372. Lena Ep – The Key

“What do you mean you won’t have close protection?”

“Just as it sounds. I don’t think close protection is necessary anymore.”

The next morning. I ordered Sir Barin, but he disobeyed.

“However, this is…”

“This is the mansion of the Rauno Family, right? It doesn’t seem to be a problem. Plus, it must have been tough for just you and Sir Neil to handle things; Sir Wendy quitting close protection means you’ll have more breathing room. Sir Barin, you can take a break.”

I thought that should be enough, but Sir Barin stubbornly replied.

“Is there something uncomfortable about Sir Wendy towards the princess?”

“Not at all.”

“If that’s the case, then I cannot follow the princess’s orders. The decision about protection isn’t something the person being protected can decide.”

That’s when I lost my temper. If he were a royal knight serving me, he wouldn’t dare to say such things.

I barely restrained myself from slamming my fist on the table and lowered my voice.

“Sir Barin.”

“Yes.”

“I heard your presumptuous advice well.”

“…Yes?”

“If, as you say, the issue of my protection isn’t something I can decide, then what can I decide?”

“Well…”

“I’m asking if there’s anything about my personal safety and well-being that I can choose, Sir Barin. Don’t get carried away. You should prioritize my orders over those of my older brother. Unless, of course, you received some secret command from him that I’m unaware of? Did my brother tell you to restrict my movement?”

“Oh, no. Absolutely not…”

“Then follow my orders.”

I glared at him.

If he didn’t obey, it would serve as strong evidence of some kind of conspiracy from my brother.

Sir Barin finally said,

“……Understood. I will comply.”

Reluctantly, he said it, and I kept my doubts in check. But I was half-convinced he was lying.

“Great. Then tell Sir Wendy that close protection has ended, and call Santian.”

Sir Barin trudged out of the room. Soon after, Santian Rauno walked in, his expression flustered.

“I did what you asked. Are you satisfied?”

“Uh… Yes.”

Yet he was still such a timid kid. I felt my face redden along with Santian’s embarrassment. It was quite a ticklish sensation.

Finally, I opened my mouth first.

“You said you wanted to be alone, but this can’t possibly be the place, right? Move. Lead the way.”

Tian, with a bright red face, stepped forward. But just before taking a step, he turned around and said.

“Um… It might be a bit troublesome for the princess to take this path. It’s less likely to attract attention from others…”

“Did you think no one knows how I call you over to play all the time?”

“Today isn’t about playing, so just come along.”

The Rauno Family’s mansion was incredibly complicated. The architecture was bizarre, with stairs sticking out of windows and doors dangling from empty three-story walls.

It was a site of expansion and disarray.

Therefore, there were countless routes to choose from whenever one wanted to go somewhere.

Along those routes, there would be a grandmother drying beans, thugs standing guard, and laundry baskets lined up, meaning one had to know how the people living here behaved and the mansion’s layout intimately to move around unnoticed.

Of course, it was a simple task for Santian Rauno. Kids usually knew the paths better than adults.

Especially for Santian, who would inherit and lead the Rauno Family in the future… What more could I say?

As soon as Santian left the room, he entered the adjacent room. Following him, I found it was a kind of staff lounge, complete with a bathroom. To my surprise, a connecting bolt door appeared in the restroom.

Did they carve out a shared bathroom for two neighboring houses?

The door had bolts inside and outside, so while using the bathroom, you’d lock the other side (so the neighbor couldn’t come in) and leave it unlocked when you exited.

How fresh!

I was somewhat shocked.

Commoners really live together like this. They’re using their wisdom to share limited resources wisely.

Thanks to this bolt door that reflects the wisdom of life, I felt that following Santian wasn’t a waste of time.

Santian stepped through the bolt door to the neighboring house, leading to its terrace. He paused at the stairs and said, “Shh!” while lowering himself.

“Sir Barin shouldn’t worry too much. The reason the princess dismissed close protection is probably to accommodate that boy. Let’s be real, she’s not going to wander far from this mansion.”

“…That might be true?”

“I believe so. Let’s just focus on guarding the front gate and attending to the princess. I’m sure even the prince would understand this.”

Between buildings, behind the main dwelling, Sir Barin and Sir Wendy were having a conversation. They didn’t seem to have noticed us…

Indeed. My brother must have ordered something from the knights behind my back!

A sense of betrayal made my arms tremble.

What should I do from here? The plans I had carefully laid out began to swirl chaotically in my mind.

“Princess! Are you okay?”

Just then, Tian grabbed me tightly. I had nearly stumbled on the stairs from dizziness. Downstairs, there was even more commotion.

“Wendy! Barin! The princess is missing!”

“What? She was just in the room with that boy.”

