Chapter 219, I’ve Been Very Patient (1)

Translator: Hedge

Editor: Lizzz

 

There are times when Kalian is present but Ian is not nearby.

 

There were various reasons for Ian’s absence, but in any case, people around Kalian in such situations often found themselves in difficulty. And there was only one reason for that difficulty.

 

It was because Kalian smiled.

 

To be more precise, it was because they could not tell whether his smile was genuine.

 

When Kalian smiled without Ian present, it was absolutely impossible to distinguish whether he was smiling because he was happy, because he was angry, because he felt bad, or because he was in pain.

 

But this time was different.

 

Even if Hina did not know, Plants at least properly understood the reason for Kalian’s laughter.

 

Right now, Kalian was laughing because he felt like he had been struck hard somewhere.

 

“Ah… Hina. I see. You’re the one directly involved. This was your matter.”

 

Kalian, who had been quietly laughing while covering his face, opened his mouth.

 

“Yes. I’m sorry for arbitrarily deciding you were weak, arbitrarily trying to protect you, and arbitrarily concluding that you couldn’t do anything without me by your side. I’m really sorry. I won’t do it again.”

 

And like this, he first apologized for what he needed to reflect on.

 

Plants, who had been feeling similarly, nodded slightly and placed one hand on Kalian’s apology. If one were to interpret that action in words, it would probably be something like ‘me too’. Of course, he had never treated Hina as someone younger than himself, but it was true that he had unconsciously regarded her as a weak person who could not do anything by herself.

 

Hina had said the truth, ‘even if I can’t fight, I can talk’.

 

“And… I had a misunderstanding. I’m sorry about that too, Hina.”

 

After making his second apology, Kalian turned his head to look at Plants and smiled again.

 

Plants frowned when he recognized that this smile had a different meaning from before. It was because he had caught on to the second reason for Kalian’s laughter.

 

‘Our Hina is calling you, older brother, a child.’

 

That was what he was thinking.

 

To be precise, it was ’Even to our Hina, who is as warm as a blanket dried in spring sunlight and as peaceful as a winter night reading books, always lovely, you’re just a kid guarding the house, my dear older brother’

 

Well, as long as the context was the same, that was all that mattered.

 

Who would call someone they were interested in a child? Especially when there was only a one-year age difference with Plants? Plants thought that even Syspanian, who had continued life since the beginning of time, had probably never literally called the vastly younger Harts-ara a child.

 

“Was there a misunderstanding?”

 

“Yes. There was such a thing. Anyway, I’m sorry.”

 

After saying that, Kalian burst into quiet laughter again.

 

From the beginning, no one, not even Plants himself, had ever misunderstood the meaning of those words. Of course, his real older brother Kyrie was an exception. Even after seeing this situation, Kyrie was the type who would still misunderstand by selecting all sorts of things, so he just had to be excluded from consideration.

 

In any case, Kalian had now come to precisely understand what meaning was contained in Hina’s ‘good prince,’ which was why laughter burst out. Kalian had touched on one thing, but he had also completely forgotten that he had heard the exact same words about himself.

 

“Stop.”

 

[This guy probably does not know how many times he had vented his anger after misunderstanding on his own and getting upset. So, shouldn’t he be apologizing to me rather than to Hina right now?] With that thought, and because of his neck throbbing like Gray’s aching back on a cloudy day, Plants, whose face had become irritated, spoke toward Kalian before turning his head toward Hina. He turned not particularly because he had something to say, but rather in case Kalian said something else.

 

At Plants’ words, Kalian, who had barely stopped laughing, opened his mouth toward Hina.

 

“Yes. I understood what you meant.”

 

It was a statement that he understood, not that he would agree. So Hina pressed her lips tightly together. Hina, who had been looking at the two with an atmosphere that seemed like she might even put her hands on her hips in front of the Princes at this rate, moved her hands.

 

“Promise you won’t go.”

 

Kalian then shook his head.

 

When Hina’s face became stern, Kalian spoke in a soothing voice.

 

“Hina. Can’t we promise something else instead of that?”

 

Then, with a face more caring than anyone else’s, he continued in a pleading voice.

