Chapter 143

The black sky where spring rain poured like a lullaby. The gloomy air which seemed as if it could snatch his ankle at any time. The coldness of the floor on which he knelt in front of the bed…

Those were the words of his mother with a pale look on her face while whispering into his ears.

Eckart slowly let out a very deep and long sigh.

If what Duke Kling said was true, one of the persons that Blair said he “should not trust” might be Blair herself.

“To be honest, I don’t like these kinds of excuses…”

Eckart thought about all the possibilities imaginable, including the possibility that Kling got this ring and made a fake story, the possibility that he forcibly took it from Blair, or received it for some other reason or the possibility that he made a fake confession after robbing the imperial family shrine or the possibility that this ring itself was a fake.

Whatever the reason, he thought about all sorts of possibilities that Kling might have been tricking him with.

“I think that’s a pretty good excuse.”

When he took into account all the possibilities, he concluded that there was a much higher probability that what Kling told him was true.

“So, in your logic, you rejected the emperor’s offers of top positions in order to keep your promise with Blair, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Although this was not known to the outside, I understand that Emperor Blair wrote to you several times, asking for help.”

“I’ve kept all the letters sent by the empress. Only I know where the mailbox is located, but even if someone finds out, they won’t be able to guess what it is anyway.”

“You said her letters contained nothing except for your help, right?”

Kling nodded.

“The empress wished that the day she met me didn’t exist at all on the calendar. But I felt that it would be the best policy for me not to reply to her wishes.”

It was because of Duke Kling’s absolute thorough neutrality that he could maintain his reputation in the social circles. The first and last thing that he coveted was Lennox Castle, and he was never involved in politics since he became the new lord of the Lennox after Grand Duke Bertrand.

Even after Kling came back to Milan amid everyone’s attention, following a scandal involving her daughter’s engagement to Eckart, many people believed that to be so.

Now, Eckhart began to trust Kling more and more, given all the possibilities.

In his assumption, Kling should have been away from the capital on purpose in order to keep his promise. That might be the only way for him to break down his opponents’ wariness. He would have no reason to disobey the empress’s order while she was alive, be it for his own shallow conscience or for his aiming for substantive power.

“Did you reject my offer for the same reason?”

“…”

“You just told me that when I succeeded the throne safely, you would not have to honor your promise, right?”

“That’s right.”

“But my inauguration ceremony took place four years ago, and now I’m into the fifth year of ruling. As you attended my coronation with your daughter at that time, unfortunately your poor excuse that you didn’t know it because you lived in a faraway and remote place is not persuasive.”

“…”

“Does that mean that you dare not recognize me as Aslan’s emperor?”

Eckart turned his back slightly. Obviously he was pressing Kling with a sharp glance.

Though his blue eyes smiled faintly, that smile would instantly disappear the moment Kling came up with a disrespectful reply.

“No, that’s not true. How can I dare not to recognize your legitimacy as the emperor? I’m confident that there is no better person than you who deserves to claim the crown of nine gods. What I mean is …” Kling hurriedly shook his head. His face, which had always a half-smile, was distorted as if he was agonised. He nervously moved his lips several times.

“It was because I was cowardly.” Finally, he lowered his head weakly.

“It was because I was scared.”

If he was a confessor before Asaln’s main god Arius at this moment, Eckart was the judge of his crimes. Kling opened his mouth again as if he was pressed by some powerful force.

“While I left the capital under the pretext of keeping my promise with the late empress, I found that the anti-emperor forces became overly powerful. Although I expected it to some extent, my heart felt heavy when I realized I would have to face them.”

“Are you afraid to fight them?”

“No. Come to think of it, I’ve led a secluded life until now, but I always thought sometime I would plunge into the battlefield created by power.”

Kling Duke laughed bitterly. Although he was wary of the power struggle from the late emperor’s days, people in the social circles believed that he had been secluded in Lennox for political interests. For what he possessed was too much and too valuable for him to lead a secluded life, indifferent to their attention.

“What I feared was neither the political strife itself, nor win or defeat.”

“…”

“What I feared was the process.”

Process. Eckart could guess what he would say next right after he mentioned this word because Eckart himself lost a lot in the process.

“Duke Hubble and Mrs. Chester are cruel bastards. They know the value of power so well, and they use all kinds of means to achieve their goals. How can they think of the morality of their wicked scheme? How can they value those lives sacrificed in the process of the political strife?”

Duke Kling’s clenched hands trembled with anger.

He said in a furious tone, “When I took your side because my promise with the late empress, or if I had shown any signs of shifting to the pendulum of power of any particular party, they would have certainly targeted the life of my only daughter because Marie was my only weak spot.”

Eckart could not deny his words. In fact, he shared the idea that Marie was Kling’s only weakness. That’s why he brought Marie to the capital as she dared to strike a deal with him, and took her as a hostage to pull him out of his secluded life in the northern castle of Lennox.

“So, I wanted to delay the timing a little later until I could find a person or way to defend her safely…”

Eckart was now almost certain that he could trust Kling.

Kling’s excuses so far were pretty much humiliating, but at the same time desperate and trustworthy because Eckart himself was one of those that knew better than anybody else that Kling would do anything for his daughter.

In the meantime, Duke Kling barely caught his breath and said, “You said you wanted to earn my trust, right?” He slowly knelt down.

He continued, “I will gladly offer you everything. I won’t covet anything including wealth, honor or anything else. If you want anything from me, I will give whatever it is.”

His calm eyes under the dark brown hair, apparently passed down to his daughter Marianne, were fixed on him. His swearing voice and gaze were honest and simple.

Eckart found an old familiar face in his sincere attitude: his daughter who must have resembled him the most on earth.

He was recalling her words to him in the past.

Back then, she made such a pledge, leaning her hair against his shoulders.

“So… Please make my daughter stay away from this political strife.”

Kling leaned deeply, requesting earnestly.

Eckart clenched his fist with a casual expression. The sharp blue jewel tormented his mind like a thorn in the palm of his hand.

“Duke Kling, do you know how selfish your request is?”

“I know. I’m a cunning and shameless man, so even if you blame me for trying to seek my own benefits, I won’t be able to deny it.”

“I think it’s very contradictory for you to say so when you know my point very well.”

“But you will need me more from now on. Only when I continue to stay beside you on the mere pretext of keeping my good conscience, you will be able to fight them.”

Kling raised his head again and looked at Eckart. His quiet eyes were now violently trembling like a boiling volcano.

The only people who clearly knew what had been forgotten or hidden with the destruction of Lennox were Eckart and Kling since the death of Empress Blair. And in the current situation, Eckart’s efforts to monopolize information by threatening Kling was a terrible strategy.

Eckart could not make him his enemy. Kling knew too much. So, there were only two options to deal with him, namely having him at his side for his benefits or killing him to bury what he knew forever.

The problem was that he was Marianne’s father. Killing or turning against him meant betraying her. Would she, offering to strike a deal on the condition of her and her father’s safety, voluntarily cooperate with him who threatened her father’s safety?