ICM Chapter 146

“I didn’t want to create secrets between us, but there were things that were difficult to explain without stating the facts.”

However, Drushia had now concluded that it was better to be together than for each to bear their burdens alone.

Ashika touched his hand and spoke.

“Is that how you found out about Nile?”

Drushia nodded.

“The Empress Dowager is a persistent person. She had a talent for quietly disposing of people who fell out of her favor. But why did she spare the deposed empress whom she so strongly opposed?”

The Empress Dowager was able to place Clemen from a humble family on the empress throne because the emperor wanted her. Though she was eventually cast out by the Empress Dowager, it would have been troublesome if the emperor showed lingering attachment. Yet she kept her alive instead of killing her.

“I thought perhaps the deposed empress held some card. And remember? The story told by the herb gatherer who came to where we were hiding. He said the empire’s emperor had changed.”

In the lost time, after the destruction of both the Igraine and Talion families, the empire fell into chaos for a while.

News that reached even the distant, remote cabin. The Grand Duchy had been divided by the emperor and redistributed among the nobles, and in that process, riots eventually broke out. The nobles of the Grand Duchy, who had been bound hand and foot, rose up with secretly raised private armies.

In the midst of the confusion, a prince born to the deposed empress, whose existence was unknown, raised an army and the regime changed. Viscount Nedrov, who had adopted and raised the prince in place of the deposed empress, was promoted to marquis, and Count Majes, the deposed empress’s family, became a ducal house.

When Drushia heard the name Nedrov and faced Nile, he realized in that moment. That he was the prince he had never met in his dreams.

“Nile isn’t someone who has greed for power. So how was that possible?”

“I heard that right after the emperor changed, the Grand Duke’s family was also cleared of treason charges. That would mean someone from the Grand Duchy joined hands with the hidden prince. Perhaps that was the Grand Duchess?”

“Ah.”

Ashika let out a small exclamation.

Iben had long been leaking the truth to both Igraine and Talion sides while warning of hidden threats. Weive and Neoren knew their opponent was the Empress Dowager and ultimately chose not to move, but if they had known of Nile’s existence, the situation might have been different.

In the current time, many things changed when Ashika moved. Drushia moved following Ashika, and as their relationship changed, Marquis Maiheller, who had been keeping quiet, began to act in earnest. This caused problems to surface faster and on a larger scale.

His low, resonant voice continued the explanation methodically. The facts he remembered and speculation, and stories beyond that. Some stories Ashika knew, and some she was newly realizing.

In truth, more than the content, his voice calmed her anxiety. The warmth flowing from the fireplace and the cozy feeling of the blanket wrapped around her body. Drushia’s gentle gaze as he tried desperately to reassure her.

Confirming that Ashika’s expression had become much more comfortable, Drushia brought up the story he had postponed.

“Remember? In that… time, your father was still alone.”

Ashika nodded. Come to think of it, her father Lanche had lived quite a lonely life. Drushia quietly searched his memories.

“There, your aunt married another man early. So the two never even had a chance to meet.”

That marriage didn’t last long either. Jelosia, Drushia’s aunt, died in an accident not many years after marriage. Perhaps some conspiracy was involved there too. Looking back now, it probably wasn’t a simple accident.

“Would your father have been happier remaining alone all that time, or having had time to love, even briefly?”

Her moist black eyes looked forlorn. Drushia gently wiped her wet eyes with his fingertips and whispered tenderly.

“If it were me, I would be grateful for having had the chance to meet, for having been able to be together.”

Ashika blinked slowly. Perhaps Drushia’s words were right.

Lanche, who knew his mother’s true identity, married without complaint to whoever Weive chose for him. But the loveless marriage ended in just about a year.

And then he met Jelosia. For Lanche, who had been living quietly to avoid his unfortunate past, that was probably his first love.

“…Father’s face looked happy.”

Lanche, who had left Ashika in the carriage and headed alone to the construction site because of rain. Looking back now, he seemed excited about meeting Jelosia.

A vivid memory that wouldn’t fade no matter how much she tried to forget. Her father’s last expression was a brightly smiling face.

“Yes, it probably was like that.”

“Even if he had known the end, wouldn’t he have run to her anyway? I would have.”

Because I can’t even imagine a world without you. His deep blue eyes revealed utterly sincere truth without a hint of doubt.

Now she seemed to understand a little. Why the Talion divine stone had first awakened Ashika rather than Drushia. That was probably Drushia’s earnest wish. His desperate desire to save Ashika.

It had always been that way. Drushia had been desperate to protect her at every moment. Even in moments when neither of them realized it, it was always like that.

Only then did she remember. She wasn’t the only one who had received a shock.

“…Rushia, are you okay?”

