Chapter 81, Those Steps (1)

Translator: Hedge

Editor: Lizzz

 

Sillike.

 

And, Evan Beurisen.

 

Which one would be first?

 

When Rmain went out of the palace, saying he would go ‘hunt’, taking along all the Caera Knights including Allan, Sillike, as if she had been waiting, summoned the Captains of the Roan and Caera Knight Orders.

 

Naturally, both of them knew very well what the Pavel Knights had recently experienced. Because of this, they were being cautious in their own way, trying not to catch Sillike’s eye. Yet Sillike had personally sought them out.

 

In the end, the two Knight Order Captains, unable to refuse the command, visited Sillike’s greenhouse. And heard exactly what they had expected.

 

“The founding ceremony of the Valkan Mage Order is this coming Monday.”

 

If they would do as Sillike instructed at that event, she would adequately compensate them, or so she said. However, she did not reveal what she would ask them to do or what the compensation would be.

 

The two Captains first answered that they needed time to think, then left the Heisia Palace with deep concern filling their faces.

 

“This is incredibly troublesome.”

 

“I feel the same.”

 

She had not disclosed what she wanted them to do. Sillike merely said it was not a difficult task.

 

The Caren Captain’s voice flowed out, mixed with a deep sigh.

 

“She asked for an answer by tomorrow morning. What are you thinking of doing?”

 

The Roan Captain was no different. He shook his head and said. “Normally, it would be right to follow only the Marquis’s orders. But this is the Royal Palace. How can we disobey the Queen’s command?”

 

They were from the Royal Knight Order. Therefore, they were people who should listen to Rmain’s commands. However, in their conversation, Rmain’s name was not mentioned anywhere.

 

To them, the only question was: would they listen to Sillike or would they follow Evan?

 

That was all there was to it.

 

In the end, they parted without reaching a conclusion and headed to their respective offices.

 

And both discovered a letter placed on their desks. The sender was also the same.

 

It was a letter delivered from Marquis Evan Beurisen.

 

Letters from the same person delivered to the two Knight Order Captains.

 

The faces of the two Captains, each in their own place, read the letters with rapidly moving eyes. They both had equally grave and rigid expressions.

 

* * *

 

At the same time, there was something that should absolutely not have been forgotten.

 

Something which was clearly Kalian’s mistake.

 

*Meow!*

 

Kalian should have informed ‘her’ whose rose garden it was.

 

No matter how distracted he was with attending the hunting competition, he should have definitely told ‘her’ about it before departing.

 

*Meow, meeow!*

 

At the very least, he should have mentioned that the cat must never step foot in this place.

 

Therefore,

 

The fact that Hina, whom Kalian regarded more as his Little Sister, got entangled with Plants, who was basically a scoundrel in Kalian’s eyes.

 

It had to be stressed that the events that played out were entirely Kalian’s fault.

 

* * *

 

It all began with a conversation during breakfast on the day of the hunting competition.

 

Kalian, who had arrived at the dining hall first and was sitting alone, immediately asked Plants as soon as he entered:

 

“I heard you were suffering from a severe cold. Are you alright?”

 

In fact, Plants was in better condition than on any other day. Far from having a cold, he had not sneezed once.

 

But instead of asking why Kalian was barking nonsense so early in the morning, Plants simply nodded and replied.

 

“I’m in no condition to hunt.”

 

When someone was so overtly telling him not to come to the hunting competition, what more could he say?

 

Plants had already guessed why Kalian was rushing the hunting competition. Therefore, he also understood to some extent why he should not be there.

 

A hunting competition was arranged to divide the Nobles into anti-Beurisen and pro-Beurisen factions, where Kalian would persuade and Rmain would intimidate.

 

Plants was someone closely connected to Beurisen. Therefore, he was in a position where he would have to inform Sillike if he detected this strange atmosphere. He could not relay Kalian’s information to the Beurisen side, yet he also could not avoid relaying no information due to his ties. So, the message Kalian had given him was to not get caught in between them and get hurt. In short, stay comfortably in his room.

 

“I will explain everything to His Majesty, so please rest well.”

 

Since the servants were watching, no more detailed conversation took place. Plants returned to his room.

 

Thanks to this, the hunting competition that Rmain had prepared for Plants was being held without Plants, who had suddenly announced his absence on the day of the event.

 

And that afternoon.

 

Plants, who had stayed cooped up in his room all morning without moving, got up from his seat. Then, after changing into simple clothes, he left the Chermil Palace. He intended to go to the training ground prepared in the rear garden. He thought it had been long enough for others to believe he had recovered somewhat from his cold.

 

*Meow!* Then, he caught sight of a silver-white ball of fur that he had glimpsed outside his window that morning, diligently running off. If he had only seen that much, he would not have paid it any heed, but shortly after, he also saw a maid with the same colored hair going in that direction.

 

Unfortunately, it was the time when Randel would be in the garden.

 

*…Hah.* Plants moved his feet.

 

It was to clean up after the trouble that Kalian’s cat would cause.

 

Regardless of the reason, at this point in time, there absolutely must not be a confrontation between Kalian and Randel.

 

* * *

 

Since it was a path for the Princes’ walk, that place could not be entered alone by servants or maids. Because of this, Hina had never been to the garden and had not properly heard what kind of place it was.

