NOVEL NEXT Chapter 213
Chapter 213. Beggar Siblings – Deliveryman
The capital of the Kingdom of Conrad, Rutina, was enveloped in the full bloom of spring. The wind blew across the plains surrounding the capital, hitting the tall city walls, and the citizens enjoyed the pleasantly warm weather.
“Ah, the weather is nice.”
“You’ll swallow a bug if you keep your mouth open.”
It wasn’t just the citizens enjoying the lazy weather. The guards stationed at the gate also stretched and chatted idly.
“By the way, when’s Akinen again?”
“It’s next month, if I remember correctly.”
“Is it? Then it’s going to get busy soon.”
“Yeah, I guess. Ah, I was told to get a new uniform tailored, but I don’t have the money. I wonder if there’ll be any subsidies.”
“How’s your wife? She’s due soon, right?”
“Call her sister-in-law. You’re not married, so don’t act familiar with someone who’s about to become a father. My wife’s doing well. We found a midwife. It’s expensive though. Honestly, I don’t think there’s much difference, but apparently, an experienced midwife is essential.”
“For a first birth, she definitely is.”
“Once the baby’s born, we’ll need a new house too. It’s a lot to handle. Ah!”
The guards, who had been chatting while leaning against the wall, straightened up. A large number of carriages had arrived without them noticing.
Entry to the castle was generally unrestricted unless there was a special reason. With thousands of people coming and going each day, it wasn’t feasible or necessary to inspect everyone, so as long as there were no apparent problems, the guards let people pass.
However, when carriages or other large items entered, it was customary to report to the guards. Usually, the guards would let carriages pass without inspection.
Occasionally, guards would search carriages hoping to receive bribes when they were short on money, but this wasn’t one of those times.
These were grand carriages.
Flags with various crests fluttered in the wind. The carriages, escorted by knights, belonged to the nobility. The Baron Monarch’s, the Count Willand’s, and the Marquis Arne’s carriages requested entry on the pretext of attending ‘Akinen,’ and the guards saluted and let them pass.
However, whose Akinen it would be remained to be seen.
With ambitions stirring in their hearts, the newly arrived nobles quickly reached the mansion of the Marquis Arne, where they awaited the disembarkation of the guests.
After a moment’s pause, the person who appeared was the returning prince, Leo. Stepping down from the carriage, he escorted Lady Xenia of the Baron Monarch’s family, adorned in elegant attire, and a dazzling blonde young lady.
Lena, holding her brother’s hand, smiled brightly. Bowing lightly to the lined-up nobles, she was no longer just a girl.
Dressed in a richly decorated red gown, Lena accepted the nobles’ greetings with slow, graceful movements. As she began to engage the nobles more seriously, attempting to win over Count Geoff Willand, she quickly regained the dignified bearing of a princess.
It was a stark contrast to the Lena seen during the visit with her childhood friend. Back then, helping her brother’s rebellion, she toured various regions to gather troops, wearing a neat, functional uniform befitting wartime, issuing crisp, authoritative orders.
But now, in a time of peace, she had become the quintessential princess. She focused on her appearance, and instead of giving harsh orders, she used soft words and elegant gestures to win over the nobles.
Lena’s skills were so remarkable that Prince Leo had nothing to do during the journey to this place.
It’s not like he planned to do nothing and leave everything to his sister. Lena, through letters, orchestrated encounters in the early morning, and tea times with the marchioness, managed to captivate the nobles ahead of Leo.
It was obvious what the returning prince sought. Therefore, all that was left was the somewhat awkward task of sitting across the table and exchanging demands. Lena had already created an atmosphere where the nobles or their families were inclined to side with the prince.
Leo simply needed to say,
“You don’t have to do anything. Just support me when I take power.”
That was enough to end the discussion with an enticing proposal.
As expected of the protagonist.
Leo finally understood the previous message he had left behind, telling him to let his sister do as she wished.
All he needed to do was provide minimal protection and opportunities for Lena to meet the nobles. From there, Lena grew rapidly, reclaiming her royal heritage.
So, what was my role in this beggar siblings scenario…?
‘It must be to defeat Oriax.’
