The corridors leading to the dining hall seemed longer than she remembered them being, or perhaps it was her own steps that had grown heavier beneath the weight of the furtive glances following her from the shadows.
The servants stole suspiciously curious looks at her, whispering words that dissolved the moment she drew near, until Irene almost convinced herself that their trembling expressions were nothing more than an uncontrollable curiosity to see the King's daughter-in-law after the terrible accident she had miraculously survived. She held her breath and continued walking steadily until, at last, she reached the magnificent gilded doors.
A servant pushed the door open, and she entered the hall where the royal family was seated around the luxurious table, lavishly adorned with all manner of dishes and extravagant delicacies. At the head of the table sat King Richard, and the moment his eyes fell upon her, he immediately rose, setting aside his usual dignity, and took a few steps toward her.
"Princess…"
Irene bowed with dignity and courtesy, then kissed the king's hand as a gesture of respect and appreciation toward her father-in-law. King Richard smiled and gently patted her head before speaking in a calm voice filled with all the warmth of fatherhood.
"I am truly glad to see you safe and sound. I cannot tell you how proud I am of your strength and resilience. You survived a terrible accident that nearly cost you your life, and it must have been incredibly difficult for you to bear all of that burden on your own."
Irene smiled, feeling a strange sensation flutter in her heart. She was not accustomed to hearing such warm words, so full of affection and tenderness. She replied shyly, lowering her eyes.
"Thank you very much for your concern, Your Majesty. If it were not for your care, and for how quickly you came to check on me and rescue me, I would never have survived."
At that very moment, King Richard's expression faltered as he looked at her, and he gently patted her shoulder, quickly recovering himself.
"Sit down now, my daughter. We will begin dinner as soon as Lucas arrives."
Irene nodded and calmly turned her gaze toward her designated seat. The king sat down in his place as well, and within moments, a heavy, oppressive silence descended upon the entire hall. The only sounds that could be heard were the clinking of elegant plates and cutlery as the servants moved with perfect smoothness and precision to serve them. Once they had finished and withdrawn, the hall became so quiet that the silence seemed to choke the breath from everyone seated there.
No one moved. Not one of them uttered a single word.
Irene slowly raised her gaze, letting it wander across the faces of the family. There were not even the small conversations that usually passed between them, nor any casual questions directed at her... Everyone was silent in a way that was deeply suspicious and completely unnatural.
King Richard's voice finally shattered the extraordinary silence as he addressed his wife, Elizabeth, sternly.
"Elizabeth... Did I not tell you to ask him to come at the appointed time?"
Elizabeth looked at him steadily, though concealed unease lingered beneath her composure. She replied in a tense voice.
"My dear, please do not be so hard on him... Even if he does not come, do not forget that he is still exhausted and injured because of the journey back and that terrible accident."
King Richard let out a restrained sigh of anger and spoke sharply.
"I raised him to be a man who keeps every appointment and fulfills every duty regardless of the condition of his body, especially matters concerning his family. It is his duty and responsibility as the future head of this family! The only reason he has been procrastinating like this for the past two years is your excessive leniency toward him!"
Elizabeth lowered her head and remained silent.
At that moment, Violet intervened with a smile, trying to mend the crack between them.
"Please, Father, calm down a little... Wasn't this supposed to be a warm family dinner to celebrate my brother and his wife's safe return?"
Meanwhile, Irene struggled beneath the weight of the atmosphere hanging over them. She could clearly feel that something sharp and deeply unnatural was taking place between the members of the family, and she wondered to herself in confusion—
After several moments of silence, the king became convinced that Lucas would not come. He nodded to the servants, signaling them to begin serving the main dishes.
On the other side of the palace, Lucas walked heavily through the dark corridors, clutching his head with one hand from the severity of a headache that felt as though it might split his skull open. He made his way weakly toward the dining hall. But before he could turn the corner of the corridor, he suddenly stopped when he heard whispers and muffled chatter coming from the other side.
"...Yes, I heard that she was a witch from another kingdom too, and that she used magic until she managed to seduce their cruel king and make him completely lose his mind and reason!"
Two maids were standing there, speaking in low voices, but their words were clearly audible in the emptiness of the corridor.
The other maid replied mockingly.
