Chapter 28: Chapter 28
TRISTAN:
“Father, what a surprise! Dahlia and I weren’t expecting you to visit so soon,” I said, smiling.
He was clutching the gates with both hands like a zoo animal, ready to wreak havoc against the keeper, which would be me.
“You scoundrel! Where’s Dahlly? What have you done to her?”
“Dahlly’s doing well, don’t worry. Fortunately, she’s not here. I don’t think she’ll be thrilled to see you break the gates of our house just so you could make sure that she’s still breathing.”
“Liar! Someone told me Dahlly’s inside! They saw her on the carriage with you!”
“Then I think that’ll be enough proof that she’s alive, isn’t it? Perhaps if she’s in the mood, you can come back another day to see her. After all, she’ll be busy making preparations for medical school,” I said with a smirk on my face.
I looked back at the man who had visited my pack twenty years ago under the guise of being a lost traveler. He had shamefully deceived a five year old boy to help him back then, but not anymore… Not when that boy has grown up to hate him beyond words.
The scowl on his face was chilling, but who was he to intimidate me? I was the one with the upper hand now. He should be the one begging me on his knees to let him see Dahlly!
Sure enough, once he heard my last words about Dahlia becoming a healer, his whole countenance and excuses suddenly changed.
“I… I need to see Dahlly! And also, I came here as the council’s representative. I need to speak with you about your induction to the council!”
I looked back at him with disdain. Council induction my ass! How can the duke – the second highest in position over this land - come to the house of a lowly count just to talk about his induction to the royal council? Surely, no one has ever heard of such a thing! I knew that his only intention was to see his beloved Dahlia and learn more about my plans… He was really a fool!
“Is that so? Well if it’s in account of the council, I guess I could spare you some time then…”
The arrogant man’s face did not change. I didn’t change my stance too. For a minute, we eyed each other, both hating each other’s guts silently. Then, without warning, he slowly came down to his feet and kneeled to the ground.
“You may open the gates now,” I said to my men. “Please join me in my study, Duke Hurst,” I said back to the old man, bowing down in mockery of the great duke who groveled to the ground in front of his son-in-law.
I had arranged that the study in the villa be housed in the west wing of the building. The room I shared with my wife is on the east wing, so Dahlia wouldn’t be able to hear his father even if he screamed himself to death there.
As soon as we reached the study, the duke dismissed his attendants. “Will you speak privately with me,” he said, his voice softening up as if his very life depended on this one request.
I nodded, and I referred him to a seat opposite the door of my private office.
“So what is it that you wanted to speak to me about? Using the council induction as an excuse is rather lame, dear duke.”
The once high and mighty duke who drove me out of his house the day after Dahlia’s engagement with the prince was no more. Instead, I was confronted by a man who looked like a dog left outside in the rain by his master for too long.
“How’s Dahlia been?... Are you sure she is alright?”
I wanted to laugh at his face. He had been a man of threats, but I knew there was a soft side to him when the lives of the people he cared for were on the line. His hard and threatening expression was all a façade. If I didn’t have some clue on the secrets that Count Jeteris and King Maurus had on this man, I wouldn’t have believed it.
“She’s been well. She has enjoyed her trip to Crohmwall District, and I’m sure she’ll enjoy being here when her studies start,” I said.
He gulped. “Studying?... Is she really going to study?”
“Yes. She had just been accepted in the university. She’s really thrilled.”
“She’s… Then, she will… She will really become a healer? Are you going to let her?”
I folded my hands together and rested my chin on top of them as if brooding over what I was going to tell him, although I knew exactly what this man was thinking.
“Of course. I think my countess would be a wonderful healer! Her… skills… would be of utmost importance to Talandor, wouldn’t you agree? Keeping her locked in here just for me to see would do her quite a big injustice, isn’t that right?”
The duke began to shake slightly in front of me. I smiled internally. My threat was working well.
“W-Well Dahlly… Dahlly is quite sickly. Surely, she won’t be able to stand coming and going to school with her frail constitution…”
“My wife seemed to be of good health. I don’t think that’s also enough reason not to let her study further,” I said.
That’s right, Duke Hurst! Show your fear in front of me. Lead me inside your deepest insecurities so that I could use it to crush you like an insect under my boots!
“Dahlly is… Dahlly can’t go… You mustn’t allow her to become a healer…”
“And why is that? If you are terrified that people will look down on her because of her ability, you already knew that you’re wrong. Did you not see how the people had responded? They think she’s quite skilled and splendid as a medical intern!”
That’s right… I made it look to Dahlia that people had already discovered her powers, when in truth, I had merely revealed to them that she was skilled in healing people and that she secretly do this on her own. The pamphlet I showed her was an edited version intended for her eyes alone. In the real article, there was no mention of Dahlia’s unique gift. I just wanted her to believe that people had already accepted her powers so that I could convince her to elope with me…
“It’s that… It’s that…”
Hah, the great Duke Hurst was stuttering in front of me! This calls for a celebration!
“Were you perhaps referring to Dahlia’s strange power,” I finally said. The duke’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“You… You knew?”
“Of course I know it. In fact, she was the one who freely showed it to me.” I gave him a triumphant grin.
The duke’s biggest fear was getting her daughter’s secret exposed for everyone to see. They will wonder: how can the simple daughter of a duke do magic as grand as that?
Of course, there were wolf packs like that of the Shadow Rune who were skilled when it comes to magic. They were endowed with such powers because their original ancestors were witches and warlocks who mated with werewolves. The very essence of this magic was passed on to them in the form of spirit stones – internal magical stones that enabled them to use magic at will, almost by instinct. Any wolf who was a descendant from the Shadow Rune Pack carried this heritage. That was why they were feared and looked up in awe. They were really that special…
If Lady Dahlia was a descendant of someone from the Shadow Rune Pack, then her birth story would be dubious, and Duke Hurst’s crimes of possibly snatching away a woman from another pack, or a baby from the said pack would be exposed.
That’s highly unlikely though… I made a thorough investigation on Lady Dahlia and traced her roots thoroughly. Her mother and Duke Hurst were natives of the White Fang Wolf Pack, and they didn’t have an ounce of magic in their blood.
There could be other explanations too: Duke Hurst could have dabbled in the art of dark magic, causing Lady Dahlia to inherit a curse. He could also have angered someone from the Fairy Clan, causing his daughter to be the unfortunate person who would pay for his father’s crimes.
However, curses were of the destructive nature, and Dahlia’s powers were by no means destructive.
Therefore the final possibility – the most likely and most abominable one – was that Duke Hurst had killed a Shadow Rune wolf and fed her sickly daughter that unfortunate wolf’s spirit stone…
I should know this better than anyone else; for it was my very own mother whom they had carried away that day when my whole pack was killed.
In fact, one of the men who carried her off that winter night was this blasted figure in front of me – Duke Jude Hurst – the devil himself and the first on my lists of targets!