|| 2 || To The Capital

'Refreshing…'

Lucia felt as though she was trapped in a burning fire and couldn't breathe then a careful touch began to sweep over her body and little by little, she was able to breathe again.

Gradually, her consciousness returned and she slowly opened her eyes. She could see him in front of her, but she couldn't tell if it was a dream or reality.

"Vivian."

He called her name, a sense of urgency in his voice.

"…Hugh."

When she heard his voice, she suddenly felt emotional. She reached out as though to grab him.

"Haa…"

Hugo gave a huge sigh of relief. He lifted the thin blanket to cover her body then he took her hand and kissed the back of her hand.

He gathered her sweat dampened hair, brushing it aside, then he wiped down her forehead with a towel. Seeing his eyes filled with worry, Lucia felt sick to her stomach.

It wasn't just because of the indigestion. Ever since her mother died, this was the first time that someone was taking care of her when she was sick.

Tears welled up in her eyes and began to fall. Hugo's expression hardened at this sight.

"Is anyone there! Where is the doctor!"

Seeing as he'd forgotten about using the rope to call and was screaming, Lucia squeezed his hand.

'It will be fine.'

For some reason, this thought crossed her mind. The thought that it would be fine even if they went to the Capital. It was a vague belief that this peace and happiness would not be broken.

"Hugh. If we go to the capital, will you be unfaithful?"

"…What?"

'She must really be in a lot of pain,' Hugo thought and at the same time, the realization that she didn't trust him at all made him feel powerless. In her mind, he was still far from reliable.

"I will never do that." (Hugo)

Lucia watched him quietly then gave a small laugh.

"Then it's fine."

'I'll trust you.'

Even if he got another woman, he wasn't one to deceive and hide in secret while cheating. He would rather say it out squarely.

'Afterall, he can't lie well.'

She had seen him embarrassed after being thrown off guard several times. When he gave orders to the servants, there was nothing stopping him from lying so she thought that lying was most likely his weak spot.

'But, in the capital's political struggle, lying is essential. Will he be okay?"

Hugo's cold mask only broke down in front of her. Lucia was worrying about something that didn't need worrying. She seemed to have already forgotten about the Hugo from her dream and the Hugo from before their marriage.

'What the heck does 'then it's fine' mean? Fine? What's fine?'

Hugo wanted to shake her and ask her what she was thinking about. Just then, Anna came in and while she exchanged questions and answers with Lucia about her symptoms, Hugo sorted out his complicated feelings.

Was she always so difficult? He really didn't know. In the past, he used to think that once he gave women jewelry, everything would be solved. Until now, nothing had ever given him so much trouble.

"I will prescribe digestive medicine to calm your nausea. Once you take it and sleep well, you should be fine."

While waiting for the medicine to be brought, Hugo continued to wipe off the sweat on her forehead. The high fever had still not reduced and her breathing was still uneven. Hugo couldn't make a sick person talk for too long so he shoved his wandering thoughts away for the moment.

"Why are you so foolish? If you were sick, you should have called someone."

"I thought it would be fine."

"It could have been a disaster. You lost consciousness."

"Is it dawn? What do we do? You have to leave early but you haven't gotten much sleep."

"That's not the problem now."

Hugo lowered his voice as much as possible and tried not to get angry at her. She had done nothing wrong to make him angry. It was merely his heart that felt sad.

"I hear you're often sick."

"I am?"

"The headaches."

"Ah…that's just a common thing."

"Can't it be cured completely?"

Lucic chuckled softly.

"When you say it like that, it sounds like a fatal illness. It's not serious. It's similar to someone who has frequent stomachaches. It can't be helped."

"Serious or not, I hate when you're sick."

"I'll be careful not to fall sick."

"That's not what I mean….don't hide it from me when you're sick or in pain. As your husband, I deserve to know that much."

"Okay, I won't."

The maid soon came in with the medicine. Hugo held her to his chest and fed her the medicine then helped her change into new set of dry clothing. Not long after taking the medicine, Lucia fell asleep. With that, it was assumed that the sudden turmoil of the night was over.

