Chapter 10: Second Episode: Chapter 1 (2/2)

Oscar thought about his father, the dignified Duke. He indeed wanted to know just how much of those viewpoints regarded from his father, were correct. The youngster extended his neck.

Now, Sasha was not that little devil who was an annoying troublemaker anymore. Her voice was clear-cut and powerful, exactly like the famous politicians.

”Father’s methods were actually a last resort. During the early days when you were caught, father pondered repeatedly. At that time, he felt that carrying out a rescue for you would result in more loss than a gain.”

When Oscar heard this, he could not help but let out a cold snort. Suddenly, the living room’s temperature dropped.

Sasha was sensitive enough to feel a change in her brother. She was astonished at his loftiness. It was something she had never seen or experienced before. She only felt as though the sudden cold stream nearly left her frozen.

”Brother! Please do not get angry? I know saying this would make you very angrier, but please don’t blame father. You don’t believe that he loves you dearly which I’ve always known. But you should know that father has no ill intentions towards you. He has never hurt you. Don’t tell me you have not noticed this before?”

Oscar knew that everything Sasha said was true. Nevertheless, he still cared about his father after all. He just couldn’t bare tolerating his father’s use tactics by comparing it with his ten years of imprisonment.

Sasha knew that she should continue talking. She hoped her brother could understand his father’s deep love for him. She herself, to a certain degree, had detested her foster father when he handed over her most beloved brother to the Ministry of Justice. She even forced herself to not speak even a single word to him. However, when she understood clearly about some of the principles it involved, she was unable to not believe this Duke. He always treated Oscar and his mother entirely with love, but what is right or wrong cannot be commented.

The Duke had never owed the Princess. The one who truly owed the princess was His Majesty the Emperor. He did not care about his younger sister’s wish and forcefully broke up the lovers who made an oath of undying love - no one who could retort the supreme. In the King’s house, all female members were born as a sacrificial victim for political marriages. The lucky ones would work hard to make themselves love their husbands, and the tragic ones were like Oscar’s mother, who until death, still held onto the disillusionment of romance that shattered her spirit.

The Duke loved this beautiful princess that was 10 years younger than him. If he didn’t, the Duke would not have agreed to this marriage. As compared to the Emperor’s power and influence, the Duke back then was just as imposing. The Duke still remembered the first time he met Mica Alfa Morisette, he was not aware that this beautiful girl passing through the garden court, was the Titan Emperor’s younger Imperial sister. He went to the Emperor to ask about the girl’s origin, and that already crossed the line.

The Emperor did not reply him. The moment he saw the Duke’s eyes filled with light, that was enough for him to determined everything. Perhaps the surprise of the engagement would trigger the Duke’s appreciation for him even more.

After consulting the opinion of many elders of the Imperial family, the Emperor announced his decision. The Duke’s response was as he expected. Although the Duke had found out about the girl’s identity through other channels, this did not affect his good impression of His Majesty the Emperor.

The Duke was evidently dazzled by surprise. He simply did not consider whether Her Royal Highness the Princess would already have given her heart to another person. The Duke was at his prime time of life. Even though he already had three wives, the position to be his main wife was still vacant. The Duke felt that Her Royal Highness the Princess was undoubtedly the most suitable choice for this role.

Although the Duke knew that the marriage was a part of politics, he did not put too much thought into it at all. The Andrew’s family had married numerous Princesses from the Morisette dynasty and anyone would know that that did not change a thing. So, the Duke married the Princess almost hastily and brought her back to his beautiful hometown. Until the both of them had finally had the opportunity to spend some time alone as a couple, only did he realize that he himself had plunged headfirst into an iceberg.

When the Duke realized that the Princess did not feel any love for him at all, he started to reflect. At this time, he also came to understand that the Princess had a lover before this - the holy knight who had long since been sent away by the Emperor to the Empire’s northern region.

Dortmund Andrew Nedgabel was always not a person who gave up easily. So with great confidence, he pursued the Princess. The weird thing was that the Princess was already his wife, but the Duke did not quickly assume his right of being a husband. He hoped that his love would, in the end, get the Princess’s love in return.

Mica Alfa Morisette was not a qualified Princess because she did not know her role in the dynasty and the Imperial household. However, she received multitudinous adoration throughout her life. She never thought that she would become an instrument of marriage. What ridiculous innocence! She innocently assumed the reason her brother, the Emperor broke her up from her lover was because the handsome holy knight was a famous senior colonel; yet here, her husband was only a marshal.

The Princess was lamentable. Ultimately, her pure loyalty towards love has ruined her whole life. But, she wasn’t wrong - was being utterly loyal to love considered a mistake? The Duke was not wrong, too. Was loving a person head over heels also considered something wrong? The Princess knew that her husband’s adoration for her beats all his other wives; he was a good person, a good man. However, these did not make her fall in love with him. The princess’s heart, aside from that lover far away at the frontier, could not accommodate for anyone else anymore.

