Saved By The Mad Duke
Chapter 194: People From Utar

Chapter 194: People From Utar

The giant white snowflakes settled heavily on the window panes of the castle; their intricate patterns shimmering under the lazy attempts of the winter sun to peek through the gray canvas of the thick clouds.

The orange flames inside the reading room’s fireplace danced to the tune of their own crackling sound, from time to time reacting to the noise made by the little blue creature sitting on the plush white carpet before it.

Taru, his big curious eyes widening with new emotions, was playing with a big ball of blue yarn and kept releasing cute astonished noises every time the yarn rolled to the side, responding to his playful touch.

"Waa!" The little dragon exclaimed once again as the ball of yarn jumped in his tiny hands and fell back onto the carpet.

Safie, who had been watching Taru all this time with her eyes firmly fixed on his every movement, furrowed her eyebrows but remained silent. She still couldn’t get used to the appearance of this new creature and was reluctant to believe that it was safe for them to be close to it.

Ahspid, who had been watching Safie instead, smirked and returned to reading his book. Finally, the maid turned to the mage and asked in a careful voice, "Is he really a snow dragon?"

Without moving his eyes away from the old pages of the book, Ahspid confirmed her assumption with a nod. Safie, clearly unsatisfied with such an indifferent response, turned her face back to Taru and tilted he head to the side, resuming her careful watch over the creature.

After a few long moments of silence, she said again, "He looks so small... Will he grow bigger?"

Ahspid, desperately trying to conceal his irritation, closed the book rather loudly and offered the maid a fake smile, "Of course he will. He is a dragon, after all. All dragons are big. Don’t you know that?"

"Tsk," Safie clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes at the mage’s arrogance. She then mimicked the exact smile he had on his pale face and added, "How am I supposed to know? I’ve never seen one before!"

She looked back at the baby dragon once again, "How big are the snow dragons? Bigger than mountains?"

The young woman tried to imagine Taru bigger in size but her imagination was not as powerful. Ahspid, too, assessed the baby dragon’s current size, then took a few moments to recall the size of the founding dragon he saw inside the mountain cave, and finally replied, "As bigger as mountains?.. Well, almost as big."

The maid widened her eyes in total shock, "Almost as big?! Then where will he live when he grows up?!"

The mage shifted his silver eyes to the thin window frame and tried to focus his vision. The window glass was covered with a thick film of patterns left by the morning frost, obstructing the view outside the castle.

’Where would such a creature live indeed?’ The mage pondered inwardly. Noticing Safie’s curious gaze, he stretched his lips into a somewhat sad smile and said, "Here, of course. After all, this is his home more than it is ours."

***

Tillian tapped his long slender fingers over the wooden surface of his desk, breaking the rather tense silence that lingered in his study. The noise he created attracted the attention of the princess and his aide.

It had been three days after Aideen returned to the castle together with Ahspid and Taru and once she had enough rest, she told her husband everything that happened to her when she left Bella’s room half-hypnotized and followed Utar’s voice all the way to the Dragon Mountain.

Although the duke expected this to happen sooner or later and was undoubtedly happy that Aideen was safe, healthy, and full of the magic power that had even granted her the ability to see, such a sudden and drastic change left him utterly unnerved.

Leaning back in his chair, he moved his red eyes to the woman and asked rather seriously,

"Did Utar tell you what to do next? Now that your powers are awakened, not only the Holy Church, but the rest of the world will find out about who you truly are. This can get dangerous."

Aideen’s face stiffened and he offered him an answer that was just as serious, "For now, I am able to conceal my powers from others using Navia’s protective seal. The problem, however, is Taru––once he grows up and develops his abilities, there will be no way of keeping him hidden."

"Do you know how to take care of him?" Tillian continued with yet another weighty question to which his wife replied with a confident nod, "I have to constantly feed him my power and guide him through the learning process. Ahspid said he would help me too."

Duke Valentine looked at Stanis, who had been silent all this time, and thought to himself, ’Even if Aideen can conceal her powers, her grandfather must have still sensed her awakening. I doubt the old man will keep his promise and stay away from her now.’

The princess noticed the quiet concern distorting her husband’s face and added somewhat awkwardly, "Tillian... I think it’s time we started getting ready."

"Getting ready?" Her question made Duke’s entire body flinch, "What do you mean?"

"Your revenge. Once Taru reaches his full potential, you won’t even need King Yuraon’s help to get your throne back."

Tillian remained silent. He had been postponing the proper preparations for the rebellion because he couldn’t guarantee Aideen’s safety but now, the princess was right––she could defend herself in case of danger and even provide him with help if needed.

Both Duke Valentine and Sir Nygard exchanged cold glances. The knight was ready to share his opinion on the matter when all three of them heard a knocking on the study’s door.

"Come in."

Following Tillian’s command, one of the guarding knights walked through the door and announced somewhat nervously,

"Pardon my intrusion, Your Grace, but there are people outside asking for your audience. They say they are from Utar."