Saved By The Mad Duke
Chapter 136: Khala

Chapter 136: Khala

The young woman’s arrogant reply only made Bella furrow her eyebrows in annoyance as she continued in a colder tone,

"What in the world are you doing here?"

Khala shrugged her shoulders before replying, her voice as nonchalant as ever,

"The castle changed, but you are still the same, Bella. You are not old enough to be such a grumpy old maid, you know. Especially when you are greeting your guests."

"Guests? I am only grumpy towards annoying troublemakers; guests I treat with proper respect!"

Ignoring the maid’s reprimanding words, Khala followed the knight who was carrying Aideen’s body with her eyes until he disappeared into the hallway of the second floor. Noticing the woman’s interest, Bella stood right in front of her and offered her a menacing glare before asking again,

"What are you doing here? Oh! Oh, Holy Saviors of All Sacred! It was you! You did that, didn’t you? What a horrible girl you are! I cannot believe this!"

Khala discarded the maid’s lament with a dismissive wave of her hand, her face twitching with an irritated grimace,

"Oh, calm down already, will you? Such a noisy woman, I swear! I mean no harm. I came here to visit my old friend, am I not allowed?"

"Old friend? You have no friends here, Khala! And you have already caused harm! What did you do to our princess?"

"Our princess?" The woman arched her eyebrows, "well, well, well... I see Tillian finally found a way to become royalty again, huh?"

"Alright, that’s enough!" Bella grabbed Khala by the arm and started walking towards the kitchen, "I have to stay by My Lady’s side until the doctor arrives. And you... Stay in the kitchen with Martin and don’t you dare go anywhere else or I will make you stay outside with the guarding knights, do you understand?"

Khala clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes, allowing the maid to have her way,

"Sure, sure. As you wish, Your Majesty Queen Isabella The First."

***

Tillian handed the reins of his stallion to the stable boy and marched towards the back entrance to the castle, Stanis following behind him as he always did.

"These days are rather intense. And quite tiring, too. I don’t remember the last time we had to actually kill the magic beasts instead of just chasing them away back to the mountain. If this continues, we will have to implement the knights’ rotation once again."

Stanis accepted the Duke’s coat from his hands and started walking upstairs while his lord contemplated his words,

"You are right, ever since we started our regular patrols, the beasts rarely ventured outside their usual territory. Now, not only do they dare to attack the knights, but they are also getting closer to the castle and the villages... We might have to dispatch the Raven Knights as the regular guards with monthly rotation."

"And now the bandits, too... One headache after another."

Sir Nygard shook his head and offered Tillian a somewhat careful look before adding with caution,

"Do you think this is happening because of Her Highness? It might be her powers that are attracting the magic beasts..."

"Well... It is a possibility."

Duke Valentine fixed his bright red eyes in front of him, his mind swirling with disturbing thoughts,

’Aideen... Indeed, her mana might be the reason here. After all, according to the legends, The North was created by the complex blend of magical powers. Navia cast the spell that created all these monsters because she wanted to protect Utar... Is the spell reacting to her then? Is it getting scared?’

"Where is Her Highness, by the way?" Tillian’s quiet wondering was interrupted by Stanis’s sudden attentive remark, "She is usually waiting for us even though it’s late."

"Indeed..."

The Duke couldn’t deny that he felt disappointed not to see Aideen waiting for their return this time. He was happy to see the woman he adored greet him the moment he stepped back into his castle, but he was also quite worried. He feared that by doing this, his wife was overexerting herself, and that was definitely the last thing he wanted her to do.

"I guess she went to sleep early today. I am glad; she needs to rest more. She spends the entire day studying, practicing magic, and helping me with the paperwork. It must be really draining for her."

"Look at you!" Stanis placed both hands on his lord’s shoulders and gave them a friendly squeeze, followed by an approving smile. "I still cannot believe what I see before me! Just a few years ago, all you were was a daredevil, ready to accept all the challenges of the wild northern life; a man who could only feel alive when he was on the brink of death. But now... You are alive for a whole different reason! And that reason is called love!"

Tillian was embarrassed. However, he didn’t get a chance to either retort or continue Stanis’s wholesome thoughts as the two of them spotted Safie running towards them, her face as red as a beet, her right hand pressed against her chest.

"Your Grace! Oh, goodness, you are back!"

"Safie? What is going on? Why aren’t you asleep?"

Sir Nygard grabbed the maid by the hands, prompting her to stop and preventing her from falling as she caught her breath. Once the woman felt like she could talk again, she took another deep breath to soothe her nerves and finally spoke,

"Your Grace... Where are the dogs?"

"The dogs?" Tillian raised his eyebrows. "Why do you need them?"

"That girl... She came back! And then she disappeared! Martin just went to the cellar for a moment, and poof—she’s gone!"

"Gone? Who? Ugh, come on, Safie, let’s get you inside the study. You are barely breathing."

The Duke pushed the door to his study open and stepped inside. However, the instant his red glance met the familiar golden pair of eyes belonging to the woman sitting behind his desk, he stopped, a deep wrinkle etching between his eyebrows.

"Khala?"

"So many people still remember me! I’m flattered. Nice to see you again, Duke Tillian."