Chapter 278, Truly Beautiful (4)

Translator: Hedge

Editor: Lizzz

 

The Sun was rising.

 

Inside the carriage, which was better than the guest room of most Lord’s castles, slept a Prince who seemed gentle. The poor duckling was thus evicted because the Prince had slept and entered the embrace of his blue-haired ‘mother’. Then, the purple-haired Mage, who had been chatting softly across from said ‘mother’ also fell asleep. It was at that time when the swordsman, who used to be a spy, who had been watching over the purple-haired Mage warily throughout the journey here, had also fallen asleep before the person knew it.

 

“I heard you couldn’t sleep during the last journey. Wouldn’t it be better to close your eyes even for a moment?”

 

“Why aren’t you sleeping?”

 

“No. I woke up earlier.”

 

“Weren’t you cold?”

 

“Yes. Thanks to Seiren and Hertz’s efforts, I was fine.”

 

“I see.”

 

The dawn sky.

 

Dawn mist, saturated with the moisture of the early hour, hung on the mountainside.

 

Kalian, who had asked them to take care of those sleeping on the mountaintop, ensured they were not cold, but had himself stayed outside the Spell’s Range throughout the night, looked into the distance and opened his mouth.

 

“Yesterday I could look below and the sea too. But right now, it’s rather difficult to see.”

 

“It will be visible once the Sun has fully risen. Were you waiting for that?”

 

“No, rather than that…”

 

Kalian, who had been sitting leaning against the back of Raven lying asleep as before, smiled slightly. And he accepted the teacup Kyrie handed over. The welcome mint fragrance wafted forth.

 

“When I sit like this, every time Raven breathes, I move up and down together with him. I kept sitting here because I liked that.”

 

Kyrie nodded his head and gazed together at the place Kalian had been watching.

 

Kalian’s small voice settled upon the rocky mountain submerged in darkness, faint sunlight, and morning mist.

 

“Taillan Kastrin. That person was my Master for the sword. Did I mention it before?”

 

“Yes. You told me once.”

 

“I see. That person had suggested erecting one more barrier around that spot, but I thought it wasn’t particularly necessary and postponed it. There was already one barrier at the entrance, and there were too many other things that needed to be done, so I said let’s postpone it briefly and in the end, I did not erect it at all.”

 

Watching the group of mist moving in the quiet wind felt like standing on water.

 

“And over there is Count Haysad’s territory. That Count had requested financial support.”

 

Adding the mutter that there might be a different Count now, Kalian continued speaking.

 

“In any case. Opinions were somewhat divided about strengthening the Count’s power. I opposed it and Arianneu supported it. Ah, Arianneu is a very capable Marquis’s daughter who was also my friend and also Chase’s fiancée, so the three of us often exchanged our opinions. In any case, Chase supported my opinion. Because he was worried that the Count might start a rebellion.”

 

“I see.”

 

“Yes. But as soon as he learned that the Cyries military had appeared on this path, he tried to block this route first. He knew that the solid barrier we saw while passing had been breached too easily, yet he blocked that place below with a Knight Order that did not have a single Mage. Well… they were annihilated. Like the barrier, in an instant.”

 

Kalian’s laughter could be heard briefly.

 

Having laughed for quite some time at a story with no humour whatsoever, Kalian made a voice still tinged with laughter.

 

“Those sorts of things were quite regrettable. I should have erected the barrier. I should have provided support to the Count.”

 

Kyrie silently smelled the tea fragrance from the cup in his hand. The good mint fragrance spreading from the tea at just the right temperature and properly steeped felt slightly bitter.

 

“If I eliminated such regrets one by one, could I have endured one more day? If I had gained just one more day, might not something have changed even a little?”

 

One day.

 

Merely one day.

 

Even if merely one day, if there had been one more day, might not the world have changed? He had spent the night entirely immersed in such thoughts. Until the late-rising Moon climbed the sky and sunlight spread.

 

“…Did you spend the night with such memories?”

 

“I’m just saying I remembered. It’s not that I’m regretting things even now.”

 

Kyrie nodded his head.

 

“But thinking about it, I had already gained one day.”

 

Kalian, who had gathered the teacup in both hands and uncharacteristically blown on the tea to cool it before making a slurping sound while taking a sip, looked down at the gradually disappearing mist before opening his mouth.

 

“After the flood damage in Tansyll, many refugees came. We couldn’t accept everyone unconditionally, so we detained all the refugees recklessly crossing the treacherous mountains as soon as we saw them. I went to see the situation and determine a solution, and amongst them there was one fellow who really stood out. A gaunt fellow with only height, with eyes saying he would kill everyone given the chance. So, I just brought that fellow alone back to the palace first.”

 

A small smile was drawn on Kyrie’s face.

 

Although he knew nothing about it, it strangely felt like hearing an old story.

 

“While I was picking up that one fellow, Chase decided to accept all the refugees, and the King of Secritia told him to do so.”

 

“Since you said relations with Tansyll were not good, I thought you would say they didn’t accept them.”

