ALL NOVEL Chapter 94
“Do not be arrogant. I am still the emperor. No matter who you are, if you attempt to betray the Descarde family’s legacy, I will not overlook it.”
“…”
“Take the daughter of the Diollus family, who carries on the lineage of summoners, as the empress. Bring in the women of the supporting families who will be of assistance to your position and imperial power as consorts. That is the path that is for you and for the empire,” the emperor commanded sternly.
With his eyes closed tightly, Lark remained silent for a while.
“…”
Soon, he gritted his teeth and barely contained his anger, then swiftly left the room like the wind.
‘Damn it.’
With a tightening sensation around his throat, he couldn’t breathe properly.
“Ah, Brother!”
As he rushed down the corridor, Lark’s footsteps abruptly stopped.
Nathan. He neatly combed his shortened ash-colored hair and had his usual kind and gentle face. However, he harbored dozens of venomous snakes inside.
“The shaman confessed.”
“I see.”
Nathan ran toward Lark with a relieved expression, as if wiping away the worry from his chest. “It went really well. Really. Now Lisbeth’s false charges have been cleared, and also…” He grinned. “It seems that the young princess can finally leave Lubon.”
“…” Lark, who had been silently staring at Nathan with an expressionless face, soon followed suit and smiled. “Yes, luckily. Well then, I’ll take my leave.”
“Yes, you must be busy, take care.”
Lark patted Nathan’s shoulder and left. Alone in the corridor, Nathan clenched his fist and covered his mouth.
“Pff, hahaha…” It was truly exhilarating to see Lark, who was always composed, break down. After chuckling, Nathan looked through the window at the clear summer sky. “Ah, the weather is nice.” And quietly added with a wicked laugh, “See you soon, Miss Vista’s contractor.”
***
“Hey, are you okay?” Ren asked Lark as he saw him hurriedly preparing to leave again upon returning to the room.
“What’s the matter?”
“Your face. You’re injured. Did His Majesty hit you?”
“I’m fine.”
“No, why did he hit you?”
“More importantly, how many assassins did you catch? We haven’t even cleared half of it yet, have we?”
Nathan was gathering assassins. Perhaps it was an attempt to take advantage of the loosened security around Rubette after her isolation period ended and try to take her away.
Ren had been tracking their movements and cutting them off in advance.
“We haven’t cleared them yet. And even if we catch them, new ones will emerge, and if we catch those, another will emerge… It won’t end until we eliminate the skilled guild members in the system.”
“Eliminate them, then.”
“That might be difficult.” Ren looked perplexed and ruffled his hair. “The release of the isolation period has been moved up by three months. It would have been better if the princess could have stayed in Lubon until October as originally planned.”
“We should have anticipated that Nathan would resort to such tactics.”
“What are we going to do? Do you think things will go awry when the princess leaves Lubon?”
Once she exited the safe Lubon, nobody would know when Nathan’s influence would reach her. However, following Rubette around 24 hours a day was impossible since they could no longer legally monitor her.
“It seems that Rubette is quite coveted. Seeing how the isolation period has been moved up,” Lark muttered with a fierce look in his eyes.
“Hey, hey. But what I’m curious about is that point exactly. Why is the 2nd Prince so obsessed with the princess?” Ren asked, unable to understand. “At first, I thought maybe he wanted to use the young lady as leverage to threaten you. But the scale of gathering assassins goes beyond that. Will he go to such lengths just to capture one hostage?”
“…”
“Instead of trying to threaten you, it feels more like he’s frustrated because he hasn’t been able to kidnap the princess quickly enough.”
Lark pursed his lips in response to Ren’s astute deduction. He had been keeping the fact that Nathan coveted Rubette because she was the contractor of Vista a secret.
“There’s a reason for it.”
“What is it!?”
“It’s difficult for me to say it on my own. But one thing I can definitely tell you is that Nathan’s target is indeed the princess herself, just as you suspected.”
“Wh-what?”
“For now, I can only tell you this.” Lark pressed his forehead as if trying to calm his complicated thoughts and asked, “If you were Nathan, what would you do from now on?”
“We’ll have to act quickly before the assassins dry up. We can’t afford to delay even for a moment.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“What should we do then?”
With a swift movement, Lark put on his coat and aimed his index finger at Ren as he left the room. “Just do one bad thing for me.”
***
“What is this?”
Leonard’s icy cold gaze glanced casually over a piece of paper.
