Chapter 49
Eisen and I entered Grand Young Master Karl’s office.
Radiance, who had entered earlier, was standing a step back.
“Count Eisen. And Sir Wintersword.”
Karl smiled at us.
“Thank you for coming all the way to this humble place.”
“Thank you for welcoming us, Grand Young Master.”
I offered him a respectful greeting as well.
Karl looked past me and asked,
“I saw Kairen rushing out after seeing the two of you. Was he not with you?”
“Ah, Young Master Kairen went to tend to Her Grace the Grand Duchess for a while.”
Eisen answered calmly.
“Her Grace has apparently grown weak in both body and mind lately and needs Young Master Kairen’s care. He is truly a devoted son.”
“...I see.”
Karl gave a bitter smile.
He seemed to understand after recalling the sight of his younger brother, drenched in sweat, coming to retrieve the vial earlier.
“Kairen... You’ve been through a lot.”
Karl composed himself and looked at me.
“And... I’m glad I can at least thank the benefactor who saved my brother.”
“......”
“Sir Wintersword. If it weren’t for you, I might have lost my only brother. I will... never forget this kindness for as long as I live.”
Karl was genuinely delighted by the fact that he could be of help to someone and that he had met the person who had protected his younger brother.
I awkwardly scratched the back of my head.
“It was a coincidence. And... as someone with a family I want to protect, I simply couldn’t walk past.”
“Ha ha, you’re too modest.”
The atmosphere softened.
Karl’s attitude was extremely favorable.
I had a feeling the conversation would proceed smoothly at this rate.
Eisen did not miss the opportunity and brought up the main subject.
“Grand Young Master. As I mentioned in my letter, we would like to discuss the Wintersword couple’s housing situation.”
“Ah, yes, of course.”
Karl nodded.
“Please don’t worry. Though I am in poor condition, I will mobilize every connection I have. I’ll look for safe staff housing near the academy where Lady Wintersword can stay as comfortably as possible.”
Karl, who had been so eager to help, soon grew troubled.
“However... the academy regulations are so rigid and prideful that I cannot be certain they will go as far as allowing a married couple to share a room. The dean was my mentor, but he is such a stickler for principles....”
“I imagine so.”
Eisen agreed as well.
It was a wall that would be difficult to break through with a simple favor.
That was why Eisen brought out the card he had prepared.
“Grand Young Master. That is precisely why I would like to ask you for one more favor, if you will forgive my impertinence—something only you can do, both for your sake and to allow the Wintersword couple to share a room.”
“One more thing...?”
The count’s glasses flashed.
“I would like you to come to the academy as well, Grand Young Master.”
“...Pardon?”
Karl’s eyes grew round.
“Me...?”
“That is correct. The academy medical center has the Empire’s finest facilities and medical staff. Why not receive advanced rehabilitation treatment there?”
“Treatment...?”
“Yes. And... you and Young Master Kairen, who will be enrolling, could share the same residence.”
Eisen drove the point home.
“If the brothers were to live together, with Young Master Kairen caring for his physically impaired elder brother... the academy would have little justification for refusing. Rather, they would welcome it as an opportunity to encourage brotherly affection.”
This was Eisen’s first bold move.
Family members of the same sex.
And not just any family members—the two sons of the Grand Ducal House sharing a room.
For Karl, it offered an opportunity for treatment and the restoration of his self-esteem.
For Kairen, it offered an opportunity to separate his brother from their mother and protect them both at once.
It was the perfect justification: publicly displaying brotherly affection while naturally isolating Karl from Karla within the family.
‘So this is the bold move he mentioned earlier.’
I admired him inwardly, yet a question arose at the same time.
‘Wait, the count said “between one bold move and another,” didn’t he? If this is the first bold move... what’s the other one?’
Though brothers sharing a room would be an exception, it was not entirely absurd.
It was too weak to use this alone to push through the Wintersword couple’s request to share a room.
We needed something stronger.
Karl was visibly flustered.
“But... if I go, I’ll only be a burden on Kairen....”
“A burden? What an unfortunate thing to say!”
Just then, Prince Radiance abruptly cut in.
“See? I told you I was right! Count, I told you we really think alike!”
