Chapter 344: If Possible, a Dream (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 344: If Possible, a Dream (1)
Companions came and went, but even so…
"I came here to meet my brother. The person standing next to the Margrave earlier was him."
The last thing she’d expected was to gain a new companion so suddenly.
"Actually, the Margrave of this region is my uncle. Since he has no children, he was thinking of making my brother his successor. But now that I've decided to marry His Majesty, my brother will have to inherit our mother's title instead of me, even if not right away. So, I came to ask him whether he wants to be both a marquis and a margrave, or just choose one."
Serjein had never anticipated listening to someone else's personal affairs in such detail. Not that she was particularly interested—in fact, she wasn't curious in the slightest. This was a situation she had not foreseen at all.
Whether she knew of Serjein's confusion or not, Arianne—who wasn't the type to care about another's state of mind anyway—rambled on as she pleased.
"But then a carrier pigeon arrived from the royal palace. It said a Holy Knight was here and requested he be transferred to the royal prison. It also mentioned that the Crown Prince of Tensil might be wandering around alone and that if we found him, we should escort him to safety. That's why I tagged along. After all, no one else knows what the Crown Prince of Tensil looks like."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you seemed curious about why I'm here. Or maybe 'on guard' is a better way to put it. In any case, I'm telling you this so you can relax. I didn't come here with any ulterior motives."
Serjein's gaze fell to the hand holding her teacup. Her real hand was slightly darker, with more calluses. This meant her disguise magic was still active. If that was the case, shouldn't Arianne be the one who was more nervous? After all, Arianne was merely the daughter of a marquis, standing before the crown prince of another nation.
"I am not tense."
"You are. You're afraid you might die."
At those words, Serjein's eyes turned sharp.
"It seems I appear quite laughable to you, my lady."
"See? You were tense," Arianne replied with a slight smile, as if she had been waiting for that exact reaction. "It's a bit strange for a crown prince to speak so formally to the daughter of a marquis from an unfriendly nation, don't you think? So don't be tense. I didn't come to harm the Crown Prince of Tensil."
Serjein stared blankly at Arianne, who sat across from her. Then, her expression shifted as she realized the truth in Arianne's observation. Just as she’d said, Serjein supposed she must be tense.
That day.
Serjein had gone into the forest with Adelia to find the elf village hidden deep within Bridget Forest, where the roots of the Mother Tree were said to extend. The reason was exactly as Franz had predicted: with the path to Kairis cut off, she wanted to borrow the power of the Mother Tree.
—I heard humans can't find the elf village. Are you sure you know where it is?
—It’s not much of a village anymore—everyone has fled. Besides, Alan Manasil found it easily enough. Surely I can too?
She remembered Adelia speaking so boastfully as she expanded her mana in all directions, trying to track the village's location. That bravado, however, hadn't lasted long.
—Strange. Judging by the sudden shift in energy, this should be the place.
—Let's just go back. We have to attend the luncheon with the King.
—Wait here. I'll find it soon.
Heeding those words was where it all went wrong.
Adelia never returned, and disaster struck. Serjein was left unable to tell if Adelia, her supposed partner, had just stabbed her in the back.
The Holy Knights, who had been hiding their identities and biding their time, drew their swords.
She hadn't been particularly close with the escort knights assigned by the King of Tensil, but some of them had died trying to protect her. Serjein, too, fought for a long time before finally escaping. She wandered the forest for ages to evade her pursuers, but they eventually found her again.
And so, after nearly dying at the hands of those she thought were allies, she was saved by Calian and Franz—the very people she'd assumed were her enemies. Then, a fight had broken out between Calian and Adelia, and Adelia seemed to have done something she shouldn't have. Her last memory was of being enveloped in a brilliant light.
When she opened her eyes again, she was outside the forest.
She had no idea how much time had passed, nor could she confirm where Adelia had gone. Only one thing was certain: the Mother Tree had rejected her visit.
The Mother Tree had banished her.
Realizing this, Serjein immediately summoned her horse and mounted it. She had to get to where her other attendants—the ones who hadn't entered the forest—were waiting. She also had to check if any more Holy Knights were hidden among them.