Before daybreak, Lucia's temperature began to rise again. She threw everything up including the medicine and her temperature repeatedly rose up and down. Hugo stayed up all night trying to bring down her fever.

Hugo expressed his anger to Anna who was called for the second time.

"Didn't you say it was indigestion? What is this! She can't even keep the medicine down!"

If the northern nobles saw this, they would recall the rumor that the Duke of Taran turned into a flaming dragon when angry. Facing the Duke's anger for the first time, Anna was so nervous that her fingers went numb.

She realized it was a blessing that only she and the Madam knew of her giving Sir. Philip's remedy without knowing of the components. Anna instinctively felt that if the Duke knew, she would lose her head.

"I-I think Milady's stomach is very upset. By any chance, has Milady been shocked or greatly surprised lately? If there are addition psychological factors, the indigestion can worsen."

Hugo frowned and sank into thought. Apart from hearing of the King's death, there was nothing different from usual.

'So she was shocked at the King's death?'

Since Hugo had no affection for his father, he had overlooked the feelings that normal people would have towards the death of their parent.

She never really talked about her father but she talked about her mother frequently so Hugo was even forgetting that the King was her father. Still, they were flesh and blood so perhaps there were some unspoken feelings left over.

He wasn't being considerate when he passed on the news. Hugo felt angry at his lack of sensitivity.

* * *

Lucia threw up everything she ate so she could only take in barley tea for two whole days then finally, on the third day, she was able to take in some watered down food. She ate half of her rice porridge, then she leaned back on the bed and closed her eyes.

'I must have been too worried about going up to the capital.'

It was her first time having such a terrible case of indigestion. She felt a cool hand on her forehead and opened her eyes. Her husband was beside her.

"…The fever seems to have gone down a little now."

He pushed back his plans to go to the capital and stayed beside her the entire time so Lucia felt sorry, thankful, and worried that it might affect his work.

"I'm really okay now."

Hugo frowned slightly. The words 'I'm okay' seemed sewn to her mouth. She was sick so he didn't want to make her to feel uncomfortable. He took in a deep breath and calmed himself.

"I heard you had a little porridge. Do you feel okay?"

"Yes, it seems to be digesting now. I don't feel nauseous."

"Are uncomfortable anywhere? You couldn't eat well for a while, do you feel dizzy?"

"I won't die if I don't eat for a few days. My stomach was just a little upset."

"It is not only fatal illnesses that are illnesses."

Even when she was sick, she didn't desire anything. Even though she was sick enough to throw up everything she ate and her fever was high enough to scare him, she didn't even say she was hurting.

Every time he saw her pale complexion, she would repeatedly ask him when he would be going up to the capital. And several times he wanted to reply with, 'you're really harsh' but he swallowed down those words.

'Do I really seem that unreliable?'

He felt anxious as he stayed by her side and watched over her.

"I think I have to go to the capital now."

The urgency has now reached its limit. The Crown Prince had been sending letters but finally couldn't contain himself and sent a messenger that arrived this morning. At least until the national funeral was over, Hugo had to be in the capital.

The fact that he had to leave while she was sick was very annoying but he couldn't make the excuse that his wife was sick. To put in bluntly, she wasn't terminally ill so he couldn't make that excuse.

"I'm fine. You have to go, don't you?"

Seeing her weak but pure smile, his chest felt numb. His wife didn't give him any trouble at all. But he hoped that she would trouble him. If she held onto him and told him not to go, he would toss it all and stay by her side. His woman was lying sick in bed so who cared whether the king died.

"Get some rest. Don't think about anything else. Take your medicine and don't skip your meals."

"Your nagging has increased."

"If you don't like it, then don't make me worry."

Hugo bent down and kissed her head, her forehead and her dry lips.

"Vivian, are you really okay?"

Even though she reassured him several times, he remained, watching her with an anxious gaze, then finally, he turned around to leave.

