Chaptere 632
The White Palace of Arnaria, once a quiet sanctuary, had grown even more silent. Yet, there was nothing eerie about this silence. While silence often stirred a sense of unease, the quiet that blanketed Arnaria was more like a gentle tranquility.
Yet, as the grand duke had once remarked, it was a lonely place, and that loneliness remained unchanged.
The grand duke ascended the stairs, and soon reached a vantage point from which Arnaria could be seen in its entirety.
He said nothing. He simply walked a little ahead of me while I followed him quietly, curious about what he might say.
There was an unspoken tension that made it awkward for me to start a conversation; it felt as though the grand duke should be the one to break the silence.
In a way, it felt like I was being punished. No matter how I looked at it, I had to tread carefully.
Despite having no right to speak, I had come to ask the grand duke to take my side. My audacity truly knew no bounds. Wasn’t it right to expect the grand duke to consider beheading me?
After all, the grand duke had suffered immense personal loss because of my existence. His reputation had plummeted after his daughter had disappeared with the Demon King. The people of his duchy were reviled, and he was treated coldly by the Allied Forces. The honor of the Saint-Ouen family, painstakingly built over generations by following the righteous path, had been shattered in an instant.
What was honor? To most, it might mean little, but to someone like the grand duke of Saint-Ouen, it had to mean everything.
All of that had vanished because of me.
The grand duke remained silent for a long time, and I could not help these thoughts from consuming me as I gazed at the palace.
I wondered if everyone was doing well.