After the culprit confessed and Rubette’s suspicion disappeared, the imperial family had lifted her isolation and reached out to her. The letter sent in the morning was none other than a marriage proposal. In essence, it was a coercive and threatening proposal to seat Rubetria, his beloved daughter, in the vacant position of crown princess.
“Are they insane…?” Leonard’s brow furrowed as he repeatedly read the same content, doubting his own eyes.
Viego stood before him, bewildered, and spoke cautiously, “Father…”
“Throw it away.”
“It’s a marriage proposal from the imperial family. Even if you express your refusal, you must reply.”
“Then just refuse it.”
“Well… I’m sorry, but it’s not a marriage proposal addressed to you, Father. It’s a marriage proposal addressed to Rubette.”
“So?”
“We should also hear Rubette’s intentions. It seems that Rubette has received the same proposal in Lubon. She might send a message about how she feels and what she wants. Once we receive it, we can reply.”
“But Rubette is still a mi–“
“Rubette has come of age this year.”
As Viego interjected cautiously, Leonard bit his lip.
“There has been no contact with the prince–“
“They haven’t had no interaction at all, to my knowledge.”
“…” Leonard fell silent, swallowing his anger. His expression was immense. “The prince seems to have lost his mind. To inform us without any agreement.”
Leonard was bewildered when he remembered the smiling face that openly said he had selfish intentions toward Rubette. He didn’t particularly like the idea of his daughter being pursued, but he thought there was a possibility with that person.
After being separated for over half a year due to the isolation period, now they were asking him to hand over his daughter, who had just come of age?
What would he do if Rubette agreed to this absurd forced marriage?
“When she comes home…” Leonard pointed his index finger at Viego and spoke, “Do your best to persuade her with all your might. It’s still too early for marriage.”
“Yes. I will do so.”
Seemingly in agreement on that point, Viego nodded coldly.
***
“Hmm.”
Being isolated and cut off from the outside world, Rubette had to spend a good 30 minutes trying to understand the sudden letter from the imperial family that arrived in the morning.
But still, she couldn’t figure it out. What on earth was this?
“Um…”
With narrow eyes, she stared at the dense paper for a while. Then she scratched her head with a puzzled expression, only to repeat the process again.
It was during this repetition that a sudden knock on the door interrupted her.
“My lady, there are investigators here.”
“Ah, yes!”
As Rebecca’s voice sounded, the door swung open. As expected, Lark was standing there. He had visibly deteriorated in just a few days. His complexion had a paleness, as if being pursued by something, and a certain weariness in his demeanor.
“Princess.”
Thunk.
Lark, who had closed the door, marched straight toward Rubette, sitting at her study desk. As he got closer, his gaze landed on the paper in Rubette’s hand.
A marriage proposal with the clear seal of the imperial family.
Just as Lark was about to offer an explanation, Rubette, in a burst of frustration, exclaimed, “Your Highness!”
Startled, Lark froze in his tracks.
Rubette swiftly stood up, her expression stern as she turned toward him.
Despite the expected reaction, Lark was flustered. “It surprised me as well. Don’t misunderstood. I never intended to ignore your intentions or intimidate you. I also didn’t know—”
“What happened to your face!? Who did this to you!?”
“…Huh?”
In an instant, Rubette raised her hand to the stunned Lark’s cheek. Her trembling touch seemed to express a mix of surprise and concern. Only then did Lark realize that his left cheek was sore.
“Oh, this…”
“Which fool on earth dared to leave a scar on this handsome face of yours!?”
Rubette exclaimed in anger, her eyes welling up with tears, leaving Lark in a daze.
“No, it’s not a big deal…”
“Not a big deal? Just tell me who! I’ll buy a well-crafted club and give them a good beating!”
…He should have just brushed it off, but why… As Lark saw Rubette’s saddened face, he inexplicably felt like throwing a tantrum, like a child. He gently placed his hands over Rubette’s palms that were cradling his cheeks, and Lark softly spoke, his lips slightly trembling, “…It’s my father.”
“Your father! Your… your father.” Rubette’s voice, once spirited, gradually calmed down. “Your father, yes. Your Highness’ father. His Majesty, the emperor. That’s right. His Majesty, the emperor.”
“…”
“His Majesty, yes. I will buy that club, no… not a club, maybe something else.”
“…”
“A heating pad. Not a club. Right! I’ll give him a nice, good-quality heating pad for the palace….”
“Pfft.”