Albrecht’s Pearl 83

 Chapter 83

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Even though she knew he enjoyed her misery, her tears..................

Louise could not be sure of anything.

She climbed the creaky stairs, feeling like the only fool in the world. Once inside the small room, she was forced to sit down in a chair.

One of the two men pointed a gun at her, while the other stood in the doorway and watched.

Even if the men hadn't been armed, Louise would have had a hard time getting away from the two large men.

But they even had pistols, and Louise was empty-handed, without even a purse. She could only sit there and wait for Ferdinand to come.

Even if this was all a ruse, she would like to hear the story of what happened.

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To her misfortune or fortune, she soon heard the sound of hoofbeats. Even from where she sat with her back to the window, Louise could tell that quite a few people had arrived.

Ferdinand had come with the Burg army, and Louise fervently hoped that there was some excuse for the men's behavior.

That she might be freed from this ridiculous confinement.

The door creaked open, followed by the sound of several rough steps up the stairs.

There were several footsteps, but it was only Ferdinand who stepped through the door.

"..................Your Excellency."

As much as she wanted to quell her misgivings, it was harder to do so when she saw Ferdinand's dignified expression.

Ferdinand, the Burg’s Margrave  Louise had seen, was usually bedridden.

Today, however, he was standing tall, with a healthy face and a physique that defied age. He stood so tall that the top of his head almost touched the door frame as he stepped onto the threshold.

He frowned slightly, then glared alternately at the men leading Louise.

"Did you mess with her?"

Louise's chest heaved in anticipation. She prayed again and again that it was nothing, that Ferdinand was not betraying Caius.

Just then, Ferdinand suddenly kicked his foot.

"Fools!"

The man pointing the gun at Louise yelped and fell backwards. The gun didn't miss, and Louise's shoulders shook in surprise.

Ferdinand shouted.

"Get out of here!"

The fallen man rolled out of the room. Even a domesticated goose would be treated better than that.

As the man standing in the doorway flinched, wondering if he should follow, Ferdinand slammed the door shut. The man was pinned against the wall, unable to escape.

Only then did Ferdinand look back at Louise.

Louise was still shaking by then.

He hadn't threatened her with a pistol, he hadn't kicked her. She felt incredibly uncomfortable with the whole situation.

Something was definitely wrong.

Was the man in front of her really the old man who told her about her parents?

The fear she felt from the man pointing the gun at her was nothing compared to the fear she felt from the man in front of her right at this moment.

A deep sense of dread settled under her chin.

Ferdinand von Burg was a man she had never seen before, cruel and despicable. It was a shame she hadn't known his true nature before now.

Louise could barely breathe, but he flopped down on the bed beside her and spoke.

"You must be surprised. Did they bring you here as a prisoner?”

Ferdinand asked, paying no attention to the man in the doorway. The casual tone of his voice suggested that he had forgotten what he had just done.

Louise took one look at the man in the doorway and replied, her voice choked.

"..................No."

And indeed they didn’t, for they said nothing, and she acted on Ferdinand's letter.

This time, Louise mustered up the courage to ask.

"Was the letter you sent me written by...... Your Excellency? Was everything you said...... true?"

Just then, a crumpled newspaper rolled across the room. Ferdinand looked down at it and smiled faintly.

"Of course it was. What would I gain to deceive you?"

But Louise couldn't let go.

It made sense to trust the printed newspaper rather than the man in front of her with a strange face.

If Caius was already on the throne, according to the newspaper, why was Ferdinand coming here to see her?

He was the Margrave who had just had the new emperor. If he was not going to travel to the imperial castle to advise Caius, he should at least return to Burg, which was empty.

"So, His Highness...................?"

He cut off Louise's cautious question mid-sentence.

"You should call him His Majesty now, for he has returned to his rightful place. And so should you."

"What….is my place?"

Louise's eyes were sunken as she asked again.

Ferdinand tilted his head and pulled his lips into a sneer.

"You don't mean to tell me you've believed all this time that your place is in the imperial palace?"

She hadn't. She didn’t know why his words cut through her heart like a knife.

Louise replied, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Of course not......... I am here..................because I thought His Majesty was in trouble and I wish to help him."

Ferdinand nodded approvingly.

"He has ascended to the throne with difficulty, but His Majesty is still in trouble."

Louise didn't understand his words quickly enough and asked.

"How ......?"

"How could it not be? He must show tolerance lest he follow in Karl's footsteps. So he cut off Karl's breath, but he didn't punish the nobles, who deserve to be chewed to the bone."

A dry lump formed in her throat.

The newspapers had said that Karl had suffered a heart attack, but for once Ferdinand's story seemed more credible. There would be no reason for him to deceive her in this regard.

Ferdinand asked leisurely.

"In what way do you propose to unite the divided nobility of Hyreth? It seems to me that it would be best for him to form a family bond with one of the Emperor's men’s daughters."

This time, Ferdinand's words made sense.

Come to think of it, the name Caius had taken at his marriage was that of Burg, and it wasn't even his real name. If he wanted his past to disappear, he could solidify his imperial power through a political marriage with a powerful family.

Assuming no one remembered his marriage at Burg, he might be able to fool them. But................

Louise looked at Ferdinand and said stiffly.

"And do you mean to tell me to leave Burg.......... no, to leave His Majesty? If you have summoned me here to see you while you are busy delivering such a message, you have done an unnecessary thing."

Ferdinand looked as if he could barely contain his surprise.

"..................Yes, how is that so?"

"There is unfinished business between His Majesty and me, and I must seek his permission to leave before I can finalize it."

Hahaha, Ferdinand laughed out loud.

"Do you think your business is important to His Majesty, even now, at this point?"

He was a thoroughly calculating man.

He was telling her that she was only a means to an end, a way for Caius to regain the throne, and that she was nothing now that he'd gotten his way.

Regardless of her feelings, she was stunned by how different this was from the relationship her parents had told her about.

Ferdinand took advantage of Louise's momentary pause and pressed on.

"I understand. He must have been an easy target for a naive woman to fall in love with, but the only time the emperor was gentle with you was in front of others."

At first glance, his words sounded irrelevant, but they cut straight to the heart of the matter.

Caius didn't share his feelings for her, which meant that it would be foolish of her to pursue him.

But she fell in love for her own reasons, separate from her vows to him.

Louise tried her best to disguise her feelings.

"Perhaps I have seemed foolish in your eyes, but whatever you think of me, I will not be the second Ermoli to betray his expectations."

"The second Ermoli to betray him?"

Ferdinand laughed, not sure what was so funny. Only when he had laughed so hard that tears formed at the corners of his wrinkled eyes did he speak.

"But are you certain that your parents abandoned him?"

Her light green eyes wavered.

She didn’t believe that her parents had betrayed him, but here was the man in front of her confirming that what Caius said was true.

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