ITDHC 15

Chapter 15

Several days later.

Elissa had been dozing off while reading a book she had borrowed from the library when the sudden sound of a horse neighing startled her awake.

“Who is that?”

Elissa hurried to the window and looked outside.

She saw a man wearing the uniform of the Imperial Knights rushing into the mansion. There was something ominous about the urgency in his expression, and an uneasy feeling crept over her.

Elissa quickly left her room and went downstairs. The man was heading into Albert’s study, so Elissa followed him.

He seemed to be in such a hurry that he did not even fully close the study door. The man’s voice came through the gap.

“Your Grace, a war broke out with the Kingdom of Pairan on the western frontier yesterday evening.”

“…A war?”

“Yes. Therefore, His Majesty has issued a royal command.”

A war, all of a sudden?

Elissa blinked, her eyes losing focus.

From inside the study came the solemn voice of the knight as he read the emperor’s decree.

“I, Roam Kairot, command Rubellin to fulfill the covenant of brotherhood. Young Duke Richard Rubellin, uphold that oath and protect the Arencia Empire.”

Only after hearing the imperial command did Elissa understand why Christian, who had been perfectly healthy until then, had suddenly taken to his sickbed.

No—why he had only pretended to be sick.

The nobles who had begun gathering around the Duke of Rubellin after the hunting grounds incident, Christian suddenly falling ill around the same time, and now this sudden war.

All the pieces fit together perfectly.

The emperor had never been pleased with power gathering around the House of Rubellin, and the source of that power was the strength Richard had displayed at the hunting grounds.

From the beginning, the emperor had spread the news of Christian’s illness with the intention of starting a war.

If war broke out, the Crown Prince and the Imperial Prince were obligated to go to the battlefield to raise the morale of the soldiers. But there was no way they could send a sick man to war.

‘The emperor intends to kill Richard under the pretext of war.’

Because if Richard were left alive, he would eventually become an obstacle to the imperial family.

Albert had realized the emperor’s intentions as well, and he shouted furiously,

“Hah! So he really intends to bleed Rubellin dry!”

The Kingdom of Pairan bordered the western frontier of Arencia. It had originally been formed by bands of wandering bandits.

Perhaps they had never managed to abandon their old ways, because Pairan’s bandits frequently raided the people of the Arencia Empire. As a result, relations between Pairan and Arencia were extremely poor.

The emperor intended to solve two troublesome problems at once.

‘…It’s all right. Richard won’t die in this war.’

According to the original story, he would return safely and eventually become Hannes’s father. There was no reason for her to worry.

‘Then why do I feel so uneasy…?’

Before the knight could leave the study, Elissa turned away. Her weak, dragging footsteps carried her toward the mansion’s lobby.

By the time she reached the lobby, Richard was coming inside after leaving early that morning, as usual, to hunt monsters.

He was wearing a robe stained with what appeared to be monster blood, and his eyes were as indifferent as ever.

But to Elissa, he looked utterly exhausted.

The lifeless, dry eyes that never seemed to hold any spark suddenly lit up the moment he spotted Elissa standing before him.

The instant their eyes met, Elissa realized something.

‘Just because he won’t die doesn’t mean he won’t suffer. It doesn’t mean everything will be all right….’

Whether they were enemies or allies, taking countless lives and walking over their corpses could never be an easy thing to endure.

‘I don’t want to send him there.’

The moment she realized that, tears began to well up in her eyes.

Among all the people who saw him as nothing more than another chess piece, the thought that she was the only one who would grieve over the harsh fate awaiting him made her heart ache, and tears spilled from her eyes.

“…Elissa?”

Richard was clearly flustered by her sudden tears.

Unable to hold herself back any longer, Elissa burst into tears in front of him.

No matter how powerful Rubellin was, they could not defy an imperial command.

Not unless they intended to start a rebellion immediately.

Rubellin was not a house that could simply be looked down upon, but its line of succession was unstable. They did not have enough power to rebel against the empire.

So Albert turned his anger in another direction.

“Both of you. From tonight onward, focus on producing an heir.”

Richard’s expression twisted.

“No.”

“Is the duty of an heir something you can refuse simply because you dislike it? If you have taken that position, then perform the duties expected of you.”

“If that is Your Grace’s will, then I will step down as heir.”

Richard turned away with Elissa, as though he had no intention of listening any further.

That was when—

“If you die!”

Albert’s enraged voice stopped both Richard and Elissa in their tracks. It was the first time Elissa had ever heard him speak with such fury.

