Chapter 102: This Time (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 102: This Time (3)
Calian scoffed, his hand holding the note falling limply to his side.
"Should I be grateful?"
He had learned that Chase still remembered Bern. All he could muster in response was a hollow, "That's wonderful."
He couldn't afford to break down, not even for a moment. After all, wasn't someone constantly on his heels? It was as if that person was deliberately keeping him from drowning in his thoughts of Chase and the shackles of the past.
Calian felt as if this entire situation was a message from Prince Randel, who was even now walking toward him.
You are the Third Prince of Kairis now.
You are no longer Prince Bern, who could leisurely focus on protecting his older brother. Pull yourself together.
Otherwise, you will be swept away by my hand in an instant.
"To show such concern, even telling me not to ache… I can only offer my deepest gratitude for your profound interest."
Calian directed his sarcastic, sigh-laden thanks to the empty room where no one could hear. He stood frozen in the middle of the floor for a long while before he was finally able to push his feelings for Chase aside once more.
Having barely regained his composure, Calian read the note in his hand again.
– Among the priests who entered Kairisis, there is no ‘Malcolm Chettish’.
Upon returning to his room, he had found a magic book sent by Melfir Polun. It was not something Calian had ordered. Instead of sending it back, he opened the second volume with practiced ease and found Euria's hidden note inside.
This was the method Euria used whenever she had information to pass to Calian through Melfir. He had told her she didn't need to go to such lengths and could just send a messenger, but Euria seemed to have grown quite fond of playing the secret agent. Thanks to her, Calian's bookshelf was piling up with meaningless magic books.
At any rate, the note was the answer to what Calian had asked Euria to investigate the previous day. It concerned the priest Calian had saved in the Latran territory—the one who had rendered Margrave Gray Brissen's dantian permanently unrecoverable. Since Malcolm was the only priest Calian was acquainted with, he had hoped to meet him, but it turned out he wasn't part of the delegation.
Yet, Tensil had claimed they were sending thirty priests, including those who had been returned to them. They had definitely said so.
Calian sat on the sofa and muttered to himself, "The stories don't match. And I don't even know if the other priests, excluding Malcolm, have arrived."
Calian tilted his head and tapped his knee, lost in thought.
After some time, Yan entered and set down a cup of tea brewed with dried strawberries and mint. He stared at Calian's face for a moment before speaking.
"Count Manasil wasn't at the banquet hall. Shall I call for him? You've looked deeply troubled all day."
Since Calian didn't bother masking his expressions in front of Yan, his attendant must have spent the last two days worrying without being able to ask what was wrong. Come to think of it, while they were traveling, Calian had usually consulted with Yan. But since returning to the royal palace after his coming-of-age ceremony, he hadn't shared much. Thinking that Yan might have felt a bit left out, Calian pointed to the seat opposite him.
"Sit for a moment, Yan. I'll tell you."
Yan's face brightened as he sat down.
"Listen to this."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Tensil sent thirty priests, and I think Prince Randel is involved," Calian began, laying out the facts. "They must have a goal, but they've created a separate pretext for now. It seems Randel also summoned Margrave Brissen, but the Margrave can't come because he's walking on eggshells around the King. Then today, Randel suddenly asked me about the whereabouts of Viscount Lennon Brissen."
He paused, organizing his thoughts.
"The most important part of Randel’s plot seems to be related to those priests. It's too strange for him to ask me for the Viscount's location, especially on a day like today. So, here's what I think: initially, Randel probably tried to summon Margrave Brissen to distract me. But when the Margrave couldn't make it, he hastily threw out another piece of bait to keep me from paying attention to the priests."
Calian leaned forward. "So my question is this: why did the priests come?"
Yan stared blankly at Calian before speaking.
"……Hmm."
Baby elephant.
He didn't understand.
Since he hadn't expected a particular answer anyway, Calian chuckled softly and nodded. This was his problem to solve, after all.
