“So, Isaac firmly believes that Galenia Helmunth is the traitor?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Upon hearing Isaac’s words, Clarice tightly shut her lips. His reasoning seemed somewhat logical on the surface.
Indeed, Clarice herself judged it a highly plausible scenario.
“I’m sorry, but I have a question.”
Clarice deliberately points out one issue. Despite understanding Isaac’s current state, she didn’t want to outright refute his opinion.
In matters such as these, personal feelings should not be involved.
Especially when it comes to the Helvint family.
Considering Helvint’s influence, which was known as the kingdom’s war deterrent, even the royal family treaded carefully in dealing with them.
Thus, absolute certainty was required.
“Before the Sword Festival, Blackhand had visited as a guest of the Helvint family.”
“…”
“The eldest son of Blackhand, to be precise. Do you know how he met his end? By Arandel’s hand, in a gruesome fashion.”
On this matter, Blackhand had remained silent until now. Additionally, they hadn’t participated in the Sword Festival.
Clarice crossed her legs as she sat, then questioned,
“Right? Even with my superb reasoning, something seems amiss. It’s odd that they would so blatantly arrive as guests. If they were colluding, why kill them? To remove suspicion perhaps? Would they really sacrifice their eldest son for that? Blackhand only has their second son left now.”
Though expressing frustration, Clarice’s words were met by Isaac’s remarkably calm response.
“You mustn’t misunderstand.”
“Excuse me?”
“Galenia Helmunth is the one connected to the Transcendental Tribe, not Arandel.”
“…”
Clarice was momentarily speechless. It seemed her mind had been automatically equating Helvint with Arandel.
“Rather, I understand even less now. If Arandel had turned into a Transcendental, then you could say he betrayed humanity, aimed to overthrow the nation, or planned a coup – those conclusions would make sense.”
Words unsuitable for a princess freely spilled out.
If someone overheard her, they would be startled, and strange rumors might very well spread.
“But what’s the point of just one noblewoman becoming a Transcendental?”
“Perhaps… to save someone?”
“Excuse me? Who?”
Now, Isaac felt a vague sense of pieces falling into place. In his past life, Arandel had died of illness.
Undoubtedly, there was some connection to the Transcendental Tribe, and it seemed Galenia had crossed over to save Arandel.
‘Such is the nature of that family.’
“Phew, well then. You seem to think that Arandel didn’t collude, right? In that case, it’s rather fortunate.”
Truly, as long as Arandel, the kingdom’s top power, hadn’t changed sides, from the royal family’s perspective, it wasn’t a major concern.
Of course, men’s hearts could change on a whim, influenced by their wives.
Just seeing how Arandel had defeated Blackhand’s eldest son made Clarice perceive the direction his loyalty had taken.
“Ah, we must act quickly.”
With these words, Clarice stood up briskly.
“This will be the most tumultuous Sword Festival ever.”
The emotion in her violet eyes was one of anticipation. Finally, with the clear lead in hand, Clarice smirked to herself.
“If you’re clueless, well, why not try sticking a dagger into her belly? I hear Transcendentals regenerate from something like that.”
“Princess?”
“I’m not joking.”
Typically, in situations like this, wouldn’t it be considered a joke?
“That said, this is serious. If humans can become Transcendents, that means anyone might turn traitor at any moment.”
“Perhaps it’s not that simple.”
To Isaac’s knowledge, there had never been an actual human transformed into a Transcendental.
There were, however, occasional encounters with entities that bordered on Transcendental-like states.
Take Aloys, stricken by subservience, for instance.
And then there was the Senior Master, a half-human, half-Transcendental hybrid, exactly such a case.
Isaac was speculating that Galenia’s body might have undergone specific changes through sorcery.
“I sincerely hope you’re right. I can’t live suspecting every noble.”
Clarice walked past Isaac with a quickened pace. As a princess, there were preparations to make, as well as confirmations needed for certainty.
Alone in the spot, Isaac surveyed the garden for a moment.
The Helvint rose garden was a spectacular sight as always, with its expansive grounds bursting with blooming roses, each concealing its own thorns. Isaac felt it quintessentially Helvint.
A few nobles could be seen walking through the garden, laughing and enjoying the scenery unique to the Sword Festival.
As he trailed his steps among the fluttering butterflies carried by the fresh scent of roses,
Isaac found himself where he’d known he’d end up.
Among the roses, hidden mischievously, a patch of lilac bloomed defiantly purple.
And there,
Rianne Helmunth was standing, gazing down at the lilac.
With the Galenia assassination attempt behind her, Rianne’s house arrest had been lifted, so it wasn’t unusual to see her freely walking around.
Though usually aloof, Rianne appeared unusually frail, as if she might break at any moment following the recent ordeal.
“A season past, yet it still blooms.”
Rianne stood silently observing the lilac.
“Today…”
It was unclear how she sensed his presence, but she spoke calmly.
“Will I be able to leave?”
Why didn’t she turn around?
Perhaps it was guilt, or maybe she found her own state embarrassing.
Whatever the reason, it seemed Rianne didn’t want Isaac to see her now.
At that moment, the usually strong woman seemed so diminutive.
“The Sword Festival is no concern. I’ll attend in your stead. I’ll handle the pursuers, how about heading north? Silbern will surely…”
“Rianne.”
On purpose, she avoided meeting his eyes, focusing solely on the lilac.
However,
Before she knew it,
Isaac was standing beside her.
“What was our biggest problem?”
“…That I was incapable—”
“Haha, I’m not asking this to make you blame yourself. I merely wish for an objective look at the truth.”