As the door closed and the room grew quiet, Lucia felt her sight grow blurry and blinked. Her tears trailed down to the pillow. Perhaps because of her sickness, her hold on her emotions seemed to have weakened considerably.

She wanted to tell him not to go. She wanted to complain that she was sick and it was tough.

[Females sometimes fall apart when they lose the object of their affection.]

It was something Madam Michelle had said some time ago. The Countess' words weren't wrong. If she relied on him without standing on her feet, she would completely collapse if he left.

To what extent was the proper distance Madam Michelle talked about? Lucia wished to know the exact answer to that question.

***

"Wow, it's been hard to see your face."

Hugo ignored the man expressing his welcome in an exaggerated manner and sat down. Kwiz didn't mind the rudeness at all and just laughed cheerfully.

"Is your territory filled with honey? I didn't think you'd really stay there for over a year."

"Isn't a lord taking care of his territory a good thing for Your Highness? No, is it 'Your Majesty' now?"

"It will be anyways but I am yet to be crowned. People are being nit picky over customs for that one."

Kwiz shrugged his shoulders. He was currently acting as king and had full confidence in getting the throne. It was not possible to overturn the justification of the Crown Prince ascending to the throne.

Even with his brothers eyeing his position and watching for an opportunity, Kwiz was confident.

Kwiz looked at the dark-haired man sipping tea in front of him with an indifferent expression, and recalled the long time advice of his loyal assistant and tactician, Count Benef.

[He is a wild beast, Your Highness.]

The Count passed away from a disease in the past year, dealing Kwiz a huge loss.

[He is an untamed wild beast and can never be tamed. Do not try to confine him to us. A satisfied beast does not covet the deer before it. He will gladly stand by Your Highness's side to oppose those that wish to confine him to a cage.]

[Are you saying not to expect his loyalty?]

[A stable alliance is a hundred times better than an uncertain loyalty. Remember that no royal has ever obtained the loyalty of the Taran Duke. The Duke of Taran will not pounce unless provoked.]

[…So, you mean for me to show my back to a wild beast. Without fastening a leash.]

[He will tear those that come at Your Highness from behind to pieces. The House of Taran already has much to its name. Your Highness does not need to give more, it is enough to just acknowledge what it has in the first place.]

The late Hesse VIII was a King that entertained himself more than he dealt with official matters. Despite that, his reign was considerably long. What he did best was never touching the Duke of Taran and that alone said that Hesse the 8th was a wiser King than he was known for.

The Ducal House of Taran was a strange family. It wasn't clear when they began to exist but there was already a Taran Family when the nation was founded.

At that time, the House of Taran distinguished themselves greatly in the founding of Xenon and received royal treatment with a status of Grand Duke and had autonomy over a Grand Duchy.

They almost had formal rights to the throne. But against all expectations, they did not enter into politics.

In the reign of the second King who sought absolute royal authority, all Grand Dukes were stripped of their authority and relegated to Dukes. Their Grand Duchies, downgraded to fiefdoms.

The Grand Dukes at the time rebelled and walked down the path of familial extermination but if anything, because the Taran House obediently accepted their relegation, they were guaranteed rights to the throne.

Even then, the House of Taran was still not interested in politics. Many years passed, numerous families rose and fell repeatedly, and Hesse, the third King of Xenon came into power.

The House of Taran was still doing well and was the only Ducal House with rights to the throne.

As long as the royal family did not perish, it was nigh impossible to formally rank it, but the Dukes of Taran were treated almost like royalty.

All this while, the Ducal House of Taran never interfered in politics but their presence was heavily revealed through war.

People began to say that Xenon exists because Taran exists. The Taran family was more strongly impressed in the minds of people than the Marquis family that produced the Queen or the Prime Minister. Yet, the Taran family never once challenged royal authority or expanded their territory.

Their territory was just as they got it when the nation was founded. The Taran territory was quite large but their borders faced one of the most troublesome tribal nations. Defending against the countless barbarian invasions was the Duke of Taran's role. In addition, when war broke out, the Duke of Taran stood at the front lines and took care of everything.