Radiance excitedly clapped his hands.
“Your Highness....”
“You heard him, Karl, right? Let’s go to the academy medical center while we’re at it. It’s not that I don’t trust Northgard’s physicians, but we have to try everything! We can’t just let you waste away!”
Radiance’s face lit up.
He seemed to think there could be no greater joy than having a justification to drag his friend out into the light.
“Leave persuading the Grand Duke to me. I’ll show him exactly what an imperial prince’s name is worth. Surely the Grand Duke won’t refuse when I, an imperial prince, insist that I want to study alongside my friend?”
“......”
Karl’s heart was wavering.
A longing to move his body again and be of help to someone.
The desire, as an older brother, to become a mentor to his younger brother was stirring him.
“...But.”
Karl was still hesitant.
“Can the fact that the Grand Ducal brothers are sharing a room really shake the academy’s rigid regulations? To go as far as allowing the Wintersword couple to share a room... it still seems like the justification is a little weak.”
He was right.
Karl was intelligent.
He had grasped that the link between his own special privilege and extending that privilege to someone else was too weak.
“That is correct.”
Eisen nodded as well.
“So... we need one more thing.”
The count pulled a document envelope from inside his coat.
“Grand Young Master. Actually, there is one more person among this year’s entering classmates.”
“Who is it?”
“None other than... Her Highness Princess Elysia.”
“......!”
Karl’s eyes widened.
“Her Highness Princess Elysia?”
“Her Highness the Princess is also scheduled to enroll this year alongside Young Master Kairen and the Wintersword couple.”
Eisen explained calmly.
“She came to Eisengard to obtain the Grand Duke’s letter of recommendation and joined us. However, an unfortunate incident occurred, so I came to obtain His Grace’s approval on her behalf.”
“Hah....”
“However, Her Highness’s exceptional status makes it difficult for her to live among ordinary students without taking precautions. It would be especially problematic if she were to have a conflict with her roommate.”
Eisen glanced at Radiance.
“This would be a difficult situation for both the academy and the Grand Ducal House. If the princess’s safety were threatened, responsibility would fall on the Grand Ducal House that wrote her recommendation letter.”
“That is true.”
Karl agreed with a serious expression.
“So I thought of something.”
Eisen paused for effect.
Then he threw out his second bold move.
“Would it not be best for Her Highness the Princess to stay with her family as well?”
“Family...?”
“Yes. With a guardian and a blood relative she can trust.”
Eisen’s gaze naturally—and very blatantly—turned toward Prince Radiance.
“......Huh?”
Radiance let out a dazed sound.
At that moment, a light switched on in my head as well.
Between one bold move and another.
‘Could this be the bold move that cannot be refused...?’
The first bold move: the brothers sharing a room.
The Grand Ducal House’s two sons would share a room.
The justification was treatment and care, and they were of the same sex.
This could be recognized as a special circumstance.
And then...
The second bold move: Radiance and Princess Elysia, brother and sister, sharing a room.
The justification was royal protection and her special status.
And even though they were half-siblings, their blood relation served as a safeguard.
“If imperial siblings are allowed to use special isolation quarters for their protection, then....”
Eisen smiled broadly and pointed at me.
“Wouldn’t the married Wintersword couple sharing a room become ‘a perfectly wholesome and sensible thing’?”
“......!”
This was insane.
This was a crazy strategy.
They would first unleash the enormous bold move of royal siblings living together, leaving the academy reeling, and then slip ‘the married couple sharing a room’ into the gap.
From the academy’s perspective, our sharing a room between those two enormous bold moves could only look like an obvious right.
“Uh, uhh...?”
Infuriatingly, Radiance’s face turned red as a perfectly ripe tomato in an instant.
His usually foolish expression vanished, replaced by a mixture of fluster and... strange delight.
“W-what... what? Elysia and I? In the same room...?”
“Yes. Of course, you would use separate bedrooms, but it would be a residence with a shared living room and common living space. Since Your Highness is an academy professor, you could also protect the princess in your capacity as her dorm supervisor.”
“Th-that’s... too... bold....”
Radiance covered his mouth.
