Saved By The Mad Duke
Chapter 188: New Discoveries

Chapter 188: New Discoveries

The empty palace hall echoed with a distant drumming of heavy but confident footsteps, their rhythm resembling a well-trained marching knight.

A tall man in his early forties was making his way through the long and well-lit hallway, his long, curly, dark-red hair swayed from side to side as he moved, reflecting the burning glow of the setting sun. His perfectly tailored green royal uniform outlined his tall frame and broad shoulders making his marching silhouette look as formidable as that of a titan.

Though already of respectable age, the man’s features seemed to have successfully avoided the relentless effects of time. His jaw was strong and sharp, with light stubble covering its skin as a sign of a neglected morning routine. His eyes were set deep below his eyebrows, yet the thick outline of dark red lashes along with the bright green glimmer mixed with the subtle yellow hue of their irises still contrasted well against the light complexion of his smooth and soft skin.

The handsomeness of his features and the healthy air around his stature could deceive one of his true age very well.

As the man advanced through the empty hall, his eyes narrowed and the urgency of his footsteps increased. The uneasiness about him was almost visible and it continued to intensify while he got closer to his destination –– his father’s study.

The man was Leif Imrie, Yuliana Imrie’s older brother and the only prince of the Kingdom of Utar.

With no hesitation in his actions, Leif pushed open the wide doors of the king’s study, omitting the courtesy of knocking, and exclaimed,

"Your Majesty!"

King Zelon shifted his bright green eyes to his son and furrowed his thick gray eyebrows, clearly offended by the man’s rude appearance.

Zelon Imrie, the King of Utar, was a man of a tall and well-developed build –– a quality inherent to many Utarian men as they were proud descendants of the snow dragons.

While already reaching his seventies, his sharp features and healthy complexion protected him from being perceived as old, and although he had already lost the distinguished color in his wavy hair, the manner in which he continued to hold himself was still indicative of his being the most powerful and influential person in entire Utar.

As the deep wrinkles settled on his forehead, Zelon set aside the long black quill he was holding before his son barged into his study, and said rather coldly,

"At this age, you ought to know not to barge into the king’s study, Your Highness. This kind of behavior is what always gets you in trouble, I presume."

Ignoring his father’s reprimanding tone, Leif marched up to his desk and placed his big hands on top of it with a loud thud, his voice sounding urgent as he replied,

"This is not the time for your teachings, Your Majesty! Did you feel it? I cannot be mistaken! I felt it with my whole being, I am certain of it!"

The king released a short sigh and nodded,

"The power was too potent to pass unnoticed. She must have done it. Aideen... must have finally awakened her true self."

The prince straightened his posture once again and asked, now in a calmer tone,

"Then how can you remain so calm? It changes everything! We must return her immediately! She is to become the next Queen of Utar and return what’s ours!"

Zelon leaned back in his chair and paused to mull everything over. He knew it was bound to happen, after all, this was the sole reason why he allowed Duke Valentine to take Aideen to the North in the first place. He also knew that the marriage between Tillian and his granddaughter turned out to be one of love or at least that was what he had gathered from Leif’s continuous correspondence with the duke.

Thus, with Aideen’s newly awakened powers and his ongoing agreement with Tillian Valentine, the situation had turned into a rather complicated one.

’If she indeed loves him and he loves her, Aideen might not want to come back to Utar for the sake of becoming the queen... On the other hand,’ he thought, "her deep connection with her people, guided by the dragon’s power, might actually prove to be more potent than any other feelings she might have, therefore, if we try hard enough, we might succeed in convincing her to come back. Once reunited with her family and standing securely on her land, as a ruler, she can issue an order to attack Geraldion in order to reclaim the North as a part of Utar and bring us the glory our kingdom was meant to have.’

Returning from his deep contemplating state, Zelon finally looked back at his son, and declared,

"You will have to go now, Your Highness. Your talent for persuasion will finally come to use. Help your niece understand and accept her identity and convince Aideen to come back home."

***

Aideen fell to her knees while the dragon’s power, entering her body, continued to settle in. As the power reached its pinnacle, the woman felt extremely overwhelmed; she felt as if her body was being filled with a force so prominent that even a simple act of breathing brought her fright for she was scared that even the air filling her lungs would cause her body to finally explode.

’I feel exhausted... I feel like giving up and letting go of life itself. What do I do? I do not think I can hold on any longer...’

She didn’t have to fight the growing sense of fatigue longer; in an instant, everything inside her body seemed to have blended, and as her body finally consumed the last beacons of her new powers, Aideen felt a brief sense of relief before losing herself to the unfathomable force of exhaustion.

There was no telling how much time had passed.

The princess knew she was sleeping and seeing strange dreams but for some unknown reason, she could not wake up and bring herself back to reality.

At last, through yet another thick layer of comforting slumber, the woman began to slowly move only to realize that there was something as heavy as a young dog pressing on her chest and neck, making it somewhat difficult to breathe.

She made an enormous effort to open her eyes and the second she could, her entire body froze.

"What... It cannot be..."

Indeed, she could not believe her eyes, and that was the perfect way of describing it.

She was able to see.

It was not the vision she acquired with mana –– a light blue outline of objects and their shapes. No, it was what she always imagined other people could see. She saw lines, shapes, volumes, colors, shades, hues... Finally, she could see everything.

"Goodness!"

Startled by this unbelievable discovery, Aideen jumped right up but couldn’t continue admiring her newly acquired ability just yet as her attention was attracted by a loud thud followed by a strange noise that resembled both the meowing of a cat and the whining of a little child.

Slowly, she moved her eyes down to the source of the disturbance and opened her mouth in utter shock.