The Archduke's Songbird-Chapter 197: A Realization Too Late

A layer of gloom formed on Jerrick’s face at that question. His reasoning seemed fair when he was eighteen. But he was wrong. So wrong.

"Maybe I am not excluded from the Theodulf curse. I shouldn’t have married Jessamyn. I made, will make a terrible husband and I..." he paused. He then shook his head. He couldn’t imagine his life without Jessamyn by his side. "She’s hiding something from me. It bothers me."

William didn’t budge. He had a valuable piece of information for exchange. He found it stupid of Jerrick to think Jessamyn even had something happening in her life without Jerrick knowing. He was around her all the time.

Even if Jerrick thought Jessamyn was hiding something, he should ask her rather than talk to him about it.

"What happened when you took her out?" William asked. Jerrick looked pitiful and he wanted to help him.

"Nothing... Everything was going fine when she suddenly started crying.

"That’s weird..." William too was perplexed. He thought he knew women but turned out he didn’t know much about women.

"So, why did you marry the friend of the woman whose heart you broke? You do know that even sisters end up hating each other if the other eye the man they fancied? It has started wars! Heard of the war of the meek?"

Jerrick let out a deep breath. "Because I was stupid. I thought since Jessamyn could love Imogen, I could too."

Jessamyn was the only person he could love. He loved everything about her and found no fault with her. Jessamyn too didn’t have many people close to her. He thought since Jessamyn found enough qualities in Imogen to love her, he thought he could find those qualities to love her.

"What?" William almost dropped the glass in his hand. He wanted to say that was the dumbest thing he had ever heard, but then he relaxed and his eyes misted with concern. "What did she tell you? That woman with one eye?" William asked.

"She?" Jerrick took his seat. He didn’t want to leave anymore. Since he revealed the shameful secret he kept in his heart, he wanted to get what he was promised.

"That Jessamyn will die in my arms because I love-loved her," Jerrick said.

"So, you tried to love Imogen, hoping the curse passed to Imogen. Do you even realize what you did? You never stopped loving Jessamyn." William looked at him pitifully.

Jerrick let out a sigh as he realized it. If he thought of pushing a curse onto another woman, he was not planning on loving that woman wholeheartedly. He was only trying to love a scapegoat. The one he truly loved all the time was the woman he tried to spare an untimely death.

How come I didn’t realize it for this long?

"I never stopped loving Jessamyn," Jerrick said, rubbing his heart.

After a decade, he found a wave of peace in his heart as he voiced out the truth. The numbed pain in his heart that pressed him down as a weight, lifted as the realization hit him.

"And you are a dog for ruining Imogen’s life but do not spare her your guilt. She did worse," William pulled out a neatly folded paper from his pocket and gave it to Jerrick.

Jerrick didn’t see the usual smugness on William’s face for doing something. He looked rather somber. Jerrrick got more curious to know what was in the paper.

He opened the paper and it was written in code. It was a code only they used among themselves, so William wrote this only for his attention.

"I wanted to give it to you after the wedding, possibly after you reach Roche, but I do not think you have time. You should know so you can plan ahead," William said.

Jerrick spared a confused glance at William and then focused on the paper. As he decoded the writing line by line, his face paled.

"I double-checked. This information is true," William said seeing Jerrick’s fingers trembling. "At least, now you know whom you love."

Jerrick stared at the paper for some time, re-reading it to confirm he read it all correctly the first time. He then poured a couple of glasses of drinks and gulped them down.

"Thank you..." Jerrick said as he stood to leave.

"What are you going to do?" William asked.

"Don’t know..." Jerrick rubbed his forehead.

William stood up and patted Jerrick’s back as he hugged him. "It’s going to happen. You know it. Be prepared."

Jerrick nodded and left.

-----

Jessamyn sat holding Lady Cordelia’s hands as she processed everything.

"This is exactly what happened. There is no use talking about whose fault it is. It happened. I wanted to look you in the eye and tell you that I am not happy about this," Jessamyn said.

She said she wouldn’t apologize to Cordelia. She wanted to explain. Jessamyn wanted to cry seeing the disappointment on Cordelia’s face.

Suddenly, the door banged open, and in came Prince Louis. "I was told you were here!" He said, his voice raised, looking right at Jessamyn.

"I wanted to talk to her," Cordelia stepped to the front and blocked Jessamyn.

"Your Royal Highness," Jessamyn did a curtsey. "I wanted to explain everything to Lady Cordelia."

Prince Louis was clenching his jaws. Cordelia cleared her throat. "It is true. I was kidnapped. You might remember the last time when you came to visit me and my mother sent you away saying I didn’t want to speak to you. I was kidnapped that day. It was Lady Jessamyn—The Purple Hood who saved me that night. I owe my everything to her."

"Noble ladies are carried in a separate wagon and they were kept safe usually until they reach Altania. They usually sacrifice noble virgins to the Altanian god. Thankfully, Lady Cordelia was saved from such fate by the grace of the moon," Jessamyn said, hoping that Louis got that Cordelia’s virtue was intact.

"Usually?" Prince Louis furrowed his brows.

Jessamyn’s throat went dry. She was speaking the truth, and she did so with too much truth.

"There is no certainty in your words. You didn’t know when you saved her?" Prince Louis said.

"She didn’t know she had saved me until I told her, Louis," Cordelia said. "I was not the only woman she has saved. I was taken as a sacrifice. If Lady Jessamyn didn’t save me, they’d have burnt me to death. Me, and many like me. Some would have faced a fate worse than me."

Jessamyn looked at Cordelia and then at Louis.

Prince Louis stared at Jessamyn and she met his eyes. She couldn’t figure out if she believed them at all.