WLTIS | CHAPTER 106

[CHAPTER 106]

All misfortunes come suddenly.

But this time, it was neither misfortune nor sudden. It was avoidable.

If Ethan wanted to escape, he could have done so long ago.

“Lock him up. By the Duke’s order.”

Then why didn’t I run away?

Ethan Chaester thought as he was dragged to the prison by knights.

* * *

Ethan Chaester was raised under parents who served as medical advisors in the Duchy.

For Ethan, the only option as the sole heir of a northern vassal family was one thing.

To become a physician.

That was fine.

Ethan was interested in medicine, and more than anything, he had a talent for studying.

Several changes of seasons, dozens of minor conflicts, a deadly epidemic that took many lives once.

Both the epidemic and the wars had predictable cycles, far from the suddenness typical of disasters.

Normally, epidemics hit commoners who neglected hygiene, but in the North, they only affected nobles.

Diseases that started from nobles who received the imperial dispatch were hard to cure and left lasting marks.

Ethan reviewed past northern records.

The recent small conflict was two years ago, the minor war ten years ago, the epidemic five years ago.

The last major war was twenty years ago, and the epidemic ten years ago.

Ethan immediately went to see the Duke.

The previous Duke was then a great northern leader and ruler.

He listened to young Ethan and did not ignore suspicious circumstances.

“Doesn’t this seem suspicious?”

“This alone is not enough to suspect the royal family.”

“If you entrust me, I will go to the palace and investigate the truth.”

The Duke hesitated but then nodded.

“Return alive as much as possible.”

“Yes.”

It took Ethan four years to become a royal physician.

He had to build experience at various clinics to qualify for the exam, and passing the exam was necessary to serve as a palace physician.

During that time, he married. Ethan needed an heir.

Working as a junior palace physician, the obligation to produce an heir was intensified.

He never knew when his identity might be exposed and he might die.

He met his wife periodically.

His work in the palace was similar to what he did in the Duchy.

Treating people.

It was actually less demanding than the North, where he had to handle everything alone.

As a junior physician, Ethan assisted his superiors.

Two years of comfort and peace even made him feel bored.

Then Ethan discovered traces of the epidemic.

A bluish bruise covered a patient’s back.

It resembled the marks of the epidemic that had circulated in the Duchy.

Despite all measures, the disease could not be stopped.

Eventually, the patient died.

From that day, Ethan could not concentrate on work.

He made a few minor mistakes but was not reprimanded.

His superior was generous enough to bring him along as an assisting physician despite being a commoner.

“Poison.”

“Yes?”

“You were poisoned.”

A man with a cigarette in his mouth said so.

It was the emperor’s method.

The emperor used poison when eliminating undesired subordinates.

“There are various kinds. People specialize in mixing poisons. Damn, I should quit this disgusting job.”

“…Why are you telling me this?”

“Who mixes and creates the poisons? Who evaluates their effectiveness?”

“…”

“Soon it will be your turn. I liked that you were a capable commoner.”

Not long after, Ethan was sent deep underground by the emperor’s order.

There was a cultivation chamber.

In the dark space lit only by gas lamps, crops Ethan had never seen were growing.

“Consider it an honor to serve the Empire.”

About eight months.

Ethan spent that time without a trace of natural light.

He studied the royal herbs, experimented on prisoners, and killed many.

The royal family did not seem to want to kill all northern people, as the poison was engineered to affect only specific individuals.

When Ethan finished studying all the herbs, he decided to destroy everything.

He dropped the gas lamps to start a fire and escaped, carrying the prisoner who was meant to be an experiment.

It was the first time he had so much blood on his hands.

Whatever had happened that year, despite the chaos below, no one pursued him.

Ethan carried everything in his arms and returned to the North.

After nearly seven years, much had changed.

There had been a great war.

And Ethan’s wife had died.

It was not a marriage out of love, so he was not very sad.

However, she had been carrying his child, and the child died without seeing the light of day.

Ethan looked at the child for a long time and then sought the Duke.

The Duke’s wife had given birth and was now sickly.

And the Duke had completely changed.

“So.”

“…Yes?”

“What meaning does all this have now?”

Ethan bit his lip.

He had abandoned family, forsaken humanity, and worked for the North.

“The seven years, the seven years I believed you would solve things if I found evidence—what about that?”

Ethan shouted at the previous Duke.

But the man’s red eyes, once like fire, had dulled.

The strong, northern-leader figure seemed to vanish like an illusion.

The man holding his wife’s hand said.

“I am tired. I no longer want to make any effort.”

“This cannot be ignored. Are you going to pass this land and fate unchanged to your child?”

“…I need time with my wife.”

Ethan still believed the man would be fine after this moment.

The previous Duke had been firm and unyielding.

A man who dedicated his life to protecting the Duchy.

After his anger cooled, Ethan felt pity for him.

He stayed at the Duke’s castle and helped treat the Duchess.

But no treatment could make a weakened southern woman survive in the North.

The previous Duchess died.

Ethan thought it was for the best.

Her death would bring the previous Duke to his senses.

However, the Duke said:

“Love nothing. The North is a land where nothing can survive.”

And he fell off a cliff.

Leaving such words to those who remained loyal to the Duchy in the cold, miserable land.

Was this the result of all the loyalty given to the Dukes?

“If you run away like this, what am I supposed to do?”

Ethan looked at Harvich.

He saw his indifferent eyes trembling.

Ethan went straight home.

His will to live returned after hearing that Harvich would marry Durand that year.

* * *

Harvich received the report about Ethan late in the afternoon.

It concerned cooperation with documents related to the poison, and the fact that Ethan had lied.

[We need to go to the Duke’s castle.]

Problems Ethan had postponed while trying to protect Lincia’s feelings resurfaced.

It was urgent and needed to be handled in person at the Duke’s castle, but Harvich had no time.

He was already pressed to spend time with Lincia.

He felt guilty asking Lincia to go with him to the Duke’s castle for his problem.

He knew it was not a place of good memories for her.

“What is it?”

Lincia asked, and Harvich looked up.

She did not ask him first, so he was taken aback.

Their recent conversations had always been the same.

Harvich asked, and if Lincia liked the question, she answered.

Harvich, full of expectation, chose his words.

“If you are going to stay this uncomfortable, let’s go back.”