 

“I was going to go. I was somehow going to go, but both older brother and you are trying to stop me like this. I’ll promise something else instead, Hina. I’ll think of a way so that none of us, not you, not anyone, needs to go to Secritia. If there’s no such way, then I’ll listen to what you say. I’ll definitely listen.”

 

Plants, who was watching this, curled up one corner of his mouth.

 

Whether it was the cat box or what, whether it was sour tangerines or what, whether it was nightmares or what, none of it was necessary. Without needing any of that, if Hina was just there, that guy’s stubbornness could be broken this easily and quickly, which he now understood.

 

So from now on, when something becomes hopeless, instead of telling this guy’s father, he should just tattle to Hina.

 

Unaware that his smart older brother sitting across from him had learned something new again, Kalian looked up at Hina standing beside him.

 

“Okay? Hina.”

 

Was there anyone else in Cyries who knew how to use their face better than Kalian? The only people who could ignore him when he looked up with innocent, round eyes like Raven in front of Kalian would probably be only Dmirea and Plants. The weakest to it was naturally Allan.

 

‘It’s not a lie, right?’

 

“I can’t lie. If you knew how bad I am at it, you’d be shocked.”

 

Serenty was probably shocked day after day.

 

If she had known in advance that Kalian was someone who gets caught this easily, she probably wouldn’t have assigned him such tasks, which was somewhat regrettable now.

 

‘Okay. I’ll try to believe you.’

 

Still, since Kalian was not lying, Hina, having heard the answer she wanted, nodded.

 

Kalian could not lie, but he was good at acting, was he not?

 

Therefore, it was only Plants who became anxious, unable to gauge what kind of plan was forming in Kalian’s head as he smiled brightly as if to say ‘thank you’.

 

* * *

 

This time too, Kalian did not contact him first.

 

No, he could not.

 

“I’m curious, and I’m rather worried.”

 

So, Chase had no choice but to contact him first to ask about the situation.

 

Laughter came again at the gentle voice that seemed to contain nothing but worry for Kalian.

 

Laughter came because he could not help his apologetic feelings.

 

“The more I try not to cause worry, the more worry I receive from those around me, but I don’t know what I should do.”

 

Only Ian’s worry was something that made him feel good to receive; Chase’s worry only made Kalian feel sorry, and he answered like this. As Hina had said, if he really did nothing and stayed inside, no one would worry, but that was not something he could do.

 

—I’m fine.

 

So, he had to think of a way that would be fine so that Hina, Chase, and now the boiled pea that went around with him at every opportunity would not worry. While he was wracking his brain like that, how welcome was Chase’s voice when it came.

 

Cyries’s rain was fierce, unavoidable, and always soaked one’s clothes. But Chase’s voice was just like welcome rain. Welcome, awaited, and always missed.

 

—Arianneu says she absolutely won’t believe it anymore when I say I’m fine. I think perhaps you should filter out about half of what that phase means too. What do you think?

 

—This time I’m really fine. I’ve become fine. Because there are hands that stop me and shake me into shape.

 

[I’ve become fine, but because of me, another guy got caught in unexpected rain. I’m sorry about that.]

 

Apology he could not convey to Plants. An apology for making him recall what he would have forgotten, for making him notice what he need not have known. He could not tell Chase about this either, so he only thought it to himself.

 

That the sword had such meaning he had not known.

 

—It seems only I have become fine. Only me.

 

Because he ended up knowing what he need not have known, the already boiled pea fell into water again, and Chase too was wandering between dream-like dreams and nightmare-like reality.

 

—It doesn’t matter. I’m fine.

 

Chase, who had at least understood the part about himself from the hidden words, said this. Then, as if changing the subject, he immediately brought up another topic.

 

—Because we didn’t finish our conversation yesterday. I contacted you to ask if there was anything more you were curious about. It’s a somewhat ambiguous time, but I also have a schedule today.

 

It was strange to contact him first and then ask if he had anything he was curious about, but Kalian did not laugh. It was because Kalian also knew that without doing so, he could not ask Chase anything first.

 

—If there’s any remaining conversation, tell me. Prince Kalian.

 

The previous day, while they were having a conversation in the forest, Plants had arrived, forcing them to hastily conclude their conversation. After that, meeting Gray, dealing with another matter with Plants, meeting Hina, he had been dividing up his time and had not been able to continue the conversation until now.

