Turning

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Chapter 148

As the Cavalry carriages sped towards the imperial palace in a long line, another carriage escaped from the quiet, closed-off grounds of the Apeto dukedom.

"Second Prince, are you really thinking of leaving like this? If the Duke finds out about this..."

"Silence. Since when have you been so bold as to challenge my words? You too believe I'm forever estranged from my heirship, don't you? Do you wish to die here?"

The occupants of the carriage were the Second Prince, Lenore Shand Apeto, and his servant. Lenore, after the unsavory incident a few days ago, was confined under house arrest by order of the Duke of Apeto. However, his servants dared not stop him as he decided to leave the mansion. The memories of his relentless violence still cast a shadow over the entire mansion.

The servant, forced to accompany him, was just as afraid of Lenore. He had mustered enough courage to speak, fearful of the backlash from the Duke of Apeto who would learn later of Lenore's disobedience. But his determination was swiftly extinguished in the face of Lenore's anger.

"M-, My Lord, how could I dare think such a disgraceful thought? This foolish man misspoke out of concern for you!"

The servant hurriedly prostrated himself on the carriage floor and apologized, but Lenore, unable to suppress his anger, kicked him hard.

"Fool. I should have brought someone else! I picked just anyone because I was short on time, and you dare to insult me?"

"Pl-, please spare me, my Lord. I'm sorry... mercy..."

Lenore finally managed to quell his anger a little, kicking the servant until the toe of his boot was stained red.

"Know that my not killing you here is mercy. You got filthy blood on it; clean it at once."

"Y-, yes, thank you..."

The servant stifled his whimpering and bowed his head. As he began to clean Lenore's boot, blood seeping from his forehead, he thought about lashing out once more as the man's feeble movement displeased him. But if he did, and the servant couldn't stand, he wouldn't be able to enter the imperial palace, so Lenore held himself back. Crossing his arms, he closed his eyes and focused on calming his rage.

'The letter. Think about the letter. I'm heading towards a second chance. I can't ruin this from the get-go by losing my temper.'

The thought was effective. Lenore traced the outline of a small letter hidden in the pocket of his formal attire with his hand tucked inside his crossed arms. That letter was the reason why Lenore abruptly broke the Duke of Apeto's command and fled from the mansion.

Two days ago, Lenore received a small note while confined to his room. Hidden skillfully within a tray of snacks brought by a maid, the note bore a name that he never would have imagined.

'The Crown Prince Katchian La Orr... wants me?'

The handwriting on the note was elegant, and the message, succinct. It said that he could offer Lenore a second chance.

After hearing the news that Aishes Shand Apeto sent a letter to the Cavalry, I decided to reach out to you immediately. That's all there is to it. The choice is yours. If you feel inclined to send a response, do so in the same manner.

Aishes, who must be overjoyed by now, having heard that Lenore, who has fallen out of favor with the Duke of Apeto, had sent a letter to the Cavalry. The meaning was clear. Aishes had thrown a gambit to topple Lenore without giving him even a single chance to climb back up.

Lenore shivered at the fact that he was unaware of this, and then paced nervously around the room. In the past, he had controlled a significant number of Apeto family's secret informants at his will, but now he could only glean a little of the outside world's affairs from the Crown Prince's letters.

The realization that all the power he thought he possessed actually belonged to the Duke of Apeto sent him into a state of fear and confusion for the first time in her life.

'Is father really intending to discard me as I am? Me, his only intact child?'

He wanted to believe it wasn't so, but the letter had shaken her. Being the child most like the Duke of Apeto in temperament, he knew his ruthlessness better than anyone. He was not the type to forgive those who had smeared his face without gaining anything in return.

'Yes, it might be better to find a third way rather than being miserably driven away while obeying a father who has no intention of trusting me to the end.'

The vast lineage of Apeto was like a massive iron fortress. Regardless of who took over the fortress, and how many died in the process, the family never collapsed and was not likely to in the future.

