never came to see her, nor did he see the child. Because of that, Emblin grew up unwanted from the very beginning. Emblin longed for Meryl’s affection, but Meryl, lost in self-pity, could not see it. Instead, by leaning on Emblin, she made things even harder for her.
Elga did her very best to care for Emblin, but it was never enough. Inevitably, she had to devote more attention to Meryl.
Watching Meryl wail, Emblin’s tears eventually dried up. Watching Meryl deny reality and smile, Emblin built walls between herself and the world. Watching Meryl cling obsessively to Noren’s love, Emblin stopped believing in love.
She always looked dignified and aloof, but Emblin’s heart was tattered with countless lacks.
So every night, Elga prayed. She prayed that Meryl would finally give up on Noren, and that she would return to the bright, smiling Meryl she once was.
Elga rubbed her eyes with one hand. It felt like an answer to her prayers. A fierce morning. A bright smile. Meryl of the Rediang territory had returned. For Emblin’s sake, she had finally risen. Now many things would change. Elga murmured to herself,
“Maybe we can return to Rediang.”
It had been a long time since she’d lost contact with her family. After Meryl’s marriage, news had completely stopped—she didn’t know whether they were alive or dead. Elga pressed a hand to her chest. Just thinking of her family made her heart race and swell.
“I hope we can leave as soon as tomorrow.”
Her voice trembled on its own. Thump, thump. The place where golden wheat once danced, where a deep blue lake held the sky within it, where flocks of sheep wandered peacefully across the fields… my hometown…
Just then—“Hmph!” At the cold snort of someone, Elga startled and jerked her head up. Somehow, there was a man by the window. Chilling dark-blue eyes and short dark-brown hair. He wore ordinary trousers, a shirt, and gaiters, but the leather sword belt stood out.
Thud. The man dropped down to the floor. Startled, Elga staggered back and hurriedly stepped in front of Emblin.
“W-w-who are you?!”
The man approached silently like a wild beast and spat out,
“You put someone in trouble like this and now you think you can just leave? Who decided that?”
In that instant, it felt as if icy water had been poured over Elga’s head. The anger in his voice was unmistakable.
“Could it be… Lord Tris Aike?”
“Move. I need to hear it directly. I need to hear what you were thinking when you dragged me into this.”
Elga’s eyes widened in terror. The swirling fury in Tris’s dark-blue eyes seemed to engulf her. Still, she stretched out both hands defensively and said,
“T-th-there’s been a misunderstanding.”
“I told you to move.”
Tris was furious to the tips of his hair. He had been sleeping in his village when he was suddenly summoned, only to have Duke Aike raging at him like a madman.
<What on earth did you do that rumors are spreading that you took the princess’s chastity!>
There was no bolt from the blue quite like this. Since coming to the capital, he hadn’t even properly seen Emblin—yet they said he had taken her purity. The absurdity made Tris flare up as well.
<I haven’t even spoken to her. How could I possibly take her chastity?>
<Then why are such rumors spreading?>
<Why should I be the one to explain that? I haven’t done anything!>
<Tris!>
Tris was hot-blooded and firm in his beliefs. But Duke Aike had the same temper. So whenever they clashed, everyone else would quietly slip away. It was fire against fire. Peta and Roke wanted to avoid it too, rolling their eyes, but it was useless. This was the capital.
Duke Aike declared,
<You mishandled yourself, so rumors like that spread. You must have done something wrong. You’re always like this. Instead of being of help to me, you go and anger the king!>
<Just because I fear the king doesn’t mean I can claim to have done something I didn’t.>
<Who said anything about fearing the king! Can’t you see my honor lying in the dirt? Your judgment is worthless. No matter how desperate you are for a woman, how could you touch that crazy daughter of all people!>
Tris’s eyes turned cold. When he was angry, he became calm. That was how he differed from Duke Aike—he could hear what was hidden in the other’s words. Tris struck right at the point.
<So in the end, it’s your reputation that matters. My injustice means nothing to you.>
<How dare you talk back! You are my son!>
Obedience. Absolute obedience. He was sick of it. For a moment, a hot surge of anger welled up, but he swallowed it down. Instead, he replied coldly and sarcastically,
<And the king’s mood, you say. Everyone knows what kind of existence Princess Emblin is. Is there even any mood left to offend?>
At the icy sarcasm, Duke Aike frowned.
<There is. The king had planned to gain Idark through Princess Emblin, but that failed.>
<Idark, you say…?>
<It was a chance to put wings on the development of the capital.>
Tris answered coolly,
<Then isn’t that a good thing? Haven’t you always been wary of the capital’s development, Father?>
<I have. But I never meant to take on a useless burden either. Now that you’re tangled in a scandal, who am I supposed to make take responsibility?>
Tris stared at him with a look like he’d bitten into dung.
<So, it’s me, then. It seems Princess Emblin spread the rumor because she didn’t want to go to Ingrad.>
<Peta will prove my innocence. I was always with him. Is that still not enough?>
<If it were that simple, I wouldn’t have summoned you here to vent my anger.>
<So I have to marry her?>
<Do you think that’s all?>
<You mean I have to offer something that rivals Idark?>
That, again, touched Duke Aike’s temper.
<How could someone so clever get involved with Princess Emblin! Even if it was because of Idela, you should have endured it once!>
To that, Tris replied coldly,
<No one is allowed to treat my sister lightly.>
<It’s exactly that reckless mind of yours that makes me angry! Why can’t you be as good as Aden? Why is your patience worse than even Tommy’s?>
First siding with a bastard, then with Idela, and now even this scandal. More than fearing what compensation the king might demand, he was angry. He didn’t want to lose a single thing that was his.