—Crown Prince of Tensil? Is that you?
But then.
—It seems so. I've received a rough briefing via the carrier pigeon His Majesty sent.
An unexpected person had spoken unexpected words. Then, she dismounted her horse, approached, and held out her right hand with a smile.
—Do you happen to remember me? I was always by our Prince's side. Anyway, since this is our first time meeting privately, let me introduce myself again. I'm Arianne Lin. I'm the daughter of Marquis Legian Lin, the Minister of Justice, and I'm the one who will marry His Majesty the King someday.
Her expression was completely devoid of wariness, despite the unfamiliar surroundings.
That was how they had become acquainted. And while the Margrave, who had gone into the forest, was taking the Holy Knights from the Kairis prince's party into custody, they sat together outside, each holding a teacup and conversing—if one could call it a conversation when Arianne did all the talking and Serjein did almost nothing but listen.
"Do you have any escorts or attendants left?"
"Probably. Though I am not certain."
"I see. If there's anything you need help with, just let me know."
"You speak as if you would actually help me if I asked."
"There's no reason I shouldn't."
"Rather than no reason you should?"
"Why do you think that?"
Serjein let out a bitter smile.
"Because my country is Tensil."
"I'm truly sick of Tensil's healers, and I don't have very good feelings toward the Holy Knights either. Just thinking about the Tensil royal family is enough to keep me awake at night. But we aren't so cold-hearted as to abandon the Crown Prince of Tensil when he's in trouble. Besides, you're not even the real one, are you?"
At those last words, Serjein almost dropped her teacup. If the cup had been made of silver instead of thick pewter, she might have crushed it.
Desperately feigning composure, Serjein spoke.
"…Not the real one?"
"Ah, right. His Majesty said he was pretending not to know."
Arianne said she had made a mistake, but her face showed she didn't think it was a mistake at all. Then, she pointed to the pale pink diamond earring on her own earlobe, as if she knew exactly what secret was hidden in Serjein's blue one.
"I've heard a rough idea of what kind of person you are. In return, keep it a secret from His Majesty that I let on that I know."
She was asking Serjein to keep a secret from Chase: the fact that Arianne had just revealed Chase was only pretending not to know Serjein was an impostor.
"What on earth…"
What kind of nonsense was this? It was like trying to light a campfire with Danu's roots.
Whether she noticed Serjein's dumbfounded expression or not, Arianne continued.
"Don't worry. No one is listening to our conversation right now. Anyway, what brought you all the way to Secritia? To meet the Mother Tree? I heard you were very interested in the light-green Highness—no, the Crown Prince of Kairis's party. Did you pretend to celebrate our King's coronation just to see the people from Kairis and the Mother Tree?"
It was a literal flood of questions.
As if she hadn't expected an answer in the first place, Arianne simply offered a bright smile.
"Disguising yourself as royalty is cheeky enough, but having such ulterior motives is a bit much, isn't it?"
"…If this is a reprimand for failing to attend the luncheon, shouldn't those words come from His Majesty the King of Secritia, not you, Lady Lin?"
"Ah. Our King isn't that kind of person. You don't know him, do you?"
Arianne took a sip of her tea.
"A reprimand? His Majesty doesn't say things like that. He'll meet the 'Crown Prince of Tensil' without asking for an explanation, exchange a few pleasantries over lunch, and that will be the end of it. He won't expect anything more from you. He was willing to overlook you entering our country in disguise for the sake of relations with Tensil, but how can he trust someone who runs off to the elven forest on a whim? Don't you agree? So, reveal your true identity to His Majesty. If you need help, ask for it properly. And make sure you apologize. After that, stay quiet until you leave."
In the distance, the Margrave, his knights, and the four captured Holy Knights began to come into view.
As if she had no interest in them, Arianne kept her head lowered toward her teacup, only raising her eyes to look at Serjein as she spoke in a soft voice.
"I'm saying this because I'm worried you might die."
Serjein's eyes grew heavy. In her haste, she had forgotten whose land she was standing on. Having delivered her warning in a light tone, Arianne rose from her seat.
* * *
After the Holy Knights were sent back with the Margrave, a wild boar arrived.