At the same time, the corners of his eyes twitched.
“The academy would probably find it more convenient too... but me... with Elysia....”
He simply could not bring himself to say he disliked the idea.
Rather, he liked it so much that he could not control his expression.
I pressed a hand to my forehead as I watched him.
‘...Ah, my head hurts.... This is definitely the process of solving the problem, so why does it give me a headache?’
This was the curse of knowledge.
Radiance von Croa.
The second male lead who secretly loves Elysia in the original novel, as well as her Daddy-Long-Legs figure.
Though he hid his feelings to the end and pretended to be a good older brother because of their forbidden relationship as half-siblings, he ultimately never became her partner.
He might be a dark-hearted wolf on the inside... perhaps.
‘That man is genuinely embarrassed right now. Doesn’t he look like his heart is about to burst?’
Was it really right to push the princess toward that wolf, Radiance?
Would this end up turning the genre from romance fantasy into a trashy incest melodrama?
But.
‘One thing is certain....’
With a bold move of this magnitude, the Wintersword couple sharing a room would be a hundred-percent success.
‘It’s strange that we had to rack our brains this much in the first place. Kara is pregnant right now... Ha... aristocratic society is difficult....’
“Ahem! Well, Eisen. If it’s for Elysia’s safety... I suppose I must sacrifice myself! I agree.”
After a brief moment of thought, Radiance accepted, coughing through his twitching smile.
I wanted to sneer at how long he had taken to think it over, but my head hurt, so I let it pass.
The person at the center of the enormous bold move of royal siblings sharing a room had given his permission.
As for Elysia’s opinion....
‘She’ll make a huge fuss and agree anyway.’
I decided not to think about it too deeply.
Now there was only one person left.
All that remained was the decision of the most important person involved.
Karl raised his head after a long silence.
Then he looked at me, Eisen, and his friend Radiance in turn.
“......I understand.”
There was no longer any hesitation in his answer.
“I will go. To the academy.”
“Grand Young Master!”
Eisen’s face brightened.
“Though I can barely manage my own body... if I can be of help to someone.”
Karl gripped the desk with a trembling hand.
Then he tried to use his strength to raise his upper body.
“Karl... don’t push yourself.”
His arm muscles screamed, but he did not give up.
In the end, his legs failed to respond, and he sank back into his wheelchair.
But his eyes were already as intense as those of a man standing proudly on both feet.
“I’ll... try standing again.”
With those eyes, he declared that he would break free from the inferiority complex and sense of defeat that had bound him and step out into the world.
Radiance grinned and patted his friend on the shoulder.
“You made the right choice. You’re too good to rot away there, Karl.”
“Since Your Highness says so... I suppose I should find the courage.”
“I told you not to call me Your Highness.”
A warm atmosphere filled the room.
With that, the preparations were complete.
All that remained was to persuade the Grand Duke.
That was when it happened.
Boom—! Boom—!
Heavy sounds that shook the ground rang out from the direction of the lord’s castle’s main gate.
At the same time, the soldiers’ shouted commands outside the window abruptly fell silent.
Amid the chilling silence, Eisen walked to the window.
Then he looked outside and whispered in a low voice.
“...He has arrived.”
The Northgard Grand Duke’s carriage procession was entering after completing its patrol.
A pitch-black carriage drawn by enormous black horses.
The mere sight of its arrival cast a heavy silence over the entire lord’s castle.
Passing servants lowered their heads in silence, while the escort knights lined up tensely.
I swallowed dryly and stared out the window as well.
The carriage door opened, and a man stepped out.
A man in a black fur cloak, his enormous frame making his head seem small.
A straight back untouched by the passage of time and eyes so sharp they looked capable of cutting down an opponent.
‘That man is the Northgard Grand Duke... Kairen and Karl’s father. And....’
Though he was certainly the one who had covertly plotted the attempt to kill my father Gorgon in Norheim before, I should have felt hostility toward him first.
‘He’s definitely different. The atmosphere around him.’
The aura he gave off at our first meeting inevitably stirred my competitive spirit before anything else.
“Let us go.”
Eisen adjusted his glasses and spoke solemnly.
“It’s time to settle this face-to-face.”