Chapter 103, This Time (5)

Translator: Hedge

Editor: Lizzz

 

Kalian was resting his chin on his hands, elbows propped on his knees.

 

The long fingers of his free hand tapped on the table.

 

*Tap tap tap…*

 

Arsene’s office was quite simple.

 

There was not even a single painting or a plant. Just a desk, chairs, a sofa, and a table. In contrast to this, the office was quite large, making even quiet voices echo considerably.

 

Thanks to this, there was a small echo at the end of the table-tapping sound, but Kalian did not mind it much. That was because there was no one else here.

 

Right now, Kalian was waiting for Arsene.

 

While waiting, he was thinking about Randel.

 

“What is so urgent?”

 

Kalian chuckled as he murmured this.

 

He had not expected that the day his head would be filled with thoughts of Randel would come so quickly.

 

Thinking about it, it was not difficult to understand why.

 

It was just that Kalian had not been giving it much thought.

 

Randel, who was three years older than Kalian, was now eighteen. Not much time remained until he turned twenty. So, a decision would be made before then.

 

Whether he would be pushed out of his position and have to leave Cyriesus.

 

Whether he would become the Crown Prince and remain in the Royal Palace.

 

Or whether he would die…

 

For these reasons, Kalian, who had decided to get more  understanding of Randel’s movements, smiled bitterly once more.

 

*Knock knock.*

 

At that moment, along with the sound of knocking on the office door, Arsene returned. As he came in and sat across from Kalian, he had what appeared to be two or three documents in his hand.

 

“What is that?”

 

“Commander Manasil asked me to deliver this to you.”

 

Arsene answered as he handed Kalian what he was holding.

 

“It’s the list of Priests that Tansyll has sent to be dispatched to Cyries, along with a list of Priests who were previously stationed in Cyries.”

 

“This is from His Majesty, not from Master?”

 

“Yes, that’s correct.”

 

There was no need to compare the two lists side by side.

 

All the Priests who had been here before were included in the list of Priests who were scheduled to come now. This meant that Malcom Chetish was also on the list of Priests who were supposed to visit.

 

“He’s on the visitor list but isn’t actually present.”

 

The Mages’ method of gathering information was, quite unmage-like, very crude in some ways. It was obvious that several Mages had been hiding around them to confirm that there was no Priest named Malcom. Whatever method they used, they would have eavesdropped on all thirty people calling each other’s names. That was how they confirmed that none of them were called Malcom.

 

So Euria’s information was definitely accurate.

 

“I almost missed it.”

 

In truth, if he had not noticed something was strange, he would not have employed such methods.

 

Soon, Kalian raised his head to look at Arsene again. The documents were what Allan had asked to deliver, but Kalian had given Arsene separate instructions. It was related to why Arsene now had dark circles under his eyes again.

 

“How is the thing I asked you to check?”

 

“Yes, Your Highness. I watched the Marquis’s house all night, but no one came or left.”

 

Kalian had thought that since he had joined hands with Plants, Randel might reach out to Evan.

 

However, since he could not meet Euria right after the banquet, he had hurriedly asked Arsene, who was at Wilhelm Hall, for help. By now, Euria’s people would be carefully hidden near the Marquis’s house, checking on who came and went.

 

“It’s certain that the Priests are fake, but there’s no sign of them meeting with Marquis Beurisen…”

 

Kalian took a sip from his teacup to organize his thoughts, then looked at Arsene and spoke again.

 

“Please relay a message to His Majesty, that I have a favor to ask.”

 

“Certainly. What would you like me to convey?”

 

“That I would appreciate it if he could ask my older brother Randel if he knows anything about this matter.”

 

“You mean right now?”

 

Arsene asked with a puzzled face.

 

Since having started arguing with Plants, Arsene’s unnecessarily formal way of speaking had been changing little by little. In the past, that question would have been much longer.

 

[Come to think of it, when Arsene attacked me in the past, he had been speaking informally. Could that also have been related to Plants?] At this sudden thought, Kalian silently laughed.

 

After checking the time, Kalian nodded and gave a slightly delayed answer.

 

“Since no special schedule has started yet, His Majesty should have plenty of time to talk.”

 

“I apologize. I asked not because of the time, but because you still don’t know Prince Randel’s intentions. Isn’t it too early to reveal to Prince Randel that we’ve noticed something suspicious?”

 

“You mean about those Priests’ identities.”

 

“Yes, that’s right.”

 

Soon, a smile resembling Plants’ appeared on Kalian’s face.

 

It was a sneer implying that he had roughly figured out Randel’s intentions.

 

Seeing this, Arsene made a disgusted expression.

 

It was because he thought Plants must have taught Kalian something strange after meeting him so many times.

 

Unaware of Arsene’s inner thoughts, Kalian held up three fingers. Then, folding them one by one, he explained.

 

“Surprisingly, they could be real Priests. Or they could be spies. Or they could be assassins. Or else.”

 

Having said that much, Kalian shook his head and said to Arsene.

 

“It’s easier to assume they’re one of these three.”

 

Actually, the hidden fourth option was something he had thought of but found it to be a bit of a stretch, so there was no need to mention it to Arsene.

