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Chapter 12
Aella’s head turned toward the direction of the voice. She saw Seamus sitting on the edge of the bed.
The moment her eyes met Seamus’s, Aella’s face twisted. She remembered what he had tried to do to her.
“Were you with him?”
Seamus spoke in a gloomy voice as he slowly approached Aella.
Aella glared at the approaching Seamus.
“Whom do you mean?”
“Pretending otherwise is useless. I saw you disappear out the window in that bastard’s arms.”
Seamus, now standing before Aella, gave a sickening smile.
Seamus’s eyes landed on Ther’s cloak wrapped around Aella. At the embroidered crest of the House of Motita, Seamus’s face hardened.
Aella glared at Seamus and spoke.
“Last night, a man wearing your face came to my room. Did you see him?”
“Aella, do you think I’m joking? I know Ther Motita came into this room! And this is that bastard’s, isn’t it!”
Seamus snatched the cloak draped over Aella’s shoulders and threw it to the floor, shouting. Brushing back his disheveled hair, Seamus fumed.
“Were you with Ther Motita until this hour?”
“…”
Aella did not answer Seamus’s question but looked down at Ther’s cloak on the floor.
When Aella only looked at the cloak without answering, Seamus grew even angrier, stomped on the cloak with his foot, and growled.
“I’m asking you! Answer me!”
“Yes, I was with him.”
Aella looked into Seamus’s eyes and answered clearly.
Bloodshot veins appeared in Seamus’s eyes. Unable to control his anger, Seamus roughly shoved Aella’s shoulder.
“How dare you!”
Aella stumbled and fell to the floor.
Her shoulder, shoved by Seamus, throbbed, and tears welled in Aella’s eyes. Without even thinking of getting up, Aella trembled.
Seamus knelt down before her.
“What did you do with that bastard?”
“What do you think?”
Aella let out a hollow laugh and looked at Seamus.
“Did you sleep with him?”
“…”
“I asked if you slept with that bastard! Answer me!”
Seamus grabbed Aella and erupted in fury.
Aella held her breath at Seamus’s rage, which confronted her head-on. She found it hard to understand why he was so angry.
Wasn’t he the one who, finding his wife utterly disgusting, had handed her over to another man? Shouldn’t he be happy if she had slept with someone else?
“Why aren’t you answering!”
Unable to contain his anger, Seamus grabbed Aella’s arm, pulled her up, threw her onto the bed, and climbed on top of her.
Seamus tore off Aella’s négligée as if ripping it.
Startled, Aella struggled and screamed.
“Let go! Let go of me!”
Aella resisted, but she could not overpower Seamus’s strength.
In the end, Seamus shredded Aella’s négligée. Her body exposed, Seamus grabbed a candlestick from the bedside table and thrust it toward Aella.
As the candlestick came close, Aella squeezed her eyes shut in fear. Since the fire accident, Aella had been afraid of being near flames.
Ignoring her fear, Seamus examined Aella’s body under the candlelight. He saw the mottled marks left on her body.
“Damn it!”
Having confirmed the traces left by Ther, Seamus went mad with rage. He threw the candlestick to the floor and shouted at Aella.
“How dare you be with that bastard!”
Still not satisfied, Seamus grabbed Aella’s slender neck.
Aella’s eyes flew open in shock at the force of Seamus’s grip on her throat. Her face turned red as if it might burst.
With the air cut off from her lungs, Aella instinctively twisted her body. Her lungs screamed for air, and her vision grew increasingly dark.
“What are you doing!”
Just as Aella was about to lose consciousness, Xenia’s scream-like voice was heard.
Xenia pushed Seamus, who was strangling Aella.
Only then coming to his senses, Seamus exhaled roughly and looked down at Aella. Seeing her pale-faced and gasping for breath, Seamus swore.
“Damn it.”
Seamus then left Aella’s bedroom.
After Seamus left, Xenia picked up Ther’s cloak from the floor and covered the trembling Aella with it.
“Your Highness the Crown Princess, are you alright?”
“Xe…Xenia.”
Aella, her body trembling, called Xenia’s name in a strained voice.
Xenia looked at Aella with a devastated expression. Aella looked like a herbivore torn by a predator’s claws.
Xenia helped Aella up and carefully wrapped the cloak around her.
“I will take you to my room.”
She couldn’t leave Aella in the wrecked bedroom. Xenia took Aella and left the room.
The body of the Aella she was supporting trembled violently, and Xenia’s heart ached. Seeing Seamus’s violence, Xenia once again felt sorry for Aella.
