Irene felt her heart skip a beat before racing furiously. The idea that Kaiser could one day die had simply never crossed her mind.
Her eyes widened as her face, usually calm, literally fell apart under the shock.
At that precise mont, a wave of mories overwheld her: the sensation of his hands on her skin, the warmth of his body against hers during their passionate embraces, and the taste of his kisses that made her feel like she existed for the first ti. The monts spent with Kaiser succeeded one another in her mind.
Julian was a little disturbed by this reaction that he judged totally exaggerated for a simple relationship between allied houses. He observed her with curiosity mixed with unease.
Julian did not understand why the proud duchess of the Frostvine duchy suddenly seed on the verge of collapsing like a person in full mourning.
" You know him that well? " he asked finally, with an expression of incomprehension on his face.
Irene did not answer imdiately, because her throat seed to have contracted to the point of forbidding her the slightest sound. Her plump lips, which she loved so much to offer to Kaiser, trembled uncontrollably, and she had to bring her slender hand to her mouth to stifle a sob that threatened to burst out.
The tears then began to flow, ruining the mask of indifference she had worn for fifteen years. The pain she felt was... Indescribable. After all when a spirit had bound itself to a mortal, it was for life...
" Kaiser... dead? It is not possible... he cannot leave us like this... " she murmured trembling.
’ There are so weird things here...’
Julian continued to observe her, his usual resentnt toward this mother he judged too submissive to his father fading in front of Irene’s obvious devastation. He understood at that mont that the bond between Kaiser and his mother was much deeper than it appeared. There was in his mother’s eyes a gleam of absolute distress that he had never seen, not even when his own father, Duke Frostvine, mistreated her in front of him.
" Mother... what was really between you? " he asked, his voice losing its usual aggressiveness.
Irene closed her eyes. She could no longer hide behind pretenses. The world she had built was collapsing irrevocably with the disappearance of the man who had made her feel alive, desired and powerful for the first ti in years.
" Kaiser was... he was everything I was not allowed to have, Julian, " she began, her voice broken by grief. " He was my only light in this golden prison that is my marriage to your father... "
’ Orh... The whore...’
Julian remained petrified, unable to formulate the slightest coherent thought in the face of this brutal revelation. The idea that his mother could have had a secret affair with his academy rival and his friend left him speechless.
Irene paused, and her fingers trembled against her dress. Then, she raised her head and planted her gaze in Julian’s.
" I know you must hate even more " she said. She took a deep breath before continuing: " This affair with Kaiser, it was not born from a whim. It started because, in the darkest monts of my life, he alone was there. "
She clenched her fists to try to control the trembling of her voice.
" We know what it feels like to live with your father when alcohol burned his blood... I would return to a house where I never knew if I was going to be beaten or simply humiliated. Sotis both. And there was no one to defend . " Her voice rose slightly, inhabited by anger contained for years.
She raised her eyes to the ceiling, thinking about how her relationship with Kaiser had begun, and a small smile ford on her lips.
" Then it happened. While I was suffering and my world seed empty, he fulfilled , " she said with a delighted smile, which left Julian speechless. " The love he gave was everything I could desire. He treated in a way no man had ever done. "
Hearing her words, Julian appeared sincerely surprised, because he knew very well the type of individual Kaiser was at the academy: an arrogant manipulator, a seducer without scruples.
The fact that Kaiser could be a bastard but that his mother spoke of him as a savior left him literally speechless. On the other hand, a part of him was beginning to understand: after all, his father, Duke Frostvine, had never shown the slightest ounce of love for him or for his mother, preferring to beat them.
Julian doubted a little the absolute sincerity of Kaiser’s feelings, fearing that his mother had been just one more pawn on this madman’s chessboard, but he chose to keep his doubts to himself upon seeing his mother’s tears. Who could be insensitive to his mother’s tears? Even if Julian was really ashad that this dog had fucked his mother.
" This kind of dickhead... he was giving advice on Norah while doing that? " Julian said to himself.
" He made feel like a woman, Julian... " continued Irene while wiping.
" You can stop, I do not want to know the details. You are adults anyway... I have nothing to say."
She then stood up, heading toward the window that overlooked the outside.
" If he is really gone, then my life no longer has any aning... " she murmured to herself.
Although Kaiser was his rival, Julian could not help but feel a hint of respect for the one who had succeeded where he himself had failed: giving his mother a reason to smile. Consecutively to this realization, he had to beco strong at all costs.
" If he is dead, I will avenge him, " declared Julian with cold determination. " And if he is alive... I will make sure you can see him again, but for that I must beco much stronger. "
Irene turned toward him, her gray eyes shining with imnse gratitude. She wiped her eyes then returned to sit down. Seeing Julian’s determination, she could only yield.
" Very well, I will therefore reveal everything to you about my past. "
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