episode_0145

“How is Eli?”

Before even sitting down on the sofa, Albris was the first to ask.

His red eyes scanned through the study from behind the transparent glass. Seeing the sparkling blue eyes, it seemed that the rumors about the Bearen family’s affection towards their youngest daughter were not false.

“I have prepared a room for her, so don’t worry and take a seat.”

With a sly smile, Yulrian pointed to the sofa across from him. Approaching the sofa with a reluctant expression, Albris was immediately offered a glass of whiskey. Just like his father had done to him.

“Do you like alcohol?”

“I have no intention of drinking and laughing with you.”

“Don’t be so uptight. What if I do something terrible to your sister out of spite?”

Yulrian’s voice gently prodded at Albris, causing his yellow eyebrows to furrow. Despite glaring at the man across from him, Albris roughly grabbed the glass and downed the whiskey in one gulp.

“So, what brings you here at this late hour?”

“Just pouring myself a drink alone.”

Unlike Albris, Yulrian elegantly picked up his glass. With a different, spicy metallic taste, he casually placed the glass back on the table, despite his eyebrows twitching slightly.

“Well, your expression doesn’t seem too happy for sharing trivial stories.”

Yulrian calmly poured more whiskey into his now empty glass.

“Eli mentioned something. She told me that she wants to stay by my side. As promised, I will release you and Eli’s maid.”

At Yulrian’s words, Albris’s head quickly spun. Time seemed awkwardly trapped in the room, despite downing the whiskey. That alone couldn’t clear his mind.

Why is he letting me go?

Although he had made a promise with Eli, if he had planned to kidnap her, he shouldn’t easily let him go.

If what he was planning was considered treason, he would need the power of the West.

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Albris shook his head.

Ah… What am I thinking right now?

Thinking about his sister, I was just a person who came up with such tricks.

But now was not the time to dwell on self-pity.

“Why is that?”

Albris’s words trailed off. Yulrian’s eyebrows gently curved as he looked at the blue eyes staring at him through his hands.

“What do you mean?”

“If it’s about revenge, you don’t need to let me go, do you?”

Yulrian nodded quietly at Albris’s words. As if urging him to continue, he raised his sharp chin slightly towards Albris.

“It seems like you’re planning something, but in the end, you need the power of the West, don’t you? So you kidnapped me and Eli. But you’re letting me go? Just like that?”

Inside Albris, Yulrian was a cold and cunning figure.

He had become the Emperor’s hunting dog, going back and forth from one end of the Empire to the other, accepting a hollow position with no gain.

He wrapped himself up as a worthless and insignificant figure, hiding his true intentions towards power and belittling his abilities in front of others.

That’s why.

The words Yulrian spat out now were an action that Albris could not understand based on the information he had.

“The game is over, Albris.”

With a sharp anger directed towards Albrith, Yulrian spoke calmly, containing his rage. Albrith, however, was unaware that this anger was directed towards himself.

“The Emperor is dead, and the remaining nobles are now in my hands. The Empress, the Prince, and even the Princess.”

Albrith’s expression turned pale with shock at these words.

“Right now, the capital, even Lutess, is under my control. But with the nobles I’ve captured, even Galatea will soon be mine.”

A cold sneer flowed from under the silver hair.

And only then did Albrith begin to realize.

The man’s expression was not that of someone seeking power. It was a face filled with resignation, self-loathing, and misery.

“The reason I’m letting you go is nothing special.”

Reaching for a glass filled with whiskey, Yulrian looked at Albrith.

“You have to deliver a message for me.”

Finally, he brought the glass to his lips. As the thick liquid filled the glass, the corners of Yulrian’s mouth lifted slightly.

“If you want to save your beloved, come to the palace yourself. That’s the message you need to deliver.”

Yulrian took out a square piece of paper from his pocket and placed it on the table. It bore the seal of the Balati Viscount, with a message granting entry to the capital written on it.

“Abandon the North as winter approaches. Yes, just like me. Leave everything behind and face me.”

