Chapter 243: That Heart (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 243: That Heart (3)
Clang!
The heavy, dull clash of metal echoed across the training ground.
It was the sound of a sword being knocked from its wielder’s grip, sent flying by a blow of overwhelming force.
As the sword bounced and rolled across the ground before finally coming to a halt, a voice spoke to the woman watching it fall.
“I think she’s pushing herself too hard.”
The sparring had continued from the end of afternoon training until now. Ronansite, the Chief Knight Commander of Siegfried, had already lost count of how many matches had taken place. She nodded with a grim expression. Though the voice had spoken suddenly, she wasn’t surprised, having sensed his approach long ago.
“I can’t tell if she’s training them or driving herself into a corner.”
Yuran, the Siegfried knight who had spoken to Ronansite, turned his gaze forward again. He saw Demirea, looking thoroughly exhausted, calling the next knight forward to face her.
Yuran spoke in a worried tone.
“Shouldn’t we stop her? It’s getting very late.”
“Who could possibly stop her? Not unless the Young Master himself were to show up.”
Soon, the clash of blade against blade once more filled the training ground.
The knights scheduled to head to the royal palace soon watched the exchange between Demirea and her opponent with bated breath, gathered at the edge of the training ground. The sparring had been going on for a long time, through multiple rounds. Fortunately, none of them seemed bored, but it was still worrying. Both the knights and Demirea sorely needed rest by now.
“I have no choice.”
Ronansite quietly began to move. Tying her slightly long, dark brown hair back tightly, she started to stretch. Yuran smiled faintly as he watched her.
“You said no one could stop the Young Duchess, but you’re going to step in yourself?”
Ronansite nodded.
“Since I can’t talk her out of it, I’ll just have to knock her down. What else is there to do?”
“But Commander, you can’t easily beat the Young Duchess anymore, can you?”
“Don’t say that just because I went easy on her. Someone might get the wrong idea.”
“Indeed. I almost got the wrong idea myself.”
The last voice belonged to neither Yuran nor Ronansite.
“...!”
At the unfamiliar voice cutting into their conversation, Ronansite’s eyes widened—she who hadn’t even flinched when Yuran approached.
Ronansite was the Chief Knight Commander who led the knights of Siegfried, and Yuran was the knight currently in charge of the order’s training. Yet someone had managed to approach them completely undetected.
The voice of the person who had spoken so casually continued.
“Nice to meet you. Or should I say, it’s been a while?”
Beneath a deeply drawn black hood, red lips curved into a wide smile.
*
Demirea’s study was magnificent.
Even to Calian, who possessed a vast knowledge of books thanks to the love of reading inherited from both the original Calian and Chase, the shelves were packed with an impressive collection of high-quality volumes.
“Thank you.”
After the head butler, whose polite demeanor rivaled Yan’s, set down two cups of tea and departed, Demirea spoke. Calian tilted his head at her sudden expression of gratitude.
“Thank you for what?”
“For personally demonstrating the flaws in my estate’s security.”
“Ah,” Calian let out a sound of understanding. “Still, I rode Raven right up to the front gate quite proudly. So don’t go scolding the guards on patrol or at the gate.”
He let out a soft chuckle. He felt a little sorry for Ronansite and Yuran, who were probably running laps around the training ground of their own accord by now.
Just a short while ago, Calian had once again escaped the royal palace and made his way leisurely to the Siegfried mansion. Riding Raven while wearing nothing but a black hood, it was hard to tell whether he was trying to hide his princely outing or advertise it.
Afterward, he had pulled down his hood for the guards patrolling the perimeter and at the front gate, entering without any trouble. Before they could even report the 3rd Prince’s arrival, he had vanished, only to reappear right in front of Ronansite and Yuran to greet them.
And now, here he was, sitting face-to-face with Demirea.
“I’ve also learned a valuable lesson,” Demirea said dryly. “About how freely a Sword Master can roam wherever they please once they decide to infiltrate.”
“I’m just good at sneaking around. It’s not because I’m a Sword Master; I’ve always been good at it. And instead of grumbling while thanking me, why don’t you just admit you’re annoyed that I broke in and caused a stir?”
“Since you understand so well, there’s no need for me to spell it out, is there?”
“Ah, true,” Calian laughed again.
It was certainly not a normal situation. A prince of the kingdom had sneaked into the ducal mansion where his fiancée resided, and in the dead of night, no less. If he had something urgent to say, he could have sent a letter through Yan. Coming all this way himself naturally made his intentions suspect.
“If you wish to ruin your own marriage prospects, Your Highness, please use another method. You’re going to block my path as well.”
“That’s not why I came. But really, are you not going to marry me?”
Once again, he spoke words he didn’t mean.
Demirea, who was looking at Calian with eyes that seemed to ask why he was mimicking her puppy-like older brother with these late-night visits, replied, “If you give up the throne and come to me, I will accept.”
“That’s a bit difficult. I have to play the part of a certain someone’s cat.”
“What a pity.”
“Still, break off the engagement later.”
“I’ll think about it, depending on how you behave.”
“Ah… I guess I’ll have to listen to my fiancée very carefully.”
