Chapter 188, About Raising a Dog (2)

Translator: Hedge

Editor: Lizzz

 

Scars.

 

Marks that remain as proof that all wounds have healed.

 

Though only one person in this world now knew of them, there were quite a few scars on Bern’s hands and body. And on Kalian’s right palm, there was also a thin, long scar. It was the result of a wound that hadn’t been immediately treated, caused by that rascally behavior, whose intent only Plants knew. Of course, aside from that, there were no other scars at all. This was because Syspanian’s Blessing faithfully demonstrated its healing capabilities.

 

The same was true for Plants.

 

While the Blessing’s power did not heal the Seal of Oath on the grounds that it didn’t immediately affect the heart, the wound from having his throat slashed by Kalian was rapidly healing. Of course, it wasn’t healing quickly enough to disappear before one’s eyes, so without Hina, it would take at least half a day for it to completely vanish.

 

“That’s not a pleasant wound to look at.”

 

Even though he had buttoned his shirt all the way up, it didn’t hide the wound. At the comment directed at the long blood line on his white neck, Plants replied with an expressionless face.

 

“Are there pleasant wounds to look at?”

 

Shortly before being wounded by Sillike’s dagger, on the day when Luci, who had been a nameless cat, had wandered into the rose garden without knowing better. And so, on the day he had stood blocking Hina from Randel.

 

This was the first time they were facing each other and having a proper conversation since that day. To be more precise, one would have to question whether there had ever been a proper conversation between them at all, but in any case, Plants thought it was about that much.

 

“At times, there are necessary wounds, are there not? Such things cannot be called unpleasant to look at.”

 

Plants had no desire to agree with what Randel, sitting across from him, said, but it was not wrong. Particularly when holding a sword, hadn’t he thought of such things? That if he had calluses, wouldn’t it be a bit more comfortable to grip a sword?

 

However, the necessary wounds that Randel spoke of probably did not refer to a swordsman’s calluses.

 

Sillike’s dagger.

 

He must be talking about the wound received that day.

 

“If you had been awake then, would things really be as they are now…”

 

“I’ll say what I came to say and leave.”

 

Plants, who didn’t want to continue thinking much about that, interrupted Randel like this.

 

Randel’s empty room had no scent whatsoever. Plants had been reluctant, thinking it might be full of rose fragrance, but when he thought about it, hadn’t Kalian already been to this place? Since there was no scent, he thus made the bet with meeting Randel as a condition.

 

“It wasn’t you who sent word that you had something to say. How interesting.”

 

The person who spoke this way seemed unlikely to know what interesting actually meant.

 

“Do you dislike it?”

 

And so Plants, who barely knew only the dictionary definition of what ‘interesting’ meant, answered.

 

“If you dislike it, I’ll leave.”

 

He had buttoned his shirt all the way to the top of his neck, put on a tie, and wore a platinum chain accessory that connected the collar ends of the shirt. Instead of the cardigan he always wore at Chermil Palace, he had put on a perfectly fitted jacket.

 

Rather than trying to gauge whether the suffocating feeling was due to the stuffy clothing or because he was looking into the eyes of his true brother sitting across from him, Plants lifted his teacup, took a sip of what was inside, and set it down.

 

The taste of bitterly melted chocolate was not particularly pleasant, but it didn’t provoke as much aversion as meeting the eyes of Randel, who was sitting across from him.

 

“Either way wouldn’t matter much.”

 

Whether Kalian came, or Plants came instead of Kalian who had said he would visit. It meant that it wouldn’t have made much difference which of the two had come.

 

Since Randel too had now decided to enter under Kalian’s shadow, it was also saying that it didn’t matter whether Plants, who had already joined hands with Kalian, came or whether Kalian himself came directly. It also meant that whichever of the two came, ultimately it held no more meaning for Randel than simply having a brief conversation with someone.

 

Plants, who properly understood that meaning, felt briefly disappointed.

