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218. Beggar Siblings – The Prince and the Princess

A lie?

Leo had no time to answer his inquiry. With shocked eyes, he helplessly gazed at his melting comrade.

However, the person in question wore an unconcerned expression. A young man from the rural area of Orun Kingdom, with light brown hair, looked at the prince and said:

“So you all died surrounded in Nebis? With Lena around, us? I must have done something wrong, but I’m sorry for whatever it is…”

“Reb!”

Reb collapsed like a marionette with cut strings, and when Leo pulled him out from the puddle of blood and turned him over, Reb was already no longer of this world.

Ironically, at that moment, cheers erupted.

“Hooray!”

“We won! Long live Prince Leo de Yeriel!!”

As I wiped my tears and lifted my head, Oriax was disappearing.

Was he dead, or had he simply decided to go home? The massive corpse of Oriax was scattering like ash, and the banquet hall, once soaked in blood, regained its former appearance.

Sunlight poured in through the windows; it was a radiance. Just a moment ago, a hell covered in maggots, blood, and rotten flesh had vanished.

The only evidence of the fierce battle were the sunken, splintered wooden floorboards and broken stairs, along with the cheering humans. Not a single person had been injured; all the wounded had perished, and those who fell had become part of Oriax, never to return. Only Reb’s lifeless body remained.

Despite not wanting to, Leo raised his fist high. He turned his back on Reb while satisfying the desires of the cheering citizens.

He could do so, knowing it wasn’t a permanent farewell…

“Sir Hazen.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Identify the fallen. I will ensure the families of the deceased receive a stipended compensation for a thousand days, so please collect their information.”

“Understood. But this corpse…”

“He was my savior. We shall handle it with a state funeral. Please… take care of it.”

Sir Hazen, who had been about to inquire about the identity of the half-melted corpse, fell silent. The prince’s face, smiling at the jubilant crowd, was dark.

Leo approached the exhausted cardinal and checked on him. He calmed the cheering soldiers, knights, holy knights, and priests while looking for the nobles who had evacuated the banquet hall.

However, the ballroom, which should have seen no events,

“Quick! The Marquis has been injured!”

“Priest! This way!”

was drenched in blood. Though not as gruesome as the banquet hall before Oriax disappeared, limbs lay scattered around as if it were a slaughterhouse.

“Lena!”

Startled, Leo hurriedly searched for his sister. Fortunately, she was safe, but Lena was sobbing on the floor, and Santian Rauno lay cold, having lost both legs.

“Jenia. What happened?”

As Leo comforted the hiccuping Lena and asked, her escort knight, Jenia Jaqueri, caught her breath and replied.

“There was fighting here too. Duke Tertan… I’m sorry. I was powerless.”

Jenia revealed that Duke Rupert Tertan had suddenly transformed into a monster. It was a huge creature wielding a gigantic axe, targeting the princess.

With knights, holy knights, priests, and royal guards all rushing to the banquet hall, there was no one left to stop the monster in the ballroom. It was a different caliber from the creatures summoned by Prince Eric, and Jenia could only gather noblemen who’ve learned a bit of swordsmanship and the late-arriving guards to stand against it.

“We almost lost the princess… It’s divine intervention.”

“Brother, Tian… Tian said he…”

Jenia Jaqueri didn’t mention Santian Rauno. When the princess began to sob and spoke, she finally added, “Oh, that servant pushed the princess.” ─ In a way that seemed proud, but insignificant.

After all, he was just a commoner who had suddenly risen through the ranks. Jenia looked puzzled, not understanding why the princess, who had treated the servant so coldly, was now in such distress.

Sighing, Leo patted his sister’s back. The princess, whose makeup had run and become a mess, cried even more sorrowfully in her brother’s embrace.

“Tian… said he loved me. That fool. Such a stupid fool.”

“…I see. You were loved. Santian liked you a lot.”

“I… I…”

The front of his clothing grew warm with self-reproach. However, Leo knew that the one to blame wasn’t his sister.

It was my fault. I thought that eliminating Prince Eric would solve everything.

As an Apostle of Barbatos, he had also captivated Marquis Gaidan. He had poured in divine power, ensuring that as suspicions arose, the charm would gradually unravel and remain for a long time.

