CH 66

The previous Foreign War.

Those who were at the top of the society did not go to prison even after committing high treason. Charles’ gaze looking at the top of the tower that stretched high were bitter.

“Please follow me.”

The knight, who served as the tower’s guard, was still polite even though he became a sinner. Charles bowed his head and followed the knight’s guidance into the tower.

The inside of the tower, where he entered after a year, remained the same. The winding spiral staircase was endless, and the gray walls inside the tower looked dark with cracks here and there.

“It’s the same as before. An hour. It’s the time His Majesty has allowed.”

The knight said in front of the door at the end of the tower. When Charles nodded slightly, saying he understood, the knight took a package of keys out of his pocket and unlocked five heavy locks on the door. Whenever there was a clang sound, Charles looked at it with a painful face.

Clang.

The heavy iron door had to be pushed as hard as the knight could. When Charles entered the room, five locks behind were locked again. Leaving the touch of the cold door behind, Charles looked into the room.

There was no furniture inside except a bed and a table. There was a very small palm-sized window that gave life to the desolate room without any decoration. However, even though it was closed, the air in the room was cloudy even in the cool weather outside.

Charles looked around the room with blank eyes and went to the side of the bed and knelt down.

“Mother, I’m here.”

There was a woman lying on the bed. The woman lying on her back with her gray hair loose breathed heavily once as her eyes opened.

Her eyes, which would once have been as clear as the sky outside, rolled from side to side with a blurry light like the eyes of a wounded fish. The woman managed to get herself up. Even with the ordinary movement, a crunching sound was heard from the joints.

Charles stretched his hands to support his mother but hesitated. Because his mother hated anyone sympathizing with herself worthy of her precious origin.

“Francis manages to let you go.”

“His Majesty….”

“Stop. I don’t want to hear about that son of a bitch.”

The voice calling the Emperor of the great Han Empire a son of a bitch was thin and cold, without any hesitation. Charles bit his lips while looking at his mother sadly, who became weaker just in a year. He has something to tell her today. But seeing her this, it was hard to say anything.

“Get the ribbon there.”

Duchess Ulysses. No, now a sinner, Ulysses pointed to the table. When Charles brought a white ribbon from the table, she combed her disheveled hair with her hands and tied it neatly.

“You know, there’s no one to serve me here. Please understand this.”

“Yes. How are you feeling?”

“As you see it. I’m aging fast and dying fast. Like the ghosts of this tower.”

Ulysses said, looking at the wrinkles in her hand. Spending time in a small room and doing nothing was terrible torture. Thanks to this, she did not see the sunlight or breathe the fresh air outside, so she was becoming a presbytery day by day.

“……It hasn’t been three years, and I don’t know if I’ll be crazy until five years have passed. Or die before that.”

She said so, but Ulysses was the only one who has endured the hellish life in her right mind for nearly three years in the tower over the past 100 years. Usually, the royal people who were captured there would self-harm or go crazy less than a year after being trapped there.

That’s what this space was. No arrogant emperor, no elegant empress, or the prince who almost came to power, could endure for long.

But Ulysses also had limitations. Charles noticed her mother’s eyes gradually blurred and constantly shaking. In addition, she clenched her fist hard secretly so that he could not see it, but the tip of his mother’s finger, which he saw when she was tying her hair, was full of blood.

“Don’t say that. Stay healthy for a long time.….”

Charles shut his mouth as he spoke. The saying to live here long and healthy was, in a way, a curse for her. Ulysses also snorted coldly as if his son’s words were funny.

The mother and son, who met after a year, remained silent. It was such a waste of a short time of only an hour, but he couldn’t say anything when he faced reality. Who sees them as the hostess and successor of the Duke of Serpence now? The life of being a sinner and saving only his life was as miserable as this room.

“Mother.”

Charles held his mother’s hand after a long hesitation. Ulysses frowned at the young sympathy in his son’s eyes, but did not shake his hand. Charles gave a lonely smile to his mother. Holding Ulysses’ hands tightly, he said what he had thought beforehand.

“My Father died. It was last year. It wasn’t long after I visited Mother.”

Ulysses’ cheeks twitched slightly at his son’s words. But she soon opened her mouth with her chin raised haughtily.

“Good for him. He would have died in agony like that, wouldn’t he? The last time I saw him, he couldn’t even breathe properly.”

Ulysses saw her husband just before he was taken for treason. She watched her husband, Duke Serpence, lying like a corpse and breathing heavily.

Charles clenched his lips at his mother’s reaction. Now he can be sure. His mother was involved in his father’s death. He asked Ulysses in a watery voice.

“……I’m late, but if I may ask. The person who poisoned Father…… Was it you, Mother?”

