Chapter 198: The Secret Marriage Alliance [Part 1]
Richard didn’t deserve Eloise. To think that she still yearned for his love even now made my insides flare.
"Did you ever love her as your own?" I hated myself for asking such a question, for I already knew the answer.
However, I wanted to hear him say it to my face. I hoped that maybe, just maybe, there was something there for her.
"Was she just a dying daughter that was expendable?" I questioned him once again; the weight of my words pressured him.
However, Richard said nothing to me. Nothing. Choosing to look at the table rather than me. Maybe in shame or at the thought of me asking him such an unwanted question.
I see now that an answer was not needed, because in his eyes, Eloise was just a withering property he owned.
My nails dug into my skin to keep me grounded, or I might lose it. "Tell me everything. Whatever secrets surround Eloise’s origin, I want to know all. I suggest you be honest with me; there’s no point trying to hide anything."
"I know," he admitted. "The moment I realized the real reason why I was sent from Beloria..." He gulped. "There is no escape. The secret I have kept for twenty-one years will come to the surface today."
He sounded defeated, but I cared less about his feelings.
"You’re wise enough, I applaud that, even though I wanted you to play the fool. It would have been satisfying to force you to speak as I watch you bleed."
"You care for her even though she has snowblood running through her veins. You’re a beast, but if the situation were reversed and you were human. Could you love a blood sucking creature?"
That doesn’t sound like a question for me. It sounded like he was trying to justify something, so I stayed silent as he loosened his tongue, and whatever secret he had kept for years was revealed.
"Years ago, when the war still ravaged the realm. Beloria was a country trying to survive a supernatural battle. Our population suffered, our people suffered. Our lands were lost until we were forced to barricade ourselves in our last stronghold, building walls to keep us safe, but we were sheep in hiding, fearing danger from all sides."
"For generations, we were a thriving country, and my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather’s legacy was everything, but that was all going to disappear just because the supernaturals wanted to fight for domination and did not care who was caught in their cross line of fire." His jaw tightened as his stone-cold demeanor was cracked, and all I saw was a rage too big for a human to contain.
He seemed like the beast now, and the tension that had gripped him since the moment he walked into this room was gone.
"You lot were always selfish creatures, and you all think your superiority made you decide how the fate of the world will become, even the gods weren’t judgmental."
"There were casualties in war, and not only humans suffered. The impact was also heavy on my people, and as much as I don’t want to admit this... the snowbloods suffered the same. Hatred breeds war, and war breeds more monsters. You should be thankful it ended in peace."
Richard chuckled. "Peace? You may be right, and your war ended in peace, but if I hadn’t stepped up, we would have faded away, and not even history would have spoken about us. We’re not blessed with bloodlines from our gods that can make us take the shape of beasts or have incredible powers."
He pinned me with his stern gaze. "We were barely surviving the war before your so-called peace happened. As Archduke, I had to step up."
I narrowed my eyes in a questioning look.
"To save my country, I made a secret alliance with the snowbloods. I buried my morals and married a bloodsucking monster. I married Lysandra Winter."
Winter? I know that surname; it belonged to one of the leading clans of snowbloods.
"Our union was a secret that benefited both parties. It was a time of war, and to secure the last of their bloodline, I was to give her a child."
I see. Richard needed the alliance to keep his people safe, while the snowblood wanted to secure the Winter bloodline. They must have been very desperate to do such a thing; the snowbloods knew they were losing the war early on.
"Our marriage was done in secret and Lysandra..." he paused as if saying her name affected him.
I could feel it didn’t have to do with affections. This man had spoken of snowbloods with nothing but vile words. His marriage to her was out of duty, and he must have hated every second of it.
"She lived beneath the manor, where a separate chamber was made. It was difficult to get her pregnant, but it was something that needed to be done no matter what."
I clenched my teeth and turned away. This disgusts me because I knew... their consummation was nothing short of a forced one. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the state of it.
"I was already married to Agnes, and I love her greatly, and yet I had to keep such a secret from her. I cursed the state of the realm for making me resort to this. But for my country, for my family to have a bright future, I had to do this."
He must have triggered that hatred towards Lysandra, too. It screamed on his face; he wasn’t just furious about the decision he had to make, but his repulsion for bedding a snowblood.
His hate was so great, yet he chose to do it. It’s sickening to think he would go so far. Desperation turned into anguish, and I could only wonder what it was like for Lysandra, who did nothing but try to do right by her clan.
A secret arranged marriage was their hell, but also the seed they sowed.