"No. It is said that she was carefully chosen because she was extraordinarily beautiful and highly seductive... They say she slept with every guard in the palace before finally seducing the king to get what she wanted. And when she realized she would never get a marriage, she fled! She was a spy who coveted becoming the Queen of Escard."
Lucas stopped walking completely, his mind reeling with shock as he tried to comprehend who the vile words were referring to.
The first maid continued, now speaking even more boldly.
"Don't you think her daughter might do the same thing with Crown Prince Bastian?"
The other laughed shamelessly.
"Of course! She is nothing but a whore who wants to become the Queen of this kingdom after being pushed aside all her life in her homeland! I heard she used to live in a palace separate from the royal family."
Then she added, leaning against the wall.
"But isn't it truly embarrassing that the royal family is turning a blind eye to this simply because she is of the Eiscard bloodline? No, her blood is lowly and mixed. Have we really become this weak? And what is even worse is that they are holding a welcoming banquet for her now, as if nothing ever happened... How utterly ridiculous and disgraceful for the throne!"
One step... then another.
The first maid suddenly gasped and clapped both hands over her mouth in terror, while the second continued speaking without noticing.
"Not only the royal family, but even the Church has not uttered a single word, despite this being an open case of adultery and corruption between the Crown Prince and his cousin's wife! Perhaps they could not find any acceptable excuse to cover up this filthy scandal..."
The terrified maid spoke in a trembling voice.
"A-and... b-behind you!"
The other replied in confusion.
"What?"
The maid froze in place for a moment before slowly turning around.
Standing directly behind them... was Lucas.
But he did not look human at all.
His appearance was terrifying to behold. His face was dark, as though covered in the shadows of an abyss, and his eyes radiated the gaze of a merciless, ferocious beast.
The maid stumbled backward in terror until she fell to the ground, crying out weakly.
"M-My Lord! I really..."
Ignoring her pleas, Lucas walked toward one of the knights' suits of armor displayed along the wall and drew an iron sword from it. Then he stood before them, his low voice sending a chill down their spines.
"One minute... I will give you one minute to explain to me in detail what you were gossiping about just now!"
The other maid staggered backward, trembling so violently that she knocked over a crystal vase, which shattered across the floor as she struggled to catch her breath amid the silent horror.
After several moments of confession, they told him everything, despite the King and Queen having warned everyone in the palace never to speak of that subject at all. But it was useless. The fear of losing their lives at that very moment forced the two maids to tell Lucas about every one of those rumors, even the rumors people had invented after allowing their filthy imaginations to create them.
Lucas stood there as though he were no longer breathing, listening to every word as it entered his mind like bullets.
In a broken voice, one of them stammered.
"T-this is everything we know, my lord! Please, spare us... We are only two maids, and we have nothing to do with any of this..."
Overwhelming rage seized Lucas until it completely blinded him. He could no longer see his surroundings clearly, and his head felt as though it were about to explode from the unbearable pressure and pain.
In that nightmarish moment, he did not want to believe it, but he was forced to.
At last, the secret he had been trying to understand for the past two weeks had been revealed to him... the secret everyone had desperately agreed to hide from him.
Irene...
The woman he had felt an overwhelming desire to protect from the entire world...
She had deceived him through this marriage—or rather, she had deceived the entire kingdom, and with the very person he despised and hated most in this kingdom!
Suddenly, all those thoughts erupted inside his mind like a raging volcano, all at once.
In the blink of an eye, with one swift movement, Lucas drew the edge of the blade across the first maid's face.
She screamed at the top of her lungs, her cry tearing through the silence of the palace as blood dripped from her. The other maid recoiled in terror and panic, then turned and began crawling across the floor, desperately trying to escape and save herself.
Lucas threw the sword aside, lunged at her, seized her legs, and dragged her toward him with brutal force. Then, without even realizing what he was doing, he wrapped his hands around her neck and began strangling her viciously.
He did not want to believe it...
He only wanted to silence those voices by any means necessary, so that he could convince himself that everything they had said was nothing but lies and cheap slander against the royal family lies for which they deserved to die.
Servants and guards rushed from every direction toward the source of the horrifying screams, only to witness a terrifying scene none of them had ever seen before.
The tension in the air grew heavier, and the corridor descended into utter chaos as the guards threw all their strength into trying to restrain Lucas and pull him away, while he was on the verge of ending the life of the maid beneath his bare hands
To be continued.....