 

It was disappointment not so much about Randel’s feelings, but rather disappointment that arose because he had been thinking of using it as an excuse to just leave if Randel happened to be reluctant to converse with him. Since he said either way did not matter, there was no way out and he had to continue the conversation.

 

“There’s a healer in Valkan. I came to ask for a favor because it seems training through the healers of Tansyll will be necessary.”

 

In the end, Plants said these words, making a request to Randel.

 

And inwardly he spat curses at exactly two people: One was Plants himself, who had provided the cause for bringing up this topic, and the other was Arsene.

 

He had lost the sparring match with Kalian but had clearly won the bet. Because of that, he had learned from Kalian one of the footwork techniques Sleiman used. It was a technique used to efficiently dodge and immediately counterattack when facing someone fast.

 

After that, Kalian had Ian relay to Randel that he would visit shortly.

 

And then contact came from Arsene.

 

That he would come find Kalian because he had something urgent to convey. That he learnt something he did not want to know…

 

“It seems it wasn’t just a facade. Seeing you make such a request of me.”

 

Thanks to that, things played out like this.

 

“Did you see my involvement with Valkan as a facade?”

 

Randel nodded.

 

It meant he had thought Plants was merely a Deputy Commander in name only, held for the sake of appearances.

 

It was not far from the truth. If it hadn’t been for Kalian’s recent teaching, Plants too would have thought the same.

 

Therefore, as Plants was about to respond again to Randel who was nodding, Randel glanced once at the rose garden outside the window and gazed deeply at Plants. A deep abyss that couldn’t be avoided looked at him as if swallowing up eyes full of life and green.

 

“I thought it was a facade. How would I have known you would dare try to benefit from the Third Prince?”

 

Without ever paying attention and watching.

 

He said such words.

 

“My.”

 

Plants made a short sound.

 

He raised his hand and grabbed the tie knot. Feeling like he couldn’t breathe, he was about to loosen it, but instead took a deep breath and lowered his hand again.

 

He endured it because there was no longer any need to show bad behavior in front of Randel.

 

“Do you even remember what I did to Kalian?”

 

“Would there be any need to keep that in memory? I merely spoke what I knew.”

 

“At the very least, it would have been nice if you had remembered that those were not words you could say. Is even that simple calculation difficult for you?”

 

One corner of Plants’ mouth curled up as he said this.

 

“Do just one thing. Either continue standing at a distance, pretending to be a victim forever, pretending to only receive wounds, cutting rose branches while keeping everything around you closed off so nothing visible touches you. Or face things properly and then blame me. Doing both is just greedy.”

 

Randel quietly smiled seeing the light green eyes that had just escaped the abyss catch fire.

 

* * *

 

The dark gray marble floor.

 

A crimson light reflected and sparkled on the perfectly polished floor without a single stain.

 

*Patter patter patter, thump!*

 

Since creatures called cats must first try to catch anything sparkling before them, Luci, seeing this, ran over eagerly and tried to grasp the reflected light.

 

However, just before those adorable cotton-ball-like paws could snatch it, the light that had been sparkling on the floor disappeared without a trace.

 

“Meow!”

 

The clever Luci, already knowing who the culprit was, cried once while looking at the bright red eyes watching it from the sofa. Then, as if to console such a Luci, a crimson light with a slightly different size and shape floated up in the distance.

 

This time the light did not disappear, but that didn’t mean it could be caught. Since it had been a formless sparkle from the beginning, no matter how much Luci, standing on its hind legs, tried to grasp it with its front paws, there was no way to catch it.

 

“Mreow!”

 

Having failed repeatedly to catch the crimson light, Luci made an aggrieved sound and looked up at Kalian. Seeing a face full of irritation that closely resembled someone who might be upstairs, the kind that could be interpreted as something like ‘must I really suffer stress because of you?’

 

Kalian naturally burst out laughing.

 

“Luci. Is the reason you’re upset because you can’t catch this?”

 

Luci, who couldn’t possibly understand these words, chased after the light that appeared and disappeared here and there in the room according to Kalian’s will.

