Chapter 316: [Side Story] Serenus
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 316: [Side Story] Serenus
It's quite strange, isn't it?
A wine clearly made from grapes has absolutely no scent of grapes, yet it carries all sorts of other aromas. Depending on how you perceive it, it smells like walnut shells, or like rain-soaked earth. Then, for a fleeting moment, it almost smells of cinnamon. Despite having so many scents, it never, ever smells of grapes.
How much time must it spend inside that oak barrel to change so completely? Sometimes I think about it, but I always drink it all before finding an answer, and end up just falling asleep.
What do you think?
Eila.
* * *
\- Boom!
Was it because of the blue bird that I remembered that day, or was it because of the massive explosion I heard at the training ground in the inner castle? Or perhaps it was because the smell of rain-soaked earth came to mind? I cannot remember.
In any case, what is certain is that a sudden shower fell that day.
A single blue bird had flown in to escape the rain.
And then, an explosion occurred.
I remembered the acrid smoke spreading and then vanishing amidst the rain falling under the sunlight.
"Has this bastard... lost his mind?"
The knight holding a silver sword spat a curse through his teeth.
Part of it was because he had almost burned his long, blue-silver hair—the only part of his battered body that he actually cherished—but it was mostly because an innocent bird, smaller than a fist, had been caught in the blast and killed.
"Why the hell is a swordsman using a mana bomb?"
"You told me to win by any means necessary."
"I said by any means necessary, but did I tell you to throw a mana bomb during a sword duel?"
"If there were other conditions, shouldn't you have told me beforehand?"
There are many ways to become a knight.
Having a lot of money, having connections, serving as a squire under another knight from a young age and climbing the ranks step-by-step to be dubbed, or kneeling and swearing an oath before someone with the authority to grant knighthood.
If not those, then crossing the threshold of the Royal Knight Training Academy.
To an outsider, the last option might sound like the easiest. In truth, it wasn't a wrong assessment. It was indeed the easiest and fastest way—except for the fact that you had to defeat the prince standing at the academy's gates, who was infamous for his terrible personality, just to get a chance to cross that threshold.
In any case, the prince was famous for his personality, not the strength of his swordsmanship. Thanks to that, four or five people came every day hoping to cross that threshold. And most of them were sent back before they could even land three blows—carrying only the fresh realization that the prince's formidable swordsmanship had been completely overshadowed and forgotten due to the rumors about his temper.
"Did you not consider that if I hadn't deflected that mana bomb, it wouldn't have been just the bird, but everyone else here who would've died?"
"A mana bomb that powerful is too expensive for me to buy. And I didn't think you were someone who couldn't block a single mana bomb."
A dry laugh escaped the lips of the knight, Bern.
"The bird... was an accident."
"An accident?"
"I didn't see it. I will go bury it."
"Bury it, then show up tomorrow."
And so, he accepted her.
"Because I'll make sure you can never again take an innocent life with a carelessly thrown mana bomb."
It wasn't because she was good with a sword or had an upright character, nor was it because it was fascinating to see someone with such a strikingly beautiful face wield a blade. He accepted her because she seemed like a lunatic who shouldn't be let loose on the world.
"What's your name?"
"Eila. I am Eila Verdandi."
The sky was clear, yet a sudden shower fell.
A single blue bird died.
That was how they met.
* * *
He liked the spire.
Actually, he liked the sea more, but since he couldn't visit the sea often, he climbed the spire, his second favorite place. The spire had only a moderately wide floor, a railing of decent height, and four pillars. With no walls at such a height, the wind was always fierce.
He went there and sat on the floor out of habit.
His long, long hair fluttered wildly in the wind, but he didn't care. Just because his vision was slightly obscured didn't mean he couldn't hold a sword, so he felt no need to tie it back.
However, unlike Bern, someone who absolutely hated that spoke up with a slight frown.
"Tie your hair up. It's distracting."
"I lost my hair tie. Give me one."
"Did you leave it with me? How many times has this been?"
"Are hair ties expensive? Why are you being so stingy?"
"Do I look stingy to you right now?"
"Yeah."
At the prince's retort, delivered in the exact same tone, the marquis's daughter looked utterly dumbfounded.
"This pale-haired bastard..."
"You keep forgetting, but my brother's hair is the same color as mine."
"Don't compare yourself to His Highness. It ruins my fantasy."
"That's harsh. Just because you're engaged to my brother, you treat me like this? I'm hurt."
