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167. Beggar Siblings – Power Insight

“You asked what I was.”

Count Forte stood up. As his intimidating figure loomed larger than Leo Dexter’s, the senior Royal Knight stepped in to mediate.

“I apologize, Your Highness. He’s a newbie who doesn’t know better…”

“Shouldn’t you be apologizing quickly?” — The senior jabbed him in the side.

Leo, sweating bullets, lowered his head. “I’m sorry.” Just as he tried to step back, the Swordmaster didn’t seem inclined to let him go that easily.

“Wait a moment. Just because you’re new doesn’t mean you can flit in and out of the Prince’s quarters without a word! I need to know what kind of nonsense you’re trying to pull. State your name and place of work.”

The senior Royal Knight’s face hardened. He glanced briefly at the Prince’s expression and spoke with an annoyed tone.

“…Nonsense, you say? Count Forte, that’s a bit much. And even if you are the commander of the Royal Knights, you have no right to dig into a Royal Knight’s background.”

“Oh, you’re being quite unreasonable, Sir Knight.”

Just as the atmosphere turned tense, Marquis Benard Tatian interjected. Twirling his wine glass, he appeared to find the situation rather amusing, yet his gaze was fixated on Leo.

“The Count is merely saying that out of concern for the Prince. Surely the Count wouldn’t try to overstep while the Prince is right here, especially when the Prince hasn’t spoken a word.”

This was a provocation aimed at the Prince. Prince Klian de Tatalia looked at Leo for a moment before saying,

“Step back.”

And with the Prince’s command, that was that. Count Hermann Forte still bore a wary expression but could not raise any objections.

Leo shuffled backward, exiting the Prince’s office. As the door closed, he caught sight of Marquis Benard Tatian smiling warmly.

‘Why is that man…?’

No sooner had the door shut than the senior Royal Knight glared daggers at Leo, bombarding him with scolding, but it didn’t register in Leo’s ears.

‘He shouldn’t know about me yet.’ — Despite successfully securing the Prince’s favor, Leo’s breath became increasingly erratic.

*

The Orange Theater was bustling with preparations for the play “Demonios.” The play was based on the life of Saint Azra, and Lena had been assigned the role of “Saint Reina.”

The first Saint.

It sounded immensely important just to hear, but it wasn’t necessarily so.

The protagonist of “Demonios” was, after all, Saint Azra.

The core of the play revolved around that great saint as he fought against evil, traveling counterclockwise across the continent, while Reyna, a mountain village girl appearing midway, served as a supporting character to hold onto Azra’s fading humanity.

In fact, there weren’t even historical records that confirmed whether Saint Reina had accompanied Saint Azra at all.

The fact that a saint was declared for overcoming all evils was the playwright’s imagination, wishing she had been a companion who shared both joys and struggles with Azra.

Thus, in an effort not to distort history too much, Reina had very few lines in the play.

When she first met Azra, at the southern seaside, she advised him not to shoulder everything alone but to nurture a priest and a holy knight, and at the final seventh evil, when she became a saint chosen by the divine at “Badobona Castle.”

There were only three short lines, and yet she bore the weight of the play’s face.

Lena learned acting, taking advice from other actors.

Exaggerated gestures for the distant audience, a clear voice, subtle body movements in response to other actors’ performances, expressions, and entrances and exits of the actors.

And she also needed to know the overall storyline of “Demonios,” so she got plenty of help from Ksenia…

“Sister. Did you, by any chance… have a fight with our brother?”

These days, Ksenia seemed rather down.

Even while reading the “Demonios” script to me, she would occasionally stare vacantly into space. This had been happening ever since our brother visited last time.

Ksenia said, “Fight? I just don’t know your brother well these days.” and offered no further comment.

Melancholy spreads easily. When Ksenia, who shares a room with me, felt blue, it inevitably made me feel blue, too.

And the unfortunate victim of this was none other than Santian Rauno. He came to see me bright and early as usual, and I asked him,

“Do you like me?”

“U-uh? W-why do you ask that all of a sudden?”

“Don’t dodge. Do you like me or not?”

Flustered, Santian fidgeted with his round nose. Although he was terrified of being found out, he couldn’t suppress his excited feelings and confessed.

“Y-yeah. I… like you.”

“Why? What do you like about me?”

That was a sharp voice.

But with no experience in romance, Santian didn’t grasp the significance of the question and blurted out an honest answer.

“…Because you’re pretty.”

I crossed my arms.

I couldn’t help but feel disappointed with Tian, who couldn’t see that this was hardly a response and seemed overly pleased with it.

I know I’m pretty now.

Everyone at the theater praised me for my looks, and the ladies on the third floor offered practical advice.

Mostly, it boiled down to needing to meet a good man, but there were also ladies who complained that all men are the same, claiming they were just animals desperate to satisfy their lust, spilling thoughts that felt a bit early for me to hear.

I didn’t believe all of it, but it was shocking.

I realized how many sacrifices my brother had made for me, and if Santian was only liking me because of my looks…

That was disappointing.

“Is that all?”

“N-no, that’s not it. Being with you is fun, comfortable… I like everything.”

Unbelievable words. It sounded like something one would say to buy someone’s favor, indistinguishable from truth or lie.

Lena muttered, “I understand.” Turning away with a heavy heart, she spat out the frustrations building inside her.

