Chapter 44
***
Harvich knew it too.
“Are you truly insane? Riding at that speed on a night when the snow has just started…!”
“The one who’s crazy isn’t me, is it? Still, she’s royalty. Even carrying the heir.”
“…….”
“Even if she’s carrying another man’s child, you shouldn’t have let her run. Luckily I found her. Had I not, I would’ve had to strike you.”
He poured out words like a madman at the only subordinate devoted to this land.
His mind was a mess.
He knew this was the result of the past few days of almost no sleep.
He was insane.
Harvich assessed his own condition rationally.
For nearly a week, he had barely slept two hours a night, went out hunting in that state, checked traps daily, mapped routes, and thought of Lincia. He had searched for her exhausted and in this state, a proper conversation was impossible.
He knew this, yet he could not hold back.
The woman was already fragile.
And now, pregnant, fleeing at dawn—it was madness. He was fortunate to have found her in a single day; otherwise, she might have died in her escape.
Harvich remembered how severely she had suffered the first time she faced the day’s snow. She couldn’t even drink water properly, and he genuinely feared for her life.
It was only then that he understood his father.
…No man could witness a woman suffer like that and remain sane.
He thought distance would diminish the desire for what he couldn’t have.
It didn’t. It only grew.
He realized too late.
He should have treated her kindly, cherished her… loved her.
Overflowing with love.
Even if their relationship had a set expiration, even if it was a love destined to end, he should have tried.
Why, of all women, Lincia?
Why must she be part of the imperial family?
Why the daughter of the man who oppressed this land and waged war?
The people of the Duchy had reasons to resent the Durand imperial family that were not publicly known.
It was something Harvich would spend his life atoning for—a responsibility he bore, even if it wasn’t entirely his fault.
A guilt so immense he didn’t know how to repay it.
***
It was before Harvich was born.
The Pink Diamond Mine appeared in barren lands.
Even though it had not been fully developed, the mine produced diamonds, and neighboring nations were envious.
TheEmperor persuaded the Duke to secure ownership through a territorial claim, promising to restore food autonomy if he succeeded.
Furthermore, he offered that as long as the mine wasn’t taken by foreign powers, it could remain theirs—a remarkable concession.
But the Duchess was newly pregnant, and the late Duke hesitated to go to war with such a wife.
Ultimately, he chose to fight the neighboring nations.
The gravest mistake might have been the lack of written records in the rush of the situation.
Knowing the Durand imperial family’s obsession with the Cassius territory, he worried. Yet there was no alternative.
Though the war was won, it was essentially a loss.
They demanded compensation but received nothing.
Durand had ordered the heirs of participating nations killed, making all states hostile. In the end, what remained was the worthless Pink Diamond Mine.
“Duke, congratulations on obtaining the mine.”
By the time the late Duke tried to rectify everything, it was too late. The lands were bogged down, a quagmire.
Relations with neighboring states deteriorated, no proper compensation was received from the Emperor, and the ducal knights had perished.
“Oh, when did I guarantee food autonomy? That land wasn’t yours anyway. You merely strove to protect what was yours.”
Without imperial protection, the situation could only crumble.
“Duke, why did you earn the hatred of the neighbors? They demanded your head, quite noisily.”
Was this the price of obeying his superiors faithfully?
“If you give me thirty percent of the mine’s yield, I will personally resolve this issue.”
Geographically disadvantaged, the only choice for Cassius was to kill the fat pig sitting there.
Neighboringnations might seize the opportunity to claim land, but it didn’t matter.
TheEmpire had abandoned the duchy first.
Yet he couldn’t even do that.
His wife, who had suffered a premature birth, had deteriorated rapidly. No one could explain how news traveled so fast across such distances.
The Duke couldn’t even attempt revenge, returning to the Cassius lands.
Still, no one dared criticize him.
It was a war that had to happen, and had they failed to protect the Pink Diamonds, they would have gone even deeper, he consoled himself.
But one wrong decision had taken everything from him.
The strong knights of the Duchy, the wife he had loved all his life…
The late Duchess recovered after giving birth to Harvich, but as he grew, she spent more time in bed than awake.
Harvich’s strong father, who had taught him control and survival, became a man unable to contain his sorrow.
The once-robust man prayed daily to a God he no longer believed in, hoping for his wife’s health.
The late Duke, who spared no effort to save the dying flame of life, ultimately broke when his wife died.
“Love nothing. The north is a land where nothing can survive.”
He left what could only be called an irresponsible final word to his son, and followed his wife in death.
Cause of death: suicide by jumping.
Following his mother’s wish, he buried her at the end of the Cassius Mountains, then jumped from a cliff.
Harvich watched his father disappear into darkness but felt nothing.
He had anticipated it to some extent.
His father had grown fragile caring for the ill.
No, Harvich had not anticipated this precisely.
He had expected his father to follow his mother in death someday, but not to leap straight off a cliff.
A man who stressed responsibility above all died leaving his son behind.
Harvich inherited the title at a fairly young age, nineteen. Previous heads of the family had only assumed office at thirty or later, making him unusually young.
Many vassals owed loyalty for favors granted during the war, so they did not turn away from young Harvich.
But the responsibilities he had to manage were overwhelming.
He had to graduate from the academy.
He had responsibilities.
Yet Harvich wielded no real power.
He was a ruler standing atop the ruins of a shattered legacy.
Lost and unsure where to begin, he met Yulias.
The Emperor, like a northern plague, had died suddenly, leaving his ambitions unfinished.
The remaining stragglers were easily manipulated. Yulias took advantage, ascending to the throne without keeping promises.
Harvich was now utterly weary of it all, wanting to close his eyes and evade everything as if he knew nothing.
