Chapter 257: Lest I Forget (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 257: Lest I Forget (4)
An interesting story.
A very exciting one.
He had come to get revenge on Franz, who had flaunted a steak in front of his pitiful younger brother—a brother who was already feeling hollow after being unable to eat properly because of a hole in his stomach. While he was at it, he also wanted to check if Franz’s cold heart had thawed at all. But instead, he heard something completely unexpected.
An executed criminal.
Lennon Brissen—no, he had been stripped of his family name, so it was just Lennon. The one who had sold a sacred artifact to Count Hale Latran in exchange for information on Kairis. The one who then passed that information to Secritia, using the sacred artifact as leverage.
And above all, the one who had attacked Calian.
For the crime of attacking royalty, that person had been executed on a scaffold strewn with Lenisita leaves in the public square.
‘A man.’
Calian didn’t ask if the person Franz saw was truly a man.
There was no way Franz’s memory was faulty.
Instead, Calian quietly retraced his memories of that time.
After the fight, the culprit had been arrested by Siegfried’s knights and locked in a cell, separate from Hale Latran. Siegfried’s knights, including Yuran, had guarded the prison.
After that…
‘Kaera.’
Lemain had sent the Kaera Royal Guard to escort the criminals to the capital, a clear warning to the nobles about the consequences of attacking Calian outside the palace.
‘The spy who was a knight of Kaera.’
Yes, it was the Kaera Royal Guard.
The spy who had died in front of Franz had been embedded within them.
The royal knights arrived at the Latran territory, where Calian was staying, and remained for only a day before escorting the prisoners to the capital. Once the contingent from the palace arrived, Siegfried’s knights were relieved of their guard duty. And Calian…
‘Had not revealed her name.’
He hadn’t informed the royal palace of the criminal’s identity.
He had simply told them it was an unidentified assassin.
At the time, Calian had needed Hale Latran’s transaction records. In exchange for them, Calian had promised to keep the spy’s identity a secret. He had promised to ensure the execution would be carried out immediately, bypassing any interrogation, investigation, or trial. That was why he hadn't revealed the spy's name and identity to the palace. To be precise, it was also because he couldn’t explain how he knew who she was in the first place.
‘She was skilled in disguise.’
She frequently used a magical disguise tool issued only to a select few spies in Secritia. She had disguised herself as a man.
Hale Latran, captured alongside her, had also only ever seen her disguised as a man. They had never crossed paths in the prison, and they wouldn’t have been transported together. After all, Hale Latran was still a noble until his title was officially stripped in the capital.
However, she wouldn’t have been able to maintain her male disguise after arriving in the capital, as all her belongings would have been confiscated. This meant that the person who died in the square was not a disguised woman, but an actual man.
Which meant…
‘…A switch.’
The moment Siegfried’s knights handed the prisoners over to the Kaera knights in the Latran territory, she could have disguised herself as a man and switched places with someone else. No, since Calian had left immediately after their fight, and Yuran and the knights had stormed in to make the arrest right after, she might have already switched places in that brief window.
Since her natural appearance was exceptionally striking, if she wanted to pull off a switch along the way, disguising herself as a man again would have been the smarter move.
If the criminal who ended up on the execution platform was indeed a real man…
Then…
If that was the case…
‘Then. If that’s the case…’
Lucy, who had been resting on Calian’s lap, hopped down and trotted into Franz’s bedroom.
‘I am Prince Franz’s cat, and I love Prince Franz.’
The other cat ran along with her.
Calian’s eyes followed the two cats before he quietly raised a hand to cover his face. Beneath his palm, his lips curled into a highly amused smile.
“Ah.”
The Blue Warbler.
Eila.
“…It was you.”
Found you.
*
The number of knights in the Valkan Knight Order had decreased.
This was because they had thoroughly weeded out and dismissed every single knight who had not fully submitted to Franz.
Immediately afterward, Valkan’s numbers surged.
Knights handpicked by Count Aprin, who had been stationed in Siegfried, officially joined Valkan’s ranks.
