LADAD Chapter 31

"Khan."

When Aaron called the name with resolve, the dog that had been stubbornly gnawing at Amelia's ankle dropped away. Yet blood continued to well up ceaselessly through the holes punctured in her skin. The pain lingered just the same.

"How much more do I need to teach you before you'll think to listen when I give a warning?"

Aaron lowered his body to meet Amelia's gaze. Amelia gritted her teeth and struggled to steady her blurred vision.

"When I die."

And to the very last, she fought back with fierce defiance. As though no matter how brutally they might terrorize her body, her spirit would remain unbroken.

"Right. You're being so defiant because you know I can't kill you yet."

Aaron laughed lowly. Unlike his gently curved lips, his eyes weren't smiling at all, making it grotesque.

"Then, what if I said I'd kill your child whenever you act foolishly?"

Gasp. Amelia's breath caught. Her quivering eyes took in his figure—still wearing that smile that touched only his lips. Aaron seemed to find himself mirrored in Amelia's trembling gaze, and slowly let the corners of his eyes curve upward as well. It was a tender, gentle smile like spring's warm wind, utterly at odds with his true essence.

"What if I told you your child would die like this too?"

"......"

"What if I told you your child would die just like this—unable even to struggle, that tender little neck torn open?"

Aaron's hand clamped down hard on her wounded ankle. Amelia cried out at the agony that felt like her flesh was being carved away. Her hands clutched frantically at Aaron's shoulders. Though her nails dug through the fabric to pierce his skin, Aaron kept that same smiling face as if he felt no pain at all.

"Do you want that?"

"N-no."

Amelia shook her head while crying.

"Remember."

"......"

"The reason why your sisters died, but you're still alive."

Amelia nodded again and again. She couldn't properly make out what he was saying, but she knew she must. To break free from this horrific torment, and for the sake of her child's well-being.

Only then did Aaron let go of his grip on Amelia's ankle. Even that release brought pain, causing Amelia to gasp and bend at the waist.

Her body gave way. The instant her forehead met Aaron's shoulder, her sight began crumbling into blinding white.

Rustle, rustle—the sound of grass underfoot fell pleasantly on his ears. This unhurried evening stroll, wandering wherever his steps might lead before sleep, was rather agreeable.

"......"

At least it had been, until his aimless footsteps came to a halt before the west palace. Ivan spotted Ian's room still glowing with light and stopped in his tracks.

"Why are the lights still burning?"

It was deep enough into the night that even the palace servants had begun to retire. That little slip of a child surely wouldn't still be awake at this hour. So Ivan figured someone had simply forgotten to snuff out the candles.

"Mrs. Howard must have been quite tired."

Ivan had never set foot in the west palace again after that single glimpse of the child. He knew nothing whatsoever about how Ian was getting on.

"We greet His Imperial Majesty."

"You've worked hard."

Ivan passed by the guards saluting him and entered the west palace.

"Your Majesty?"

Ivan sensed something was amiss. Lights still flickered throughout the corridors. Sure enough, Mrs. Howard was walking back and forth down the hallway with the child cradled in her arms.

"Mrs. Howard? What brings you to pace the corridors?"

"Lord Ian simply won't fall asleep."

Mrs. Howard answered with a troubled expression while soothing Ian. Only hic, hic sounds came from Ian's mouth.

"He doesn't seem to be crying."

"He's been crying continuously until his voice became hoarse and no sound comes out."

Mrs. Howard sighed deeply. She said this was the first time she'd encountered a baby who cried this severely, for days on end until his voice was completely gone.

"The wet nurse is completely exhausted too. I came out to soothe him while she at least gets some rest."

Ivan quietly approached Mrs. Howard's side. Then he looked down at his son, who was forcing out tears. Even without sound, he seemed to continue crying.

"Did I cry like this when I was young?"

"Your Majesty was sensitive as well. But not to this extent."

No matter how long ago the memory was, she couldn't forget her time with Ivan, whom she had raised like her own child. Mrs. Howard said that while Ivan had been somewhat fussy, he hadn't been this unstable.

"Why exactly can't he sleep?"

"It's probably because his surroundings suddenly changed. He has no mother, no one who was originally with him, and none of his usual belongings, so he probably doesn't feel secure."

