Chapter 86

‘I didn’t know that Kaizen would be interested in that illegitimate child.’

Obviously, Kaizen fell in love with Astelle. So I think Kaizen will treat the child like a thorn in his eye, and won’t care if he’s missing or not.

The Duke received a report that when the Marquis and the child had left for the East first, Kaizen didn’t respond at all.

When the Duke heard this, he thought Kaizen was trying to leave Astelle’s child in the eastern countryside.

‘Did he try to take the child to threaten Astelle because she rejected his proposal?’

I wondered if Kaizen was looking for the child for the same purpose as me.

‘I can’t go against Kaizen’s feelings right now.’

Now it was a very important situation for Astelle to become Empress again.

It was unwise to go against Kaizen’s intentions in such a situation.

‘What should I do with the child?’

He got up from his seat and headed to his bedroom.

“I’m going to take a rest, so don’t disturb me.”

He gave orders to the butler who followed him to the bedroom.

The Duke’s bedroom was as splendid as the Emperor’s bedroom in the imperial palace.

He walked to the wall next to the bed.

The light blue wall was decorated with white jade and elegant lily bushes.

The duke pressed the white petals overlapped under the bushes with his hand.

A crack appeared in the solid wall and a hidden door appeared.

The Duke had long taught his successor, Fritz, about the family affairs, but did not tell him everything.

Including this secret passage was not disclosed to his son.

He told him all the other secret passages, but this one was the exception.

The Duke entered the door and went down the steep stairs.

He went down the stairs for a long time and passed through the dark passage and saw a door in the stone wall.

This was a secret room that he did not tell anyone except one of his most trusted men.

When he knocked on the door, the man who had been waiting inside came out.

“Duke.”

“Did you bring the child?”

He received a report that the child had arrived a moment ago.

“Yes, the Young Master is here, but……”

With a shocked face, the man paused for a moment.

“Why? Is there something wrong with him?”

The duke was worried that the child might be injured or sick.

It didn’t matter whether that illegitimate child died or not, but it would be a problem if he died now, since Kaizen was looking for him.

After hesitating for a while, the man said,

“Duke, you must see the Young Master right now.”

***

Theor was locked up in a narrow, dark room.

No matter how much he looked around, he had nowhere to go.

There was one small wooden door, but it was closed tightly.

Theor came to this strange place after riding for a long time in a carriage with strange men.

He didn’t know where he was. He only remembered seeing a huge building.

As soon as he got off the carriage, Theor was led by the men into an underground passage.

And he was locked up in this little room.

‘Where is this place? Is this room also underground?’

There is no window here, so he doesn’t know if it is night or day.

The man who brought Theor here kindly asked him to wait here.

“Young master, please wait here for a moment. The Duke will be here soon.”

Theor didn’t know who ‘the Duke’ he was talking about was.

He pondered for a moment to see if he had ever met someone with that name.

However, there was no one with the name ‘the Duke’ in Theor’s memories.

A stranger left Theor here, saying he would bring another stranger.

It was scary enough, but Theor wasn’t too scared.

When he first found out he had been kidnapped, he was terrified.

He trembled in fear and wept.

However, the strange men who kidnapped Theor took great care of him all the way here.

Theor also regained some stability in their kind and friendly attitude.

Theor raised his hand and touched the corner of his eye.

When his red eyes became known to others, he thought something great was about to happen.

‘Mom said red eyes are so precious that I’ll be in trouble if other people find out.’

However, the strangers who were with Theor did not try to harm him even when they saw his red eyes.

Rather, the stranger who handed Theor a biscuit was very careful with him after seeing his red eyes.

Every time he got off the carriage for a while in the middle of the trip, they took him to lodgings, asked if he was uncomfortable, and even brought him delicious food to eat.

Theor knew that the sudden change in the men’s attitude was because of his eyes.

Because the other man who had been bothering Theor also became surprisingly kind after seeing his red eyes.

Theor was young, but he was aware of the situation.

He was kidnapped.

No matter how kind the men were, they were just kidnappers.

