Chapter 677: Dilemma

"You are very dreamy," the Duke said finally. "Grand Mage at your age. That would be a first in recorded history."

"It would," Julian agreed simply. He let Kraven’s mouth form a quiet smile. "It sure would."

He held the Duke’s gaze for a moment, then tilted his head slightly.

"But I’m certain that isn’t what brought you here."

The Duke looked at him.

He was silent for a long moment.

When he finally spoke, his voice was measured and careful as if he had prepared for this countless times in advance.

"Yes." A pause. "Have you changed?"

He stopped. Something moved across his face—a brief hesitation.

"I mean," he continued, "your thoughts. About your mother. And your sister."

Julian didn’t answer immediately.

He looked down for a moment, as if he were thinking it through. In truth, he was pulling from Kraven’s memories carefully, finding the perfect way to answer the question.

Then he looked back up.

"Hmm." He let the sound sit for a moment. "I’ll admit I was immature. I thought everything was bent to my will. That wanting something strongly enough was justification enough for pursuing it." He paused. "I was wrong about that."

The Duke watched him without speaking.

"I’ve experienced things here that I never would have encountered back in the castle," Julian continued. "Things that put a great deal into perspective. The thoughts you’re referring to—they’ve become what I suppose you’d call a fleeting memory. Something I no longer want to return to."

He held his father’s eyes steadily.

"I won’t pretend I’ve become a different person entirely. But the person I was when you sent me here is no longer inside me."

Another silence.

The Duke studied him the way he had at the beginning. The judgmental look as if he were uncertain.

"You sound different," the Duke said at last.

Julian smiled faintly. "You said I seemed changed."

"I did."

"Then perhaps I am."

The Duke raised an eyebrow. His eyes moved across the hall.

"What about the women?" he said. "You have made this place into something resembling a brothel."

Julian let out a quiet chuckle.

"I admire women, Father," he said simply. "What exactly is wrong with being surrounded by them?" He tilted his head slightly, letting the smile stay on Kraven’s face. "I’m fairly certain you were the same way at my age."

The Duke looked at him.

For a moment, nothing.

Then—unexpectedly—the Duke chuckled.

It was brief and fleeting, but it was genuine. The first genuinely unguarded thing the man had produced since Julian had entered the room. He didn’t reply to the comment. Simply let the chuckle settle and then set it aside.

"The King is coming to visit our duchy," he said.

The words were placed randomly, without any respect or ceremony to the king.

Julian went still. His attention sharpened immediately.

"What?" he said.

The Duke held his gaze without blinking. "You heard it correctly. The King is coming to visit. I want you to return to the castle."

The room felt quieter than it had a moment ago.

"I want you present," the Duke continued. "You are still an Astran. Whatever else has passed between us, that hasn’t changed. And it appears—" His eyes moved over Julian once more with that reassessing quality, "—that you are in a reasonable state of mind to conduct yourself appropriately."

Julian said nothing immediately.

He was thinking.

The king’s visit to the Astran duchy was not a casual event. Kings did not travel to their vassals for pleasantries. There was a reason behind it. And where the King went, his court followed. His advisors. His guards. His inner circle.

And if the corruption Julian had witnessed in Kraven’s memory had reached as far as the crown prince—

Then the Servant of Death will be close.

He let the silence run for exactly as long as Kraven would have let it run, then looked at his father.

"When do we leave?"

Relief crossed the Duke’s face.

"Tomorrow morning," he said.

Julian nodded once. "Then I’ll have the staff prepare."

He rose from the chair without hurry, straightening Krave’s coat.

The Duke watched him stand.

"You have changed," he said again. But this time it wasn’t an observation. It was something closer to a conclusion.

Julian looked at him for a moment.

"Get some rest, Father," he said quietly. "Tomorrow will be a long day."

He stepped down from the platform and walked toward the hall doors.

Behind him, the Duke said nothing further.

Julian kept walking.

The chandelier light stretched his shadow long across the floor ahead of him, and as he moved through the doorway, one thought ran beneath everything else.

The Servant of Death.

Face to face, at last.

**

He moved through the corridor with the same unhurried pace he had maintained all evening, nodding once to a guard he passed without slowing. Kraven’s memories supplied the route automatically.

He reached the bedroom and pushed the door open.

Two maids were stationed inside.

They turned at his entrance and bowed immediately. Both were mature — of course they were — and remained exactly where they were, waiting for instruction.

Julian looked at them for a moment.

"Leave," he said.

They bowed again and fled out without question. The door clicked shut behind them.

He crossed the room and fell onto the bed.

He landed on his back and stared at the ceiling.

What should I do?

He said it to himself without sound.

He turned the situation over carefully.

The opportunity was real. That much was undeniable.

The king’s visit to the Astran duchy would draw the court. The Crown Prince would almost certainly be present — the future king attending his father-in-law’s household during a royal visit was not optional. And where the Crown Prince went, the thing wearing his face went with him.

The Servant of Death.

Face to face. In a controlled environment, surrounded by people, neither of them could act openly without consequences. It was exactly the kind of proximity Julian needed to learn anything useful.

This might be the only chance he got.