NOVEL NEXT chapter 65
65 – The Heir
If you are the heir to the Elven Kingdom…
It’s already been decided that I’ll be Illuen and even appointed as a princess, but it’s all over…
The elven kingdom did not pass it down to his sons or grandchildren like normal human kingdoms did, but instead selected talented people and educated their successors.
Now I knew that Iluen was being trained as a successor along with the appointment of the princess as the successor.
“Actually… It’s embarrassing… But Princess Illuen, the heir to our elven kingdom, is currently imprisoned.”
“Yes!!?”
I was startled by the words of Marquis Runiel without realizing it.
Looking at me like that, he smiled once and then finished his story.
“As you know, hero, you are currently being investigated for the massacre of a half-elf village a long time ago, starting with the arson incident in the northern elf forest.”
“…..”
“hahahaha, looking at the hero’s face, you seem to have already known him.”
I nodded instead of answering Marquis Runiel’s words,
Just a few months ago, I remembered what I was doing to stop the Demon King’s army from invading the Fjord Empire.
That day…
Iluen set the forest on fire to catch me trying to get out of the elven forest.
I remembered the things I was able to escape safely thanks to Lucia and Elaim.
“Well… Arson… It may not be such a big crime… But the Queen is furious over the alleged massacre of the half-elf village…”
“By the way, you mentioned the successor, did Iluen get stripped of her princess status?”
“No. It’s not yet, but as long as the physical evidence as well as the current feelings are revealed, she won’t be able to maintain her position as princess any longer.”
Let go of ill feelings with Iluen…
She thought that she could slaughter a half-elf village enough…
She was preoccupied with elf supremacy, thinking that only high elves were true elves, and other races, including half elves, were failures of the gods.
Of course…
When she was at the hero’s party, she pretended not to be for her own ambitions, but three years ago, she got to know her very well.
“Wait….The half-elf village massacre…”
Because of Iluen’s deprivation of her successor, I remembered something I had forgotten…
“Hero, did you know?”
“No… I didn’t know it because of Iluen… It’s like the story of Lucia, a member of our warrior party.”
“Yes!? Then, was Lucia-sama also a survivor of that village?”
“If it weren’t for another massacre, it would be.”
“I can’t believe it…”
The story of Lucia’s past heard in the Dwarf Mine…
A massacre in a half-elf village forced young Lucia to flee to the sea.
I remembered the story that she was rescued by Elim and lived in the spirit world until she became an adult, so I brought up her story.
Marquis Runiel, who heard the story, must have been shocked by a series of surprises,
I couldn’t speak for a while.
“Could I… see Lucia?”
At the request of Marquis Luniel, Edwin nodded her head and called the guards waiting outside her to call her Lucia.
And after a while…
Smart.
“Come in.”
Lucia came in quietly with a knock. She looked at the faces of the people gathered in the drawing room and made an unknown expression, then she came next to me.
“Hello Lucia, how are you? I am Marquis Runiel, sent by the Queen from the Elven Kingdom.”
“Ah… Hello.”
After Marquis Luniel and Lucia’s greetings, I pointed to Lucia as if to sit next to her,
Even as she quietly approached and sat down, she did not take her eyes off Marquis Lunaiel.
“First of all… Sorry for the late visit to Lucia, a new warrior party member and summoner of the Spirit King. In the meantime, there were many things in the kingdom, so I came here late. Please understand with an open mind.”
“Ah… Yes… I don’t mind…”
Marquis Runiel, a high elf and a high aristocrat of the Elven Kingdom, stood up from his seat and bowed his head 90 degrees toward Lucia.
She was showing her sincerity, and Lucia got up from her seat to stop him, as if burdened by this.
“I just heard from the hero… That you are a survivor of the past half-elf village massacre…”
“…….”
Marquis Runiel asked to confirm, but Lucia lowered her head and hardly lifted it.
“The reason I said this is that Princess Illuen is now imprisoned for that.”
“…Yes? Are you in prison?”
“Yes. He was identified as the culprit of the massacre that occurred at that time and is currently under investigation.”
