Romanoff Dukedom: Repentance

"What should we do?" Fluger asked as he exhaled through his loosely pursed lips, "In the first place, why didn't you tell us right away, Ivar?"

Ivar, who was covering his face with his hands, immediately sat up and glared at Fluger. He then stood up and walked towards the young man in a haste, stopping a couple of inches away.

"Fluger, are you putting the blame solely on me? It's not like I'm the only person who discovered that Erwin Pelt was in possession of that ability. Ulysses and Aaviren heard our conversation."

"That's not what I meant. Don't twist my words!"

"Twist your words? No, I'm doing no such thing. I'm only stating the obvious. You're putting the blame on me."

Frustrated, Fluger retreated towards the couch and sat down. In front of him, Ulysses and Aaviren were doing their own thinking. A silence, on the verge of its breaking point, encompassed their ragged and shallow breaths.

Herkel, in the meantime, had no words to say. He hadn't been informed of what had just happened in the Eschira Forest. As a consequence, he was only left to piece together the bits of complaints that came out of his comrades' mouths.

For a good hour, none of the young men said a word.

The quietude ended upon the entrance of a visitor who the members of the Valk League never expected to pay them a visit. They all hurriedly rose from their seats and went to the door to greet the Duchess.

Herkel was about to do the same thing, but the Duchess beckoned him to stay on the bed.

One of the maids procured a chair for the Duchess and placed it beside the bed. On the other hand, Fluger, Ivar, Ulysses, and Aaviren chose to stand on the side of the bed opposite the Duchess.

They bided for the beginning of her speech with rapidly beating hearts. In truth, they had already anticipated that they would be getting a punishment of some sort. The gravity of their sin was simply unforgivable.

"It has been a long night for everyone I presume." The Duchess said as she looked at the appearance of the young men afore her.

She noticed how dirty their garments were, being that they had stayed inside the forest for hours on end.

"Yes, Duchess Romanoff. We have been contemplating our actions and are ready to receive penance for them." Fluger responded as the spokesperson of the group.

"Hmm, I admire your readiness. Don't worry. The Grand Elders will decide later as to what your punishments would be. It will be worthwhile to have a rest before hearing the verdicts."

"We appreciate the suggestion, Your Grace. However, we won't rest until we're assured of our fate. Also, we're waiting for Ius."

Rather than addressing the matter about her son, the Duchess gazed at Herkel. She immediately remarked on the wound on his arm.

"Herkel Avret, is that the wound you've sustained from the person who assaulted you yesterday?"

Herkel nodded right away, responding with, "Yes, Duchess. I also have scratches on my abdomen and some parts of my body."

"Certainly, it has that maid's scent. However, I don't believe that she was the one to inflict you these wounds."

"I beg your pardon, Duchess? I can't smell that maid's scent from my wounds at all. The reason I suspected her was that my scent was on the wound on her arm. It was the same area where I wounded my assailant."

The Duchess only nodded at Herkel's explanation, seemingly not taking his words into account. She proceeded to stand up and went near Herkel. Duchess Freiyana grabbed his wounded arm lightly and carefully removed the bandages.

Once the bandages had been removed, the Duchess inspected his wounds thoroughly. She heeded the length, width, depth, and hypothesized on what came with the attack that Herkel's wound was still bleeding.

"Herkel, it hasn't stopped bleeding for a while, right?"

"Yes, Duchess."

"Tell me, why was it that your assailant wounded you in the arm? Your vital spots are in your torso."

"I remember my assailant saying that it was revenge because I bit their arm. That was their reason. It sounds foolish and I'm aware of that."

At that point, the Duchess tightened her grip around Herkel's arm. The young man flinched, feeling the sharpness within his wounds and the warm blood oozing out of them.

Subsequently, the Duchess did something that made all of them cringe.

Duchess Freiyana put two of her fingers inside one of Herkel's wounds and dug through it. The scene looked as if the Duchess was pulling something out that was dislodged inside Herkel's arm.

In all honesty, Herkel wanted to scream. Still, he hampered his desires by biting his lips down. The sharpness of his teeth drew blood from his dry lips.

In less than no time, the Duchess took her fingers out. Clipped in between them was a piece of a broken claw. It was only the size of a human fingernail, so it wasn't that morbid to look at.

When the claw was taken out, Herkel felt relieved all of a sudden. It seemed as if he could finally take a proper breath once again. The young man hurriedly looked at the Duchess, urging her to speak about what she had just found.

He knew that it was a part of the claw of his assailant. But what he really wanted to be informed about was how the Duchess knew that something like that was in his arm.

"Herkel, the reason why your wound isn't healing is because of poison. Of course, you couldn't have known since it's nearly scentless. However, as you all know, it's my specialty as a beast." She then pointed at her nose, "I can detect the slightest of smell that even the Grand Elders can't."

"But how, Duchess?" Herkel raised yet another query, greatly interested in what the Duchess' thought process was.

"It's simple, Herkel. I'm aware of your blood's scent."