 

“No. The King of Secritia was always generous towards Chase. Because it was Chase’s words, he answered he would do so entirely. Instead, sometime later a great fire broke out in the place where the refugees had been temporarily gathered, and strangely enough, they all died. Without anyone able to escape.”

 

As the strange backstory continued for a reminiscence, Kyrie’s head turned towards Kalian.

 

Once again slurping, Kalian, with the expression of unfolding an insignificant memory, drank his mint tea and continued speaking.

 

“On the night that news reached the palace, that fellow I had picked up barged into my room with a sword. I knew he had sharp hearing, but I didn’t know he would use it to find my room.”

 

Having said this, Kalian laughed softly.

 

It was a story he should not laugh at, yet laughter came because this time Tansyll’s refugees did not seek Secritia. Cyries had properly provided support, and nevertheless, if there were refugees coming to Cyries, they were all accepted. Unlike the past, they were not executed.

 

Laughter came because it had now become merely his own memory.

 

“In any case, when I asked what he was thinking about coming here, he asked if I had done it. I said yes. Even then I couldn’t lie well, and I intended to inform him and just kill him. Because neither I nor that fellow were in our right minds. But what that fellow said after hearing my answer was truly remarkable.”

 

“What did he say?”

 

“He asked where my father’s bedroom was.”

 

In the end, laughter also came from Kyrie’s mouth.

 

“Really. He acted like he would go find it immediately with that sword. I barely stopped him and sat him down in front of me, and that fellow said this. That I should say whatever I wanted to say from then on. That in exchange for learning how to use a sword, he would listen to everything. That he was good at listening.”

 

In his sleep, Raven briefly shifted his body. Kalian, who had nearly been crushed by the massive head, patted Raven back to sleep while continuing to speak.

 

“Thanks to him, I survived. Kyrie. For listening to everything.”

 

Because of that fellow who listened silently without asking anything, even when he went mad, he somehow returned to his place again.

 

He did not speak those words that it was precisely that fellow who had gained him that final day. Because he felt it would be understood even without conveying it verbally.

 

“Will you tell me where it is this time?”

 

“You mean, the King of Secritia’s bedroom?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“That’s why I went to find my older brother and said I would go with him.”

 

Kyrie, who had gone to find Plants waiting outside the palace and said he would go with him, said nothing. Kalian, who had been briefly looking at where Secreta would be, opened his mouth with a rustling voice.

 

“I’m the one who brought up old stories, but I’m getting sleepy.”

 

“Sleep even a little. I will be here.”

 

“Should I…”

 

Kalian, who could only get drunk without worry before his Master, closed his eyes with Kyrie beside him, the only one who could let him sleep without worry.

 

“I’ll tell you where it is. Because I have a good sword now, and I want to dream good dreams now too.”

 

Words that flowed out just before falling asleep.

 

Kalian’s good sword, looking at the good sword Kalian had given him, nodded his head.

 

* * *

 

[Which would come first?]

 

Not long after thinking about that while standing still, a small coughing sound could be heard. Hearing that sound, Chase slowly closed his eyes and opened them.

 

It was because he confirmed once again that the gradually worsening coughing sounds had been maintained at a similar level from a certain day. Since Louise had stopped burning sleep incense, there would be no further poisoning, so the progression of the disease should have slowed.

 

Moreover, Debeullan now was not one to drink water carelessly.

 

He was not acting freely with anything, suspecting all those poisons he had ordered to be made with his own mouth. Eating, drinking, wearing, touching, breathing. None of it would be safe for Debeullan.

 

He did not even summon Chase to his office anymore. Because he did not trust what Chase, who knew how to handle a sword, might do in an enclosed space.

 

While thinking such thoughts, he suddenly became curious.

 

Which would come first: dying from illness, or being buried in a tomb of suspicion and going mad. Or perhaps staining his sword with Debeullan’s blood, unable to endure any longer.

 

“I called you because I have work for you.”

 

One hour.

 

This time too, without fail, he had made him wait one hour.

 

If there was a difference, the first day he had made him sit silently in the office, but now Debeullan had made Chase stand in the middle of the Royal Garden.

 

Although snow was not falling and sharp winds were not blowing, it was cold in Secreta. With only the jacket he had put on to meet Debeullan indoors, it was difficult to block the chilly wind.

 

Until Chase’s fingertips, standing alone amongst Debeullan’s Escort Knights, who would not report the current matter anywhere, froze bright red, Debeullan, wearing an excessively thick overcoat, did not even glance at him.

 

“Yes, Your Majesty—”

 

[How far did you intend to drag me down? Perhaps sometime in the past, did you trample on my younger brother in this manner too, with that pettiness of yours?]

 

“Please tell me.”

 

To the words that came after an hour, Chase gave a calm reply, and Debeullan continued speaking towards him.

 

“I came to consider the reason why, although the Second Prince was the one who insisted on seeing this nation’s sea for his birthday, all those who accompanied him are entirely the Third Prince’s people.”

