Chapter 271, Himolika Is Delicious (2)

Translator: Hedge

Editor: Lizzz

 

Calm violet eyes moved slowly.

 

Very slowly.

 

But without hesitation, the gaze shifted towards the person sitting across.

 

Chase, who had glimpsed the short steel-blue hair so similar to his own, looked directly into the dark brown eyes so very different from his own.

 

At those eyes more chilling than those of a serpent.

 

Chase did not avoid those eyes in the slightest. He met them squarely.

 

‘If it were me, I would harbour deep suspicions about my identity. Debeullan will be no different, so he will certainly try to probe you to confirm the truth.’

 

The words Kalian had conveyed before coming here had fallen exactly into place.

 

‘You must not waver. If he suspects you, let him suspect. If he does not suspect you, leave that be as well. If you try to hastily remove his suspicions or deceive him, he will become more persistent. Soon enough, news that Zeon and I may be connected will reach him, so until then, just leave things as they are.’

 

This was different from making small wagers about whether it would rain that day by looking at the morning sky. It was different from the bickering that came from exchanging moves over a chessboard.

 

“If you believe there are many similarities between you both…”

 

That was why Chase focused all his attention on ensuring his eyes did not waver even slightly, that he did not hold his breath.

 

“Would it not be good for you to meet him once?”

 

Debeullan’s fingers paused for a moment.

 

Words that meant different things depending on how one predicted the underlying intentions, words that offered no help whatsoever to Debeullan. He saw Chase’s eyes as he uttered such words without hesitation and heard his voice.

 

The smile that had been at his fingertips moved to Debeullan’s face.

 

Predictions passed back and forth with more at stake than a single coin.

 

A battle of wits had begun, with lives placed on the board instead of chess pieces.

 

“Enough. That is not what matters right now.”

 

Debeullan turned his head away from where it had been directed towards Kalian.

 

Although meeting him directly was also an intriguing matter, he decided to temporarily set aside his interest in Kalian until he could make a more accurate judgement.

 

“And do not attend this Noble Council Meeting. Rest instead.”

 

Chase had intended to bring up Debeullan’s illness and his true feelings towards Chase at the Noble Council Meeting. And Debeullan blocked Chase as if he had already read all such thoughts.

 

Coughing sounds continued, and taking advantage of that gap, Chase, who lowered his eyes very briefly to organise his thoughts, opened his mouth.

 

“I understand.”

 

Yes.

 

How could he not know?

 

Chase was not disappointed that Debeullan had not moved according to his wishes. He knew this was not a fight that would end overnight.

 

“Did you summon me to tell me not to attend the meeting?”

 

“No. Rather than that.”

 

Once again, with a *tap*.

 

Debeullan’s fingertip touched the back of his hand.

 

“I simply called you because I was briefly lonely.”

 

He had summoned the Crown Prince of a nation, his own son, and made him wait for an hour. Without acknowledging him once, without uttering a single word, he had kept him seated for an hour.

 

Simply because he was briefly lonely?

 

For no reason at all, just because he was bored.

 

[He’s just trying to hit be down.]

 

He was trying to send Chase to the bottom.

 

Indicating to him, ‘no matter what you scheme, you are ultimately my son. You need to understand that no matter how much you try to escape, you cannot go against me.’

 

“Would that not be acceptable? I am—”

 

“Yes. That would be acceptable.”

 

Chase answered with a slight nod towards Debeullan, who was looking at him with a benevolent face. And he continued to look at Debeullan with unchanging eyes.

 

[As you think. I am your son.]

 

“…For now.”

 

Chase, who had added those brief words, smiled gently.

 

Debeullan’s lips drew a long arc.

 

* * *

 

It sounded like waves holding back a vast sea.

 

It sounded like wind passing through the middle of a forest.

 

*Swoooosh…*

 

Rain was falling.

 

The chandelier hanging from the ceiling swayed in the cold wind blowing in from outside the window.

 

“How fortunate. The rain came after we arrived.”

 

Cold rain was falling in this southern land as well, as if autumn was now approaching.

 

According to Rerik, both Luci when she was younger and Anne now quite disliked getting wet, and thinking about it, Kalian seemed no different. He had always been displeased when it rained.

 

[Could that also be because it felt like being submerged in the sea?]

