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Chapter 32

Ch 32 — How are You Alone?

Linden swallowed a sigh at the words of Ziken, who clicked his tongue as if he was pathetic.

He already knew that Grand Duke Arvis had no interest in politics. The reason he had even come here was entirely because of Ara. Despite not having a single expectation of that since he already knew, he still didn't want to explain it to Ziken, who was unaware of that and came to such a conclusion.

He was waiting for his pathetic older brother to leave after finishing everything he had to say, but then he said something he couldn't just ignore.

[Ziken] "No matter how much effort you put into pulling the Princess of Darchez to your side, it's still my power in the end."

Linden's expressionless mask on his face cracked slightly.

[Ziken] "Do you really think the Duke of Darchez is going to abandon my mother, the Empress?"

The Duke of Darchez, who valued honour and class to the highest degree, would never support Linden even if he was forced to death due to his blood which was mixed with that of a commoner. There was also no way for Ara, who had been treated as a nuisance in the Duchy, to override the Duke to command the family.

[Ziken] "She seems to be behaving uncharacteristically childishly and has run away from home... but she'll end up going back home anyway."

At Ziken's words, Linden recalled what Ara had said.

[Ara] "The Duke said that he'd erase my name from the Duchy's genealogy because I made the Duchy into a joke. So I told him to go ahead and do it."

As expected, he didn't do it. No wonder he couldn't find anything no matter how much he investigated. To be fair, there's no way a duke who values honour would disown their own daughter.

That being said, it meant that Ara would be dragged back to the Duchy, even if it was against her will. She'd be made to aid the power of the Crown Prince, even if it was by force.

So, what he meant was that no matter how well Ara treated Linden right now, she would still abandon him in the end one day.

Linden's fingertips became cold. ...He didn't want that.

He had never once cared about losing power before. He just thought of it as losing a knight on a chessboard. He could keep fighting with what remained, and if it wasn't enough, he could just gather more power.

But Ara was different. As he imagined Ara turning her back on him, Linden felt as if the ground from under his feet had disappeared.

[Ziken] "The Princess is the Saintess of the Moon God? That's great."

Ziken laughed arrogantly.

[Ziken] "Livi is mine, so Solarism is mine. The Princess will end up in my faction, so Lunarism will also be mine."

[Linden] "..."

[Ziken] "Oh my. Once again, you don't have a single thing, do you?"

In the end, Linden glowered at Ziken, his once expressionless face collapsing.

[Ziken] "Isn't this because you keep coveting other people's things that you aren't worthy of? You're just like your mother."

[Linden] "You better shut that mouth of yours."

Linden finally grabbed his brother by the collar at his insults toward his mother.

[Knight] "Your Highness!"

The knights who were guarding him ran toward him, but the red haze that rose around Linden held them back.

Ziken was nonchalant, even after witnessing Linden's magic.