Kingdom's Bloodline, page 320
This time, Thales interrupted her.
"Count Lisban? The regent?"
It seemed as if the prince had just seen the most inconceivable thing. "Oh my God, that old man already has a grandson!"
"Thales."
Saroma seemingly had enough of Thales' tone as she coldly said, "The candidate I'm talking about is Ciel's grandson."
Thales was speechless.
Discontented, Saroma stared at the ground. The embarrassed Thales propped his chin on his arm and remained quiet for a while.
Finally, the silence between the two individuals was broken by the archduchess. "Thales."
She was heard asking softly with her exhausted voice, "Don't you want to see me get married?"
Thales did not speak immediately.
"Saroma," Thales only slowly spoke up a few seconds later. The tone of his voice was dejected, "Tell me the truth, do you really want to get married?"
Saroma raised her head immediately. Her expression was tense.
"Is that important?"
The words the young girl used sounded to Thales as if she was throwing a tantrum. "You know that I have to get married."
Thales frowned a little. He straightened his lower back and shifted the chair closer.
"We've known each other for six years, you know…" The prince looked serious. "I don't want to see you unhappy. I don't wish to see you forced into doing something you don't want to, because…"
Saroma stared at him blankly.
'Because I was the one who caused you to be in this state,' Thales shut his mouth and said to himself dejectedly.
The moment Little Rascal agreed to help him six years ago, and also the moment Little Rascal was declared Archduchess of Dragon Clouds City surfaced before his eyes. Thales sighed and leaned his chin against the back of the chair.
A few seconds later, the archduchess tilted her head and looked in another direction.
"Even if I don't want to, so what?" Saroma's voice rang abruptly. "What can you do? Can you stop them from marrying me?" The archduchess' head remained tilted. Her expression could not be seen, but her shoulders were trembling faintly. "Or can you… stop me from marrying them?"
Thales lifted his eyes. There was melancholy in his heart.
'She doesn't like this,' he told himself.
Thales sighed. "If you're not willing, then don't marry them."
Saroma turned around suddenly and stared at him coldly.
"Hmph." She snorted.
"If I don't marry them, who should I marry then?" The teenage girl's gaze was very strange.
Thales could only feel his eyelid twitch.
Before the archduchess said anything weird, he suddenly got up from the chair.
"About that, what I meant to say was… you're an archduchess." Thales coughed once. Imitating the expression of a certain big police officer from his memories, he scratched his head. "As long as you are firm with your own will, nobody can force you to do anything you're not willing to—if you don't want a husband, then there's no need to force yourself to get married."
Upon finishing his words, Thales felt uneasy all over. He shrugged and smiled awkwardly.
Saroma stared at him deeply and did not say a word.
The archduchess only spoke up softly after a good while, "You saw the Black Sand Region envoy today too… Ciel told me that matters of the Alliance of Freedom aren't as simple as they seem… Ciel also said that Dragon Clouds City has no choice. If I want to win the support of the vassals and uphold the authority of the archduchess—"
"That's more reason why you shouldn't marry carelessly!"
Thales interrupted her and hurriedly added a sentence, "You cannot put hope in winning support with marriage. Think about it, you're only one person." The prince took a deep breath and endured Saroma's gaze, which was fixed on him. "And there are only six counts in Dragon Clouds City. Regardless of who you get married to…
"Perhaps you'll be able to suppress the unrest for a short while and get through this crisis, but the price is you'll be swept into a deeper layer of the internal strife in Dragon Clouds City." Thales sighed.
"Because your new husband will be a part of that strife, so you will be unable to stay out of the vassal' relationships. You'll unable to become a supreme and just arbitrator, unable to become their suzerain… to rule this piece of land anymore. Also, an archduchess who uses her own marriage to compromise with the nobles is an archduchess who cannot bring loyalty to her side."
This time, Saroma stared at him for a long time.
Her stare caused Thales to feel somewhat embarrassed.
"You know," the teenage girls' voice was slightly airy, "Ciel said that too."
"Lisban?" Thales quivered due to shock. "He's also against your marriage?"
Saroma did not directly reply him. She laughed in spite of herself and said, "But the vassals would be very unhappy."
In a dispirited manner, she added, "What should I do? What about Dragon Clouds City?"
"They have always been dissatisfied with me. They say that my bearing is unsteady; I do not have enough grace; the way I dress, and the way I converse isn't mature… if I still refuse to marry them and have a son…"
The archduchess sighed faintly. She was somewhat dejected and exhausted. "I know that in the future, whether it comes to sending troops or orders, they'll never cooperate obediently."
Thales sighed.
For some unknown reason, after learning that Lisban was also against the suzerain's marriage, he inexplicably felt a lot more at ease. However, when he turned around, he saw the archduchess' depressed and agonized expression. Thales clenched his fist lightly and sat on the chair again.
"No, Saroma," the prince said seriously. "This has nothing to do with your bearings and charms, or does it have anything to do with the way you dress and the way you converse. It even has nothing to do with whether you are married and have an heir, or not. Your vassals only have such an attitude because…"
Saroma raised her head and looked at him in a stupefied manner.
Thales clenched his fist tighter and tighter as he took a deep breath.