Although the numbers had temporarily dipped, the influx of new knights was so overwhelming that, in the end, the Valkan Knight Order grew significantly larger.
“The knights dismissed from the royal palace will likely return to Marquis Gray Brissen’s estate. Is it really alright to let them bolster their forces like that?”
Arsen, who had just received the documents detailing the training and performance of the newly joined knights, gave a dismissive nod.
“The number of the Marquisate’s knights that the Prince cut down was massive to begin with. Besides, the new Marquis Brissen knows better than anyone what kind of person the Prince is. Even if their numbers increase slightly, he won’t dare to act rashly.”
“But his character is no better than Evan’s. His next moves will be anything but transparent. I believe we must remain vigilant.”
Arsen smiled faintly as he looked down at his teacup, which was filled with hibiscus tea. Its crimson hue reminded him of eyes of a very similar shade.
“Valkan stands behind the Prince, Young Duchess.”
Arsen looked up—his eyes a stark contrast to the tea’s color—and spoke to Demirea, who sat across from him.
“And I doubt the Prince wants Marquis Brissen to keep his head down forever. That is likely why His Highness and Commander Manasil allowed the dismissed knights to retain their knighthoods. They want them to rebuild their strength so that, at the right moment, they might try to covet the Prince’s position once more…”
Arsen raised his index finger, then used his other hand to make a sharp snapping motion against it.
“So we can break them all over again.”
In Calian’s plans, Gray was merely a temporary Marquis. Arsen, who had heard from Alan why Calian had spared Gray, lifted his teacup and took a sip.
Knock, knock, knock.
A soft knock sounded at the door.
It was late in the evening. There should have been no more visitors, and the butler had not yet returned from personally handling the sudden influx of gifts sent by various noble families.
The knock had come from a rather low height. Demirea stood with a slight smile and opened the door. Seeing who stood outside, Arsen’s expression grew complicated.
It was a young child with blue-green hair and eyes.
“Ririe.”
“I can’t sleep.”
Upon seeing Demirea, the child stretched out both arms.
“Alright. Come here.”
Instead of calling the servants to take the child back to bed, Demirea scooped her into her arms and turned to Arsen.
“Could you excuse me for a moment?”
“Ah… Yes, of course.”
After Demirea stepped out, Arsen stared at the closed door for a moment and let out a soft sigh. There was no need to ask who the child was.
She resembled Evan. She resembled Gray, Lennon, and Silike. She resembled Franz.
By the time the red liquid in his teacup was half gone, Demirea returned.
“Is that the child? The one found behind Evan’s corpse?”
“Yes, that’s her.”
“How is she? Her personality, I mean.”
Although Arsen adored small, cute things, it was difficult to look at a small, cute Brissen descendant without prejudice. In truth, he had wanted to ask, ‘Is she smart?’ but since that felt inappropriate to ask about such a young child, he had settled for asking about her personality.
“She is highly intelligent,” Demirea answered, addressing his unspoken question. “She said she woke up and went outside because it was noisy. She saw Prince Calian stay his hand, saw Evan stab him, and heard Prince Calian lie to her that she was dreaming. Then she went back to sleep.”
“If she knows the truth of Evan’s death differs from the royal family’s official story, wouldn’t it be safer to send her to the Siegfried duchy?”
“She said her grandfather’s death was a ‘just consequence.’”
It meant the child, Ririe, harbored no resentment. It was a reassurance that the truth of Evan’s demise would never slip from her lips.
“But Young Duchess, she resembles them far too much to remain in the capital. It won’t have a good effect on the Prince or Prince Franz.”
“She is only six years old,” Demirea said, looking at Arsen. “Yet she knows exactly how and why she was sent to that house. She says she was just pretending not to know. Do you think Vice-Commander Hertz…”
Demirea offered a small smile.
“…is the kind of person who could send such a child away? Knowing that even if it is my family’s estate, to her, it would just be another unfamiliar place.”
Arsen let out a deep sigh.
“…Understood. I won’t worry or speak of this any further.”
