Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Conclusions Come First
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Only conclusions surfaced first.
Mother had tried to kill her brother.
The manor might be in ruins now, but who knew when new orders might come down the line.
She herself might turn out to be a curse.
As long as he stayed in this lord's manor, her brother wasn't safe.
And on top of that, she had to leave soon for the academy.
What if Mother poisoned him again while she was gone?
What if Slokina's thugs got their hands dirty themselves?
Brother was defenseless.
But she couldn't just chase Mother out or report her right away.
The one witness, Tart, had been eaten, and the vial hadn't been analyzed yet.
Above all, Brother couldn't handle the shock.
'I need to get Brother somewhere safe. But where?'
The grand duchy was too dangerous.
She had to evade Father's eyes and reach a place Mother's influence couldn't touch.
Suddenly, one location came to mind.
'Eisen Guard.'
Where her master, the Eisen Baron, was.
And where Barg, who had saved her, waited.
'That place...'
Under the Eisen Baron's protection, Brother would be safe.
And while she was at the academy, she could buy time there to uncover the poison's nature and find an antidote.
Destination decided.
But.
'How?'
The biggest wall remained.
On what pretext could she send her frail brother all the way to distant Eisen Guard?
Father hated Brother leaving the manor with a passion.
He wouldn't tolerate the family's shame wandering about.
Brother would refuse too, not wanting to be a burden.
'I need to convince them. Father and Brother both. Some excuse that satisfies everyone.'
A pretext.
A ruse.
But the boy's mind drew a blank on breaking through this deadlock.
His own powerlessness and inexperience cut deep.
'Master...'
Kairun gripped the crumpled letter in his pocket.
Rustle.
The sound of paper crunching reached his fingertips.
'Please help us.'
The boy prayed fervently as he pushed his brother's wheelchair.
At the end of the corridor, where the sunset was losing its strength.
A faint candle flame flickered there, finally shining brighter than the dying glow, yet perilously unsteady.
Kairun wheeled his brother back to the annex office.
Screech, screech.
The wheels' rumble echoed louder than usual.
Kairun settled his brother comfortably at the desk.
Karl was still breathing raggedly, but his expression had eased.
His little brother was safe, and the medicine had been passed to Mother, or so he believed.
"Thank you, Kairun. You saved my life."
"No, Brother. I should have... come sooner."
Kairun bowed his head.
Then, his red eyes caught an unopened letter on the desk's corner.
The Eisen Baron's family crest was stamped clearly on the antique envelope.
"Brother, you've received a letter from Master. I just read mine on the way here."
"Ah... is that so?"
Karl replied in a weary voice.
"Haven't had a chance to open it amid the chaos. I was about to when you arrived..."
Karl gave a wry smile and picked up the envelope.
A faint crack ran through the red wax seal.
"The wax is cracked. Well, the grand duchy's courier carriages circle the territories collecting reports. Must've been jostled on the way."
"......"
Kairun's gaze sharpened.
"What if someone opened it midway? Things are unsettled these days..."
Mother, or a Slokina spy screening the mail—
But Karl chuckled and shook his head.
"Doubt it. Don't you know the baron yet?"
Karl held the envelope to the light.
"He doesn't just seal the wax outside—he applies adhesive to the inner flap too. Force it open, and the envelope itself would tear."
"Ah...."
"He always said, 'The circuit report system is vulnerable to interception. Revise it to direct lines between territories.' Father dismissed it as clinging to tradition."
Karl neatly sliced the envelope with his paper knife.
"So the baron sends key documents and letters separately. Timed precisely so they arrive just as the circuit carriage hits our manor—without Father noticing."
Master's meticulousness.
Learning under Eisen had sometimes felt stifling, but in this precarious moment, it was a comfort.
At least the contents here were untainted truth.
Karl pulled out the letter and read.
Only the rustle of paper filled the room.
Kairun watched his brother's face.
Karl's impassive expression brightened with each line.
Like a candle flickering into view in the darkness.
"Haha... The baron's asking me for help."
"Help? What does it say?"
"Listen."
Karl recited the letter.
"Esteemed Lord Karl. I seek your counsel on the Wintersword couple's academy enrollment, as they reside in my territory..."
Karl's eyes sparkled.
"They're struggling with dormitories and desperately need wisdom and a recommendation from the academy's top graduate with ties to the faculty."
"Dormitory issues?"
"Yes. No suitable place for him and his pregnant wife."
Karl clutched the letter to his chest with a smile.
A genuine, radiant smile after so long.
'I'm happy.'
