ICM Chapter 129

A dejected sigh escaped from Weive’s lips. He had been extremely careful, hiding and concealing everything, yet Ashika already knew and was curious about the Grand Duchy, and Neoren, whom he had long avoided, had known all along and was demanding the truth.

 

Even Weive hadn’t known from the beginning. He had learned that Ibis, whom he thought was dead, was alive shortly after his son’s death. At the funeral, he spotted a woman watching from afar and at first doubted his own eyes.

 

Strength drained from his legs. The power left his shoulders, which he had kept rigidly straight, and they sagged. Weive collapsed into a chair rolling on the floor.

 

“How… did you find out?”

 

“It was after that child, after Vanne died. I was raging like mad, but then at some point, I noticed something strange.”

 

The Weive that Neoren knew was a rigid but principled man. Even if it was a forced marriage, he wouldn’t turn away from his wife’s death. In Weive’s eyes, Neoren read fear and guilt. That’s when he knew. There was something he couldn’t tell anyone.

 

Neoren wanted to know, and Weive thoroughly turned away. Weive absorbed all the blame. There was nothing more he could do.

 

Time passed during this, and the death of Neoren’s sister Vanne seemed to be forgotten.

 

However, another tragedy struck. The devastating tragedy of both families’ heirs being massacred. The dam collapse accident for which no clues could be found, and Weive’s even stranger behavior.

 

Weive’s expression at the memorial service was devastating, and Neoren read the hidden terror within it. And as expected, Weive chose to stop the investigation and hide.

 

Who could be so frightening that the House of Igraine would have to hold its breath? Neoren first suspected the Imperial Family as being behind the accident.

 

However, the problem was not so simple.

 

The only Imperial figure connected to both Grand Ducal houses was the Empress Dowager, the last direct descendant of the Grand Duchy. But he couldn’t find a reasonable motive.

 

It was Igraine and Talion who diligently managed the Grand Duchy that the Empress Dowager had abandoned. So it was even more incomprehensible. It took time before he dove directly into all these questions.

 

“At some point, clues started appearing one by one.”

 

As if someone had deliberately left them, clues came into Neoren’s hands through coincidence after coincidence.

 

He found the people the Empress Dowager had secretly sent to Igraine territory, and confirmed rumors about Weive’s murdered child. When he found the place where Weive had hidden his mistress, he finally discovered the connection to the Empress Dowager.

 

“I found the alchemist. Someone who had once been abroad and entered the Empire at the request of an Imperial noble. I caught evidence of your aide making contact. He asked for a potion that could change eye color, didn’t he?”

 

How had such courage emerged from the young man he had thought of only as a frail young master? The Weive that Neoren knew would never act recklessly. Especially not in such a momentous matter affecting the family’s fate. Even now, it was unbelievable.

 

“The alchemist said this. Potions that transform the body are unstable and destroy the body. They’re drugs not used carelessly unless one is quite desperate. Why would a young master raised like a greenhouse flower need such a potion?”

 

Following this trail to its end, he found her. Grand Duchess Ibis of Arkpella. There were people who knew of her existence, though no one was supposed to know. They were the people Weive had brought from the Grand Duchy.

 

“But what I couldn’t understand was the Empress Dowager’s attitude. Why she so thoroughly trampled the Grand Duchy. Why she so persistently tried to kill even her own sister and the children – I couldn’t understand it. What mortal enmity could exist between sisters?”

 

Until recently, he couldn’t find an answer to that question. Perhaps if not for the incident at the Imperial Palace, he might never have known.

 

“Drushia sent me news. That Maiheller was suspicious. But surely…”

 

A hollow laugh escaped. The Empress Dowager had deceived the entire Empire. The fact that she was illegitimate wasn’t important. The problem was all the status she had enjoyed as a member of the Arkpella Grand Ducal house and the tragedy that resulted from it.

 

“You knew, didn’t you? Why didn’t you tell me the truth long ago?”

 

“If I had told you? What would have happened?”

 

It was during Neoren’s hot-blooded days. The hot-blooded young Duke of the Talion house, which held the largest military force in the Empire.

 

The moment Neoren lost his reason and mobilized force, Igraine would be dragged in as well. Weive wanted to avoid the worst-case scenario.

 

“I only knew the Empress Dowager was behind it all. But what method could there be against the Imperial Family? My youngest child was murdered, and Vanne was murdered too. If Igraine and Talion joined hands, something even worse might have happened.”

 

Indeed, the tragedy had continued in this way.

 

Weive chose survival over fruitless anger. He could be called cowardly if they wished. Emotions could be swallowed down. He had to protect Ashika and preserve the family intact.

 

“That’s the greatest difference between you and me.”

 

The anger that Neoren couldn’t express in the past, Drushia now tries to express instead. That’s why Neoren had no intention of stopping him. But Weive was still on the cautious side.

 

“Who knows what more will happen. How do you plan to handle all that? Rather than taking risks, time might solve things. So like we’ve been doing until now…”

 

“If hiding could have solved it, why has nothing improved in the past several decades?”

 

Neoren’s rebuke was heavy and sharp. Weive buried his face in both hands. His sagging shoulders looked particularly small.

 

“So you’re going to let those children dig up the past?”

 

“Isn’t it time to sort out history that’s become hopelessly tangled?”