Prince Eric, being a prince, could not meet with duke all the time, so it was likely that he had prepared a similar measure against Duke Tertan too.

However, Leo did not consider this a serious problem. He expected that once the Apostle, Prince Eric, was dead, the divine powers would vanish, and the marquis would naturally awaken from the enchantment.

But then Oriax descended.

‘…I’m sorry.’

Leo felt guilt rising from the glimmer of a clue in his memory.

Once, when he first met Oriax, Sir Bart, who had gone to kill Duke Tertan, had died. That incredible knight.

It was Sir Hazen who rushed over with the news of Oriax’s provocation, but at that time, he too was marked and rotting, and in a back alley filled with thugs, he had failed to listen carefully, knowing Lena would be left alone.

He wished he had paid more attention to how dangerous the duke was, who could kill Sir Bart. ─ Thinking this, Leo embraced his sister tightly.

Reb will come back to life.

So will Santian and the fallen knights.

But there was no way to bring back the sadness of his sister weeping in his arms. Lena would remember this nightmare as a dream. His heart grew heavy.

*

After that, Leo was incredibly busy. After driving out Eric, who was tainted by the evil god, he was now the ruler of the palace with the unanimous support of the nobles, and there was much to learn and manage.

First, he met with the commanders of the knights, generals, the knight commander of the royal guard, and the commander of the Lutina defense force. He inspected the knights and soldiers, thanking them for their efforts and promising substantial rewards to those who had perished and achieved honor while driving out Prince Eric.

At that point, he realized there was someone else he needed to meet urgently.

The chamberlain and the treasurer.

Leo called the chamberlain and politely requested his support for the future, then checked the wealth, income, and expenditures of the Yeriel royal family.

There were many things he had to confirm firsthand, but for now, he settled for skimming through the thick account book.

Then he summoned the treasurer to receive a brief report on the ongoing kingdom projects, budget distribution, costs for preparations related to Akinin, the overall cargo traffic and population distribution of the Conrad Kingdom, and tax revenues.

This was a matter that couldn’t be grasped without delving for months, so Leo compelled the treasurer to swear his loyalty.

It was a bizarre act for a prince who had not yet conducted a successor ceremony to demand such a thing from the officials, but the treasurer swore regardless, and Leo felt relieved.

“But why are we constructing a harbor here?”

Leo asked while examining the map of the Conrad Kingdom.

Plans were underway to establish a large harbor in the southeast of the Conrad Kingdom. Yet the treasurer seemed to know only about the materials and personnel required for construction without knowing the reasoning behind it.

Since it was something that Prince Eric de Yeriel had personally instructed, and he was absent now, there was no way to inquire. But while countless nobles sought audiences with the prince, a clue emerged.

“I think Prince Eric intended to keep Marquis Dennis Arne in check.”

That’s a plausible statement. Leo nodded.

Marquis Dennis Arne, the northern border duke of the Conrad Kingdom, controls the land trade routes with the Aisel Kingdom, and he possesses one of the most notable fleets on the continent. Naturally, he owned a harbor and thus traded via the sea, yielding massive profits.

Since he had opposed Eric concerning his legitimacy, it seemed that Eric wanted to establish a new harbor between the marquis’s harbor in the east and the free port city of Noyar in the south, aiming to impose taxes on the southern trade route.

Marquis Dennis Arne is on my side.

Leo canceled the harbor construction. There were things to be done with the funds that would have been allocated.

Buried under a mountain of paperwork, Leo slept for two hours. Waking early, he shared a cup of tea with Ksenia, then attended the Ba-Nun of Midian Tertan, the son of Duke Rupert Tertan.

Midian Tertan was inheriting the dukedom after Rupert’s death. He acknowledged the sins committed by himself, Prince Eric de Yeriel, and his father, choosing to step down from the western border duke position. It was also necessary to decide whom to entrust this place to.

Having attended the ba-nun, Leo, now on a roll, went to meet with the other royal family members. It’s been a while! But I wasn’t just visiting for fun; I was solidifying my position.

It was true that Lena and Leo were first in line for succession to the throne. Prince Eric, born of a concubine, was second in line.

However, they weren’t the only ones eligible to inherit the throne. There were third and fourth in line, and there were plenty of collateral branches within the Yeriel royal family, so Leo made sure to intimidate them into not harboring any other thoughts, all while smiling warmly.

