The Duke's Unwanted Wife

As the meeting progressed, they began to note Natalia’s continued absence was a good thing. If she needed to intervene, she would be called. During this time, she decided to gather more mana with Madaline. Instead of using a circle this time, they used a more complex formation Natalia had to draw once more with blood. As she was a transcendental, it wasn’t exactly hard but it wasn’t a piece of cake.    

    

Her body had become hardened as a mortal shell so it would take a hard blow that would normally shatter a mountain to break through her skin. But she had one handy object to do the trick, Marvis’s teeth.    

    

“Your relationship is frankly disgusting and creepy.”    

    

“Madaline, if there’s any other way, you are welcome to try.”    

    

Madaline rolled her eyes and continued swinging her leg, watching Natalia drain her blood. He was no longer needed so Marvis relegated himself to sniffing Madaline. She ignored him the entire time and he just lay at her feet when he was done. The flaps of the tent parted and a steward walked in.    

    

“You have a visitor, your grace.”    

    

She looked up and gave him a blank stare. He immediately averted his eyes.    

    

“I thought I asked not to be disturbed.”    

    

“It’s…the Royal consort of Ducroft, your grace.”    

    

“Oh? Send her in.”    

    

Madaline snapped her fingers and the blood collected was immediately hidden. Madaline still remained in the room, still swinging her legs like a normal child. She seemed to find Marvis’s tail amusing, floating and playing around with it using magic.    

    

When Alana came in, Natalia was sewing her wound back shut. There was no expression of pain on her face like it wasn’t even her arm. Alana stood by the entrance of the tent awkwardly and waited for Natalia to speak. Natalia, who kept her eyes on what she was doing, didn’t say anything as well, waiting for Alana to speak first. They stood like that for several minutes.    

    

“How can I help you, your highness?” Natalia asked without looking up. Instead of replying, Alana turned to Madaline. Her hollow black eyes turned golden for an instant with shiny vertical pupils. Alana instantly looked away.    

    

“How did you know how to summon the fairy mother?”    

    

Natalia looked up and raised an eyebrow.    

    

“You came here to ask me this?”    

    

“I came to confirm with my own eyes that you were alive. I don’t need anyone to tell me it’s you. Why are you still alive, Natalia?”    

    

“If you want to kill me, your highness, you’re more than welcome to try.”    

    

“That attitude, that’s exactly what I hate about you.”    

    

“Funny, I remember you asking me to be your friend. Changed your mind already? Don’t worry, I won’t take offense. It must’ve been hard to keep your head low and hide your killing intent. I understand because I’ve been there before. But I don’t know why you want to kill me. You have the man you want.”    

    

“You told him I couldn’t give birth!”    

    

“He was bound to find out eventually. Surely you can’t blame me for that. No, you already have. The both of you have a shared delusion that I am somehow the reason your lives are ruined even though he is now king and you are his royal consort. If you wanted the position of Queen, you can claim it, you know.”    

    

“You know damn well I can’t.”    

    

“You know what? You’re right. You aren’t qualified enough. You don’t know or have what it takes to become a Queen. You’re just some bastard that survived because an egomaniac supposedly fell in love with you. Isn’t it?”    

    

“How dare you….?!” Alana raised a hand, trying to slap Natalia.    

    

“You can attempt to hit me and try to kill me but bear it in mind that I can and will retaliate. Then I will keep you in a state where you’re alive but you cannot do anything but stare helplessly. Then you can see how easily you can be replaced by the man you love.”    

    

“And you’re supposedly better off?! You left him for a mutt!”    

    

“Say Mutt one more time and I will make sure you cannot speak again,” Natalia threatened with fake calmness. Alana felt chills creep up her back.    

    

“You being alive will ruin my life!”    

    

“Then all you have to do is make sure other people don’t know I’m alive. If you’re trying to become Queen, surely you can do that much, right? I mean, Lord Orland and Lady Borisque knew I was alive but didn’t say a word to any of you. The entire kingdom of Ducroft still don’t know I’m alive. If you’re capable, you can simply make me disappear in their hearts.”    

