Duke Pendragon

Kwaaaaah!

The griffons slowly descended while receiving the faint light of the moon as it peeked out from the dark clouds. Knights and soldiers had rushed over as soon as they saw the griffons moving toward the castle. The people of the Pendragon Castle pressed on their beating hearts while staring at the griffons slowly coming down to the ground.

"Ah…!"

Their eyes did not linger on Isla nor the two new women. A silver-haired woman and a man with black hair were slowly dismounting the griffons. Their faces were reflecting the dim gazes of the moon.

Although his appearance was rather unfamiliar, some of them noticed that it was an appearance that 'he' used frequently in the past when he was hiding his identity.

Vincent's eyes trembled.

How could he forget?

When he first saw his lord that day in Leus, the lord had told him to come to the land of Pendragon with the same appearance…

Tap. Tap.

He was approaching.

His steps were bold and proud, just as were his eyes and atmosphere.

"I greet my king."

"My lord!"

"Pendragon scarecrow!"

The crafty Regent Vincent Ron knelt while shouting passionately, and Killian and Karuta ran forward while shouting crazily.

"Vincent, Killian, Karuta…"

Raven was overcome with boiling emotions when he saw the three figures. All of them had been working hard in their respective positions for seven years.

"My lord! Lord! Huaaang!"

"Hahaha!"

Killian ran forward before collapsing to the floor to his knees. Raven took him into his embrace with a boisterous laughter.

"Kuhuggh! My lord!"

The head of the kingdom's knights was crying buckets, but no one blamed him. Rather, others also started wiping the tears off their faces.

"Hey, you bastard! Why are you so late!? And where did your original face disappear to?"

Karuta grabbed Raven's shoulders with a harsh shout.

"Haha! Things happened. I have been fighting with some unique enemies."

"What? Where? The earth be split! Why didn't you take me with you if there was such a good opportunity?"

The joy of reunion was short, and Karuta glared after hearing Raven's words. He was truly a born warrior.

"I know. It would have been good if you died with me."

"Kehul…"

He had forgotten. On the spot where Karuta lost one arm, his brother-like scarecrow had really died.

"My lord…"

Vincent came forward as well. His usual smile was nowhere to be found, and he looked like he was about to cry.

"Vincent Ron."

Raven took a step forward and reached out his hand. He spoke while laying his hand on the shoulder of his knight, the regent who ruled the kingdom on his behalf for seven long years.

"You had to experience such difficulties all because you met such a bad lord."

"No, not at all. I only did what I could do… for Pendragon. But I don't think I met the lord's expectations with my…"

Although he was always smiling, Vincent had been burdened with more than anybody else. He trailed off as a tear formed in his eye. The knight bowed his head out of embarrassment, and the lord patted him on the shoulder.

"You must have been lonely. That is why I am even more grateful to you."

Knights trained and fought. However, the Pendragon Kingdom had experienced an unprecedented era of peace during the last seven years. As such, Isla and Killian had spent their days in relative peace.

However, it was different for Vincent.

The regent of a kingdom without a king.

His burdens and responsibilities had been incomparably vast and heavy compared to everyone else. He had to comfort the members of the Pendragon family while taking responsibility for all affairs of the kingdom, which was as large as the bigger great territories of the empire.

He couldn't even freely express his feelings or hardships.

Perhaps no one else knew, but Raven did. He knew how lonely it was to be a monarch. Vincent had been suffering from and fighting against such a terrible loneliness for seven long years.

"My lord…"

Tears started to fall from the regent's eyes.

He had been longing to hear his voice and these words. All the hardships from the past seven years were forgotten in an instant.

He did not regret swearing himself to his lord, to the monarch of Pendragon.

"Your Majesty Pendragon…"

"Argos, you are still quite lively. It seems I can entrust you to protect my people for another fifty years at least."

Raven smiled while looking at the face of the old fighter. The old man's face had many more wrinkles compared to their last meeting.

However, Argos could not return the smile.

He bowed his head with trembling eyes as he stared at his benefactor and lord.

"That is what I plan to do. So until this old man is buried in the ground, Your Majesty must never, never…"

"Do not worry. All you need to do is to stay a friend of Pendragon until my children see their children."

Argos trailed off, and Raven responded while grabbing his hands.

"Alan…!"

Someone's voice was heard through the cold winds blowing through the spire. It was Elena Pendragon. She was rushing towards Raven with trembling eyes with dozens of accompanying maids.

"Mother…"

Elena wasn't Raven's biological mother. She was also aware that he wasn't the Alan Pendragon she had given birth to. Moreover, it wasn't the face of the son Elena knew. However, there was no way that she could not sense the Spirit of the Dragon flowing from him.

Above all else, Elena and Raven had been regarding each other as another son and mother since long ago.

