The End of Your Arrogance - Chapter 71

Everyone was stunned to see the two people returning together to the annex. As they regained their composure, they knelt and bowed to the Duke and Duchess.

Evelyn glanced around, acknowledging greetings with a nod. Sophie, standing at the forefront, gestured slightly with her arms spread and made a small curtsey upon seeing Evelyn. Then she pointed outside.

“It seems you’re with the Eagle, thankfully,” she remarked.

Relieved by the news that the child was having a good time, Evelyn looked at Ilya and asked, “My lord, what about breakfast…?”

The voice, sharp and cutting, startled Evelyn. Sophie, too, widened her eyes as she looked at Evelyn.

“Have it in your room,” Sophie replied.

When Evelyn looked at Sophie, the latter smiled and nodded. The attendants continued to whisper about the disheveled appearance of the two until they disappeared.

The two entered Evelyn’s bedroom. Silence fell between them as they sat across each other at a small table. Evelyn felt awkward and absentmindedly toyed with the edge of her skirt.

It was the first time they had sat like this during daylight. Despite spending many nights together, he had never stayed in her room until the next morning.

Since the beginning of their marriage, Evelyn couldn’t help but feel disappointed, but she never spoke a word to her husband. After all, he was a man who couldn’t sleep. Sleeping with someone was something he couldn’t offer.

“Ah, ah, kyaaaaaa.”

“Careful, little human.”

A child’s voice echoed through the open window into the room. Unconsciously, Evelyn smiled as she looked out the window. Upon hearing the child’s voice, the words he had said last night suddenly came to her mind.

“Yeah, the child. There’s still an issue we need to resolve between us,” he had said.

Evelyn turned her head and looked at Ilya. He was staring at her as if he hadn’t heard anything.

A soft, cautious knock on the door interrupted them.

“Mistress, breakfast has been brought.”

Before Evelyn could speak, Ilya shouted in her stead.

“Come in.”

Servants placed the food from the tray onto the table one by one. Due to his busy schedule, a sandwich with juicy, succulent meat was the main course for Ilya. The plate with the sandwich also came with a crisp salad made of fresh vegetables, but Ilya paid no attention.

Ilya eyed the concave plate in front of Evelyn, licking his lips.

“Is that all you can manage after starving me since last night?”

Evelyn wrote on the table with her fingers.

“Can’t eat anything else because of a sore throat?”

Evelyn nodded. She looked at the steaming vegetable soup in front of her and smiled slightly. Sophie, surprised by Evelyn’s hoarse voice, seemed to have specially requested it from the chef.

Evelyn still felt the warmth rising from the freshly made soup as she took a sip. Feeling her sore throat a bit relieved, she smiled.

Watching her silently, Ilya picked up the sandwich.

Finishing his meal first, Ilya discreetly observed Evelyn eating. His thoughts were complex as he looked at the food on the table.

“He said he tampered with the food.”

How did the Black Forest knights betray Maduse in the Tartar Gorge? The few Maduse’s knights who had entered the gorge with him were all massacred on the spot. They might not have known they were coming to their deaths, being deceived by Maduse. However, in the face of imminent death, not a single one of them could entertain such rational thoughts.

A similar incident must have occurred here.

In this place, Maduse had only two people with him – his wife and young son.

The difference was that the fallen ones in the Tartar Gorge were knights directly involved in the war, while the Maduse family members in the ducal residence had nothing to do with the war, being women and a child.

Perhaps what happened here was even more brutal than in the Tartar Gorge.

The once princess’s fall from that high place might have been quite thrilling. Not only the participants in the war but even those unrelated to it might have hunted down that small woman-like prey.

Ilya knew well how cruel human existence could become. He finally realized that he had never thought about what his wife had gone through while he was absent.

“Your Grace?”

Evelyn, who had finished her meal, looked at him curiously.

“Your expression… seems strange.”

Though Evelyn was smiling today as well, Ilya now understood. She was always smiling when looking at him, but behind that smile, she was always crying.

“At night… I’ll come back. Rest for now.”

He stood up abruptly as if escaping.

****

Leaving the annex, Ilya aimlessly wandered to the deputy commander’s office. The upright man had only one place to go. Ilya headed to the stables.

The deputy commander greeted Ilya with a staggered walk.

“Your Grace, did you get some sleep last night?”

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you, Master?”

They exchanged a few words and burst into laughter. When Ilya stopped laughing, the deputy commander spoke.

“We still haven’t discovered why Viscount Maduse went to the east. His excuse about wanting to meet the lady in the eastern neutral zone is just a pretext. It seems his real purpose is a meeting with Viscount Basil.”

“How many times have they met?”

The deputy commander pondered for a moment.