 

When the kitten escaped from Hina’s arms and ran away, Hina had first tried to find Merlin rather than go straight to the garden. Then, she remembered that Merlin was attending a meeting in place of Ian.

 

Since she could not lose the cat the Prince had given her in less than a day, Hina had no choice but to head to the garden. Until then, she had thought all the Princes had gone hunting, so she planned to quickly enter, find the cat, and leave.

 

*Meow!* Beyond the artificial lake, she heard the cat’s cry.

 

And following that sound led her to encounter them.

 

[Ah…]

 

The First Prince kneeling in one corner of the garden, tending to roses, and the cat beside him that seemed to have been playing in the dirt. And the Prince’s guarding attendant who was roughly holding the cat while staring at Hina with a face full of wariness.

 

“Who are you?”

 

Hina was startled and bowed.

 

[This is bad.]

 

Randel’s senior attendant would also have attended the meeting.

 

The guarding attendant, who had come out with Randel in the senior attendant’s place, asked. Though they might have met a few times, he did not seem to recognize Hina.

 

“Did I not ask who you are?” Randel’s guarding attendant was very different from Kyrie.

 

He was big, looked scary, and his words were threatening. Hina was not given time to decide whether to show sign language or take out the notebook from her bosom to write before the attendant pressed her.

 

“This must be your doing too. How dare you bring such a thing to this place?”

 

The guard attendant asked while holding up the cat took a step toward Hina. Finally, Hina tried to take out her notebook to explain the situation.

 

But the sound of footsteps from someone who had just arrived at this place stopped Hina’s actions.

 

*Thud*

 

Plants walked between the guard attendant and Hina, and stood there.

 

Hina, startled by her view being suddenly blocked, raised her head, but then bowed again after seeing the pale emerald-colored hair.

 

[This is really bad…!] Not only had she run in front of Randel for all to see, but now Plants had appeared here as well. Regret swept over her like a tide that she should have waited for Merlin to come out of the meeting.

 

“We meet again.”

 

As if determined to rewrite the royal etiquette, Plants, who had come to the garden alone without any attendants, slightly lowered his head and delivered a greeting to Randel that he had arbitrarily abbreviated. Then, after briefly looking at Randel’s guard attendant, he opened his mouth.

 

“Not recognizing the Third Prince’s exclusive maid. I wonder why you keep a guard whose eyes are faulty.”

 

Though he was speaking about Randel’s guard attendant, there was no hesitation.

 

It was a rebuke for not being able to distinguish even Prince’s exclusive maid, who was not just any other maid working at Chermil. The look clearly revealed his incomprehension of how such a person could serve as a guard.

 

The attendant bowed to Plants.

 

“I apologize.”

 

Plants did not respond further to him. Instead, he glanced back at Hina standing behind him and said:

 

“Take it away.”

 

He was obviously referring to the cat.

 

Hina, who had bowed in greeting, took back the cat almost forcefully from the guard attendant’s hands and quickly left the garden. The ignorant kitten meowed in Hina’s arms.

 

Around the time when the cat’s sound could no longer be heard, Randel, who had slowly risen, opened his mouth toward Plants.

 

“You told me to go to the hunting competition. Yet, you are here?”

 

Since Plants’ rudeness was nothing new, he made no mention of it. After all, if it had been a personality that could improve, it would have been fixed long ago.

 

“That’s how it turned out.” Plants gave only a simple answer, and Randel did not even nod.

 

“I came not knowing it was time for Elder Brother to be here. I will take my leave then.”

 

Soon, Plants said this and turned around. This was because he knew that talking with Randel for too long would only serve to reveal his true feelings. Randel, who was staring at Plants’ back, remarked, “Seems like the two of you have grown much closer.”

 

Plants’ feet stopped in place.

 

Even if the guard attendant did not, Randel definitely remembered Hina. Thus, he had to guess why Plants would bother to visit the garden at this time. Why Plants had helped Kalian’s maid.

 

Naturally, he wondered if Kalian and Plants had joined hands.

 

Plants closed his eyes firmly and then opened them. Anyway, once Randel started to suspect, there was no way to deceive him further. And if it was Randel, he would not report this to Beurisen.

 

Therefore, instead of asking what relationship he was talking about, Plants only gave an answer laden with mockery.

 

“Are you jealous of us?”

 

At those words, Randel sat back down. And answered in a quiet voice:

 

“How could that be?”

 

To Plants, those words sounded like he was actually glad that one competitor had been reduced. Plants left the garden without any more words.

 

And then, he saw Hina standing in front of the Chermil Palace again.

 

Since she seemed to have been deliberately waiting for him, Plants briefly turned his gaze toward Hina.

 

“What?”

 

Then, Hina handed him the notebook she had been holding. When he looked at its contents, there was a short sentence written:

 

Thank you for helping me.

 

Plants knew that Hina was Kalian’s maid, but only now did he realize that she could not speak. However, since he had no intention of saying anything else about it, he merely nodded and returned to his room.

 

That night, Kalian, who had returned from the hunting competition, also heard about the incident. However, he did not show any different reaction to it.

 

Thus, a day had passed, which seemed both quiet and not so quiet.

 

And Monday was soon about to come.

 

The day of Valkan’s founding ceremony.

 

The day that many had been waiting for, each for their own reasons, was approaching.