Chapter 159, If It Were Now (4)

Translator: Hedge

Editor: Lizzz

 

While the well-behaved cat was sleeping, and Kalian, who was not well-behaved at all and had momentarily forgotten how clever his older brother was, had now been urged to share the secret. Rain continued to patter outside the window while Wilhelm Hall was packed with Mages.

 

Toward those Mages, a young girl opened her mouth.

 

“This is just a bruise. Come if you’re bleeding.”

 

The one saying this to the Mages was Veronica, who had been frequenting Wilhelm Hall long before Hina came to Valkan.

 

Veronica was acquainted with all the Mages because Allan had been here. Of course, Veronica’s mother, Rachel, should have been at Wilhelm too, but she was often away from Cyriesus constructing Teleportation Magic Circles.

 

In any case, Veronica had grown up with such an extraordinary grandfather that she learned all too well that a person’s age should not be judged by their appearance. So, after first arriving at Wilhelm, she became acquainted with all of Valkan’s Mages within exactly one week. Then, she began speaking casually to all fifty Mages.

 

Her reasoning was that now that they were close, it was okay to drop formalities with each other. The Mages, hearing this argument that was ninety percent cuteness and ten percent persuasiveness, all nodded in agreement.

 

The minor problem was that she was only cute up until that point, but anyway, that was how it went.

 

“The bleeding stopped. Just apply medicine.”

 

Allan might not know this, but Veronica was currently as excited as a fish in water. So excited that she was just staying at Wilhelm even during school hours.

 

“If you catch a cold, just drink lemon tea. Come if you collapse with a fever. I’ll give you medicine.”

 

The most significant thing Veronica was doing as she began helping Hina in earnest was turning away all the Mages who came looking for Hina. She could see they were all malingering.

 

A Priest’s healing using Divine Artifacts has a negative effect on a Mage’s Circles. Therefore, these Mages had never received any healing until now. But Hina’s healing had no effect on their Circles whatsoever.

 

So naturally…

 

These curious men had been coming to Hina for two weeks with one excuse after another. They were the type who could not stand not experiencing something new. If they could, were they Mages?

 

All these fake patients coming around were being chased away by Veronica.

 

‘Bruises can also be treated. You don’t have to refuse everyone.’

 

Thanks to this, Hina, who had spent two weeks with little to do except teaching sign language to Veronica, eventually could not stand the boredom and said this. She had left the cat behind because it looked like it would rain, and with even the task of feeding the cat gone, she had nothing left to do.

 

Seeing Hina’s words, Veronica shook her head.

 

“Asking to heal every little wound like that becomes a habit. Grandfather said bad habits shouldn’t even be given to dogs.”

 

Whatever Allan had been teaching his young granddaughter, Veronica said this anyway. Hina smiled gently and spoke again.

 

‘It’s not difficult, so don’t be so harsh.’

 

Compared to treating Kalian or Plants’ wounds, the Mages’ injuries were really light as feathers. There was no endlessly flowing blood, and no need to peer between deeply cut, gaping skin.

 

Veronica, watching such a Hina, shook her head back and forth.

 

“You don’t know yet. You will soon understand why I am doing this.”

 

She was gauging when Hina would learn that the Mages gathered in the training ground were exchanging opinions like, “How about we select one representative to take forty-nine beatings and then go see her?” or “If we fight the Knights in the name of Prince Kalian, wouldn’t that be enough to warrant treatment?”

 

“Did the cat come today?”

 

And then she asked about the welfare of the cat that was ‘I am Prince Kalian’s cat, who likes Prince Plants more.’

 

‘I left it behind in case it got sick from the rain.’

 

“Is the Second Prince watching it?”

 

She did not know why Plants, who should be busy in Arsene’s place, had not come yet, but since Plants had not arrived yet, the cat would be in Plants’ room. So Hina answered, thinking it was probably purring and sleeping in Plants’ room right now.

 

‘Probably.’

 

The people-loving cat followed Veronica well too. Veronica, thinking about the creature that was hard to tell if it was a dog or cat, opened her mouth again.

 

“Aren’t you ever going to give the cat a name?”

 

At those words, Hina gave the same explanation she had once told Dmirea about why Kalian does not name the cat.

 

‘No. It should still have a name. Otherwise, that cat will just be ‘cat’ for its whole life.’

 

Hearing this, Veronica said:

 

“It will live and die its whole life as just ‘cat,’ but what if you miss that cat afterward and want to call for it? Without a name, it just disappears. That’s just not right.”

 

‘Ah.’ Hina silently opened her mouth.

 

Then, she nodded and gently stroked Veronica’s head.

 

People who have memories of letting go always have to think about what comes after letting go, but she seemed to have realized this too early.

 

“I understand. I’ll definitely ask him to give it a name.”

 

Just as others learned sign language and talked with Hina even if it was a little inconvenient, Hina could call the cat by a name even if it was a little inconvenient for her.

 

That would not be difficult at all.

 

* * *

 

*Tap tap tap…*

 

Raindrops knocked on the window.

 

“How foolish of me.”

 

Kalian had made a mistake.

 

Uncharacteristically, he had fallen right into Plants’ leading questions.

 

Valkan’s Mages had blocked the palace entrance.

 

That meant something had appeared that needed to be hidden. Moreover, Kalian had also said it was not related to Beurisen or Sillike.

 

So, the answer naturally came out.

 

When Kalian showed no intention of speaking, Plants leaned back in his chair and said in a low voice:

 

“There must have been something hidden underground.”

 

If there was debris and such a thing had happened, they would suspect an object found in the debris, but the Mages had definitely moved after all the debris had been cleared away. So, Plants hypothesized that something hidden in a place not visible due to the building. In short, underground. Something underground must have been revealed.

