Chapter 128 – The Storm Shall Blow (1)

“I apologize for my late arrival, Your Majesty.”

Marquis Farang greeted me, and I waved my hand to signal that everyone else should leave the room. Countess Eliza noticed, and brought the two other maids out with her so I could speak in private.

“What is it?”

As soon as we were alone, Marquis Farang sat in a chair and urgently recounted me the news: the fact that Rashta was a runaway slave, that she had given birth to a baby before she met Sovieshu—

“Baby? Rashta’s baby?”

“Yes. I don’t know who the father is, but Viscount Roteschu is taking care of the baby because Rashta ran away and left it behind.”

“Rashta’s baby…”

I had heard rumors that Viscount Roteschu was keeping a baby, and while I never said it out loud, I had suspicions that it might be Rashta’s.

“No one knows who the father is. Are you sure?”

“Well, according to what I heard. If they’re raised and sold as a slave anyway, it doesn’t matter who the father is.”

Marquis Farang replied in cold sarcasm and waved his hand before continuing.

His next piece of news was not about Rashta, but of my brother and Sovieshu. Koshar had violently assaulted Viscount Roteschu to collect information from him, and in response, Sovieshu sent his guard to confine my brother to his home. Perhaps he suspected that Koshar might try to spread evidence that Rashta was a slave.

“We were one step behind.”

I tried to warn my brother about his rash behavior, but now the situation had devolved. I sighed, but Marquis Farang grinned and shook his head.

“We were one step ahead.”

“?”

“Because Viscount Roteschu is in league with ‘that woman’, he won’t disclose her secrets to His Majesty. And because His Majesty doesn’t trust Koshar at all and hates him, Koshar likely won’t say anything.”

“By that you mean… I should tell His Majesty about Rashta’s secret?”

“Yes.”

“…”

“I know you don’t like preying on people who are weak.”

Marquis Farang stared at me with a fierce expression in his eyes.

“But Your Majesty, wouldn’t it be better if the flesh of cattle was eaten rather than the flesh of a noble and elegant swan? One only needs to wash away the blood and residue.”

***

After Marquis Farang left, Countess Eliza wordlessly brought me a cup of hot coffee. I sat by the parlor window and stared at the moon, lost in thought.

Rashta had an astonishing past, she was unwilling to tell it to Sovieshu. In the days when she became beloved by the Emperor, she had attacked my brother with lies and mimicked me, all because she was the weakest and most vulnerable in the household. Passing over Rashta’s actions those days was the compassion that Sovieshu demanded of me. It was a matter of my pride.

Moreover, Viscount Roteschu could not be trusted. He told Koshar that Rashta left her baby behind. Did she abandon it, or had she lost it unwillingly?

I heard from Sir Artina that Viscount Roteschu keeps the baby hidden. If Rashta abandoned the baby, then why was it necessary? Now that Viscount Roteschu and Rashta were cooperating, the viscount had incentive to cover up the past. A normal master and slave wouldn’t have had such a relationship.

“…”

However…Marquis Farang was also right. Treating Rashta as an outsider or overlooking her past was only possible when we could ignore each other. Now with my brother under house arrest, clinging on to appearances was foolish.

‘First, let me talk to Sovieshu about my brother.’

***

Navier wasn’t the only soul wrapped up in disquieting thoughts. In a carriage headed towards the capital, Sovieshu tried to focus on the issue of the declining number of mages, but his mind kept turning towards Rashta.

Rashta already had a baby. The fact that she did was obviously shocking, as well as the fact that she had a lover, but that wasn’t the major issue to him. For Sovieshu, the problem was that Rashta had lied to him.

Nevertheless, Sovieshu could not find it in his heart to blame Rashta unconditionally. He still remembered her pathetic and pitiful form when he first rescued her, and he didn’t want to judge her yet without knowing if her baby was stolen, abandoned, or anything else.

Sovieshu arrived at the palace early the next morning without clearing his thoughts. First, he went to visit Rashta.

“Miss Rashta hasn’t woken yet, but I’ll get her for you.”

The maid made to leave to wake up Rashta, but Sovieshu waved her away and walked into Rashta’s room.

She was slumbering peacefully in bed. Sovieshu sighed and leaned by the door to watch her, when gaze fell onto something unusual on the table. He moved closer to it, and saw a lock of beautiful silver hair.

He furtively touched it with his fingers.

‘Did she cut her hair?’

He thought it was Rashta’s hair, but after a moment, he thought it had the appearance and texture of baby’s hair.

“Your Majesty?”

Rashta was sitting up and calling to him in a sleep-slurred voice. She got out of bed, asking why he was here, but her face turned deathly pale when she noticed what he was looking at.

“Your…Majesty?”

Her voice trembled in terror.

“Ah, I-I trimmed my hair a little earlier. I think I left that by mistake.”

Before Sovieshu could answer, she ran over, quickly grabbed the hair, then went back to the bed. Her awkward behavior spoke volumes. He was certain of it—the hair was from her first baby.

‘Did she abandon the baby?’

He clicked his tongue. Perhaps Rashta had no choice but to say goodbye to the baby, and she secretly kept the hair because she missed her child. Rashta’s situation had suddenly become more sympathetic, and the final thought played a final role in changing Sovieshu’s mind. However, the question of lying had not been solved yet…

‘She didn’t tell me for fear that I would leave her.’

He pretended not to know anything.

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