ICM Chapter 103

That day was supposed to be the day Weive would come. However, when the door was opened with anticipation, what came bursting in were unidentified assassins.

That day, many of those who had been protecting Ibis died. The bloodline of knight families had been exterminated by the emperor’s command. Those who had escaped the Grand Duchy with Weive’s help and had been protecting Ibis were sacrificed.

Ibis fled with two children and the last surviving escort knight. Ibis carried the small child, while the knight carried the larger child as they ran. Perhaps even then she had already sensed it. That she would have to die for this tragedy to end.

The two people scattered, each carrying a child, and as expected, the pursuers came after Ibis.

Ibis was stabbed by a sword while holding the child. When the child’s heart-wrenching cries subsided, what soaked her chest was hot blood. The blood of her child, more precious than her own life. The blood pouring from her own heart.

“Aaaahhhhh!”

And she couldn’t remember what happened next. When she came to her senses, what entered her vision were corpses that had been burned black, with only their forms remaining. The shapes of friend and foe alike, indistinguishable, scattered eerily in the blowing wind.

When she realized that not even the child’s corpse remained, Ibis stood up blankly from her spot and wandered through the forest. Thinking that perhaps the child, whose body was nowhere to be found, might still be alive somewhere.

The memory of that day, the heart-breaking memory in that forest, had become the present for Iben.

“…Mommy will hold you. Don’t cry, my baby….”

Drushia and Nile looked at each other’s faces, unable to speak. They didn’t know what to do with the woman searching for her lost child, the woman endlessly shedding tears of anguish.

“I’ll do it.”

Still, it was Nile who had experienced Iben up close. Drushia raised both hands and stepped back.

“Iben, it’s me. Nile. We don’t have much time. We need to get out of here.”

Even knowing she couldn’t understand, Nile gently explained the situation.

“I’ve come to help, so don’t be surprised. I’m going to carry you and take you out of here. Understand?”

Still sobbing, Iben didn’t respond to the voice.

“Lady Ashika is very worried. We need to get out quickly to reassure her.”

The tears of the woman who had been crying as if mad suddenly stopped. Drushia watched Iben’s reaction carefully.

“Ahh….”

“Yes, Lady Ashika.”

The woman, covered in tears, laughed softly, “Heh heh.”

“…The treasure my child left behind.”

Nile and Drushia’s movements came to a complete stop. They couldn’t imagine what those words meant. As the two stood frozen in bewilderment, their companions approached.

“Too much time has been wasted. Let’s go now.”

“Nile.”

At Drushia’s urging, Nile came to his senses. Looking into Iben’s eyes, he gently patted her hand.

“I’m going to carry you, so don’t be surprised. Understand?”

It was a gentle tone. Even if she couldn’t understand the meaning, it felt like she could somehow grasp what he was saying. Iben leaned her body against Nile’s outstretched arms.

There was someone the group leaving the annex failed to notice. The woman who had followed late and was hiding under the bushes covered her mouth to prevent a scream from escaping.

‘What is that woman’s identity?’

Iben appeared at the end of Shafri’s gaze for only a moment. In the instant when Nile carried her and turned around, Shafri saw clearly.

She knew she shouldn’t go closer, but she couldn’t contain her curiosity. The woman that Marquis Maiheller, who had been indifferent to everything in the world, had kidnapped. She wanted to confirm, thinking she might become his weakness.

But someone she had never imagined passed before her eyes.

Platinum hair and blue-violet eyes. The proof of blood that was passed down to only one bloodline in the entire empire.

‘She’s a woman of the Arkpella Grand Ducal family!’

****

Having stayed awake all last night and unable to sleep all day today, Drushia sat in his office chair with bloodshot red eyes, listening to Kalf’s report.

“I’ve stationed knights at the safe house and sent the more agile ones to surround Lady Igraine.”

“Make sure they don’t clash with Nile.”

“I’ve already given them warnings about that.”

They had sent Iben to the prepared safe house with Nile accompanying her. Guards had been stationed in preparation for any possible situation. Knowing the problem was more complicated than expected, they had doubled the number of guards from what was originally planned.

“What about what you found out about that woman? Is Iben Siclaire a real person?”

“Yes. She’s the widow of Baron Siclaire who died about 20 years ago.”

If she were the real Iben Siclaire, she would be in her mid-thirties. However, the Iben that Drushia had seen had a face whose age was difficult to guess.

“Someone who worked at the baron’s house at the time confirmed it. He remembers she had reddish-gold hair, but he says he can’t remember her face or other features.”

“Ha. He can’t remember?”

That couldn’t be right. Though he had only seen her for the first time last night, she was a woman of such beauty that would be impossible to forget once glimpsed. Moreover, her physical characteristics were impossible within the empire – platinum hair and blue-violet eyes.

If Nile hadn’t recognized Iben’s face, he might have mistaken it for some kind of error.

“Ashika really surprised me this time.”

It was a situation that couldn’t be fully expressed by the word “shock.” An undeniably Arkpella bloodline member that anyone could see. If the fact that a direct descendant of the Grand Ducal family still remained became known, it would cause tremendous bloodshed.

