🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 22
How long had she been walking through the rain, caught in a whirlpool of uncontrollable emotions?
At some point, the sudden downpour stopped, and Estelle arrived in front of her house.
She had planned to drop Aer off and head straight to the guild, but after getting soaked in the unexpected rain, she decided to change her clothes first before leaving.
She was supposed to visit Sordan’s laboratory again today, so she felt pressed for time.
“Where have you been?”
But the moment she noticed the figure of a man standing in front of her door, a wave of unpleasant emotions instantly took over her entire body. At the same time, her head throbbed as if it might split.
“I’ve been waiting for you because I missed you.”
A freckled face, with narrow, snake-like cunning eyes. It was Antony, the second son of Baron Vernes, the lord of Aren.
For some reason, he had a sword at his waist—something he usually didn’t carry—and his right ankle was wrapped in bandages.
I thought the baron had placed him under house arrest. Has the period already ended? Or did he sneak out again like last time without the baron knowing?
He was a notorious wastrel who indulged in every kind of luxury and pleasure, constantly causing trouble and driving his father to despair.
On top of that, he was a lecher who would persistently flirt with and harass any woman he fancied, regardless of whether she was married or not.
Though merely the second son of a baron—hardly high nobility in the capital—within this small territory, he was no different from a tyrant.
“Why the long face again? Well, raising a child alone as a woman must be exhausting.”
He showed improper interest even in Estelle, who lived here pretending to be a common widow raising a child alone.
Ignoring someone like him would normally be the best course of action, but Antony was blocking the entrance to her house.
“Of course, I’m not saying this look doesn’t suit you. Actually… I like you even more like this.”
His sticky gaze slid over Estelle’s rain-soaked figure, her curves outlined by the wet fabric.
“How about coming into my arms and living comfortably? A woman should have a man to protect her, shouldn’t she?”
When Estelle had been the head of the Herme Merchant Guild, even his father, Baron Vernes, had been cautious before the guild’s immense financial power.
But now, as the seemingly ordinary widow Libetta Marian, there were more than a few people like Antony who approached her with impure intentions.
“You could live your whole life without worrying about money inside the baron’s estate.”
It was laughable. The way he looked down on Libetta Marian as a weak, destitute woman—and the fact that the only thing he had to boast about was his family name.
Moreover, it was the influence of the Herme Merchant Guild that had replenished the dwindling finances of the Vernes family in the first place.
If she wanted, getting rid of this foolish second son quietly would be nothing. But while living in hiding, she had endured silently, trying not to attract attention.
“Think about your child. Isn’t it a mother’s duty to do anything for her child?”
But his arrogance finally crossed the line.
Why was it that everyone today kept bringing up her child, as if determined to provoke her?
Estelle’s blood ran cold.
Dozens of ways to dispose of him flashed through her mind instantly. But perhaps because her thoughts became tangled all at once, her vision spun, and a feverish heat surged through her body.
“Why don’t you worry about your own life instead?”
“What?”
At that moment, someone stepped between Estelle and Antony.
“A mere second son who won’t even inherit a title dares to act like this?”
It was Kaian.
“What? You bastard! Watch your mouth!”
Before Estelle could even react to Kaian’s sudden intervention, Antony spat out insults, apparently failing to recognize the emperor.
“How dare you!”
Not satisfied with hurling abuse, Antony even drew his sword and pointed it at Kaian.
But his grip was sloppy, and with his limp, the sight was almost laughable.
In contrast, Kaian stood unarmed, yet smirked with ease, clearly finding him ridiculous.
There was no way Kaian hadn’t noticed the clumsiness that was obvious even to Estelle.
“C-come at me!”
They said ignorance breeds courage. Having spent his entire life within this small territory, this frog in a well boldly challenged Kaian—the swordmaster and emperor. Pitifully so.
In the blink of an eye, Kaian subdued Antony.
Without even getting to swing his sword once, Antony collapsed into the muddy ground, unconscious and foaming at the mouth.