"It's because, because—"
But before he could finish, he was interrupted by the archduchess again.
"Because I am an archduchess." Saroma laughed in spite of herself. She leaned her head backwards against the back of the chair and looked towards a bookshelf in the distance. "I'm a woman; a woman they look down upon."
Thales was stunned.
"Yes, I know," Saroma's voice was downcast, and no emotion could be heard when her words first entered Thales' ears. "I've always known.
"They're not used to it, and they don't like having a female ruler. Whether it be them or the enemy, they feel that a Dragon Clouds City with such a ruler is unstable. They feel like I'm puny and ignorant… so they urged me to get married. The archduchess will marry a local Dragon Clouds City noble. Then, he will leave a seed in my belly, label it with the Walton name and eventually, hand him the power and position of the archduke. After that, Dragon Clouds City will be considered stable."
Thales did not say a word, but his grip on the back of the chair grew stronger.
"During the council hearing, no matter what I said, everyone's attention was always only on Ciel," Saroma's words made her sound as if she was sleep talking. "When I said something right, they cast praising glances at Ciel. When I was wrong, they gave him condemning looks. It wasn't just this one time, it was the same in the past, and it will be the same in the future."
Saroma's shoulders quivered gently, and she could not help but laugh. However, it was in a manner where she appeared emotionally numb.
"None of my so-called vassals care about me," the archduchess' voice was very weak. She leaned her full-body weight against the back of the chair as if she had lost all strength to support herself. "What they care about is just the title of the archduchess and the Walton bloodline. As for me, I'm completely unimportant apart from my belly, because it can give birth to the Walton seed."
Thales gritted his teeth slightly.
Saroma took a deep breath and looked at Thales with reddened eyes. Suddenly, she snorted.
"Perhaps they are right, Thales."
Saroma bit her lower lip in an expressionless manner. "Maybe I just can't be an archduchess and all the things associated with that title... Maybe I was born to be utterly weak and rely on someone else.
The archduchess' voice grew increasingly indiscernible.
In the massive and unadorned library, she sat tilted against the chair as she said faintly, "When I was a child, I depended on Alex and just did my part as an unknown little maidservant. After I grew a little older, I depended on you and King Nuven. With your influence, I became an archduchess. Now, I'm depending on Ciel to rule Dragon Clouds City on my behalf to settle those matters I'm incapable of comprehending. In the future, I'll also have to depend on my husband, on the bloodline in my belly to make Dragon Clouds City stable and finish living the rest of my life. Furthermore, I'm not even a part of the Walton bloodline—"
*Bang!*
The prince hit the back of the chair.
"Saroma!" Thales exclaimed sternly, chiding the stunned teenage girl.
"Saroma, Little Rascal." The prince took a deep breath and presented the most serious expression he could imagine. "Do you know why I wanted to drag you along when I skipped class? Especially Lady Ginghes' etiquette class?"
Without waiting for the other party's answer, Thales opened his mouth. "Because you're an archduchess." The young man clenched his fist tightly. "But they were teaching weaving, sewing, embroidery, playing musical instruments, singing, dancing, and housekeeping. They've been treating you as an archduke's wife. Archduchess and archduke's wife, they may be the same part of speech." Thales gritted his teeth. "Yet, they are as different as the sky and earth, completely unalike!"
Chapter 290: Dragon Breaker Two |
Saroma looked at him. Her eyes were rather misty.
"But they didn't do anything wrong, did they?" She sneered as she shook her head. She raised her right hand and looked at Triumph. "I simply—"
"Little Rascal!" Again, Thales used that name from long ago to fiercely interrupt her.
The teenage girl raised her head, appearing to be in a daze.
"Don't, Saroma. Even if you cannot choose who you want to be… at least, don't turn into someone they want you to be."
Thales stared at her firmly. "Please, don't become like that."
But Saroma was only slightly startled before she shook her head in a mocking way. "No such thing. As an archduchess of Northland, the path of my future has been set… even if it's not this time."
She then said in disappointment, "I've thought about it. I'll marry a local noble, give birth to a male heir and be politely sent into seclusion somewhere until I'm old—"
*Slap!*
A clear sound was heard.
Saroma stared blankly at the second prince, at how he grabbed her right hand.
"Little Rascal!"
Thales looked at her seriously and shifted Triumph to the center of their lines of sight.
"Even if you're a woman, you can also live an interesting life! I know of such a woman."
"Ah, that female officer, Jines Bajkovic who taught you how to use the sword and your etiquette." Saroma shook her head and burst out laughing. "You've mentioned it more than a thousand times already—she extricated herself from the restrictions of her family, got a footing in the capital all by herself. The legendary woman who excels with dinner knives and swords? But she's special, and she's not even a suzerain—"
"No, not her," Thales said firmly, stopping Saroma's words.
"I'm talking about another young girl."
Saroma was momentarily stunned.
Her wrist trembled slightly, still in Thales' grip. "You mean… a young girl?"
"Yes." Thales nodded his head firmly. "She is also the final orphan of an admirable family. She survived the chaos of war and rebellion, succeeded the title and led her territory at three years old."
