Side Story - Certain Duke Story

My name is Kismet Aquarea Kadaklan from the Duke Kadaklan family. As the one and only successor and the remaining descendant of the Kadaklan bloodline, I need to follow our family rules and fulfil the promise that our ancestors made. My father, the previous Duke Kadaklan told me that we needed to protect the promise because it was the only way to prevent the destruction of this world. 

There are a few rules that we need to follow but only three that we absolutely need to do. The first one is to never discriminate against other races, even if it is a race from another continent. Our family believe that all of the races in this world were created by the Goddess so we should not discriminate against them. The second rule is to not betray the country and protect the Labyrinth city from the people who want to destroy it. The last one is to find our fate person.

When the first time I heard the rules, I asked my father about how could I find my fate person. My father laughed and said that I would understand when I celebrated my tenth birthday. I don't understand why he said that until my tenth birthday. 

The night when I became ten, I had a dream. In that dream, I saw a woman sitting beside the lake. When I come closer, my heart suddenly beats faster. As I got closer, I saw her black hair and black eyes looking at the lake. She had a sad expression on her face as if she was having trouble. When tears drop from her jewel-like eyes, my heart feels as if it is being torn apart. 

I moved faster in her direction as I only wanted to stop her tears and make her smile. My gaze was unable to move from her face. But for some reason, I couldn't get closer and was unable to reach her side. I kept running as fast as I could but still, I couldn't move closer to her direction. The more I saw her cry, the more I felt as if being torn apart because I was unable to do anything to help her. Even though I want to wipe her tears and cheer her up.

'I want to know how beautiful her smile was.' Kismet thought as he still tried his best to go to her side.

But then a dark cloud came from the lake and swallowed her. She seems to accept her fate and closes her eyes as if accepting her fate. I tried to save her but before I could reach her, I woke up from the dream. From that day forward, I often secretly sneaked out of my house to look for the woman in my dream. I want to help her and I will do anything to be able to find her but nothing works.

Two years later, my father sent me to the capital to attend the Magic Academy that all of the noble's children should attend when they were twelve years old. At first, I felt happy because I couldn't find her in the West so I wanted to look at the other territories. 

'Will I be able to find her in the capital city?' Kismet excitedly thought about his journey to the Capital City as he hoped that he would meet her.

When Kismet arrived in the Capital City, he quickly applied to the Academy and shared my dorm room with the third prince because of the Academy rule that every student should stay in the dorm and share their room with another student. It was the rule that every student should have follow without looking at their status as they were equal in the Academy.

No one knows that the two of them will become the Emperor and Duke in the future. Because their families are distant relatives, they were able to get closer to each other. Even at that time, everyone knew that he would be the future Duke because of his unique white hair. As the Duke Kadaklan title could only be inherited by the person who inherits the previous Duke Kadaklan's white hair and power. And there will be only one child who has it in every generation. 

But also because of it, no one dared to treat him like a friend but there are a lot of people who trying to get closer to him with an ulterior motive. But he didn't care about them and kept focusing himself on finding the woman from his dream. For the people around him, he seems to be a cold and arrogant person who always looks down on them. He is also a talented person who always takes the first place without trying his best.

He often sneaks out to the city to look for the woman in his dream but he is still unable to find her. One day the third prince who went to the city to play saw him when he was looking for the woman in his dream and asked him about her. Kismet told him the truth about her and asked the third prince to help him to find her in the future. The third prince agrees as he thinks of becoming an adventurer in the future when his brother becomes the Emperor. 

Kismet realized that the third prince, Leonhart is a person who does not have any ambition. And he never judged others because of their status or appearance without knowing them. For Kismet, Leonhart has the ability and behaviour to be a good Emperor and he is also well-liked by the commoners. But sadly he was not chosen by the holy artefact, the holy sword, Albina as the next Emperor. 

From the secret record from the first Duke Kadaklan, the sword, Albina has a special power. It was to choose the suitable person to be the next emperor and to give the protection to the Empire. But only the suitable person will be able to use the full power of the sword. But none of the previous emperors were able to use the full power of the sword except for the first Emperor, Pendragon. 

As he thought about the holy sword, Kismet remembered about the secret records of the first Duke Kadaklan that he found hidden in a secret room that he accidentally found out when he looked around the castle. He remembers that it describes about the first Emperor, his blood brother and the Saintess who has black hair and eyes that he is sorry because he was too powerless to help her even when he knows about her bleak future.

When he read about it, he remembered that the woman in his dream also had a similar appearance. But he quickly denies it because the woman in the record has died a long time ago. And he also vows to himself to not make the same mistake as the first Duke Kadaklan who let his precious person die without being able to do anything to help her. That's why he wants to find her, the woman from his dream to protect her or save her from any problems that come to her.

Kismet kept looking for his fate person, the woman in his dream but he never found her even after more than a decade he kept looking for her whereabouts. Even he took a journey to go to other territories or the surrounding countries. But he never gave up and kept looking for her. Finally, when his father died and he needed to stay in the West to protect the territory, he stopped his journey.

At that time, Kismet decided to look for her in different ways. He started to enrich his territory and make it to be a good place where a lot of jobs were offered and a place without discrimination. It makes a lot of people come from different territories and countries which raises the probability for him to meet her.

But even after all of the things that he did, none of it allowed him to be able to meet her. He almost felt hopeless as there was a possibility that she had died from what might happen to her. But Kismet never stops looking for her as he often disguises himself and looks around the Labyrinth City, the most populated place and the centre of the West territories.

Kismet often looks around the city while disguised as a Duke's informant and checks the condition around the city. Because of that, he became the acquaintance of the Guild Master of the adventurer guild, Hudson. They quickly become friends because of Hudson's easygoing behaviour. Kismet also becomes closer to some adventurers. Until one day when he came back from his trip to the Capital City, Hudson told him about a genius child that came to this city.

Kismet became interested and secretly went to the Red Dawn restaurant. At first, he was suspicious of the genius little boy that he met in the restaurant. But then he met a woman that similar to the woman in his dream. Only her hair and eye colour are different from the woman in his dream. As he started to try to get closer to her, he got interested in her son, the genius little boy, Ludger.

As time goes by, Kismet feels that he needs to protect both of them. He secretly uses his authority as a Duke to protect both of them and defeat the dangerous people in black robe that seems to targeting Ludger. He hopes that one day Ludger will be more honest and trust the people around him.

Then that thing happened. Katarina, his fate person suddenly collapses. He feels that his mind has gone blank and his heart for apart and becomes hard to breathe. When he took her to her room, Ludger pleaded to let him meet the Duke to save his mother. After talking about it with Ludger, he understands that Ludger also read something similar to the first Duke record and remembers that he met with the first Duke Kadaklan soul before. 

After talking about it, he decided to show his real identity and save his fate person. After he saves Katarina, Ludger's behaviour becomes more closer to him. Ludger still hide something from him but as long as both of them are saved, he decides to not think too much about it.