Chapter 188: [Side Story] Pure White Bird of Prey
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 188: [Side Story] Pure White Bird of Prey
It was a pitch-black night.
A cluster of blue light bloomed in the sky.
The sun that heralded the end of darkness was, without a doubt, red. But as if displeased with that redness, as if to prove that the night could also be banished by blue, a cluster of cerulean light gathered in the dead of night. It illuminated the dark expanse before falling like gentle snow.
Though both drove away the night, the red and the blue were starkly different.
People walking the streets stopped in unison to gaze up at the sky. Black eyes, green eyes, brown eyes—all reflected the brilliant blue of the night. Stardust falling from the heavens began to settle on their hair, their foreheads, and their hands.
—Serenti's Time.
It was an enchanting phenomenon that occurred between the end of February and the beginning of March, some years but not others. As the day arrived, a voice drifted out, though it was unclear who it was for.
“Ah. I’d forgotten.”
The light that had gathered in the sky scattered like snow. Only when it floated back up into the heavens and faded away did the true night return. It was said that the way it lit up the darkness like broad daylight, only to vanish like a mirage, felt like an entire day passing in the blink of an eye.
For that reason, people wished to capture a single “day” within that mysterious time. And because that time never came every year, they created a day that did not exist on the calendar to commemorate it.
Thus came the brief day: February 30th.
Bern spoke again, looking down at the man kneeling before him.
“Today was my birthday.”
A beautiful day that did not exist on the calendar. A time that, for most, was like a blessing from Serenti.
“Father must have known. Yet he sent me out on a day like this.”
At the boy’s words, the man, his face filled with terror, tried to say something, but no sound could escape his throat.
Thud.
The boy had already silenced him.
Blue starlight reflected off the sword, now beaded with red blood. His light purple eyes, which seemed to hold the very end of winter, lost their light once more.
Amidst the cascading blue sparkles, the boy trudged forward. On a day when everyone else raised their heads to the sky, he alone kept his gaze fixed on the ground.
The scent of blood had soaked into his deeply pulled-down black hood, a stench that would never wash away. The weight of the lives he had ended with his own hands seemed to crush his shoulders, so the boy could do nothing but walk with his head bowed.
He trudged into the shadows of the largest, most splendid, and brightest place in Secritia.
Even now that he knew today was his birthday.
* * *
February 30th.
A brief day, easily forgotten.
A name given to him because he was born on such a day.
A name his mother had given him, wishing he would never be forgotten—that he would be remembered forever.
Bern.
It was the first birthday present the boy had ever received.
* * *
Returning to a spacious room in a corner of the Secritia Royal Palace, Bern uttered his customary words.
“I want to be alone.”
Only three living people knew what Bern did when he went out in the dead of night with his black robe and sword: Devlan, one of Devlan’s other escort knights—not Teilan—and the senior servant who delivered Devlan’s letters. Among the living, that was all.
The other knights and Teilan had their suspicions, of course. It was impossible to miss the terrible scent of blood that clung to him at all hours. But Bern said nothing, and they were in no position to interrogate a prince or his senior servant.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Around the time Bern returned in his black robe, his servant would move with practiced efficiency. Whether it was winter or summer, he would stoke a roaring fire in the fireplace, fill a large tub with cold water, and place clean bandages and medicine on the bed.
He did nothing else and said nothing else, knowing this was the best way to serve Bern.
—Thud!
Closing the door and locking it tight, Bern stood before the fireplace. Feeling as though the stench of blood was dripping from his black clothes, he threw the robe and all his garments into the blazing flames. Then, he began to wash away the lingering traces of lives, great and small, with cold water.
As the water touched his forearm, a sharp pain flared.
He glanced down and saw blood seeping from a shallow wound. Bern’s eyes grew cold as he stared at it for a moment before speaking quietly.
“...It hurts.”
Those who died today must have hurt much more.
