IHMEB - Chapter 17 <Exploring Through Gap >Having An Enemy's Baby
“I wonder if we’ll be able to see something good next month. I hope it’s fun.
It's the wedding of Kaian and Princess Bianque.
It was an impossible task.
If Kaian, a royal relative and the Duke, marries the Princess, he will also rise in line to the throne.
Even now, he is second in line of succession to Bianque, skipping the late Madame Elise, but if he marries the Princess, won't he be next in line?
Until Valquiterre's children were born.
Thinking that this thorn in his eyes might become the next King depending on Valquiterre's well-being made his blood boil.
Marriage is the grave of life.
Those words really appealed to Valquiterre.
He thought that he would push that child into a very muddy and pitiful marriage so that he would not be able to get out of it, so Valquiterre also stayed without getting married.
He couldn't get Kaian married while he was on the battlefield for 5 years.
However, an unexpected proposal arrived from the sinister Duke of Vermont.
“Anyway, it’s not like Temnes can divide itself and compete in multiple places. It would be better to leave the mouth of the kingdom.”
This event was practical in many ways.
No matter how good Kaian is, it doesn't mean he can split his body and compete in East and West.
On the other hand, the Duke of Vermont's diplomatic skills were organically intertwined with the entire family. It was useful because he could negotiate with anyone, not just the Duke, but also the name of the family.
What if Temnes and Vermont fight and Vermont loses even though he took a side?
Aside from fighting, they were both his subjects anyway. Valquiterre was not responsible.
“It was a sly version of Vermont.”
It was a fight that had already come to an end.
Valquiterre was just amused by the prospect of watching it from the top of his head.
***
A group of knights stormed into Veran Street, a loyalist among the loyalists of the Rowan territory.
“What kind of case is this!”
The elderly mistress of the Berang family was Temnes collateral.
Although her surname changed to Berang when she married a vassal, her shiny black hair spoke of her ancestry.
She was frantic when the guards of the Lord's castle suddenly came in, but in this case, it was more likely that the matter would be resolved smoothly if Temnes stepped forward rather than Berang, so she confidently raised her voice.
“You brought a thief into your home.”
However, when Kaian entered among his knights, her complexion changed completely.
“My Lord.”
She immediately lowered her head.
“What brings you here?”
“There’s something I need to find.”
She raised a thief? She also knew that her own daughter, Antjone, admired Kaian and came and went to the Lord's castle and showed authority over the Young Ladies, but she thought that this was nothing more than her pretty daughter's cuteness.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go get it myself.”
Antjone's room was cutely decorated.
There was a picture of a flower on the wallpaper in a warm color, and a bouquet of dried flowers hung on the wall, tied with a pretty ribbon. It still had a girlish feel rather than a Young Lady's room.
“Ugh. Hehehehe.”
Antjone sat at the dressing table and looked at herself in the mirror wearing a blue diamond ring.
When she assumed a posture and angle similar to the portrait of Madame Elise hanging in the castle, she looked extremely beautiful and elegant. Even the negligee she wears comfortably at home looks like a party dress.
“Duchess Antjone.”
As she lifted her chin, the beautiful woman sitting in the mirror laughed along.
Rattling.
At the sound of the door to her room opening, Antjone let out a nervous scream.
“I told you not to open the door to my room carelessly!”
“It’s a sight.”
She froze at the cold, arrogant voice of the man.
“To become a Duchess, you must have no issues with your status. Theft is a crime that requires proof, so you can’t even dream about it anymore.”
Antjone was astonished and couldn't say anything and opened her mouth.
As Kaian tried to take the blue diamond ring from her hand, for a split second Antjone tried to fold her fingers.
“Ahh!”
However, because his hand was faster in forcibly removing the ring, Antjone momentarily sprained her finger.
Her pretty, statue-like hand, which had been shining beautifully with a ring just moments ago, soon became red and swollen.
"Ah...”
Antjone's body, staring blankly down at her fingers, was forced to stand up.
“Take her away.”
Antjone was captured and dragged away on both sides by the knights.
Kaian spoke to the hostess, who was about the age of his aunt.
“Her crime is theft.”
He unkindly disappeared without telling her who stole what, but she couldn't even hold onto Kaian.
“Ah, Antjone. What are you...”
She sat down in shock at the sight of her daughter being dragged out of her house so cruelly that she could not do anything about it.
***
“Ahh!”
From far outside the window, he could hear a woman screaming every time she was beaten.
“Aaaah!”
Antjone was tied with rope and beaten with a club for stealing the Lord's belongings.
Theft, simply stealing valuables, was a serious crime.
Kaian looked at the blue diamond on his desk.
It was a keepsake left by his mother.
He must not have known the special meaning contained in such items.
No matter how thunderous it is, it is true. How can she not be able to tell the difference between heaven and earth like this?
Kaian was stunned.
The blue diamond was Kaian's.
He says he gave it to Claudel as the first night's gift, but she has never seen or received it.
So it was Kaian’s ring.
‘Woah, my lord’s wife... I didn't know it was her object.'
The degree of corporal punishment was different between stealing something belonging to the head of the family, Kaian, and stealing something he had sent as a gift.
