“Now then… where should I started,” Raynard said, glowering on the faces of the servants who were trembling on their knee.

It was the instinct they had, perhaps, to ask for some leniency even though they did not deserved any. They begged on their knee, to be spared of their life. They confessed each and every atrocities they had committed toward the young lady they should have served with respect.

“How absurd,” he mumbled as he ruffled his hair, added, “to think that you thought of asking for mercy when you had blatantly confessed all your sins.”

“Please forgive me, Your Grace.”

“Forgive me! Forgive me!”

“Your Grace, I only followed what Miss Rosaria told me!”

“I am innocent, Your Grace! It was a momentary mistake!”

The cries of plea keep surging into his head. Angered, black fog seeping out from his body, engulfing the cell. The black fog harden into numerous sharp blade and pierced into the body of every servants trapped in the cell.

“It was a waste of time to listen to your dreadful words.”

That was the last thing they would hear before shutting their eyes forever. Raynard ascended the stairs, exiting the underground that was full of blood stench to his own room.

“Your Grace,” an old butler came holding a small tray with a piece of letter, said, “a letter came from the royal palace.”

Raynard opened the letter. He scoffed. “Celebration banquet for the first prince? That old man sure know how to rub me in the wrong way.”

“Perhaps, because they were not able to hold the banquet for you, My Lord, thus they decide to use the first prince to hold the banquet,” Brendon commented seeing the look of anger on his lord’s face.

“He was only using the fame as the hero to establish his own authority against the people. He was desperate enough because the people had started to show aggression toward his sovereignty.”

“Will you attend the banquet this time?”

“Why not? I have no more reason to avoid it…”

“That…” Brendon mumbled with an unspeakable expression on his face.

“Do not dwell on it,” Raynard said, waving his hand with casually.

“How could I not be concerned?”

“Nothing will happen, at least during the banquet party.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“Please keep your word. At least hold it in during this period of time.”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“You fret on it too much.”

“I am sure you have not yet forgotten the incident years ago. By that, I mean, the last time you visited the royal palace, nine years ago.”

“I was enraged because he refused to grant me the Mermaid Tears. I lost the chances to gift it to Yvonne that year.”

“And you get yourself the restriction from entering the capital city instead.”

“Ah~ It because of that ban he imposed, that my poor daughter was being left behind.”

“My Lord…”

“I know, I know… It was no use to dwell on the past. Regrets can’t bring my daughter back. What worse, she lived with the thought that no one loved her. Even though I love her as much as I love my dear Anna.”

“I am sure she will see the truth up above.”

“Brendon, my friend. Do not console me. I deserved this heartache. It was not that prohibition, or than old man, whose at fault, but me. If only… If only, I care more about her…”

“My Lord… What had happened already happen. You can only keep going forward. Please do not bound yourself to the past. Although I am remorseful for what had happened to Young Lady Yvonne, there was nothing we could do to make up for our mistake in the past.”

“There is something…”

“Excuse me?”

“At the very least, everyone who had brought upon her suffering and death must met the same end.”

“Will she be grateful for what you done, My Lord?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps no. But… It was too unjust to let it go. She was innocent. She had never wrong anyone. With that naive heart of her, how could she be at fault? It was the people who painted her as some vicious witch when all she was, is a young girl seeking for happiness.”

“Regarding the rumors, I had confirmed that it was indeed her who was behind it.”

“When did it started?”

“It was not long after she appeared with the second prince. It was a deliberate attempt to dye the young lady’s image as the wicked third party in their relationship.”

Raynard sighed. “All my daughter did was breathe and lived… All the family behind the two… make sure they would not see the light ever again.”

“Will you commit massacre next?”

“That would be too easy… I want all of them to fall and would never be able to stand back again.”

“I understand, My Lord.” Brendon bowed, said, “then, pardon me, I shall finished my work.”

***

“Were you trying to strangle me?” Raynard said, annoyed. He loosen up his tie, but was tighten by Brendon again.

“My Lord. This is the royal banquet. Unlike the one at the estate, the banquet here was quite the silent war between nobles. A ruthless one, at that.”

“Why should I be on pins and needles? Those spoiled nobles who could do nothing but trembling behind their status had nothing to scare me off.”

“You do not have to be on pins and needles. Just… Your appearances said a lot about you, My Lord.”

“Why should I care about my appearances? No! Why should they care how I appeared?”

“You will be carrying the image of the family into that war, My Lord.”

“Do I have any image left to protect? Everyone knew my temperament. No one would be brave enough to mess with me in front of other.”

“Please think of the deceased Madam and Young Lady. They were worthy of all honor.”

“Don’t used their name to provoke me, Brendon. Even if you were my friend, I will not forgive you if you used their name on me.”

“Please forgive me. I have no intention to use them to put a leash on you. I just… I do not wish for their name to be tarnished any further than it is…”

Raynard stared at himself reflected on the mirror, from head to toe. Illustration of his late wife materialize. She was smiling while clutching on his hand with her head rested on his shoulder.

“My dear Anna liked to doll me up. She said I was the most good looking man in the whole world,” he mumbled, smirking by himself as he recalling his memories.

His nostalgia was cut off with a knocked from the door. The old butler came in, said, “Your Grace, the carriage sent by royal palace had arrived.”

“Prepare my own carriage.”

The old butler was already used with the whimsical side of the duke that will definitely refused anything sent by the royal family. “Yes, Your Grace,” he bowed and withdraw from the room.