Chapter 192

“If it is your will to drive the rest of my life straight into the mud, then give the order.”

Rezette, who had been cupping her cheeks as though they were something fragile, opened his mouth again and pressed in. He twisted his head, trying to draw even closer, desperate to feel her uneven breath against his own.

As their connection deepened, a heated, breathless sound spilled from Elise’s throat. What had begun as a warm, gentle kiss gradually grew urgent, almost desperate.

There was no way Elise truly wanted to send him away. She had pretended to be resolute, but in truth she was still afraid. If labor began while he was gone, would she be able to endure it alone? How much would it hurt? Would the baby be safe?

I do not want to be apart.

Yet no matter how she turned it over in her mind, this was the only chance. Only by ending the war that now had its grip on her could she live without worry with this man, and with their beloved child.

When their tongues and lips finally parted, still clinging to one another with lingering warmth, Elise whispered, her voice filled with swollen affection, “Whatever swamp your life may fall into, I will be there with you. Always.”

Rezette remained silent.

“So please come back quickly,” she continued softly. “I want you beside me when Cherry is born.”

To ask him to return already acknowledged that he was leaving. Rezette’s gaze sank, dark and heavy.

He had sworn to grant whatever she desired, and so in truth he no longer possessed the right to refuse. His blue eyes dimmed, clouded with unease.

“Is there truly no chance you will reconsider?” he asked.

“There isn’t,” Elise replied at once.

A deep sigh burst from him, as though dredged up from the bottom of a bog. Rezette stroked his wife’s cool cheek, then her prominently rounded belly, again and again.

She wants Ugel that badly, Rezette realized. 

Then there was nothing else to be done. He would have to act while assuming the worst possible outcome he could imagine.

The report he had received from the Rotiara forces a few days earlier replayed endlessly in his mind. They said it had been the thunderous final words shouted by a dying Ugelian.

“Ugel is mighty and great. Even if you seize victory here, you will never defeat us. The Undying King of Ugel will rise again and again to drink the essence of Argan.”

As Rezette felt the heavy movement beneath his palm, his demeanor quietly shifted. He bent and pressed a kiss to the back of Elise’s hand, hiding the yellow glint that briefly flared at the edge of his eyes.

“Someone will be arriving shortly,” he said. “I will leave after seeing at least one of them arrive. Please grant me that much.”

“Someone is coming?” Elise asked.

“You will be glad to see them,” Rezette replied shortly.

With that, he closed his eyes.

The Undying King. Those words refused to leave his mind.

On the day Rezette was meant to depart, an unexpectedly welcome face arrived.

Elise was in the middle of taking spoonfuls of thin oatmeal that her husband was feeding her. At the sound of an urgent knock, she startled, then nearly overturned the bowl when she recognized the person who entered.

“Ivetsa!”

Rezette caught the falling spoon neatly in his hand and stopped Elise as she tried to rise.

Ivetsa, pale as a sheet, rushed to the bedside and dropped to her knees before her lord and lady. Her eyes were already brimming with tears.

“Your Highness, that you are safe, truly, truly…”

From the moment she left Rotiara, Ivetsa had lost control of her body to Semeshita, and she had no memory of the past several months.

When she learned that her mistress had conceived, had been captured by her husband in Norella, and had then crossed a vast sea to the far side of the continent, she had been left stunned.

To think that she had traveled alone, without even a personal maid. The princess Ivetsa knew was not someone with the strength to endure such a grueling journey.

Elise clutched Ivetsa’s hand, her voice trembling.

“Are you all right? Your body, how is it? Do you feel any different from before?”

“Is this really the time to worry about me, Your Highness?” Ivetsa cried.

The two women were so busy checking on one another that they completely forgot Rezette was there.

“Just look at you,” Ivetsa continued, her voice thick with distress. “If you are this far along, you should have put on some weight, but look at these arms.”

It was painfully clear how anxious Ivetsa had been the entire way here. After thoroughly inspecting Elise from head to toe, she finally pressed a hand to her chest in relief.

