CH 73

“The king definitely has been getting ready to go on a rampage.”

Gareth had some idea as to what the king had been up to during the past few years of constant territorial disputes, but the message made it clear that something was going to happen sooner or later. The branches of the lush trees Hansen had drawn were heavy enough to touch the ground. ‘They’re going to move before they break…’ Gareth thought, then brushed over the pictures of the faint bushes on one side of the parchment with his fingers.

“There are certainly some people who have noticed what the king’s been up to,” he muttered to himself.

Nevertheless, it seemed that Hansen had yet to find out who they were. ‘Is it Logan? Logan and Viscount Nar have formed an alliance and are planning an uprising against the king… aren’t they?’ Deciding to find out for himself without delaying any longer, Gareth carefully examined the messages for the last time before burning them.

Gareth left the armory and returned back to the castle. He then went straight up to the second floor, opened the door to Lydia’s room, and went inside.

“Gareth!” The woman with showy red hair squealed, then began to run towards him.

However, Gareth reached out one hand and pushed her away by the shoulder. “Lydia, I’ll ask you again. Why did you come here?”

Lydia smiled brightly and grabbed his hand to put it on her stomach. “You know why,” she crooned.

Gareth roughly shook her hand away in response, grabbed her chin and neck tightly, then asked again. “I’ll ask you for the last time, Lydia. If you don’t answer me properly this time, I’ll break this jaw of yours.”

The pain in her jaw almost caused Lydia to lose consciousness. Last time she was abused like this, Elena had been at the scene to stop Gareth, but now she wasn’t. The maids had rushed to stop the merciless man, but had fainted after Gareth had pushed them away. Lydia could hear the sound of her bones cracking and possibly breaking once again. She let out a painful groan.

“Why did you come to me? Are you here to convince me to act as the king’s guard dog?”

Lydia rummaged through her hazy mind for an answer. Gareth’s hand was firm on her neck, as if he had figured something out. He had left her all alone without saying a word until now, but Lydia had an inkling that he was looking into things. ‘Well, it’s rather a relief, since dragging this on for any longer would have put a lot of strain on my body. I was looking for the right time to initiate my plan anyway. I’ll just pretend that Gareth gave me the chance to do it.’

Struggling, Lydia barely managed to grab Gareth’s hands that were squeezing her. “T-the king… Gareth… please let me go first…” she panted through her strangled throat.

Gareth’s hand loosened a little at her words.

“The king plans to kill his cousins who have helped him,” Lydia said, her eyes teary from the pain.

Gareth glared at Lydia with wide eyes.

“He intends to kill all of us who have helped him become the king,” Lydia continued.

“Does that include you?” Gareth asked.

Lydia looked at Gareth with fierce eyes. ‘How much did he find out? Has he already figured out what Logan and I have been preparing?’ She then answered, “Perhaps. I’ve objected to the king’s neglect regarding the issue of territorial disputes time and time again, but it was stupid for me to think that he liked me and that I should give him advice in return for favoring me.”

It was true that Halbert favored Lydia the most out of all of his younger siblings, and always had her around him and even forbade her to marry. However, this wasn’t because Halbert deeply cherished her, but because he used Lydia to come up with ideas for his schemes.

“First, there was the issue of our child, but I also didn’t want to see my cousins be slaughtered by the king. If he succeeded in killing his cousins and taking ownership of the combined military power, no one would be able to stop the king and the whole country would be massacred.”

At those words, Gareth released Lydia then crossed his arms. “So, what do you want from me?”