    

“What’s your goal?”    

    

“You didn’t know? My goal was to survive. I already achieved that goal and I will continue to fight for my survival every single day. I have no grand ambition of taking over the continent or getting revenge on you and your husband. You may not believe it but I’m a transcendental. If I really was furious, I would’ve already started destroying Ducroft from inside out or would’ve gone the straight route and just attacked you both. You two don’t mean that much to me for me to consider killing you both. I have other important things to focus my energy on.”    

    

Natalia stood up and started backing Alana into a corner. Where there was no place to escape to, Natalia took a lock of Alana’s hair and twisted it in her hand. She could feel Alana tremble from head to toe.    

    

“I won’t attack you first. But if you decide to attack me, I won’t hesitate to take any semblance of peace and comfort you have away from you. Don’t worry, I’ll extend an olive branch. I added a nifty little spell in this barrier. Once everyone leaves this island, they will forget my name and my face, including you. You can forget about everything like me telling your husband you cannot bear children and you can even forget I’m alive. That’s my gift to you.”    

    

Natalia stepped back and looked at her arm. It was already starting to heal. Her attention was drawn to Marvis staring intently at her. She could tell he was asking her if he needed to step in but she shook her head. Just as she was about to walk away, Alana released a grunt of pain.    

    

Natalia caught her body before it hit the ground. She lay her body on the bed and stared at it curiously. Not a moment later, a steward burst into her tent.    

    

“A guest arrived for you, your grace but they suddenly collapsed. What should we do with them?!”    

    

“Bring them in,” Natalia replied with a faint idea of who the guest was. Madaline finally stood from the stool she was sitting on and stared at Alana.    

    

“She is contracted to Leilin.”    

    

“That isn’t very surprising. But if she could channel Leilin’s powers, why is she this weak?”    

    

“I cannot tell the reason but I can tell it’s because she didn’t actively use Leilin’s powers. Unlike you, she doesn’t have the need to die to rid herself of the influence of another god and it would be easy for her to relearn magic. My guess is that she just decided not to.”    

    

A few guards came into the tent carrying the prone body of a woman. With her hood out of the way, Natalia immediately recognized Adelie. They were placed beside each other on the bed. She was fairly certain the guards couldn’t see it because it just appeared when Adelie was brought it and their hands passed through it like it wasn’t there, but a red thread appeared on their wrists, binding the two together.    

    

“Madaline?” Natalia asked. Madaline had on a look of surprise. She reached forward and could actually touch the thread. As she did, the two groaned but they didn’t open their eyes.    

    

“Remember when I said Nataroth’s soul was divided into three?”    

    

“I do. Are they the remaining two pieces?”    

    

“Not exactly. They do have a piece of Nataroth’s soul which can explain why they might also have memories from their past lives, the same situation you’re in. However, unlike you who is a reincarnation of Nataroth, they only have a piece of her soul because their souls belong to the gods Nataroth absorbed.”    

    

“So, they have a vendetta against Nataroth and now against me?”    

    

“Perhaps. With the way they are acting, it could be possible. But the consciousness of those gods was not fully formed so it’s hard to tell. Because you became a transcendental and have fully accepted the piece of Nataroth that is in you, the forces in their body are fighting harshly against each other so when they are close, it starts to rip the very fabric of their soul.”    

    

“Can I absorb the piece of Nataroth in their soul?”    

    

“Technically, it is impossible. To do that, you would have to either kill them or have the expertise of a god. Pulling it out by force will cause unforeseen problems. The best thing to do now is to keep them apart until they can control the forces themselves and expel the piece of Nataroth in them. Because it has fused so strongly with their soul, that would still be hard.”    

    

“Can you replace that piece of soul with another soul?”    

    

“That is a possibility but what could you possibly replace a piece of soul with?”    

    

“If I’m correct, souls are made with world order. If I can rewrite the formation, I can somehow swap out the souls. I don’t know what they will lose but…”    

    

“You manage to come up with more dangerous suggestions every time I say no. don’t do anything like that and just wait till I return with Quene and Leilin. If there’s a way, those two will know best.”