No matter how fast his sword became, even if he only severed their necks without touching any other part of their bodies, it must have still hurt terribly. Unable to shake off the relentless guilt, he submerged himself in the freezing water.
—Knock, knock.
A soft knock broke the chilly silence, followed by a cautious voice from beyond the bathroom door.
“Your Highness.”
He had clearly said he wanted to be alone.
Bern, about to show his displeasure, suddenly froze. He had a feeling he knew why the servant had dared to call him.
“Prince Chase has arrived.”
As if confirming his suspicion, the servant spoke.
Gladness, joy, awkwardness, embarrassment.
For the first time that night, an expression fitting his age crossed Bern’s face.
“Ah...”
Hurriedly pulling on a robe, he stepped out of the bathroom, his eyes darting to the fireplace. The clothes had already been reduced to black ash, but he didn’t want Chase to see even that.
“I’m coming out, Brother.”
With those words, he tightly wrapped the wound on his arm with a bandage and quickly dressed.
* * *
From the top of the Secritia Royal Palace spire, the entirety of Secreta unfolded beneath one’s feet. Bern loved this spire for the distant view it offered. Standing beside him, Chase followed Bern’s gaze to the long castle wall in the distance and spoke.
He asked if Bern wanted to go see the sea.
“Right now?” Bern asked, bewildered.
The answer came as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “If not now, when?”
“Any time other than now.”
Chase was thoughtful, always put others first, and always smiled gently.
But he also had a random streak.
Actually, a significant one.
“But I want to go now. With you, Brother.” Chase said, offering a bright smile, completely unaware of what Bern had been doing just moments ago. Completely unaware of what had transpired at the estate of a certain count who had been close to Devlan’s cousin.
“No.”
Bern, adding another secret he would keep from Chase until the day he died, replied firmly.
Two princes leaving the capital in the dead of night to go to the sea—even if the coast was close, Chase was asking for what would be a major ordeal.
Of course, Bern’s first worry wasn’t a potential ambush. While that was a concern, there was a much bigger problem.
“You’ll catch a cold, Brother.”
He was worried Chase would catch a cold.
On the night Bern turned ten, Serenti’s Time had also come. The morning after, Devlan had taken the two brothers to the sea and tested Chase in his own way.
He threw Bern into the water, and Chase jumped in right after him.
No matter how short Secritia’s winters were, they were not warm enough for a young child to plunge into the ocean.
In the end, Chase caught a severe cold that turned into pneumonia, and he barely survived.
Because of that, a simple cold became the most terrifying illness in the world to Bern. And on that day, Devlan ceased to be his family.
“It’s just a cold. I can get better.” But perhaps because he was the one who had actually gone through it, Chase simply retorted.
“You’re not planning on going with your escort. What if someone follows us?”
“Why should I worry when I have you?”
“It’s your life, Brother.”
Hearing this, Chase let out a pleasant laugh, but he had no intention of giving up. Since not even his mother, Royal Concubine Louise, could break Chase’s stubbornness, it was impossible for Bern to win. In the end, Bern let out a short sigh and shook his head.
“Dismiss the knights yourself. And speak to Father directly. I have nothing to do with this.”
He said it because Devlan never raised his voice at Chase. Devlan let Chase do whatever he wanted. He never interfered and had even promised to give Chase the position of Crown Prince. In exchange, Bern did the ‘pruning’ for him.
Since it was all to keep Chase alive, Bern could endure it without a second thought.
“That’s nothing. Easy,” Chase replied, echoing Bern’s exact thoughts.
Bern chuckled.
In the dark dawn, long after Serenti’s Time had passed, the horses of the two princes galloped toward the sea.
* * *
When Chase suggested going to the sea, Bern had naturally assumed he meant the royal coast. But Chase had brought him somewhere slightly farther.
Watching the sea in silence, where the silver moon rose and set on the water’s surface and moonlit ripples sparkled quietly, Bern spoke.
“This is a bit too grand for a present.”
“As I kept thinking about it, it just grew into this.”