 

“Yes.”

 

Instead of pointing out that he had ended his words in an ambiguous manner that was neither formal nor informal, Plants simply nodded slightly.

 

The previous day, after finishing their sparring, Kalian had gone straight to bed while Plants had spent the night deep in thought. Morning came and they set off again, returning to Siegfried Territory around late afternoon. They came to the manor, finished bathing, and when they came out for dinner, rain was pouring down, though it was unclear when it had started.

 

“Shall I close the window? You will catch a cold.”

 

Even with a proper meat dish for the first time in a while before him, Kalian was not particularly pleased. He simply ate dinner silently, and when the wind blew, he only said these words.

 

“Leave it.”

 

“Alright.”

 

He was neither angry nor in a good mood. He still acted like a servant and showed concern, yet something was very different from usual. Plants, who already knew very well what that was, leant back in his chair and spoke.

 

“You are not barking today.”

 

“When do I?”

 

“You do.”

 

The younger brother who had barked incessantly was being quite polite today.

 

Kalian, who had been about to say he would leave the table after finishing his meal, looked at Plants and smiled.

 

“Perhaps it is because the rain was coming.”

 

Then he blamed the innocent rain.

 

Plants, who had heard the lie that would not work anyway, simply nodded without another word, then turned his eyes towards the sword leaning against the wall.

 

Kalian, who had been watching such a Plants for a moment, spoke in a quiet voice.

 

“I shall retire first.”

 

Plants nodded, and Kalian rose silently, bowed, and went outside.

 

The one casually wrapped in cloth for lack of a scabbard.

 

The steel-blue sword revealed where the cloth had slipped down was gleaming.

 

Plants’s gaze remained fixed on that sword as if nailed there.

 

In the flickering light, the black letters carved lengthily on the blade rippled together. Looking at it quietly, while it had been his chest that felt stuffy since the previous night, now even his head felt like it was churning.

 

[‘Until you can properly attack.’]

 

Plants was not unaware of why his younger brother was acting that way.

 

He already knew that originally, he had not been unable to aim for Kalian’s heart. To Kyrie, to Dmirea, and of course to Kalian. He had definitely swung his sword aiming for the heart.

 

But in the last sparring match, he could not do so.

 

Even after hearing Kalian’s warning, he did not swing his sword properly. He could not.

 

Now of all times, now. Of all times…

 

At this time when he was about to go to Secritia.

 

So, he understood why Kalian was acting this way.

 

Under normal circumstances, he would not have done so. He would not have spoken or acted in such a pressing manner. If it were not such a time as this, he was someone who would have just quietly watched, and Plants knew this better than anyone.

 

Plants, who had glanced over the table where, as always, not a single flower was placed, rose from his seat and went outside.

 

“Why is everyone not drinking? Surely there is not anyone who does not know how to drink?”

 

“We shall drink when we return to the Royal Palace.”

 

“Your Deputy Commander must have instilled good discipline.”

 

“The Deputy Commander has instilled other disciplines, but as for drinking discipline… In any case, it seems Lady Hill must drink alone today.”

 

Leaving behind the voices coming from the larger banquet hall located next to the dining room, he returned to his room. Then he sat blankly on the sofa and closed his eyes. He thought.

 

He organised his memories, going back through past events to find out why he suddenly could not hold his sword properly, the reason Kalian had gauged but Plants had not yet noticed. With his mind that was not good at forgetting, he went through his memories, day by day, searching for what could be the reason.

 

Cinnastar placed by the sea. Seashells. The sound of waves. Banana trees. The sound of whale calls passed through his mind. He continued thinking, passing through the time he had gone into a rainbow and the time he had watched the sparks from a campfire.

 

He recalled seeing a chicken fluttering in his younger brother’s grasp and being briefly confused about whether that chicken or his younger brother was the beast, and the day he reluctantly entrusted Luci and Anne to Rerik on the day of departure for this place.

 

He remembered the day when, having gone down to the third floor to steal a ring only to find firmly locked windows, he climbed back up to the fourth floor with the firm resolve to just send that Crown Prince a message before leaving the Royal Palace.

 

Going back through his memories and thinking for quite some time,

 

…Ah.

 

He realised.

 

Because he had not prevented himself from thinking any further, the thoughts that had spread without him realising had noticed a certain fact, which he only now understood.

