Chapter 173
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 173
He was right; it hadn't been a momentary trick of the light.
It was the Star Mark, etched clearly upon the skin.
"……What is that?"
Only then did Duke Asis sense the strangeness and approach. The subordinates in charge of the interrogation did the same.
However, Marquis Aster offered no answer. It wasn't that he was ignoring the Duke; he looked like a man who simply hadn't heard the question.
Marquis Aster stood frozen like a stone statue, staring down silently at that Star Mark.
How could he?
This mark.
How could he ever forget it?
How on earth could he possibly forget!
"I'm sorry, Aster."
In an instant, his heart surged as if being squeezed. His breath hitched, and Aster staggered involuntarily.
The memories of that day.
His wife, looking at him with eyes brimming with tears.
And the tiny daughter, fast asleep in her arms.
The mother and daughter, both with the same pink hair, had left a brand upon his heart that would never be erased.
* * *
Is there any being more powerless than a man who cannot protect his own wife and daughter?
She would never know.
She would never know that Marquis Aster had spent the entire time punching himself in the face. He had struggled to strike himself where it wouldn't show, fearing she might worry or blame herself.
He never wanted to let those two go alone. He wanted to follow them, even if only as a lowly servant—no, he would have rather gone in their stead.
But he couldn't.
"For a political marriage, ours is a romantic tragedy straight out of a pulp novel, isn't it?"
Aster’s clenched fists tightened.
"We aren't a tragedy."
"I suppose not?"
"No. Never…… we aren't."
She laughed, her voice thick with unshed tears. She looked like an actress desperately wishing for everything to end as a comedy more than anyone else.
It was true.
The Marquis and Marchioness Frezier.
They were joined through a political marriage.
It was a fact known to very few even within the Frezier family, but Aster’s father, Grand Duke Asis Frezier, had gradually grown weaker after his marriage to the Grand Duchess.
Others had no idea.
To the outside world, he still appeared as a predator capable of tearing a bear apart with his bare hands.
Who would have believed that the Grand Duke, in the prime of his life, walking with such a sturdy build and a terrifying gaze, was actually in a state where he could barely survive each day by drinking incredibly potent herbal decoctions?
The longer Grand Duke Asis Frezier spent with Grand Duchess Lisiyan, the weaker his body became.
Was it because of a constitutional incompatibility?
Or was it the difference in their native lands?
Now that his position as Grand Duke was secure, he could have simply divorced her.
"I suppose you want to vomit blood and collapse dead right in front of me? I don't want to see such a pathetic sight, so let's just separate. Do you not understand what I'm saying?"
"Vomit blood and die? Don't make me laugh. That must be your wishful thinking. No matter how much you want it, I have absolutely no intention of dying so pathetically."
Grand Duke Asis was stubborn as a mule.
It didn't matter how much the furious Grand Duchess Lisiyan punched him in the face or grabbed him by the collar and shook him.
Grand Duke Asis declared that he would never get a divorce.
Even if it meant buying a new, massive mansion and decorating it luxuriously so they could live apart for half the year.
Even after receiving a terminal diagnosis, he persisted.
Grand Duke Asis knew.
His wife was a woman who had already lost the struggle for the throne within the Summer Continent by the time she became the Grand Duchess.
The moment she returned, she would be captured by her siblings and torn apart until not a single organ remained.
Even now, they occasionally sent assassins whenever they felt he might have forgotten. If he didn't protect her, his wife would surely die a gruesome death.
How could a man who sent his woman into such a den of danger sit in the high seat of a Grand Duke?
He could never do it. He would rather become a beggar living on scraps.
Because of his conservative father and his mother, who actually loved that father deep in her heart.
"I will marry her."
Aster, the eldest son, declared that he would enter a political marriage with a woman from the Summer Continent.
With Lailan, the successor of a small tribe in the Summer Continent.
The minority tribe known as 'Hania' was a fairy-like race living in clusters beneath the World Tree of the Summer Continent.
They were beings born with a mastery of medicinal herbs and pure power, blessed by the sacred Golden Throne.
They were a people who carried on the noble mission of protecting the Golden Throne that stood tall atop the World Tree.
