Chapter 203, Ghost (5)

Translator: Hedge

Editor: Lizzz

 

[He is definitely insane. I still didn’t understand why an Ice Mage loves explosions so much. When I asked him once, he said he didn’t know either. He didn’t know, but he just liked them.]

 

“I didn’t tell you at the time, but Your Highness is a truly good person. Whether the reasons have multiplied to the point where it’s difficult to explain precisely, or there was never a particular reason to begin with, I don’t know, but I simply follow you because you are a good person, Your Highness.”

 

Then he began to offer the answer he had not given when Kalian once asked why he followed him, after hearing the request to guard the ‘seat I will take’.

 

But he also said he did not really know the exact reason for following Kalian either. He was just following because he seemed like a good person, and Arsene could not figure out what on earth the standard for being a ‘good person’ was.

 

After that, Arsene drained the pear-scented green tea placed before him in one gulp. Like someone tense with a parched throat, he drank the tea in one go without taking time to savor the cool and sweet fragrance, then continued speaking with the same expression as always.

 

“I don’t know if Your Highness is aware, but before a fight, I always tell my opponent my name. Living while keeping what my Master taught me has become a habit.”

 

Kalian did not respond to those words. He did not ask what they meant either. Through the fragments of unforgettable memories, it seemed he could hear again Arsene’s voice telling him, ‘Commander Arsene Hertz of Valkan.’

 

“Additionally, on ‘that day,’ Your Highness was probably the first person whose name I asked first. Even if you don’t remember, I’m certain of that.”

 

Wasn’t this a starkly different reaction from Plants?

 

The way he mentioned that day so casually was both absurd and laughable. Yet on the other hand, it hurt a little, so Kalian asked with a bitter laugh.

 

“Are you telling me to take pride in having given my life to you?”

 

Hearing this, Arsene nodded once as if the meaning Kalian guessed was exactly right, then answered.

 

“Since Your Highness has gone to the trouble of having me sit before you like this, shouldn’t you know at least one reason to believe that your choice was the best one?”

 

Even if Kalian knew it was not a problem that could be solved with a sword, even if he understood this intellectually, truly keeping that person by his side, trusting and employing him, was never an easy thing. Kalian and Arsene might not know, but hadn’t Plants once thought the same thing? That one would have to be insane to be able to keep this madman by their side.

 

So now Arsene was bringing up that painful story to let Kalian, who had decided to keep Arsene by his side, know one fact that would make him believe his choice was not wrong. It was a form of comfort to prevent Kalian from going mad while keeping Arsene before him.

 

Surely Arsene must have respected Bern of the past. He must have considered it regrettable to have taken that life. So, it was also a way of saying not to feel that heart-chilling sensation anymore.

 

“In any case, you are a strange person.”

 

Understanding all of Arsene’s meaning, Kalian said this while shaking his head. To casually speak of something everyone would want to avoid, and to tell him to take comfort in it, how could anyone do this without being strange somewhere?

 

“I already knew. I thought so even then, so how could I not know now?”

 

He still remembered that Arsene had treated Bern with clear respect, without mockery or taking it lightly. Rather than resenting Arsene, hadn’t he resented Plants of that day? He had just been a bit harsh with him.

 

“I’m relieved that you already knew.”

 

After casually dropping those words that may or may not have been related to guarding the ‘seat I will take’, Arsene looked at Kalian with those two eyes as bright as light, refreshing to the depths of one’s heart, and offered his truly belated answer.

 

“Since I took the breath from such a person, this time I will repay by protecting it. Though I’ve killed many with determination, I’ve never protected anyone with determination. But I will do my utmost, with all sincerity and devotion, to definitely protect you, Your Highness.”

 

“No. I said the seat I will take, not me.”

 

“Please don’t refuse and don’t worry. Whatever happens, how could I fail to protect Your Highness?”

 

[You crazy bastard. Please listen to what I have to say.]

 

“Ah… I really shouldn’t have let you live.”

 

His mind changed twelve times a day.

 

He really wondered if he should have killed him now, and also wondered how fortunate it was that he had let him live.

 

Arsene was just that kind of person.

 

Seeing Kalian say this with a face that could not tell whether he wanted to cry or laugh, Arsene looked at Kalian with eyes full of sincerity. And finally, he brought out the words he had kept pressed deep in his heart.

 

So, could he please allow just one of two things: either let him make a statue or burn that letter of apology?

 

So, Kalian answered with a pretty smile, telling him to get lost.

 

* * *

 

His complexion was not good.

 

Even when he was in a bad mood, he certainly was not someone who showed it outwardly, but this time was a little different. His face definitely looked bad.

 

“Can I come in now?”

 

Ian, who had come straight up without any doubt after being told that our flower-like Prince seemed unwell, though there were many people in the Royal Palace who would say what kind of joke was that, sent his thanks and answered.

