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Chapter 71
A Conversation No One Won
“This marriage is absurd.”
Giskar looked at Adelheid Blake standing before him. Though smaller in build than Giskar, who wielded a sword, he was not untrained; his body was sturdier than many adults’.
Adelheid insisted that Giskar grant him an audience the next day. Had Rivius not intervened, Giskar would have beheaded him on the spot.
Unlike Giskar’s eyes—sometimes eerie, sharp, like a blood-soaked, rusted sword—his face shone clear and bright, like a well-polished jewel or a finely honed blade.
Yes, a clear light.
Like the Prince of Panborough…
The thought irritated Giskar, and he ground his teeth.
“Did I give the Duke the right to decide my marriage?”
Despite Giskar’s obvious sarcasm, Adelheid’s eyes sparkled as he replied,
“He is my subordinate. No, now that he’s here, he’s one of my subjects.”
“……”
“You have trespassed into my territory and taken my people as you pleased.”
“My people?”
Adelheid Blake’s eyes locked onto the king. When his lips curled threateningly, his presence felt even more imposing. He seemed like a man who had emerged from the darkness.
Raven-black hair covered his head, and his violet eyes seemed imbued with the light of death itself. Giskar Lodbrok had lines that no one could imitate, delicate yet formidable. But his face was also ruthless, exuding menace.
Meeting his gaze felt like having the tip of a blade pressed to one’s throat.
“How many times must I repeat myself? Before war even broke out with Panborough, I had already put out a warrant for her, and you deliberately hid her. You’re not telling me you didn’t notice her disguise?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I am aware. The warrant for her came after I accepted her.”
“……”
“If you put out a warrant for a criminal, it would be a problem, wouldn’t it?”
“……”
“Was my subject a criminal?”
It was a direct question. Giskar remained silent, staring at him. If he called her a criminal here, he would essentially be calling his bride one.
“If you wanted someone, you should have spoken to me, the land’s owner.”
“In that case, you would have hidden Diana Brien, wouldn’t you?”
Giskar Lodbrok said lowly, piercing him with his gaze.
“A criminal, you say?”
“……”
“Yes, she is a criminal.”
Adelheid narrowed his eyes. Could it be that he intended to admit his bride was a criminal?
“Her father made me a slave with his vulgar schemes, forced me to crawl on the ground. He treated me as less than human.”
“……”
“My mother, who was the beloved of the late king, had to go there and burn to death. All because of him.”
His voice was low and seemingly emotionless, but both he and Adelheid knew he was still seething with anger, unable to forget that humiliation.
“Do you dare claim his daughter is innocent as well?”
“……”
“Do you think you can judge whether the sins of her family line apply to her?”
This man had his own hell. Adelheid slowly closed his eyes and opened them again.
“Your Majesty, are you choosing to accept the daughter of a criminal as your bride?”
Giskar Lodbrok raised his chin, looking down at him. He did not answer; whether she was a criminal or not made no difference to him.
“And if I exercise my right to defy you?”
He could call his family to oppose Giskar’s marriage. The Duke of Blake had that power.
The Leblanc family, his ally, wanted the princess’s betrothal, but many nobles would not follow Giskar. Furthermore, there were plenty of nobles who opposed marrying a ‘criminal.’
Yet Giskar’s expression remained unchanged in the face of the subtle threat. If anything, he seemed to have expected it.
“Try it.”
He rose and looked at the Duke who glared at him. For a moment, his wolf-like face exuded arrogant nobility.
“You won’t be able to do it.”
“……”
“Test me if you must. I will test you as well.”
“……”
“Can you make my wife a criminal? Just the fact that such talk has been mentioned publicly—how will my wife be treated?”
It was as if he could see through everything. At that moment, Adelheid was consumed with shame. More humiliating than when King Giskar came to the academy and took Diana.
It was a sense of helplessness.
“You claim she is a precious subject, yet you would sully my wife’s honor to bend my will?”