“Yes, I did.”

Ulysses didn’t deny anything. She took her hand out of her son’s hand and looked down at his tearful son.

“I know Father has hurt Mother. It was an unbearable wound. But Mother…….”

Charles knew how much his mother suffered because of her father’s mistress and the existence of her half-brother. She was a noble woman who lived her life like an imperial family and also as the Emperor’s favorite younger half-sister. However, since the husband had an illegitimate child with the mistress, how much hurt her great pride was? In addition, as Charles knew, his Mother had a passionate crush on his Father even before she was married to him.

“……my Father is your husband. But why…… Why did you do that? I heard Father went away in great pain.”

Charles did not intend to tell anyone that his Father’s killer was his Mother. The only person out of his parents who gave him affection was his mother. His father saw him as his successor, but he paid no attention to anything related to him.

However, it is true that his father also gave him blood and flesh. So he had to ask her Mother this secret. Why did she have to kill her husband so cruelly?

“He’s your father, so that’s why I endured. If it wasn’t, I’d have poisoned or killed him long ago. My son, your father, I have shown mercy on him.”

“Mother!”

Ulysses painted the face of her dead husband looking at his son’s red hair. He died without even breathing properly. She wanted to tell him the truth. If she could, she would have enjoyed this joy of seeing him in misery earlier.

Charles was hardened by the emotion in his mother’s eyes. Then Ulysses said to her son.

“Stop talking about your father. How’s that filthy illegitimate son doing? Is he living in that castle, taking your place?”

The sarcastic voice was full of anger. Her husband’s illegitimate son took over the castle as well as the position of the Duke. The thought of it gave her a fever of anger. With barely holding back the soaring madness, Ulysses urged his son to answer.

“……Yes, because he’s the Duke now. He lives in the castle.”

“What Duke? Just a dirty illegitimate child. Taking a seat doesn’t make him look noble. Dirty thing!”

Ulysses’ eyes were bloodshot and fierce. She would not recognize Ezekiel as a Duke until the moment she died. To her, Ezekiel was nothing more than a dirty illegitimate child.

“What about Herace? How’s the child doing? Will I see her again this year? Francis didn’t call her, did he?”

Ulysses, who had been cursing Ezekiel with clenched teeth, suddenly changed her face. It was a real smile on his Mother’s face for the first time he saw in years, but Charles avoided her eyes. He licked his lips several times and spoke in a low voice after a long time.

“……Mother, there’s something I haven’t told you so far.”

If he could come back next year, he would have hidden this fact again this year. But Charles couldn’t come here a year later.

It was known that the mother and her child caught for treason were meeting secretly, so the palace was in an uproar.

The Emperor closed his mouth and implied that it wasn’t his will, but the believers were stubborn. When it was even said that a new rebellion might occur if the rebels ignored the meeting, the Emperor told Charles to stop visiting his mother for the time being.

“What do you mean you couldn’t tell me……. Is something wrong with her?”

“Herace didn’t stay with me. After Devone’s fall, she…….”

“What? Didn’t Francis forgive her? Charles! Speak up. If not with you, where is the child, Herace now? Don’t tell me he enslaved that pretty child…….”

Ulysses shouted even before Charles’ words continued. Holding Charles by the shoulder with a pale face, she shook her son. Charles shook his head, holding the excited mother.

“No, what do you mean enslaving her? Harace is doing well. But Herace…… She is married to Brother now, not long after Mother came here. I’m sorry to tell you late.”

Sometimes, Ulysses cared more about Herace than her child. Charles knew from an early age how much his mother wanted to tie him with Herace.

“Charles, you have to marry Herace and live happily ever after.”

His mother would urge him to marry Herace from time to time. It could have been said too much, but Charles also nodded every time because Herace was a good person.

“You, you… What are you talking about?… What do you mean…….”

“…….”

“What do you mean! Why would Herace marry that filthy illegitimate child! Why! She’s your fiancée. My son, your fiancée! Charles, she’s your fiancée!”

“…….”

“Oh, Charles…… Don’t make such a crazy joke, my son. You’re kidding, aren’t you? Say yes. Say yes!”

“…it’s true. Herace married Brother and became a Duchess. But it was inevitable, Mother. The Devone was found involved in the treason, and Herace was taken to prison. Brother tried to save her…….”

“No way!”

When Ulysses shook her head vigorously, her neatly tied hair scattered in all directions. She raised her thin finger and pointed it at her son like a madwoman.

***

T/N: Hello readers! I’m sorry to let you know that I won’t be able to post any new chapters from next week till the end of April. I’ll be very busy in the meantime so please forgive me. I’ll try to update at least one chapter per week but