She had said she would completely forget he was keeping secrets. Smiling at Demirea, who acted as if that day had never happened and as if she had never harbored any doubts, Calian lifted his teacup and inhaled the aroma.
A subtle scent of orchids drifted up from the green tea.
“Ah. By any chance, is this…”
Recognizing the familiar scent, Calian’s eyes widened in surprise.
The tea… that the kind Prince… gave me. My friend… liked it, so… I gave it to my friend. I’m sorry.
Why would she be sorry? If his Hina wanted to give it to a friend, he would have bought her an entire tea plantation, not just a single tin of green tea.
“Yes. It’s tea I received as a gift from Sir Bern.”
“She said she gave it to a friend…”
Demirea’s expression soured at the look on Calian’s face, which was filled with a deep emotion that seemed to say, ‘So you were the friend our Hina made.’ What on earth was that look, which practically reeked of the wisdom and experience of someone who had lived for ages? He had thrown all kinds of tantrums and put on outrageous shows in front of the nobles, yet here he was making a face like that.
With a faint, barely perceptible smile, Demirea spoke.
“What business brings you here?”
“I’ve been keeping a secret, and it leaked a bit.”
And just like that, Calian threw cold water on Demirea’s slightly improved mood. Wasn’t she supposed to be someone who ‘didn’t know’ he was hiding a secret? Yet here he was, having come to see her regarding that very secret, rendering their unspoken agreement to feign ignorance completely meaningless.
Seeing Demirea’s eyes turn sharp as she recalled what they had agreed to bury, Calian smiled brightly.
“It leaked long before my promise to you, so don’t try to skin me alive.”
“...Very well. Please continue.”
“Right. Anyway, my secret is connected to Secritia, and a bit of a problem arose. So I asked Duke Siegfried to look into it. But he said there were no suspicious people in the Siegfried Territory.”
As she listened, Demirea organized his words in her mind. Calian’s secret is related to Secritia. He’s in a difficult position because that secret was exposed. The leak likely occurred during the Roselita. And… Suleiman knew the truth.
“Father knew about it.”
“Yeah. He caught on the moment I went to the Siegfried Territory.”
Don’t worry, I won’t get caught anymore.
A headache began to throb at the sight of his grinning face. In any case… that father of hers. Knowing everything, yet keeping her in the dark… Unable to utter any harsher words, Demirea let out a long sigh.
Calian continued, “But then I remembered that someone who accompanied me during the Roselita is here, not just in the Siegfried Territory. We were fairly close, in our own way. Of course, Duke Siegfried probably investigated him too, but I wanted to make sure, so I came to meet him.”
Yuran.
He meant he had come because he suspected Yuran.
Yuran had become a knight of Siegfried around the time Suleiman married, and he had stood by the siblings’ side with unwavering loyalty ever since Yan was just taking his first steps. To Demirea, he was in some ways closer than even her father, like a member of her own family.
Instead of showing displeasure at the suspicion cast upon such a person, Demirea asked calmly, “What is it that you need to verify?”
After all, there was no need for Calian to take into account what Yuran meant to her.
“No, it’s fine. I already checked when we met earlier. He seems clean.”
“You only saw him for a brief moment. How can you be so sure?”
“There’s a way.”
I was going to generously overlook you taking our Young Master and making him suffer, but now you’ve even reeled in our Young Duchess? You bastard, I’m glad I ran into you. Let’s have another go, right now.
Calian chuckled, recalling Yuran, whose eyes had burned with that exact sentiment, failing to hide his boiling battle spirit.
“Something that can never be hidden.”
He knew all too well that those thorny feelings were born from a heart that cared for and worried about someone else. Calian’s gaze, which had briefly looked down at the hands of the woman who was the source of that loyalty, returned to meet her eyes. With his own red eyes, which always seemed to burn brightly, he met her calm, blue-gray ones.
“Demirea.”
“Yes.”
“I embarked on the Path of the Sword at the youngest age in history.”
“I know.”
“Even originally.”
Demirea’s eyes sank a fraction deeper.
“I wasn’t as young as I am now, but even in my original life, I was the fastest. I had to be, and I wanted to be. That’s why I set foot on that path faster than anyone else.”
Calian’s gaze fell once more upon Demirea’s scar-ridden hands.
“Naturally, I had to give up many things to achieve that. A great, great many things.”
Remembering the words Chase had spoken to Bern by the sea, telling him to come and rest whenever he wanted, Calian spoke again.
Demirea followed his gaze to her own hands, then looked back up at his eyes. Calian continued, his focus entirely on her.
“Whether you hold the sword for your family, for Yan, because you want to surpass me, or for some other reason… I don’t know. But I do know how important that path is to people like us. So I won’t tell you to put everything aside, stop pushing yourself, and take it easy. I’m just a little curious, Demirea.”
“...What are you curious about?”
“Whether you are aware of what you’re giving up. Whether you hold the sword knowing that, and because you are truly fine with it. It’s not so much worry as it is… curiosity.”
He did not explain how different her situation was from that of the Bern of the past. He did not describe how desperately Bern had grasped his sword back then, how many things he had been forced to let go, or why he had no choice but to push himself to such extremes to walk the Path of the Sword.