There was a small rock formation and a little wooden house. It was a tiny beach with a narrow stretch of white sand, where the sound of the waves was beautiful.
“Arianne suggested a sword, but I didn’t like that idea. I thought about buying you a horse that could run far, but you already have three. Then I thought about buying you a villa, but you already inherited one from Mother. I wondered what you didn’t have, and so... I bought you a sea.”
Having gifted his younger brother a small beach, Chase explained himself with a face that seemed to crave praise.
“And since Mother is nearby, isn’t it even better?”
The Queen of Secritia had passed away a month ago. The sea was not far from the grave of Queen Diena, Bern’s mother.
“The nobles will have a lot to say about this.” The nobles gossiped enough as it was. A brother gifting his younger brother a sea for his birthday would undoubtedly spark endless talk.
Chase shrugged. “Don’t worry, it belonged to Arianne. Besides, I brought you here secretly in the dead of night so we wouldn’t draw attention.”
Arianne, the brothers’ long-time friend and Chase’s fiancée. He meant that she would keep the secret of having sold her small beach to the First Prince, and since he had brought Bern here at dawn, away from prying eyes, there would be no issues.
In the end, Bern could not refuse any longer and decided to accept the magnificent gift. He knew Chase was looking out for him, worried because Bern had shown no outward signs of grief despite having recently lost his mother.
Besides, he truly liked this gift—close to his mother, filled with the gentle sound of waves and a pleasant scent.
“No one will be here whenever you visit, so come whenever you like. Come to rest, to play, just do as you please.”
Watching Bern, who was already thinking that running on sand was harder than on solid ground and that he could come here often to practice, Chase continued in a low voice.
“It’s a place where you don’t have to do anything. Sometimes—no, often is fine too—just come whenever you want and rest. That is what I wish for you.”
Only fourteen years old. His only younger brother, who was far too mature for his age. Chase’s voice was thick with pity and affection.
Bern spent most of his days with the knight Teilan. Every single day, he held a sword until his blisters burst and bled. Except for the few days after he lost his mother, he always held his sword.
Chase knew who he was doing it for.
Though he did not know how much blood already stained those hands, he knew that much. He had gifted this sea to such a brother, hoping he might finally catch his breath and rest.
Bern simply smiled. The sound of the waves rolling in and out was pleasant. He liked the salty scent of the sea far more than the stench of blood.
“Bern.”
Watching him, Chase called out softly. Bern, who looked exactly like Chase aside from his longer hair and lighter eyes, looked back at him.
“...I really wish you wouldn’t become a knight. Is that too much to ask?”
“You once said it was reassuring and that you liked it.”
“I didn’t know you were being serious.”
Bern replied with a chuckle. “You know I can’t lie.”
“I didn’t realize that back then either. How was I to know you would actually go through with it?”
“It’s already too late. What can I do? I love the sword.”
When it came to stubbornness, Chase and Bern were identical. They didn’t just share a face; their temperaments were the same. This time, it was Chase who let out a deep sigh.
The pitch-black sea. Even in the darkness, where the blue light had faded to leave only the distant glow of the moon and stars, his brother’s hands were clearly visible. Though his hands were surely not the only part of him covered in wounds, the sight of them pained Chase so much that he could not speak further. The gentle sound of the waves, as quiet as Chase’s voice, spoke the words he swallowed.
“I’ll come often. Thank you for the gift, Brother.”
Clever Bern, a deeply thoughtful child. His precious younger brother, who always broke his heart.
“How did things turn out this way?” A voice like a wind-swept forest scattered over the waves.
Chase’s short, bluish-silver hair fluttered in the wind before settling. Following it, Bern’s long, bluish-silver hair fluttered as well.
“That position should have been yours.”
On the day Bern turned fourteen, Devlan had said that once dawn broke, he would bestow the position of Crown Prince upon Chase. It seemed that had been weighing on Chase’s mind.
“It is not my place.”