Since he lost consciousness in a single blow, it had all happened far too quickly to properly account for his crimes—daring to insult the empress and raise a sword against the emperor.
But Kaian had no interest in the baron’s second son lying like a soaked rag on the ground.
He immediately approached Estelle and removed his robe, draping it over her shoulders.
Should I gouge out those filthy eyes first?
It wasn’t out of consideration for her. He simply couldn’t tolerate the shameless gaze that had touched what rightfully belonged to him—his empress.
The revulsion made his blood boil, and he wanted to cut off Antony’s breath immediately, but he held back, unwilling to grant him an easy death.
“Why did you just stand there and listen to that nonsense?”
He couldn’t understand. Why had the great noble lady of Astrea remained silent in the face of such insolence from a mere baron’s son?
“You should’ve done something. Shouted, struck his weak points! If I hadn’t followed you, do you know what filthy things he might’ve done?!”
“This has nothing to do with you.”
“What?”
“He doesn’t have the nature to actually follow through with such actions. And it’s not like this is the first time he’s come here.”
“So you’re saying this isn’t the first time?! Then why have you just been putting up with it?!”
“What else could I have done? If I acted recklessly and he retaliated against my child—then that… that would be far worse.”
“So you endured it just because you were afraid of retaliation?”
This was a woman who had survived a brutal imperial succession war and risen to become the true mistress of the imperial palace, manipulating countless factions at will.
She was someone who once knew neither fear nor hesitation.
And yet now, she was worried about nothing more than the second son of a baron.
It felt unfamiliar. As if she had become a completely different person.
“Just because? Did you really just say ‘just because’?”
“……”
“What would you know? You’ve never loved a child, nor lost one.”
The fear filling Estelle’s eyes was so vivid that there was no room to doubt its sincerity.
Kaian stood there, speechless, staring at her. Then he noticed something strange.
Her cheeks were unnaturally flushed, her breathing ragged, her gaze gradually losing focus.
“Wait… are you unwell—”
Sway.
At the moment he reached that conclusion, Estelle lost her balance.
With quick reflexes, Kaian caught her in his arms.
“Estelle!”
He managed to stop her from falling, but her eyes were already closed. Her entire body burned like fire—her temperature abnormally high even through layers of clothing.
“Stay with me! Estelle!”
No matter how many times he called her name, she remained unconscious.
Estelle’s bedroom.
She lay on the bed, pale and motionless, her eyes closed.
After she collapsed, an inexplicable sense of dread had seized Kaian—as if her faint breath might disappear at any moment.
He had considered immediately carrying her to a doctor, but feared that wandering outside in that state might worsen her condition with hypothermia.
Fortunately, he found a key in a small pouch she carried and managed to enter the house.
He laid her in bed, covered her with blankets, and lit the fireplace—he barely remembered how frantically he had done it all.
Only afterward did he notice the dried muddy footprints he had left all over the bedroom floor.
Kaian stood by the bedside, unable to hide his anxiety, waiting for the doctor Cedric had brought to finish the examination.
“It’s a fever. Not life-threatening, but… she’s clearly been overexerting herself physically and mentally. And being caught in the cold spring rain didn’t help. It won’t improve quickly.”
The middle-aged doctor carefully gave his diagnosis after examining her symptoms.
“Use whatever you can—medicine, mana stones.”
“It may cost quite a bit…”
“I don’t care about that. Just do whatever it takes.”
“Then for now, dissolve this powder in warm water and give her one packet a day… I’ll prepare better medicine and return the day after tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Pardon?”
“Have it ready by tomorrow morning.”
“That’s not something that can be prepared so quickly—”
As the doctor hesitated, Cedric, catching Kaian’s glance, handed him a heavy pouch of gold coins.
“It can be done! Of course it can! I’ll see you tomorrow morning!”
The doctor instantly changed his tone, clutching the pouch tightly as he hurried out of the bedroom.