Giskar Lodbrok saw through his mind. He knew. Anyone could sense that Adelheid Blake had feelings for that woman.
Could Adelheid, who clearly cared for her, truly make her a criminal just to keep her by his side?
“Everyone knows about Diana Brien. Any noble would know she is the daughter of that detestable Duke Brien.”
“……”
No need to explain further; even if not declared a criminal, she was effectively the daughter of one. Opposing her marriage with a vague statement like “I oppose taking a woman from Panborough as queen” would not work.
If Adelheid were to label her a ‘criminal,’ perhaps the marriage could be stopped. But what would happen afterward? If the consensus of the nobles is to punish a criminal, he knew well what befell the Brien family.
The father was brutally executed, the brother sterilized. And the daughter?
Giskar returned Adelheid’s pressure with his own gaze, silently asking, “What will you do?”
The most frustrating thing: Giskar’s resolve was so firm that even if she were declared a criminal, he seemed determined to marry her.
“Your Majesty is correct.”
Adelheid fixed his gaze on Giskar with a stiff expression. While he mourned the death of her father, this man had slain Fafnir, the poisonous dragon of the Abyssal Forest. He had no idea how barren and tortured the man’s inner world was.
Yet…
“Why marriage instead of execution?”
“……”
“Why insist on marrying a criminal?”
That was the core of it all.
“Your revenge is justified. You practically annihilated the family that insulted and trampled you.”
“……”
“I know the character of Dian—no, Diana Brien. She did not act like her family members.”
“In front of me……”
A growl resonated. Adelheid didn’t care.
“But the fact remains that you crushed the Brien family’s bloodline.”
“……”
“Why intimidate her into a marriage?”
“……”
“Why make marriage a form of punishment?”
For a moment, Adelheid feared for his life. The man had risen and approached the kneeling Duke. His violet eyes shone with lethal intent. Adelheid suppressed the urge to flee, speaking despite it.
“If we parted ways, there could be countless endings where we would be happy.”
“Be thankful to her, Duke.”
Adelheid looked at Giskar, questioning the meaning, but he gave no answer.
“Leave.”
Adelheid rose. The humiliation he felt for the first time made his chest heave rapidly. His heart throbbed painfully.
“I will see you again.”
Adelheid said this and left without looking back. Watching him, Giskar also upended a golden candlestick, which crashed onto the marble floor with a loud sound, cracking it.
He panted heavily.
The face that had stared so directly was unbearably revolting. Several times, he had restrained the urge to stab those eyes with a dagger.
“Damn it…”
Why did she always find herself attracted to such men? Why? He looked at the dented floor and buried his face in his hands.
It was a conversation no one had won.
Diana had to try on her dress multiple times for sewing adjustments.
“You’ve lost quite a bit of weight.”
Diana nodded at Mabel’s remark. The food in the Lodbrok Kingdom was vastly different from Panborough’s. Almost every dish was heavily spiced.
Because of that, she barely ate. The strong scents of saffron and pepper were enough to give her a headache.
The meat was the same. Locals served whole cuts, while she was used to only the edible portions. Even the sight of a fish’s hollow eyes was enough to kill her appetite.
In her previous life, she had screamed in front of Giskar when a whole roasted pig was served. Panborough-style cuisine soon followed, and people criticized her for being a picky queen, a woman nostalgic for a fallen culture, despite being a mere slave.
She hoped she wouldn’t hear such complaints again. Now, she wondered where Giskar was. Occasionally, they had dined together…
“Is the food not to your taste?”
“I’m just not hungry.”
Better to hear less criticism. Mabel sighed but she paid no mind.
The dress on her emaciated frame looked ridiculous. But it didn’t matter. She had no dreams about marriage anyway.
Diana looked down at her skirt. The crinoline inflated the dress too much, making her frail figure even more unremarkable.
“Do you like the dress?”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
At that moment, a voice came from behind.
“Lies.”
A hot breath touched the back of her neck. Diana lifted her head and saw the man with violet eyes standing behind her.
