Chapter 294

Bernard and Tara catch up after recent stunning events and Tara reflects on the truth of what may have happened to Kyle...

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Episode 294. About Two Months (2)

Tara, His Lady, had gone through so much and still found work to do.

House Elias's business had come to a standstill, and the mansion's many visitors had ebbed away like a low tide, leaving only a dozen or so remaining at best.

And that turned out to be fortunate.

After the Second Prince's death, the Third Prince, Prince Joseph, launched an investigation, and in just one week concluded Kyle and the Phoenix Knights had committed treason against the Empire. House Elias and House Kezak were determined to be complicit.

After being imprisoned for a week, Count Elias and Baron Kezak were released after pledging to surrender all their assets and property to the Crown.

"Go inside Bernard! I can do this by myself!"

Bernard hefted the lightning shattered tree stump and pushed it aside.

Not to be outdone, His Lady grunted and helped push the fallen tree trunk with all her might.

"Stop, Bernard! It's not worth your time. Why did you come here when you should be on your way to the Palace? If you keep coming here, you'll get arrested alongside us!"

"Let them catch me. I'll stop when I damn well please." 

He grabbed the bundle of branches His Lady reached for and tossed them aside.

"Please. Stop this, Bernard. Think about it! You need to be careful right now, it's too dangerous."

She grabbed the last chunk of the fallen tree and lifted it. His Lady was still as stubborn as ever.

"I am thinking, My Lady. I have been thinking quite intensely in fact. I haven't been officially promoted to the position of general yet! I have no regrets about disregarding procedure given how unstable things are. I will come back when things have calmed down a bit. His Majesty's safety might be in jeopardy without me for a while, but after the situation stabilizes after the coronation ceremony, I'll come back so we can continue your training. Let go of that. I'll do it."

But his stubborn liege did not let go of the stump. Bernard marched to the other side of her, snatched the stump from her grip and set it aside.

“I can't afford to pay you. How could I accept lessons from you when I can't even afford it? I’m not that shameless. Don’t waste your skills on me, Bernard. If you think being His Majesty's general is getting too dangerous, quit. I predicted this would eventually happen, but I never expected it to happen like this.”

"... You knew this would happen?" He asked, surprised.

His Lady looked up at him with a resigned nod.

"Yes. That's why I asked you to train me. I wanted to be able to reap that benefit if the family went bankrupt. Are you disappointed?"

“It’s surprising, but I think I would have done the same. Did it really say that I would become a general? The book you read?”

"Yes. The book stated that you would go on to become a great general. I think it was supposed to happen much later, but it seems the timeline has been brought forward. That's why your position is so uncertain right now. Wait until after the abdication ceremony. The Emperor will have prepared for that eventuality."

"I'll think about it. As you said, His Majesty seems to have his mind made up."

Bernard had entered the Palace as the lieutenant commander of the 3rd Platoon of the Imperial Military's Capital Guard and a mid-level officer of the Special Weapons Corps.

Shortly after Bernard arrived, the Emperor collapsed and was left paralyzed after being confronted by the sudden death of the Second Prince and evidence of his treason. The Emperor had left the Palace immediately afterwards to facilitate his recovery. During the transfer away from the Palace, Bernard's platoon had joined the Imperial Palace Guard as a forward support unit. Bernard had saved the Emperor from an assassination attempt and was promoted to Captain of the Guard the day after his arrival.

Bernard's promotion to the rank of general would have been considered incredibly fast a few months ago, especially since he had just come from serving House Elias, but that was no longer the case under the current administration. His rapid rise through the ranks had only been possible because the former Captain of the Guard had been transferred to the Third Prince's Guard after the death of the Second Prince, leaving the position vacant.

No one had been willing to volunteer for the position since it now carried a high risk of death at any given moment.

The assassin had died instantly, but the body, and their identity, had never been released to the public.

[Did they capture him?]

Bernard had responded with silence.

When Bernard couldn't lie, he had a tendency to close his mouth and look towards the mountains in the distance. And that was precisely what he'd done that day.

The assassin had most likely been captured. And if they did have him in custody, they could hardly use a 'dead man' as a witness to identify the person who ordered it.

The world was a hideous place at the moment.

"Don't be reckless, Bernard. Your life is more important to me than the Emperor's."

Bernard pinched the bridge of his nose and grimaced a couple times. His eyes were oddly itchy these days.

“Very well, I'll think about it. You need to eat more. You've lost even more weight after recent events.”

The icy and unyielding Second Prince had suddenly turned on His Lady, interrogating her as if he had never cared for her in the first place.

Bernard would never forget her pale, wounded expression.

“I’m eating well… What a strange request. Haha.”

”Don't pretend to be happy, My Lady... In a way, I'm glad it ended this way. At least now you will have no lingering regrets."

After Kyle's death, Bernard's big brother instincts had kicked back into gear.

“…Go back to work, Bernard.”

“Are you alright, my Lady?” Bernard finally asked. He'd held off asking this entire time.

His Master, who had been staring blankly into the distance, seemed to hesitate for a moment before asking with a calm expression.

"Why didn't you ever doubt me, Bernard? Do you truly believe the things I said back then?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure I fully believe you either. Instead, I choose to believe in the time we've spent together."

"But what if you were in the Second Prince's position?"

"Do you want me to be honest?"

"Yes."

"I would feel betrayed. I would be confused and distrustful, of course, but based on what I saw, the Second Prince was more angry than anything else. I wonder why he– No. Actually, it's not worth wondering about."

Bernard had fallen into the habit of letting his curiosity guide him. He understood the situation well enough and chose to abruptly close his mouth instead.

