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204. Beggar Siblings – String Game

“Shouldn’t we hold the outer string? Like this?”

“Like this?”

“Ah— it came undone.”

Inside the gently swaying carriage, Santian and Lena were playing a string game while sitting across from each other.

As the string unraveled softly, Tian wrapped it again.

It was a ‘nail frame.’

The starting point of the string game, a nail frame is made by wrapping the string around each hand once and then lifting the string hanging on the other palm with your thumb and index finger.

Lena thought for a moment as she looked at the nail frame that Tian offered. Should she go for ‘chopsticks’ or just do it the ordinary way? She decided to simply grip the intersecting parts of the nail frame with her thumb and index finger. By wrapping the outer string around it, ta-da! A ‘tray’ was complete.

A tray is a frame where four strings intersect. It’s something you only truly understand after trying string games a bit, but there are two types of trays: the flipped one and the non-flipped one. This was a non-flipped tray.

Tian considered making a ‘scissor string,’ but ultimately opted for the ordinary route. He spun the intersecting parts similarly to how Lena did, resulting in ‘chopsticks.’

“This was the most fun for me when it came out.”

“Me too.”

Chopsticks are a frame with four strings standing in parallel, so there’s no choice involved. Lena then crossed the inner strings with her pinky fingers and wrapped her thumbs and index fingers around the outer strings.

What appeared in Lena’s hands was a ‘loom.’ A flipped nail frame, which again, offered no option. In Tian’s turn, he held a ‘flipped tray.’

This is where the mysterious charm of string games begins. If someone thinks of string games as winning or losing, they wouldn’t be able to endure this process.

From the flipped tray, you can make a ‘scissor string,’ a ‘cushion,’ and a ‘non-flipped tray.’ However, Lena realized that even if she were to use her pinky to create a scissor string, the only thing that would come out of it would be the flipped tray.

With no changes to the sequence, nothing happening, and things just returning to the original state made it uninteresting, so Lena made a different choice.

She lifted the tray in Tian’s hands using the same method she did to create chopsticks. Since it was a flipped tray, instead of chopsticks, a ‘cushion’ came out. Soon, a cushion with a distinct diamond shape was held in Lena’s hand.

The cushion is a frame with a diamond in the center. This diamond is usually referred to as a ‘cow’s eye.’ However, the truth is…

If you get the ‘cow’s eye’ out, you lose.

When the ‘cow’s eye’ is lifted by the thumbs and index fingers, a ‘fish’ comes out, but from that square frame with two parallel lines inside, there’s nothing that can be created. No matter how you handle the string, it will come undone, thus Lena would lose.

So, if she wanted to win this game — she should have chosen differently from the start.

When Tian first grabbed the nail frame, he shouldn’t have simply gone for a tray. He should have pressed down on both sides of the nail frame’s cross to directly make chopsticks. That way, Tian would have made a loom, and Lena would have ended up with a flipped tray.

But string games aren’t a competition to win.

Making a fish would end the game, but Santian Rauno kindly grabbed the string caught between Lena’s index and thumb with his pinky. In a direction entirely different from the fish.

Thus, a ‘scissor string’ came out.

Sometimes called spider web or a slingshot, the name has many, but its shape is very complex.

A scissor string is a frame where ‘six strands of string converge in the center.’ Unlike the other frames that one might think should work based on intuition, with a scissor string, you need to pull the intersecting parts on both sides to find the hidden strings.

Lena felt grateful that Tian didn’t end the game and saved her as she held the scissor string. As she spun around to find the hidden string, the only route possible to make with a scissor string, the flipped tray, was held in her hands. It was a concession she received.

From here on, it was a repetition.

If you pass on the flipped tray with a tearing motion, a non-flipped tray appears. With that, they could continue the game from ‘the beginning again.’

Lena and Santian chattered away, continuing their string game. Though it was a monotonous journey, thanks to this, the Boy and Girl didn’t have to sit quietly in the carriage.

Meanwhile, Leo was watching his younger sister, who was playing string games with Santian Rauno, with a strange look.

‘Why are these two getting tangled up like this?’ As he thought so, he was in a state where he could no longer firmly label her as Minseo.

Once upon a time, perhaps, but [18/22], the “18th” achievement of Leo piled up, and it had only been a few weeks since the scenario of the beggar siblings began, and Minseo’s presence had melted away.

Accordingly, Leo’s gaze toward Santian shifted.

When Tian first popped out of the cargo hold, Leo, marked by Minseo’s presence, regarded him as just another piece of cargo.

This little brat wouldn’t be any help, so Leo had planned to send him back immediately, but Lena blocked him, saying, “Ah— why! I’m going with him! You brought Ksenia along too!” and a debate ensued.

But whether it was Minseo or Leo, both were weak when it came to their younger sister. Especially Minseo was particularly weak against Lena.

‘Yeah. We don’t have enough time to go back to Orun… I can’t just send her back alone after we’ve already traveled half a day in the carriage.’

There was no choice but to allow Tian to accompany them.

Thinking positively, it would be nice to have a friend to keep Lena entertained on a journey that could last for months, right?

Even if the thuggish group, the Rauno Family, that gripped Orun’s commercial rights came pursued them with “Catch the kidnapper!” Ksenia would be there as a witness, so there was nothing to worry about. Not scary at all.

However, this thought had changed quite a bit over the past few weeks. Leo observed the curly-haired boy, who was one year younger than Lena, mumbling, “Hmm…”

Though he reflected, it wasn’t that Leo held a bad view of this boy named Santian. He merely thought that an unnecessary hindrance had crept into their journey to reclaim their {bloodline}, but when viewed by himself, the boy was rather likable.

