Chapter 72: The Darkness Deepened

Soon Liam, with a hesitant look, came in and set an example to him. And Fabian looked down at Liam from his higher seat.

“Duke, when are you going back?” he asked.

“I’m going back tomorrow.”

“Good for you.”

Fabian thought about what to say while looking at the paper he had written before, “Will you stop by Kingdom Felice on your way?”

“Yes, my sister is there.”

“Do you mean Lady Rebecca?”

Liam lifted his head, looking at Fabian with a suspicious eye. He didn’t even want to know why the Emperor remembered his sister. It’s probably hard to avoid his sister’s popularity if she often stayed at Felice Palace.

“I heard from Serus that Lady Rebecca seems to have a strong prejudice towards the Empire’s man.”

“Prejudice?” Liam asked back, pretending not to know.

“Yes, false rumours are circulating about the heartless and insensitivity of the Imperial’ men.” Fabian couldn’t help, but this time he said it on purpose.

Liam just asked back with a calm face, “False rumours?” Putting on a poker face was an ability he had learned when he was hit by an opponent named Rebecca. Really, it wasn’t her sister’s opinion, but Rebecca seemed to have spoken the wrong thing.

“Is that true, then?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is the Imperial citizen a monster?” Fabian asked.

But Liam shut his mouth to his difficult question. It was also the ability to avoid that he learned from Rebecca.

“So, you think like that, too?” Fabian was irritated, so he had no choice but to ask the question first.

“I never lived with an Imperial man.” Liam gave an ambiguous answer, either positive or negative. And Fabian felt awkward, staring at Liam’s green eyes, which didn’t feel hesitant about him.

“Well, it’d be easier to tell your sister to refrain from rumours.”

“My sister doesn’t listen to anyone.”

Fabian raised one of his eyebrows, “Even though the Emperor said it?”

“I’ll tell her it’s Your Majesty.”

“It’s over. I don’t want to take this issue any further.”

Liam’s face was still calm. But in fact, he was annoyed. He felt a moment ago that her sister was being blamed. Fabian, who had no one to take care of in his life, didn’t know or understand Liam’s line of thought. And it was a good thing for both men.

“I have a message for Princess Evelyn. I want you to tell her.”

Liam blinked his eyes.

“That … there’s no special message, only send my greetings.” Fabian clenched his finger, lost in his own thoughts, “Are you doing well, is there a problem?” Honestly, he had more to say on the writing paper, but he couldn’t find out which one would be best to say.

“Oh, yes. I’m using the scented candle she told me in the letter.”

“Huh?”

“When you say that, she’ll know,” Fabian answered bluntly. Liam remained calm, however, and was able to control his expression. Even though he couldn’t be compared to the Emperor, he was an amazing Duke. Above all, he was a proud man who respected others.

“I don’t know why I should tell her that.”

“On your way back, you can tell her.”

“You’ve already given a black hawk to the kingdom, so please ask by letter.”

Liam’s words were piercing the corner of Fabian’s heart. “You will go there anyway. Besides, it will take time to tie the letter on the hawk.”

“But you have three. I’ve heard that the Imperial’s black hawk is faster than anything else.”

Yeah, that was true. But, Fabian couldn’t say that the hawks didn’t return to him.

“…Does this mean that the Duke will disobey my orders?” Fabian looked at Liam with his eyes wide open.

“What? That was the order?” Liam asked back and raised his voice purposely.

“This is not a formal order.”

“The Imperial Order is all official, Your Majesty.”

“That’s not it.”

Fabian swallowed a sigh, trying to be patient. He couldn’t easily judge whether the young Duke in front of him was stupid or smart. It was a matter, of course. Until now, there was no person like Liam around him.

“If it isn’t an order, is it a royal edict?”

No matter how great the emperor was, it was a disgrace he issued such an edict. Fabian sighed in annoyance.

“No, just forget about it.”

“I’m sorry, I’m not used to serving Your Majesty.”

Liam had the nerve to answer him back. If Rebecca saw it, she would give him a standing ovation.

“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll leave.”

Fabian shook his head as if he didn’t want to answer. The young Duke of Akrshire seemed subtly dumbfounded by this situation.

The most annoying thing was that there was nothing that could be justified. This was a lesson as well as a survival technique that Liam had learned while growing up with older sisters like Rebecca.

“I don’t like him ….” Fabian stared at Liam’s back, knocking the table nervously.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

That night, he didn’t know that the hawk, which he had been waiting for so long, would return.

On the night before the congress, Evelyn visited the gardens of the palace. She saw Fabian’s black hawk, which grew bigger every day, and kept looking up at the sky as if he wanted to fly.

“I’m so sorry for you ….”

It was a hawk who had to do his job and fly across the sky. But now Evelyn felt sorry for him. Because of her, he was locked up in the cage.

Perhaps Evelyn hated seeing the hawk whose freedom had been robbed of because she had thought of herself. She knew the feeling that she couldn’t meet anyone, and Evelyn hated it every time she remembered it.

“I was trying to write the reply, but ……”

As Fabian’s letters piled up, she thought there was something wrong with it. But while Evelyn was thinking about her answer, the time had passed. Whatever the answer, Fabian would know the rejection. Yes, he should.

“There was no right answer.”

Evelyn came close to the hawk. No words or sentences could fully describe Evelyn’s heart. Above all, she was worried about Fabian, who would stubbornly answer her with another question.

