Chapter 46
Even in the carriage racing all night along moonlit roads, Eisen and I discussed the problems we still had to resolve amid the jolting vibrations.
“Once we meet His Grace the Grand Duke, the matter of Her Highness the Princess’s letter of recommendation will be settled. But... the dormitory remains a problem.”
The count stroked his chin, furrowing his brow.
“Even if Grand Young Master Karl uses his influence with the faculty, securing the unprecedented privilege of allowing a married couple to move in together will not be easy. The dean is extraordinarily stubborn.”
“I suppose not.”
I agreed bitterly as well.
The academy was a conservative place.
No matter how much influence the Grand Ducal House wielded, breaking its principles would not be easy.
For a member of an outlander race who was not even from a prominent family, admission itself was already a privilege.
The academy could not grant any more special treatment without losing face.
Not unless a precedent were established.
Eisen cautiously floated a proposal.
“If allowing a married couple to share a room is impossible... what about having Her Highness the Princess and Miss Kara share a room as the next-best option?”
“......What?”
“Her identity is beyond doubt, and she’s already acquainted with Miss Kara, so wouldn’t she be trustworthy? Since they’re both women, it should be less uncomfortable, too.”
The count’s suggestion instantly soured my expression.
“Of course... the best option would be for the two of you to stay together. I also think that, with all the attention already focused on Her Highness the Princess and Miss Kara, having them together might actually be dangerous....”
‘It’s more than dangerous.’
I screamed inwardly.
Elysia was a walking disaster.
Rule one, clause one of the original novel.
「Incidents follow the female protagonist.」
Anyone beside her was guaranteed to get caught up in every incident and accident in the original story.
On top of that, she possessed the Sun God’s divine power, 「Incineration」.
With that uncontrollable power liable to run wild at any moment, putting pregnant Kara in the same room as her was....
Absolutely impossible.
“Let’s leave that... as a last resort.”
I drew a firm line.
“I refuse to let Kara get caught up in anything unnecessary. I’d sooner pitch a tent against the staff dormitory wall and sleep there.”
“Ha ha, understood. If that is truly your wish, Mr. Varg.”
Eisen did not press the matter any further.
The carriage continued through a heavy silence until we were nearing Northgard Grand Ducal Castle.
Someone was standing by the roadside.
A man wearing a white mask.
Even in the darkness, the golden eyes visible through the gaps in the mask flashed in the moonlight.
“......?”
Spotting our approaching carriage, the man waved at us very elegantly—and shamelessly.
Like a drunk trying to hail a taxi.
Eisen and I looked out the window at the same time.
‘That person is....’
Count Eisen’s eyes narrowed.
The masked man who had given us information about the kidnapper in the plaza and disappeared—the helper who made no attempt to conceal that he was a prince.
The man I had planned to tell, the next time we met, to please cover his eyes as well.
‘Radiance....?’
The Empire’s fourth prince.
‘The original called him a mysterious benefactor, but in real life he’s just an attention seeker waving at people on the road in the middle of the night.’
“Let’s ignore him and keep going.”
Eisen said firmly.
“Agreed. He looks like the sort of person who’d be exhausting to get involved with.”
I immediately agreed.
“I’m grateful he helped save Alina, but... seeing that shameless attitude of his now.... I don’t want to get tangled up with him....”
Even though Eisen was not the sort of person to treat a benefactor coldly, the prince’s shamelessness had gone too far.
‘So that airheaded personality of Elysia’s... I wondered where she got it, but did she learn it from that man?’
Though his face was hidden by a mask and this was my first time seeing him in person, imagining the expression beneath it made me feel sick.
The carriage did not slow down.
Whoosh—!
It passed the man without stopping.
I thought I heard him shout from behind us, “You there! How heartless!” but we coolly ignored him.
* * *
A little while later.
At last, the majestic grandeur of Northgard Grand Ducal Castle came into view.
Spires that seemed to pierce the night sky and sturdy walls.
The massive castle gate opened, and our procession of carriages entered.
“We have arrived.”
Eisen said as he straightened his clothes.
“From this point on, this is an official occasion, so let us settle our forms of address. Come, Sir Wintersword.”
“Understood, Count.”
