May Every Wound Be Fatal - Chapter 41.1
As Elizer began seeking out Reyna on every scheduled night of their union, Priscilla grew suspicious.
“I do not understand your reason for keeping the Queen confined here in Elmaril,” she said.
“…It would be absurd for her to attempt an escape to Kaldirac at this stage,” Elizer replied.
“It might be better to simply let the Queen return to Kaldirac. If she senses something and informs the Duke…”
“Reyna is,” Elizer cut her off.
“…”
“…The Queen knows nothing.”
“What on earth does that mean…”
“She is the one who chose that position. She will have to fulfill her duties until the day she dies.”
Priscilla did not seem particularly convinced. She asked in a calm, steady voice.
“Do you intend to betray Lucian?”
“That will never happen.”
“…I believe the oath Your Majesty made before me and Lucian on the day Sir Marius Percy died.”
Although Priscilla claimed to trust Elizer, the faint smile on her lips troubled him.
However, despite his tension, Priscilla said nothing more after that. Reyna also appeared docile, as if she had completely given up on returning to Kaldirac.
With Priscilla staying in the detached palace and Reyna shut away in the Queen’s palace, it seemed unlikely the two would ever cross paths.
Thus, Elizer was thrown into a state of panic when he received word that the two had encountered one another in the King’s garden. He stormed out of his office before the attendant could even finish speaking.
He felt a premonition that Priscilla might harm Reyna.
The image of Reyna collapsing with a bloodless, pale face kept flickering before his eyes. His heart pounded unpleasantly, and a wave of nausea rose in his chest.
When he finally burst into her bedroom in a hurry, Reyna was sitting quietly on the edge of the bed. His sense of relief lasted only a moment.
Elizer strode toward her, his eyes frantically scanning her from head to toe.
He saw no visible injuries. Yet, he was certain Priscilla had done something to her. In his agitation, he pressed her to reveal what they had discussed. Reyna spoke.
“…Priscilla told me. She said the next owner of the throne will be your nephew, Lucian.”
“…”
“She said it will be so even if I give birth to a prince. Is that true?”
It was to be so. Elizer had sworn it before his sister-in-law and his nephew.
Therefore, he could not deny it.
“…I did not drink the tea the scholar offered me yesterday. Will that be a problem?”
Elizer realized that Reyna had finally discovered the existence of the contraceptive tea.
And Reyna was quick-witted.
“…What, what have you done to me?”
Having confirmed her husband’s betrayal, she could not hide her wounded expression.
Suddenly, Elizer felt that something was going terribly wrong.
However, he did not know what to fix, or how to fix it.
***
Reyna sent a secret letter to her father, Leonard.
“What shall we do?” an attendant asked.
“…Leave it be.”
It seemed Reyna truly knew nothing. She was unaware that her father intended to kill her husband and marry her off to another man.
In truth, Reyna did not seem to realize how cruel her father could be. Having grown up in safety her entire life, seeing only what the Duke permitted, her imagination had its limits.
She was, pitifully, still naive and foolish.
“The Duke has moved.”
Whether spurred into haste by Reyna’s letter or not, Leonard launched the rebellion earlier than expected.
The time for revenge had finally arrived.
The rebel forces led by the young Duke, Diegor Dazbel, approached the high citadel by land and sea in the middle of the night. He believed he had allies inside the castle. While waiting for them to open the gates, he secretly sent people into the castle to extract the Queen first.
Everything was going according to plan.
Elizer sensed victory.
Nevertheless, something had been unsettling him for a while. A fear that he might lose everything again, just like that day, kept creeping up his legs, making it impossible to focus on his work.
Just then, the attendant who had been watching the Queen’s palace returned and reported.
“The Queen has left the Queen’s palace with one maidservant.”
That, too, was expected.
Reyna had wanted to return to Kaldirac for a long time. She had only remained confined because she was terrified of his irrational anger following their night together.
Finally, an opportunity had come for her, and Reyna had simply chosen to leave. If so, what he had to do was clear.
He would move his troops according to plan and kill her brother, the knights of the Ducal house, and her—all of them.
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