Turning toward the sound, he saw several maids wiping away their tears with handkerchiefs.
One of them respectfully bowed to him.
“You've arrived.”
The maid's voice was hoarse.
“Please go inside. Her Majesty has been waiting for you all this time.”
He immediately entered the Empress's bedchamber.
Inside the brightly candlelit room stood Marquis Oristein, his relatives, and a high-ranking priest. Their dark eyes all turned toward him at once before shifting back to the bed in the center of the room.
He slowly walked over.
“Varkas!”
A small girl who had been lying across the bed threw herself toward him.
Just as the Empress had taught him long ago, he caught the young Imperial Princess with one arm and gently patted her back.
The girl wrapped her slender arms around his neck as hot tears streamed down her face.
“Varkas... Mother......”
As she failed to continue, he stroked the girl's head before looking down at the bed.
In only a few months, the Empress had grown so gaunt that she was almost unrecognizable. She looked utterly devoid of vitality, to the point that it was hard to believe she was only thirty-one years old.
“Come here.”
She reached out her emaciated hand.
He set Aila down and knelt on one knee before the bed. The girl immediately ran to her twin brother and threw her arms around him. Gareth embraced his sister tightly with both arms while desperately holding back his tears.
He watched them for a moment before turning back to the Empress.
She gently caressed his cheek with a hand as cold as ice.
“You've grown even taller these past few months. By the time you're fully grown, you'll be as tall as your father.”
“......”
“Isn't it strange? Even though your appearance is nothing like that of the Khan people, whenever I looked at you, I was reminded of the eastern grasslands where I rode horses as a child. Perhaps that's why I kept you by my side.”
A faint smile rested upon her lips before her expression suddenly became blank.
Looking at him quietly with eyes so dark they were almost black, she slowly lowered her hand.
“I didn't call you here simply to ramble like this. There's one thing I want to ask of you, which is why I urgently summoned you.”
“......Please give your command.”
The woman could not bring herself to speak immediately.
After struggling with herself for a long while, she looked toward her children standing beside the bed. Only then, as though finally reaching a decision, did she speak in a firm voice.
“I want you to protect my children.”
He frowned.
He could not understand why she would make such a request.
The Empress was a member of House Siorcan, and the twins also carried the blood of that house. He already had a duty to protect them both.
He gently took her hand and replied calmly.
“Even without asking, I intend to do everything in my power to protect both of them. That is also the will of the grand ducal house......”
“I am asking you for an oath, Varkas Laedgo Siorcan.”
She gripped his hand with all the strength she had left.
“Can you swear, in the name of God, that you will protect Gareth and Aila until the day your life comes to an end?”
He quietly looked down at the Empress.
What she was asking for went far beyond the obligations he was expected to bear as the future Grand Duke.
It was an oath that bound his entire life.
Knowing the weight of such a vow, he found himself reluctant to answer lightly.
Yet he also found his own hesitation somewhat strange.
Had his life not simply continued because he still drew breath?
For the past seven years, he had felt neither joy nor even sorrow or anger. He had merely continued eating and sleeping mechanically, day after day. What value did such a life possess that made him hesitate to give his answer?
He turned toward Aila and Gareth.
The twins were staring at him with frightened eyes. Protecting them did not seem particularly difficult. Besides, it was something he ought to do regardless.
Having made up his mind, he calmly spoke to the woman who had once pulled him out of the abyss, only to bind him once more.
“I swear, in the name of God, that I will protect both of them until the moment my life comes to an end.”