En Travesti - I Became a Fake Prince - Chapter 9

“Where did you leave your brother?”

Chamuka remained silent at the Grand Duke’s question.

Perhaps because it was a dark night, the father and son stood out starkly white, as if detached from their surroundings.

Ferik asked his son again.

“Chamuka. Where did you leave Tan?”

“…He’ll come here soon. That’s how I trained him.”

Despite the defiant response, Ferik just looked down at his son without expression.

Unable to bear the suffocating silence, Yen laughed awkwardly.

“Ha, haha. First Young Duke. His Grace was very worried. You disappeared so late at night, well. Where have you been?”

“In the forest.”

At Chamuka’s brief reply, Ferik’s eyes twitched for the first time. Then, an incredibly chilling statement flowed out.

“I told you not to go in there.”

“I didn’t go in. I just went near it. When I got there, I saw new people had moved into the forest keeper’s villa.”

“They’re hostages brought from the Empire.”

“You should have brought food instead. Not the useless, expensive purple-eyed Herta.”

The purple eyes that appear in the Herta imperial family had no value other than the legitimacy of inheriting the color of the first emperor.

The records of the past three hundred years proved that having purple eyes didn’t mean a member of the imperial family possessed any special abilities.

But Ferik expected the purple-eyed Herta could lift the curse on this land and bring Chamuka’s mother out of the tower.

‘What ability could that beggar-like child possibly have?’

What Basilinte’s land needed now was not such vain expectations, but realistic measures to somehow feed this barren land.

Chamuka Basilinte was only 10 years old, but he knew this fact better than anyone. The reality surrounding him had raised him to be so cold.

The curse of ruins covering Basilinte’s land would not be lifted, and the master of Basilinte should accept that.

When Chamuka was very young, when his mother was by his side, he had hoped that this curse could be lifted, but not anymore.

‘Even Mother, who could create a lake with a single gesture, eventually fell into eternal sleep trying to break this curse, so who would dare to think they could break it?’

Chamuka Basilinte, like all the heirs of Basilinte before him, accepted the fact that this land might perish in his generation.

On the other hand, the Grand Duke was now making a wrong decision, unable to accept the fact that even his young son knew.

“If the Duchess were here, His Grace wouldn’t have gone to such extremes.”

Chamuka disagreed with what the head maid Hilda often said.

After all, the curse on this land had dried up even the emotions of the Basilinte family members.

In fact, Chamuka didn’t think that his father’s current obsession with his mother was particularly like love.

‘It seems they loved each other before Mother collapsed, but…’

Before the Duchess grew weaker and collapsed, the Grand Duke had knelt and begged with tears.

“If you’re gone, I’ll destroy everything. Everything you cherished.”

Chamuka remembered his father’s desperate appearance that day. Back then, his father looked like a person with emotions.

Unlike now, when he cares for his unawakening mother with dry eyes devoid of any emotion.

“The purple-eyed Herta is just a child after all. What we need now is not some kid like that, but…”

“Soon the curse on this land will be lifted, and Astrid will wake up. So until then, stop taking your brother outside the tower.”

It felt like talking to a wall. Chamuka replied with an expressionless face devoid of any expectation.

“I don’t have a brother, Father.”

“Chamuka Basilinte.”

The Grand Duke called his son’s name as if in warning.

But Chamuka spoke defiantly.

“That’s a dog. Not a person. Surely Mother didn’t give birth to a dog? You’re not a dog either, Father.”

“When Astrid wakes up, your brother will return to normal too.”

“Can she really wake up? Will killing that skinny prince really solve everything?”

Messy blonde hair and a skeletal thin body.

The prince, who sat on the floor, licking Chamuka’s hand.

It looked like a dog abandoned on the street.

If it weren’t for the distinctive purple eyes of the imperial family, it would have looked pitiful enough for him to pick up.

“Accept reality, Father. Mother will die soon, and the fact that it will never rain on this land again.”

Chamuka no longer felt anything when recalling memories of his mother.

He forgot his emotions about his mother Astrid so quickly that it gave the people of the castle chills. Just like a true Basilinte.

Chamuka thought his father Ferik would be the same as him.

“It’s not like you have any feelings left for Mother anyway.”

“……”

Ferik didn’t deny Chamuka’s words.

***

When Leticia arrived at the luncheon, she was surprised.

Not because the boy she had seen last night was sitting next to the Grand Duke on his right.

Anyone with eyes could tell that the boy and the Grand Duke were father and son.

What surprised Leticia was that the relationship between the Grand Duke and the boy was seriously cold.

‘They’re almost treating each other as if they don’t exist.’

Leticia quietly sat down on the Grand Duke’s left and observed the two.

The only fortunate thing was that unlike the Empire where all dishes were placed on the table at once, in the Grand Duchy, dishes were served one by one.

The small sounds of servants carrying plates through the cold silence provided some relief.

Leticia slowly ate a few spoonfuls of soup and put down her spoon. She didn’t want to vomit again from her stomach being startled.

‘Why is there only meat in the soup, without a single vegetable?’

Even if vegetables were scarce, shouldn’t a Grand Duke be able to use more diverse ingredients?

Leticia looked at the plate questioningly.

She didn’t yet know that the Basilinte family, who didn’t know the pleasure of eating, would never order dishes to be made with diverse ingredients.

Chamuka asked Leticia, “Why aren’t you eating more?”

It seemed as if the words ‘Last night you would have become a dog for a single piece of jerky’ were omitted.

Leticia averted her eyes slightly and answered.

“I’m not feeling well… I traveled too long by carriage…”

The Grand Duke muttered.

“I called you for nothing then.”

“Ah, no. It’s fine.”

“If you’re not feeling well, go back and rest. Prince.”

Although the tone was dry, the content was considerate.

Leticia, who couldn’t see any sign of madness in the Grand Duke no matter how she looked, tilted her head inwardly, and while acting as a timid and weak prince, asked quietly.

“Then when will I be killed……”

At that moment.

Bang!

With a sound that could burst eardrums, the dining room door was torn off.

Through the gap, a large man walked in with big strides.

The muscular man, larger than the Grand Duke, resembled the Grand Duke so much that no one could doubt they were family.

This is exactly what the Grand Duke would look like in about twenty years.

“Grandfather!”

Ignoring the boy’s call, the man grabbed Leticia’s collar and lifted her up.

Leticia’s eyes caught the man’s short silver hair, dim golden eyes, and the scar under his wrinkled eyes.

The former Grand Duke of Basilinte growled at her in a low voice.

“Finally, the sacrifice has arrived.”