“That you are safe even to this extent is truly a blessing. If you eat well from now on, your strength will return quickly. Lady Petisson and Physician Freya will arrive next month as well. It will be all right. Everything will be all right.”

“Really? Lady Petisson and Freya too?” Elise asked.

“Yes. The Grand Duke sent word to Rotiara in advance.”

Ivetsa explained that Freya was well versed in dragonkin pregnancies and childbirth, and that Lady Petisson’s years of experience would surely be of help. Her talent for soothing others far surpassed Rezette’s.

“Chef Hummel is coming as well,” Ivetsa added. “If I had to guess, at least two wagons of ingredients will arrive with him.”

Color returned to Elise’s face. Freshly baked scones and cherry confit seemed to dance before her eyes. She turned to Rezette with a bright smile.

“Thank you. I did not expect you to call for Hummel as well.”

“…That is nothing to thank me for,” Rezette replied.

His expression was far from good. Aside from summoning a chef, there was nothing he could do right now. Unaware of the bitterness festering inside him, Elise declared cheerfully, “Now there is truly nothing to worry about.”

“Elise,” Rezette said quietly, “I did not summon them to ease my conscience.”

It was because others besides himself would be needed to care for her. Yet somehow, he was the one being persuaded instead. He could not understand it.

As the moment of departure drew close, a wave of resentment surged up within him.

“With a maid, a head maid, a physician, and even a chef, am I no longer necessary?”

“What? No, that is not what I meant,” Elise said hastily.

“If you believe I am of little use, then say so. If there is something I should correct, I will…”

“That is not it,” she interrupted.

Shaking her head quickly, Elise pressed herself into his arms.

“I love you.”

As always, the confession blocked his words completely.

“This time, you must return before thirty nights have passed,” she said. “This is an order.”

Rezette said nothing.

“If you think you will be late, just come back anyway. The Princess of Argan may need the head of Ugel’s king, but the Grand Duchess of Rotiara needs her husband. If it takes too long, then just run away halfway through.”

“You could simply choose not to send me,” Rezette replied coolly. “I do not want to leave either my wife or the Princess of Argan behind.”

Though his tone was sharp, his hands cupping her small face and stroking her cheeks were filled with tenderness.

Perhaps.

Perhaps this would be the last time.

Rezette still could not shake his fear.

He still did not know whether this choice was truly right.

What awaited him when he returned might be this woman’s corpse. Was he really meant to take that step for even the smallest possibility? Was Ugel worth that much?

“The Undying King of Ugel will rise again and again to drink the essence of Argan.”

At just the right moment, that faint spark of hope took hold of him.

Rezette gazed deeply into his wife’s worry-clouded eyes. Undying.

A king who never dies.

If I could make you so.

It was a mad thought. He must have lost his mind.

And yet, if it meant stealing death away from her, Rezette was prepared to trample the lands of the barbarians again and again and tear the king’s head from his shoulders.

“It will not take a full month,” he said. “I will finish it within twenty days.”

“You must not come back hurt,” Elise said quickly, sensing something off in him.

“If rushing means you return injured like last time, then it would be better not to go at all. If you are planning something reckless…”

“Then give me a kiss,” Rezette said.

“What?”

Releasing her cheeks, Rezette bent down. He lowered himself until they were eye to eye, his gaze dropping.

“If you order me to return safely, then I will do so without fail.”

“This is not an order,” Elise said softly. “It is a request.”

“To me, there is little difference.”

Even Elise’s offhand words became commands he could not disobey. With a faint sigh, she pressed her lips to his.

The kiss was gentle, filled with sincerity, but it was not enough. Rezette pried apart her small, full lips and swept through her thoroughly, until her breath grew heated. Only then did he crush her against him.

“Say that you love me,” he said.

“I love you.”

“…Say my name as well.”

“I love you, Rezette.”

Only after lingering for a long while did Rezette finally take the hardest step. Now that he had turned away, not a single moment could be wasted. Holding onto his rattling, unsteady heart, Rezette mounted his horse.

The black steed carrying him kicked hard against the ground and surged forward.