Legs crippled, confined to a wheelchair.
Treated as useless baggage by Father and beyond the family, withering day by day.
Yet his brother's revered master—the very man who saved his brother—needed him for those benefactors.
'I can still be of use to someone.'
A spark of life stirred in his death-resigned heart.
Kairun sensed it from his brother's smile.
'This is it.'
This letter was the opportunity.
The pretext to get Brother out of the manor.
'Use this to send him to Eisen Guard?'
If Brother had to send letters to the faculty himself or visit Eisen Guard for a meeting?
"Brother! Why not go to Eisen Guard yourself and help?"
Kairun blurted eagerly.
"Easier to contact the professors, consult with Master..."
But Karl's face darkened again.
"...I'd love to, but Father won't allow it."
"......"
"Sending the frail eldest son on a mere dormitory errand? He'll dismiss it—say a letter suffices."
True enough.
The grand duke saw Brother roaming outside as a family disgrace.
She needed a stronger pretext.
Something massive Father couldn't—or shouldn't—refuse.
'What could it be... what...'
Kairun bit his lip in frustration.
'Simple convalescence?'
No.
Father loathed any sign of Brother's illness.That's why he was tucked away in this out-of-sight annex.
'No...'
Territorial inspection then?
As the grand duke's heir, overseeing Eisen Guard?
'That won't work either.'
Father would scoff: 'What inspection from a cripple? Parading that ugly sight?'
No matter how he racked his brain, nothing pierced Father's cold logic and twisted family obsession.
His head throbbed.
To cool his racing thoughts, he approached the window.
The red sunset had faded outside.
At the manor's main gate, the night guard shift was in full swing.
Clank, clank.
Then, the massive iron gates, about to close, halted.
Guards scrambled to clear a path in confusion.
"Who's that?"
Two carriages rolled in along the darkening approach.
No ornate ones with the grand duke's crest.
Practical, sturdy builds.
And one with a strangely familiar shape.
'Father back? No, his procession wouldn't be this modest.'
As the carriages neared, Kairun's eyes widened.
That carriage...
Identical to the one from the borderlands.
The top-grade bed carriage Eisen had commissioned after tiring of the cramped one.
"N-No way...?"
Kairun pressed his face to the glass.
"Kairun? What's going on? Who is it?"
Karl asked curiously, but Kairun swallowed dryly instead of answering.
The carriages stopped before the manor entrance.
A knight in Eisen Guard-crested armor dismounted from the driver's seat first.
And then.
Creeeak.
The door opened, and a massive shadow stepped out.
An overwhelming bulk clear even in the gloom.
A giant double-headed axe slung on his back.
"......!"
Kairun's eyes bulged.
"It's Master. And... Barg's with him."
"What? The baron and that benefactor?"
Karl spun his wheelchair to the window in shock.
Kairun's mind reeled briefly.
Impossible.
Master's letter had arrived today.
Yet the senders arrived almost simultaneously?
'Ah... "Circuit".'
As Brother said earlier, Master sent key items separately.
The grand duchy's circuit carriages hit all twelve territories in sequence for reports.
Master knew that sluggish pace better than anyone.
He'd dispatched the letter via courier, handled Eisen Guard business, then set out a day or two later.
Racing "direct," he overtook the dawdling "circuit" carriage, timing his arrival perfectly with the letter.
Even that gap calculated.
'But why come in person? Something happen?'
Questions arose.
'And why Barg? He's busy with enrollment prep. Is his wife here?'
But relief and joy drowned the doubts.
"Feels good..."
Barg, descending into the front courtyard, looked up.
"Gotta keep moving."
Eisen, beside him, spoke quietly.
"Barg... no, here it's Lord Wintersword."
Eisen adjusted his glasses, dropping the manor nickname for a formal gaze.
"Anyway... everything you said earlier must be true. About 'him' being in danger."
Eisen's words carried steel.
Lies would insult the grand ducal house.
But a master's plea—and vassal's—for no more delays infused it with flesh.
Barg smirked firmly.
"Take it as a heads-up for now. We're here for the dormitory issue."
He shrugged nonchalantly.
"But... solve that, and 'that matter' might get handled as a bonus."
Barg looked straight at the annex second floor—Karl's office window.
As if he knew Kairun was there.
Their eyes met, and Kairun felt it.
The salvation he'd yearned for had walked in on its own legs.
"Brother."
Kairun's voice trembled.
"We don't need to go. They're... here to save us."
"Save us?"
Karl smiled at his baffling little brother.
Even grown, that adorable innocence lingered.