I Will Disappear, Grand Duke

“She  must have been a woman with a strong commitment to life, didn’t she?”

 To the passing question, Fernan did not answer easily and lowered his eyes.

 Because it was Julia, who once threw her life away, he couldn't tell if she had a strong obsession with life.

 As his countenance darkened, Kalosa moved a little closer to the bed.

 As Kalosa slowly reached out his hand, the mysterious power of color that flowed from his palm began to wrap around Julia's body.

 “First, let’s start with the anesthesia ritual.  If she drinks holy water and wakes up immediately, she may feel pain.”

 At those words, Fernan, who raised his head just then, asked with a serious voice.

 “Is it severe pain?”

 "Well," said Kalosa, shrugging his shoulders.

 “A long time ago, a man who had the same symptoms as her, and as soon as he woke up, he struggled with excruciating pain.  So it won't be an easy pain to bear."

 “…”

Kalosa, who was glancing at Fernan who was clenching his fist, calmly continued.

  “So, if she’s under anesthesia, at least she won't feel any pain while she’s asleep, so don't worry too much."

 Kalosa slowly rolled up his sleeve.

 Soon after, the servant brought a small, neatly forged dagger.

 Before Fernan arrived, Kalosa had already told the servant to bring the knife in advance.

 Fernan watched as Kalosa cut his wrist.

 The blood from him dripped into the cup underneath.

 At the same time, the fallen drops of blood did not spread to the floor but hardened like beads.

 Blood with enormous power could not survive in a liquid state when it came out of the body.  So it hardened like a jewel.

 It was a rare and bizarre sight, but no one in the room uttered anything like admiration.

 Soon, the sparkling red holy water filled the cup halfway.

 “If you feed her one by one, the stopped breathing will come back.”

 Kalosa gave the holy water to Fernan.  As soon as he took the cup, Kalosa used his power to heal his wounded wrist at once.

 Fernan approached and sat on the edge of the bed, stretched out his arms and hugged Julia's shoulders, her light long hair scattered beneath her.

 He slightly opened Julia's lower lip and let her holy water flow through one by one.

 The holy water began to spread through her body through her motionless throat.

 Soon, the light surrounding her body gradually grew darker.

 “I gave a strong anesthetic power, so she won’t be able to wake up for about two weeks.”

 While Fernan lay her body back down, Kalosa calmly spoke.

He added that the pain Julia would feel when she woke up would be less if she slept well, at least for that period of time.

 Fernan, who nodded without answering, lowered his hand to measure Julia’s breathing.  It was faint, but he could clearly feel the breath flowing out little by little.

 "Be prepared. When she wakes up, she may not remember you."

 Kalosa sat on the chair and watched her changing condition.  As the holy water slowly permeated, Julia’s complexion was gradually returning.

 After waking up, it was unknown how far and how much she would remember.

 She may lose all memories, or she may lose only fragments.  Either way, it will be difficult to endure from the husband's point of view.

 Fernan quietly opened his mouth without taking his gaze away from Julia.

 “As promised, soon I will relocate the villagers to my estate.”

 For giving out his holy water, Kalosa demanded that Fernan take responsibility for the villagers of the village Kalosa stayed in.

 As much as he cared for them for decades, they were precious to Kalosa.

 Because he stayed in one village for a longer time than planned, someone like Fernan came to find out his whereabouts.

 So, Kalosa was planning to move his residence to a new continent this time.

"I will only stay here until your wife wakes up."

He was going to watch Julia’s condition to the end just in case unexpected complications happened.

Since it had been a very long time since he treated someone with holy water, it would only be right to leave after she fully awake.

 In the meantime, Fernan constantly looked at and felt her breathing.

 As her breath was felt on his fingers, the tension that had stiffened his body gradually disappeared.

 “Then I’ll take a look around the castle for a moment.”

 Perhaps he thought he should leave Fernan alone with his wife, Kalosa slowly rose from his chair.