The Imperial household’s messenger caused the Princess to fall into despair. They urgently needed her to give birth to a boy for the Andrew family. Although the Princess was playful, she was slightly more cowardly instead. After the fifth letter came from her family, she finally went to bed with the Duke.

The Duke had a rough idea of the contents of these letters. He felt that this was a very good opportunity. Once the action of physical body was involved, then this relationship may well develop into true love.

However, the situation did not go as the Duke thought it would. After the Princess confirmed that she was pregnant, she refused his ”invitation”. Mica was deeply ashamed by her actions. She became pregnant with a child for a man that she did not love. However, when she almost died while giving birth, she was deeply moved by the child instead. He was innocent, he was without guilt, and most importantly, she gave him life. She named him, she nursed him, and for him, she persevered through her life that was already falling apart.

Since Oscar became sensible, he knew his mother was different than the other mothers. His mother was more beautiful compared to the rest; his mother was frailer compared to the rest; his mother loved her own child more than any other mothers. Oscar passionately hoped that he could become one of the clan’s brave warriors. That way, he could protect his mother.

The youngster hated and opposed anything that could threaten his mother. Among that, it naturally included his father. When his mother passed away, he did not allow his father to enter the room at all. He knew that every time this chap arrived, his mother felt depressed for quite awhile. The five-year-old youngster did not know the true meaning of death as he slept in the same bed with his mother’s corpse until she was buried.

The Duke was at his wit's end dealing with the Emperor’s wrath and even more so, he did not know how to refute. The Duke felt that it was his own wishful thinking that killed the Princess, who obviously did not know the ways of the world. Hence he chose to evade it. He managed to control the Emperor’s damage to a minimal extent. Until Oscar, who had gone to the faraway Imperial capital to relax, committed the so-called ”First Titan Court Case”.

The Duke hurried to the Imperial capital. He felt that the matter could either be big or small, but when he saw the Emperor making threatening gestures, he then understood that this matter was absolutely beyond salvaging. He hinted to the Emperor many times about this child’s past history, but the Emperor was so upset by his younger sister’s early passing that he had forgotten himself. His Majesty’s Cabinet Ministers became a stymie to him. The Duke’s request for help in Dulin practically hit all four walls. He had considered using the army to forcefully lead the child out of Dulin. In turn, that would be labeled as a serious crime of betraying and fleeing. That was something that himself and the family could not accept. He knew the Emperor may not do anything, but once the rip was torn to an unmendable degree, Andrew would be in deep trouble with enemies everywhere and no way out.

The Duke sacrificed this child. He had no choice but to let the child bear the guilt. At the Princess’ grave, he cried in sorrow until he lost his voice. He paid a bitter price for the mistake of his own wishful thinking. His son locked up in Damorga; a world without justice.

The Duke was extremely worried and troubled by his son’s safety. For the first time in his life, he carried out a bribe. His target was Damorga prison’s warden. He listened to the warden’s suggestion to have his son was locked up in the scariest water dungeon along with the West land’s King of Murderers, who was secretly imprisoned there. No one could survive in the hands of a murderer under the King of Murderers and likewise, no one could murder anyone before the King of Murderers. ”Hopefully little Oscar would not get knocked down by the horrifying water dungeon. This is for his own good after all!” After drying his tears, the Duke could only pray in silent.

The Ministry of Justice’s power was overwhelming in the Damorga prison. The Duke would not allow his son to be imprisoned in a gloomy and damp place that could never see the light of day, for many years. It was absolutely not a living environment that a child could adapt to. Once Oscar appeared publicly in prison, danger also followed. The hostility of the Secretary of State towards him could completely devour him as a whole. The Duke required powerful help. The only ones who could contend against the Ministry of Justice in Damorga prison, even though barely, were the big shots.

The Duke started to have secret contact with the influences these bigshots represented. He even went against his own conscience and did a lot of immoral things; but all of it was for his son, for the flesh and blood the Princess exchanged by sacrificing her health. The Duke showed no hesitation before the criminals. The Andrew family’s influences always provided the criminals with facilities and the big shots in prison would take up the responsibility of protecting and nurturing little Oscar. Yet, the Duke knew that he could not take care of everything. If the child wanted to survive, he still had to depend on his own strength.

The Duke knew that his son’s eyes were almost blinded. He also knew that a killer almost beheaded him. He even knew that a knight had dueled with him. Every time little Oscar was soaked in blood, the Duke’s heart would flutter.

When he found out that his son had attained the crown of the Underworld, he was so overjoyed that he screamed and leaped in his study room. His son was grown up, strong and formidable! As a father, the Duke could finally smile with joy many years after that day.

Oscar was glad that the Poison doctor had damaged his lacrimal glad. He had never wept in front of his sister. Thank goodness! If that little rascal saw his tearful look, she would definitely shout it to the world for all to know.

