Chapter 110: Dark Truth
"You are lying," Evelina found the man’s words laughable and pathetic, "You want me to believe that you kept my mother’s keepsake to reminisce about her?"
"Believe it or not, this... this is the truth!" Baron Snow stuck to his claims.
"I might have been young back then but I still remember the days when you had those maids beat me and lock me up in the dark room when I accidentally mentioned my mother.
You burned every belonging of her that I cherished, and you threaten to burn me along too, if I kept speaking of her..."
Ace was stunned when he heard those words. He looked at her in disbelief.
For a long time, Ace had believed that she was with her family’s schemes, letting herself be used to extort him.
Then he realized he was wrong about it. She had been made a pawn too.
But, he never thought in his wildest dreams that they would actually lay a hand upon her, while extorting from him by using her name.
His gaze snapped to Baron Snow and a murderous intent flickered in his eyes. To snap the man’s neck and take his puny life was the easiest thing to do at that moment yet...
’I can’t scare her,’ His eyes shifted to Evelina and suppressed his emotions.
Baron Snow felt a chill tingling his scalp, but when he looked at Ace, the man’s expression was nonchalant as before. He gulped and looked around, unsure.
Evelina didn’t give him a chance to think as she continued, "And even if it was given by my mother as a keepsake, it couldn’t accidentally be the entry ticket to Jade Dynasty. I want the truth of this heirloom or... you can take it along with you to the sea."
"You..." Baron Snow glared at her but the look on her face told him that she would really get him thrown into the see.
"Your Grace, I..." Baron Snow turned to Ace for help.
’Clink’
Ace absent-mindedly played with the dagger in his hand, "Been long since my blade tasted some blood.’’
’Swish’
The dagger flew straight at Baron Snow.
"AHHH!"
It cut a few strands of his hair and landed at a little distance with a soft ’clang’.
’’My hand slipped," Ace said softly.
Yet., everybody present in the place knew that the god of war’s hand would never slip handling a dagger. It was a cold warning from the man.
’Bleurgh!’
Baron Snow threw up on his clothes. He had always been terrified of Ace but dealing with him was easier before because Ace had a weakness that nobody knew of.
Evelina. And that weakness waas fully under his control.
But now, that weakness itself was a storm of her own.
Baron Snow couldn’t fully console himself that his own daughter wouldn’t throw him into the sea... let alone having any confidence about the ruthless killing machine of the Empire.
"I will... speak..." He gulped when he uttered those words.
Evelina could tell that in that moment, there seemed to be a bigger fear in the man’s eyes and it wasn’t the fear that she or Ace will harm him.
It was something else. Baron Snow was hiding something bigger and it was scaring him to death thinking of the consequences if he opened his mouth.
"I don’t have all the day.." Evelina whispered and turned away.
"Baron Snow panicked and screamed, "The heirloom is indeed connected to your mother but she didn’t give it to me."
"What do you mean?"
"Silver... Your mother... she was never executed for infidelity," the Baron confessed.
"The rumors... the scandal... I made it all up... The Capital believed she died in shame, but it was all a staged lie! I faked her execution to protect my own skin!"
Evelina’s heart stopped, "Why?"
"I was nothing when I met her and she was from the prestigious Snow Family of the Jade Dynasty. It was sheer luck... I knew that by using her intellect, I could rise the ranks, as I did after marrying her...
Initially, her identity was a secret but then some people discovered it, the Emperor and Empress were amongst them. The Emperor started pursuing your mother but she was loyal to me...
The Emperor turned his anger to me. All my work was treated like trash and my promotions were halted... How could I let my hard work be wasted by a woman...? I was already looking for a chance to get rid of her...."
Evelina was so angry that she looked at the ungrateful man in disbelief, unable to utter a single word.
"A powerful imperial envoy from the Jade Dynasty arrived at our borders and it was my chance. The Empress was also pressuring me!" the Baron wailed, exposing the dark truth of his past, "I handed her over to them."
He wiped his nose with a ragged sleeve, "Selene was too young to be influenced by Silver and you were submissive enough, not resembling her in the slightest back then so the Empress let you be...
And I framed her as an infidel woman so nobody would try to look into the affairs of our family. People chased mysteries, but once the mystery was solved, they lost interest in them.
The Emperor also lost in interest when the matter of her infidelity spread.
It benefitted us all, the envoys, the Empress and me..."
"Shut up...!" Evelina could no longer continue listening.
The revelation struck the deck like a physical thunderbolt.
Ace had a sombre expression on his face.
Even Selene looked at her father with a strange expression.
Evelina was enraged but amidst that, she realized one thing. If what Baron Snow said was true, then chances were her mother was still alive.
"I told you the truth... You arrange a stay for us on this ship!" Baron Snow spoke up hurriedly, afraid she would change her mind, "We are still family, Evelina..."
"Sure," Evelina smiled and called out to some passing men, "Lock them in the lowest, darkest passenger cells. They will shovel coal as manual laborers for the entire duration of this voyage. If they refuse to work, cut off their rations or throw them in the sea..."
"No! You can’t do this!" Baron Snow roared as the heavy vanguard guards jumped into the hold, violently grabbing his arms.
Evelina didn’t look at them as they were dragged away as she stood there in a daze.
Ping!
[Target Ace’s heart is aching for Host.]
[Bonus Reward Unlocked: +2,000 Heart-Wrecker Points!]
Evelina paused for a brief moment. The system notification caught her off guard.
She slowly turned her head and looked back at Ace.
The invincible Duke was standing completely still a few paces behind her. He looked totally aloof, and if not for the System, she would think he was reflecting on the current weather only.
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