“Exactly, she’s gone! As soon as we switched off, she left!”

“Dammit!”

The knights burst out.

From now on, they would begin searching the mansion. Of course, it wasn’t a big problem for me.

– “I’m here. But what did my brother tell you to do?”

I could simply ask, but I wasn’t in the mood for that at all. I wanted to turn a blind eye to my brother’s betrayal for now.

“Princess, do you still want to go on?”

It seemed Tian could read my expressions. I nodded.

“Yeah. Let’s go. Just do something for me…”

When I get angry, I tend to imagine how to bring down the political enemy that provoked me and inflict pain upon them.

Scheming, gossiping, and taking sides are mere refined means to topple the opponent. To truly bring an enemy down, I need to stomp on them ruthlessly, using any methods necessary.

For instance, targeting someone’s child would be immediate action for those with kids, and for the deeply filial, their parents would become a weakness. If their own life is threatened, they might puff up their chest, but if their spouse is at risk, they’ll wave the white flag.

Humans are naturally vulnerable in relationships. A ruler must know how to suppress enemies using fear.

But if that ruler is my brother…

I didn’t want to imagine it.

The brother I knew prioritized my welfare over everything… or at least, he used to.

‘Should I inflict some self-harm as a threat?’

I let out a hollow laugh and followed Santian. It was around this time I thought it wouldn’t be so bad to disappear rather than fight with my brother.

“We’re almost there. Watch your step.”

Tian held my trembling hand tightly. After wandering through the mansion, we entered the basement.

As I expected, Santian brought me to where the secret passage was.

I thought it wasn’t exactly a romantic place for a confession, but right now, it couldn’t be better.

Take me away somewhere.

Santian knelt before me.

“Princess, I know this isn’t the right time for a confession. I also know my status isn’t fitting for you.”

Yeah. You don’t even know proper etiquette.

Kneeling on the left knee while keeping the right knee up is a knight’s oath, not a lover’s promise, you fool. Can I really trust this idiot? And he should at least reach out his hand. How am I supposed to respond…?

But despite his awkward posture, Santian Rauno spoke with utmost seriousness.

“However, I want to tell you that our family stands proudly alongside any other family in this world. Although we have fallen, we were once a name to be reckoned with.”

“…If you’re pretending to be a noble, you might want to do it properly.”

“It’s not pretense. We, the Rauno Family, are actually descendants of the very first noble family known to the world, the Laono family.”

“The pronunciation is similar. Fine, I’ll take your word for it. So, do you love me? Will you genuinely love me?”

Santian’s expression twisted. Perhaps angered, he straightened up and matched my eye level.

“Please don’t act as if you’re selling yourself cheaply, Princess. I’m trying my best to equal your status.”

“How can a commoner possibly do that? Pretending to be the Laono family that fell three thousand years ago won’t elevate your status.”

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me. That’s why I… um, borrowed this. This will prove that our family descends from the Laono family.”

Santian Rauno pulled something from his bosom.

It was a dark, stick-like object. It resembled a key-shaped form used long ago.

He gripped the stick-like key as if holding a sword and approached the rusty iron door. Unlike the other secret passages, a chill emanated from there.

Santian grabbed the iron door handle and shoved the key into what looked like the keyhole, a key that was nearly the length of his forearm.

– Clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk.

The key roughly dug into the hole.

The iron door had been left to the elements for so long that Santian had to exert great effort to push the key in.

But what could stop the youthful fervor of the boy? Eventually, bang!! the key slipped fully inside, and a sound of the latch unfastening came from behind the door.

The iron door creaked open with an eerie sound.

It didn’t seem to have been enchanted. It seemed to open like that because of an unbalanced weight distribution.

To prove this, behind the iron door was a distinctly mechanical mechanism.

There were cogs that fit the grooves in the stick-like key, and when the key was inserted, the cogs would mesh together to unlock or lock the latch.

This meant that without the key, the door couldn’t be opened from the inside. Naturally, it couldn’t be opened from the outside either. Just then.

“Princess! Where are you, Princess!”

It appeared the knights were in pursuit. Reriana, drenched in sweat, urged Santian.

“Let’s go in. Show me everything about you. And love me.”

A boy and a freshly adult girl stepped into the shadowy passage. After Santian closed the iron door and pulled the key back out, it locked tightly shut just like before.

“Princess!”

“Princess! Please!”

By the time Barin, Neil, and Sir Wendy caught up, the sounds of the two people walking down the passage were already muffled.

And faded by the winds of time, incomprehensible to anyone, there was a name etched upon the iron door.

/ Baneka Launo /

The name of the sorcerer who once ruled that long, long ago era.

As the knights sighed, another boy rushed in.