Bringing Aella into her room, Xenia laid her on the bed. She covered her with a blanket and tidied Aella’s disheveled hair.
“I will bring warm water and a change of clothes.”
After Xenia left, Aella, left alone, curled her body tightly. Though frightened, Aella tried to steady her mind.
*I have to endure it.*
Since Seamus was that angry, he would surely grant her a divorce. If she endured just a little longer, she could escape this place.
—
**\*\*\***
After dropping off Aella and leaving the Crown Princess’s residence, Ther encountered the Emperor’s head chamberlain.
The chamberlain’s eyes widened as he approached Ther.
“I just sent a carrier pigeon, but you are already here?”
“What is the matter?”
At the chamberlain’s words that he had sent a carrier pigeon at this early hour, Ther frowned. A carrier pigeon at this time meant something quite urgent.
“They say a monster has appeared.”
The chamberlain lowered his voice significantly.
“I have received no such report.”
Ther’s brow furrowed. If a monster had appeared in the north, he would have known before the Emperor.
“It is not the north. It is the southern region.”
“The south?”
Ther’s face immediately became grave.
Monsters had always appeared only in the north. The reason the Motita family’s territory was in the north was precisely because monsters only emerged there. The lake castle’s magic knights were also stationed only in the north.
Therefore, a monster appearing in the south was a very serious matter. Currently, the south had no knight order capable of handling monsters.
“I shall see His Majesty first.”
Ther headed to the Emperor’s palace with a hardened face.
Meeting the Emperor in his bedchamber rather than the audience chamber, Ther looked at the Emperor, who appeared deeply ill, with an expressionless face.
“You came quickly.”
A phlegmy voice came from the Emperor’s mouth.
“What do you mean a monster has appeared in the south?”
“The situation seems quite serious. Over a hundred people have already died. The Duke of Pisanu’s territory has been devastated.”
“That is grave.”
“Before word of the monster’s appearance spreads elsewhere, we must stop it.”
Ther nodded at the Emperor’s words.
Currently, the majority of the Empire’s people did not know of the existence of monsters. The existence of monsters appearing in the north was kept strictly secret, known to few.
People believed that after the gods’ war, all monsters living on this land had been destroyed. If they learned that monsters had not been completely wiped out, great chaos would engulf the Empire.
“Go to the south at once. Before the monsters in the south cause greater damage, before they make their way to the capital, you must subjugate them.”
The Emperor looked at Ther with an expression that said he had no one else to rely on.
The only beings in the Empire capable of handling monsters were the lake castle’s magic knights led by Ther.
Since monsters could never be dealt with by the strength of ordinary soldiers, the knight order, composed of mages, had been subjugating them all along.
After the gods’ war, the House of Motita, dedicated as slaves to the imperial Miden family, had maintained this secret peace by keeping close ties with the Imperial family.
The Emperor firmly believed that, as always, the Grand Duke Motita would protect the peace.
But the answer that fell from Ther’s lips was unexpected.
“I refuse.”
Protecting the Empire from monsters was the duty of anyone born with the blood of the House of Motita.
Though Ther bore that fate, this time he intended to use it to obtain what he wanted.
“Refuse?!”
The Emperor, raising his voice at the startling answer, coughed violently.
Ther waited until the Emperor’s coughing subsided, then spoke again in a clear tone.
“More than half of the lake castle’s knight order is in the north. It would be difficult to handle the monsters in the south with the mages remaining at the Great Temple and the lake castle.”
“Then why not order the knights in the north to come south?”
“I have no intention of doing so.”
“Grand Duke Motita!”
The Emperor struck his bed hard.
Ther stood upright and repeated his refusal once more.
“Why are you doing this? Why, in heaven’s name!”
The Emperor, beyond fluster, was beginning to feel fear.
There was no guarantee that the monsters in the south would not cross into the capital. If the Grand Duke Motita did not act, everyone would be killed by the rampaging monsters.
“The magic knights will not be going south.”
“Are you trying to forsake your duty!”
“…”
Because Ther kept his mouth tightly shut and said nothing, the Emperor, growing impatient, shouted.
“Ther Motita!”
With unsteady breathing, the Emperor exhaled raggedly and looked at Ther with fierce eyes.
Even under the Emperor’s fierce gaze, Ther spoke with a calm expression.
“If you wish to move the Temple’s knights, use that.”
“That?”
The Emperor asked back with an uneasy expression.
Ther curled his lips and answered.
“Use the Orb of Iphe.”