No matter how competent his sister was, this was something she couldn’t handle alone. By ‘placing’ Xenia to meet Bishop Berg and collaborating with him to oppose Prince Eric, who worshipped the evil god, the main deity had arranged for this.
What about the other scenarios?
…Honestly, I don’t know.
Unlike the clear objective in the beggar siblings scenario, the purposes of the childhood friend and engagement scenarios were elusive.
The importance of each scenario was too significant to merely support the beggar siblings. Minseo was convinced that he had to make Lena a princess in all scenarios to escape this game. He had his own reasoning, so I couldn’t dismiss it outright…
[ Quest: Protector, 2/3 ]
This might not be the end.
That thought flickered through his mind. Holding Lena’s hand and passing the lined-up nobles, Leo felt reality lift away. It felt like an ending was approaching, a murkiness swirling around his ears. Watching those who aspired to become a priestess, a knight, or a princess… Leo felt he understood what the main deity wanted from them.
“Brother?”
However, Leo shook his head to clear his thoughts. He reassured his sister with a wave and stepped back into the sinking reality.
I am Minseo’s pawn and the main deity’s plaything. I have no intention of disrupting the unfolding purpose or challenging the ‘constraint’ placed on Minseo with premature speculations. There’s still too much I don’t know, and no matter how much I struggle, I cannot deviate from the path laid by the main deity.
Following the natural order and going through all the arranged processes, we will be freed. I am merely fulfilling my role.
As the prince who needed to prepare for the rebellion reached Oriax’s headquarters, he oddly felt unafraid of the future. A bewildering spring breeze ruffled his hair, and a sudden realization hit him as an unexpected message appeared.
[ Achievement: ‘Katrina’s Life’ Quest Completed – Katrina is freed from the constraint. ]
[ ‘Katrina’s Life’ Quest is disappearing. ]
‘….’
Around this time in the engagement scenario, Katrina had died. What had happened? What had I done to free her from the constraint?
[ 18/23 ]
The limit below his eyes had increased by one. Leo could only accept the steadily progressing situation with a sense of detachment.
* * *
“You’ve worked hard today too.”
Leo filled a glass and handed it to Galren, a former royal guard, in one of the guest rooms of the Rutina Church. Galren accepted the drink with gratitude.
“…It’s nothing. It wasn’t hard at all.”
The twentieth day in Rutina had passed without any notable events. Secretly, Galren had thought they should bring Sir Bart before launching the uprising, but he realized his worries were unfounded.
The knights of the kingdom, and even the royal guards, had all pledged their loyalty to the prince.
Sometimes, when it seemed a knight’s loyalty was insincere, Galren had asked, “Should I kill him?” But the prince had laughed it off, assuring him there was no need to worry. The prince was right. No one attempted to betray him.
It was astonishing.
He had expected many knights to be moved by the dramatic return of the legitimate prince, but he hadn’t anticipated this level of devotion.
The prince actively sought out knights, and in less than three weeks, he had taken control of the royal guards and three knight orders. The princess, with her intelligence, subtly swayed the nobles while staying at the Marquess of Arne’s residence, just as gentle rain soaks through clothes.
It was something to be happy about…
Galren fiddled with his glass, feeling a bit bittersweet. What had they been fighting for? If the prince and princess could resolve everything without any help, he felt a sense of futility and unintentionally spoke his mind.
“In a couple of days… Prince Eric will be deposed.”
Leo’s eyebrows twitched and raised.
The plan for the uprising was set. Instead of the actual day, they would depose Prince Eric during a preparatory event for Akinen, in front of all the gathered nobles and delegations.
But as his closest aide, Galren must have known this. There was even a hint of melancholy in his voice, prompting Leo to ask.
“Are you regretful?”
“…Yes, honestly, I am.”
“Speak. Why is that?”
“Please don’t misunderstand me.”
Leo smiled faintly.
[ Achievement: Master-Servant Relationship.2v – ‘328’, those who swear loyalty to Leo will never betray him. ]
How could he misunderstand? This man would never betray him. Leo clinked his glass against the troubled knight’s. Eventually, Galen began to speak.
“I’m regretful that we haven’t done anything for you and the princess. And personally, I feel sorry for Prince Eric. I used to serve him once.”
“You did?”
“A long time ago, yes. Then, when Princess Lena was born, my duties changed. I became her guard.”