 

“Anyway, it’s difficult to narrow down the range of possibilities based on my guesses alone about what he’s planning to do with them. So, I’m just going to make him tell me directly.”

 

“Are you setting another trap?”

 

“That’s what I’m good at.”

 

Was it not the most interesting thing in the world, seeing what gets caught in Kalian’s traps? Because of this, Arsene’s eyes were immediately filled with interest.

 

“He takes good care of his grandson, buys him diamonds, and sends him salt. I can’t just stand by while he repays my kindness like this.”

 

Hearing this, Arsene looked confused. Kalian was referring to the King of Tansyll, not Randel.

 

Arsene asked with an anxious face.

 

“Prince… are you planning to take down Tansyll?”

 

Kalian answered with a bright smile.

 

“I hate war. So, this time, I’m planning to avoid it if possible.”

 

For a moment, Arsene heard this not as Kalian being unable to take down Tansyll, but as him not doing so because he disliked war.

 

Well. It was Kalian after all.

 

Setting a big trap was just a bit complicated. It occurred to Arsene that Kalian was not unable to start a war, not even when he was only a Prince.

 

Anyway, lost in such thoughts, Arsene missed the significance of Kalian saying he planned to avoid war ‘this time’ and moved on.

 

“I’m just warning him to think about what might happen to his Bloodline if he keeps ignorantly challenging me like this.”

 

Seeing Kalian’s expression as he said this, Arsene briefly realized how good a decision it had been to decide to live his life as Kalian’s lackey.

 

Having concluded his words, Kalian stood up.

 

That was because he had a place to go and someone to take there.

 

Then, suddenly remembering something, Kalian briefly opened his mouth.

 

“Ah.”

 

“Is there something you forgot?”

 

Kalian, who had momentarily stopped at the door, turned back to look at Arsene. Then, with a rather meaningful face, he made a comment mixed with humor and concern.

 

“Don’t break Plants’ sword. It’s valuable.”

 

Once the Prince said that, Arsene swore he would absolutely not mention that he had actually been researching how to break it because it seemed so difficult to destroy.

 

“…Yes.”

 

“And.”

 

Seeing Arsene like this, Kalian grinned and added one more thing.

 

“My Baby Elephant was whining that he did not get something from you.”

 

[…Damn it!] Arsene slowly took out his money pouch.

 

* * *

 

Kalian originally liked black clothes.

 

The old Kalian wore them because he disliked standing out, and for Bern, it was because blood stains did not show easily.

 

Even now, Kalian was the same. He frequently wore black clothes.

 

As for Plants, Kalian could not remember what he was like originally. There was no need for Kalian to know what color his enemy of an older brother preferred.

 

Because of this, Kalian did not know that Plants had suddenly started wearing bright clothes at some point.

 

Now, he knew.

 

More precisely, he now knew the reason.

 

So as soon as Plants’ servant, Rerik closed the door, Kalian’s laughter erupted. After laughing for a while, Kalian opened his mouth.

 

“I’ll change the name tag for you. Replace my name with yours.”

 

And then he pointed at the cat in Plants’ arms, which had a tag saying ‘I am Prince Kalian’s cat’. Plants’ expression seemed to say ‘why bother?’ as he retorted.

 

“Stop barking.”

 

Perhaps there was no one besides Kalian who would laugh out loud like that in front of Plants, and no one who would completely ignore such a remark.

 

Soon, Plants put down the cat and asked Kalian.

 

“Why again.”

 

In other words, ‘why have you come again? Where did you leave those precious servants of yours, coming personally and laughing like this? Anyway, stop laughing and tell me why you’re here, then get out quickly. And so on…’ It was just a short phrase but with so many meanings.

 

“There’s somewhere I’d like you to go with me for a moment.”

 

Plants frowned. [We already went to the banquet together, so why do we need to go somewhere else?]

 

“We’re going to meet Marquis Beurisen. On horseback.”

 

Hearing Kalian’s words, Plants was silent for a moment, thinking about something. Then, with a smirk, he guessed Kalian’s intention.

 

“Deceiving someone?”

 

Indeed, Plants was clever. Kalian smiled.

 

“Yes. Two Princes are going to meet Marquis Beurisen. If we go obviously, on horseback for all to see, Prince Randel will also notice. It’s an excessively overt action.”

 

Seeing such an excessively obvious action by his two younger brothers, Randel would surely think.

 

‘They’re doing this deliberately to irritate me.’

 

If he realized these actions were deliberately staged, he might also wonder whether their appearance together at the previous day’s banquet might also have been false. In such a situation, Rmain would call Randel to ask about the Priests.

 

Then, Randel would think that Kalian was suspicious about the Priests’ identities while pretending to join hands with Plants.

 

“After setting things up like that, I plan to visit Prince Randel’s room tonight. Since he will have been thinking about me all day, I won’t need to explain much. I’ll just say one thing.”

 

“Let’s join hands and strike at Beurisen first.”

 

“Yes, exactly. I’ll suggest that he join hands with me and deal with Beurisen together first. Then, I’ll tell him that I’ll keep quiet about everything I’ve discovered about what he has been hiding.”

 

“…He won’t refuse.”

 

“I think so too.”

 

Because.

 

“He’s desperate to have me under his control.”

 

Kalian concluded with a grinning smile.