 

He had understood the matter of the two Princes going together to meet Narjan, the Great Elder of the Elves. A large number from Valkan had provided escort, and the place they visited was also the Elf City, which was in an alliance with Cyries.

 

However, this place was Secritia.

 

“The two Princes have so frequently joined hands and released them, manipulating Nobles at will, surely because they both sought to gain benefits from it. However, this matter has no such aspect at all, does it not?”

 

He had already discerned that the stubbornness shown for the birthday visit was an excuse.

 

Having immediately pulled such a stunt after returning from the Elf City together, it was rather more difficult not to notice that it was merely a bid to come to Secritia unconditionally. In any case, it would be a matter of formality, so Kalian probably did not care much whether Debeullan knew its truth or not.

 

“What will the Second Prince gain from this matter? On a journey that is only dangerous, what does the Second Prince trust to agree to serve merely as the Third Prince’s justification without a single person of his own?”

 

The problem was the composition of that group.

 

Was this not precisely the right situation for Kalian to slit Plants’s throat right now and frame him with ‘Debeullan, having heard insulting words from Rmain, attacked the party without thinking and Plants died’?

 

For Kalian, it was an unmistakably certain and excellent method. He could push Debeullan, who had cast suspicious eyes upon him, before Rmain’s sword, and reduce one competitor with his own blade.

 

The Second Prince had accompanied him to such a place without a single person of his own.

 

“If so, is the Second Prince reckless enough to be swayed by words suggesting merely viewing the sea? Foolish enough not to know that it is dangerous for the Third Prince to bring only his own people to provide escort? Or if not that, then foolish enough to craft for himself the role of justification for the younger brother with his life?”

 

The Second Prince said to have a fierce temperament and to always keep alcohol close.

 

The Second Prince who had blocked Sillike’s path as she tried to attack Kalian, who had driven away his own mother with his own hands.

 

Which was his true self? Or…

 

“If neither of these, then perhaps… is it all false?”

 

Debeullan, whose gaze had left the group of red Begonia flowers that had not yet withered, continued speaking.

 

“I have now come to understand the reason you recommended I meet him directly previously. When even his Second Prince companion conceals so many things, how remarkable must the thing the Third Prince himself is hiding? The more I think and think, he makes me curious in various ways, so how could I not be pleased?”

 

Soon Debeullan drew out his pocket watch from his pocket with movements full of leisure. After briefly checking the time, he looked at Chase’s fingertips, frozen as red as the Begonias, before opening his mouth again.

 

“In proportion to that pleasure, I too must show appropriate reception. Therefore, you should go out. Go and welcome them warmly and bring them here.”

 

At Debeullan’s words, strength entered Chase’s fingertips.

 

Chase closed his eyes once more and opened them before speaking.

 

“The distance is far, making it difficult to leave the palace to welcome them directly. If I send someone…”

 

“Directly. Go and return. Chase.”

 

Debeullan showed a leisurely smile.

 

“It will be of great help to you to forget briefly about the things left in the palace and get some fresh air.”

 

Marquis Lyn, Arianneu, and Louise.

 

‘Leave all those things within this palace in your embrace, go out briefly and return. In the meantime, I will watch over the things left in the palace so you need not worry about them. Return without any concern.’ Debeullan was saying this.

 

But…

 

“That will not be necessary.”

 

A strange voice, coldly sunken, intervened.

 

Debeullan, who had turned his body to look in the direction of the sound, moved his brow slightly.

 

Overshadowed by Euria and Arsene’s names, the guests who had arrived truly quickly with the help of Mage Rachel Grace, whom no one had paid attention to, were standing there. The birds carrying reports about the excessively fast travel speed had diligently conveyed the news, and Chase’s birds had diligently shot down those birds. Of course, people did the shooting and pigeons were pierced.

 

*Click click.*

 

Following the strange voice, the familiar shoe sounds that were always quiet approached towards the red Begonia garden. It was Royal Consort Louise.

 

“While Your Highness was away, I received notice that distinguished guests had arrived. Therefore, I hastened to welcome them in.”

 

Louise with her composed voice finished her brief situation explanation, and behind her, two Princes slowly approached.

 

A long red cloak and black formal wear.

 

Though they wore identically styled Prince’s uniforms, completely different faces and expressions were noticeable.

 

“Why are you standing out here dressed like this in cold weather? As if receiving punishment from someone.”

 

The words of Kalian, sounding as if they contained Begonia fragrance, followed. Was it truly the same person who had just made such a cold declaration?

 

“What would you do if you caught a cold?”

 

Long white fingers moved.

 

Kalian unfastened his thick cloak that emitted a redder light than the Begonias, with black luxuriant fur decoration covering one shoulder. Then he walked behind Chase and personally covered him with the cloak before slowly returning to where he had originally stood.

 

“…Chase.”

 

A voice gentler than ever before.

 

A long arc was drawn at the corners of Plants’s mouth, who had been frowning intensely, saying the red Begonia fragrance was annoying, upon hearing those words.

 

The distinct crest of the Cyries Royal Family embroidered on the red cloak briefly swayed in the breeze.