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Chapter 22
A Chance from Heaven
“Heinrich Updyke!”
A young man with a lot of curly blond hair and big, round eyes like a deer looked up at the sound of his name. On the second-floor stairs, Marquis Updyke of Svergen’s border looked down at his son with a serious face and shouted.
“When are you going to fix that rude way of talking? You’re going to be the border lord of Svergen Empire someday, so you need to look dignified…”
But Heinrich just smiled innocently and didn’t look worried at all.
“But Father, Daniel saved my life. He’s the hero of our Updyke family. If it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t even have a son with a rude mouth!”
“You little brat…”
Marquis Updyke couldn’t deny it. He glared at his son and clicked his tongue but finally just left. Heinrich, wearing a cape with the family’s blue eagle crest, shook a knight’s shoulders and asked excitedly:
“Tell me quickly! When? Is he really awake? Is his handsome face still the same?”
“Ack, Young Master… Please, let go and ask one question at a time so I can answer…”
Heinrich stopped shaking the knight and shouted:
“Okay, now tell me! Hurry!”
The knight stepped back and fixed his messy uniform, then said with a sigh,
“Yes, he woke up. I saw it myself—Shendal Castle is full of talk about it, so it must be true.”
“Wow, haha! I knew it. There’s no way Daniel would die so easily.”
Heinrich cheered and jumped around the knight.
“Did you hear anything else? Is he really okay?”
“Probably. That’s why the Empress Dowager sent someone to keep an eye on the duke’s estate.”
“Someone to watch him?”
Heinrich stopped, confused.
“Who’s being watched? Daniel?”
“Yes. The official reason is that they’re sending a steward to help with the estate since the lady of the house is weak, but it’s obvious they just want to spy on him.”
“Crazy. Who put that weak lady there in the first place!”
The knight was startled by Heinrich’s loud words and quickly covered his mouth.
“Young Master, are you crazy? What if someone hears you saying that?”
“Let go! How can I not be angry? Daniel got stuck in that marriage for their sake! He fought for them and ended up like that!”
The knight struggled to stop the upset Heinrich. Not many people knew that the only child and future border lord of the Updyke family was called the “Mad Deer.” He looked cute and harmless with his blue eyes, but when he held a sword, he really looked crazy.
Heinrich slammed the railing with his left hand and growled,
“That sneaky old witch from Beitzen. What is she trying to do to my Daniel now?”
“Please, Young Master, stop saying things like that.”
“No, I need to go right now!”
Not really listening, Heinrich suddenly ran for the stairs. The knight yelled after him,
“Young Master, where are you going?”
Heinrich jumped three stairs at a time and shouted as he ran,
“Utrecht!”
The midday sun was setting over the western Altas mountains. Daniel stood in the training yard and slowly closed his eyes. Before a fight, he liked to imagine what would happen next. As he closed his eyes, all the noisy sounds around him faded away, like darkness chasing out the dawn.
‘Pomtack, Ox, Pluke, and Alver.’
Muriel Rosivalt, who grew up in a traditional knight family, would fight him using classic longsword techniques. On the continent of Roschman, where the Svergen Empire was, there were some legendary swords. The most famous was “Ascalon,” known as “the sword that drinks blood.” It belonged to Nicholas Lyngen, the first emperor of the Lyngen Empire, and now his son-in-law, Marquis Wald Morenheitz, owned it.
In Svergen, the sword “Rinaldo,” used by Emperor Karl I, was famous and passed down to each emperor. Now it was kept in Leopold II’s office at Shendal Castle. There were a few more famous swords, but Daniel thought the best of all was the longsword “Koldar,” the one Muriel was holding now. The sword had no fancy decorations—just strong Damascus steel. Most swords would break after fighting Koldar even a short time. Koldar was made only to win. It had been given to Oscar Rosivalt by Emperor Karl I, and only his family could own it. Daniel heard that Muriel Rosivalt was now the owner. He never thought he’d get close to it, but now, the sword’s owner was his wife’s bodyguard—almost a nanny.
“If I win, Koldar is mine.”
“You promised! You’ll grant me any wish, with no conditions.”
“Should I write it and put the duke’s seal on it?”
Of course, Muriel easily accepted the deal. Daniel knew why Muriel agreed to duel.
‘She’ll probably wish for something about my wife—like asking me to help her, or not make her suffer. Or maybe… to protect her.’
Daniel knew too well how love could make people act foolish.
‘Heh. Thanks to that foolishness, I might get Koldar.’
The sounds around him slowly came back—birds, the crowd waiting to watch, and the spring wind. Even with his eyes closed, he could feel everything. Suddenly, he realized he was alive.
“Survive, Daniel. The most important thing is to live.”
He understood his mother’s words a little better now. Daniel smiled slightly. Then, from the other side, Muriel’s calm voice floated over in the wind.
“Shall we begin?”
She spoke with a confidence only someone who never thought of losing could have. Daniel slowly opened his eyes and found her reddish-brown hair, so much like his own. He nodded.
Frida looked around the crowd by the training yard and called out,
“Dominic, where’s Ricardo?”
“In the herb garden.”
“Alone?”
“Yes. He said someone has to take care of it, even today. If you leave it for a day, the weeds grow wild.”
It really looked like everyone from the castle was at the training yard. The people made a solid ring around the space where Muriel and the duke stood, with no gaps at all. Muriel grabbed her sword with both hands, ready to start. Frida nervously squeezed her skirt.
“Dominic, you should have stopped the duke.”
Dominic was calm and looked around, not worried at all.
“Why should I? He wouldn’t have listened anyway.”
The crowd grew louder, so Dominic leaned over and shouted so Frida could hear.
“I know you’re worried because you don’t know your husband well yet, but you should learn this now.”
People were getting too close, so Dominic signaled the mercenaries to push the crowd back. Then he lowered his voice.
“My lord is not greedy, but if there’s something he really wants, he never gives up. Nothing—no threats or tricks—will stop him. This time, he’ll get what he wants, no matter what.”
“What do you mean? Are you saying the duke is doing this because he wants something from Muriel?”
Of course. Otherwise, Daniel, who hated big scenes, would never do something like this.
“Didn’t you hear? The winner gets Sir Rosivalt’s sword, Koldar. Of course, the duke wants to give Muriel an excuse if she loses.”
“An excuse?”
“Think about it. If people hear Muriel lost her family sword, who will be laughed at the most? The Duke who took it?”
Dominic waved his finger in front of Frida.
“Not at all. It’ll be Muriel, who lost the sword she was supposed to protect, even if it costs her life.”
Daniel might have a rough personality, but he wasn’t a bad person. He wanted Muriel to have a fair reason if she lost, so no one could mock her. Even though the Empress Dowager sent a spy to watch him and everything was dangerous, Daniel couldn’t help himself. The news that “Duke Richard beat Muriel for Koldar just a month after waking up from a three-year coma” would spread through the empire in about… two weeks?
‘This will be a headache,’ Dominic thought, rubbing his face.
Frida marched up, fuming.
“So, Dominic, you think the duke will beat our Muriel? Muriel is the strongest knight in the north!”
Dominic smirked with his arms crossed.
“Our Daniel is the strongest in the whole empire. Haven’t you heard of the undefeated Duke Richard, the Black Beast of Svergen?”