 

*Patter patter patter, thump!*

 

Of course, the result was the same.

 

Having experienced the same thing three times, Kalian’s laughter burst out again seeing Luci glaring while puffing up all the fur on her body into a round shape.

 

The crimson Aura filled with chilling energy.

 

“Usually they’d feel bad or scared before even trying to catch it. But it seems you just find it fascinating.”

 

“Meow!”

 

Whether it was a protest, backtalk, or warning, his heart felt a bit more at ease at that cry whose meaning he couldn’t yet understand.

 

Watching Luci running around following the light that appeared and disappeared here and there in the room, Kalian spoke once more.

 

“You even tried to catch the raindrops outside the window. What am I to do with you liking things that can’t be caught?”

 

“Meow!”

 

No matter how he looked at it, it was backtalk.

 

Whether Luci wanted to say it felt wronged, or wanted to say its hands went there without it knowing, or wanted to say this was all his fault, it was clear it was talking back to Kalian.

 

Feeling sorry for teasing it unnecessarily, Kalian took out a piece of dried beef and handed it to Luci. Making a pattering sound, Luci ran over, took the fragrant snack, and went to a spot far away. Then its face became happy and it began eating the jerky making chomping sounds.

 

Watching that small life that made him feel endlessly peaceful whenever he looked at it, Kalian opened his mouth again.

 

“I said I was going to raise a dog, but I’m raising you.”

 

To be precise, eighty percent of raising Luci was being done by a green pea, but regardless of whose hands it was growing in, Luci was Kalian’s cat.

 

A person’s voice went once and a cat’s cry returned once, and chatting like this, Kalian spent some time doing nothing at all.

 

When a fair amount of time had passed like that, Ian entered with a knock. Seeing the blue-haired Mage following behind him, Kalian smiled.

 

“Are you fully recovered?”

 

At the words spoken seeing that the bandage that had fixed his shoulder had been removed, Arsene nodded and answered.

 

“Thanks to Your Highness’s concern, I recovered quickly.”

 

Because Arsene might feel hurt if he said he had not worried at all, Kalian just smiled once more.

 

Ian, who had gone out briefly, returned and set down cake loaded with bright red cherries completely opposite to Arsene’s hair color along with black tea, then left.

 

Toward Arsene who was cutting a corner of the cake and taking a bite, Kalian said.

 

“I heard you have something important to convey to me.”

 

If by any chance it was nonsense about asking permission to make that strange statue, he was planning to immediately break his arm again.

 

“Yes, Your Highness. I have something to tell you.”

 

In fact, he did intend to ask permission for that someday too, but fortunately Arsene didn’t bring up that matter today.

 

“A Knight from the Caera Knights came to find me today. And they delivered something to me, saying they came to me because the Deputy Commander, who is Your Highness’s older brother, had been away from his post all day.”

 

[Ah. Of all days, you chose today.]

 

He thought of Plants, who had said he had things to do and was busy. He had probably intended to go to the Knights, but since it hadn’t seemed like an urgent matter, they had proceeded with the sparring, and it seemed that during that time a bird from Secritia had visited.

 

Kalian made an odd expression looking at the several sheets of paper Arsene took out and laid down.

 

Chase had sent that letter before having a conversation with Kalian about how Arsene could be trusted?

 

So the fact that the spy had sought out Arsene instead of Plants clearly meant that Chase had thought on his own and put Arsene within the range of those who could be trusted.

 

“However, Your Highness. I didn’t try to read it on purpose, but I accidentally dropped the letter and ended up seeing some of the contents. Of course, I haven’t told anyone else.”

 

Chase, who had put Arsene in the category of those who could be trusted, had instructed that if Plants was absent, the letter should be delivered through Arsene.

 

At the time, Plants had been away from his post because of Kalian.

 

“What relationship do you have with the Crown Prince of Secritia that such things occur? I want to know.”

 

Therefore, Arsene bringing up this topic was ultimately Kalian’s fault.