Elissa turned to look at Albert, but Richard remained standing with his back to him.

After taking a moment to steady his breathing, Albert continued in a more restrained voice.

“If you die, what happens to Rubellin? The emperor will absorb Rubellin, and some collateral branch that cannot inherit Rubellin’s strength will take over what remains. Even this name will be lost. As long as I am alive, I will never stand by and watch that happen.”

“……”

“How much blood have I shed with these hands to protect and build this family? I will never allow it to end like that. Never.”

Richard’s grandfather was not afraid of his grandson’s death itself.

He was afraid that Richard’s death would lead to the downfall of the family he had spent his entire life protecting and building.

Richard had already known what Albert truly thought, but hearing it directly to his face made him feel even more miserable.

A bitter smile spread across Richard’s lips.

He took a deep breath and turned to face Albert. His gaze had grown cold.

Richard spat out each word as though grinding them between his teeth.

“…I won’t die.”

“……”

“Even if I reach the threshold of death, I’ll cross it and cross it again, no matter how many times it takes… I’ll survive.”

“……”

“I will never let Rubellin fall like that.”

I’ll be the one to destroy it with my own hands.

“So never again—”

Before Richard could finish, Elissa suddenly interrupted.

“I’ll do as Your Grace ordered.”

Albert’s stiff expression softened at her unexpectedly obedient answer.

Richard stared at Elissa in surprise.

But Elissa asked with an innocent expression,

“Then can we leave now?”

And just like that, the conversation ended.

After leaving Albert’s study, Elissa hurried away before Richard could even ask her what she meant.

That night came without Richard seeing Elissa again.

After taking a bath, Richard stood in front of their bedroom door with an uneasy feeling.

‘Elissa seemed like she had something in mind earlier….’

After hesitating for a moment, Richard entered the room.

Elissa had already washed and was lying on the bed.

When she saw Richard enter, she lifted her head slightly and patted the empty space beside her.

“I’m tired today, so let’s go to sleep quickly.”

There was not the slightest trace of tension on her face.

Richard remained by the door, unable to bring himself to approach her.

Elissa suddenly sat upright and looked at him.

“I promised I wouldn’t eat you, remember? Come here.”

Richard was dumbfounded, but for the time being, he followed Elissa’s words and went to the bed.

Once he sat beside her, Elissa showed him something.

“Ta-da! Guess what this is?”

It was a small black medicine bottle.

Richard looked at it suspiciously.

“…What is it?”

“Chicken blood. They say if you sprinkle it around, it looks enough like real blood.”

“Chicken blood?”

“Let’s sleep first, then wake up early tomorrow morning and sprinkle this on the bed sheets. That way, His Grace the Duke will keep quiet until you leave.”

Only then did Richard realize where Elissa had gone earlier that day.

Elissa cleared her throat as though she had something important to say, then spoke with an unusually serious expression.

“For your first time, don’t let anyone else’s wishes influence you. Do it with the person you truly love.”

“Why?”

“Huh? Well… because when you love someone, you want to share every precious moment with them.”

Richard stared intently at Elissa as she said this.

Elissa met his persistent gaze blankly for a moment before belatedly realizing how awkward she felt and looking away.

His normally indifferent eyes seemed strangely different now, darkened by an emotion she could not quite identify.

“Th-then let’s go to sleep!”

Elissa flopped back onto the bed.

Richard followed and lay down beside her.

Before long, the quiet room filled with the sound of Elissa’s peaceful breathing.

As naturally as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, Elissa rolled toward Richard and nestled herself against his arm.

Richard turned his entire body toward the sleeping Elissa.

The words she had spoken earlier came back to him.

‘Love….’

The word love was completely unfamiliar to Richard.

He had never received it, so naturally, he had never known how to give it either.

His mother had died when he was too young to remember her properly, and his maternal uncle had raised him by feeding him just enough to keep him alive, solely because he wanted to extort money from the ducal family.

His father had never once come looking for him, and his grandfather had tried to kill him the moment he learned of his existence.

That was the life Richard had always known.

Then, one day, the girl before him appeared.

The only person who worried about him, stood on his side, fought for him, and cried for him.

Richard still did not know what the emotion called love was.

But there was one thing he knew for certain.

‘I don’t want to lose the only person I have.’

Richard gazed silently at the sleeping Elissa before carefully wrapping his arms around her warmth.

The warmth of another person in his arms for the first time in his life was warm and comforting.

Richard’s eyes slowly blinked, then gently closed.