Saved By The Mad Duke
Chapter 195: Leif Imrie

Chapter 195: Leif Imrie

Hearing the word "Utar" coming from the mouth of the guardian knight made all three of them freeze momentarily. There had been no prior announcement of their arrival, thus, this unexpected visit definitely caught everybody off-guard.

Tillian, letting go of some of the tension in his body, narrowed his eyes and scratched his chin, his mind drowning in speculations, ’So I was right. King Zelon has sensed her awakening right away. Sending an official delegation from Utar would have prompted a suspicious reaction from King Euris, so the old man sent someone in secret.’

He moved his dark red gaze to Aideen, whose bright dragon eyes were firmly fixed on the black ornaments of the wooden floor of her husband’s study. She struggled to remain calm and collected but the occasional trembling of her pink lips betrayed her real state.

She was nervous.

Stanis quickly understood the shift in the mood inside the room and decided to take action first. Approaching the guardian knight, he ordered,

"Go and help the guests with the horses and luggage. I will join you and greet them first." Turning around to the duke, he added, "I will escort them to the reading room and ask Safie to prepare some tea. Join us when you’re ready."

With a brief nod, both Stanis and the guardian knight left the room, the heavy silence engulfing it from inside once again.

Tillian slowly came to his wife and took her hand in his, his gaze softening as he met the princess’ glistening eyes, "Aideen, I don’t know whom King Zelon sent to see us. However, if you do not wish to meet anyone, I will understand and make sure that our guests accept your decision as well."

Aideen hesitated.

There was no telling whether it was someone from the royal family or simply one of the king’s assistants who came to their castle to seek Tillian’s audience. She didn’t know whether she wanted to find out which one it was. But at the same time, she did.

Facing someone from her mother’s homeland for the first time... Or perhaps even meeting a member of her ’real’ family... Why was she so reluctant to do that?

Still, if she wanted to be the wife of a king, Aideen had no choice but to be brave when facing even those whose existence she desired to bury and forget. She had to be brave.

Composing her beating heart, the princess finally collected her emotions and declared loud and clear, "No. I will meet them. I will meet whoever they may be."

Tillian interlaced his fingers with his wife’s, gently tightening his grasp of her small hand, and nodded, "I’ll be there with you. Always."

Standing in front of the entrance to the reading room, the duke let Aideen have another moment of hesitation. He understood that it wasn’t an easy step to take and was willing to wait as long as needed, even if it was rude to make their guests wait.

With a deep breath to fill her tensed lungs, the princess finally touched the round handle of the door and pushed it open.

The moment the two of them entered the room, they were greeted by a dozen foreign knights dressed in dark green uniforms. The men stood like a living wall, protecting the one who was seated behind the round table with a porcelain cup of tea in his big hands.

As the knights stepped aside akin to curtains on a theatre stage, the mysterious guest rose to his feet, his entire body freezing as he finally saw Aideen.

The man was not the only one who felt overwhelmed enough to halt in their tracks. The princess, too, froze on the spot immediately, her heartbeat quickening once again.

The mystery man looked exactly like her. Long, wavy, dark red hair. Same porcelain skin. Sharp but at the same time beautiful features. And the eyes. Deep green, with a light flicker of serpent yellow.

Just like Aideen, the man in front of her was of a dragon descent.

But it was not only his appearance that evoked such a reaction in her.

The very second she laid her eyes on him, the princess felt strange and uneasy. Her entire being seemed to respond to the stranger’s mere presence and even unwillingly accept it. It was something deep and intimate. Something beyond her control.

It made her anxious. She experienced the same level of connection when she met Utar and Taru; it was as if this man and she were the same. As if they were one.

The guest observed Aideen’s silent reaction, giving it some time to develop and subside, before finally taking the first step towards her. He approached her slowly, each step seemed to be suspended in time, but before he could get closer to her, the man suddenly stopped––the woman’s unexpectedly scared expression made him nervous too.

He did not mean to make her fear him.

The stranger became hesitant too. he parted his lips several times, prepared to speak, but each time the words refused to leave his mouth.

At last, when the tension between them became tangible and too difficult to ignore, the man swallowed the invisible shard of glass lodged inside his throat, offered Aideen a soft smile, and said,

"Hello, Aideen... You look just like your mother."

His words made the princess wince and take a tiny step back. She felt her chest compressed from within and yet, she mustered all her courage to ask, "How do you know my mother? Who are you?"

To him, Aideen’s question was an invitation to get closer to her. The man steadied his nerves, took a few careful steps towards the princess, and offered her the answers she sought,

"Your late mother, Yuliana Imrie, was my little sister. My name is Leif Imrie. I am the only prince of the Kingdom of Utar. And I am... your uncle. It is an honor to finally meet you, Aideen."