Chapter 47
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Reverse Scale
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A cluttered storeroom filled with dilapidated furniture.
It was far too squalid a place for a scion of a grand ducal house to kneel.
But...
"Hic... sob..."
That very squalor somehow veiled the boy's misery.
We said nothing until Kairun's sobs began to subside.
We simply waited.
Waited for this young boy to shatter the emotions he'd bottled up in his chest and breathe again amid the wreckage of his feelings.
A small glass vial on the floor caught the faint lamplight.
The weight contained in that tiny bottle was crushing the grand ducal house.
A long time passed.
Only when Kairun's shoulders stopped heaving did the Eisen Baron cautiously reach out and pat his disciple's back.
Tap, tap.
"...Are you feeling a bit calmer now?"
"......Yes. I'm sorry. I made a fool of myself."
Kairun roughly wiped his reddened eyes with his sleeve.
His face was a tear-streaked mess.
Yet those red eyes of his were now far clearer than before.
The Eisen Baron adjusted his glasses and broke the heavy silence.
"Young lord. Please... tell us everything now. We can't help if we don't know. Don't bear it alone—share the burden with us."
Kairun's lips twitched as if he hesitated for a moment.
This was his family's shame.
The fact that his mother had tried to kill his brother, and that he had covered it up.
Once he spoke it aloud, there would be no crossing back over that river.
But.
Kairun lifted his head.
He looked straight into my eyes, then the Eisen Baron's.
Into the eyes of the man who had given him the foundation to live on.
Into the eyes of the man who had already saved his life once.
Into the eyes of the only two people who could now save his brother and mother.
"......I'll tell you."
The story was longer and more horrific than imagined.
The threats from the Kingdom of Slokina.
The contempt his mother Kara had endured, branded a "lead vessel," and the delusion that she was finally accepted only after giving birth to Kairun.
And the cruel demand that held that happiness hostage.
"Mother believed... that if she didn't kill my brother, I would die."
Kairun's voice cracked.
"So she mixed poison into Tart's food. Not an acute lethal toxin, but a nerve poison that slowly destroys the body..."
And then.
"Mother ate the remaining tart herself..."
"What?"
The Eisen Baron was stunned.
"Out of guilt... She said if brother died, she'd follow him. She's been swallowing that poison every day."
"Heavens..."
I was at a loss for words too.
Insane.
A mad form of love where they killed each other—and themselves.
"And... I ate it today too."
"......!"
"I tried to stop brother from eating it... but I had to confirm. That's how I knew. That it was poison."
A boy who swallowed poison for his brother and chose silence for his mother.
I couldn't even begin to imagine the terror and loneliness he must have endured.
The closest I'd come was that fleeting chill when my father Gorgon was struck by a poisoned arrow.
"Good lord..."
The Eisen Baron let out a deep sigh.
"To bear all this alone on those young shoulders."
Tears welled in the baron's eyes.
Pity for his disciple's suffering, and self-reproach as a teacher for not noticing.
Before he could wipe them away, he seized Kairun's hand.
"Thank you, young lord."
"Master...?"
"For trusting this old man and opening up. And... for holding on without giving up. Thank you truly."
The Eisen Baron bowed his head with sincerity.
"Because you endured, we have a chance to avert the crisis that nearly toppled the grand ducal house. You are already... a fine Northguard."
At those words, Kairun's eyes reddened again.
Northguard.
The child who had only ever been protected had finally embodied the worth of the name he inherited.
The Eisen Baron composed himself and turned to look at me.
"Barg."
"Yes."
"Did you... predict all this?"
I fell silent for a moment.
I couldn't tell the full truth.
That I knew the story because it was from a novel.
But lying outright felt wrong in this heavy moment.
"...No."
I mixed half-truth with half-lie in my answer.
"I didn't know it was this bad. I just... had a bad feeling, that's all."
'Not exactly a lie...'
Even with my knowledge of the original story, things had changed once I intervened.
I hadn't expected Kairun to be this wounded, this deep in the mire.
"That instinct... saved us all."
The Eisen Baron asked no more.
He simply nodded, his eyes conveying trust.
The emotional release was over.
Now it was time for cold reason to find a solution.
The air in the storeroom shifted.
The Eisen Baron began analyzing the problem like a professor at a lectern.
"Then, young lord. When you learned the truth, what plan did you have?"
"......"
Kairun thought for a moment, then spoke with effort.
"I planned to separate them."
"Isolate them?"
"Yes. To protect both, I had to physically separate Mother—the link to the Kingdom of Slokina—from brother, the target."
Sound judgment.
Leaving the poisoner and victim under one roof was suicidal, and Kara would face more pressure.
But.
"But... there's no pretext."
Kairun bowed his head.
"Father sees it as shameful for brother to leave the castle. He views it as a stain on the family. And brother... doesn't want to burden others with his condition."
The biggest hurdle.
The Northguard Grand Duke's stubbornness.
Kara's inferiority complex.
Without overcoming those two walls, moving Kara outside the castle was impossible.
"A pretext..."
The Eisen Baron crossed his arms, deep in thought.