 

*Meow.*

 

When he reached out his hand to Luci who had approached his feet, she brought her head over on her own. How could she possibly like people this much?

 

He petted that small, round head that seemed firm several times, but it seemed she was not satisfied. She made a dissatisfied sound and immediately went over to the plain guy on the opposite side.

 

—Yes. I actually had one thing to tell you.

 

Watching Plants, who was sitting with his eyes closed with a face where it was hard to tell if he was sleeping or dead, petting Luci who had climbed onto his lap, Kalian answered Chase and stood up from his seat.

 

That guy seemed to have a lot to think about, and Kalian needed to have a conversation, so he was about to go downstairs.

 

“Just stay.”

 

Then Plants said this.

 

Kalian, whose face became surprised like the day he heard ‘welcome back’ when he returned from Roselita, looked at Plants.

 

It seemed there had indeed been something he ate earlier that he did not like.

 

Unless he had eaten something wrong, there was no way that guy would act like that. What an occasion, not chasing him away but telling him to stay.

 

“Rain.”

 

It was raining and there would be remaining things to say, so the meaning was to just stay here rather than going downstairs to talk with Chase and coming back up to say the rest while getting unnecessarily soaked in the rain.

 

“Sure.”

 

Kalian, who answered just as plainly, sat back down. Then he spoke to Chase.

 

—I may be interfering, but… I wanted to tell you not to carelessly pry into His Majesty, the King of Secritia. He’s a more dangerous person than you think, so you must not rashly touch him. I wanted to tell you to please act exactly as usual, pretending you know nothing right now.

 

At those words, there was no answer for quite a while.

 

When there was no answer for such a long time that Kalian became anxious and was about to call Chase, words from Chase were heard.

 

—Actually, I’ve already pried once. Because I couldn’t distinguish whether he really remembered or whether he reached that conclusion after hearing something from someone, I had a conversation to confirm that.

 

Chase and Plants had thought the same thing and had pried into Debeullan once. They had mentioned the name ‘Bern’ and confirmed whether Debeullan remembered that name. Of course, he could not tell Kalian about that method, but because he had to inform him about the results of the confirmation, Chase spoke while hiding the content of the conversation as much as possible.

 

—I confirmed he doesn’t remember and there was no particular incident, so don’t worry. It’s fine.

 

—Don’t make easy conclusions. Never do that. You must not easily believe. You must not pass it over just because there was no incident.

 

Kalian, who had become worried, conveyed his warning somewhat quickly, and Chase, recalling Debeullan’s two eyes that had become turbid before returning, answered.

 

—Yes. I won’t be at ease. So don’t worry about that either.

 

—But how did you confirm it and what conversation did you have? I’m curious.

 

But then Kalian asked this.

 

How had he confirmed it? In other words, what question he had used to probe Debeullan’s true intentions, he just asked out of curiosity.

 

—Well…

 

But Chase’s answer did not continue properly.

 

For Kalian it might be just a curiosity without much thought, but for Chase it was something he wanted to avoid as much as possible, so he could not give any answer.

 

When no answer came back even after waiting for a while, Kalian raised his head to look at Plants. Kalian asked Plants, who still had his eyes slightly closed.

 

“Crown Prince Chase says he had a conversation to confirm whether the King of Secritia had found his memories or if it was from hearing rumors, and upon confirming, it wasn’t that he had found his memories.”

 

Plants’ eyes narrowed.

 

It meant he knew what this was about. It was a face that knew but did not want to tell Kalian.

 

Kalian opened his mouth in a quiet voice.

 

—What is it? That method.

 

The curiosity without much thought became suspicion.

 

Surely the two were hiding something. The intention was naturally for Kalian’s sake, but if the other party was Debeullan, Kalian needed to know too.

 

—I would like you to pass over that without asking. Prince Kalian.

 

This was the answer that came back from Chase.

 

“Don’t ask.”

 

Plants said the same thing. While swallowing all sorts of curses about Chase, who was so good at having secrets discovered.

 

“Older brother.”

 

Kalian’s red eyes gazed at Plants.

 

“Please tell me. It’s fine.”

 

Those deep red eyes, he suddenly could not tell whether they were really red or some other color.

 

Plants suddenly had such a thought.