A servant entered behind Claude, who was lounging on the sofa with his feet up on the armrest. As soon as he parted the curtains and opened the windows, the smoke that filled the room began to slowly dissipate. The wind was damp, but it seemed much fresher than the smell that was in the room.
- Your Highness.
Claude looked up with a blank face. The servant handed him a glass of water with a familiar gesture. Claude greedily drank it all to the dregs. Drops ran down his chin, soaking his clothes. As if that weren't enough, he held out the glass again. As soon as the servant filled it, he drained this portion in one fell swoop.
His gaze was blurred, either from sleep or from something else. Grimacing, Claude grabbed his head, then closed his eyes again and turned to his side.
- Your Highness, come to your senses. You have a guest.
The servant said. Claude opened his eyes.
- Guest?
“His Grace the Duke of Woodpecker is waiting for you.”
- Did I make an appointment?
Claude asked. Before the servant could answer, the door opened. They both turned their gaze to the entrance. Claude, still frowning, looked at Juls and Adi as they entered.
- What kind of manners are these, Juls?
- You are being rude. Made me wait for ten whole minutes.
- I don’t remember that we agreed.
“The fact that you don’t remember doesn’t change the agreement.”
It was true. But he really didn't remember anything. How much did he drink yesterday? Or maybe it was not how much he drank, but what he ate. However, apparently, he returned to his chambers quietly, without doing anything wrong. Otherwise, the servants would have to drag him by force.
Claude stood up. Julius sat down opposite him. Adi stood behind Julius, who, unlike Claude, looked impeccable and kept his back straight.
“I can give you time to wash,” Julius said.
Claude ignored his words and smiled at Adi, who stood behind the Duke.
— Beauty, today you are in knightly uniform.
Unlike yesterday's red dress, the knight's uniform, which did not emphasize the curves of the body and was comfortable for movement, created an ascetic image that, on the contrary, seemed even more alluring. Clothes that hide the body were even better than he thought.
“Don’t you dare behave rudely to my knight.”
- Do you always keep it with you? I'm jealous.
“It would be better for His Highness to have some more water or tea.” He seems completely out of his mind.
“If I smoke a cigarette, I think I’ll be back to normal.”
- Don't you dare smoke in front of me. This is disgusting.
Jules said. This time Claude put his tail between his legs. He was so sick and dizzy that smoking would have been too much. The servant served Claude tea and offered it to Jules. He raised his hand in a gesture of refusal, showing that he did not need anything.
A cup of tea seemed to bring him back to his senses a little; Claude, who had previously been sitting completely slouched, leaned back and asked: “So what did we agree on yesterday?”
Jules winced. How much did he drink, even if his memory fails him?
- After you left yesterday, different rumors began to circulate. It seems that the Council of Elders has a particular grudge against you.
- A-ah, did I ask you to listen to their nonsense? And what are they sharpening their teeth on?
Claude said, spreading out onto the couch again. A little more and he would have simply fallen to the side.
— Audit body.
Yuls said.
— They believe that the right of audit does not ensure independence and neutrality. Since the powers of the audit body began to include even internal inspection, there has been talk that this body needs to be placed under reasonable control. And this same audit body...
- This is within my competence.
With these words, Claude straightened up. He understood that his subordinates were probably doing all sorts of shady things behind his back, but he did not expect that they would harbor such hostility towards the Audit Authority. Can't we just do business honestly from the very beginning, without resorting to intrigue? She couldn't understand this.
“And they say that you are abusing the right of pardon.”
Claude pointed his index finger at himself. Abuse of the right to pardon? Anything but this. If we are going to make false accusations, then at least it is plausible, but why talk about something that is completely impossible...
- Especially in relation to Count Grimaldi.
-...Ah. Well, I actually did.
“Many people are unhappy with how picky Count Grimaldi was when he sat on the Privy Council. Because of this, bills were not considered promptly. They say that if the committee has already carried out an examination and discussion, the project should move to the next stage, but in the Privy Council they were delayed for a long time. It looks like they want to switch this to automatic review.
- Automatic review... So they want to reduce the role of the Privy Council?