The seat where the master of this land should sit. The seat where one of sacred blood must sit to protect the sacred land. The object of a terrible contradiction: some stained their hands with blood to claim it, while others stained their hands with blood to avoid it.
“It doesn’t matter whose it is.”
A seat that truly didn’t matter, regardless of who occupied it. But it was a seat that absolutely had to be Chase’s if both of them were to survive. Thus, it was a seat that Bern did not covet in the slightest.
“I don’t want it,” Bern said, taking a deep breath to draw in just a little more of the salty sea air.
* * *
Before the assembled central nobles, Devlan spoke only a single sentence.
He would appoint Chase as the Crown Prince.
He offered no further explanation.
“Is he not the son of a concubine?” a noble protested.
Despite Devlan’s absolute power, they protested nonetheless. Because Devlan wanted them to. Because everyone knew that while Devlan’s mouth spoke of Chase, his eyes were fixed on Bern.
“No matter if he is the First Prince, how can you say such a thing when we have the Second Prince, the son of the Queen?”
The opposition was fierce. There was no other rational reason for the decision, yet Devlan remained silent, merely looking down at Bern.
‘Go on. Let’s see you overcome this as well.’
Bern’s eyes turned ice-cold. Devlan, who always avoided being alone with Bern out of aversion to his murderous aura, averted his gaze.
If Bern became the Crown Prince, Chase would die. The nobles would seek to clip the massive wings Chase had already shown.
Never.
He could never let that happen.
Losing Chase for the sake of a mere crown, for the sake of a mere throne, was utterly unthinkable.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Bern’s fingertips tapped the table. At the repeated sound, the nobles’ gazes converged on him. Devlan, too, looked at Bern, who met his gaze without flinching.
Bern’s fingertips traced a circle. Following the movement, his lips curved into a wide arc.
‘Go on, Father. Try and stop this too.’
—Scrape.
The heavy chair slid back. The eyes of the nobles followed him. Devlan’s eyes sharpened.
—Step.
One step. His long, high-tied hair swayed with his stride, but that was all. Nothing else about him wavered.
“Bern. Stop.”
He let Devlan’s voice drift past him. For the first and last time, he disobeyed his father.
—Step.
Another step. Unfaltering and straight.
Toward Chase, and Chase alone.
He walked.
Chase, already realizing what his younger brother was about to do, smiled. He knew exactly why Bern had to do this, and he knew all too well why he could not refuse. He wore a smile so painful he knew he would never forget it, even in death.
“...Please rise,” a quiet voice said. “And receive the words of my oath.”
Bern’s quiet voice was a tempest.
Chase rose slowly, his violet eyes fully reflecting the sight of his younger brother kneeling on one knee, his head bowed.
“I, Bern Secritia, in the name of Serenti, swear my loyalty to Prince Chase Secritia, who shall be my one and only master.”
A knight’s oath was blessed by Serenti. Once it began, no one could stand in its way.
“My sword shall be wielded for my lord, my shield shall stand before my lord, and my death shall precede my lord’s.”
Therefore, no one could stop Bern’s words.
“With the honor of a knight, grant me permission to fight and die for my lord.”
A prince possessing the power of the bloodline knelt to save his older brother, who lacked only that one thing.
Chase could not win against Bern. He could never, ever defeat that stubbornness.
The sound of the dark sea’s waves brushed past Chase’s ears.
“I grant...”
The salty scent of the sea filled Bern’s mind. As long as he did not forget it, he could endure the stench of blood as many times as it took.
“I grant it.”
And so, Bern became a knight.
He cast aside the path to the throne and became Chase’s knight. As the King’s brother, the King’s subject, and the King’s knight—in every form, he wished only to protect Chase. He sincerely desired to live and die in that manner.
* * *
The Pure White Bird of Prey, Chase.
May you become a monarch untouched by any filth, just like the meaning of your name, and remain as the pure light of this land.
All other darkness,
I will gladly take upon myself, as my sole portion.