‘I have to run away.’

I don’t know where to go, but…… Still, I have to run away first.

Theor looked around the room as soon as the man went out, looking for a way out.

But there was no place to go.

The door was tightly closed and there was no window.

There was a bell on the wall to call people.

There was such a bell in Theor’s house.

Theor tried to touch the bell, but it was too high to reach.

When Theor was looking around the square room and checking the walls for cracks, the door opened with a click.

The man who brought Theor came inside.

Behind the man stood a stranger.

He was a man with light blond hair, who looked much older than the Emperor, Lyndon, and Vellian.

The man was skinny and had a monocle in one of his eyes.

That person seems to be of high rank.

Theor thought so as he looked at the man.

When he was at home, he didn’t know that people wore different clothes depending on his status.

When he met the Emperor and traveled with him from place to place, Theor learned that the high nobles wore splendid and fancy clothes.

Count Vellian always wore nice clothes, and so did the knight commander, Lyndon.

The man in front of him now was wearing much better clothes than Vellian or Lyndon.

He walked up to Theor with an astonished expression.

“Is he Astelle’s son?”

“Yes, Duke.”

Astelle was his mother’s name.

‘Does this uncle know my mother?’

The white-blond man looked down at Theor, then suddenly grabbed Theor’s neck and pulled him closer.

“Ah!”

Theor struggled in pain.

The white-blond man angrily pulled Theor’s body towards him.

“Stay still!”

His body was lifted into the air and he was having trouble breathing due to the firm grip on his neck.

“Open your eyes.”

He barely opened his eyes.

He could see the man’s face close enough to hear his breath.

“Huh……”

He looked into Theor’s eyes for a long time and smirked.

The moment the man let go of Theor’s neck, he fell to the hard floor.

The man’s satisfied laugh sounded above Theor’s head.

“Well…… There is no way my daughter will have an illegitimate child.”

Theor couldn’t understand what he was talking about.

At that moment, the bell rang.

The white-blond man muttered as he looked at the bell.

“Why is the butler looking for me?”

He ordered the man who had brought Theor.

“Leave him here for a while. I will be back.”

***

Lyndon was guided by the butler into the Duke’s drawing-room.

His subordinates, who were waiting for his orders, occupied all the way from the main gate of the mansion to the drawinh-room.

They were encircling the Duke’s mansion in order to find Theor who had disappeared.

It was his duty to find Theor and bring him back to Princess Astell.

Lyndon felt sorry for Astelle.

During the tour, Lyndon was fascinated by Astelle’s dignified and neat appearance.

Astelle was an elegant and wise lady.

Even His Majesty the Emperor seemed to be drawn to her again.

‘Young Master Theor is Princess Astelle’s son.’

Lyndon was also shocked to hear about it.

It was unimaginable for him.

But he soon developed sympathy for Astelle.

The poor princess had lost everything and struggled to raise her child alone.

That sad reality aroused pity rather than contempt.

Besides, seeing Theor’s existence being ridiculed by people now makes Astelle look even more pitiful.

He wanted to quickly find Theor and return him to Astelle’s arms.

“Oh, it is you.”

Lyndon met Astelle’s father, the Duke of Reston in the drawing-room.

Lyndon also hated this middle-aged great aristocrat.

The Duke smiled gladly to see him and asked,

“What did you come to my mansion for?”

“I’m here to pick up Young Master Theor.”

“Who?”

The Duke had a puzzled expression on his face as if he was hearing the name for the first time.

But Lyndon was not deceived by him.

“I know it was the Duke’s work. There is also evidence.”

“I didn’t know there were so many people interested in me.”

Lyndon stepped closer to him and gave him a threatening look.

“Kidnapping is a felony.”

The duke answered slowly,

“Are you saying it was wrong for a grandfather to bring his only grandson?”

“Even though you’re his grandfather, attacking his guardian and taking him away is kidnapping.”

Lyndon continued, “His Majesty the Emperor has ordered you to return Young Master Theor. Where is he now?”