Saved By The Mad Duke
Chapter 166: Your Master Is Not The King

Chapter 166: Your Master Is Not The King

To Aideen, Sarith’s words seemed to bounce off the dining hall’s walls with a resounding echo.

For a moment, she had no idea what happened to her. Then, all types of feelings began to surround her body—a bizarre sense of something heavy pressing on her shoulders as if to push her right beneath the ground she was standing on; invisible, unfathomable tongues of flames sliding over her skin akin to burning snakes; then came a strong feeling of something wet and cold sprinkling from every direction like an autumn drizzle; and then there was nothing.

Dark, overwhelming nothingness Aideen was so familiar with. She was blind again.

’How strange... I know, I still remember what’s around me, but I cannot help feeling that I am surrounded by nothingness as if all of a sudden, I am left completely alone again.’

"Aideen?"

Tillian’s careful voice made the princess feel a little better, and the sound of his approaching steps—the very sound she had etched in her memory before she could see with her mana—was now almost deafening her.

With a lost and scared expression on his pale face, Duke Valentine gently placed his hands on his wife’s shoulders and asked in a quiet voice,

"Aideen? How are you feeling? Is everything alright?"

He knew that the last question was ridiculously foolish, but he couldn’t help it. He had no idea what else he could say, but he had to say something.

The man’s tender touch on her shaking body finally made the princess give in. Releasing a long, somewhat pained sigh, she leaned against her husband’s chest, sinking lower as her knees bent under the pressure.

"Aideen? Aideen?!"

Catching the lady’s lifeless body mid-fall, Tillian took her in his arms and turned back to Sarith, his glaring eyes burning with pure malice.

"What did you do to her? Why is she like this?!"

"No need to be so harsh," the paladin, although smiling somewhat confidently, took a cautious step away from the Duke and explained, "The seal can have this effect on one’s body. You see, Lady Valentine got used to relying on many aspects of her powers, and now that they are gone, she will need a bit of time to readjust to the way she was before. I assure you, Your Grace, her life is not in danger. She simply needs a bit of rest. Give her a few days."

"Your Grace," Ahspid, too, took a step forward, addressing Tillian in a calm voice, "His Reverence is right; you do not have to worry. Please take the princess to your bedroom and stay with her to make sure she falls asleep. I still... need to undergo the same procedure."

Hugging his wife closely to his body, Tillian offered the paladin a cold, stern look, then nodded at the mage and left the dining hall.

Once the doors were closed and the Duke’s footsteps were no longer heard, Ahspid stood before Sarith and said through clenched teeth,

"Go on. It’s my turn now."

***

Tillian gently placed Aideen on top of their bed and carefully covered her with the thick blanket, his large calloused hand sliding over the soft waves of her dark red hair.

The princess was breathing evenly, and although her features were relaxed, the man knew that she was suffering. She was strong even without her magic, and he had to make sure that she knew that.

Leaning closer, the Duke planted a light kiss on her smooth forehead and whispered,

"I cannot even begin to imagine what you must be feeling, Aideen, and I am truly sorry that I can’t. Whether you can use magic or not, I truly don’t care. To me, you are still the same woman—Aideen Valentine—the woman I love, the woman whom I will love no matter what. I will be by your side no matter what. It was a promise I made when we got married, and I will sooner die than break it. I love you, Aideen. To me, you will always be the strongest and most powerful woman in the world because only you could tame my heart. There is no power stronger than this."

With another light kiss, Tillian urged her to get some rest, then got up from the bed, and quietly left the room. The moment the doors behind him closed, Aideen turned around, buried her face into the pillow, and started crying.

***

"Your body’s reaction is impressive. Don’t you feel any signs of fatigue at all?"

Sarith unwrapped his fingers from Ahspid’s wrists and looked him up and down as if expecting the mage to show any signs of discomfort. Lord Adell, however, could only shrug his shoulders.

"I have been suppressing my powers for more than twenty years now; my body is used to it."

"You are making another mistake, Ahspid. Why can’t you let go of the past and do what you have to do—be a mage and use your powers as intended?"

Ahspid measured the paladin with a long stare and then smirked as if mocking his response.

"The Continental law prohibits mages from taking part in wars, so I am useless to Ruans, unless... a certain alchemist was planning to involve me in his sick plans."

He then gave Sarith a rather stern look and added,

"That forest fire was a clever trick... But we all know that fire birds are the product of alchemy, Your Reverence. The King might not care about what happens to those in The North, but there are a lot more people who do. I used to respect you because you always followed the rules, but I guess times have really changed.

The first rule of alchemy is that everything must be equal—equal punishment for equal crime, too. Prince Valon... will never become a king, nor will he ever become a real mage; his childish play with alchemy tricks will end eventually because what he desires cannot be achieved.

You, however, still have the power to stop him before his final fit of madness destroys everything your precious Holy Church is trying to protect. After all," Ahspid took a step closer to Sarith, their bodies parallel to each other, and said, "The holy power is given to you by God himself. Your master is not the king, but your God, Your Reverence. I want you to remember this."