“According to the spies planted in the east, it’s at least three times. They mostly met at a high-end tavern where Viscount Basil frequents, keeping an eye out for them.”

Ilya stroked his chin. He was still determining exactly what discussions had taken place there, but he had a guess. It was likely in exchange for handing over his wife to Viscount Basil, Ilya received control of a copper mine.

“What on earth does he plan to do with that? Is he planning to start a rebellion?”

The deputy commander continued speaking.

“I left two knights in the east for now. If anything happens, we’ll receive a message.”

Ah, Ilya asked about something he had forgotten.

“Where is that guy now?”

When Ilya inquired about Maduse’s knight who had left as an envoy, the deputy commander waited as if anticipating the question.

“Aside from that, I have something to inform Your Grace about the child left behind. Wouldn’t it be better to consider him as your heir?”

Ilya frowned.

“Why would I want to keep such a dangerous fellow by my side?”

No one knew the identity of the knight. He had lost his memory after surviving in the Tartar Gorge. There was nothing known about his name, age, or family.

“Well, you’ll be marching to Acried Castle soon, won’t you?”

Acried Castle, the impregnable fortress in the heart of the Maduse fiefdom.

Of course, Ilya and the Black Forest Knights had to go there. They had sworn amidst the corpses in the gorge that they would seek revenge, no matter what.

“When you march to Acried Castle, that child will undoubtedly be of help. It’s my knight’s instinct.”

If Stas manipulated a scheme with his excellent mind, Deputy Commander Aeron was someone with knightly instincts still intact. Ilya trusted his mentor’s instincts.

“Do as you wish.”

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

Ilya had one last question he wanted to ask. Just thinking about that person made a fire burn inside him.

“Odin Maduse said something.”

The usually amiable face of the deputy commander twisted rarely. He licked his lips and spoke.

“He’s a truly repulsive man. Although the eldest son didn’t seem to be like that.”

“…”

“I heard rumors about his madness, but seeing it in person was quite something. He rushed at a giant like he was possessed by some demon…”

Even the Black Forest Knights turned their heads in awe at him, who flipped his eyes and swung an axe at his subordinate.

“It’s said that he spent a long time in the eastern wasteland before becoming the heir. He did have a form of madness back then, but it wasn’t to this extent.”

Ilya was convinced. Evelyn’s vermilion ring undoubtedly worsened his madness. One corner of Ilya’s mouth twisted up.

“He fell for his trick.”

Odin Maduse had struck his eldest son from behind in Tartar. Now it was time for the foolish stepson to experience the same fate.

***

Ilya, having risen late, worked diligently. Late at night, after finishing his duties, he went to the annex as promised with Evelyn. The face he was looking for among those who came out to greet him was not there. Ilya stared intently at Bellina, who stood at the front.

“Your Grace, the mistress is unwell. She’s been ill since the afternoon…”

Before Bellina could finish her sentence, Ilya ascended the stairs leading to the bedroom. At the bedroom door, Arthas stood with a worried expression. Arthas bowed at the sight of Ilya. He entered the room as if waiting for permission.

He strode purposefully through the room.

Evelyn sat on a large cushion, leaning against it almost lying down. Sophie, Evelyn’s maid, and the maids with a medicine bowl and towels were fidgeting nervously. When Ilya approached, they greeted him and stepped back. Ilya asked Sophie.

“Did the physician visit?”

“Yes, Your Grace. He said she has a fever and needs several days of rest.”

Ilya sighed. After crying and shouting so much yesterday, it was only natural for her to feel unwell.

“Why is she sitting up?”

“She needs to take the medicine, but she couldn’t swallow well, so we did this.”

Ilya reached out to the maid standing behind him. Sophie gestured to the maid, staring blankly at his hand. The maid quickly handed the medicine bowl and spoon to Ilya.

“Everyone, leave.”

As the maids left the room, silence filled the space. He placed the medicine bowl and spoon on the small table next to the bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he pulled Evelyn’s shoulder towards him. The warmth was intense, enough to make even him, someone with a lower usual body temperature, feel hot.

Muffled sounds accompanied the grip on the shirt near the chest. Ilya felt the strength in her hands as she clutched the shirt. When the maids left, the room fell silent. Ilya stretched his legs onto the bed and pulled Evelyn into his arms. The sound of her groaning, along with the gripping of the shirt near her chest, was felt.

“Did you wake up? Take the medicine…”

“A dream.”

Evelyn whispered with a voice that seemed like it would soon disappear. She looked at him with half-opened eyes.

“Hurts… It’s so painful, and yet you’re by my side… Can’t be true…”

Because this is a dream.

With the hand that had been caressing her cheek, she grabbed the shirt again and lost consciousness. Ilya’s hand, which was stroking Evelyn’s hair embraced against his chest, trembled.