“From now on, call me ‘Sister.’”

She returned to the stage and resumed practicing, noticing that Tian couldn’t seem to leave the audience and wandered about.

Was this the right thing to do?

Lena murmured to herself like Ksenia, “I don’t know.” Her brother still hadn’t come today.

*

Leo was disciplined.

Called in by the stubborn Knight Commander, he received a reprimand, had his pay docked, and was assigned additional duties.

The loss of his first paycheck, which he hadn’t even received yet, didn’t feel like much of a blow.

However, being assigned to learn the secret passages beneath the Royal Castle — a job anyone would find dull — and being barred from going out for a week was a significant hit.

With the achievement of charming the nobles serving the Prince of the House of Tatalia secured, Leo thought he should quickly find Count Gustave Peter to win him over, but there were still tasks left within the castle.

He needed to stop Gilbert Forte from kissing the princess.

Solving these two things meant Leo could immediately leave Orville. He would rush to the Conrad Kingdom and oust Prince Eric, who served Oriax.

So, though he worried when he heard about his sister’s play, he permitted it. Ksenia had assured him there would be no problem, and the owner of the Orange Theater, Brestin, was someone he could trust.

In fact… to be precise, he trusted Ksenia more than Brestin.

He learned about it through Oberg.

The Orange Theater had only been established ten years prior. Brestin was the manager of that establishment, and it was said that after Ksenia, who had worked there as a prostitute, quit her job, for some reason, it underwent a transformation from a brothel into a theater.

“What a smart girl. What a pitiful girl. I saw her father hanging, dead. I wondered how difficult it must have been for her; to be honest, I thought Ksenia might follow suit and commit suicide, too. But…”

Oberg chattered on, spitting everywhere whenever Ksenia was mentioned.

“I heard that she and the theater owner had become somewhat friendly. Right after her father’s funeral, she declared she would quit working. They were planning to give her a severance package, but Ksenia refused and said something like this:

– “I’m going to live my life now. You too… don’t get too caught up in the past.”

“Haha! Not something to hear from a kid who’s not even of age, right? After that, she could no longer work. So they shut down the brothel and established a theater. They’re planning on gradually helping the girls still working in the brothel to gain independence. All thanks to Ksenia.”

The transformative quest didn’t just change Ksenia alone. It had significantly altered her life from the past and changed the lives of many others.

Leo felt reassured that the Orange Theater was safe. So many changes had taken place, and it turned out to be a trap as well — that was going too far.

At least, if this ‘raising Lena’ game held any meaning…

It simply could not be so.

Leo diligently carried out his duties. Missing out on sleep, he rummaged through the secret passages beneath the castle and was granted a day of leave just a week before the arrival of the Prince of the Austin Kingdom.

Dressed in the finest outfit of a squire, Leo sped toward “Eralin Avenue.”

Eralin Avenue was where the nobles resided. It was the most well-organized and bustling place in Orville, lined with mansions of great nobles like Marquis Tatian, and although it was his first time visiting, Leo looked upon the familiar streets with bittersweet emotions.

‘Right. I dashed down that alley…’

He remembered being commissioned to enter Marquis Tatian’s mansion, lying in wait to assassinate the Marquis’s son, getting out of the carriage dressed beautifully as Lena, then fleeing from a female knight named Irène.

It felt like he had come a long way to return here. — Thought Leo, shaking off the memories and quickening his pace.

Count Gustave Peter’s mansion was located slightly away from the central area.

Even though it was still Eralin Avenue, it was somewhat distanced from the core, where well-off barons or prospering viscounts had their mansions.

Standing before Count Peter’s mansion, which was decently large but bare of decoration, Leo took a deep breath and presented his Royal Knight badge to the guard.

“The Count is occupied with other engagements at the moment. Please wait a moment. I will go and inform him.”

The steward treated Leo, who was undoubtedly a royal messenger, with great civility.

Tea and pastries wafted steam as they were brought in. While sipping tea for a moment and scanning the reception room, Leo began to reconsider his initial thoughts.

He had assumed the extreme frugality would make the mansion lack ornamentation. The interior, too, had hardly any decorative items, but unlike the gloomy exteriors, the inside had color.

Bold wallpaper. In a reception room decorated with curtains and carpets of colors that seemed mismatched at first glance, there was an engaging charm to it that didn’t come across as dull.

‘…Doesn’t quite match, though?’

It was hard to believe Count Peter’s mansion belonged to someone who always donned dark clothing and rode around in a black carriage pulled by a black horse.

Perhaps it was the preference of Count Peter’s wife — just as Leo thought this, Count Gustave Peter rushed in, his silver hair flowing behind him.

It certainly was nice to have the status of a Royal Knight.

But Leo soon felt the urge to bite his own lip in anger. It wasn’t because the unadorned Count had spilled the identities of himself and his sister to the Marquis.

Nor was it because the Count feigned ignorance when he saw Leo’s true identity, as Cardinal Berg had done.

Simply put,

[ Achievement: Baptism of the Saint – Leo gains the ability {Power Insight}. ]

‘Damn it.’

Count Gustave bore within him a bright power. Like that of a priest. With the divine power of the gods within him, he was someone that could never be charmed.

The bracelet became useless. Leo swallowed a surge of curses and said,

“…It seems you don’t recognize me, Count.”

Count Gustave Peter merely stared blankly as if to question what he meant…