Chapter 69

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: A Knight's Theory
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His aversion to sorcery was that extreme. While thinking about sorcery, Senon suddenly recalled Cesare’s late biological mother.

After losing the Emperor's favor, she had gone mad, desperately trying all sorts of sorcery to win back his heart. One day, after all her methods failed and she was throwing daily tantrums, his mother began a new love affair.

She had taken a knight of the Imperial Palace, fifteen years her junior, as her lover.

The knight, who admired Cesare, had deliberately approached his mother.

By becoming her lover, he was able to get closer to Cesare.

It wasn't exactly a positive relationship, but compared to the past when Cesare hadn't even known of his existence, the distance between them had certainly shrunk. The knight's goal, in a way, had been achieved.

His mother became so infatuated with her new lover that she stopped paying attention to Cesare.

That alone was incredibly useful, so Cesare would occasionally throw the knight a scrap of attention, as if giving alms.

The tragedy began when the knight was suddenly dispatched to the battlefield and died. His mother believed she could resurrect her dead lover through sorcery.

And so, she committed all sorts of bizarre acts.

Claiming she needed the blood of royalty, she had even drawn Cesare’s blood on several occasions.

But the dead cannot return.

This was an immutable law. After repeating only meaningless acts, Cesare’s mother eventually ended her life by suicide.

The twin princes were the first to discover the choice she made, unable to overcome her despair.

Neither Cesare nor Leone was surprised or saddened to see their mother, who had hanged herself.

They simply accepted it calmly, as if it had been foretold.

On the day of the funeral, no one grieved.

There was only a strange sense of liberation in the air. Senon, too, had inwardly rejoiced at her death.

After all, his mother had been nothing but an obstacle in Cesare’s path.

Raking through the old past felt suffocating.

As Senon pushed the recollections from his troubled mind, a thought suddenly struck him.

It was the moment all the disjointed inferences scattered in his head clicked into place.

But it was an inappropriate topic to discuss in the Imperial Palace. Senon slowly opened his mouth.

“…Want to go for a drink?”

Rotan readily accepted Senon’s impulsive suggestion.

Originally, they were supposed to return to the Erzet estate to discuss various matters related to Morpheus with Aileen.

But the last judges they met were so stubborn that the conversation dragged on, and they ended up finishing much later than expected.

They had no choice but to give up for the day and decided to visit the grand ducal estate early the next morning.

Making good use of their unexpectedly free time, the two knights found a tavern and called for Diego and Michele to join them.

Though they sat in a corner of the noisy tavern, the four of them drew every eye in the place.

It was because of their crisp military uniforms and their tall statures, which set them distinctly apart from the others.

Heedless of the stares, the knights each ordered a beer and downed it.

“Ahh, that's more like it.”

Michele chuckled, placing a cigarette between her lips. Diego, who had rolled up his sleeves, stroked the tattoo on his forearm and asked.

“So, why'd you call us?”

“To tell you about a wild theory of mine.”

At Senon's words, Michele gave him a thumbs-down and booed. Senon ignored her and spread a crumpled piece of paper on the table.

“Alright, listen up. Like I said, this is all just a wild theory.”

Despite his bold declaration, the Grand Duke's knights wiped the playful looks from their faces and focused on Senon's words. As Cesare’s adjutant, Senon had devised and successfully executed countless strategies.

When it came to matters of the mind, the knights generally relied on Senon.

“I've been thinking about why His Excellency changed.”

Senon scribbled on the back of a leftover piece of paper with a pencil he always carried.

[Present-??-Future]

He wrote them one by one, then added ‘7 years’ below the ‘??’.

“You remember what he said back then, right? Seven years.”

Of course, they all remembered. The words Cesare had muttered before beheading the King of Kalpen.

“Seven years ago, was it.”

Before the knights, who nodded in affirmation, Senon continued.

“I said it seems like His Excellency has different memories from us. And since he changed, his intuition has become strangely sharp. Almost like he knows the future... Based on everything he's said and done so far, this is the conclusion I've reached.”

Senon drew a long, reverse line from 'Future' to 'Present'.

“His Excellency returned from the future to the present due to some incident. An incident related to Lady Aileen.”

*Just a theory*, Senon added again.

Then he studied the knights' faces.

Despite the outlandish claim, not a single one of them looked incredulous.

They all had serious expressions.

Even though they usually bickered, they were the type to place unconditional trust in Senon's words.

Seeing their unwavering faith, even as he spouted such a fantastic tale, Senon felt a brief surge of emotion.

“Since we're already down this rabbit hole, I'll say more. I think he probably came back in time because something terrible happened to Lady Aileen. That's what I'm thinking. For example…”

Senon hesitated for a long moment before speaking cautiously.

“Execution… or something like it.”

A brief silence fell among the knights. Rotan, after glancing around, was the first to ask.

“If that's true, then by what method?”

“Realistically, to make this whole theory work, it would require some absurd method. I first considered sorcery, but since His Excellency despises it, I thought that couldn't be it…”

“It could be sorcery.”

Senon's eyes widened at Diego's immediate reply. To his puzzled comrades, Diego toyed with an earlobe marked by a piercing scar and continued.