Mrs. Howard voiced her thoughts while gently dabbing at Ian's eyes with a handkerchief. She fretted that his eyes might swell from all this, or that he might simply waste away from crying himself to exhaustion.

"I think we should ask them to send some items he used at the temple. Or perhaps someone who cared for Lord Ian there."

Ivan nodded at Mrs. Howard's words. He felt like if he continued with the complacent thought that the child would adapt eventually, he might exhaust Mrs. Howard.

"I'll send someone to the temple tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Mrs. Howard breathed a sigh of relief, as though this brought her some measure of comfort at least. Then she shifted Ian in her arms. Ian appeared utterly spent from all his weeping, managing only ragged little breaths as he slumped completely against Mrs. Howard's chest.

That scene called to mind Amelia's face from when she had once nestled against his chest and drifted off to sleep. That first and final night they had shared—her youthful features bore such striking resemblance to Ian's. Of course they would. Ian could never have come into this world without Amelia.

"I'll head back now. No need to see me off, and Mrs. Howard should get some rest too once the child falls asleep."

Even as Ivan turned to go, his eyes lingered on Ian's face. Ian's features dredged up Amelia's face from the depths of memory, and from there drew her very being back to the surface.

"Yes. Safe travels to you."

A fair-haired boy. Amelia had insisted it would be worthless unless the child was a girl with raven hair and dark eyes. Yet Ian had thrived these several months since his birth. The fruit of Amelia's desperate love and fierce determination to shield her child. Ian held a place apart in Amelia's heart.

She must long to see him.

Throughout his return journey to the main palace, Ivan's thoughts dwelled on Amelia and the devotion she surely harbored for Ian.

"Your Majesty, won't you retire to your bedchamber?"

When Ivan entered the palace and headed toward his office, the chamberlain following him asked with a puzzled tone.

"Send two more maids to care for the child in the west palace. And I need to write a letter, so light the candle on my desk."

The chamberlain swiftly struck flame to the candle on Ivan's desk and set out paper and quill in perfect order. Then he dispatched word to Mrs. Warner, the head maid, to choose several girls who had younger brothers or sisters and send them to the west palace.

Meanwhile, Ivan set about composing a letter for the temple. He wrote that Ian had yet to settle into palace life and wailed each night as though death itself pursued him, leaving Ivan fearful that something dreadful might befall the child. He therefore requested they send along whatever belongings Ian had used, and asked as well that whoever had been his primary caretaker come to the palace.

"Have someone with fast feet leave immediately and deliver this letter as soon as the temple opens tomorrow."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Ivan had given Amelia a chance to cross that wall at least once. Whether she would desperately escape out of longing to see her child depended entirely on Amelia's will and effort.

Duke Russell's pupils, lost in thought, swept meaninglessly through the air. The moment he saw Ian, he instinctively sensed that the child would be useful.

But in which direction?

When he pondered it, no clear answer emerged. Truth be told, it would be wiser to simply kill the child and be done with it—all because of that slimmest chance those black eyes might one day create.

He had initially contemplated passing the child off as Ivan's own blood. Yet even if the boy's golden hair echoed Ivan's, there was no making him into the emperor's bastard son. Should he trot out some false woman claiming to have shared Ivan's bed, Ivan would move heaven and earth to uncover the child's true mother. He couldn't afford to have his schemes unravel through such clumsy maneuvering.

"......"

If that child really were Ivan's illegitimate son, there would be no need to worry. Duke Russell was thinking just that when it happened.

"Your Grace. A letter has arrived."

"Come in."

The butler knocked on Duke Russell's study door. Duke Russell erased the sinister thoughts he'd been having and received the letter the butler brought with a dignified expression.

"......"

It would be acceptable to bring the person closest to the child into the palace. Duke Russell's pupils stopped abruptly when he reached that part.

The one closest to the child was naturally Amelia, who had carried him for ten months and held him close for nearly three months. If Amelia entered the palace under the pretext of caring for the child until he stabilized, and if she were to conceive Ivan's real child...

Wouldn't that solve all problems?

Ivan would have no choice but to make that child the crown prince. Because he would make it so. If that happened, he could get Ivan, Amelia, and that child all in his grasp. Then, claiming the emperor's throne wouldn't be difficult.

It had been long since he'd abandoned the habitual thinking that he needed to maintain the temple and the sacred maiden's existence to preserve the great nobles' power. A faint smile appeared on Duke Russell's lips.