"Simple convalescence or inspection won't suffice. We need something His Grace would accept—no, something he couldn't refuse."
He turned to me.
"Barg, what pretext comes to mind for you in this situation?"
Caught off guard by the sudden question, I crossed my arms and pondered.
A pretext.
To send Kara far away to a safe place, one even the grand duke couldn't oppose.
A sick person.
Someone needing treatment.
But ordinary treatment wouldn't do.
The ducal house already had skilled physicians.
What we needed was something superior, overwhelming.
'Ah.'
"Treatment."
I spoke up.
"What if it's cutting-edge treatment?"
"Cutting-edge treatment?"
"Yes. The castle physicians have already reached their limits. Of course, that was due to ongoing poisoning, but publicly it's known as a worsening mystery illness."
I laid out the logic.
"So why not argue for the foremost place of excellence? Where the empire's greatest minds gather, researching new magic and medicine?"
"The Imperial Academy."
I smiled in satisfaction at the baron's response and continued.
"Eterna Academy's medical center gathers the empire's top healers. If we frame it as special rehabilitation there?"
"The Academy..."
"Perfect timing, since you're enrolling too, young lord. They can live together—brother cared for by his sibling, who in turn gets help with studies. It paints you as devoted brothers, boosting the family's honor."
Silence followed my proposal.
And then.
"......!"
Kairun's eyes widened round.
Those burdensome red eyes bored into me.
'This... musclehead came up with that?'
Kairun was shocked.
The Barg he'd seen at the border was a symbol of overwhelming might.
A warrior who smashed everything with his axe.
But now?
He was dissecting the empire's politics, his father's psyche, even the academy's systems—and proposing the perfect pretext.
Might and intellect.
A man who perfectly embodied both.
'Perfect...'
Kairun's chest swelled.
The ideal he'd dreamed of seemed far grander and greater than imagined.
'My ideal, after all...'
'...Don't look at me with such sparkling eyes. It's embarrassing...'
I averted my gaze from the boy and cleared my throat.
It wasn't some brilliant scheme...
To a modern person, "send the sick to a university hospital" was common sense.
And since it wasn't my family, my head stayed cool.
If it were Kara or Father in this mess...
I'd probably be as wrecked as Kairun.
Or made an irreparable choice.
"What do you think, Baron?"
"...An excellent proposal."
The Eisen Baron nodded.
"Perfect pretext and practicality. His Grace couldn't casually dismiss Eterna Academy's medical center. And with you there, young lord, it's the ultimate safeguard."
But.
The baron's expression remained grave.
"The problem is still His Grace the Grand Duke."
He sighed and explained.
"The Northguard Grand Duke is the North's ruler, who reveres strength. He sees his eldest son's disability as a family disgrace and hides it rigorously. Sending him to the open Academy for treatment? His pride won't allow it."
"......"
"We're already here to request the 'Imperial Princess's letter of recommendation.' Adding 'eldest son's convalescence' risks offending him and botching both. Especially since he'll return at dawn—exhausted."
In the pause as he pondered alternatives, the Eisen Baron added a lesson for me and Kairun.
"A lord's reverse scale is said to be one fixed scale, but that's for dragons in paintings. A living person's emotions ebb and flow, birthing new ones from trifles. We might unwittingly touch his."
Logic perfect, but if it didn't sway emotions, it was useless.
We needed not just persuasion, but compelling force.
As the mood sank.
A peculiar smile tugged at the Eisen Baron's lips.
"However..."
"Yes?"
"We may be fortunate... An unexpected companion has arrived, one who can persuade—and compel."
"Someone who can persuade and compel?"
Kairun glanced between the Eisen Baron and me.
"I bristled at first at the unannounced tagalong, but now he's our greatest ally."
The baron glanced at me.
The man we'd ditched at the annex entrance earlier, trying to follow us.
"Ah... His Highness Prince Radians..."
"Exactly."
The Eisen Baron nodded.
"What? His Highness the Prince is here?"
Kairun jumped up in alarm.
"Where? When did he arrive?"
"......"
The Eisen Baron and I were speechless.
"Didn't you see him earlier... at the annex entrance? Right behind Barg."
"Behind him? I didn't see anything."
Kairun truly seemed unaware.
'......'
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Even with my bulk blocking the view, how do you miss a prince prattling "I'm right here" right behind?
He'd even tried to sling an arm around my shoulder.
'How messed up was his state...'
Pity overrode the bewilderment.
"In any case, His Highness Prince Radians is here. As friend to Young Lord Carl."
The Eisen Baron summarized.
"If His Highness steps in, even the Grand Duke can't ignore it. But... it's not enough. We need a decisive blow to shatter the duke's pride."
He pondered, then gripped Kairun's hand firmly.
"Young lord. You've already pushed yourself far, but... may I ask one last favor?"
"Anything... if it saves brother and Mother."
The Eisen Baron drew a deep breath and played his final card.
"Have the Grand Duchess... add a word to His Grace."
"......Pardon?"
Kairun's eyes widened.
"When the two of them are in the same bedroom."