Or rather, a wild boar so massive that the prince dragging it and the crown prince walking beside him were barely visible.
One giant wild boar, one wild chicken.
And a heap of ripe, bright red wild raspberries.
"So the Prince gets the boar, I get the chicken, and the Crown Prince—our Vice-Commander's superior—gets the raspberries?"
Anyone with a normal thought process would assume they would all eat the boar and chicken together and have the raspberries for dessert. Arsen had only been half-joking. However, he watched as Calian and Franz nodded with deadpan, serious faces.
Speechless, Arsen shut his mouth.
Afterward, Arsen used his mana to levitate the wild boar and chicken Calian had painstakingly dragged back. He went to a corner, diligently cleaned them, and grilled them to a perfect golden brown, just as Euria had taught him. The remaining meat was frozen and placed in his space pocket.
He was a count and the vice-commander of a corps, but what choice did he have when the other two were a prince and a crown prince? Arsen had no choice but to do the work.
Having quietly returned with what could be lunch, dinner, or an early breakfast, he saw Franz sitting quietly before the campfire. A little further away, Calian was asleep, leaning against a tree.
Arsen, who stood blankly with large plates in both hands, heard Franz speak.
"Leave it."
"I have no intention of waking him," Arsen replied quietly as he sat down beside Franz. Handing over the well-washed raspberries, he said, "It's my first time seeing the Prince sleep so deeply."
"I've seen it a few times."
"…Those times, he had fainted."
"Is there a difference?"
"Of course there is."
"True. I suppose that would be better."
"Are you saying it's better for him to be unconscious?"
"In some ways."
Hearing for the first time in his life that fainting was better, Arsen clicked his tongue. Whether it was the one sleeping over there or the one unable to sleep beside him, they both had a knack for making people feel frustrated. Since they themselves were probably the most frustrated, he wouldn't say it out loud, but his own frustration was building nonetheless.
Watching the Crown Prince pick at the raspberries, Arsen offered him some wild boar meat.
"There will be leftovers since the Prince is asleep."
"I won't eat it."
The Crown Prince, who wasn't the type to eat an animal he had caught with his own hands, immediately refused. Arsen, who now had enough sense to guess the reason, grumbled.
"If I told people that the Crown Prince, our Vice-Commander's superior, was like this, they'd probably curse me out."
"Why?"
"They'd say I'm talking nonsense."
"You certainly seem to be taking after your master."
It meant Arsen was barking well, just like Calian.
Arsen merely grinned without answering, then turned his head toward Franz as if suddenly remembering something.
"Your Highness was briefly a Commander, is currently with the Vice-Commander, and on top of that, might become a mere prince again at any moment."
"…What?"
Franz, debating whether or not to exhaust his last shred of patience, answered after a long pause. Arsen pointed to the hem of Franz's clothes and said, "There's blood on your clothes. Shall I clean it for you?"
"Leave it."
"Are you worried I might play some other trick while cleaning it?"
"It's not blood."
The hem of his clothes was stained red.
If it had been blood, a certain bastard sleeping over there would have already cleaned it. So it wasn't blood.
It seemed to be stained from picking raspberries. Because of the bastard who claimed he wouldn't get grass stains even on a lawn, he had ended up with raspberry stains. His younger brother, who for some reason hadn't cast Clean on him, was fast asleep nearby.
As Franz set down the plate of raspberries and stared into the campfire for a long while, Arsen, who had finished his meal without another word, stood up and handed him a sleeping bag.
"The sun will be up soon, but since you couldn't sleep yesterday either, please get some rest. I'll keep watch."
"Alright."
Knowing he wouldn't be much help staying awake alone, Franz quietly crawled into the sleeping bag and lay down. Arsen went over to a tree near Calian and leaned against it.
He left Calian, who was fast asleep, undisturbed.
If he touched him, he would surely wake up.
Crackle, crackle…
The sound of the campfire was always pleasant.
So pleasant, in fact, that it was almost too peaceful to allow for sleep.
Staring for a long time at the eyes blinking from the face poking out of the sleeping bag, Arsen spoke in a low voice.