Cleverly, with tears streaming down his face, Antjone made an excuse that she had not stolen anything from the Lord and that she had only picked up something on the floor while passing through the hallway and taken it.
So, Kaian also matched Antjone's level.
'Okay. I accidentally spilled it there too.'
Antjone, who understood his true intentions, was dragged away to be beaten, trembling with a tired face.
She has been publicly punished, and she will never set foot in the castle like this again.
On the one hand, he got a sour taste in his mouth thinking about Claudel.
“What did I do?”
Did she say that she trembled and accepted a gift she didn't even receive and that she liked it?
When he asked about the early night gift in the catacombs, he could see her beaming and shrugging her shoulders.
That night, Kaian liked Claudel.
He could have fulfilled his one duty and walked away, but he didn't.
In contrast to Kaian's strong and large physique, Claudel was thin and very thin, so he was worried that if he touched her even slightly, she would get hurt or break.
As he slowly and painstakingly had such a woman several times, he declared that it was his own kind of kindness and favor shown to the Vermont woman from Valmonde.
“Why are you lying?”
After that, he said he would fix the ring, but she responded as if she had received it and kept it.
Most of the time, the doll-like woman, who gave short answers no matter what was said to her and sat still with an indifferent face, showed a change in her expression when he spoke to her, and most of the time she seemed nervous or afraid.
The same thing happened last night.
Even the subordinates working at the castle did not know that the ceiling of the Lord's bedroom could be opened and closed.
It is said that Temnes, an eccentric person at one time who was interested in science and astronomy, spent a lot of money to make it.
In any case, how to open it was one of the secrets passed down only to the head of the family.
This is because if the ceiling was opened, the head of the household could be killed with an arrow from outside.
Kaian was thinking of indirectly giving Claudel, who couldn't come out of her bedroom after injuring her leg, some exposure to the outside air.
He had no intention of hugging her.
His intention was simply to show something truly fascinating. If he was expecting a little, he'd just like to say thank you.
Even if the sexy nightgown that showed off her entire body was caught on his button and the strap wasn't undone.
Claudel was, after all, his benefactor.
After what happened, Kaian felt strange.
Because the Lord was crowded everywhere with people asking him to do something.
He had the highest status, and he did the most work.
There is a lot of rain, there is little rain, there is no fruit growing, and there are not enough laborers to harvest because of the good harvest.
All kinds of natural disasters and things that went against the laws of Mother Nature were part of Kaian's work.
But she saved him without expecting anything from him.
She's such a tiny woman.
Claudel must have been scared too, but she saves him and gets bitten by a crocodile instead.
It was a terrible and cruel moment for him, and when he remembered the moment when her golden eyes met his eyes after realizing that she had saved him, he kept feeling itchy somewhere in his body.
Anyway, she's a benefactor.
Since he's leaving, should he go see her now?
Kaian picked up the blue diamond ring from the desk.
"This.... It doesn’t fit anyway.”
Moreover, what on earth had Antjone done while wearing this ring?
The ring had been handled so roughly that it was badly scratched.
Kaian frowned and called the butler.
“Leave it to the craftsman. Please reduce the size and remove any blemishes.”
"Yes, My lord.”
Kaian headed to Claudel’s room.
***
Hannah was busy telling Claudel the story of Antjone as if it were an adventure story.
“That mean thing is to act foolishly. She didn’t know it was a gift.”
Because the public judgment was held, the castle was crowded with people who wanted to watch.
“Then the Duke said so. Then I accidentally spilled it there too. It was like this.”
“She's been beaten.”
"Ugh. I feel refreshed. How dare she speak ill of someone so carelessly?”
In front of her Master, Claudel, Hannah could not bear to say the words 'asshole legs' out of her mouth.
Her wounds had healed pretty well, but Hannah didn't know what her inner muscles were like.
Because the torn area was not clean, there was a possibility that she would still be limp even after it healed.
However, even when she found out about it, Claudel was like that, so Hannah, the doctor, and Kaian were so shocked that they thought she was shrinking inside.
“Anyway, he gave you such a wonderful ring as a gift. The Duke is also big-hearted. Stop doing this now.”
Hannah tried to remove the controversial button decoration, but Claudel hid her hands behind her back.
"It's okay. It wouldn’t suit me.”
“There is no difference between fitting in and not fitting in. The important thing is that you received bail.”
Claudel smiled slightly.
Now, even when I heard her talk like this, it all sounded like stories from her world, far removed from her own.
The story of the living will continue even after her death.
“Are you in the way?”
"Oh. Duke.”
Hannah saw Kaian again after he listened to her report on what Antjone had done.
“Shall we raise the tea?”
When she offered to take her place, Kaian nodded his head.
“Sure.”
As soon as Hannah served him tea, Kaian sat across from her at the small tea table and looked at Claudel.
Claudel felt uncomfortable at this time.
A man who was not in her daily life was digging into the quiet space of time as if he were trying to make a place for himself.
He and she don't know each other very well.
So there was nothing worth talking about.
It was time for the silence to get longer.
“Why did you save me?”
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