After pondering how many times parents and children had killed and been killed over power in the long history of the dukedom, Lenore made his decision. He calmly sat down and wrote his reply on the back of the Crown Prince's letter.

'The real master behind this letter is probably Duke Diarca. It would be quite nauseating if this matter puts me at a disadvantage with Diarca... but as long as I can become the Duke of Apeto, that's all that matters. I can cover it all.'

The subtle sense of superiority the Diarca duchy projected to other families after placing the Prince of Katchian on the throne, the future de facto imperial family, had stirred considerable resentment. Lenore was one of them.

However, her survival was now the priority.

The second letter from the Crown Prince of Katchian arrived the very next morning. Tucked inside a tray of food as before, the letter accepted Lenore's cooperation gladly and contained a postscript.

Return the letter, and hand over your next reply directly, so I can believe in you as clearly as the rising sun.

‘Damn Diarca bastards.’ Cursing the Duke of Diarca, who would be laughing behind the Crown Prince's letter, Lenore crumpled the note. The phrase asking for faith as clear as the rising sun was from a famous play, a line used metaphorically to demand faith even at the cost of a great sacrifice.

There was only one way for Lenore to hand over his response directly to the Crown Prince. He had to attend the party on the last day of the harvest festival, which he would have had to attend under normal circumstances.

‘When I break my seclusion and go there, I won't be able to return to my past life. He knows this, hence his request.’

Once embarked on a path of no return, there was no pulling back midway. If he didn't accept this proposition, the Crown Prince and the Diarca family would undoubtedly seek out someone else, someone they deemed predictable, to make the same offer.

‘Perhaps... someone like Revlin. That fool, so blinded by the honey in front of him, would likely not comprehend the gravity of such a proposal!’

Remembering the day Beltrail had gone mad, and Revlin, his younger brother, had left their home, following Duke Peletta with a gleeful expression while he, Lenore, fell from grace. His teeth ground together at the recollection. Lenore surmised his judgment to be correct, his anger boiling over as he hastily wrote his response.

With the break of dawn, he slipped out of his mansion and was on his way.

"We'll be arriving soon. You can see the checkpoint, prepare yourself, my Lord."

Lenore opened his eyes at the cautious words of the coachman. The stiffened servant caught the harsh gaze of his master, gulped in surprise, but didn’t dare meet his eyes.

Lenore extracted two sealed letters from his pocket. One was the formal reply to the Crown Prince, but the other wasn't. The latter was the original of the second letter he had received from the Crown Prince.

‘As desperate as I am, driven into a corner, I can't trust them completely.’

In case the Crown Prince and Duke Diarca didn't keep their promise, Lenore kept the original letter and returned a replica hidden in the tray. He doubted they would meticulously examine the returned letter, and even if they did discover the deception, he could simply explain it away after the meeting with the Crown Prince.

He swiftly noted down the series of events that had befallen him on the back of the Crown Prince's original letter and signed it. If his meeting with the Crown Prince resulted in a favorable outcome, this second letter would never see the light of day.

However, if the opposite were to occur...

"You. Hold on to this while I am in the palace."

"Eh? Yes! Understood."

After thoughtful consideration, Lenore handed the second letter to the servant. The servant, with due respect, received it without daring to glimpse at it.

"Keep it with you while waiting with the other servants. If I return, hand it back to me. If I send word that I can't collect it personally... Hmm. Right. Deliver that letter to Revlin."

Mentioning Revlin was a purely impulsive decision. Even though they had a strained relationship at the moment, the most naive and least suspicious person in the Apeto family was undoubtedly Revlin.

"The... The Revlin who is said to have joined the Cavalry? Is that alright?"

"Don't make me repeat myself."

The servant quickly bowed his head and apologized in response to Lenore's stern warning.

'If that idiot doesn't lose the letter, it'll be a miracle. Tsk.'

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