"Engagement, my ass. We're just dating."
"Then who will be the next king?"
"You can do it."
Hearing this, Bern let out a faint chuckle.
Then, with a face that looked as if he had suddenly remembered something, he brought up another topic.
"Come to think of it, about you drinking with my knights on Hizen Street yesterday and getting into a fight with the next table... I haven't told my brother yet—"
"Ah. What do you know, I happen to have a spare hair tie."
Before Bern could even finish his sentence, a short hair tie with a pink lace ribbon was thrust before his eyes. Taking it, Bern ripped the ribbon off with a series of snaps, handed it back, and grinned.
"I'll make good use of it, Arianne."
"Don't tell His Highness about yesterday. He'll worry for nothing."
Of course, the one Chase would worry about was not Arianne.
It was the other party, whose lifespan would have been cut in half had they known that the marquis's daughter was involved in the verbal argument that quickly escalated into a fistfight.
"Though the birds have probably already told him... I won't."
"Good."
Arianne pulled the cork out of the wine bottle.
Even on the windy spire, its distinct aroma wafted out instantly.
"Did you raid His Majesty's wine cellar again? This looks like a high-grade Serenus."
"I brought it because it was a gift to my father."
"Did you steal it?"
"I told you, I brought it. Father never drinks wine gifted by others anyway, so it's a waste."
"What if it was poisoned?"
"Then I'd just become the pitiful son who died in his father's stead."
Arianne frowned once more.
She had heard from Marquis Lin that something similar had happened somewhere before, but she couldn't remember it well. So, she gave up on thinking deeply about it and brought up another topic.
"I heard you got another knight candidate."
At Arianne's question, Bern, who was casually running his fingers through his long hair, nodded. His reply followed, spoken through the hair tie he held tightly between his teeth to keep it from blowing away in the wind.
"Just one."
"I heard she's incredibly beautiful."
Having finished tying his hair with practiced ease, Bern spoke.
"If her swordsmanship were as outstanding as her face, I would have already surpassed my master."
"...Right. Of course you would."
Hearing his shameless response, Arianne shook her head. Bern let out a chuckle at her reaction and added,
"Anyway, she seemed a bit out of her mind, so I brought her in."
"Are you saying she's good or bad?"
"She's good, but more than that, she's interesting."
"Interesting?"
"Very."
"What's so interesting?"
"When I'm with someone like her, I don't seem so crazy myself."
Arianne was what one would call a childhood friend.
He had grown up bickering with his noble-blooded brothers. Just like Chase and Bern, Arianne and Bern knew everything about each other. There was only one thing she couldn't understand, however—what Bern truly did.
"Stop acting crazy. His Highness worries a lot."
"I don't act crazy in front of my brother. Don't worry."
"That's exactly what I'm worried about. Because you only hide it in front of him, he can't even worry about you properly."
"My brother has a mountain of things to worry about besides me, so I don't need to add another burden."
Answering in a light tone, Bern poured Serenus into his glass.
Then, as he poured into Arianne's glass, a single drop of wine splashed up from her cup. Miraculously, it landed with a soft plop right into Bern's glass.
"Ah. A wish. I have to make a wish."
Seeing this, Arianne spoke with a playful smile.
She was referring to a superstition made up by wine lovers.
If a drop of wine splashed from your glass into someone else's, you were supposed to make a wish to Serenti. The idea was that since a wondrous coincidence had deprived you of a single drop of wine, you could ask Serenti to grant a wish in exchange for the lost drink.
"What are you going to wish for?"
"For my friend to stop being crazy."
"No hope there. It's already too late."
"But who knows? Maybe Serenti will grant just this one wish."
"If Serenti were the kind of god to grant wishes made like that..."
I wouldn't have gone crazy in the first place.
"...Whatever. Just drink. I have to leave soon anyway."
"Where are you going at this hour?"
Bern offered a brief, bitter smile.
Then, turning his gaze away from Arianne, he looked down. He stared at the wine whose name meant 'a gift imbued with Serenti's blessing.'
"To a place without Serenti."
The strong wine, made of grapes but smelling nothing like them, vanished down Bern's throat.
* * *
Because if you do not speak, they will never know.
Because if you do not speak, they can never understand.
* * *
Days pass, no different from any other.
Days pass, as always, without Serenti.
Morning comes; he talks with Chase, learns swordsmanship from Teilan, teaches swordsmanship to the aspiring knights, and dines with Chase once more.