We got out of the carriage.
The grand ducal guards’ captain approached and offered us a respectful greeting.
“Welcome, Count Eisen. Sir Wintersword, you have come as well.”
“Is His Grace the Grand Duke here?”
“Well... unfortunately, His Grace has not yet returned from his patrol. He likely won’t be back until dawn.”
“I see.”
Eisen looked troubled.
“Then would you wait in the guest room for a while? I’ll have tea prepared.”
“Understood. Then please show us the....”
The door flew open!
The door of the second carriage, which I had left empty to serve as Karl’s ambulance and which had been following behind us, opened.
“......Hm?”
It was supposed to be empty, wasn’t it?
The gazes of the guards, Eisen, and me all turned toward it.
And from inside the carriage.
A handsome blond man stepped out with great elegance, no longer wearing his mask.
The man who had waved at us from the roadside earlier.
The fourth prince, Radiance von Croa....
“Ah~ what luck, Count Eisen!”
He approached with a goofy smile exactly like Elysia’s.
“I was just on my way to visit my friend Karl, and as it happens, you were also on your way to see Karl about the Wintersword couple!”
“......What?!”
“So we happened to meet on the way and came together. I should certainly pay my fare properly, don’t you think? Hahaha!”
He even winked at the guards.
Eisen and I stood there with our mouths hanging open.
‘When did that man get in?’
We had clearly ignored him and driven past.
And what was with that shameless lie?
We were left speechless by Radiance’s glibness as he smoothly spun the guards a backstory about a meeting we had never heard of.
He acted as naturally as though we had arranged to travel together from the start.
“P-Prince Radiance?!”
The captain of the guard shouted, his face turning pale.
A visit from royalty was a grave matter that should never happen without prior notice.
And yet a prince had secretly sneaked into someone else’s carriage.
“How could you come without any notice...!”
“Shh.”
Radiance put his index finger to his lips and winked.
“It’s a secret. I’m not here on official business. I’ve only come to see Karl, my academy classmate, so don’t be so stiff. It’s a secret from Father, too.”
With practiced nonchalance, he threw the strict atmosphere of the grand ducal castle into disarray.
Eisen’s brow twitched.
‘That man... even if he is a prince, he rode in my carriage without paying a fare....!’
Their first meeting had already been awkward, but now he was even more outrageous.
No matter how favorably disposed Eisen was toward Kara, Elysia, and me, Radiance, who ignored etiquette and procedure as casually as if it were nothing, was the most difficult type of person to handle.
And for good reason: Kara, Elysia, and I were all still in the position of learning etiquette, whereas Radiance had already been thoroughly educated in etiquette and procedure and was supposed to set an example.
I clicked my tongue inwardly as well.
‘That airheadedness... he’s Elysia’s exact double.’
In Radiance’s sly smile, I saw Elysia’s face superimposed over it.
‘Ah, I wondered why Elysia had such a personality... It turns out the only royal brother who had been kind to her was that man, and she learned it from him....’
Getting entangled with siblings like those two was bound to be exhausting.
Before we got swept into the prince’s rhythm, we decided to draw a line quickly.
“Haha... We couldn’t possibly interfere with Your Highness’s private visit. We’ll go separately....”
Eisen began edging backward.
“We need to greet Young Master Kairen first, so we’ll take our leave. Where is Young Master Kairen?”
I asked the guard.
“Ah, Young Master Kairen is currently in the annex... in Grand Young Master Karl’s office.”
“...Ah.”
Count Eisen and I sighed at the same time.
“Oh! Perfect!”
Radiance cut in with a broad smile.
“I’m headed there too. I can see my friend Karl and my adorable little brother Kairen! We can go together!”
Grab!
He obliviously draped an arm over Eisen’s and my shoulders.
“Come along, Sir Wintersword! Count! The three of us can have a cozy little get-together!”
We recoiled and stepped back, but in the end we had no choice but to head for the annex with the prince tagging along behind us, grinning foolishly.
Just as we were about to enter the annex, our heads aching from it all.
The door flew open!
Someone burst out.
It was Kairen.
As though he had been waiting for us to arrive.
“Master!”
Kairen cried out the moment he saw Eisen.
