The Protagonist's Father

Chapter 5

"Commander!"

I awoke to the sensation of pain all over my body. I found myself leaning on someone's shoulder, the one who awoke me with his outcry.

But why is he calling me 'commander'?

The man was practically dragging me, carrying half my weight, as we ran through a battlefield. Impaled men were littered across the ground, dyeing the grass a dark red.

There was a group of soldiers ahead who parted, allowing us to dash through. Allies, it seemed.

I was brought to an infirmary tent and laid down as doctors immediately came to tend to my wounds. As they did so, three men clad in thick armor came up to me.

Left hand on their heart and a bow, they saluted. "Commander!"

"Duke Marvon! What happened to you out there?!" The short haired one, waved his hands around in panic. He grimaced as the doctor pulled out an arrow from my shoulder. Surprisingly it didn't hurt, I just felt... numb.

The one who carried me here, pushed him aside. "Sir, you fainted out of nowhere. Luckily I was near you or those Edgradians would've got to you." He pat his chest in relief.

These three were of my closest subordinates.

No, not 'mine', but belonging to the body I now inhabit.

Leonard Marvon. A powerful man in his late thirties.

Small details and thoughts that surfaced his mind were available to me.

In fact, he was still present and in control of this body we've come to share. He spoke out loud, his voice hoarse and low, carrying a cold chill.

"I'm fine. Conner, go take command of the field. Make sure to finish driving the enemies off the kingdom's land."

A foreign voice rung in my ears. I could feel, hear, and see everything Leonard did.

But I had not an ounce of control over this body.

"Yes, sir."

The third knight, who remained quiet from the start, quickly saluted and left to do as ordered. There was no time to waste, we were currently in the midst of war after all.

Though it should be ending soon. And then we go back home, to the Ducal estate.

'To the mansion that no longer holds her presence.'

His wife, Annabelle. I could feel his sorrow and longing for the love of his life.

Memories of their time together surfaced in his mind, revealing themselves to me. He met her at the winter royal ball more than a decade ago. He fell in love at first sight. And she fell for him as he persistently courted her. But she was only a mere countryside barons daughter.

After fighting day in and out with his family, they finally relented. After some convincing and fulfilling their conditions, the main family and the vassals gave their blessing. The wedding ceremony was grand and the talk of the year. It so perfect and magic like, all the ladies of the noble society sighed in envy as they watched the beautiful couple take their vows.

Unfortunately, their happiness wasn't meant to last.

Shortly after they got married, Leonard's father suddenly passed due a relapse in an old injury. His elderly mother became bedridden from grief, months later her weak heart gave out.

After mourning their deaths, the vassals immediately urged Leonard to succeeded his father. The large territory and the Marvon Knights couldn't be without a lord. And so he took over the grand duchy of the Astron Empire.

Annabelle, who had a sickly disposition, would not have been unable to live in the cold North of the Marvon territory; therefore, he built a grand estate in the Kingdom's capital for her. He even requested his widowed aunt and female cousin to keep her company as he had to leave for long periods of time to attend to business and territory matters.

He grew busy ruling over the vast territory under the Marvon Duchy. He barely had time to sleep, he simply closed his eyes to quickly rest. The young Leonard trusted that his love would be well taken care of by his relatives and servants.

'I was foolish.'

Leonard conveyed mentally as we laid asleep in the infirmary. The doctor had finished patching us up and demanded we rest. Leonard took this as an opportunity to show me his past.

Annabelle, constitution as fragile as a flower, grew sickly as the noblewoman gossiped about her. Rumors of her husband growing tired of her and abandoning her in the capital as he stayed in the main estate within the Marvon territory with a mistress.

They even dared to harass her when instigated by Leonard's maternal aunt. Even the mansion he created solely for her became another means for his aunt to torment her. The servants dumbly followed Leonard's overbearing aunt as she was the one who ruled the house in Leonard's absence. Leonard who finally noticed Annabelle's withdrawn attitude and sunken gaze, was suddenly summoned by the old king.

The neighboring kingdom had struck the border again, taunting the king by massacring the villages by the boarder. Under the kings orders, Leonard was to immediately venture on to the battlefield. Under the kings royal decree, Leonard set off East to the nations edge to confront the enemy. There, he worked along side the Royal army to repel the invading kingdom.

Two years of exhausting hard work was met with tragic news.

'An accident, they said.'

I could practically hear him scoff in anger.

Annabelle died by drowning. They said she fell from a boat during what was meant to be a leisure outing in the lake.