CASSANDRA: The Unfavored Princess-Chapter 131: Solution

Lord Bentham could still remember what had happened years ago.

His mother was the Grand Duchess, loved and respected by everyone. Lord Bentham also knew how much his mother respected and cared for her people.

When his mother had married the Grand Duke she was the happiest and then they had him. A son that both of them cherished.

The Grand Duke and the Duchess were happy. Their family was completed. Everyone was happy to see Achard grow up slowly.

The Grand Duchess had her lady in waiting who had followed her to the Dukedom. Achard still remembered her as a loving and caring nanny. She was like his second mother who was always with him, giving him food and serving all his needs.

Achard had also witnessed how his nanny had fallen in love with one of the soldiers and married him. Their love was sweet but was soon tested. Achard knew that his nanny was pregnant but still took care of him. Even the Grand Duchess was a little worried but his nanny was always smiling as she took care of him.

The nanny’s husband went to war and before the nanny had her delivery she got the news that her husband had lost his life. Achard had seen his nanny cry for days when she was alone. He had personally witnessed how his mother used to give her moral support.

When his nanny was about to give birth it was his mother who looked after her friend. Achard saw the child for the first time when his mother brought it outside. A small baby who had wrinkles on its face. It’s pink skin looked so tender and Achard wanted to touch it but he was scared of hurting the baby.

"Don’t be afraid. Look, the baby is happy to meet you. Say hello to the little angel," Achard’s mother said to him with a smile. It was then, that he looked at the baby’s eyes. A beautiful shade of blue.

Achard had said then that he would protect the baby. After all, she looked like an angel. Achard touched the child’s hand as he saw her holding his finger tightly. An exciting feeling rose in his heart.

And then from that point on Achard visited the baby daily. He saw the change in the baby’s face with his own eyes. Her pink skin had turned white as her hair changed color slightly. The baby was growing and Achard had found a friend.

It was a regular day. The sun was shining brightly that day and a soft wind was blowing. It was that day when he was searching for his nanny that Achard heard something.

"You cannot do that. She is a child." The Grand Duchess was saying it to her husband in desperation.

"She is the one who we have been waiting for. She has to die." The Duke said in a sharp tone but he moved towards his wife as he touched her face. "I know you care for the mother and child. But we have a responsibility."

The Grand Duchess moved the hand of her husband as she moved back in shock. "I do not care about the responsibility. You are talking about adopting her to develop her powers only to kill her later."

"She needs to absorb the powers. We are all doing it for one common goal." The Duke said in a soft tone as if trying to make the Grand Duchess understand.

Achard saw her mother’s eyes filled with water as she did not reply back. Maybe she knew that talking with her husband, for now, will be useless.

Achard saw his father leaving the area as he walked out before saying in a soft tone. "Tell your lady in waiting to step out. If we find her coming in between our work, she might lose her life."

Achard stood at the side, hidden silently. He witnessed his mother dropping down on the ground crying her heart out. Achard could understand how his mother was feeling. She saw her daughter in the child.

Achard cannot help himself but walk towards his mother. The Grand Duchess saw her son and realized that maybe the child might have heard everything. After all, Achard’s face was blank and pale.

"Mother ..." The young Achard said as he rubbed his mother’s eyes.

"How can he say that..... She will protect her daughter.... She has lost everything else.... She is living for her daughter ..." The Grand Duchess was crying as her tears refused to stop. Her voice trembled but soon she was determined. "I have to protect the child. I have to protect her. She is innocent. How can they think of making a child absorb so much power?"

The Grand Duchess was murmuring but Achard did not understand anything until it was night time.

The Dukedom was chosen. The Grand Duchess’s lady in waiting had lost her life. She was killed brutally when she struggled to protect her daughter. But something more had happened. The Grand Duchess and the child had gone missing.

Achard saw his father’s anger for the first time. The army was sent to search all the land but no one was found.

The Grand Duke was losing his patience as his wife was missing. And after a few years he got to know that his beloved wife was seen in the Elvira Empire.

The Grand Duke was angry. Many years passed but before Grand Duke found his wife, someone else did. The village the Grand Duchess was hiding was in the Elvira Empire but someone there understood that the Grand Duchess was a dark mage and had killed her.

The sorrow was beyond imagination. The whole Dukedom was in shock but the Grand Duke knew who to blame. He blamed the child. The Grand Duke felt that if his wife did not care about a mere lady in waiting, if she did not care about the daughter then maybe she would have been alive now.

The child was the one who was to blame but before he could kill the girl, Duke Bentham came bringing a deal. The girl had a tint of gold in her hair and can be passed as a princess. If she would live in the Elvira Empire and absorb all elements then their struggle would be easy. After all, the Vivere Kingdom had no elemental mage apart from darkness.

But the Grand Duke did not want to do that. He offered his son so that he could pay attention to the child. Watch her grow up and be powerful enough so that she could be used as a sacrifice. Thus Duke Bentham adopted Achard into his family.

Even after so many years, Lord Bentham had not forgotten what he had witnessed. The Grand Duke still blamed Princess Cassandra for his wife’s death while he himself had killed her mother.

"Have you been brainwashed in the Elvira Empire?" The Grand Duke said in a dull tone bringing Achard back from his memories.

"I have not been brainwashed, I am not a child father and I know what I am doing."

"So are you going to protect her?" The Grand Duke raised his eyebrows as he said in a sharp voice. He did not want to see his own son in such a position.

"You know mother had raised her up as her own daughter. You can see a part of the mother in her too." Achard said in a dull voice ignoring his father’s words completely.

"She was not her mother." The Grand Duke drank a mouthful as he continued. "I do not wish to have this discussion again, Achard. You are my son and you have a responsibility. You cannot be distracted."

Lord Bentham shook his head as he smiled. "Who said I am distracted? I can never be distracted. I know who I am and I am aware of the things I have done. You do not have to tell me otherwise, father."

The Grand Duke’s eyes narrowed. "She knows you are my son. I don’t think it will be far when she will know about everything. We need to be more careful from now on."

Lord Bentham’s eyes widened before it relaxed. If the fifth Princess really knew that he was Grand Duke’s son, then it explained the behavioral changes Princess Cassandra was showing.

"I understand. I will inform Prince Carl and Princess Teimei." Lord Bentham drank the remaining liquid as he placed the glass on the table before he got up. "We need to move fast."

The Grand Duke saw his son walking away. He could only sigh. The Grand Duke was proud of his son, but he was also a little worried about the misunderstanding his act of sending him to the enemy country might have created.

Looking at Achard had made him remember his wife. The beautiful memories they had formed together over the years. Over time, the Grand Duke found it hard to look at Achard, which is the reason he sent him to the Elvira Empire.

The Grand Duke sighed as he closed his eyes. "Maybe that was not the best solution."