Could a prince who had returned as a swordmaster and vanquished Ashin dare to rebel? But anything could happen. Leo felt the profound sensitivity and pressure that came with the titles of king and prince. He had to remain constantly vigilant and suspicious of everyone.

‘I need to issue a warning.’

With the successor’s order now swapped, the nobles claimed they would support him, but he could never know what they truly thought. As Leo returned to his office, he veered off towards the knight commander’s office to enhance security measures and thought of exploring the entire palace.

After all, not only the chamberlain and the treasurer worked in the palace.

There were judges who assisted the king in overseeing the kingdom’s laws and punishments. The minister of ceremonies, who managed the royal family’s affairs alongside the chamberlain, and the head of the court. The stable master who managed the royal horses and the hunting coordinator, the head chef of the royal kitchen, and even the chief handmaiden.

There were countless people to meet. Among them was someone who started chattering as soon as the prince arrived:

“I heard the Akinin has been changed to Akinero. Your Highness, you must hurry. We have prepared new ceremonial attire, so please try it on and verify the changed procedures. Where is the princess? Princess Lena de Yeriel…”

It was the ceremonial officer. The officer emphasized that the coronation and the successor ceremony were entirely different, looking at the returning prince with concern.

Did this prince even know etiquette…? He seemed skeptical, but haha. That was the one thing Prince Leo felt most confident about.

While he shared achievements with others, when it came to swordsmanship, Leo Dexter was the best. His hunting skills could not match Reb’s, but when it came to etiquette, Leo de Yeriel was unmatched. The strict ceremonial officer could only shut up when faced with the etiquette of the Acaian Empire demonstrated by the prince.

He added that the prince would surely move along with the princess, so as long as they considered the princess’s movements, there would be no problems, and then returned to his duties.

Thus, Leo began his rounds through the palace. He checked to see the banquet hall, which had been ruined while fighting Oriax, was under repair and intended to turn back.

But then, he suddenly noticed that while the wooden flooring was melted, the wood used for the walls remained intact. Upon inquiry, it turned out that the flooring consisted of regular wood, and the walls were adorned with the best quality wood coated in ambergris.

Ambergris was the secretion of the balaena, a whale in this world. This beautifully coated wood emitted a subtle fragrance and was fire-resistant.

Naturally, it was extremely expensive.

So precious that it could be traded with fairy-tale-like weights; Oriax’s blood did not dissolve it… Leo pondered. After messing with that wood, he returned to the prince’s office. The pile of documents that needed addressing awaited him just as before.

Looks like I’ll have to pull an all-nighter today. As that thought crossed his mind, Leo felt the weight of fatigue. Remembering the words of the ceremonial officer, he decided to clear his head and stood up to find his sister.

The princess’s quarters.

Lena was engulfed in dejection.

Even after entering the royal palace, she seemed unable to concentrate, lost deep in thought.

But she wasn’t speaking like a tragic heroine. Lena welcomed her brother with open arms and suggested ‘Count Lofero’ for the vacant western barony.

It was a knight family that branched off from the Tertan dukedom. Come to think of it, wasn’t the captain of the guard assigned to protect Palace Tertan called Tadian Lofero? It seemed like so… though he was dead now.

“That aside, help me out. Brother, I’m dying to death from busyness.”

“…Should I?”

Lena nodded eagerly after a moment of consideration. She settled into Leo’s office, determined to contribute.

Yeah. It’s better than being cooped up in the room all day. Leo suddenly recalled how Lena used to be cooped up all the time.

His sister had slept almost half the day away. When she set her mind to it, she could sleep the entire day, but perhaps that was her survival strategy as a hungry little sister. She hardly exercised…

Right. When she entered the Rauno Family, learning “Hiberuna” from Santian had been her only bit of exercise.

Feeling particularly emotional, Leo sat at his desk and began processing paperwork. Lena, sprawled on a spacious sofa, occasionally grabbed some documents to read and then returned them.

“Sign here.”

And he would check its contents before approving it.

Click, clack.

In the quiet evening, the beggar siblings diligently processed the documents.

While they could no longer be called beggars… without asking the maid who brought snacks for more, the two shared and ate as a habit.

It was the evening just three days before Lena and Leo’s Akinin.