Saroma stopped refuting his words. Instead, she looked at the prince with a gaze laced with skepticism and inquiry.
Thales took a deep breath as he recalled the fall and winter six years ago. "When I first met her, she was about your age now, fifteen or sixteen. Inexperienced, young, even a little naive. But at that time, she was already an important person who took charge of her territory. I still remember the moment she stepped across the Hall of Stars and awed the world's ministers and commoners with her powerful words.
Thales absent-mindedly said, "The moment she stood tall and sauntered into the hall wearing that casual purple-black hunting attire, everyone in the hall consciously moved back to open up a pathway for her. At that time, there were also people who ridiculed her, scorned her, despised her and looked down on her. 'How could Constellation be ruled by an ignorant child?'
"Yet, that girl just slowly walked over like that. With a cold expression, she took small, quick steps, then gracefully but arrogantly said whatever she wanted to say without a care. She had no regards for whether her words were of satire or condemnation, whether they were of support or opposition. Two powerful counts had no choice but to walk behind her. One had a murderous look, while the other had a face filled with an air of nobility—yet they both couldn't conceal her splendor. In fact, they were suppressed by her splendor, to the point where they were unnoticeable.
"The split second she flung her arms and spoke with a cold voice, it was as if the whole audience became a backdrop for her—whether it be the king or the dukes, the nobles or citizens."
As Saroma listened to him recount his tale, she became rather shocked. "You're talking about…"
Thales gritted his teeth and nodded.
"Constellation's Guardian of Blade Edge Hill—Duchess Lyanna Tabark."
The prince narrowed his eyes. "As far as I know, up until now, she's still governing the Tabark Family of the Six Great Clans, guarding and ruling Blade Edge Hill alone as an unmarried woman under the mark of the blood moon."
Thales suddenly turned around and looked at the baffled Saroma.
"What she can do, you can too. There will be a day when you can stand alone at the peak of Dragon Clouds City by the means of your own strength without relying on anyone else. You will win everyone's respect!"
Thales took a breath and stared firmly at the teenage girl's face. "There will be a day where you can tell the vassals of Dragon Clouds City that the person governing them… is an archduchess, and do all of it in an imposing manner."
As Saroma stared at Thales, she was startled for a moment before she let out a helpless laugh.
"It's too hard." The teenage girl sighed and said, "I can't do it…"
Thales shook his head and said with unswerving determination, "It isn't hard. What's truly hard is when you think that you can't do it, thus causing your vassals to feel like the Dragon Clouds City under your rule is not stable."
Saroma blinked. Her gaze towards the prince became slightly gentler and brighter.
"I still remember that dauntless Little Rascal who dragged me out of the hands of the calamity… I also remember that nervous Little Rascal who crawled out of a fireplace and recited a script in order to help me out of my predicament… In that moment, that girl didn't hesitate and say 'it's too hard'."
Saroma did not say a word. She just silently looked at how Thales was gripping her hand.
"Saroma, do you remember? Choose who you want to be. If you don't want to be a vase that's at the mercy of people and be used as a trading tool that can be handed over to others at will…"
The prince gripped her hand tightly, his tone was unquestionable, "...then don't present yourself as a vase!"
Saroma stared at the prince in a dumb manner.
A few seconds later, her originally misty and distracted gaze became focused again.
"If you don't want to simply get married to a man who's old enough to be your father, and rely on your belly to survive…" Thales' gaze sharpened. "...then reject them!"
"We will think of a plan together. Of course, I think Lisban would also help you. As long as you say 'you don't want to'. Then, you wouldn't have to marry them."
The two of them stared at each other and kept silent for a long time.
Thales did not avert his gaze at all.
Saroma's eyes shone instead. It appeared as if she was somewhat touched, yet also a little panicky.
Finally, Saroma took a deep breath as she looked at the determined prince.
"Thales." Saroma cleared her throat. "I…"
She seemed a bit hesitant.
Thales responded with an encouraging look.
The hesitance lasted for three seconds before the teenage girl gritted her teeth. Her expression became tense.
"Thales." Saroma raised her head, her expression was serious. "I don't want… I don't want to marry Count Hearst."
Thales let out a breath and nodded furiously. "Alright!"
"I also don't want to marry Count Najir's son."
"Alright!"
"I don't fancy them," Saroma's words slowly became smoother compared to her initial stiffness. "I also don't want to marry anyone else."
Thales looked at her steadily.
"Very well." The prince raised his eyebrows. "You won't be marrying them."
Thales shrugged. "Because I don't like them either."
The two people looked at each other. A few seconds later, they burst out in laughter.
'Phew.'
Thales felt slightly sentimental. 'This time, Putray's going to use the "I knew it" expression to nag me again. I have to think of an excuse to convince him. If the archduchess doesn't marry, it would be more advantageous for us… and… I'll have to make time to have a chat with Lisban within these few days regarding Dragon Clouds City as well as the archduchess.
While he laughed, Thales acted as if nothing was going on and let go of the other party's hand.
In the library, a maidservant frowned.
"Forgive my bluntness, Female Officer Ginghes. I know that the lady's mental state has not been too well lately… but are their actions not a little too intimate?"
