Chapter 30
The expedition and the Bernstein Knights continued their journey south, leaving behind the capital, Spellwood.
It was just past 3 p.m. when Cassian, leading the group, finally called for a halt.
“Hamil. We’ll eat and rest here for a while.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
After delegating the rest arrangements to Hamil, Cassian walked toward the rear of the group — to the carriage where Lydia was riding.
“Lydia.”
He called her name from outside, but there was no response. Instead, the carriage door quietly opened.
Peering inside, Cassian saw Lydia fast asleep, lying curled on her side across the seat. Marcus’s head poked out from within.
Cassian’s mood instantly soured.
Marcus stepped down silently and stretched his arms with a relieved sigh.
“Ah, meal time already? I was getting stiff in there.”
“I’ll arrange a different carriage for you tomorrow.”
“I’m fine where I am, though?”
Marcus blinked in confusion, but Cassian didn’t respond.
He was not fine.
Cassian suddenly realized that he had lived all this time under the delusion that he was a patient and even-tempered man.
Ever since learning what it meant to love, he had been anything but fine.
Marcus, catching the meaning behind Cassian’s words, gave a faint, knowing smile.
The look Cassian gave the sleeping Lydia — tender, protective — was nothing like how he looked at anyone else.
Anyone with eyes could tell what that gaze meant.
Even Marcus found the sight of Lydia — dozing off mid-blink, head tilted in sleep — undeniably endearing.
“You’re a kind man, Your Grace. I can understand your feelings.”
“You need not understand them.”
“Perhaps not, but… no matter how deep they run, won’t it be difficult?”
“That, too, is not for you to worry about.”
Cassian’s tone was curt, his gaze fixed elsewhere.
Even without that sharp line being drawn, Marcus knew he was overstepping.
And yet, he couldn’t quite walk away.
That utterly defenseless necromancer, who could fall asleep even in his presence, kept tugging at his thoughts.
The world rarely bends to one’s wishes.
Anyone could see that Lydia and Cassian’s path ahead would not be smooth — and if anyone were to be hurt, it would almost certainly be Lydia.
That thought pained Marcus.
“She’s a good person. I only hope she doesn’t get hurt.”
Those quiet, wind-like words made Cassian finally turn to face him.
He spoke softly, careful not to wake Lydia — but cold blue eyes gleamed with a restrained, deadly anger.
“Who dares hurt Lydia?”
Marcus swallowed hard. For an instant, he thought — this is not a man I’d ever want as an enemy.
Trying to explain himself, he said,
“You bear many burdens, Your Grace.”
“If any of those burdens were to hurt Lydia… I would cast them all aside.”
The unwavering conviction in those few words left Marcus speechless.
He had no faith deep enough to match that resolve.
When Marcus lowered his gaze, Cassian turned away, dismissing him.
Once Marcus was gone, Cassian quietly climbed into the carriage.
The harshness in his eyes melted away as he looked down at Lydia’s sleeping face.
He had once feared that when the soul-binding spell broke, his feelings might disappear — but instead, they had grown, unrestrained and fierce.
If Lydia hadn’t insisted on calling it “friendship,” those feelings might have already consumed him.
So this is what it means to love someone.
No power in the world could stop him, yet one word from her could bind him completely.
His heart strained toward her, restless and untamed — but for now, he would wait.
Cassian brushed a loose lock of black, wavy hair from her cheek.
The soft strands slipping between his fingers felt dangerously intoxicating.
“Lydia.”
Her name fell from his lips like a caress, and Lydia wrinkled her nose in her sleep.
He wanted to let her rest longer — but if she didn’t wake now, dinner would fall in the middle of the night.
“Lydia.”
At the second call, Lydia buried her face in a cushion, curled up — then finally blinked awake.
Her sleepy eyes fluttered like a kitten’s, impossibly cute.
“Your Grace? Have we arrived already?”
“Not yet. Just wake up for a meal and you can sleep again after.”
At the mention of food, Lydia groaned softly and stretched.
