Lady Devil - Chapter 186

186.

Fall.

Before the tears of the women who were paid to mourn the death of the princess had even dried, House Valdemar headed towards the central royal capital. The death of a woman who spent half her life at the top of a tower was not of much importance to those facing war. Solidifying alliances through marriage took precedence over everything else.

Johannes, seated with the duke in the four-wheeled carriage, was restless throughout. That even the head servant, sensitive to the slightest crease, failed to notice his anxious excitement was solely due to Johannes’ extraordinary self-control, which bordered on the miraculous – setting aside the duke who was indifferent even to his heir.

His mind was boiling. The sole cause and purpose of his existence as an object was about to leave him. He no longer even thought of Isolde’s impending marriage as a heartless transaction.

Had not his sister already prepared her own stance in the face of her determined future? She must have long harbored resentment and made her resolve. Unless it was a declaration of war she had been nurturing, how could he demean such a girl’s marriage by calling it a ‘transaction’ with such sympathetic expression? His sister had always been a beam of light passing through him, just as she had come. The shadow was entirely his share.

In the carriage racing like a warhorse along the road, which was no different from a muddy mess due to the chilly autumn rain and piles of rotten leaves, Johannes suddenly realized one more thing. The fact that he himself had never left Gustavus’ boundaries.

It was horrifying. When he had tried so desperately to escape, he had completely lost consciousness, but now in this situation, fitting for the curse’s purpose, far from fainting, his senses stood like a million needles. Ha. Leaning against the carriage wall without even a window to prepare for ambush, he flashed a pale smile. It was like a momentary convulsion.

It was after nearly a month of journey, which was no different from imprisonment on the road except when camping, that House Valdemar finally entered the kingdom. Duke Gustavus and his son disembarked in the central courtyard of the royal palace, welcomed by the royal family members.

Amidst the red petals fluttering with the ivory carved fountain as a backdrop, Johannes immediately threw his gaze towards the unfamiliar sky of a foreign land. He could not bear it otherwise. Because the cheers bursting like fireworks in all directions felt entirely like deception.

“Ahem.”

Somewhere, a woman cleared her throat. Johannes did not hear it. He was only secretly distracted by an anxious glance to his left. It was in front of the main entrance of the chapel overlooking the inner courtyard of the royal palace.

The garden full of autumn chrysanthemums was dazzlingly bright and cool. Even the wind passing through the long curved corridor surrounding the courtyard and brushing against the flower stalks in the flowerbed felt moist with abundance. From the climate alone, this foreign land was so different from the mainland where even a small spark could start a wildfire.

If Gustavus Fortress had the majesty of a knight bowing with his sword stuck at the end of a steep cliff, the central royal palace had the appearance of a nobleman raising his forehead high towards the sky. If Johannes had seen this scenery when he was still the eldest son of a knightly family to the bone, he would have chuckled that despite being the same military facility, the temperature difference was as stark as between the west wind and the south wind.

But now he had no leisure to compare.

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