Kalosa slowly left the bedroom with his hands on his back.

 In the quiet room, Fernan stayed by Julia’s side without leaving even for a moment.

 ***

 A week passed like that.

 Kalosa, who had been observing Julia's condition even up to that point, muttered softly as if satisfied with her condition, which was improving day by day.

 “Hmm, now her blood flow is back to normal.”

 Her recovery was faster than expected.

 The holy water had completely permeated her body, quickly waking up her frozen functions.

 The heartbeat, lung function, and blood flow were now fully functional.

 All that was left was to wait. Wake up from anesthesia and open her eyes.

 "Maybe her brain won't be much damaged, given that she's recovering so quickly."

 Perhaps there would be no accident in which she lost her memories altogether. 

Kalosa sat on the chair and looked out the window. It was an early autumn morning.

 The castle here was quiet.  At first glance, everything seemed peaceful.

 At least, that was the nature of Julia lying down.

 However, on the other hand, the close movements of the emperor behind this incident were being made.

 “Your Highness, I have imprisoned all of the Emperor’s shadow knights.”

 Only after hearing that Julia's condition was stabilizing did Fernan move his feet.

 Currently, he was holding the emperor's three shadow knights hostage.  They were the ones who tried to assassinate him in Carnosia.

 Existing only for the emperor, they had no identity.  Naturally, there was no evidence of their background.

 However, Fernan had long been learning how to obtain their information.

 A very small but clearly engraved hawk pattern behind the left ear.

 It was a clear sign that they were the only knights of the emperor.

 In order to confirm the pattern, the area had to be burned with blazing fire.

 When the red, ripe burn turned to a white scar, the hidden mark gradually appeared.

 “It is as you said.  Behind their ears was the mark of the hawk.”

 While Fernan was moving to the basement without hesitation, the knight followed.

 In fact, the information about the mark was kept secret only to the emperor and his heirs.  Fernan learned about it from his deceased father.

 At that time, it was because the person who was appointed as the Crown Prince was not the current emperor, but Fernan’s father, who was the eldest son of the king. (The current emperor is Fernan’s uncle)

 A long time ago, before the Crown Prince's coronation ceremony, his father had given his young son (Fernan) information about the Shadow Knight.

 It was a word Fernan engraved as if passing by when he was very young.

 However, Fernan still clearly remembered his father's words, even after twenty years had passed.  And he had no idea that the information would be used like this.

 The place where Fernan stopped at was the dungeon.  The emperor's knights, bound in chains, could be seen through the iron bars.

 The fact that the Emperor's Shadow Knights tried to assassinate the Grand Duke made it possible to speculate that the Emperor was behind them.

 However, it was difficult to definitively overthrow the emperor with that fact alone.

 There had to be a more decisive cause.  A cause from which the Emperor could never escape.

 While Fernan was staring through the iron bars with a ferocious, subdued gaze, a knight approached.

 “Your Highness, I have learned about what you ordered earlier.”

 As he turned his head to look at the knight, the report followed.

 “It seems that the first person to tell the emperor about the Temple of llion was the Elody family.”

 Fernan's eyes narrowed.  If it was a member of the Elody family, it would be the wife of the Marquis or the son who would soon inherit the title.

 “Also they don’t seem to know that the Grand Duchess is at the center of this event.”

 At the words of the knight that followed, Fernan was immersed in thought with his still eyes.

 Before the emperor's knights could break the barrier on the tower, they were all slaughtered.

 Maybe that was why they didn't know that the woman hiding inside was Julia.

 Had they known that it was Julia, the Elody family would not have stayed this still.

They would insist on putting Julia back to her original position. Fernan turned and walked out of the dungeon.  As he climbed the stairs, the dark sky gradually became brighter.

 On the way back to the castle, a servant who was running looking for Fernan shouted.

“Your Highness!”

 While Fernan raised his eyes and looked at the servant running, the news he had been waiting for the whole time came.

 “The Grand Duchess just opened her eyes a little while ago!”