 

“Heisia Palace has no basement.”

 

No matter how distant he was from Sillike, Plants had visited Heisia Palace. He had been there enough to know there was no basement. And naturally, Heisia had never been renovated even once. So, it meant something had been hidden when the building was originally constructed.

 

“It’s related to something serious enough for my little brother to step forward and stop me.”

 

Furthermore, for Kalian to mobilize Mages and specifically restrict Plants’ access to it, it would have to be related to something important that Plants should not know about.

 

For instance, something like ‘the madman who used to be a Prince of another country, fond of birds and peeled blue oranges, somehow became his little brother and now barks daily and occasionally bites.’

 

There was only one person who could be related to such matters and who might hide something from beneath Heisia Palace.

 

Syspanian.

 

“Syspanian hid something and it was discovered this time.”

 

Kalian did not answer immediately.

 

He knew all too well that once Plants made up his mind to uncover something, he would find out somehow. So, he just looked at Plants without saying anything else.

 

“Must you hear this?”

 

Plants, who had said quite a lot in his own way, tapped the table with an expression that said he was tired of talking anymore.

 

He knew this was not someone who would be satisfied with evasive answers.

 

If he learned what was discovered there, he would want to know everything about what kind of object it was.

 

Kalian, who had said ‘it was not related to Beurisen or Sillike’ meaning he should not be interested, realized he had essentially given away the right answer at that moment and let out a long sigh. At the end, words full of sincerity spilled out abundantly.

 

“It seems my older brother has received Syspanian’s Blessing to his head…”

 

“Stop barking. Words.”

 

At the demand not to try to brush things off, Kalian chuckled.

 

He was not reluctant to speak. He was merely afraid the pale fellow sitting across from him would make a pickled cabbage face again if he learned that his ‘past’ self had waged war to steal the Arcus Tempus.

 

The Arcus Tempus was different from Valkan.

 

Asking if Valkan was strong and answering that it was strong, this was something different from that. At least for Kalian, the Arcus Tempus itself was Bern. It was Bern’s life.

 

“Well…”

 

Kalian turned his gaze away from Plants to look outside the window. The view outside wavered like a mirage, obscured by the rain-blurred window. It was just like memories of Bern.

 

If he opened the window to see outside, rain would pour in, and his body would get wet again. So, Kalian just left the window closed, only glimpsing what was barely visible. Since he could not grasp what he could not see, he just let it flow down and be forgotten.

 

Like an erased name, just like that, wearing away.

 

He had left it that way, but.

 

“Why does my older brother…”

 

Kalian’s red eyes turned toward Plants across from him again. After turning, they soon dropped down. To the table, to the teacup, to somewhere beneath that where Kalian’s depths might be.

 

Like the rain-blurred scenery outside the window that could not be seen clearly, memories that he knew were there but kept slightly hidden so they would not be revealed.

 

To the place that contained not the current Kalian but Bern’s last day.

 

“Why do you insist on opening what has well been closed?”

 

And he asked this.

 

‘Why do you still try to confirm it? Even though you now know you’re not the same person as the one back then.’

 

“Breaking or opening. Aren’t they the same thing?”

 

Plants said this.

 

He was quietly recalling the brilliantly shining Heisia Palace.

 

He was talking about Kalian’s one-sided and selfish salvation that had shattered the shadows of where Sillike had existed. He was not resenting having the last remaining trace erased and being forcibly made to live. He was simply saying it was exactly the same as back then, forcibly imposing his salvation on him.

 

“If left alone, the rotting would be the same too.”

 

Kalian did not answer.

 

Plants, who was stubbornly living, opened his mouth again.

 

“You said you lost everything.”

 

Kalian understood that this was about his own words of having ‘lost his entire life’.

 

He realized that Plants was now extending his hand in the same way. He recognized that it was the same one-sided and selfish extended hand. Whether rain poured in or not, whether he got wet in the rain or not, whether it was cold or not, whether it hurt or not. He was asking to properly know what was outside the window.

 

“So tell me. I’ll listen to that resentment, at least once.”

 

Kalian raised his gaze again. He looked at those green eyes watching him for a long time.

 

That day.

 

Eyes that were completely different from the already withered eyes that had watched from afar.

 

Some time passed with no one saying anything. Only then did Kalian open his mouth.

 

“You crazy bastard… you sure have such a good memory.”

 

Instead of the requested resentment, he just cursed.

 

Why resent someone who was not even the same person? Might as well curse while he was at it, right?

 

This much was enough.

 

Then he grinned at Plants, who was looking at him exactly like he was looking at that infuriating Mage. Kalian then said what he had thought when he met Syspanian. That the game was big. So, he did not want to let him know the truth prematurely just yet.

 

“It’s too dangerous to open. My older brother is still very delicate and weak, you see.”

 

“My little brother will take care of keeping me alive.”

 

Plants, whose one corner of his mouth curled up after spouting such infuriating words again.

 

“If the resentment is over, fine, but I still need to know what I’m curious about. If it becomes dangerous, then the very strong ‘little brother’ from back then will take care of keeping me alive. So, the current little brother shouldn’t worry. Just tell me.”

 

Kalian looked at Plants with an expression that said ‘what kind of person is this’ and let out a short sigh. Then he opened his mouth as if he had lost.

 

“Get up. I’ll show you.”

 

He was going to get rained on after all.

 

Kalian, who had spoken the words of permission, quietly raised his hand to cover his face for a moment.

 

[What to do? When I almost accidentally killed him, maybe I should have just killed him then after all?]