Stone Thrown into the Lake - Chapter 25

Ziark Dunmel was speechless. Her refusal must have aroused his master’s interest.

“You left home in order to pursue a woman, you must have a very unique taste in women.”

Ziark spoke sarcastically. Sidis just laughed without a change in his expression. Ziark, who lost his steam, made a sound of frustration.

“A guest cannot request the presence of the lord.”

“Well, those words make sense.”

“Prince!”

“Okay, okay. Calm down. Won’t you drink some tea?”

Ziark dragged the chair noisily and sat down. Sidis poured the tea himself. Ziark looked at the teacup awkwardly. Tea that was poured by the prince cannot be drunk easily. If his aunt finds out about this, he would have died ten times. He grumbled without touching the teacup.

“She’s weird, but you’re still the prince. You said you were curious. Shouldn’t you be making an effort to meet her? Would you know anything about her if you keep sitting here like this? You didn’t come all the way to the countryside to admire the forest.”

“The snow fruit was ripe.”

It was a fruit unique to Serium. The tree looked pretty.

“Oh, really,” Ziark made an expression as if he was about to die of frustration.

“Hahaha,” Sidis, who laughed out loud, brought up something a little less frustrating.

“Meeting Young Lord Salzmia wasn’t that bad.”

“Young Lord Salzmia?”

Ziark soon made an “Ah” sound. The youth was known for being the Marquis’ illegitimate son that was born outside and later acknowledged as the eldest son of the Marquis. Whispers by close associates say that even though he was brought back, he was raised as if he didn’t exist.

‘Perhaps there was something wrong with him’, such unpleasant rumors about him flourished like weeds, so it was not as if Ziark didn’t hear about them. And saying that Ziark heard about it, was the same as saying that Sidis also heard it.

Ziark suddenly spit out, “You mean the illegitimate child that’s said to be handicapped?”

“Ziark Dunmel,” Sidis warned.

Sidis was not the type of person that judged someone based on other’s words. Moreover, he was strict about using such methods to humiliate someone. At Sidis’s eyes that turned stern suddenly, Ziark fell silent for a moment, and straightened from his crooked posture.

“I’m sorry, I spoke carelessly.”

Sidis Murka looked at him for a moment.

“I’ll be careful,” Ziark continued.

Sidis pushed the teacup to him. He spoke breezily.

“He was a kid who looked talented.”

However, it was obvious that the Marquis of Salzmia did not educate him properly. Then, for what reason was he brought in as a son? Sidis Murka continued thinking for a while.

“I suggested that he become a knight.”

“…Your Highness.”

Ziark raised both of his hands, as if he were being punished. Sidis asked back, “Hm?”

“I’m sorry but may I say something?”

Sidith nodded his head, “Speak, my friend.”

As soon as the permission was granted, Ziark, slackened from his position and held his head with his hands.

“Are you out of your mind, really…?”

Weren’t you interested in his sister? What are you trying to accomplish by turning that child into a knight!

With only two children, if one becomes the prince’s wife while the other becomes a knight, there wouldn’t be anyone left to succeed Salzmia. Furthermore, becoming a knight would be futile as there wasn’t an heir to the family.

“She’s already a princess? That’s fast,” Sidis laughed jokingly, but Ziark responded seriously.

“Your Highness, she’s the first woman you have shown interest in. I can’t continue watching the lifestyle of my master that doesn’t want to play with fire. If he wants to marry any woman randomly, then he should.”

[Editor: ‘playing with fire’ means playing with love or being a player.]

Sidis just smiled and sipped over his tea. Sidis Murka wanted to get to know Yvor Adela. He was curious about her, he longed to meet her, and he was satisfied having met her. However, when asked if it was love, then it’s not at that stage yet.

To Sidis Murka, the ‘playing with fire’ that Ziark Dunmel spoke of was akin to the love that his father habitually speaks of.

Love.

Love is….

In actual fact, Sidis Murka had never seen anything worthy of that statement. That name perfectly encapsulated desire. When something ugly and selfish was covered, it was unknowingly wrapped and sold as something valuable and beautiful.

“You’re such a good friend, Ziark.”

Sidis Murka only spoke those words. The concern of his knight was unpleasant, but he was still grateful. Ziark had no choice but to change the topic.

“Why was the Salzmia boy there again?”

However, the horseshoe did not deviate significantly from its destination.

“I think it would be better if you visited the Young Lord. Would you want to dine with him for dinner?”

He spoke expectantly, but Sidis did not acknowledge his statement. These siblings are very… Ziark Dunmel clicked his tongue. The older sister and younger brother are both out of their minds. While the father wasn’t very pleasant, he still had some common sense. At least Ziark could communicate with him.