It seemed cruel and pointless to ask why His Master's dead former lover had been so angry with her. 

His Master blinked slowly. She appeared calm as she spoke, but her voice trembled slightly.

"I vaguely understand why he felt the way he did, but I don't want to think about this any longer. So please don't ask me about it anymore, Bernard."

Bernard patted His Master's shoulder with his wide palm.

"Yes, My Lady. That was short-sighted of me. Forget it. Just stop spouting that nonsense about finding the spy all on your own. There are plenty of people who can do it and plenty of fish in the sea. It seems to me that Viscount Theodore Stuart is a good man. Last week he brought in a new cook just to make sure you were being properly fed."

"Are you really here to talk about Theodore? Besides, aren't you late for something? I thought you had a meeting at the Palace today."

"It's all right. Not yet. Besides, I heard you went to see a lawyer and that he was a new companion of yours."

"Did Beth tell you that?"

Bernard looked towards the distant mountains again.

“....”

"I know you were waiting until she got off work late last night and you spent some time together. I assume you two spent that time talking?" 

‘Hmm...?' 

I shook my head. Bernard brushed his hands through his hair and checked the fit of his clothes. His movements were noticeably jerky.

"It's getting late, I'd better get going, by the way. Are you coming to the coronation ceremony?"

"No. I don't want anything to do with the Palace anymore."

"Good idea. Don't come. All of the nobles present will be thoroughly mesmerized by the Third Prince and that bastard Administrator of his. It's best that you avoid coming to the Palace as much as possible for the time being."

"Okay. Please take good care when you escort Beth later. Oh, and you're going back to Tandra tomorrow, right?"

Bernard's face turned red for a moment, then he cleared his throat and grabbed the reins of his horse with a stiff and awkward gesture.

The Emperor had been staying at Tandra Manor under the pretext of his recuperation. Bernard had also been at Tandra for the past month, having only returned yesterday for his first vacation since being assigned his new post. He was scheduled to return tomorrow.

"Hmm... Yes. Of course, My Lady. I'll see you later then."

As he turned to leave, I called out to Bernard again after a passing thought struck me.

"If it’s fine with you, Bernard, I might need to ask you for a favor. But it might get you in trouble."

“I’ll do anything for you, My Lady. It doesn’t matter if it’s difficult. After all, it’s my job to support you for the rest of my life.”

I unconsciously took a step closer to hug Bernard as I felt a deep emotion rising in my chest. Bernard, immediately noticing my intentions, quickly stepped back.

"Don't do that. You're going to give me hives with that behaviour. What do you want?"

“Tsk. Seriously. I’ll tell you tonight when I decide. I don’t know what will happen quite yet.”

"Yes. Well... Okay. If that's all, goodbye."

I watched Bernard's back as he walked away, then continued to clear the driveway.

About a week after Kyle's death was announced, Bernard asked me if I could feel the presence of his Aurore.

I felt bad for lying, but I'd told him I could no longer feel it. After that, I left the room and avoided the subject. There was no way I could let Bernard, who was currently a Lieutenant Commander working in the Imperial Palace, know that the Second Prince wasn't truly dead.

I looked toward the empty Elias Trading Company administration building in the distance. I never could've imagined that the thriving mansion grounds and administration building which had been crowded with visitors a mere month ago, would ever look this quiet and desolate.

The Elias family had been completely ruined, and left with nothing but its estates and titles.

All of the family's shares and assets had been frozen and all of the trading company's dealings had been suspended. A notice was issued to House Elias stating that any violation of the suspension order would result in severe punishment.

I had spent months running myself ragged to save this damned family, but had never expected this outcome two months before our execution in the original story. Perhaps it was my intervention that had caused our earlier-than-expected destruction...

"...We aren't ruined yet."

An old gardener working nearby looked up at me as I stood there shaking my head and muttering to myself. I smiled at him to play it off, then tightly bound the stack of foliage I had been clearing next to me with a rope.

The destruction of the Elias family that Writer Kim had described had involved the deaths of the entire Elias Family due to their alleged involvement in an assassination attempt on the Second Prince.

Originally, my family had been dragged to the gallows for trying to kill the Second Prince, but our current situation where our property had been confiscated because we sided with the Second Prince was not the same scenario I had predicted. Nothing about this incident was recorded anywhere in the original history of Oceria.

Ugh. What was I doing? I'd decided that I wasn't going to rely on the history of the original story anymore!

Screw the original story.

This entire mess was all because of my decision to put my faith in the original story in the first place.

I finished my last task, dusting off my hands.

Nevertheless, this would not destroy the Elias Family. I knew for a fact that the Second Prince wasn't dead. So the question now was, where was he, and what was he up to?

They still hadn't recovered even a single body from the gorge. They hadn't found either of the Princes or even a single corpse belonging to one of the Phoenix Knights. All of the confirmed dead were either Toulouse Knights or mercenaries.

The only thing that came out of the month-long search had been an abandoned greatsword, a red cloak from a member of the Phoenix Knight's Reconnaissance Division, and other assorted foodstuffs and gear.

They hadn't found a single trace of him for an entire month. What did that tell me?

‘Either his disappearance was a planned retreat, or he and his men have truly been swept down the gorge and into the North Sea.'

I was leaning heavily toward the former.

___

Editor’s Notes -

Bernard is the best. I love him and his relationship with Tara so much and how he sticks with her and has faith in her even after finding out the truth about the novel. I even like how he tries to help Tara understand Kyle’s harsh reaction without agreeing with it. He is best boy and deserves happiness.

Also - It’s good to be back! 😭I have survived yet another graduate studies semester from hell and am relieved to be launching back into this story. Thank you all for sticking with us.

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