However, Yan, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly spoke up. "They shouldn't be able to send thirty of them."
Yan hadn't failed to understand at all. In fact, his answer touched upon something far more fundamental.
"What do you mean they shouldn't be able to send them?"
"Didn't an epidemic sweep through Kairis this spring as well?"
This was a fact Calian knew all too well. Hadn't he sent a substantial amount of financial aid because one of the knightly families loyal to him had suffered from it?
As Calian considered this, his head snapped up. Something had suddenly clicked into place. His expression, clouded with worry, finally began to clear.
"If there was a flood, an epidemic would naturally follow," he muttered to himself.
Wet food rots. Wet roofs and damp wooden walls grow moldy and eventually rot. An epidemic that arises in an environment where everything is decaying as the weather warms does not subside easily. Diseases spread when the weather warms under normal circumstances; it was an inevitability after an entire kingdom had been submerged.
"They would desperately need priests, yet they sent them away. In a country already struggling with a shortage of sacred relics, they sent thirty of them… Sending thirty priests to celebrate a neighboring king's birthday while their own people are dying is something they wouldn't do unless they've truly gone mad."
"Yes, exactly," Yan confirmed.
"Why didn't I realize that?" Calian had been short-sighted. "They might not be real priests."
If all of them—or most of them, save for a few to keep up appearances—were fake, then Malcolm's absence made perfect sense.
"Then why did they send fake priests?" Calian asked Yan again.
Yan, who looked as if he had just gathered a lifetime's worth of intelligence for that one insight, replied with a face that asked why he was being questioned about such a thing.
"I wouldn't know that either."
"Ah… of course."
Right. He used up his entire lifetime's worth of intelligence just now.
* * *
Count Aizen Aprin, the man who had gifted Calian rye cookies, was a count, but he was not well-known. In fact, that was true of most heads of knightly families who had not aligned themselves with the House of Marquis Brissen.
What should I do?
Aizen looked around with a troubled expression. Although he was attending the tea party for local nobles, he had no close acquaintances among them. Of course, he wasn't troubled because he had no one to talk to. It was because there was no one he could ask what he really wanted to know.
Does anyone happen to know why the Third Prince isn't here?
At first, he thought the prince was just running late. But when Calian failed to appear even after the other two princes and King Lemain had entered, his anxiety grew. Seeing how Lemain occasionally praised Calian, it didn't seem like he had failed to show up because he had fallen out of favor. He couldn't help but worry that something might have happened.
As he kept glancing at the door, preparing to leave as soon as the event ended, an attendant approached him. The attendant passed by, whispering a very brief message before immediately walking away.
"Leave last."
The moment Aizen heard those words, he untied his shoelaces. It was undoubtedly a message from Calian.
The servant who had accompanied him quickly tried to tie the loose laces, but Aizen waved him off and told him to leave the banquet hall first.
Just as he was bending over, focusing on tying his shoelaces, he heard approaching footsteps, followed by a voice.
"What is this?"
Aizen flinched. It was a low voice that sounded as if it belonged to a man who stood alone above all creation. It did not belong to Calian.
Startled, Aizen stood up. Before him was Prince Franz, wearing an expression that looked, just as rumored, as if he wouldn't care if he died that very moment.
Of all people, Prince Franz.
He had been waiting for Calian, only to run into Prince Franz—the very man who had betrayed Calian after Calian had saved his life. Unable to bring himself to say he was waiting for Prince Calian, Aizen offered a plausible excuse.
"I was delayed because I am not used to tying my own shoelaces, Your Highness."
Hearing this, one corner of Prince Franz's mouth curled upward. Without even bowing his head, he lowered his gaze to Aizen's shoes, then stared straight back into Aizen's eyes.
"Cut the nonsense."
Aizen was startled once more. It wasn't because of the prince's insolent tone. It was because Prince Franz, who had looked completely indifferent to the world just a moment ago, was now staring at him with the eyes of a wolf about to hunt.