Lisiyan, who had been a princess of the Summer Continent, knew well that only the Divine Power and herbalism of the Hania tribe could heal the Grand Duke.
That was how the political marriage proceeded.
"You all must return to the World Tree and guard the Throne. There is no longer any need to look after me."
Lailan, the successor of the tribe, was a lovely woman with vibrant pink hair, but she also possessed the dignity befitting a tribal heir.
At first, Aster thought he only needed to bring her in as a benefactor and treat her with appropriate respect.
"……Your hair looks like it's been dyed with flower water."
"This is my original hair color."
When exactly did Aster fall in love with Lailan?
Lailan had smiled brightly, staring straight into his eyes as she asked.
"I suppose my hair looks like flowers to your eyes?"
"……It's pink. So, of course it does."
"Do you know that your face is pink right now, too?"
"……."
She was bubbly and lovely, yet she also possessed a solemn side. In short, she was a woman who did exactly as she pleased.
"Marquis. You've tied your cravat backward again?"
"……I made a mistake."
Because of her playfulness, Aster often went out with his cravat tied backward for half the year, but he didn't mind.
He was also glad that his father, Grand Duke Asis's medicine, was becoming lighter.
The World Tree, the Golden Throne.
Aster would secretly offer his gratitude to those mysterious powers.
Because she was the successor of the Guardian, the two of them had been able to meet like this.
It was that kind of love.
They gave their children names of flowers, and their days were as gentle and abundant as a spring day.
The face that was always smiling had frozen coldly when Tulia had only just begun to take her first steps.
The people and priests of the Hania tribe had come for her.
"Successor. The Divine Power of the land has been exhausted. The World Tree is collapsing, and the Golden Throne is falling."
Lailan asked in a cold voice.
"And my mother?"
"The thread of the Guardian's Destiny is nearing its end. You, the successor, must return."
Lailan hesitated for a moment, thinking of her children who were smiling innocently, but she soon made her decision with a firm expression.
"Fine. I will go."
"The successor must not come alone."
"……."
"You know, do you not? That the Guardian's destiny flows through the daughter."
She knew. She knew, but Tulia was too young.
"Not my daughter."
"Successor. The Throne that protects the continent may sink forever. Please, think of the greater good."
"My daughter is young. If I take her now and she inherits the Guardian's Destiny, she will have a limited lifespan at best, or die suddenly at worst. I can never allow it."
"Successor!"
"I said I cannot allow it! Even if I have to stake my own life!"
Her expression was cold and stern. But her hands were already turning white.
It was so.
No matter how much she denied it, she had already sensed the fate that forced her to go with Tulia.
Amidst a destiny as unavoidable as a massive natural disaster, Lailan made a cruel vow.
That she would protect Tulia, no matter what.
Coming outside, Lailan saw Aster, whose eyes were similarly sunken, and she smiled. It was a sad smile.
"You heard everything. I told you not to listen."
"I heard it. ……What can I do? My ears are sharp."
"I'm sorry."
Aster spoke through gritted teeth.
"To what extent can I interfere with your decision?"
Lailan, gazing at Aster, smiled as tears began to fall.
"Yes. This is what I love about you. Because I am the successor, I love how you worship and respect me."
The way he didn't shout at her not to go. Yet, the way he looked like a man utterly in love, holding his breath with damp eyes, wanting to cling to her and beg her not to leave.
"I will go to the World Tree with Tulia."
At Lailan's words, Aster spoke without a moment's hesitation.
"I will escort you. Let's go together."
"No."
"Lailan."
"This is a task where I must offer up all the Divine Power I was granted as my mission, along with all the Divine Power Tulia was born with. It's not just a matter of going and sitting on an altar for a moment."
Lailan was scared, too.
But she was the successor.
She had to protect the Throne for the sake of her duty, and she also intended to completely offer up the Divine Power her daughter possessed so that the destiny would not flow to Tulia.
She intended to bring it to a complete end this time.
So that she would not pass this trial down to her precious daughter.
Since it was an act of defying fate, she knew many things would attack and interfere.
"Aster."
But in the end, this was the only way.