"Alan!"

"Mother!"

The two embraced each other. She abandoned all her dignity as a queen and sobbed while hugging her son as hard as she could. Currently, she was just a mother who was overjoyed at the return of her son from death.

"Uhgg! You, you finally…"

"Yes, it's me. I'm back."

Although it might have felt awkward in the past, Raven was different now. He knew exactly how a mother and a father felt towards their children…

Didn't he also think of Raymond on his way back?

As such, he returned her embrace while feeling the mother's unchanging love for her son.

"Yes, yes! My son. My son…"

The surroundings became solemn at the touching reunion.

Then…

"Ah…!"

Someone exclaimed softly, and everyone's gaze turned.

Fwooosh!

A beautiful woman was holding a little girl's hand tightly. The young girl's cheeks were colored red in the cold and her hair was scattered in the wind as she stood with a puzzled expression.

The woman's watery eyes were constantly quivering like the tiny ripples in a lake. Her gaze was fixated on one person, and her lips were opened slightly, as if she had something to say.

A smile appeared around the lips of the man as he saw her from afar.

Elena stepped aside while wiping her tears at her appearance.

Tap. Tap.

Raven calmly walked forward. However, the woman stood still in place with tears forming in her eyes.

"Mom? Who is that mister?"

The young child asked while grabbing her mother's clothes. Raven flinched before turning his eyes towards the little girl.

She was similar.

The colors of her hair and eyes were different, but she looked quite similar to Raymond. No, rather, she looked even closer to Mia when he first woke up as Alan Pendragon. She was…

'My… daughter…'

"That person, that person is your father…"

The woman, Lindsay, finally opened her lips.

"Dad…?"

Her clear, sparkling eyes turned towards Raven. While receiving the gaze of the mother and daughter, he opened his trembling arms.

"Come…"

He choked up and could not finish. However, Lindsay jumped into her husband's arms as soon as she heard his voice. She had never forgotten his voice, not even in her dreams.

"Hnnnnng! Hunnnnnng!"

The elegant reunion she imagined and practiced hundreds of thousands of times over the past seven years never came to fruition. Instinct and love took her back dozens of years, and Lindsay, now the mother of his two children, ran into his arms while sobbing.

The night of reunion after seven years – the cold had no place, for joy and emotions completely and fully filled the space.

***

"W, what!?"

"I, it's an urgent letter from the imperial letter. It has His Majesty's seal…"

A knight bowed his head while offering a letter stamped with the seal of the imperial family with trembling hands.

"Hmm!"

Jamie Roxan received it while biting his lips.

It was certainly the seal of the imperial family.

'What could it be… D, don't tell me…?'

He carefully unsealed the letter and opened its contents, trying to put the ominous feeling behind him.

"What!?"

Jamie Roxan became wide-eyed with shock after reading the letter's contents.

It wasn't just an ordinary letter.

It was a letter containing an extremely short, direct order from the emperor to himself, a knight of the emperor and of the imperial family. It was ordering him to enter the imperial castle as soon as he received the letter. No one in the history of the Roxan family had ever received such an order.

'I'm in trouble!'

It was clear that the emperor found out the truth. Otherwise, the emperor wouldn't be ordering him to the imperial castle. He had no justification for rejecting the order as a high lord of the empire.

Any form of rejection would be labeled as an action of treason against the emperor. In addition, for the emperor to order a high lord to immediately enter the imperial castle without any questioning or further explanation was akin to a declaration that he would take responsibility for any and all resulting consequences if the high lord was innocent.

'What should I do? Keugh…!'

It was as if his mind was going blank. He couldn't think of any ideas.

'D, did the brothers get caught? No, even if they died, they would never give my name. S, should I gather the army? Then the imperial army…'

He was ambitious. In addition, he was greatly humiliated by Alan Pendragon and the resulting resentment was great.

Jamie Roxan was born a monarch and lived his entire life as the strongest and highest lord of the empire. However, his generosity and breadth of thinking were rather lacking compared to his status. Jamie Roxan was at a loss.

"Your Excellency! Your Excellency!"

Another knight rushed in while shouting urgently.

"What is it now?"

The knight bowed his head and held something out, knowing well that Jamie Roxan was venting his anger.

"Another letter has arrived."

"What? Where is it from this time?"

"Well, it's the Margrave of Mirin…"

"What?"

Jamie Roxan hurriedly snatched the letter from the knight's hand. He was still ignorant of the happenings in Mirin.

"…..!"

Jamie Roxan was filled with shock and disbelief after reading the letter.

Once again, there was only a single line written in the letter.

It was…

[My father told me that it's all over. From Lucas Mirin, the new Margrave of Mirin.]

"Ugh…!"

Jamie Roxan wasn't an idiot, so he could come to an immediate realization.

It was all over.