Prince Franz's voice pierced his ears once more. "Why are you looking for my little brother?"
Aizen was not a foolish man. In that moment, he realized several things. The message from the attendant had not been from Calian, but from Prince Franz. And Prince Franz had accurately guessed he was looking for Calian.
And perhaps… that Calian and Prince Franz might not actually be enemies.
As Aizen remained lost in thought, Prince Franz spoke again with a languid expression. "You don't trust me."
The rumor that Prince Franz was frustratingly cryptic was absolutely correct. He didn't explain how he knew Aizen was looking for Calian, nor did he reveal his true relationship with him. He simply asked why Aizen was looking for him, then rebuked him for not trusting him. What kind of maddening conversational style was this?
Before Aizen could adapt to facing Prince Franz, who was the polar opposite of the gently charismatic Calian, the prince continued without waiting for a reply.
"There is a battle-crazed mage in Valkan. It might be good for him to spar with you tomorrow."
Then, as if he had no further business, he walked toward the banquet hall doors, leaving behind one last remark.
"Coincidentally, my little brother said he would come to watch."
Tomorrow's schedule was originally meant for the envoys. There was no way Calian would attend, as King Lemain, conscious of Sir Teilan who accompanied Chase, would definitely exclude him. Thus, Prince Franz had arranged this opportunity so Calian and Aizen could meet.
Only then did Aizen fully grasp the Second Prince's intention, and he bowed deeply to his departing back.
"Thank you very much, Prince Franz."
Of course, Prince Franz was not the type to respond.
* * *
There was still a brief moment left before dinner.
Prince Franz returned to Chermil Palace, his face etched with fatigue. A meeting had been called for the attendants regarding the schedule for the day after tomorrow, so Franz had sent Relic ahead and returned to his room alone. There, he saw a silver-haired maid hovering in front of his door.
Hearing his footsteps, Hina turned her head and bowed.
Prince Franz let out a short sigh. It seemed it had gotten inside again.
'I am Prince Calian's cat.'
The cat was in his room. It had grown, but the gap under the door hadn't widened, yet the creature still slipped in and out at will. A truly bizarre animal.
"Here again?" he asked.
"I'm sorry," Hina replied.
"For what?" What could he do about a cat coming and going? He brushed it off with a half-hearted reply and opened his door.
Slam!
He closed it right back.
There was something inside.
Hina looked at him in bewilderment. Franz briefly checked to make sure this was indeed the fourth floor before turning back to her. "Leave the cat."
Since palace affairs were busy, it was a relief that he offered to watch the animal. Hina smiled and bowed again. "Yes. Thank you, good, Prince."
Prince Franz still hadn't learned the meaning of that word, 'good'. She simply wouldn't teach him. Having no intention of doing so this time either, Hina quickly paid her respects and turned to leave.
Franz watched her go for a moment, then stepped back into his room. He frowned slightly and spoke.
"I thought this place…"
On the sofa sat the 'I am Prince Calian's cat' cat. And between the sofa and the cat sat Calian himself.
"...was my room."
Normally, if a cat and its owner were in a room, didn't that room belong to the cat's owner?
Prince Franz let out an annoyed sigh at the sight of the person and animal who had entered his room without permission. Calian just grinned.
Then, pointing toward Siegfried Hall, which was brightly lit in the distance and shining like a jewel against the setting sun, Calian brought up an unexpected topic.
"Have dinner with me tonight."
He was suggesting they announce to everyone that the two princes had joined hands once again.
"I wonder what my little brother is plotting this time," Franz drawled.
"Nothing major. It just seems Prince Randel is trying to send us thirty fake priests."
Since Prince Randel had used a shallow trick to keep Calian from paying attention to the thirty priests, Calian intended to pay him back in kind.
"And I absolutely detest being swayed by others."
It didn't matter what Prince Randel was plotting with thirty fake priests. He would make sure Randel was too distracted by the alliance between Calian and Prince Franz to properly carry out his plans.