 

“Yes. He just woke up and finished preparing.”

 

Wasn’t Kalian the type who would say his body does not hurt, even if one told him he seemed sick? Was it to avoid bothering Hina? Either way, once such an incident happened, it was hard to trust his ‘I’m fine’ again.

 

“Please, Lady Bern.”

 

So Ian just called Hina on his own like this.

 

After announcing his entry with two steady knocks, Ian opened the door to Kalian’s room and let Hina in. Seeing Kalian standing while looking outside the terrace turned toward Hina with quite a surprised face, Ian did not enter together and closed the door from outside.

 

Because he knew treatment was Hina’s domain.

 

Seeing Hina enter like that, Kalian let out a short sigh while looking at Ian, who disappeared while closing the door. Even though his face clearly showed no sign of illness anywhere, it seemed in Ian’s eyes and only his eyes, the Baby Elephant saw something different.

 

“Hina.”

 

[So that’s why he brought two cups of tea.]

 

Kalian thought they were brought to drink together, but apparently it was because Hina was going to be here.

 

The warm cocoa made sweet with strawberry syrup, unsuited for this hot day, was apparently brought with the sick Kalian and the sweet-loving Hina in mind.

 

‘You don’t look good.’

 

Standing beside seated Kalian, Hina said this while placing her hand on Kalian’s forehead. Because that warm body temperature wasn’t unpleasant, Kalian just smiled.

 

“Don’t worry. It’s not that something’s wrong.”

 

Anyone would think he was a Prince living delicately. How interesting to be so worried about someone who could run out the window right now, dash to the forest, and not even be out of breath.

 

“Then did you have a bad dream?”

 

But rivaling Ian in not believing Kalian’s words of being fine, Hina completely ignored the answer she heard and asked again while removing her hand from Kalian’s forehead.

 

[Ah. I got caught.]

 

Kalian smiled again.

 

“Long ago I once dreamed of meeting someone I was sad to leave, and after that I once dreamed of meeting someone I was sad because they had already left.”

 

Hina still stood beside Kalian and quietly listened to the story. Hina, who had never interrupted anyone’s words and couldn’t, always liked listening to someone’s story quietly like this.

 

“Today I dreamed of meeting someone scary because they don’t seem like they’ll leave. A dream like seeing a ghost.”

 

Hearing those words, Hina kept looking at Kalian like that, then moved her hands silently.

 

‘When I was little, my brother told me that ducks go quack quack. I hadn’t seen a duck, so I didn’t know what kind of sound that would be.’

 

Hina spoke very slowly like this in case Kalian might not understand, then observed Kalian for a moment. After confirming he understood all her words, she continued.

 

‘That day, I dreamed that a huge duck, bigger than this room, followed me going quack quack.’

 

Though she was telling the scariest dream story in the world, how amusing it was.

 

Kalian waited for Hina’s next words with eyes full of interest. Hina widened her eyes round as if she had seen something scary, then smiled brightly again and said.

 

“So in the morning, I cried saying I had a scary dream because of my brother. That day, my brother took me to the lake. Yellow ducklings followed behind a white duck making quacking sounds, and they were so cute that from that day on, I wasn’t scared of duck dreams.”

 

Even if she did not know who that scary person Kalian was thinking of was, it was a story that maybe they were not a scary person anymore once he got to know them.

 

Kalian nodded.

 

Hina was right. No matter how much that bastard remained like a ghost in Bern’s mind, he might not do so inside Kalian.

 

“Hina. I want to ask you something.”

 

At Kalian’s question while quietly mulling over Hina’s words, Hina nodded.

 

“There’s someone who might live long if they receive treatment. And I wish that person would disappear forever. But that person might seek your help. They might come asking you to heal them.”

 

[What will you do, Hina? If I ask you to turn away from that person, will you be disappointed? Will you be angry?]

 

Because that might be even more frightening, Kalian looked at Hina with eyes containing questions he couldn’t fully ask.

 

Looking at Kalian with clear eyes sparkling black like a baby duck’s, Hina answered.

 

‘I won’t heal them.’

 

Though she surely knew that whoever it was, their sickness was completely different from something like Arsene’s bruised neck, she said she would not heal them.

 

‘I’m not such a good person who wants to heal everyone. If Your Highness dislikes them, I dislike them too.’

 

[Ah. So it’s like that…]

 

‘Is that a very bad person?’

 

Kalian nodded.

 

“That person is like a ghost to me, and I feel like they’ll follow me forever.”

 

Truly, everyone says their mind when facing a healer. Not just Plants, but Kalian too.

 

‘Are you scared?’

 

“No, just. It hurts. When I think about it, just. It hurts a little.”

 

Hearing those words, Hina smiled like sunlight on water.

 

‘That’s fortunate.’

 

Then she said this.

 

Though she did not know what was so good about Kalian being in pain, she smiled brightly saying it was rather fortunate.

