Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 182: What A Way To Say Thank You

Chapter 182: What A Way To Say Thank You

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In the lavish, dim-lit chamber that was regally adorned with Gothic decor, grand chandeliers that dripped with black crystals hung in the middle of the council chamber. At the head of the long table was Ivan who went through the letters that had been brought before him with a deep frown furrowing his eyebrows. The Courtiers and Ministers, each distinguished by their ornate attire and pale complexion, filled the seats around them, and there was an oppressive silence that lingered uncomfortably in the air as they awaited Ivan to finish with the letters.

When Ivan was done, one of the human Courtiers named Abraxas rose to his feet. He wittingly cleared his throat, drawing all attention to him before lowering his head in a respectable bow before Ivan.

"Your Majesty, it is with great concern that I bring these letters to you." He audibly began, whilst he kept his gaze low. "As you saw, Fernwood village, which is still under the care of their village council, is currently suffering from a grave famine, and that should be impossible as GreenHollow has been restored to the land, but... these peaceful villagers of Fernwood are now being deprived of food by the councils sent to tend to them. The Autumn season is around the corner, people are afraid to even cultivate their own resources for the fear of having it snatched away from them."

"Fernwood village." Ivan pondered on the name, recognizing it to be the same village where his little lamb lived with her family. "What is the evidence supporting your claims besides these letters? If we’re going to look into Fernwood’s council, these letters won’t do as they can be denied."

"Your Majesty." One of the Ministers rose to his feet, and in his hand was a document. With Ivan’s permission, he approached where he was seated to hand the document to him. "It appears that the village council has cornered the food market in Fernwood village. His personal wealth has taken precedence over the health of the people he was assigned to look after. I heard he hoards supplies and raises prices, leaving the villagers famished and penniless. If I’m not mistaken, your Majesty, you sent many other resources to be distributed to the villages in GreenHollow, and I heard from an important source that Fernwood villagers didn’t receive a pinch of what was being distributed. It had been planned conscientiously so you wouldn’t find out."

As the meeting went on with all murmurs of awe and complaints, Ivan wondered how his little lamb was able to cope in a place that had such revolting councils. He hadn’t paid that much attention to Fernwood since he had been most occupied with preparations for the clash of valor event, but after hearing this, it was necessary he looked into the matter himself. When his long meeting with the council eventually came to an end, Ivan was escorted by his entourage as he decided to take a leisurely walk in the Palace.

Becoming King no longer gave him the privacy he once had, and he couldn’t believe other King’s enjoyed being followed like they were a pack of hounds. He loved his distance, and since he couldn’t send them away right now, he made sure they stayed three feets away from him, at least so he could breathe and think.

"Bunch of leeches." He muttered to himself.

Stepping into the Court Of Celestial Valor while watching the beautiful sunset, Ivan’s gaze spotted Maurice who was busy with his training. As expected, Herbert was coaching him on the basics of sword fighting, and the way the lad paid attention to what he was being taught proved he was indeed a scholar, he had the looks too. Ivan could also remember his first training after being let out of the confines of his chamber, and just like Maurice, their clumsiness was almost similar, yet they were both attentive when listening to the instructions. Strangely, he saw his old self in Maurice.

"Do we stop here? Your Majesty?" One of his entourage asked politely, and Ivan simply shook his head. Beside him stood Alistair who showed up from nowhere, and the young man hummed as he also watched the human indulge in his training for the second round that would begin two days from now. Ivan’s lips curved into a slight smile as he turned his head to look at Alistair who inadvertently stared back at him.

"It was good to see you at the Event today, I was a bit worried you wouldn’t come." Ivan uttered as he averted his gaze from Alistair to the two individuals who practiced in the ring. Alistair bit the skin in his cheek as he eyed Ivan playfully, and then he said.

"Doesn’t he remind you of your formal self?" Alistair’s mild gaze returned to the human who was still stumbling in his steps. "You were a scholar who became a King. I still remember when the family had you cooped up in that chamber of yours for years, back then I found you rather boring, always buried in a book with those glasses and Human eyes focused on the words on a page. Then the incident happened and your abilities were awakened, do you remember when you first held a real sword? The horror in your eyes that day...."

Alistair couldn’t stifle a chuckle as the memories of their younger days began to resurface. Ivan on the other hand found those days to be the most embarrassing moments in his life, and they were the darkest too, but now that he was made to think about it, there was a bit of humor to his clumsy actions in the past. There were times he had to read seven books in a day, other times five, four, six, he would take the royal exams and never failed to come top, yet he was never happy with how his life was being controlled by others. They assigned him one of the best teachers who tutored him in the quiescence of his chamber– do this, do that, or don’t do this because it will spoil the family’s name, he was never allowed to make choices for himself, yet he endured it all.

While he groomed himself into becoming a royal scholar, everyone else was given the privilege to indulge in training, and why? Because he was only human at that time while everyone else were vampires possessing the strong bloodline of a Chevalier.

As difficult as it may be to accept, he never once tried to speak with Alistair or Tobias during his younger days, rather, he avoided them like plagues. When he had toxic brothers like Eamon and the rest who made growing difficult for him, he had been wary of everyone else until the day he was told to duel with Tobias, and during this time, his vampiric abilities had been awoken thanks to Eamon’s dirty trick.

He had failed awfully in a duel, his uncle Abdiel had been furious with him due to his constant failures that he got punished. Since he was never allowed to shed tears in the Palace as it was considered a sign of weakness, he had ran into his chamber and stayed in his dark sanctuary where his Chaise lounge was located. He didn’t lock the doors properly, and was caught by Alistair and Tobias who had been sent to call him out.

"What are you doing?" Tobias had asked him with the same expressionless facade. He had been so terrified that they would report him to Abdiel, so he admitted.

"Uncle says we’re not to cry, he says it’s forbidden in the Palace. Are you going to tell on me?" His voice trembled, eyes glazed with evident tears, and when he assumed they’d threaten him the way Eamon would, he heard Alistair say to him.

"That is because Father is incapable of having emotions," he pointed out before stepping forward to hand Ivan his handkerchief. "You’re still human, and a child, cry if you feel like it." There was no display of emotions on their facade, but the reassurance in his tone had him receiving the handkerchief, quite stupefied that they didn’t treat him badly like everyone else. They were actually the first asides from his parents who had shown him kindness since they died.

When his heart hardened, he no longer remembered the little things that mattered, he only knew hatred, it blinded him.

He hadn’t really thought about his past since he hated visiting it, but now that he was made to remind himself of what he once used to be, he suddenly realized that his nephew’s had helped him step out of his shadow when he felt he couldn’t do it alone. They honed him without making it obvious, and they haven’t stopped doing so till this day.

"Down to Earth, Your Majesty." The snap of a finger snapped him out of his revisitation, and Alistair’s eyes narrowed puzzledly. "It’s not healthy to black out like that? Where did you go?"

"I..." Ivan awkwardly cleared his throat as he brought himself to say, "I wanted to say thank you for.... Everything."

"Huh?" Alistair blinked in bewilderment, "for what exactly?"

"Do I need to specify?" He averted his gaze, the warmness in his tone already dissipating. "Just accept it. I remember I have something to do." And he left, leaving Alistair standing on his own, his expression a mixture of confusion and surprise.

"Whoever taught you how to thank someone is doing a bad job." Alistair muttered as he eyed Ivan’s retreating figure. "Who thanks people out of the blue and forces them to accept it?"