Night falls. Occasionally, he sustains a wound or two. In this manner, more time slipped away.
Bern continued to climb the spire.
Sometimes Arianne joined him, but mostly, he was alone.
Standing there out of habit, looking down at the view below as he always did, Bern lowered his eyes for a moment. Then, suddenly, he drew the sword at his waist and pointed it behind him.
\- Whoosh!
Bern hadn't lost his hair tie today, so the wildly fluttering hair belonged to the person standing before him. Standing there, she didn't even look at the blade stopped right before her throat.
Staring at the ocean-colored hair that billowed like rolling waves, Bern sheathed his sword and spoke.
"Don't sneak up on me. You'll get yourself killed, Eila."
"I am sorry."
"What is it?"
"I had something urgent to ask, and I came because I heard you were here."
"Speak."
"But may I ask you something else first?"
Since she hadn't even mentioned what she originally wanted to ask, it didn't matter what she asked first.
"Do as you wish."
"Do you happen to like wine?"
"Not often. Just occasionally, when I meet Arianne."
At his words, Eila brought forward the hand she had been holding behind her back.
In her hand was the very same Serenus he had once shared with Arianne.
"I heard this is expensive."
"I didn't steal it, and it's not poisoned. It's just a wine I like, so I brought it."
That wasn't why he had asked, though.
Bern let out a soft chuckle and nodded. Then, sitting on the floor as he always did, he gestured to the space opposite him.
The thin crescent moon was hidden behind the clouds, shrouding their surroundings in darkness, but neither of them minded as they shared the wine.
"So, why the wine? And what did you want to ask?"
Eila, who no longer used mana bombs and was now on the verge of being dubbed a knight, stared at Bern for a long moment.
"How many?"
"What do you mean? So suddenly?"
"The lives you have taken in secret, Your Highness. I am asking how many there are."
She would be deeply shocked if she knew the number.
And she would be even more shocked to learn that I remember every single one of them.
"...How did you find out?"
"Yesterday, I happened to see you entering Count Tion's estate, Your Highness. But this morning, I heard that very family had been wiped out. When I thought about it, the same thing happened every day you reeked of blood."
"Forget it."
"I believe there must be a reason why you had to eliminate so many people. Please do not tell me to forget; tell me instead. I will try to understand."
A deed that would never be erased, even if the world were turned upside down.
Even if I said there was a reason for such deeds and received your understanding, what would change?
If I had wished for things to change, I wouldn't have even started.
"Nothing changes just because we talk about it. It will continue to be the same in the future. So, leave it at that. It is not your concern."
"Not long ago, His Highness called for me. He asked if I had any intention of doing something other than being a knight. I told him I did not wish to live as a nameless bird. I said I would live with pride and die with honor. I said I would live and die as a knight like you, Your Highness. But..."
I know.
I am grateful, and I am sorry.
"Eila."
"I don't think I need to do that anymore."
Don't do this, Eila.
Don't.
* * *
And yet, I did.
\- The Blue Warbler. Why did you send her to Tensil?
\- Is she not a highly capable child?
\- Let her return. She is my fiancée.
\- Your fiancée? I know you weren't that close to her. You still can't lie to save your life.
\- No. It is true. She is my fiancée.
\- Do you wish to keep her alive even if you must go that far?
\- Because she is my person.
I tried so hard to save you.
I... you.
Eila.
\- Your Highness. The Blue Warbler has...
The shadow of the serpent that seemed destined to weigh upon me for a lifetime has waned.
It set.
It vanished.
And the Blue Warbler departed with it.
\- Find her. Bring her here.
Remembering how she had personally buried the single bird that had perished due to her mistake, he brought her body back, determined to send her off himself here, rather than leaving her in that far-off place.
The hairpin she always wore in her hair was now held in his hand.
Only her ocean-blue hair remained unchanged.
"Eila."
He prepared the wine.
The Serenus she said she liked did not smell of grapes.
If it hadn't been kept in an oak barrel, it would have continued to smell of sweet, rich grapes. But the Serenus did not smell of grapes.
The wine that had lost its grape scent was what people called Serenti's gift.
What part of it... and how?
"I'm sorry."
For being too late.
For failing to save you.
"...Eila."
* * *
What would it have been like if I had just let you go that day?
What would it have been like if I hadn't brought you in?
What would it have been like if I had told you the truth and sought your understanding?
Only now do I regret it like this.
What do you think?
Eila.