According to what he heard from Nile, it was called a kidnapping. Marquis Maiheller had precisely sought out and taken the woman.

‘He definitely did it knowing.’

How much did Marquis Maiheller know? Did the woman know she was a target? Who exactly was the woman?

There were many things he wanted to ask, but since there was no reason to stay at the safe house when Ashika wasn’t there either, he had returned.

“What about what you found out regarding Count Granati?”

When Drushia learned that Count Granati was Shafri’s betrothed, he had questions for a different reason.

He wasn’t particularly wealthy nor did he have political influence. Except for the fact that part of his territory was adjacent to the border region.

Kalf handed over the prepared documents and calmly recited the prepared information.

“Count Granati’s territory was originally an area with many beast hunters, but mercenaries have increased at some point. About 20 years ago, there was only one small village near the border, but it gradually increased to four villages now.”

“That place is quite barren, yet there are that many villages?”

Having managed the border regions, Talion had consistently gathered information about areas that weren’t his own territory. Talion guarded the area with the most severe conflicts with foreign tribes, and Granati’s territory only bordered a very small part of the empire’s frontier.

Even that was an area where many beasts roamed, so people didn’t travel there. It had no military significance either, so only a single watchtower had been erected there.

“It’s definitely suspicious.”

No matter how callous Marquis Maiheller was, it was incomprehensible that he would send his daughter to be the third wife of a man with a bad reputation. He wasn’t lacking in money, and the benefits to be gained from a marriage alliance with Count Granati weren’t particularly visible.

“Send someone to Granati’s territory. Tell them to search thoroughly, especially focusing on the border areas.”

He had thought Marquis Maiheller was only targeting him. But what the marquis was actually after wasn’t Talion but the Grand Duke’s castle. Then suddenly this woman called Iben had popped up. How had Ashika become involved with that woman?

‘And what does that statement mean?’

[…The treasure my child left behind.]

It was confusing. If the Grand Duchess were alive, she would be at least in her mid-sixties. If it were a child of the Grand Duchess, it might make sense, but wasn’t she divorced by the Crown Prince for infertility?

Who was the child the woman had been searching for while under the influence of drugs? If the child Iben spoke of was alive, it would mean there was another bloodline of the Grand Ducal family.

There was something Drushia didn’t know. Something that, if revealed, would cause great upheaval. His instincts whispered that he must find out what was tantalizingly within reach.

Drushia rubbed his strained eyes and stood up from his seat.

“Send someone to the Grand Duchy to check on grandfather’s condition. Also find out when he’ll be coming to the capital.”

“Yes, Your Grace. But aren’t you going to send a letter to Lady Igraine?”

“To Ashika…”

Nile had remained at the safe house instead of the Igraine mansion. With no one to deliver a message, she would be anxiously waiting for news.

“She’d prefer a direct meeting rather than a letter. Send a carriage that can take her to the safe house.”

“Yes. I’ll send it right away with several guards.”

Normally he would have written and sent a letter himself, but not now. Drushia’s feelings were too complicated for that.

He had heard from Nile how they came to meet Iben. Also the fact that it was that woman who had saved Drushia several months ago.

‘She said she was an alchemist.’

Who could have imagined such secrets lay behind an ordinary meeting?

‘Did Ashika not know the woman’s identity?’

The thought crossed his mind that perhaps she had known. Even knowing that Drushia would step forward with just one word asking for help, Ashika had deliberately chosen the difficult path.

‘Was the reason for trying to exclude me because of the woman’s identity?’

He wanted to rush to meet Ashika immediately rather than send a letter. But right now, organizing his thoughts took priority.

“What about meal preparations?”

“No, I’d like to rest for now.”

“Yes, then please rest.”

After Kalf left the office, the fatigue he had forgotten came rushing in all at once.

Shaking off his unorganized thoughts, he opened the locked desk drawer. Inside was the necklace that Ashika had forgotten and left behind. He didn’t know why he thought of this object, but as if enchanted, he took it out.

“Another gem has broken.”

Of the five gems, four had broken. The sturdy gems that seemed like they would never break were filled with cracks and looked like they would crumble at any moment. Now only the gem set in the center remained intact.

“Should I have someone look into the gems too?”

He sighed spontaneously, thinking that everything was becoming a concern. Drushia shook his head.

But his hand, which was about to put the necklace back in the drawer, stopped abruptly.

“Could it be?”

A realization that struck his head. A thrill ran through his entire body momentarily. Drushia hastily picked up the necklace to examine it again.

“Right. What I saw in my dream was something like this.”

He had thought it was just a dream and let it pass. Thinking it would be a story mixed with delusions and misconceptions, as dreams usually are.

But it wasn’t easily forgotten, so he had found it strange. Why had Talion’s sacred object, which he had never seen, appeared in his dream? Why had that brief scene been so clearly imprinted in his mind? And a very similar gem was now before his eyes.

The series of events that had occurred until now. The fragmented clues that couldn’t find connection points were throwing a common thread.

Drushia dropped the hand holding the necklace and muttered in bewilderment.

“My God, Ashika. What on earth is all this?”

This necklace was the sacred object of the Arkpella Grand Ducal family that was known to have disappeared.