Yulrian’s voice, endlessly low and menacing, sounded like a howl in Albrith’s ears.

“What if I refuse?”

“Remember that your beloved is still in my hands.”

With that, their conversation came to an end. Yulrian then sent Albrith back to the room where he had been confined.

#.

After a whole day and night of heavy drinking whiskey, the late night was not kind to Yulrian. Intense self-loathing and guilt tormented him as he lay in bed.

The soft mattress felt harder than a battlefield cot, and the smooth sheets against his skin felt like thorns.

When he closed his eyes, he could vividly see her.

Eleanor’s eyes, glaring at him as if to kill.

His mother, slowly deteriorating as she remained alone in the cage.

In the end, he found himself committing the same deeds he had despised and hated his father for.

All that he held in his hands now felt unnecessary. The power he had acquired only felt repulsive.

Wiping his face with his hand, Yulrian sat up in bed.

It was still early dawn, and the autumn sun was just beginning to rise beyond the window, casting a blue hue over the darkness.

Yulrian slipped his feet into slippers on the cold floor. His body demanded to stay in bed, but his mind was restless.

It was a usual early morning.

Yulrian, freshly shaved, left his bedroom and headed straight to Eleanor’s quarters, the once cage where his mother had been imprisoned.

Politely knocking on the closed door, Yulrian waited for a response.

Knock, knock, knock.

His calm voice echoed through the dim corridor.

“This is Yulrian. May I come in?”

There was no response, not even a hint of movement behind the closed door.

Yulrian hesitated for a moment in front of the door. Glancing back at the woman standing behind him, she subtly nodded.

“Coughing.”

At the sound of her cold, stern words, Yulian pursed his lips once again.

“I will go in.”

This time, it was not a request but a notification.

Although he had been acting on his own until the end, this would be the last time.

Looking at the door with no response, Yulian gently grasped the handle and turned it. The bedroom door opened with a creak.

It was not a bedroom but a cage, so there was no way to block the door from the inside.

The platinum-haired woman lay on the bed. Pulling the blanket up to her chin, she sat with her back to the door, facing the wall.

Yulian cautiously approached the bed where she lay. She didn’t even flinch, but when he looked closely, her swollen eyes were open.

“I apologize for yesterday.”

Still facing the silent woman, Yulian bowed his head. His expression distorted with a brief apology.

But Eleanor did not see that.

“As I mentioned, Eli’s…”

He swallowed the rest of his words. However, he felt some remorse towards her, so he slowly raised his lips.

“Ellie’s brother and the maid will release you as soon as it’s bright.”

Of course, Eleanor would have to stay by his side.

Yulian quietly knelt in front of her. Unable to touch her body, he placed his hand on the blanket she had covered over the mattress and continued the conversation.

“If Ellie wishes, I will not show my face from now on.”

At his words, Eleanor’s shoulders trembled.

“Don’t lie!”

In a room filled only with the man’s voice, the sharp voice of the woman spread out.

Honestly, Eleanor couldn’t grasp the man’s approaching emotions.

She couldn’t understand why he was so obsessed with her, and even the expression he made when he said those words felt like the face of a man who truly loved her.

And Yulian felt the same way.

He couldn’t tell if he really loved the woman in front of him. He couldn’t confirm it, but he felt that way. In all the recent events, he felt his worries and anxieties dissipate when he was by Eleanor’s side.

But he couldn’t confirm it.

Using the woman he unknowingly loved as a tool for revenge, could that emotion really be called love?

So perhaps he couldn’t even muster a gentle expression in front of Eleanor.

But now it’s all over.

Yulian sat in front of her for a long time. He carefully memorized her body rising and falling with each breath, her scent, everything about her, before gently getting up from his seat.

“It may be a cowardly request, but…”

Yulian paused for a moment in front of the closing door. The words he uttered next were a word he had been contemplating.

“I have one thing to ask of you.”

#21. In the Storm – End