Archmage's Restaurant - Chapter 48: Hidden Faces and the Dessert (4)
But tragedy found her once more.
How fleeting happiness can be.
It all began with Count Dedran’s visit.
“It’s been four years since you married, and still, there is no heir!”
Count Dedran erupted in fury as he sat with his daughter. Berna, feeling herself regress to the frightened child she once was, inwardly despised her own trembling. Yet despite her thoughts, she couldn’t even lift her head to face her father.
The fear of her father, ingrained since childhood, rendered her mute.
The terror of never escaping this man was deeply embedded in her, leaving her unable to utter a sound. All she could do was lower her head and tremble.
Count Dedran leveled a threat at his daughter.
“My patience is running out. I’ll give you one more year. In that time, produce an heir!”
After that command, Berna found herself trapped, unable to move forward or backward.
The fear of her father made it impossible for her to confess her feelings to Count Grayke, as doing so would feel like tainting the love she had for him.
And so, three more years passed. The young lord turned eleven, and Berna was now twenty-seven.
Though Count Dedran had initially given her only a year, two more years had slipped by since then.
But the silence from her father was unnerving.
The quieter things were, the more impossible it became for her to approach Count Grayke with the desire to have a child. And so, without a relationship between husband and wife, there was no possibility of an heir.
Then a great misfortune befell Count Grayke.
The once healthy Count suddenly lost his mind for no apparent reason.
He lay in bed, recognizing no one, his eyes vacant and unfocused.
He would eat when fed and remain listless as his body was cleaned.
Berna believed it was all her fault.
But this was only the beginning of another despair. From that point on, Count Dedran began to interfere with Grayke behind the scenes.
At the time, the young lord was only eleven, too young to comprehend or stop what was happening.
It was then that the embezzlement of taxes began.
Count Dedran, enticing Grayke’s retainers with promises of great wealth, started siphoning off the city’s taxes, slowly ensnaring them in his web. A few years later, he addressed his trembling daughter with these words:
“The time is approaching when the Count’s son will come of age and assume his role as lord. You must ensure that the household’s servants intimidate, belittle, and undermine him. Make him a weak, indecisive puppet.”
Though she received this command, Berna found herself incapable of carrying it out. Naturally, it was Count Dedran who orchestrated the plan to turn the young lord into a mere figurehead.
From that point on, Berna could no longer face the young lord she had come to love like a son. She began to realize what her father had been doing.
Guilt consumed Berna entirely.
This was the year the young lord turned thirteen.
From then on, they only encountered each other occasionally during meals or within the estate. Berna couldn’t bring herself to seek him out, and when the young lord came to her, she refused to see him.
She couldn’t bear to face him.
The Grayke family was crumbling because of her.
More than once, she contemplated ending her life. But her love for Count Grayke, the first man she had ever loved, made her hold back.
She felt it was her duty to care for him, the only way she could repay the happiness he had given her during those seven years.
The young lord believed that his father’s attendants were taking care of him, but in truth, Berna was the one doing all the difficult tasks.
Of course, no one, including Berna herself, ever told the young lord about this.
Despite everything, she was a fragile woman, unable to act on her own.
She turned her back on the young lord she loved like a son, weeping at the bedside of the bedridden Count.
The only solace she found was in continuing the tea time she had once enjoyed with Count Grayke, even though she was now alone.
For her, tea and dessert were memories of Count Grayke.
But a reversal occurred. Though Berna had lost her smile once more, she was overjoyed to see the young lord taking charge as the acting lord, boldly standing up against Count Dedran’s schemes.
Watching from the shadows, Berna felt her heart lift. As she saw the young lord reclaiming the Grayke family, her hope grew, and little by little, her spirits began to recover.
That’s why she reacted with such childlike glee whenever she discovered a fine tea or dessert. Even though Count Grayke remained in a daze, sharing the best desserts with him made her feel as if she was reclaiming a piece of the past.
She could see the young lord, whom she had come to love like a son, gradually restoring the Grayke family.
But once again, disaster struck.
The disaster began with Count Dedran’s visit.
And now, here she was. Berna clenched the vial in her hand, gripping the carpet beneath her fiercely.
But she had no intention of giving this potion to the young lord.
She would rather die herself.
The seven years of happiness she had experienced in this life were thanks to Count Grayke and the young lord.
And so, Berna thought to herself.
If only she hadn’t existed, her father wouldn’t have been able to cling so tenaciously to Grayke. She was the link that connected Grayke and Dedran.
She should have made this choice sooner.
If her presence was what was ruining the Grayke family, then she could no longer allow it to continue. This was how she justified it.