 

Plants, who had risen from his seat, took the steel-blue sword and left the room. Behind him, with a face that showed no hesitation, he opened the door to one of the other occupied guest rooms prepared at the manor and entered.

 

His consideration had all been given to the two cats.

 

The thread-like consideration that remained after giving it to the cats was being used to hide the troublemaking Valkan members from Kalian’s view.

 

“Get up.”

 

Plants, who thought nothing of waking his younger brother who had gone to bed early, called Kalian. Whether he had fallen asleep or not yet, Kalian, who would have gathered his wits the moment the door opened, slowly sat up and answered.

 

“What is the matter?”

 

“Talk.”

 

Kalian raised his head and looked at Plants standing far away at the door.

 

He knew well that Plants was unexpectedly impatient and needed to say what he had to say right away. However, he also knew that Plants was also unexpectedly gentle, and if told he was tired and to talk tomorrow morning, would agree and turn back.

 

“Sure.”

 

So, he simply answered without complaint and rose from his seat.

 

Plants turned and went outside, climbing up to the rooftop. It was the place where Kalian and Sleiman had conversed when they first came here. Although there was a tea table with a roof, Plants deliberately walked to an empty spot without a roof or garden and stood there.

 

Kalian, who had been watching the falling rain with a displeased face, walked over to stand beside him with soft footsteps.

 

“Please speak.”

 

A still stiff voice, slightly different from anger.

 

A voice even more sunken because he had been brought out into the rain after washing well, eating well, and was about to sleep.

 

“It is not because of me, but because of you.”

 

To wake someone who had eaten well and gone to bed early, bring them out, and then tell them ‘it is not because of me, but because of you,’ and to understand the meaning of those words. That person could only have been Syspanian. Even for Kalian, those words were too difficult to comprehend.

 

Fortunately, perhaps knowing this point well himself, Plants added an explanation while facing Kalian, who was looking at him with a puzzled expression.

 

“My younger brother seems to have misunderstood.”

 

“What misunderstanding do you speak of?”

 

“He seems to think I have become reluctant to stain my sword with blood.”

 

“That does not seem to be a misunderstanding.”

 

“Why do you think so?”

 

“From around the time you met that spy, you became more thoughtful each time you held your sword, and yesterday you could not make a single proper attack, could you?”

 

Plants did not answer, and Kalian continued.

 

Turning his gaze from the bright red eyes to look beside him, he saw that a Silent barrier was already surrounding them.

 

“The person who said he would go find that Debeullan.”

 

Plants slightly lifted the sword he had brought to show it as he answered.

 

“I understand what using a sword means without being told. I understand that the sword is heavy. I decided to learn it knowing this, so I have no intention of avoiding it.”

 

As Dmirea had said, it was an object that divided life and death.

 

He had never learnt it while forgetting that. He had never been deluded into thinking he would spend his life without ever staining this sword with blood, only continuing with pretty sparring matches. He had known from the very beginning that it was an object that would ultimately harm someone, whether to protect or not, and had never forgotten it for a single moment.

 

“So, it is not because of that spy.”

 

Plants, who had been recalling the last sight of the spy swallowing the poison in his mouth, frowned at the corners of his eyes for a moment. It was indeed not a pleasant enough memory that he had lost sleep for several days. However, it was definitely not because of that incident that he had hesitated with his sword during sparring.

 

He might not sleep for several days again if his sword were stained with blood, but he had no intention of putting down his sword because of that.

 

“Then what reason made you do so?”

 

“You. I think I know what you saw at the Marquis Family Residence.”

 

Plants had noticed what Kalian had seen at Evan’s residence that day, and whom he had thought of that made him stop his sword.

 

“Was it not you who should not have let your guard down before putting away your sword?”

 

“Are you saying that because of the child I saw at Marquis Beurisen’s residence that day, I thought of you, and for the same reason, you could not attack for fear you might not be able to block my sword either?”

 

When Kalian, whose face showed he now grasped what Plants had been thinking, was about to say something more, Plants spoke as if driving in a wedge.

 

“For fear of staining the same sword with the same blood twice.”

 

It meant he could not attack for fear that with that very sword, Plants himself might injure Kalian again. For fear that the old memories would rise in Kalian’s mind and he would confuse then with now and let go of his sword.