Now, Oscar understood everything. He did not know that he and his mother brought that much pain to his father. He only knew what Sasha said was the truth and what his father said were more than the truth. The reason his father used Sasha as a messenger was because he hoped Oscar would accept the truth without being pressured. Among the entire family, the youngster was most relaxed around Sasha.

The youngster had accepted it. He was strong, precocious, stubborn, but he understood reason even more. In the end, his father would still his father. If he became a father, he probably wouldn’t have done any better than the Duke. The youngster ceased his tearless weeping; all his emotions turned into pride. He was the fourth son of Dortmund Andrew Nedgabel and his arrogance was brought up by his father’s countless effort.

Sasha observed her brother carefully. She wasn’t sure just how much he had listened to.

Oscar gave his sister a very gentle smile. And yes, after experiencing the initial surge, his heart resumed its serenity. Since he was his father’s most beloved son, then everything was just a matter of fact.

”Sasha, don’t look at me in such a strange way. I am fine!” Oscar appeased his sister. ”You haven’t told me father’s opinions about my future!”

”Father only said this to me- do whatever you want to do. If you stir up any trouble, worse come to worse, you could run back home. No horse could beat Lancelot’s leg power. Besides, everyone at home misses you!”

”Hahahahahaha! Ola! I understand. Father still has some sense of humor. It seems like this old man is not beyond saving, after all.” Although Oscar had already developed an unprecedented respect and love for his father, he did not mind joking about the ”old man”.

”Ola!” Sasha copied her brother’s catchphrase. ”Brother, did you know? The old man is so very shrewd! He accurately predicted the things that happened in the Imperial palace today. He even managed to guess the words that you said. Father told me that your wisdom would allow you to get through difficult times safe and soundly because he believes that you’ve noticed how strongly Alfa III cares about friendships. So I am not at all worried that you’re moving to Feston Palace today. But ‘old man’, ha! It really suits him! Let’s just say that the old man never thought the Emperor would crown you as the Prince of the Polar Bears! Haha! Brother! Do you like the title? But it seems that you should have an in-depth discussion with father about this matter.”

Oscar would never doubt his sister’s wisdom again. She understood her father’s painstaking effort for him. She could stand with her family and yet understand the Emperor’s plot from another point of view beyond the family’s. It proved that Sasha’s mind was on par with his. In the time to come, this girl could be molded to into an outstanding strategist.

Oscar was confident about that.

Sasha was a little sleepy. After she got up from the polar bear sofa, she took a liking to the huge bed in her brother’s room. She pulled her brother and fell back onto the bed. Though Oscar felt that it was somewhat inappropriate, he immediately convinced himself; Sasha and he have never slept separately before when they were young.

It seemed that Sasha prepared well for the night as she took out a fairy tale book from the bed’s cabinet drawer. Young her would always listen to a segment of a story before bed, and naturally, the person who coaxed her to sleep was her brother, Oscar. After Oscar was arrested, she gave up the habit of listening to a story before bed, but she did not forget about it. Instead, Sasha waited painfully for ten years to listen to the next part of the story.

When Oscar saw this fairytale book, all sorts of emotions ran through him. The book’s pages were slightly yellowish, explainable by the passing of time, but the youngster dared not forget the special bond it contained.

He steadily took up the book and gave a hand in helping his sister find a comfortable lying position.

While Oscar held the book up, his past habits immediately recovered - he licked his finger with his tongue, and then skillfully found the bookmark. The bookmark was at its original page ten years ago, before he was arrested.

For the first time, her brother’s gaze moved Sasha and she was mesmerized. She quickly closed her eyes as she heard the sound of a little polar bear trying to express itself.

”Ola! My beloved Sasha! Let’s move on from the previous story. After the main protagonist – Snow White was kidnapped by the seven evil dwarf bandits, her lover, the handsome prince set out on a brave journey to rescue the princess ...”

Oscar presented all his storytelling skills and Sasha even shed a tear when the story started. Sasha knew that this was not a dream. Her tears were bitter and salty. She saw her brother, radiant with delight through her misty eyes. Her brother was holding the book just like before.

Oscar looked at the dried up tears on Sasha’s asleep who was sound asleep and was somewhat baffled. His heart hurt so bad that it felt numb! Over the past ten years, he did not live as happily as Annie described. Annie was fooling herself. But the truth was that he willingly let Annie fool him. If he knew that Sasha was suffering so bad, then he would definitely have broken down the walls of Damorga, and killed everyone who got in his way, to be back by Sasha’s side.

The boy embraced the girl, just like in the girl’s countless dreams.

Smelling the perfume scent that resembled narcissus, little Oscar could not fall asleep. He carefully thought back to the case that got him imprisoned, ten years ago. Although they were apart for ten years, he never regretted that craziness he felt for the girl at that time.