 

‘If it hurts, I can heal you. I’m glad it hurts rather than being scary.’

 

Even if she wouldn’t heal that scary person, she could heal Kalian’s pain, so she would heal Kalian anytime. That was Hina’s answer.

 

‘If it hurts, tell me. I’ll definitely heal you.’

 

Kalian nodded repeatedly.

 

It was an answer that already contained the meaning that he was completely healed just by those words.

 

* * *

 

It was hot.

 

No matter if Cyriesus was one of the coldest places in Cyries, summer was still hot.

 

Rerik, who said he had lived near Count Kenej’s territory, which required going two more weeks south from Siegfried Territory, did not seem particularly displeased by this hot weather, but Plants was not the same.

 

It was hot. Hot as soon as he left Chermil Palace.

 

Hot from morning, and irritated from the heat. Already irritated, and more irritated because the guy standing in front was getting on his nerves.

 

“Give it. Quickly.”

 

Plants, as quick-witted as he was smart, noticed that the guy standing before him had something to deliver today too. But the bastard kept only looking around and had no intention of bringing out what he was hiding.

 

“What do you mean, Deputy Commander?”

 

Secritia’s bird, who always secretly approached to shove letters and disappear, inwardly panicked at Plants’s sudden approach and baseless demand, but pretended not to know and backed away.

 

[Did Deputy Commander Hertz reveal my identity?]

 

Thinking this, the bird soon concluded that wouldn’t be the case. Though the two shared the same office, they absolutely weren’t the type to share such matters.

 

His prediction was accurate.

 

Certainly, Arsene hadn’t told Plants about receiving correspondence from Secritia’s spy. Kalian also hadn’t told Plants who he was.

 

It was just that Plants had known the bastard’s identity from long ago but left him alone.

 

He was acting inconspicuously today as well and was properly starting his day’s work. Though he had gauged when to deliver the letter to Plants depending on the situation, it wasn’t to the degree of catching anyone’s eye. Nevertheless, Plants came straight to him demanding to quickly give whatever he had, so he couldn’t help being surprised.

 

“Give me what the guy with violet eyes sent.”

 

In that moment, he barely suppressed the killing intent he almost unleashed toward Plants. Of course, Plants watching him was also really exercising patience, but he was just unaware of that fact.

 

“Right now. Immediately.”

 

The heat was irritating, and having to play messenger bird again because Chase deliberately sent another letter was irritating, and the bastard in front trying to evade until the end was irritating. So, the Prince with light green eyes exercised his last patience while saying this. Thinking that if he evaded again this time, he should just send that bastard out of Valkan.

 

As if reading that mind, the bastard hid his sharp gaze and handed Plants a letter. Then he moved away at wind-like speed.

 

Like what was delivered to Arsene, since it was a letter sent through a hawk, it was slightly larger than usual. Moreover, what was always rolled up was properly folded today and even sealed.

 

‘As quickly as possible.’

 

And on the outside, only these short words were written.

 

The reason for sealing it was just one thing. It must have been to prevent anyone other than Kalian from opening it first.

 

Plants, who had been looking down at that sentence written on the outside of the letter sealed with a seal without a crest, frowned.

 

“…No.”

 

Wasn’t Plants someone who had unwillingly seen Chase’s handwriting to the point of being sick of it? But now those letters bothered his eyes. Truly bothered. It was definitely Chase’s handwriting, but he thought it was a little different.

 

It was as if someone had perfectly imitated Chase’s writing.

 

Plants, who noticed that subtle difference at a glance, looked down at the letter and briefly pondered whether to just pretend not to know and deliver this to Kalian.

 

*Ciiii.*

 

Then he boldly tore open the letter envelope and pulled out the contents.

 

No matter how fast a hawk was, it still took time to fly from Secritia to Cyries. And Kalian had just yesterday come up after conversing with Chase’s side, babbling about whales or something.

 

Since Kalian and Chase had communicated after sending the letter by bird, the fact that someone imitated Chase’s handwriting to convey words to Kalian did not mean there was anything wrong with Chase’s safety.

 

“That’s probably why he smelled the sea in his coffee.”

 

So Plants concluded that even if he delivered this letter to Kalian anyway, nothing would change except Kalian’s expression turning dark again. So, he just tore it open. Because Kalian would absolutely never tell him what was happening on Secritia’s side.

 

He now had no choice but to once again disobey and play the role of an older brother who was worried.

 

Though Rerik, who thought there might be some poison inside, looked shocked, Plants paid no attention and began unfolding and reading the letter.

 

*Haa…*After that, he immediately moved his feet somewhere.

 

Not toward Chermil Palace where Kalian would be, but toward Arpia Palace.

 

To tattle to the father instead of Kalian, about the fact that some snake living in a peaceful southern seaside village seemed ready to cause trouble.