Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: The Apology
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“……What are you going to do now?”
It was her way of asking how I planned to get back now that the last train had stopped running.
“I heard the base camp in the Ronwood Mountains is almost complete… Shall we head there?”
“No need for that.”
Just then, a horn blared from the distance.
Before heading off to find Aren, I had asked Alicia, who had accompanied me to the hospital, to arrange it.
‘If there’s a problem, I need to fix it right away.’
Otherwise, emotions have a way of fading.
From the start, I had planned to grab Aren today and make her apologize to Cecilia.
That was why I had asked Alicia to arrange the Cyrus Express.
Seeing the imperial flag fluttering on the approaching train, Aren seemed to grasp my intent and nodded.
“Better than staying out overnight, right?”
“Y-Yeah…”
She looked disappointed, though.
A short while later, Alicia emerged from the arriving train, her face sullen.
“Impressive, junior. Calling the princess around like your personal errand girl. Anyone would think you’re part of the imperial family.”
“I asked my senior, not the princess… Sorry if it felt that way.”
“You even got the Cyrus Express moving, which doesn’t budge under normal circumstances… If the imperial family finds out, they’ll be watching me with four eyes instead of two.”
“Don’t you already have plenty? What’s two more to you, senior?”
“You and that mouth of yours.”
Her gaze shifted to Aren, who was clinging tightly to my sleeve.
Her sullen expression lasted only a moment before her eyes widened as she looked Aren over.
It wasn’t just because I was an idiot that I hadn’t realized Aren was a girl.
The bandages that suppressed her presence had played a big role.
And now, those bandages were undone.
To Alicia’s eyes, Aren looked every bit the perfect girl.
I expected some teasing or joking, but Alicia’s expression turned unexpectedly serious.
“Get on board, both of you. And… Kaiser.”
“Yes.”
“Make sure the soldiers on the train keep their mouths shut. I’ll talk to you two, so prepare a separate room.”
As soon as we boarded, the train let out a roar and began retracing its path.
The room prepared for us was a small compartment screened on all sides.
Only Aren, I, and Alicia sat inside.
Alicia clicked her tongue.
“That damn old geezer… He was planning to hide something this important from the imperial family?”
Aren’s expression darkened.
I knew who the “old geezer” referred to.
‘Jin Nosa.’
That Aren was the Child of Prophecy was an open secret.
Of course, only academy folks and high nobles knew, not the general public like Mina.
Those in the know treated Aren as the Child of Prophecy.
Her assigned dormitory was part of that.
Jin Nosa was behind it all.
When the empire’s top swordsman vouched for it, everyone believed without question.
But what if the Child of Prophecy Jin Nosa vouched for turned out not to be a boy?
It was tantamount to deceiving the imperial family.
“Clear-cut fraud. Did you know, junior?”
“I just found out.”
“If I hadn’t, that kid would have monopolized all the support as the Child of Prophecy.”
As Alicia glared at Aren, her shoulders shrank.
“Do you know that my personal assets are included in the support funds given to you?”
For Aren, who didn’t know her temperament, it was only natural to tremble in fear.
Strip away her ditzy image and antics, and she was still the empire’s one and only princess.
“Who else in the academy knows? Not you, junior—Aren Bright. Say it yourself.”
“……The p-princess… and Sir Haribal…”
Aren looked up at me anxiously.
Worried that Cecilia might have told someone else.
I answered for her this time.
“Cecilia Ren. Just the three of us.”
Cecilia hadn’t even told me or Senia that Aren was a girl.
That was why Senia was especially angry at Aren.
Alicia pondered deeply, then snapped open her fan.
“Then no problem.”
“……Huh?”
Aren blinked in confusion at the unexpected response.
So did I.
“Aren’t you better off? It’s like gaining an extra card in my hand.”
“You’re not going to tell anyone?”
“Of course not. ‘Aren Bright isn’t actually the Child of Prophecy.’”
At those words, Aren’s face crumpled again.
She still couldn’t handle hearing it straight from someone else.
“The fact that everyone who knows is friendly to me can be a great card if used right. I can squeeze support funds out of anyone, anytime, anywhere, just by parading her around.”
“……What happens if we get caught?”
“Not my problem. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
‘Fair point.’
If issues arose, Aren and Jin Nosa would take the hit, not Alicia.
“Just shove Aren Bright forward and say it: ‘Hello. I’m here for the support funds. Please give them to me.’”
“……”
“‘Because I’m the Child of Prophecy.’”
“Th-That’s…”
“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing all along?”
Alicia, now back in her Red Scales mode, filled the narrow room with her overwhelming presence.
“Listening to this, I can picture the whole mess. Jealousy and impatience toward my junior, right?”
“……I-I really…”
“On what grounds? Forget the prophecy for a second. While you were frolicking under that backwater Jin Nosa’s intensive training—the one the imperial family treats like shit—my junior was diving into dungeons hundreds of times starting at age ten.”
“……S-Sorry.”
“He’s got hundreds of scars on his body. Some would’ve killed him if not for Mina. What makes you think you’re better than him?”
Alicia’s sharp fact-bombs rained down on Aren.
She was saying the things I’d only thought but never voiced.
The light faded from Aren’s eyes.
Worried she’d blacken again, I intervened first.
“Senior.”
“Let me handle this. You have to crush their spirit completely when they’re down.”
“Aren knows already.”
“No, she’s pissed, that’s why.”
After raging, Alicia let out a deep sigh and added,
“Phew! Aren Bright.”
“……Y-Yes.”
“I said all that, but I know. I know you’ve devoted yourself to the empire all this time.”