“The old His Excellency, maybe not. But the man he is now? He seems more than capable of it.”

He had cherished Aileen in the past, but the changed Cesare was frighteningly intense.

They were all aware that it had gone beyond simple affection.

“If what you said is true, Senon, and Lady Aileen really went through something like that, then His Excellency probably…”

As Diego’s words trailed off, Rotan quietly finished the thought.

“He would have changed his own life.”

Even if it meant resorting to the sorcery he so despised.

Silence fell once more. After drinking quietly for a while, Michele suddenly voiced a question.

“So what does our master want? Lady Aileen's safety? That doesn't seem like enough.”

Michele wrinkled her nose as she held her beer mug, muttering.

“Revenge, I bet.”

Diego nodded curtly, adding to Michele’s remark.

“Considering His Excellency's temperament, it's definitely revenge.”

Rotan furrowed his thick brows and began to speak.

“Now that you mention it, His Excellency said something strange recently…”

“What?”

“That killing them all was a mistake. That he killed them too quickly, making it hard to find someone.”

Rotan pointed a finger at the word 'Future'.

“The spies from the Kalpen Kingdom tried to have Lady Aileen executed. Let's say, in this timeline, Lady Aileen died, and His Excellency took revenge by killing them all.”

After calmly uttering the gruesome words, he moved his finger back to 'Present'.

“He can't do that in the present, can he? He has to execute only those involved. But right now, His Excellency probably…”

Meeting the eyes of the knights watching him, Rotan concluded in a low voice.

“Doesn't know who was behind the execution.”

***

The laboratory in the grand ducal estate was a space that seemed to have brought Aileen’s dreams to life. Not only were all her confiscated research materials neatly organized, but the room was also filled with all sorts of expensive research tools. It was a truly enchanting space, but Aileen couldn't enjoy it to the fullest.

It was because of what she had heard from Senon before he showed her the lab. Senon had showered Morpheus with praise, saying that as soon as the research was complete, they would announce it to the empire on a grand scale.

He reassured Aileen that, given the nature of the ingredients, she would inevitably have to stand trial the moment it was revealed to the world, but not to worry, as he had made arrangements to ensure she would win unconditionally.

“However, if you are afraid of the trial, you must stop the Morpheus research.”

Faced with Senon's choice—to continue the Morpheus research or to stop—Aileen did not hesitate.

The answer had been decided from the start.

“Morpheus… I'll try to make it.”

Senon was delighted and encouraged her, and Aileen also thought she had made the right choice… But apart from that, she couldn't help but be afraid.

She was now in a position where she could potentially bring fatal harm to Cesare.

No matter how hard she tried, she didn't know what might happen, so she couldn't help but tremble in fear.

But Aileen couldn't even allow herself to be fully consumed by worry.

It was all thanks to Cesare.

“…”

Aileen slowly moved her fork and knife, stealing glances at Cesare across from her.

For the past few days, she had seen Cesare every single day.

Whether at breakfast or in the middle of the night in her bedroom, she saw his face at least once a day, yet seeing him right in front of her still felt unreal.

Continuing to sneak peeks at Cesare, Aileen cut the tip off a piece of grilled asparagus and put it in her mouth. Then, a strange sensation from below made her squeeze her eyes shut.

“What is it?”

Cesare, who had been drinking his strongly brewed tea, looked up from his newspaper and asked immediately.

“Oh, it's nothing, just…”

Aileen mumbled an excuse, hastily pretending to focus on her asparagus. Cesare, his eyes still fixed on Aileen, said.

“Tell me the truth, Aileen.”

“…I'm just… aware of… down there.”

Aileen confessed at once, her face flushing as she muttered.

“I think it's because of the… ointment.”

Ever since that day, Cesare had checked on her every single day.

He would have her spread her legs, check her condition, and then apply the ointment.

A man so busy he had to split his days into fractions, yet he always made sure to apply the ointment himself.

Even if it meant coming in the dead of night and waking a sleeping Aileen.

Because of this, Aileen was subjected to a kind of torment that wasn't quite torment every night.

Her clueless body would invariably grow heated at the touch of Cesare's treating fingers. Each time, the treatment would end with her on the ambiguous threshold of climax, her desires unfulfilled.

As these days piled up, she began to feel a faint feverishness in her body even during the day.

It had reached a point where lewd thoughts would pop into her head even while learning her duties as Grand Duchess from Sonio or replying to letters.

And so, Aileen was now eagerly awaiting the day her body would be fully healed.

She desperately hoped Cesare would soon grant her pleasure.

So much so that the memory of trembling in fear of intercourse on their wedding night felt like a distant dream.

*‘I wish this treatment would end soon…’*

Aileen, who had been having lewd thoughts since the bright morning, was snapped back to her senses by a voice.

“Today is the seventh day.”

As Cesare said, today was the seventh day since their wedding, and the day Aileen would visit the Imperial Palace to receive the Erzet name.

Long fingers folded the newspaper in half. Aileen found her eyes unconsciously following his fingers before she belatedly looked up at Cesare.

Cesare placed the newspaper on the table and asked in a calm voice.

“Shall we not use the ointment tonight?”