Drushia’s parents were found in one place under collapsed buildings, along with the missing family knights. Like the others, they were in perfect condition without a single wound.

Drushia’s eyes darkened. The boy who lost his parents at the young age of twelve and became alone grew up quickly. That didn’t mean the wounds of childhood disappeared.

Why hadn’t she realized this sooner? Ashika gently stroked his hand.

His darkened blue eyes slowly closed. Drushia let out a small sigh and pushed away the old emotions.

“You’re here.”

So it’s okay, because you’re here I can endure it.

Ashika felt sorry belatedly.

“I’m sorry for not being more considerate.”

Drushia had been anxiously watching over her, but Ashika, caught up in her own grief, had failed to look after him. When the atmosphere grew heavy, Drushia subtly changed the subject.

“Didn’t you recently get word from Julmanan? That Duke Igraine is preparing to pass on his title.”

“Oh, right.”

Life returned to Ashika’s eyes that had been downcast all along. It was because there was an immediate problem to face.

“Why now of all times?”

“Grandfather wants to go to the Grand Duchy with Iben.”

“What?”

Drushia’s eyes widened in surprise.

“He says he wants to help because there’s so much work to be done in the Grand Duchy.”

“Such pure intentions?”

Iben had been the lover and wife he had searched for decades. In the end, he would pass everything about Igraine to Ashika along with the title, and Weive would freely be with Iben.

“It was going to come to me anyway. It’s just happening a little sooner.”

Even as she spoke, Ashika felt gloomy. Drushia openly expressed his dissatisfaction.

“How is it that your work keeps increasing? Will your body be able to handle it?”

“If you know that, stop tormenting me.”

“What am I…”

He understood what she meant. Drushia leaned forward and brought his face close.

“Alright, I agree this time. I’ll torment you less for a while.”

“You’re not saying you won’t torment me at all?”

At her grumbling complaint, Drushia burst into laughter.

“That’s impossible.”

Drushia reached out and caressed around her neck. The exposed white skin was softer than ever, so he gently stroked it.

“This necklace…”

Suddenly he stopped his hand and lifted Ashika’s necklace. It was something she had worn on her body like an amulet all along. As if something was strange, he bent his head and examined the divine stone.

“What’s wrong?”

“This looks broken.”

At Drushia’s words, Ashika was startled and sat up.

“Look at this.”

Drushia placed the pendant of the necklace in Ashika’s hand.

It was as he said. Even in the dim light, she could see that the largest divine stone in the center of the pendant was cracked. The divine stone, which had developed spider web-like fissures, had lost its vivid blue-violet color.

Doubt appeared on Drushia’s face. The last divine stone had been broken. What kind of vision had Ashika last encountered?

“Ashika, what did you see?”

At Drushia’s question, Ashika found it difficult to answer. What she had thought was a dream might not have been a dream. Ashika’s eyes darkened.

****

It took about three weeks to excavate the accident site and recover all the bodies. The tragedy that had been a deep wound like a furrow for over ten years could finally see its end only when the last missing person was found.

The bodies discovered this time were all sent to separately prepared resting chambers in each ducal castle rather than burial. This was because it felt horrible to bury again in the ground those who had suffered buried in earth for over ten years.

Neoren rushed from the border area upon hearing the news.

Facing the bodies of his son and daughter-in-law and daughter Jelosia, Neoren couldn’t even shed tears. He sat down helplessly before his children who had returned with faces as vivid as yesterday across time, and couldn’t get up for a long while.

Weive and Neoren agreed to lay Jelosia to rest in Igraine’s main castle together with Lanche. They didn’t want to separate the two who had shared even death.

During the funerals held by both families, all festivals and official events were suspended. No outside guests were received. Only the two families of Talion and Igraine could face each other’s grief.

While Talion and Igraine were busy with the search for the missing, the capital was turned upside down by the Maiheller family’s treason incident. All crimes were known to have been led by the Maiheller marquis family, and were processed as swiftly as when the Grand Duchy had been sealed off.

Marquis Maiheller had his territory confiscated and was imprisoned, but news afterward was ambiguous. Though a death sentence was pronounced, it wasn’t clear whether it had been carried out or not. Strange rumors circulated that the execution had failed, arousing people’s curiosity.

When Marquis Maiheller was arrested, the Empress Dowager, found nearby in the forest, entered the imperial palace under the protection of the imperial guard. But there was an untold story there. The Empress Dowager had a mental breakdown and began harming people indiscriminately, making it impossible for anyone to approach her.

Eventually, the Empress Dowager’s Palace was closed and the Empress Dowager was moved to a northern tower, leaving the capital. In reality, it was a treatment no different from confinement.

Someone’s curse that she should live trapped in her own nightmares until death gave Empress Dowager Ilerna a hell worse than death.