“You came! I’ve been waiting!”
Then he looked at me.
“Varg... you came too. I’m really... glad you did.”
Kairen welcomed me with a smile.
But his condition....
It was difficult to call it normal.
His forehead was damp with cold sweat.
His eyes were unfocused.
His hands were trembling violently.
He looked on the verge of collapse.
Grab!
Kairen urgently tugged at Eisen’s lapel.
“There’s something important I need to discuss with you. Please come with me for a moment. This way....”
Eisen and I exchanged glances.
‘He’s not doing well.’
He was smiling, but his eyes darted anxiously, and the hand clutching his master’s lapel was visibly shaking.
He looked desperate, like a drowning man grasping even at a straw.
‘What happened? Don’t tell me it was the letter....?’
We started to follow Kairen, tense with worry.
“Um... Young Master Kairen...?”
Radiance poked his head out from behind me.
“I’m here too....?”
He waved with a beaming smile.
“Couldn’t you welcome me too, your brother’s friend? This is truly hurtful. Treating a prince like he’s invisible.”
But Kairen saw only Eisen and me.
As though he could not hear Radiance, Kairen hurriedly led us farther inside.
Slam.
The annex door closed.
Left alone, Radiance shrugged as he stared at the closed door.
“Hmm... It seems they’re happier to see their master and the barbarian than me, a prince.”
The prince’s playful expression instantly settled into a calm one.
“He’s grown a lot, but... it really is too soon.”
Radiance muttered in a voice no one could hear.
That expression on Kairen’s face.
It was familiar.
Exactly like his own, when he had been around Kairen’s age.
‘That fellow Karl... I wonder if he hasn’t placed too heavy a burden on his little brother.’
Radiance turned away with a bitter smile.
He looked up at the window of Karl’s office.
“Well, then, shall I go see my friend?”
* * *
Kairen entered the first room he happened to find along the corridor.
A storage room thick with dust.
It was a shabby place where a young master of the grand ducal house ought not set foot, but that was not important to Kairen now.
Bang!
Kairen shut the door roughly.
Then he leaned against it and gasped for breath.
“Young Master? What on earth is wrong? Please calm down....”
When Eisen moved toward him, Kairen’s body slowly crumpled.
Thump.
He dropped to his knees in front of the door with a thud.
“Master... Varg....”
“......!”
With his back turned to us, Kairen covered his face with both hands.
And then.
“Hic... sob....”
His shoulders began to shake as he sobbed.
The emotions he had been suppressing spilled out, as though he no longer cared who heard.
“It’s too... too heavy. It’s too much for me to bear....”
“What do you mean...?”
“So many truths... I learned far too many today. And I had to... hide them.”
His mother’s attempt to assassinate his older brother.
Slokina, who had ordered it.
The Empire’s brutal political circumstances, which had forced even his mother to carry it out.
And above all, the fact that the cause of all those tragedies....
Was himself.
“I can’t distinguish the facts I must hide from the truths I must tell....”
Kairen turned his head.
His tear-streaked face was fully exposed, and he was gasping as though hyperventilating.
“Mother’s love, my brother’s sacrifice... everything is so vivid... the colors are too deep to tell apart....”
Kairen put his trembling hand into his pocket.
Then he pulled something out and held it out.
A glass vial.
The vial of poison his mother had dropped and his brother had tried to pick up.
The son offered his mother’s shame to his master.
Admitting that he could not possibly resolve it on his own.
Eisen accepted the glass vial, but did not ask any questions.
Rather than question him, he gently drew the disciple who had sunk to the floor into his arms.
Kairen no longer fit entirely in Eisen’s embrace, but he could still bury his face against him.
“You’ve been through so much, Young Master. You truly... have been through so much.”
“Waaah...!”
Held in Eisen’s arms, Kairen burst into tears like a child.
I, too, silently approached and placed a hand on Kairen’s shoulder.
For now, the future had changed.
Because of a single line added to the letter at the last moment.
But in exchange, it had torn a boy’s heart apart.
It was not the worst possible outcome, but neither could it be called the best.
Just as I had been blind for a time despite rescuing the kidnapped Alina early.
Just as Kairen, even after seeing the truth, had to be blind for a day.