Chapter 7 (Part 4)

It was late evening when Anthus returned to the Ducal residence with Matthias. Hearing that Matthias had arrived, Yuliana thought he had come to pick her up.

“Father?”

Matthias’s eyes were swollen. She wondered what could have happened. Feeling somewhat anxious and worried, Yuliana quickly approached Matthias.

“Lia…”

Matthias called Yuliana with a voice that seemed to grind between his teeth.

“Father, is something wrong?”

Matthias let out a deep sigh as if the tension had snapped.

“Lia and Father,I will escort you to the reception room.”

Seeing Matthias’s unusual state, Frey and Phillip looked at Anthus with concern. Meeting their gaze, Anthus spoke calmly.

“Mother, Father, I will explain later…”

As soon as they entered the reception room, Matthias began to shed tears. Yuliana was startled and confused by the sight.

“What on earth happened!”

“In fact, I wasn’t the only one who went to the palace. Father also received an urgent message from His Majesty.”

“What kind of urgent message makes my Father cry so sorrowfully?”

Anthus looked into Yuliana’s face.

The emotions emanating from her were not just anger. It was the pain of seeing her beloved family in distress.

“Yan! Tell me… What happened?”

“In fact… Pope Rybid visited.”

“Pope Rybid? When did he return?”

Yuliana frowned. She wondered what did the unpleasant Pope Rybid’s visit to the Sirius Empire have to do with Matthias crying.

Anthus approached Yuliana, who looked puzzled, and gently stroked her cheek.

“What on earth is going on? I’m frustrated. Please tell me.”

“Pope Rybid from the Holy Kingdom said he would take you to the Holy Kingdom, Lia…”

Matthias wiped his tears and spoke to Yuliana.

“What do you mean? Why would they take me?”

Matthias bowed his head and cried again. Yuliana looked at Anthus.

“Pope Rybid came to His Majesty with a marriage certificate, saying he wanted to marry you, Lia.”

Yuliana remembered Rybid, who had expressed interest in her.

Under imperial law, marriage certificates from the Holy Kingdom could not be refused. Of course, this applied only to unmarried women.

It was shocking and absurd that Rybid had come so recklessly with a marriage certificate. If she hadn’t been engaged to Anthus, she would have had no choice but to marry into the Holy Kingdom.

Anthus observed Yuliana’s expression before continuing.

“He was unreasonable. He only picked words that could hurt Father.”

“No matter what, we can’t send you to the Holy Kingdom.”

Matthias’s swollen eyes made Yuliana’s heart ache.

“Father, I have no intention of going either. Why would they think I would go?”

“Because you’re Rosaline’s daughter…”

“What does being my mother’s daughter have to do with the Holy Kingdom? What did you hear!”

“Calm down, Lia.”

As soon as Matthias finished speaking, Anthus spoke urgently to Yuliana.

Yuliana nodded quietly, her mouth slightly open. Matthias began to confess with a trembling voice.

“You know that Rosaline was a saint of the Holy Kingdom, right?”

“Of course.”

“I feel uneasy about telling you the truth I didn’t want to reveal. I wanted to keep it a secret forever…”

“They say secrets and truths are not different.”

Yuliana placed her hand on Matthias’s and smiled silently. She gently wiped the tears from his eyes with a handkerchief and spoke kindly.

Matthias pressed his palm to his eyes to stop the flowing tears and calmed his heart. Yuliana watched him sadly, biting her lower lip.

A short silence followed, and Matthias’s tears stopped.

“I know you’ll be confused… but you need to know… Rosaline didn’t actually die from an illness.”

Yuliana’s eyes widened. Hearing unknown secrets required great patience.

“Rosaline returned to the Holy Kingdom and died there.”

Yuliana’s expression hardened. Above all, the sad emotions conveyed to her made her heart ache.

“What do you mean? How could Mother have died in the Holy Kingdom?”

Yuliana desperately wanted to ignore the overwhelming emotions that were trying to surface.

She had lived believing her mother had died of an illness. But now she was told that wasn’t the truth. She knew she had to accept that what she had believed was no longer true.

“Rosaline, while in the position of a saint, became pregnant with Louis. The Holy Kingdom found out, branded her as a ‘disgraced saint’ with tattoos on both her wrists, and stripped her of her saintly status. And…”

Matthias explained to Yuliana Rosaline’s last words and the situation at the time, knowing she would die if she returned to the Holy Kingdom. He also shared the self-reproach that had weighed heavily on him.

“I couldn’t protect the woman I loved… I’m sorry for being a powerless father.”

Yuliana gently hugged Matthias.