He held back, lest it sound as though he were questioning her desperation. Demirea was not Bern, and he knew she must have her own desperate reasons.
“I truly hope you will surpass me one day. I believe you will. When that day comes, I will be just as happy as you are. I mean it.”
Because he knew better than anyone how much effort it would take to reach that day.
“But Demirea, I don’t want to see you running forward without even knowing what you’re giving up. I’ve never regretted living that way, but it was never okay. It wasn’t okay, not even a little bit.”
The scent of orchids drifted from the green tea.
I… don’t want you to end up like me.
The day he had received this tea from Hina. Recalling what Calian had said when he sent her off to meet Hina, Demirea smiled. She had thought he was speaking carelessly, without understanding her feelings, but only now did she understand why he had said those words.
“Of course, you and I are different, so it might not be the same for you. If you tell me I don’t need to worry, I won’t say another word. But I do want to know if you’ve ever thought about the things you’re giving up.”
After staring down at her teacup in silence for a while, Demirea spoke.
“I don’t think I should answer hastily. Your words carry a lot of weight.”
“They don’t have to. It’s just me meddling.”
“As I’ve said before, I actually thought you were just naturally talented, Your Highness. I believed I could easily surpass that level of talent, so I told myself not to rush. But once I learned what you were hiding, quite apart from my brother’s situation, I felt a bit angry. I thought you had obtained it all without paying a price. I didn’t want to lose to someone like that, so I’ve been pushing myself.”
Calian nodded. Her behavior at the training ground had certainly given him that impression.
“But now that you tell me you were the fastest even before… It’s a bit annoying, but…”
Calian chuckled at the Young Duchess’s bluntness.
“It’s not so bad. Since you are someone who had both talent and put in the effort, I’ll stop being angry.”
“That’s a relief.”
“I am a very greedy person, so I might not change much. But I won’t forget what you said.”
“Good, Demirea.”
“Thank you.”
Feeling as though she had just finished an intense spar, Demirea smiled slightly as she spoke.
Without another word, Calian finished the precious tea that had passed through Hina’s hands, clapped his palms together lightly, and stood up.
“Now that I’ve verified what I needed to and said what I wanted to say, I’ll be on my way. Thanks for the tea.”
At his words, Demirea’s eyes gleamed as she remembered something she had forgotten during their serious conversation.
“That isn’t all, is it?”
“What isn’t?”
“The reason you came here, Your Highness. I think there’s another.”
“Does it look that way?”
“Yes. You’re not the type of person to come all this way just to check on one of my subordinates.”
He had used meeting Yuran as an excuse, and the advice he gave her was just something he thought of on the spot, so his “words” were clearly not the original reason for his visit. Furthermore, hadn’t Duke Siegfried already investigated once? For Calian to personally come all this way just to meet Yuran again meant the knight was far too small a piece of the puzzle.
“Then I can just say I came because I wanted to see my lovely fiancée.”
“Stop talking nonsense. What are you plotting this time?”
That didn’t work either, Calian thought, smiling brightly.
“Well, let’s just say I’m someone who enjoys hunting, but I also like fishing.”
As he spoke, Calian raised his hand to pull the black hood back over his head.
“A fish with half a brain will never bite if it’s obvious that what’s in front of it is a hook. But because there’s food right there, it can’t go anywhere else, so it just hovers around, watching. It anxiously eyes the bait, and then, when it spots what looks like real food right next to it…”
The red eyes of a cat painstakingly trying to catch a single mouse vanished beneath the black fabric.
“Without a second thought, it snaps. It bites.”
Without ever realizing that, too, was bait.
Demirea, who had been watching Calian speak with such enthusiasm, replied quietly, “I am not Prince Franz.”
Meaning, she didn’t understand what he was talking about.
“I know you plan to catch Marquis Brissen, whether by hunting or fishing. But I don’t see what your explanation has to do with you coming here alone in the middle of the night.”
“You’ll understand in due time. For now, just watch.”
“Your Highness.”
“Yes?”
“You told me not to push myself. As I told you last time, Marquis Brissen is a dangerous man. He is strong enough to have protected the Brissen name through sheer martial force alone, without any strategy. Yet you’re trying to hunt such a man yourself. Why are you pushing yourself so hard?”
“As I said earlier…”
A beautiful smile graced Calian’s lips once more, though his face was now completely hidden.
“I have to play the part of a certain someone’s cat. Meow, meow.”
How troubling.
Does my brother even know what kind of person he is?
As Demirea frowned, recalling the black cat that had been handed over to Franz at the banquet hall, Calian, now fully prepared to leave, offered his farewell.
“I’ll come again, my fiancée. Good night.”
With that enigmatic parting, Calian walked out with light steps.
Demirea let out a deep sigh. She could already hear the imaginary sound of Yan running over in a panic.
Of course, she had no way of knowing that in about a week, that deep sigh would turn into a breath of irritated anger. Nor did she know that Calian, who ‘wanted to see his lovely fiancée,’ would start dropping by unannounced every two or three days.
On that day, she still had no idea.