Chapter 76……………………………………
: The Hidden Truth
Inside the office, silence lay thick. Akia’s face darkened as she hurried in upon hearing news of Lea.
“Have they not found the culprit yet?”
“…No. We’ve investigated every possible lead, but we haven’t found any trace yet.”
Akia’s voice cracked as she lowered her gaze in response to Duke Belarus’s question.
“I see…”
Duke Belarus looked the same—shocked. Hearing that Lea had been attacked in Bialitskal had stunned him just as much as when he had received the news of Ariel’s death.
The fear of losing his only granddaughter made Dmitri’s hands tremble uncontrollably.
Lea was like an oasis in his once barren, desert-like life. A beautiful child for whom he would give all his flesh and bones and still not feel it enough.
That was why he had allowed Akia to go to Bialitskal to assist her.
‘I must have been temporarily out of my mind.’
He knew the emperor would not stand idly by if Akia succeeded, yet he had still let her go. He had been berating himself the entire way to Bialitskal.
He had permitted her to stay by his side, knowing the danger, solely for her happiness.
‘But…’
Dmitri clenched his still-trembling hands tightly. In his once-calm eyes, resolve now glimmered.
“Your Highness.”
For the first time, he called Akia by that gentle, previously unused title. Surprised, Akia looked up.
“Lea is the only remaining blood relative I have. She is the treasure my deceased daughter left me.”
It was the first time Dmitri had addressed Akia—now a duke—as “Your Highness,” and with such respectful language.
“I would do anything for my granddaughter. I am prepared to sacrifice everything for her happiness. And among those things… was Your Highness.”
The legitimate heir to the throne. Was there anyone as dangerous as Akia in the entire empire?
“I allowed her to stay by your side, knowing it was dangerous, purely because that was what she wished for.”
“….”
“But it seems I was mistaken.”
At Duke Belarus’s cutting words, Akia fell silent.
“You must realize that when Your Highness entered the mine, the entrance collapsing was no mere accident.”
In fact, Akia had suspected as much. Even if she didn’t know the mine’s interior, she had found it strange that the previously intact entrance had collapsed.
Akia lowered her gaze again. She knew that Lea’s current state was clearly her fault.
“I have nothing to say, no matter how many mouths I had.”
Akia fully acknowledged her responsibility. She had been complacent despite knowing how many enemies targeted her, almost causing Lea’s death.
Just as Lea was precious to Akia, she knew he cherished her as well. She could not lift her head.
She was ready to offer even a slap to Dmitri—but he was the one who lowered his head.
“Your Highness, please…”
Had anyone ever seen Dmitri bowing so earnestly, his voice so desperate? Akia’s eyes widened in shock.
“Please release my granddaughter.”
Dmitri’s next words took her breath away. The Belarus family was like kings of the North. Even the emperor could not make them bow. Proud, strong-willed, and stubborn.
And now, Dmitri, head of the Belarus family, was bowing his head to Akia.
“I will give you anything you desire. But not Lea…”
Akia’s fist clenched, understanding the fear he felt at the thought of losing his granddaughter.
“Please do not take away the last one I have left…”
In this moment, Dmitri was simply a grandfather pleading with Akia: stay away from her, for her safety. And Akia could only respond:
“…Understood.”
She accepted it.
❀ ❀ ❀
After regaining consciousness, Lea’s condition quickly improved.
“Are you feeling better?”
“Yes. Much better.”
Now able to move about normally, she asked Akia, who sat before her:
“By the way, Duke… have you caught the culprit?”
“Not yet.”
Akia’s face darkened like ash, weighing on Lea. She could feel his guilt through his expression.
“It’s alright, Duke. We can search from here.”
She smiled, trying to reassure him, though unease lingered. They needed to find the culprit to prevent this from happening again.
Perhaps sensing her worry, Akia moved closer and gently brushed back her scattered hair.
“Did you see the culprit’s face? Even a small detail will help. Tell me everything you remember.”
“Hmm…”
A small detail… He had been wearing a cloak that covered his entire body, leaving his face and hair color unnoticeable. The only thing she had seen was the sharp blade and a rough, manly hand.
“Wait…”
Suddenly, one image flashed in her mind: a tattoo on the man’s wrist as he drew his blade.
Tattoos were rare in this world, making the memory all the more vivid.
“The man had a tattoo on his wrist.”
“A tattoo?”
Surprised by Lea’s answer, Akia furrowed her brow.
“What kind of tattoo? Shape, distinct features—anything you remember?”
“Well… could you give me a pen?”
The tattoo was unusual, easily memorable. Akia handed her a piece of paper, and she began sketching from memory.
“It looked something like this. It was very distinctive.”
The duke hastily took the paper and scanned the drawing.
A circular design resembling a wagon wheel, wrapped entirely by a coiled serpent. The meaning was unclear, but it was an unsettling symbol.
“This is…”
Looking at the drawing, the duke’s expression stiffened.
“Why? Do you know this symbol?”
‘Why is he suddenly like this?’
Lea noticed the paper in his hand trembling slightly. Worried, she asked cautiously:
“Do you… know something about this symbol?”
“…I know it all too well.”
Lea’s heart froze at his words. Akia’s eyes glinted with anger as he crushed the paper in his hands.
“I can never forget this.”
She had thought once… about the assassin who killed her mother. If that assassin came to kill her, she might face him again.
Akia’s lips trembled as he recalled the dying empress. He had seen her reflected in the collapsing Lea that day.
An uneasy premonition had settled in him, and strangely, it never faltered.
“Duke?”
Lea, noticing his lost expression, asked. They met eyes after a long silence.
His gaze was filled with an unfamiliar mix of murder intent and fury.
“I expected it, and yet…”
“Excuse me? What do you mean…?”
“The assassin was sent by the Empress Dowager.”
Lea covered her mouth in shock. The mention of the Empress Dowager made her heart race.
“The… Empress Dowager?”
Akia’s words made her recall the rumors: the Empress Dowager had once been a concubine but the emperor’s most beloved.
‘She wanted to be empress but never attained the position.’
Not only that, her eldest son, the crown prince, never became emperor. She had fulfilled her ambitions through her grandson, elevating him as emperor, and became the Empress Dowager.
“Duke, if the Empress Dowager achieved her goal with her grandson, why does she continue to want to kill you?”
The Croația Empire valued tradition above all. Every previous emperor had been a legitimate heir through the empress. No matter the emperor’s favor, offspring of concubines could not be made crown prince. Individual talent was irrelevant.
Yet Illay, from a collateral line, overcame birth defects and eventually inherited the throne from Philip III.
Akia was no longer an heir.
‘If she no longer has a reason to fight for the throne, why go this far?’
Akia met Lea’s questioning gaze. She could sense the curiosity in her eyes. There was a backstory ordinary citizens could not know. Akia slowly spoke.
“That is…”
He thought of his cousin, comfortably seated in the palace, observing the situation.
Eyes as blue as the deep sea, hair like gold bars long nurtured by time. He recalled the words the Empress Dowager had used to convince nobles to make Illay emperor:
[“See? My grandson Illay has the unmistakable mark of an emperor!”]
As a child, he did not understand the mark. But after Illay was named crown prince and sent to Hydern, he realized something was wrong.
A sharp solemnity lingered in Akia’s gaze as he looked at Lea.
“The current emperor… Illay…”
A strange tension seeped into Lea’s heart. She swallowed, waiting for him to continue.
“…has not inherited Croația’s bloodline.”
