Published at 21st of November 2020 06:13:04 PM
“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 .
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“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 .
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 .
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“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 .
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“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 . ”
“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 .