The Grand Duchess Escape

Join Patreon to read advance chapters https://www.patreon.com/Leila0530

Calix looked down at the man who was dragged before him with an expressionless face. However, his gaze alone seemed sinister enough to tear them apart. The sobbing of the terrified ones mixed with the silent dawn air.

In a low voice that penetrated the listener’s soul, he murmured, “It’s over.”

Philip immediately snapped out of his daze at those words. Urgency surged from his lips.

“Your Excellency! Wh-why are you suddenly doing this to us?”

His voice, not properly composed, cracked like a broken record. With a somewhat humble expression, Philip continued talking.

“Just a few days ago, didn’t we exchange news about the succession issue of my son? Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”

“The Emperor.”

Calix replied as if annoyed.

“Have you ever seen him keeping a hunting dog alive after the hunt is over?”

“W-what are you saying now…?”

“When they are no longer useful, they are discarded. Isn’t that the fate of hunting dogs?”

Philip’s face went blank. His expression of disbelief quickly turned into horror.

Images of corpses scattered throughout the corridors and thick pools of blood flashed through his mind. His shoes and the hems of his pants were stained with the thick, gory blood of the dead.

“That’s impossible! I have been loyal all this time…!  I don’t know about the others, but I was an exception. I was different!”

“Indeed, he kept you alive for quite a while. That Fernandez.”

The man’s face, casually mentioning the name of the Emperor, was dreadfully arrogant.

“After Adele’s death, someone was needed to keep an eye on her daughters. You happened to be the perfect candidate, so he delayed disposing of you, that’s all.”

“No, No, there must be a mistake! It must be a misunderstanding! If I could contact His Majesty, no, if I could meet him and explain…!”

Philip shouted desperately, shaking his head. But Calix mocked coldly.

“Now you’re just a stumbling stone for Fernandez.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Why did you crave for your son to take over the Marquisate without knowing that this was how it ended? Do you think the Emperor will let a dog trying to climb the ladder off the hook?”

“That’s absurd!”

Philip yelled. Shame, injustice, and anger mixed in his eyes in a chaotic whirlwind.

“This can’t happen! No matter how he’s personality is, the Emperor he-.. he can’t kill me like this…!”

“He can’t kill you.”

Calix gestured with his eyes, and Ryzen walked out as if he had been waiting. In his hand, he held a tightly rolled document. The thin paper fluttered and fell onto Philip’s lap.

“See for yourself.”

Philip became flustered. Something was definitely going wrong.

He reached out his trembling hand and picked up the document, struggling to unfold it. The first thing that caught his eye was the Emperor’s large seal at the bottom of the document. The tiny writing above it was difficult to read.

Philip, with unfocused eyes, tried to decipher the words written on it. After a moment, his face turned as pale as a blank sheet.

“Father! What does it say that makes you act like this?”

Anthony snatched the document from Philip’s hand. Just like before, as soon as he confirmed the contents, a scream burst from his mouth.

“This… This is… This is nonesense!”

“It is not nonesnse.”

With a smile that didn’t match the situation at all, Ryzen recited the royal command with a clear voice.

“You are charged with the crime of assassinating the late esteemed Adele Chartus, Marquis of Chartus, and attempting to seize the Marquis’s title and wealth. Furthermore, you dare to defy me, the Emperor of the Great Empire of Harmenia…”

“T-This is a frame-up! Treason, you say!”

In an instant, the color drained from the faces of the servants. It was the worst possible situation one could imagine.

Being implicated in treason put not only the accused in danger but also their families and those around them. A chilling terror crept in.

“Isn’t this reason enough to die?”

Before Calix’s words even finished, the soldiers menacingly drew their swords in unison. Swish! The sharp sound of metal clashing reverberated through the mansion in the early dawn.

Anthony, overwhelmed by fear, made a statement he should never have uttered.

“If, if the Grand duchess were to learn of this…!”

In an instant, Calix’s face turned as cold as ice.

A wave of raw, unrefined energy was shot at him and pierced his already beaten-up body like an animal being hit by an arrow, and Anthony’s body contorted violently in pain.

But it didn’t end there. For a brief moment, those watching saw Calix raise his arm.

“Aaah!”

“No! Anthony!”

A scream erupted from Anthony’s mouth. Philip tried to approach him, shouting in desperation, but he was held back by the soldiers, unable to move.

Blood dripped from the tip of the sharp edge of Calix’s sword, precisely piercing Anthony’s shoulder.

With a slow, deliberate twist, Calix applied force to the sword embedded in him, ripping a heart-wrenching cry through the dawn air. In the grip of excruciating pain, Anthony’s body soon slumped lifelessly.

“You talk a lot for someone who will die soon.”

To think he would dare to beg for mercy, speaking his wife’s name with that disgusting voice. Calix’s heart grew cold.

The tip of his sword surged forward once again.

***
Support this novel by being a patron and get access to advanced chapters in return <3