Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: The Uninvited Guest in the Bedroom
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“What’s the matter?”
Could Count Rocania’s presence have been discovered? What if they searched the room after spotting a suspicious shadow? Daphne asked in an anxious voice.
“Why are you trying to come in?”
“First, please let me enter.”
If she refused him entry here, he’d surely find it suspicious. After hesitating, Daphne finally told him to come in.
Fortunately, since she had been crying, it was somewhat convincing that she had hesitated to let him in.
Yohannis looked at Daphne on the bed and said,
“What’s wrong?”
“……”
“The Viscount told me. He said that in times like these, a woman should use her tears as a weapon. I need some time alone right now.”
Daphne wiped her tears as she gazed at Yohannis. His stiff hazel eyes turned toward her tears.
“I heard from the knights that something happened.”
“……”
“What happened with His Majesty?”
There was a tone of concern in his words. But Daphne didn’t want to say anything. She would have felt the same even if Count Rocania hadn’t been under the bed. After all, wasn’t Duke Turbul the friend Asherad trusted most?
“Is it because I’m a child of the Turbul Ducal House, or because of your friendship with His Majesty, that you hesitate like this?”
“……”
“I swear on my knight’s honor. Please tell me what happened.”
A knight’s honor? Was that really so important? Daphne wore a puzzled expression. It wasn’t cynical speculation, but genuine, pure curiosity. Did swearing on a knight’s honor suddenly make it an unbreakable vow that would absolutely be kept?
“What does that mean?”
Seeing Daphne’s expression, Yohannis let out a small chuckle. He had realized that his oath on honor meant little to her.
“Ah, my apologies.”
“……”
“The reason knights are respected is because they revere the strict values of chivalry. A knight’s honor lies in upholding those strict tenets with their life.”
“……”
“As a knight, swearing on my honor means staking everything I have.”
“……”
“You still don’t quite believe in such oaths.”
He was spot on. Yohannis smiled again upon seeing that. His smile was strange because his expression rarely changed. Daphne realized that if she dragged this out any longer, Yohannis would stay and try to persuade her.
“He treated me like a dog again.”
“Pardon?”
“He told me to sit under the chair like a hunting dog, just like old times.”
Daphne didn’t expect any emotional comfort from Yohannis. It was because the petty troubles she faced were dismissed by people as nothing at all.
‘Even that much grace is too much for the daughter of a criminal!’
That was the attitude of most people around her.
Yohannis, who had been listening quietly, furrowed his brow and asked,
“Surely Asherad hasn’t been treating you that way?”
Daphne was the one surprised this time. She had thought Viscount Turbul shared everything with Asherad. In response to Yohannis’s polite question, Daphne slowly nodded.
“Yes.”
“Has he always done that? Or was this ‘dog’ business just a one-time sentiment?”
“He always kept me at his feet and stroked my head. His Majesty dotes on dogs just like that.”
“……”
“In truth, I’ve never been treated like a person. When the Pindus prince tried to rape me, he told him to go ahead and take my body.”
Asherad had said he sent priests, but now even that was hard to believe. Daphne clearly remembered him telling the prince to have his way while watching her face.
“Today, His Majesty said the same to me. Come when called, go when dismissed.”
Yohannis looked shocked. It was clear he hadn’t known Daphne was treated this way. Because he had unconsciously called him ‘Asherad,’ not the Emperor.
“That… Asherad was wrong.”
“……”
Daphne was surprised by Yohannis’s reaction. Was it because they were friends? This man had outright said Asherad was at fault.
“Has your relationship with him always been like this?”
“Not lately, but today… I don’t know.”
As Daphne lowered her head, Yohannis fell silent for a long moment before speaking.
“Miss Daphne. What you’ve suffered is truly regrettable.”
Daphne’s heart stirred at that moment. She looked at Yohannis as if she had heard something she shouldn’t have. Regrettable? Had this noble really used such a word toward her?
“If that’s the reason, then your tears make sense.”
“……”
“You must want to be alone.”
Daphne nodded. Yohannis nodded back and headed toward the door. Daphne murmured,
“Thank you.”
At her faint whisper, Yohannis paused and looked back. He saw a small, pitiful bird in a cage. He couldn’t promise her anything. He lacked the eloquence to offer smooth comfort while empathizing with her feelings.
Yet Yohannis pondered why Daphne could never truly get close to Asherad. He knew that Asherad had obsessively killed those around her. But he hadn’t known he treated her this way.
No matter how much of a commoner and criminal’s daughter she was, anyone would grow angry at such treatment. Asherad had clearly made a grave mistake.
* * *
Count Rocania emerged from under the bed and looked at Daphne, who wore a complicated expression. His own face mirrored that complexity.
She was the cause of his son’s death, yet in truth, an innocent victim like his son.
A powerless woman swept here and there, too weak even to muster the courage to end her own life.
Count Rocania rationally understood why Fabian had risked everything to save Daphne.
He couldn’t bear to see her like that. Seeing the woman he loved treated so by Asherad.
‘Father, forgive me. Everyone in the Imperial Palace torments Daphne. She’s so pitiful. I want to protect her. I want to hold the sense of responsibility you taught me toward her.’
He wore a pained expression. Count Rocania spoke the words he had planned to say the moment he arrived.
“You, stay even closer to Emperor Asherad. Be sweeter to him.”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, become his most cherished concubine.”
That was exactly what Daphne had been trying her utmost to do.
Though she had just kicked away from his touch and ruined it all. Daphne suddenly recalled something she had read in a book. No matter what, Count Rocania was a suspicious figure in a mask.
Would this man threaten her to spy on Asherad for information?
“I’m sorry, but I can’t be a spy…”
“Sorry, but I’m not asking for that. What do you take me for?”
Count Rocania grumbled.
“What would you even know? If you try some strange stunt to find out something and get me killed too, what then? I’m not asking for that.”
It was the moment she understood why Fabian had such a blunt way of speaking. The scolding resembled Fabian so much that Daphne’s eyes reddened.
“I’ve been thinking about how to get revenge on that loathsome Emperor…”
“……”
“The most effective and simplest way is to make him lose what he loves.”
“So, my life…”
“No, not your life. You’ll be useful in another way.”
Even as he said it, Count Rocania’s expression held a strangely warm note. Yet the word ‘useful’ sent a chill through her.
“Miss Daphne, I’ll do my utmost to help you escape.”
Daphne gazed at the man who had said exactly what she needed most, her face puzzled.
“Why?”
“……”
“You tried to kill me. I’m the one who led Fabian to his death.”
It was true. Daphne couldn’t understand why Count Rocania had risked coming here.
Wasn’t it just following in Fabian’s footsteps?
Looking at Daphne’s face, Count Rocania said,
“Revenge on the Emperor is one thing.”
“……”
“But as Fabian said, aren’t you just too pitiful?”
Perhaps from all the crying earlier. Tears flowed from Daphne’s eyes. A long-forgotten memory resurfaced.
“You tried to protect our family. I’ve decided to think only of that.”
Warm skies, drifting white clouds. And Fabian sharing a lunchbox with her.
The image she had desperately tried to forget remained vivid, and tears streamed from Daphne’s eyes.