Duty-Bound: Chapter 44
...xXx...
They were expecting Princess Hotaru's reply regarding the poison. However, they received the Lord of the East's response instead. The poison did indeed come from their land and, after further investigation, was meant to be used for their royal family. For that, the Lord of the East was truly grateful to her. If she hadn't consulted this matter with his daughter, he wouldn't have known that his family was in danger, too. Because of her help, he agreed to assist her.
From what the lord knew, that elder was Ruka's uncle. The man was exiled from their family for unknown reasons. Just like any other land, matters within noble families were not discussed. Thus, he couldn't find more details except for the banishment time which was coincidentally when hers was. With nowhere to go, the man had come and proved himself worthy to become an elder.
Just recently, the elder had allied himself with one of the nobles. Before Lady Yuka became their lady, that noble family was the closest one to the royal family. Conflict between nobles and the royal family was not unusual, but no one knew the details except for the head family. Through this information, one thing was sure: her twin's death was meant to cause a rebellion.
He gazed at her. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah…"
He knew she was lying. Knowing what she was thinking, he sighed. By tradition, any ruling lord or lady would always have a second child to prevent rebellion. Her twin wouldn't have died if she was there. Though that might be true, he couldn't let her blame herself over something she had no control of.
Before he could voice his concern, she said, "Don't worry."
Her eyes showed nothing but determination. "I have better things to do than blame myself."