“I’ve already talked to the Marquis of Salzmia, so a seat should be arranged.”

“Oh no. I ran away because I found him annoying.”

Ziark Dunmel looked like he wanted to hit the prince once.

◇ ◆ ◇

“Yvor,” Ranan Elmund called with an amiable voice, “My daughter.”

Yvor faced him without even offering him a seat.

“Please speak, Father.”

But she was not in the mood to listen to whatever he wanted to say. Didn’t Dew say that he didn’t want to see him? Yvor Adela was in a hurry to kick out her father right now.

“My daughter.”

Yvor waited for Ranan to close his mouth momentarily, before speaking.

“Please leave the castle as soon as you’ve concluded your business here.”

Her words couldn’t have been more straightforward.

Ranan Elmund’s face instantly changed into an expression of outrage. Her request was words that he never would’ve dreamt his daughter would speak, his daughter that listened to him well.

“Ha. Haha…” Ranan laughed, with a smiling face that held no warmth.

His face that remained untouched by his age, hardened at once. His anger erupted like a volcano. Instead of crimson lava, words gushed out.

“Yesterday, today, and right now. If you’ve meant your words, then you’ve gone crazy. You must be out of your mind.”

His lava did not harm her. In the past, Yvor Adela had never felt that she would be affected by Ranan Elmund’s anger. In fact, the Yvor then did not even think that Ranan Elmund knew how to be angry. She had never experienced a human-like relationship with her father.

Moreover, losing her mind? Yvor smiled faintly. She was accustomed, to the point of boredom, to hearing such phrases while she was still a wicked queen. Above all, has she ever been in her right mind before? She left her brother alone for her whole life while saying that she loved him very much. Thinking alone, believing alone, loving alone.

In the past, the girl that Ranan Elmund said she was perfectly sane, was actually insane. Thus, Yvor Adela spoke plainly.

“I’m perfectly sane.”

She thought she was completely clear-headed now. Now that she knew how absurd and foolish she was, she believed that now, she was in her right mind.

With an incensed face, Ranan Elmund walked toward her, decreasing the distance between the two significantly. Yvor almost faltered at his blazing eyes, which was reminiscent of the ones Dew had in the prison.

A purple fire was burning within.

As Yvor paused for a while, Ranan stood in front of her. He grabbed her by the arm. The grip was so strong that she clenched her teeth at the stinging pain, before speaking.

“After this, I won’t intend to accept Father into my castle again.”

Yvor Adela raised her chin and spoke in a misleading manner. For her brother, for a peaceful life with her brother, it didn’t matter if she had to become the hateful queen again momentarily. She could return to being the demented queen again.

It was her unchanging nature, just as a tree that’s bent could never grow straight again. But suddenly, she remembered that she had said something similar before.

When Salzmia was made the most loyal subject of the new king and she decided to die with the present king, or when Ranan Elmund was expelled from the capital. When she faced him then, an unknown sense of incompatibility returned again.

“What has made you so crazy?”

Yvor, my daughter.

Ranan Elmund yanked on her arm. It felt like her arm was going to fall off. He growled violently. The dignified face distorted to the point where it looked like a monster. Such a face was too unfamiliar. This made Yvor alarmed. On the day he was expelled from the capital in the past, Ranan Elmund was not this angry. That day, he definitely…

“You are my daughter.”

Ranan Elmund said. Her arm was numb as if her senses had melted and evaporated away.

“There was nothing, from head to toe, from a strand of your hair to a piece of your skin, from a drop of your blood, to your nails and teeth, nothing that wasn’t from me. There is nothing that has not been inherited from Salzmia. You ought to devote it all to Salzmia.”

“By throwing away the reason for your existence, where would that leave you? Why would I need you? There wouldn’t be any value in your existence, you who aren’t useful to Salzmia. You belong to me, and you belong to this family.”

Yvor Adela listened to his words like she was an unbreathing inorganic matter. His anger was worth nothing to her.

But those words… The words he said…

His words engulfed her entirely, melting her without even leaving a skeletal form. Yvor Adela was almost left to solidify in lava.

The person he was talking about was her. This Yvor Adela, who had left Duran alone for her whole life, and finally died in despair and regret in her previous life. Like the ashes of a volcano, Ranan Elmund whispered with difficulty.

“My beloved daughter.”

He said the same thing on the day Yvor Adela drove the Salzmian family out of the capital. However, he wasn’t this angry then. On that day, Ranan Elmund was clearly smiling, with a very satisfied face, as if she had done well.