— Rather, not the council itself, but your powers.
- Is it just mine? In this case, the king’s power will decrease; he will not sit idly by.
- King - perhaps. But you?
Claude fell silent. Now this will not hit the king much. Even if the powers of the Privy Council are reduced, in the end everything will be decided by the will of the monarch.
“The purpose of the Council of Elders is to curtail your power. When you become king, they won't be able to push you around like they do now. You know that there are a lot of people who don't like you?
“That’s why they come to you.”
Before the Count killed him, there was still Luigi, but he had already left this world. And although a State funeral took place, the ceremony in Pales was so modest that his absence was hardly noticed in Yonada.
There would be aristocrats who would make a joke with a chuckle about how he was born in Pales and died in Pales, but it is unlikely that anyone other than the Marchioness of Conolly would sincerely mourn his death. And the Marquis of Conolly himself would not have cared about this.
From the very beginning, Luigi had no reason to harbor affection for Dalcatir. And the fact that he came here trying to take some place was pure absurdity.
On the other hand, Jules Woodpecker.
“Having such a distinguished cousin is a shame in itself.”
He had both power and recognition in society.
“No one in the Privy Council considered me an outstanding person. However, in the Council and the Council of Elders too.
“You were still a child then.”
“It was just the appearance of a child.”
— People are always judged by their appearance. So the current you will have an effect on them, right?
He looked handsome now, no matter who was looking. His facial features resembled that of a Witch and he was handsome, but due to his physique there was no feeling of femininity. His red hair did not resemble the usual carrot color, but shimmered with a thick crimson, like rubies, and his eyes...
“I can’t wait to see how many people there are who want to put you on the throne.”
Just like the Previous Duke. Even though the facial expression was different, the color itself was almost the same.
The previous Duke was born with unusually pale pigment. He had such white skin, blond hair and red eyes that he was suspected of having albinism.
It was said that this man, who always wore black clothes and a black hat because of his sensitivity to sunlight, could only feel free in that very forest. A dense grove of red oak, where almost no rays of the sun penetrated. They said it was there that he met a woman with hair the color of his own eyes.
“I don’t need this for nothing,” Juls said.
- Why? This is the seat that everyone dreams of sitting on.
“You only think that because you want to keep him busy.” I like the South.
“But you don’t even have Southern blood.”
- Eat. You know very well.
-...Oh, exactly. The witch was from the South.
As a child, Claude wondered: how are the Witch and the man able to give birth?
- However, as long as this forest exists, you will not leave it.
Who is the one who is born of a witch and a man: a witch or a man?
- It has always been like this.
- Because this is my territory.
“It could mean something more.”
The answer was easy to find out.
A witch can only give birth to a witch. Everyone who came from a witch was a witch. That is, it was a clan that only borrowed someone else's seed in order to produce only female creatures similar to itself.
Claude grinned, looking at the mutant sitting in front of him - the son of a witch.
The previous Duke of Woodpecker locked up a witch who was about to go into the forest. They said that for her, fading away from sadness day by day, he built a greenhouse. Inside, he planted all kinds of plants, recreating the Red Oak Grove in miniature, to give the witch a place to rest.
It was a wonderful story, like a fairy tale. But it soon turned into a horror legend.
A dense forest, strange cries, a series of misfortunes - and now, they say, the witch gave birth to a child. And this ominous omen soon became a reality.
- Well, let's talk seriously. That's not the only reason you came here, right?
Because a boy was born.
- Exactly.
A witch can only give birth to one child in her entire life.
“The lords wish to act alone.
Only one Witch who will continue her family and inherit the name.
They say that when Julius was born, the Duke was overjoyed, but the Witch could not help but fall into despair. She called him a man and abandoned him to the mercy of people. And before her death, as they say, she cast a Curse on the person who gave her this despair.
The exact name of the Curse is unknown, but from that very day Julius stopped growing.
- Alone?
And then in Pales the Curse was broken.
“The power of our grandfather was great.
Since then, Claude has not stopped thinking.
“But the current King is not capable of this.”
If only we could find out what exactly broke the curse, Julius could be brought under control.