“Father, you must have tried to protect Mother. I know you loved her more than anyone. You wouldn’t have not protected her. Have you been suffering and grieving alone all this time without us knowing?!”

“If you don’t have divine power, you can’t become the Pope’s consort. Yet, seeing them trying to take you to the Holy Kingdom reminded me of Rosaline.”

Matthias continued to reveal the hidden truth to Yuliana, wiping away his tears.

“I thought that even if the engagement was broken, the Holy Kingdom wouldn’t be interested in you since you lack divine power.”

“That’s right. It’s ridiculous for me to become the Pope’s consort without divine power.”

Yuliana bore the weight of the truth without moving. She told herself to think calmly.

Yuliana needed to understand and lead this situation. The more turbulent her feelings became, the more she bit her lower lip.

“The fact that the Holy Kingdom made it seem like they could take me means they’re creating a situation where I have no choice but to go there. If not, it could be a threat.”

Anthus slightly widened and then relaxed his eyes as he watched Yuliana calmly assess the situation and ask questions.

Yuliana let out a long sigh.

“Father, stop crying. And go home and tell Brother Louis the same thing. He needs to know the truth and prepare with us. If they’re taking me just because I’m the saint’s daughter, they might try to take my future nieces or nephews from Brother and Selenia because they’re of saintly blood.”

Watching Yuliana speak logically, Matthias hadn’t expected her to accept it so rationally. He thought she would cry like him and resent the Holy Kingdom. The phrase “a child in one’s arms” naturally came to mind.

“…Denying and suffering over the truth that’s already passed won’t bring Mother back.”

Yuliana didn’t want to sit down and cry over the truth about Rosaline’s death. She couldn’t resent Matthias for hiding the truth. No, she wouldn’t.

“If I stop and grieve over Mother’s death now, I would have to pause what I need to do in the future, and that’s not like me.”

Yuliana looked at Matthias and spoke.

“I don’t resent you Father for hiding the truth. Rather, thinking about how you’ve suffered alone for so many years… that makes me sadder. I hope you’ve let go of all the truth and aren’t hurt anymore.”

“Lia, will you forgive me for not protecting your mother… this pathetic and foolish…”

“Why should I forgive you? You didn’t do anything wrong…”

Matthias’s eyes reddened at Yuliana’s words.

“Yan, you said Pope Rybid didn’t care about my engagement?”

“Yes. He didn’t care at all.”

“Then we need to make him care. Make it so it really bothers him. But Yan, why are you pressing your left chest?”

“My heart is so full…”

Anthus tried to calm his bursting heart, filled with admiration for Yuliana, who spoke confidently and calmly despite hearing the sad truth.

“Then Lia, what preparations do you want to make to bother him?”

“The fact that Yan and I are engaged needs to be known. That way, Pope Rybid won’t be able to confidently say he wants me as the Pope’s consort in front of people. We need to hold our engagement ceremony soon.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. How about in a week?”

Anthus’s heart began to race at the thought of an early engagement ceremony.

“Duke, is it possible to prepare for an engagement ceremony in a week?”

“Father, if it’s Rockbellion, it’s possible. Don’t worry.”

“Thank you.”

Matthias bowed to Anthus.

“Yan.”

“Yes, Lia.”

“We originally planned to declare the territorial war the day after the engagement ceremony. Will the date of the territorial war be moved up as well, since the engagement ceremony is earlier?”

“Yes. As planned, we’ll declare it the day after the engagement ceremony. So, we’ll declare it exactly eight days later.”

“They’ll be really confused.”

“Along with confusion, we intend to make it so they don’t even have the will to fight us.”

When a mouse meets a snake with its mouth open, it freezes and can’t blink before being swallowed whole. By the time it thinks of running away, it’s already too late.

“You said you don’t want to harm people, even if they’re the enemy. You mean you’ll spare those who have no will to fight.”

“Yes. I don’t want meaningless deaths either.”

It’s best to quietly kill the mouse before it makes a sound.

“Yan, you’re so kind.”

Whether he kills or spares the frozen mice is up to Anthus, but if Yuliana wants, he can let them live even after hearing their squeaks.

Yuliana then explained to Anthus and Matthias the benefits they would gain from the territorial war.

“Lia, you never think about losing, do you?”

“I think we should make sure to win even fights we might lose. And most importantly, I don’t see any sign of losing in Yan’s eyes.”

“I’ve fallen for you even more today than yesterday.”

Yuliana blushed and turned her gaze away. Despite Matthias’s presence, Anthus’s unabashed confession left her feeling embarrassed.

After wrapping up the discussion about the territorial war and Pope Rybid, Yuliana and Matthias returned to the Earl’s residence by carriage.