Chapter 119: Chapter 118

If Mrs. Chester was a scorpion-tailed snake, Hubble was a lion with a bear’s claws.

No matter how sharp the sword was, it was less lethal than a plain wood sword if one’s goal and path were uncertain.

Her explicit and urgent attack could not penetrate his thick skin.

Besides, Hubble was even waiting to be attacked in this obvious way. Just like he did with Ober, he did not have any intention to conceal his tricks even to Mrs. Chester.

On the contrary, he wanted Ober and her to clearly see the blade of his sword and voluntarily feel pressured enough to follow him.

He wanted them to realize who had been moving to change the giant continent ranging from Aslan, Faisal, Sorman, and the now-defunct Lennox into a game board.

He wanted them to realize how many choices he still had and how easy it was for him to discard one of them.

“How can you guarantee that your new card will be better than your previous card? Don’t you think you can ruin the existing good card with your new card?”

Mrs. Chester was a smart woman. She fully understood his intention when he put it figuratively.

“Of course. As you know, luck is not monopolized.”

“It looks like you’re too overconfident as someone who knows better.”

Her bloody red rouge lips were twisted slightly when she said that.

Hubble quietly glanced at her eyes staring at him. It was hard to judge what he was thinking at the moment.

“Mrs. Chester, don’t you know that the chess game is completely dependent on who moves first?”

“…”

“So, that’s why you need a bold decision sometimes. For example, if you don’t like the game this time, you need a strong determination to start a new game even by overturning the current game.”

“Duke Hubble!”

“Anyway, I started the game for fun. You don’t need prohibited rules in enjoyment. Its origin is like a war, with no eternal ally or everlasting enemy. If I win and am happy, what’s the big deal of changing the players facing me?”

Hearing what he said, Mrs. Chester clearly realized that what he really wanted to kill in the Roshan’s accident was not just the emperor. She clearly realized that he tried to smash all the family members that had the honor of the name Frei and other riddances to his power, including

the “northern jewel” as well as the “snake of the Chester family” who had been raised like a pet dog in the garden.

“I didn’t know you could speak to me like that…”

Without even finishing her words, Mrs. Chester caught her breath. Her sharply trimmed fingertip scratched the seal of her ring.

The trap he set on the emperor’s way to Roshan was a gamble with heads and tails of the same coin. It was a game where no one new the winner, or rather, they did not need to know. If everyone died, he could start a new game, and even if everyone survived luckily, he could turn the table again. It was the number of voids as no results could diminish his odds.

“Don’t be frustrated. Ober and you are still sitting at the table.”

She thought that maybe Hubble wanted Ober and her to be in the same boat with him.

“I know what you mean.”

Mrs. Chester quickly laughed after changing her facial expression.

She made a fascinating smile, her eyes slanting upwards slightly.

“Don’t you know you have a longstanding relationship with us? I wish you had informed us of your new card even if you discarded all the existing cards.”

She touched her neck with her hand. Her hand, which had not yet completely healed, felt a bit warm, which soon became hot like a burnt wound.

“Don’t try to overburden yourself alone. If you give me a chance, I can earn your credit by doing something that you like. For example, why didn’t you tell me about the gifts for the emperor? As you know, I’m on intimate terms with Prince Alesa. If I had known it earlier, I would have prepared a gift that matches with your sword.”

Hubble laughed quietly after hearing what she said.

“By the way, the timing is great. I’m surprised that the prince, who used to hate edged stuff, now accepts a sword as a gift. I didn’t imagine this day would come. I wonder if you really forget what happened that day…”

But his expression gradually grew dark, and he even felt displeased at her last words she didn’t finish. His calm eyes were now glowing like olive flames.

“Send my best regards to Alesa, please.”

Mrs. Chester said goodbye to him, smiling blatantly. Hubble simply stared at her with no reply.

Immediately after she closed the door, she heard him breaking something in the room.

She did not look back. She quickly crossed the corridor with a cold look. Her scarlet dress swept over it like a north wind.

‘This dotard is crazy like hell. So, he wants to be a monster openly?’

She sneered at him freely now.

‘How dare you talk to me so rudely? Do you think I’m a pushover? He seems to think I and Ober are like his tools…’

Her pointed heels got stuck on the floor as if they showed how complicated her mind was at the moment.

“Is this Mrs. Chester?”

A familiar man called her at the end of the lobby.

“What business has brought you here at this late hour, madame? Did your son Ober cause any trouble?”

Mrs. Chester immediately confirmed who he was, and burst into clear laughter.

“Oh my god! I’m so glad you appeared before me at a perfect time! I never thought I would meet you here.”

She greeted the man warmly. He was Hubble’s son, Elias, who quickly scanned her now approaching him with a wary look.

“Are you crazy? This is Duke Hubble’s house. Why are you surprised to see me? It’s me who should be surprised first!”

Regardless of whether he was embarrassed or not, Mrs. Chester didn’t care and stopped in front of him. Embarrassed, Elias moved one step back and asked if she was really insane.

She knew many myths that were handed down to Aslan. The beginning of Aslan. Achievements of heroes. The tragedy of cursed monsters and the stories of feeble but sincere humans were handed down widely for a long time. Although she no longer believed in false divinity now, as a child she always liked myths. And as far as she knew, all the legends about evils were always mentioned with ‘this.’

“Master…”

Fatal weakness. It would inevitably travel into the ears of a hero who would save the world, and finally it served as a fatal blow for the hero to destroy the monster.

“Right, master. Not now, but someday things will work out as I planned someday.”

Mrs. Chester looked at Elias in satisfaction.

As if she figured out the answer to the difficult question that had not been solved for hundreds of years, she clearly realized something.

***

“Your Majesty, you shouldn’t overdo yourself like this.”

The scissors that cut off the end of the bandage around his hand fell into the brass bowl. Ostashu, the chief physician of the Royal Medical Service, knotted a bandage knot skillfully.

“Bones and flesh must be left in one place so they can stick together. Can you take a rest even for a few days? Hopefully you won’t get out of your bed.”

“That’s impossible.” Eckart refused at the drop of a hat. Ostashu resentfully stared at his back wrapped in white cloth.

“You said you want to get well soon, right?”

“Yes, I did.”

“So, please have a good rest. Even if you don’t work for a couple of days, this empire won’t crumble. Although I am a doctor who knows nothing about politics, I know you can never exchange your safety with anything else.”

“I am working while taking plenty of rest. As far as writing is concerned, I write with my left hand or have Colin write on my behalf. I’m eating with my left hand, and I’m trying to sleep more than four hours. I’m taking the medicine you prescribed to soothe my inflammation.”

But Ostashu let out a big sigh. Although he was competent enough to be appointed as the chief of the Royal Medical Service even before he was 40, he didn’t know where or how to refute his stubbornness. It looked like the emperor wouldn’t listen to him.

“Then allow me to check the wounds on your back often. In the case of your broken arm, waiting is the best medicine for now, but the laceration on your back requires more delicate treatment. I have to apply ointment on it so it won’t leave any scars.”

“It’s not necessarily a bad thing for the wound to leave scars, isn’t it?”

“Of course it’s better than it not healing, but it’s not good to leave scars like this. I hope you won’t get any scars, but I would like to make sure you have as little scars as possible.”

Ostashu replied with an absurd expression on his face. Eckart frowned, putting his arm in the dressing gown the doctor kindly opened for him again.

“… Maybe scars are good for me as they can be valuable evidence.”