“Bur.. The culprit…?”
Lucia froze as it was when she heard that Iluen was the culprit of the massacre she experienced in the past.
Marquis Runiel, who was well aware of Lucia’s feelings, began to open his mouth as cautiously as possible.
“Yes. Because of that, the queen is furious and is arresting all the nobles involved.”
“…..”
“Then let’s get down to business. The reason I came here is to inform you that Lady Lucia has become the new successor to the Elven Kingdom.”
At the words of Marquis Runiel, Edwin and I looked at him with surprised faces, but
Lucia’s hardened face didn’t show the slightest emotional change.
“As soon as the investigation is completed, Princess Illuen will be disqualified from being her successor and will be expelled from the Elven Kingdom, and as soon as her warrior party mission is over, Princess Lucia will officially appoint her as the princess.”
“……”
“Before that… As a survivor of the half-elf village, could you come to the elven kingdom for a while to testify? If you would come and testify about what happened then…”
Marquis Runiel kept talking to make progress, but
Unable to hear, I stood up, spread out his hand, and covered his mouth.
“Just go there. Marquis Runiel.”
“Yes?”
Marquis Runiel, taken aback by my sudden attitude, asked why, but before I could answer him, I raised Lucia, who was sitting and weeping, to her feet.
“Lucia. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to hear it.”
“…..”
Marquis Runiel, who saw Lucia crying so much that the back of her hands were wet from tears, finally realized that she had made a mistake,
He quietly closed his eyes and said nothing more.
Lucia, who was about to go outside under my guidance, suddenly stopped her steps and turned her head.
“Hey…”
“Yes. Miss Lucia.”
Lucia called for Marquis Runiel, and he, who had closed her eyes, quickly got up from his seat and answered Lucia’s words.
“If they are punished… even if they are stripped from the princess… even if they are banished from the elven kingdom…”
“…..”
“Those who died that day do not come back.”
“……Sorry. I guess I was short-tempered.”
Understanding Lucia’s meaning, Marquis Luniel bowed her head towards her and apologized.
Me and Edwin both regretted calling her Lucia blindly.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear about the successor today. Please find someone better than me…”
Lucia left her drawing room with her last words,
I gave a slight nod to the two remaining in her drawing room as a sign that I would follow her Lucia, and then went out the door.
Stupidly…
I too had thoughts similar to Lucia’s at the cabin.
Even if I curse the party of former warriors who abandoned me for a hundred days and wish them to go wrong,
Time didn’t turn back, and the more I did, the more the wounds in my heart grew, so I had to feel the pain of being torn apart.
Knowing that well, I cautiously opened her mouth to Lucia, who was walking in the lead.
“Hey… Lucia…”
“….”
“That… I’m sorry…”
“What am I sorry about, Hero? There are people who have done wrong.”
Lucia turns her body to answer me.
Looking at her eyes and between her eyebrows, she seems to be crying, but her mouth is forced into a smile…
I felt sorry for her more and more.
“Even if they are punished… The wounds in the heart won’t heal… I’m well aware of it… But I’m sorry. Lucia.”
I bowed her head slightly and apologized to Lucia again, and Lucia came up to me and she answered quietly, moving her small lips.
“I… Hero… I have a request for you.”
“Please? Tell me anything I will listen to everything.”
“Can I hold the warrior for a second?”
“Ugh… Huh? Mmm… of course.”
At my reply, Lucia slowly came forward, reached out her hand and wrapped her arms around my waist,
In the middle of her hallway of her palace, her maids and her guards passing by are also watching her.
“It’s okay. Warrior. I know you said everything because you thought of me.”
“…..”
I felt Lucia in my arms moving her lips on my chest,
The more I did, the more I didn’t move at all and just listened to Lucia’s words.
“I’ll just stay like this for a while…”
After that, Lucia buried her face in my chest, so I couldn’t tell what she was doing.
As time went by, I could roughly guess that her back, which was wrapped around my arms, was getting softer, and the clothes on my chest were getting wet.