“I should have done this from the start.” Evelyn untied the string attached to the hawk’s ankle.

“Fly away now.”

The hawks, who didn’t even know they had become free, were still sitting peacefully in the cage.

“Go away from me.”

Evelyn’s voice sounded a little lonely. In the end, the answer she chose was to say nothing. Sometimes silence was an answer. It was more resolute than any other answer. So, she decided to return the hawks without writing a single letter. Fabian would face reality, whether he wanted to or not.

“Go away now!

Fabian told her to keep the hawks because there were still lingering regrets, hopes and memories of love in his heart.

It was all right if it wasn’t right now, then I didn’t have to make a decision, then wouldn’t it be all right to have a little more conversation with Fabian? Such a weak and foolish mind continued to hold Evelyn in.

“Go!”

Before her heart broke, Evelyn threatened the hawk with a pole. Only then did the hawks spread their wings and flew up, realizing that there was nothing to hold them back.

“Go! Go!

Typically the highly-trained-hawks wouldn’t just fly away, especially if they saw Evelyn’s face, who was already considered as their master. However, after shouting countless times, it seemed they realized Evelyn’s wish.

“Yes, go away!”

The hawks were flying over until they eventually soared into the sky.

“Now, don’t come back here again.”

Evelyn said a lonely farewell to herself. It wasn’t long before the hawks disappeared from her sight forever. Evelyn’s cold, unspeakable rejection of Fabian had flown, just like that.

“…….Good-bye.

In the end, a painful word lingered. Tonight, Evelyn had to comfort herself and think that this was the right decision. And after a long night, she would go back to her daily routine. The everyday life of the most precious things. To protect it, Evelyn could be a cold-hearted person.

On the night of the congress, Serus had been away for a while to meet his returning spy. On his behalf, it was the chief officer who informed Fabian that the three hawks had arrived. Fabian rushed to the garden where the hawk was, without hiding his excitement.

“…… That’s all.”

But his joy soon turned into doubt and denials.

“Yes.”

“There wasn’t anything else?”

“Yes….”

Fabian took a cold breath for a moment. It felt like his heart, which was excited with anticipation, was falling all of a sudden. His head shouted that something was wrong, but his heart knew that this was a silent rejection.

“Get out of here, all of you. Don’t let anyone in!”

Fabian, who shouted fiercely, collapsed. As an Emperor, he couldn’t show this side to others. He wasn’t allowed to be sad or heartbroken.

“Evelyn.” He couldn’t even call the name of the person who passed by.

“Who’s heartless and insensitive one? Who?!” Fabian couldn’t even sigh out of his pain. “Two times you stabbed a knife into my chest.”

“I’ve been left alone again. Without knowing the reason for that …

He couldn’t be broken with just this, and he couldn’t be weak in the face of loneliness. However, Fabian wasn’t an Emperor now. He was an ordinary man who was frustrated with his own thoughts.

“Evelyn….you abandon me.”

Even his resentful words were filled with longing, and Fabian couldn’t help it even if he despised himself.

“So easy…..”

Fabian hated her. Once, Evelyn shared a ring and vowed to love him, but it seemed easy only to her. Even him, who ruled the Empire, had to swallow his pain secretly for a single rejection. It was very difficult for him, but it was always easy for Evelyn to end their relationship.

“It’s cruel. It’s not easy for me to hate you like that.”

The darkness deepened.

“It’s not easy for me to hold on to now.”

The bitter words came out, and there was silence all along. Her unspoken rejection without a single word was too cruel. Evelyn’s refusal had the power to make Fabian helpless. For the first time, he realized that Evelyn had such a cold side.

“Why is it difficult only for me?”

The stupid feeling that remained in him was very painful.

“Cruel.”

Under the full moon, the grieving man’s shadow slowly fell down. He tried to grab what he couldn’t hold, and he had no strength left to take a single step. He could only swallow the pain and bitterness in his heart. That’s the only thing he could do.

The Emperor’s loneliness, which nobody knew, was very deep.

Serus climbed to the tower which was used as the secret base of Black Hawk Knight. Not long ago, on Fabian’s instruction, a spy was sent to get information from the Vatican. And he just returned tonight.

Logan was his name. He was the spy and also the most capable knight in Black Hawk. He arrived first and greeted Serus with a glance.

“Well done.” Serus reached out his hand. But Logan didn’t give him any document. Instead, Serus got a cautious answer. And his face was severe.

“It wasn’t a text message…..I can’t tell you that.”

The spy-knight kept his mouth shut. Serus thought for a moment, and he nodded. If Serus, who was Fabian’s trustee, couldn’t hear it, it must be a secret that Fabian must listen to by himself.

“I must inform His Majesty first.”

Only

“Logan, it’s already late…”

“No.” Logan shook his head firmly. “I have to tell your Majesty as soon as possible.”

There was a strong sense of responsibility embedded in those words. But Serus couldn’t just let Logan go.

“According to the chamberlain, His Majesty has now ordered that no one is allowed to be near him now. As a knight, don’t let your life throw away.” Serus made a quick judgment. “First of all, stay with me today.”

“Yes.”

Logan followed Serus with a heavy secret that one knight could not handle, “I hope I can deliver this news quickly.”

He couldn’t delay it for a second. Since only the Emperor, as the person concerned, could hear this secret.