 

“Ah…”

 

Kalian, who no longer knew what expression to make, bent down briefly. He knelt and sat down.

 

He could not gauge at all whether he should laugh or cry.

 

Was this not the same as a cat saying it had retracted its claws during a fight with a dog much larger than itself because it was worried the dog might get hurt?

 

He knew that such thoughts from Plants were truly an absurd and laughable story, yet he could not laugh. Because he knew well how the previous Kalian had thought of Plants, and because Plants, who knew that fact as well as he did, coming to such a conclusion was not strange at all. So, he could not laugh.

 

“I shall explain.”

 

Having said this, Kalian raised only his head instead of standing up.

 

He looked up quietly at the pea-like eyes of his older brother, who had half-noticed what Kalian had seen that day and made a completely different guess.

 

“Speak.”

 

“Ririe. That child’s name.”

 

He spoke of the child he had seen at Evan’s residence.

 

The child whom Dmirea was now protecting.

 

“As you thought, she does resemble you.”

 

For several years after coming to Chermil Palace, Kalian had never gone outside. Partly because he was too young, and partly because the maids caring for Kalian had not let him out, saying it was dangerous. Then one day he looked outside the terrace and thought he wanted to go to that lake.

 

Not so much because he felt stifled, but simply because the sparkling lake suddenly seemed so pretty.

 

So, he secretly went outside.

 

No. He tried to go outside.

 

When he secretly reached the only staircase in Chermil Palace, he saw someone coming up. Flustered, Kalian turned the foot he had been about to step down and went up one floor instead.

 

And he met his older brother for the first time, standing at the end of that corridor.

 

“The colour was different, but the hair tied back, the face, the eyes. She greatly resembled how I first saw you. So, I was startled, that is true. Being startled is most accurate.”

 

Because he saw Ririe appearing at the end of the corridor exactly as he had looked then, the memory of that day jumped out for a moment and startled him. Being startled was correct.

 

“But, stopping my sword was not because of that. Of course, I cannot say it was completely unrelated, but there was a somewhat different reason.”

 

Having said this, Kalian brought up another story.

 

Words he had not been able to convey to Chase, whom he had sought after being injured. He slowly spoke of the real reason he had stopped his sword.

 

He conveyed how seeing Ririe and recalling Plants from that day had made him think of another child of about that age. He also informed him of what he had done to that child. He told the whole story without hiding this time, including why he had done such a thing and because of whom.

 

While kneeling and sitting in the rain.

 

Looking up at Plants standing beside him, then looking ahead again as his eyes closed from the falling rain, he spoke without bothering to hide it.

 

This time too, Plants listened to all those words.

 

“That is why I stopped my sword. It was a difficult reason to explain, so I asked you to let it pass.”

 

“…I see.”

 

Those would have been words he could not have said to Chase or Kyrie at the time. So, knowing it was a story being brought out for the first time to someone, he simply listened with a face that did not frown once. He listened for him.

 

“You were worried about such things?”

 

The answer that used to come back sharp as a knife did not come this time.

 

Kalian, who laughed quietly, stood up properly and continued speaking.

 

“I wanted to first let you know that you do not necessarily have to cut something with that sword, but we ended up going first to a place where you might have to cut something.”

 

“I know.”

 

“If such a situation arises, I would prefer you not to lower your sword first because such thoughts come before action.”

 

“I know that too.”

 

“And I am not someone who will die twice to you.”

 

At the sudden words, Plants looked at Kalian for quite some time.

 

Kalian, who had said something he would never have said before, added one more thing.

 

“Your younger brother is rather good with a sword.”

 

“…I know.”

 

“Of course.”

 

A mischievous smile appeared at the corners of Kalian’s mouth.

 

“You are too weak for me to make mistakes against.”

 

Seeing his grinning younger brother, one corner of Plants’s mouth curved up for the first time in quite a while.

 

Now he was now barking informally.

 

Even if Plants pointed it out, that impertinence would probably never be corrected in his lifetime, but as an older brother he could not just let it be. So, he was troubled about what to address first but could not easily point out one thing first.

 

So instead of words, he simply extended his arm.

 

*Clang!*

 

In the rain pouring down refreshingly, three swords clashed again.