"You can't even touch the meat of the wild boar you caught yourself. How are you going to endure this?"
"Endure what?"
"I'm just wondering what you'll do if you really end up dreaming of the 'past'."
Franz's eyes briefly turned to Arsen.
The sight of the red firelight flickering in his light-green eyes felt a bit unfamiliar.
"I'll handle it better than you."
"I am fine."
"Isn't that a hasty guarantee?"
"To be honest, I'm also curious. If not in a dream, when else would I get to shoot an ice spear at you, Prince?"
Even Franz couldn't handle the thought process of an extraordinarily crazy mage. Smiling at Franz, who was frowning deeply, Arsen spoke.
"Of course it will weigh on your mind, but you won't be affected by it. So it's fine."
"It will weigh on my mind. But I'll be fine, too."
"Even as you say that, aren't you the type who will be affected, Your Highness?"
"It doesn't matter."
In the small bowl placed beside Arsen, plenty of raspberries still remained. He had brought them to snack on if he got bored while keeping watch.
—You should eat the ones ripe to about this color. Unripe ones are too sour for you, Brother. And although they look similar, those over there aren't wild raspberries, so you shouldn't eat them. Raspberries attract a lot of bugs, so look closely before you eat. Of course, I know you'd rather starve than pick and eat something like this yourself.
Shifting his gaze slightly past the bowl of raspberries, he saw Calian, still sleeping without a single movement.
"…I know that the present exists because of that time."
The bastard who still gasps for breath because of what my hands did.
Wondering what to say to someone like that, he had simply told him that current events had nothing to do with him.
Come to think of it, Calian had looked at Franz and said, "Even so, a pea is just pea-colored." But when it came to his red eyes, because of what Franz had done long ago, he couldn't bring himself to say anything about them.
To say, "Even so, you're just pitch black," didn't sound right either, so he couldn't say that. He had just told him it didn't matter.
And so, he suddenly became curious.
"And there's something I'm curious about."
Not red, and not black. What color was he originally?
Yes. He had become curious about that.
He knew how he died, and he knew when he died, but he didn't know why he died. He didn't even know his name, and thinking about it now, he didn't even know what color he was.
He was now more curious about that than about what wrongs the Franz in Calian's memories had committed. He felt that now, he would truly be fine.
"What are you curious about?"
"I'm going to sleep."
"Yes. Sleep well."
Arsen, who gave up his curiosity about Franz remarkably quickly, picked up a few raspberries and popped them into his mouth. Meanwhile, Franz had truly fallen asleep. Before he knew it, he had drifted off.
And he dreamed.
He dreamed of a world with nothing in it, filled only with light.
"…ther."
He dreamed of a place with no one else, filled only with bright light.
He dreamed of being left alone in that place, trying to grasp the light that filled the world, sweeping it with his feet, speaking to it, and peering into it with his eyes.
"Brother."
He had such a dream.
"Brother. Wake up."
With a blink, his eyelids, which had seemed as though they would never open, finally lifted. Beneath a sky that had already grown bright, a pair of crimson eyes was calling out to him.
Franz looked up at Calian, then slowly closed and opened his eyes again.
"You were sleeping deeply. Did you have a nightmare?"
"No."
Calian, who had woken Franz after he slept in, stared at him without another word. After blinking for a long while, Franz spoke again.
"Because it was full of starlight."
Just like that of a certain king who loved to be praised.
And just like Sinasta.
It was full of that kind of light.
"I was alone in such a place, and then I woke up."
"…Did you dream of something that will never happen?"
Calian, answering thus, let out a small laugh.
Watching him, Franz chuckled.
"I suppose so."
"Yes."
Soon, a warm wave of mana blew over Franz and vanished.
The dust from the night's wind, his disheveled hair, and his crumpled clothes all returned to their proper places. Everything except for the raspberry stain, which had already soaked in completely.
"Now that you're awake, please eat. The meat is delicious, thanks to your excellent hunting, Brother."
Rising from his spot, Franz looked down at the stain for a moment, recalled the light in his dream, and chuckled.
"Alright."
Starlight, of all things.
I won't even be able to get him back for teasing me about being pea-colored, he thought.