She had no idea when she’d fallen asleep, but it had been deep.
After a refreshing yawn, she met Cassian’s gaze. Feeling shy, she smiled awkwardly — and he smiled back, effortlessly handsome as ever.
Led by Cassian, Lydia stepped out of the carriage, where Ethan handed them their meal.
It was a simple fare — hard bread, jerky, and soup — yet somehow it tasted good.
Better to be a well-fed burden than a picky one, she told herself as she ate.
Then Cassian suddenly asked,
“Lydia, do you truly not intend to tell me what happened in the underground crypt?”
Lydia froze mid-bite, bread soaked in soup.
Her bright red eyes darted nervously before she forced an awkward smile.
“I told you already — the Grand Madam agreed to be my sponsor.”
“My mother doesn’t give anything without expecting something in return.”
They might not have had the warmest relationship, but Cassian understood Elisia perfectly.
Lydia rolled her eyes again, torn.
Even Cassian couldn’t be told everything — especially not about Elisia’s final request.
To explain that would mean revealing she had summoned the late Duke Bernstein himself, and that was far too entangled with Elisia’s private matters.
“Well… it’s complicated…”
While Lydia hesitated, Cassian had already guessed.
If Elisia had taken a necromancer like Lydia into the crypt, there was only one possible reason.
“You met my father, didn’t you?”
Lydia flinched — then nodded gloomily.
“I sent him back right away. He didn’t kneel to me or anything.”
Casting dark magic on the father of the man she liked was, to Lydia, profoundly awkward and shameful — especially after living over twenty years in a culture that prized propriety.
Seeing her flustered, Cassian gave a small, amused smile.
“As long as you weren’t harmed, that’s all that matters. Don’t trouble yourself.”
He said it with such calm sincerity that Lydia’s guilt only deepened.
She stirred her soup with a soggy piece of bread, then finally confessed.
“I also overheard that you were adopted… I’m sorry.”
Cassian tilted his head.
“Why apologize? It’s common knowledge — and adoption was my choice.”
“Your choice?”
“My father proposed it, but I made the decision. Sixteen years ago now.”
Sixteen years ago — Cassian would have been only ten years old.
Ten was far too young an age to make a life-altering choice.
He spoke lightly, but that boy must have struggled fiercely with it.
Adapting to strange people and a strange place could not have been easy.
Carefully, Lydia spoke, hoping not to sound condescending.
“You made a difficult decision at such a young age. It must’ve been hard.”
Cassian recalled his childhood at her words.
He had gained much, but also carried heavy expectations — and there were surely moments of strain.
Because of rumors that he was the Duke’s illegitimate child, his relationship with Elisia had always been uneasy.
Still, he had never once regretted his decision to become the Bernstein heir.
“It was a good opportunity. I was always curious what I was capable of.”
His unwavering gaze made Lydia silently admire him.
The boy who once wondered what he could become had grown into the Duke — a man protecting the Empire, the world, and its people.
She sometimes scolded herself for falling deeper for him — yet also couldn’t help feeling proud that the man she loved was someone so extraordinary.
Lydia set down her bread and reached out.
Cassian blinked in surprise as her hand came to rest on his head, ruffling his hair.
It was almost unconscious — a gesture of praise for both the boy he’d been and the man he’d become.
But when she came to her senses, she realized she’d just mussed up the Duke of Bernstein’s perfectly kept hair.
Panicking, she pulled her hand back — but left behind a few crumbs tangled in his silver-blue locks.
“Bread crumbs—! Oh no…”
She brushed them out hastily, and in doing so, only made his hair even messier.
Mortified, Lydia tried to smooth it back down with both hands.
“I’m sorry…”
Cassian stared at her for a moment — then burst out laughing.
The Duke of Bernstein, hair tousled and part all wrong, laughed freely before taking her nervous hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it.
Lydia’s eyes widened in shock — but he couldn’t hold back any longer.
With the world’s crisis creeping ever closer, Cassian’s longing for her only burned brighter.