 

“The House of Maiheller and the Empress Dowager are one. Are you saying you’ll fight the Imperial Family?”

 

“If necessary.”

 

“Have you lost your mind! Are you planning to start a civil war!”

 

Despite Weive’s shouting, Neoren didn’t flinch.

 

“Long ago, my parents gave up the family’s sacred treasure to the previous Emperor’s demands. They showed loyalty to the previous Emperor who tried to frame them with false charges. What do you think I thought watching that?”

 

Talion had spent their lives sharpening swords and raising shields for the Empire. However, the previous Emperor was as wary of Talion as he was of Arkpella.

 

“In the past, the previous Emperor already tried once to put a leash on Talion. He tried to connect us to Arkpella with ridiculous pretenses. I can’t trust Contilia’s bloodline. Now there’s no point in running away. Both sides know.”

 

“I… didn’t want to pass such a heavy burden to Ashika.”

 

“Those children will think the same. They won’t want to pass both past tragedies and present threats to the children to be born.”

 

Just as Weive and Neoren were parents, Ashika and Drushia would become parents too. If the chain of tragedy wasn’t broken, they would step into danger again someday. So those two would never give up.

 

“The wedding is right around the corner. Just accept it.”

 

“Ha.”

 

A hollow laugh escaped from his amazement. Now less than a month remained until the wedding.

 

“How urgent they were. At least it’s fortunate that it’s not just that fellow running wild alone.”

 

Neoren was genuinely relieved. However, Weive found it difficult to accept the current situation.

 

“I’m afraid. I never imagined I’d lose Lanche so helplessly. So how can I know what will happen next?”

 

“Those children aren’t as weak as us. Haven’t you heard? It was Ashika who saved my life.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Weive’s eyes widened.

 

“At the Grand Duke’s Castle. I thought she was a lady raised like a greenhouse flower. Yes, I was quite surprised too.”

 

“Don’t tell me, the injury you suffered was at the Grand Duke’s Castle?”

 

As if realizing his mistake, Neoren closed his mouth.

 

Apart from news that the Grand Duke’s Castle’s seal had been broken, almost nothing was known to the outside. Weive had also only heard that there had been an accident.

 

“Were you perhaps attacked?”

 

“Maiheller had long waited for the Grand Duke’s Castle to open. They wouldn’t have wanted to miss the opportunity.”

 

“How dare they!”

 

Unable to contain his anger, Weive’s face flushed red.

 

“She knew. She must have known.”

 

What suddenly came to mind was Iben. She was the one who helped when Ashika ran away and guided her path to the Grand Duchy. So Iben must have known. That Maiheller would chase Ashika.

 

“She said the divine chamber must be opened. What method could she find to push her own granddaughter into danger?”

 

What Iben had said to Weive were incomprehensible things. The incomprehensible Arkpella bloodline and the secrets of the Grand Duke’s Castle. Weive had listened absently to the half-broken truth.

 

‘So that was the Grand Duchess.’

 

From Weive’s anger, he realized that the Grand Duchess was behind Ashika’s actions.

 

“Forty years. The years of living with the false charge of treason after losing family, house, and even the people. I could never understand the resentment in the Grand Duchess’s heart even if I died and came back to life.”

 

“How can that be an excuse!”

 

No matter how desperate the matter, it wasn’t important. The fact that Iben had driven Ashika into danger for her own purposes was a tremendous shock.

 

“So where is the Grand Duchess now?”

 

At Neoren’s serious question, Weive closed his mouth. It was tantamount to having already confessed that she was alive. Weive swallowed his anger and rubbed his flushed neck.

 

“What’s the point of knowing that? Aren’t there more important things than where the Grand Duchess is?”

 

At the curt answer, Neoren let out a chuckle. Weive blatantly avoided the topic.

 

“After even holding the wedding, you can’t back out. It’s unpredictable how the Emperor will react. What exactly do you plan to do going forward?”

 

“Maiheller was raising private soldiers.”

 

“What?”

 

Weive’s voice rose sharply. It had been only recently that he learned Maiheller was involved. But private soldiers?

 

Neoren recalled the information he had recently received from Drushia.

 

“It seems they joined hands with Count Granati, who’s adjacent to the border.”

 

“Don’t tell me Maiheller is planning rebellion?”

 

“I don’t know. Isn’t Maiheller a house that’s been in seclusion for generations? I can’t predict what they’re scheming.”

 

Unless it was a knightly house, the number of private soldiers in each territory was controlled by the Emperor. Raising more than that number was illegal.

 

However, territories far from the capital had difficulties maintaining public order, so they often raised soldier-like personnel under various pretenses.

 

“He’s my grandson, but I don’t understand that fellow’s mind either. He’s thoroughly hardened.”

 

Drushia, whom he had met again recently, had changed from when he saw him at the Grand Duke’s Castle. Seeing him mobilize more than half the territory’s forces, Neoren had opposed it. But when threatened that continued opposition would result in confiscation of Neoren’s military command authority, he had to keep quiet.

 

Drushia spoke to Neoren with the gleaming eyes of a beast protecting its territory. That no one would dare harm Talion and Igraine. When Drushia said he would no longer live in hiding, Neoren couldn’t argue.

 

It was already out of his hands. Everything depended on Drushia. Neoren continued in a grave tone.

 

“Drushia will strike down Maiheller.”