If she died, her father’s ambitions would end.
“Sob… I’m so sorry… my love… and you too, Dieran.”
Berna began to sob, calling out the names of Count Grayke and the young lord, Dieran.
***
The one on the verge of losing his mind was the young lord. The one who wasn’t thinking at all was the dragon.
Rurin approached me, pushing her head against my side, her expression asking why the young lord was acting that way. It was her way of saying she had worked hard and deserved a pat.
“I’m going to confront Count Dedran immediately!”
I needed to stop the young lord’s outburst. Rushing in without a plan wouldn’t solve anything.
“Calm down. Charging in now won’t fix the situation. We need to handle this with a cool head. First, I want to speak with the second wife again.”
“My stepmother refused Count Dedran’s proposal. That means… she’s on our side, after all….”
“I’ve already made an appointment to bring her some dessert today. Let’s wait a bit longer and gather more information, alright?”
The potion meant to cloud someone’s mind…
It sounded exactly like what had happened to Count Grayke.
From what I heard, the second wife seemed unaware, but it was clear that all of this started with Count Dedran’s machinations.
A human piece of trash.
Of course, trash like him didn’t deserve peace.
The one who needed to taste true despair was Count Dedran. His crimes would be exposed for all to see.
What does he think a person’s life is worth?
This was too much for the young lord to handle alone.
“What’s wrong? Why so serious?”
As always, the dragon, who was the first to notice any change in me, clung closer, sensing my discomfort.
***
The mood in the lord’s castle today was heavy with a sense of gloom. Though the sky was clear and the autumn weather remained perfect, the castle felt like it was trapped in a long, dark tunnel.
The young lord was filled with rage. He had just discovered the identity of the villain responsible for his father’s downfall.
He needed to prevent Count Dedran from leaving the territory and planned to meet with the second wife right away.
The dragon followed close behind.
“Why are you angry? What’s wrong?”
Rurin had no reason to concern herself with human affairs. Even in her interactions with me, she never paid much attention to the subtleties of human emotions.
But she was incredibly sensitive to any changes in me.
I stopped walking.
Rurin held onto my arm, refusing to let go. Her eyes were full of concern, as if she sensed something was deeply wrong.
“I haven’t done anything wrong. I even worked hard after waking up, so why are you acting like this?”
“Do I really look that strange?”
I must have let my emotions get the better of me, given Rurin’s reaction.
Honestly, the power-hungry Duke Taemuran seemed almost endearing in comparison. At least Taemuran wouldn’t treat his children as mere tools.
Even monsters cherish their offspring.
It’s hard to stay calm when faced with someone who isn’t even human. There’s no cure for scum who go beyond mere child abuse.
“You do… I don’t like seeing you like this. I hate it when you’re angry. You’re scary when you’re angry…! That time, you ignored me, as if I wasn’t even there! I was right beside you!”
“It’s alright. I wasn’t angry at you then, and I’m not angry at you now.”
“You sure?”
I hugged Rurin tightly. Her small frame fit perfectly into my arms. The castle hallway was quiet, and the autumn breeze blowing in through the windows made me feel a bit calmer as I held her warm body close.
“But you ignored me before! You can’t ignore me like that!”
“That was back when we hadn’t known each other for long. There were… circumstances. But now it’s different. Don’t worry.”
“When you ignore me, I don’t know what to do. I really don’t like it!”
During the Dragon Wars, I was once consumed by rage. My anger was directed at dragons, though not at Rurin, of course. But I wasn’t in control of my emotions, and I ended up hurting Rurin as well.
That memory seemed to be what troubled her now, but this was different.
Nothing else in the world bothered her.
But the thought of being ignored by me terrified her.
That’s the kind of dragon Rurin was—
And that’s why I didn’t want to give her back to the Elders.
“I won’t ignore you. I was still immature back then. Look at this. Everything’s fine, right? You love being hugged like this, don’t you?”
As I gently stroked her hair, Rurin became quiet.
“Is that so? It is different from back then. You didn’t hug me like this before.”
“See, it’s all good now.”
“Then who made you like this? Was it that guy from earlier?”
Rurin looked up at me, her expression darkening with anger. Her fury, rising like a tangible force, made it seem as if she was about to unleash her breath attack.
“No, don’t worry. This time, I’ll handle it calmly. I’ll take care of it.”
I smiled at Rurin.
“Just stay by my side. Don’t interfere, but if I need help, I’ll let you know. Until then, just be with me, alright?”
“Alright. I always listen to you.”
“That’s funny.”
“It’s not funny.”
“Sigh.”