While I was running dungeons with Cecilia to conquer the Doll Dungeon.
Aren had been traveling the empire with Lan, helping people.
The two had handled countless requests that existed as quests in the original story.
I could focus on farming because she took care of those for me.
That was why I couldn’t harbor ill will toward her easily.
“So take pride in yourself. Forget prophecy or whatever—pride in being Aren Bright.”
“……”
“If I’d found you before my junior, I would’ve gone all-in on you.”
A spark reignited in Aren’s fading eyes.
Overwhelmed that the princess acknowledged her efforts, Aren cried out.
“Yes…!”
Alicia turned away sharply.
The ‘plan going as expected’ smirk on her lips was invisible to Aren.
“But now I get it. Why that trash didn’t pick a tasty-looking sword like you.”
“Trash…?”
“There is one. The kind that’d get you executed for imperial insult if you named him from your mouth.”
‘Trash must mean the prince.’
I knew Alicia had backed me since childhood, but still.
The prince hadn’t even contacted Aren once, she said.
Alicia seemed to assume he knew Aren wasn’t the Child of Prophecy and thus stayed away.
Resting her chin on her fan, she muttered flatly.
“Well, if he won’t eat, I will. With that in mind, Aren Bright.”
“Yes, yes!”
“The long sword slot is taken, but the dark sword spot is open. Will you enter my scabbard willingly, or seek another hand?”
Aren agonized but couldn’t answer easily.
Watching, I spoke up.
“We can think about that later.”
“Hm?”
“Let’s handle what needs doing now.”
I nodded toward the train’s direction.
Naveil. The hospital where Cecilia was.
Aren nodded, her face half relief, half worry.
Then she smiled gratefully at me.
Alicia’s offer was basically to become her subordinate right now.
In a situation where we didn’t know what problems Aren joining somewhere might cause, putting it on hold was best.
Alicia laughed behind her fan.
“Kuheheh. You’re so endearing, junior. Already so devoted to your wife.”
“I have a prior commitment with her. Please respect the order, senior.”
“Fine. Tired? We’ve got another hour. Rest your eyes.”
As she said, fatigue was setting in.
Leaning back and closing my eyes—
‘Wait…’
I thought I heard something odd.
“…What did you just say?”
“Hm? That you’re devoted to your wife?”
“……Who exactly?”
“Who else? The empire’s most famous punch-bag wife. What lunatic would fist a lady’s face?”
‘Fuck?’
I thought I misheard, but no, I heard right.
Alicia said my fame had spotlighted the duel with Cecilia too.
Sharp ones already knew Cecilia had feelings for me.
Thus, Cecilia was seen as the weirdo who fell for me after taking a punch to the face.
“It’s gotten to where people say you have to take a fist first to share love with the Mourning Sword.”
“……Do people really say that?”
“Kidding.”
“That’s… a relief.”
“Joking.”
I clenched my fist without thinking.
Embarrassment boiled from my dantian at my dark history being broadcast everywhere.
If there was a blanket nearby, I’d rip it to shreds.
“Planning to hit me too?”
“……”
“I’m royalty?”
“……”
“…Make it not hurt if you can.”
Her playful joke left me utterly drained.
Then Aren slinked over like a squid, right in front of my drooping eyes.
Eyes squeezed shut, she thrust her face toward me.
What.
⁎⁎⁎
“Come in.”
Aren entered the hospital room.
Dressed in the same unfeminine outfit as when we’d gone to the dungeon with Cecilia.
Cecilia, propped up in bed, said nothing.
An awkward silence crushed the room.
‘Skip excuses or reasons—just say sorry.’
Haribal’s voice echoed in my ears.
Aren clenched her fists.
Then slowly knelt.
“……Sorry.”
Her voice cracked.
“I’m really sorry, Cecilia.”
She couldn’t lift her head.
Expecting Cecilia’s anger-filled voice.
But no.
“Get up.”
When Aren looked up, Cecilia gazed at her calmly.
“You planning to keep wearing that?”
“……This is.”
“I knew you were a girl from the first time we held hands.”
“Th-Then… why…?”
“You had your reasons.”
Cecilia shrugged, and Aren could only nod mutely.
Tears she’d held back streamed from her eyes.
“Ha… Crying this easily? Last heir of the Extreme Divine One Sword?”
Watching, Cecilia sighed and patted the spot beside her on the bed.
Come here.
Sitting side by side on a bed with another girl.
Impossible for Aren, who’d acted as a boy.
But before her now was one of the few who knew her secret.
And the victim of her rampage, no less.
Aren sat obediently beside Cecilia.
“Good thing you didn’t hurt me badly. If you’d really meant to kill me, you’d have aimed elsewhere, not my shoulder.”
“……Sorry.”
“It actually made me reflect on myself. If I can’t even react to a surprise attack properly, I can’t bear the title of Sword Fairy.”
Sitting side by side, Aren was even shorter than Cecilia.
“Remember what I said back then?”
“What…?”
“The man I like.”
Aren’s face flushed crimson instantly.
“So don’t worry. I’m too busy fretting over him to go blabbing your secret.”
With her secret assured.
The taut string of tension snapped, and strength drained from Aren’s shoulders.
“Thank you…”
For a while, the room filled with the chatter of two girls opening up for the first time.
Cecilia smiled gently throughout, and Aren quickly warmed to this novel exchange with another girl.
After Aren’s final apology and thanks as she left.
Cecilia alone in the room.
All expression vanished from her face.
“……Ha.”
68 times.
The number of times Haribal’s name had come up in her roughly hour-long talk with Aren.