Remembering the way the child had reached for Demirea, he couldn’t bring himself to interfere in a matter that both Calian and Franz had already chosen to leave be.
Then, suddenly, Arsen’s face turned pale.
Thinking of the child had reminded him of Franz.
Which reminded him of the day Franz had been bedridden. Naturally, he recalled Hina, who had treated Franz, and then Prince Randel, who had suddenly appeared, healed Franz, and left as indifferently as he had arrived.
‘I will deliver Prince Randel’s message to the Prince.’
He remembered saying those very words.
Thanks to that, Arsen pushed aside his worries about the child and began to deeply contemplate his own future.
It wasn’t that he had forgotten to deliver Prince Randel’s message. Rather, he had just realized that to deliver Randel’s words, he would have to explain where he had met Randel—which meant confessing that he had stood by and let the man do whatever he wanted to Franz.
*
I don’t know if a fondness for birds is hereditary, but both that father and son raise them.
They claimed to be co-raising them, but it turned out they each had several birds they were keeping secret from one another. The birds ended up fighting, and the father and son even competed against each other using their respective flocks. It was a rather bizarre family, but since my own was just as dysfunctional, I couldn’t bring myself to call them strange. At any rate, I had found one of the birds from that family hiding in our house. But…
“…Eila.”
My younger brother was murmuring someone’s name with a look of pure delight. I don’t know what he did in his past life, but it was clearly something dangerous. As the second son of that bird-obsessed family, he had a knack for making everyone around him anxious.
Franz watched him. Just moments ago, his brother had been acting like a fool, calling my cat ‘Navia’ and ‘Apple.’ Now, mid-bite, his expression had suddenly turned dark and gloomy.
“Calian,” Franz said quietly.
Calian’s gaze shifted back to him.
Seeing Franz staring at him without a word, Calian spoke in a low voice.
“I haven’t forgotten.”
Then, he picked up his fork and knife again.
Franz watched, irritated. Calian had just ruined his own appetite by bringing up the dead, getting lost in memories with a face that suggested he’d forgotten his own name. And now, he was suddenly digging in again with gusto.
“What is it now?”
“I was just thinking how fortunate it is that you’re so smart, brother,” Calian replied, popping the largest piece of pork on his plate into his mouth. “I think I finally understand how the King of Secritia knows about my affairs.”
Letting out a brief sigh, Calian began to explain what had happened during the Roselita festival.
“I revealed to her that I knew the birds’ base of operations, spoke her real name, and let her know that I’m a Sword Master. If she made it out alive, it’s a major problem.”
“My dear younger brother was certainly generous with his information.”
“I didn’t expect her to escape. At any rate, since she seems to be alive, I’m a bit worried about who else she might have passed that information to, besides the King of Secritia.”
Franz silently watched a piece of beef disappear into the mouth of the guy who claimed to be worried. Swallowing down a curse with considerable effort, Franz asked, “What are you going to do?”
“I have to find out where she is.”
“How?”
The sacred artifact Eila had been trying to find.
The Black Pebble.
Once again, it was Zeon.
Calian quietly raised his hand and pointed toward the upper floor.
“I should go eat some grapefruit.”
“When?”
“Right now.”
The resident upstairs had already sent for Calian, but since Calian hadn’t received the message yet, he simply grinned, unaware.
“…Go back down. I’ll go up instead.”
Calian stared at Franz with an unreadable expression, offering no reply.
“Just rest. Seriously.” Fearing that trying to decipher that look would only irritate him further, Franz spoke again. “I’ll catch the snake for you.”
“Ah.”
Calian smiled.
Not knowing what else to do, he just smiled.
Watching him, Franz brought up another matter.
“Come to think of it… I heard Brother Randel came by and healed my heart.”
And then.
“But when someone manifests magic for the first time, do they usually chant an incantation? The blue-haired mage was flipping through some books, and I heard him mention an incantation. ‘Abundant,’ he said.”
Just like that.
It was his way of telling Calian to forget about hunting snakes and think about the blue-haired mage instead.