~CHAPTER 92~
Yulias was returning to the imperial palace alone.
The carriage and the escort knights he had brought to take Lincia and Anna were gone without a trace, leaving him alone.
All he had left was the single horse Harvich had given him.
Considering he had secretly come to the North, Yulias was returning with nothing gained and everything lost, yet he did not feel all that bad.
A loose smile kept slipping from between his lips.
My sister.
She saved me.
From the beginning, Yulias knew the odds of success for the kidnapping plan were low.
No matter what Harvich had done wrong, his sister still harbored deep resentment toward him.
There was little chance she would obediently follow his words.
And above all, she would never quietly follow him back to the palace.
Even so, he pushed ahead because he wanted to know whether his sister truly wished for his death.
If Lincia wanted him dead, he planned to die in the North as she wished.
That was why he had taken no precautions when he came north.
On the third day of his imprisonment, Harvich came to release him personally.
Harvich couldn’t hide the look on his face.
He looked like a man being forced to do something he completely despised.
“Get out. If I see your face again, consider it the day you die.”
Yulias smirked at the open hostility.
“You would never want me alive. So my sister told you to release me, didn’t she?”
Harvich stayed silent.
But in that silence, Yulias became certain Lincia did not wish for his death.
My sister doesn’t want me dead.
Yulias smiled brightly.
Three days and nights of hunger and suffering suddenly felt like nothing.
“My sister is too merciful. To you and to me. If it were me, I’d replace any husband who failed to protect me.”
Harvich clenched his fist at that remark.
He exhaled and tightened his jaw.
“If you don’t want to be thrown back into prison, stop talking nonsense and leave this land at once.”
“When my sister told you to free me, how did she say it? Hm?”
Harvich ignored the excited question and turned away.
Yulias couldn’t help but laugh.
Even now, though he had found the corpse of his knight on the road back, his mood was not ruined.
But when he checked the wounds on the knight’s body, Yulias’s brow hardened.
Northern swordsmanship relied on physical strength and overwhelming power.
If Harvich had killed the knight, the cuts would never have been this clean.
This bastard…
* * *
Henestar, who had not bothered to hide his irritation, let out a sigh filled with annoyance.
“You say you’re the Grand Duke’s representative?”
“Yes. I am, though I’m not good enough for the role.”
The moment he heard those words, Henestar gathered his emotions.
“Henestar Rensier, First Prince of the Rensier Kingdom.”
“Hue Grentia.”
Grentia.
Henestar muttered the unfamiliar surname a few times, guessing the Grand Duke’s retainers had been replaced again.
“There’s an item in the compensation plan I want adjusted.”
“I was told most of the terms had already been settled in earlier discussions.”
Hue answered stiffly.
Even if representatives were allowed to discuss adjustments, this was beyond his authority.
He had only become the Grand Duke’s temporary representative on short notice.
“Is it difficult?”
“Yes. But I can make a suggestion.”
Henestar handed him a sheet of paper.
The only difference from the existing compensation plan was the removal of the tax-related clause.
“I want the tax item removed. The Grand Duchy’s goods are high quality and already cheap. If tariffs get any lower, our kingdom’s markets might collapse.”
Hue looked at the paper Henestar had presented.
“Besides, as far as I know, the low tariffs were originally set because of the pink diamond mine incident.”
Since trade had not been very active before then, no one had cared much…
Henestar added his thoughts with a displeased frown, as if tariffs had been a constant headache.
“And the Grand Duchy can live without that small amount of money, can’t it?”
“Of course, I’m not saying this for free.”
Henestar pulled out a thick bundle of documents.
“These are copies. If you agree to adjust the tax issue, I can provide the originals.”
The bundle was enormous even at a glance.
Hue reluctantly took it.
“May I review these and contact you later?”
Henestar shrugged.
“I’d prefer a positive answer.”
He sighed and looked ready to end the meeting, but instead he whispered to one of his knights and dismissed them all.
Seeing his intention to speak privately, Hue dismissed the Grand Duke’s knights as well.
Yet even after the room emptied, Henestar remained silent.
Hue was the first to speak.
“If you went to the trouble of dismissing everyone, what is it you want to say?”
Henestar had already spoken plenty and handed him a mountain of documents.
“To be honest, I’m tired of the situation.”
Hue frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t the past repeating? The former Grand Duke was forced to leave without speaking properly to the Emperor because of his ill wife.”
Hue’s expression hardened at once.
“Be careful not to be poisoned.”
“What?”
“That is all I can say to the Grand Duke’s representative.”
Henestar said that and left the room.
* * *
“You have a fever.”
Lincia had not fully returned to normal after her recent illness.
“It’s because of the baby. Ethan said it was nothing serious.”
And he said I’m having fewer symptoms than most pregnant women.
Lincia looked at Harvich, who was worried, and added softly.
“So go work.”
Perhaps because he had nearly lost her once, Harvich felt uneasy.
He also had not heard whether Yulias had arrived safely at the palace.
“Ethan said you need to cool down quickly whenever your temperature rises. You don’t realize it when you start overheating.”
Harvich brought a cool cloth.
“He said this much is fine.”
“And we still haven’t heard confirmation that Yulias reached the palace.”
Harvich had assigned a few knights to follow Yulias to make sure he truly left the Grand Duchy.
So far he hadn’t pulled any stunts, but no one knew when he might try something reckless again.
Especially Yulias, who didn’t seem to value his own life.
The truth was, all of those were just excuses.
Harvich glanced at Lincia’s bare fourth finger.
He had seen her engagement ring, set with a purple gem, rolling on the training ground.
It had belonged to Lincia.
He knew she wouldn’t have thrown it away herself, considering what she had been forced to endure.
It was obvious Yulias had found it in her room and discarded it.
But what hurt him most was that Lincia hadn’t looked for the ring even once.
She had spent more time not wearing it than wearing it, so she didn’t feel the absence of it.
Harvich understood that.
But understanding didn’t make it hurt less.
“Do you think it’ll be fine? The palace should be sending another message soon.”
“It will be fine.”
“…I didn’t make a mistake telling you to release Yulias, did I?”