Rianne choked, her cry interrupted. Isaac’s faint smile mirrored the lilac.
“Because I was so incompetent.”
“Aaacck… Isaac, that’s not true.”
“From the start, Helvint desired a man fitting their standards. And I was just a sword wielder.”
“Isaac, stop it!”
“Someone who didn’t even know how to love, much less how to express it, who only managed to charm a naive noblewoman—”
“ENOUGH!”
Frantically grabbing Isaac’s arm, Rianne’s hands trembled.
“We loved each other… Please don’t say that what we had was wrong.”
At Isaac’s implication that their love was a sin, Rianne pleaded desperately.
“Alright, I went too far.”
Isaac admitted honestly. Their conversation had taken a sharper tone than intended.
“Nonetheless, Rianne, we need to face the truth. If I had been a man Helvint wanted, someone with that sort of ability. We could have dated without any hardship.”
“I shouldn’t have expected that much from you.”
“Perhaps.”
A short silence ensued.
A warm breeze blew, calming them, blending the faint scent of lilac with the roses around them.
“Why didn’t you tell me about your mother’s guests from Blackhand?”
Changing the subject lightly,
Isaac glanced at Rianne, who grew serious again but still opened up frankly.
“Because I wished you to be detached from all things Helvint-related.”
“…”
“I wanted you to leave quietly and start anew without any connections.”
Rianne confessed her feelings in a rush.
“In the end, it was another mistake on my part. If only I’d told you earlier…”
“Would Milly have turned out differently?”
Rianne didn’t answer.
Indeed, Rianne thought so, her regrets pushing her self-reproach.
“Did you kill her?”
Rianne’s body jolted.
A cold tone, like a chill, pierced her soul, entirely unfamiliar from Isaac.
“Excuse me?”
“Did you kill Milly?”
“It wasn’t me, but if I’d spoken sooner, maybe—”
Might Milly have been saved?
Isaac grew angrier at the regret-filled silence.
“Then what? On the other hand, I was closest to Milly. Does that mean I killed her by failing to notice something was off?”
“…”
“Didn’t we have a similar situation before, where I didn’t suspect Milly and ended up causing her death?”
“…”
“Or rather, Milly took her own life out of guilt. The real culprit was my mother.”
“You’re right.”
Rianne’s voice dropped.
She recognized that her mother had committed an unforgivable act.
“Rianne, stop saying sorry to me and taking all the blame, that’s an insult to me too.”
“Okay.”
And Rianne apologized sincerely.
“Helvint… A family where the word ‘love’ doesn’t fit at all. So it breaks everything.”
A thought suddenly arose in her mind.
Rianne wavered between her love for her family and her love for Isaac.
Galenia loved her husband enough to involve the Transcendentals.
Aloys’ forbidden love for his sister caused him to destroy Isaac’s leg.
“Rianne, I won’t ask you to oppose your mother. I know how cruel it is to tell a daughter to raise a sword against her own mother.”
Isn’t it the case with parents and children?
A love that logic cannot explain.
People prioritize their own lives above all else, yet families often become exceptions.
“But if you stand against me, I’ll fight you too.”
It was not a question of whether he could. He was being true to his word.
Milly’s death had transformed various emotions within Isaac.
Rianne tightly shut her eyes. The echoes of past voices seemed to linger and hold her body captive.
“You’re so beautiful, our Rianne.”
“Huh? A gift from Mom? Really?”
“Do you want to sleep with Mom? Haha, we’d have to do it secretly from Dad.”
The ghostly touches.
For Rianne, such memories, which might be common to everyone, were among the few warm recollections she had in the desolate mansion.
“Is our daughter so beautiful? Maybe she takes after her mother?”
“It’s fine, despite all she says. I believe she cherishes Rianne deeply.”
“A child like a rose. More similar to roses than anyone else, a truly beautiful child.”
Amid her mother’s gentle words carried by the lilac’s fragrance and the soft breeze,
“Rianne, you take after me.”
The final words were
“Obsessed with love.”
“That it leads oneself to ruin, yet one cannot let go.”
And they struck her heart now, much later.
Realizing what Galenia had done, the words “you take after me” now heavily weighed on Rianne’s shoulders.
“Rianne!”
In the midst of her sinking thoughts, Rianne snapped her head up at Isaac’s call.
Sorrow lingered in her increasingly haggard face.
“Be not blind to love.”
It felt like something had shattered within her chest.
As if a large force had struck her.
Because.
The reason resonated deeply with her due to the one she loved most negating her love.
“You’re right, Isaac.”
Gradually, her breathing stabilized. Her eyes gained vigor gradually.
As her crimson gaze grew calm, what stood there was no longer merely Rianne Helmunth but
The kingdom’s future swordsman.
The leading figure of the next generation, the blood rose, held her ground.
“No longer will I stand idly by.”
“Rianne.”
“Through ignorance and incompetence, I lost you.”
Though it was a painful wound.
Wounds enable growth.
In behavior.
Reasons might come in many forms.
For instance,
Because she was threatened by her mother, she distanced herself from Isaac.
Because protecting Isaac from her siblings led to greater harm.
Because revealing everything to Isaac,
He, unwilling to carry Rianne’s burden, might have left.
Swallowing everything,
Judging these matters one by one, was a disgrace to Isaac, the victim.
Justifying actions through reasons,
Was akin to her mother’s behavior.
“Wanting to shoulder everything was my greed.”
Even though she didn’t want to, she had to accept it.
“Ultimately, with these closed eyes, responsibility follows.”
Realizing that it was time to lose everyone she loved.
As Rianne firmly closed her eyes, she accepted it.
“I’ve lost everything.”