“I see. Then you must have seen what Prince Eric was like as a child.”
“Yes, for about a year…”
“What kind of person was he?”
Galren took a sip of his drink. Perhaps it acted as a catalyst, as he uttered words that could be considered quite presumptuous.
“He was a tender-hearted boy.”
“…That’s hard to believe.”
Leo had met Eric de Yeriel only once. Five years older than Leo, Eric had black eyes, and though he shared the same blond hair, it had a touch of brown from the Tartan family instead of the Yeriel family’s traditional blue. Despite the similarities in their appearance, their impressions were completely different.
Eric had a cold, sharp demeanor and a nervously intense gaze, making it difficult to believe he was tender-hearted. Given his role as an apostle of Oriax, who had sacrificed countless people, it seemed even more unlikely.
However, Galren did not retract his statement. He continued sipping his drink and recounted his memories of the young Prince Eric de Yeriel.
It was fifteen years ago.
At the time, Eric de Yeriel was only six years old, and he was receiving severe neglect. When Queen Ainas de Yeriel finally gave birth to the legitimate heir, Prince Leo de Yeriel, Eric, born of a concubine, found his position drastically diminished.
It was an unavoidable situation, but the prince was too young to accept it with composure. Up until the previous year, the palace staff had revered him as the future king. When the queen became pregnant with her second child, Eric seemed to finally understand his predicament.
A prince who could not become king.
History had seen many such princes. While Eric must have been greatly disappointed, Galren noted that the young prince appeared to be trying to accept his fate. Eric had once said to Galren:
– “I’m fine. I just wish my mother wouldn’t be so sad… I guess I need to smile more.”
This is what it means to be royal.
Galren, a newly appointed royal guard, was impressed. It was hard to believe that such words came from a boy so young, barely tall enough to reach his thigh.
However, even the young Prince Eric eventually twisted. The turning point occurred during a stay at the Tartan Duke’s estate, where the prince had gone with his mother for a retreat.
“Yvonne Tartan, the concubine princess, suddenly disappeared. After that, Prince Eric became extremely irritable.”
As a royal guard, Galren was present at the time. Yvonne Tartan, the daughter of Duke Lappert Tartan and Eric’s mother, vanished without a trace. Amidst the kingdom’s whispers, Eric de Yeriel began to go astray, adopting a murderous expression and pushing everyone away…
“Wait, Yvonne Tartan disappeared? Why? Where?”
“No one knows. She just vanished one day. Duke Lappert Tartan searched desperately but never found her. Oh, and there was something odd about it. The duke was frantically searching not just for his daughter, but also for a certain jewel that disappeared with her. It was described as a red flower bud, about the size of two fingers…”
Leo was engulfed in a faint shiver.
Somehow… he felt like he knew. How Prince Eric de Yeriel had become an apostle serving Oriax and where Yvonne Tartan had disappeared to.
She had been sacrificed.
The jewel must be related to Oriax. It was likely that Prince Eric had it, and then, through the bewitched Duke Tertan, it was passed to his grandson, Phallas Tartan, and eventually ended up in Harrier Gaidan’s hands. So…!
‘Harriet Gaidan was the courier.’
Leo understood Oriax’s intent. Duke Tertan was bound to refuse, but he had to pass the jewel to Harriet through Phallas. Harriet was then meant to marry into the royal family of either Aeton or Algeo de Lognum if the engagement with the duke’s family fell through. Hence, the jewel’s intended destination was one of the royal princes.
However, when Harriet and Phallas fell in love, things went awry. In seeking permission for their marriage, they returned to the Conrad Kingdom on their own, and during that time…
‘Bart!’
They met Bart. And Lord Bart took the necklace from Harriet, even though he had no reason to.
“…Your Highness?”
Galren was looking at Leo.
The glass in Leo’s hand was trembling, its contents rippling, and Leo’s deductions hit a wall. He couldn’t understand why Lord Bart had acted as he did.
“Is something wrong?”
“…It’s nothing. Thank you for sharing this with me.”
Leo drank as calmly as he could. Everything was ready, and the battle they couldn’t lose was scheduled for the day after tomorrow. But he realized, belatedly, that he had overlooked one small but crucial detail.