Some kings were afraid of the untold power of such a Taran Duke and acted hostile but after doing so, their later years weren't good. Hesse the 8th chose the path of acknowledging the Ducal House of Taran as it is and Kwiz was also of the same thought.

"How do you like the newly married life? Didn't the Duchess feel stifled, stuck in the territory?"

Kwiz thought that when the new bride complained, the Duke would give in after a couple of pleas and come up to the capital.

He didn't think the Duke would stay away for so long. With enough time, people began to wonder if the bond between the Crown Prince and the Duke of Taran was in peril.

Kwiz knew that the opposition was trying to approach the Duke of Taran and recruit him several times but he left it alone. The Duke of Taran was never someone that would dance in the direction of power.

It wasn't because of some grand reason but because it was too annoying to do so. Even without that, the Taran House didn't have any interest in politics.

"She likes quiet places so she did not."

"How peculiar."

They were both his sisters but were so different. Perhaps because their mothers were different. Kwiz's blood sister, Katherine, was a party animal. She couldn't survive without dresses, jewelries and parties to show off at.

Since her standards were very high, she showed no intention of getting married and pretended not to hear when one said there would be no one to choose from when she got older.

In truth, no matter who she married, Kwiz was more worried about how the person that became her husband would be able to live together with such vanity.

"Gong, do you want to marry one more time?" (Kwiz)

His sister had set her mind on the Duke of Taran. Upon hearing that he had gotten married, the party animal, Katherine, had stayed indoors for a week. Monogamy was the law for all but the Royal family, but, the Taran Duke had a way to be exempt from that.

Since he was a Duke, even if he wanted to take a second wife, no one would argue about the law with him. To Kwiz, it didn't really matter whether his sister was the main wife or the second wife. He had no complaint if she was marrying someone like the Duke of Taran.

"Did you call me here to say this nonsense?"

As a matter of fact, seeing Kwiz' face reminded Hugo of his wife's condition and made him upset. He could still remember her asking him if he would cheat when he got to the capital.

The rumors of the capital were a lot of smoke without fire so Hugo couldn't help but worry that she might have heard a rumor that he didn't know about and misunderstood.

Kwiz's words were basically pouring water on boiling oil.

"Just consider it. Even if you are officially married, you will likely get a few suggestions like the one I just made." (Kwiz)

Hugo fixed Kwiz an intense gaze and Kwiz quickly took a step back.

"I don't do anything that is of no worth to me." (Hugo)

"What? no worth? Three wives and three concubines is the dream of many men." (Kwiz)

"Then, Your Highness can fulfill and live that dream. As king, you can realize the dream to the fullest."

Kwiz's expression turned awkward. The Duke of Taran was truly ambiguous in the sense that he seemed to like and dislike women. He was never free of women yet when it came to cutting them off, he was ruthless.

"About your successor. Do you really plan on it?" (Kwiz)

"I do." (Hugo)

"No, you're married now. A child is going to be born in the future. Even if he's the eldest son, I mean."

Isn't he an illegitimate child anyways? Kwiz swallowed the rest of that sentence. To avoid any clamor by supporting the illegitimate son of the Duke when he took over the title. This was the condition Kwiz was given to be able to bring the Duke of Taran onto the political scene.

Having an illegitimate son take over the Duke's title was simple but also difficult. This was because it went against implicit social customs. However, Kwiz thought it was a very easy condition for obtaining the Duke of Taran. Kwiz himself wasn't legal per se either so he wasn't that narrow-minded about the issue.

However, in reality, when the Duke got married, Kwiz felt a little reluctant. Even if she was his half-sister whose face he had never seen, she was still his sister. The thought that his sister's child would be treated as a figurehead didn't really make him feel good.

"…Since when have you been so interested in my personal life? If that is all you have to say, I will excuse myself." (Hugo)

"Ah, alright, alright. Really. Even after marriage, you're still so stiff."

Kwiz was very interested in the Duke's personal life but at this point, he had to give up for now. Afterwards, they began to discuss the direction of the state affairs in earnest.