Lucia

Hugo was angry and at the same time, he was in disbelief. A forced laugh spilled from his lips. This was a result of his arrogant thinking that a mere doctor wouldn’t lie to him and deceive him. If Hugo had judged Philip to have the slight chance of becoming a threat, he would have already killed him.

Even though Philips’s family had the only ‘vision’ that continued the Taran bloodline, they were a family of doctors for generations and only had one perfunctory title. Due to being partners with the Taran family for so long, Philip’s family was rather isolated.^[1]

Philip had no family and his relationships with people were very shallow. Who knew how many secrets the man had, for he didn’t even have an assistant. Due to these factors, Hugo took him lightly as nothing but a doctor.

Keeping Philip alive was a punishment for Hugo himself. Philip was a medium to maximize his guilt towards his late brother and his disgust for himself.

There was also the issue of owing his late brother’s life to Philip, so with a grand talk of mercy that he wouldn’t take Philip’s life personally, he left him alone.

‘The old man never knew fear.’

He pretended to be obedient but said everything he wanted to say. And so whenever Hugo met Philip, he always felt like filth. The mere fact that Hugo suppressed all that and endured it, showed that he showed no end of generosity to Philip.

‘Why did he lie?’

Hugo threatened Philip that if he didn’t tell the truth, he would let him rot in jail. Philip making up a lie to avoid that situation was something plausible for anyone to do.

Looking at it emotionally, it was unscrupulous conduct, but on the logical side, Hugo judged that it was possible. No one would know anyways if Philip lied about a secret that no one else knew the truth to, and the only person who could prove it was Hugo, but because Hugo was immensely averted to it, there was no way of knowing if Philip had told a lie.

‘Even if I accept that his lying in that situation is plausible, why did he mention blood, of all things?’

Hugo was on the verge of losing his mind when he captured Philip and dragged him away. His family, everything, nothing was as they seemed, and he was consumed by extreme anger. So when Philip said blood had to be consumed, he believed it like that and while his disgust with the blood flowing within him was magnified, correspondingly, his anger towards his family was pushed down.

So, if Philip had analyzed Hugo’s mental state at the time and purposefully told a calculating lie…

‘He has to be called cunning and smart.’

Hugo used to only think of him as an annoying old man who talked about the family bloodline every time he opened his mouth. Hugo revised his assessment of Philip.

‘He could be a more dangerous bastard than I thought.’

Hugo was well aware that his personality wasn’t one to easily relax his vigilance towards people. But in the end, he relaxed his guard with Philip. It meant that Philip was careful in everything in order not to trigger the boundaries of Hugo’s vigilance.

‘What is the ‘vision’? Even if I catch him and ask him again, I don’t think the old man will obediently tell me but…that said, I don’t care about the vision. The question is, how could she get pregnant? What design did the old man have in this…’

[The day you look for me will come.]^[2]

Hugo, who was resting his chin on his hand, suddenly lifted his head. The words left by the old man which he had dismissed as nonsense, came around to him with new meaning.

‘When we stayed in Roam…’

Hugo remembered Philip attempting to approach his wife by enticing his wife’s doctor with a cure. When he thought about it, it was strange. If Philip’s purpose was purely to treat a patient, it was enough for him to tell Hugo.

Even though Hugo hated the very sight of Philip, he would definitely not have ignored the implications behind Philip asking to treat his wife as a patient. However, at the time, Philip acted as if he must avoid Hugo’s eyes.

‘The treatment might have been an excuse. The old man wanted to meet Vivian. Why?’

He didn’t know what Philip’s family’s vision was, other than the fact that it continued the Taran family lineage but considering that Philip had the time to try something with his wife, something didn’t add up. Still, the attempt failed. His wife did not meet Philip.

But Philip was a persistent old man. More than anything, Hugo acknowledged the old man’s tireless obsession with the Taran bloodline. It was enough reason for him to suspect that Philip didn’t give up and continued to pull tricks.

‘Is it food?’

On a second thought, it would be hard for Philip to pull anything regarding the food. The food ingredients were thoroughly supervised by Jerome and there was no way Jerome wouldn’t know if something suspicious was added inside.

The only possibility was that Jerome was in leagues with Philip. But that possibility was excluded.

Hugo was skeptical about people but once he trusted them, he didn’t doubt them until there was confirmed evidence of their betrayal. Actually, rather than saying he trusted people, it was more accurate to say he trusted in the way they handled things that were entrusted to them.

Jerome was meticulous and thorough. Hugo trusted how Jerome handled his work.

‘Assuming the old man pulled something, then he predicted its success. He thought my wife would get pregnant.’

[The day you look for me will come.]

‘Why did he say that to me?’

If it was Philip’s wish that his wife bore a child, his purpose could be achieved even if he kept his mouth shut. Rather, saying that was more like Philip confessing that he had done something to his wife.

‘Was he trying to do something to the baby when it’s born?’

There would be no instance of Philip’s bullshit about Damian’s bride being realized, even if the child was born. That was something Philip should also know.

Philip’s agenda was not the baby. His wife’s surroundings were under impenetrable security. Philip almost lost his life when he snooped around the ducal residence and Hugo heard about it. The old man wasn’t someone who would attempt such a reckless thing.

A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

‘He’s asking to meet, isn’t he?’

Hugo smiled icily.

‘It sounds like he’s calling me.’

Hugo broke out laughing, in spite of himself. It was a laugh filled with thick murderous intent.

“Okay, old man. Let me hear what drivel you’re on about.”

Hugo called Dean.

“Do you remember the village we used as a base while subjugating barbarians before we hurried back to the capital?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“There was a ducal doctor who was staying in the village at the time. Philip. Remember him?”

“Yes, I know who it is.”

“I don’t know if he’s still in that village but if he isn’t, search the entire vicinity and drag him here. Bring the old man here at the fastest speed possible, regardless of his circumstances. You only need to spare his life.”

Upon receiving his orders, Dean immediately left for the north.