It was because of the ending of the third beggar sibling episode. In that episode, after being chased by Marquis Tatian, he had separated from his younger sister, and Leo had been incredibly worried about his sibling, who would face the same pursuit from the Marquis.

Lacking any {tracking skills} back then, he searched the entire kingdom by hand (he had seriously poor eyesight after putting depare root juice in his eyes to change eye color), wandering as far as Orun Kingdom.

What had happened to his sibling? They hadn’t died, but was it possible they had been captured by the Marquis and subjected to terrible things?

Simply put, those were nerve-wracking days. Driven by desperation, Leo had become a believer at the Cross Church and, while wandering around, suddenly hit the end.

Fortunately, it had been the ending where Tian and Lena got married.

A wedding photo of Leo’s sibling, who, like Leo, had eyes the color of withered leaves.

The picture showed the sibling, looking very pretty with their eyes squinting while scanning the guests, wondering if their older brother would come… It made Leo’s heart ache. “I’m here.” His heart ached, but at least he was thankful. It really must have been difficult to run away with such a pretty sibling, so he silently sent up prayers of gratitude that Tian was treating her well.

After that, Lena married Tian twice more. Their sibling became a furious duke in the fourth beggar sibling episode, but after the influence of the childhood friend episode where he became an Apostle of Barbatos, Lena returned to Orun with the help of Jenia Jaqueri and married Tian.

In the most recent fifth episode, where Lena was left alone in a theater and became an actress, she had also married Tian.

It could be just a simple coincidence.

But when similar events repeat three times, is it not human psychology to start thinking it’s no longer a coincidence but rather a necessity? Leo pondered and then looked away from Santian Rauno.

Opposite him, Ksenia sat quietly, asleep with her back straight. “Sorry for making even the innocent people suffer because of me,” he thought, and Leo opened a small window towards the coachman.

He asked the coachman to go a little slower, and the coachman sent by Count Peter was inexplicably polite.

*

Stopping by a town they encountered, Lena and Ksenia, along with Santian and Leo each took rooms for their stay, repeating the cycle of departing early the next morning.

Because Leo was hastening the journey, they had no choice but to spend nearly every day stuck in the carriage, but Lena and Tian were still having fun. This time, Tian was making a slingshot and teaching Lena how to use it.

Sticking their heads out of the carriage window, they were flinging pebbles at the passing scenery.

Though it was a slingshot, it wasn’t the modern item known by Minseo. The handle wasn’t Y-shaped, nor did it launch stones with the elasticity of rubber.

Instead, it was a type of sling, where a stone was wrapped in leather and whipped with some motion, a makeshift hunting tool used across nearly all civilizations, transcending time and place.

Why should I care?

Leo turned his gaze from the fun-loving kids. Noticing that Ksenia was leaning on his shoulder and had fallen asleep, he gently brushed her hair and got off the rickety stopped carriage.

“Are we here?”

“Yeah, we’ve arrived. We’ll stay here for two days and then leave. Lena, put on your hat.”

The place they arrived at was ‘Taamun Village,’ not far from the ruins of Bado Bona. This was where I, along with my sibling and Kasia, had hidden in the mountains during the episode where we killed Gilbert Forte and fled.

‘Back then, I couldn’t even step into this village…’

It was a wistful memory. Before being released from my shackles, Kasia would cook, while my sibling would clean the earth hut and learn letters and manners, and I would go hunting…

It seemed Kasia struggled with living in the mountains, but we had been quite harmonious back then.

It was also the first time I was going to challenge the {bloodline} event, and I was buzzing with expectation of what kind of paths might open up if I were to meet Sir Bart, the Royal Knight who had surely served me.

Of course, this time we weren’t in a situation where we were being chased. Gilbert Forte had promised to deal with the issue.

Leo only had to ask Count Peter to send Gilbert far away, as all he needed to do was avoid attending the banquet when the Prince of Austin Kingdom arrived in Orun.

Whether it was an extravagant travel experience or preparing a wild party to invite him, any method would do, so long as he prevented Gilbert Forte from kissing the princess and being sent to the monastery church.

Though I felt I’ve managed this pretty well, I was actually anxious. I wasn’t sure whether Count Peter would carry out this ridiculous request effectively.

While it wouldn’t be particularly difficult for him, he might not regard it as important enough and thus Miss Leah might end up meeting Gilbert Forte.

If that happened… Miss Leah would be expelled from the monastery church.

‘…If that happens, it will likely say that the childhood friend scenario has changed in this episode. I just have to help avoid that in the next childhood friend episode.’

Leo calmly imagined the worst-case scenario to the best of his ability. Regrettably, he could only predict her future based on a somewhat sporadic probability this time.

It was to prevent Sir Bart from attacking Palace Tertan and Hirie Gaidan. To do that, they needed to hurry to Conrad Kingdom, but it would take time to deal with the hassle of Gilbert Forte without killing him.

It was an unavoidable choice, but… I felt sorry for Leah. It seemed I would have to send Reb to the monastery church.

“Wow! Is that a carriage? It’s huge!”

“A grand noble must have arrived.”

At that moment, the villagers whose eyes landed on Count Peter’s massive carriage rushed out. Gossiping among themselves, they didn’t avoid Leo and his party, who surely looked like nobility, and inclined their heads in greeting.

As expected, it was a simple village untouched by noble hands.

Still, it was necessary to be cautious, so Leo pressed down the hat that his younger sister was about to remove. He assigned Tian the mission, “Keep an eye on Lena so she doesn’t take off her hat,” and then met with the village chief to secure accommodations.

They intended to stay there for two days. They still had quite a way to go to the Conrad Kingdom, but the reason for stopping here was to bring back Reb, who would most likely be racing towards Orun now.

Conrad Kingdom lay to the southeast, while the Right Kingdom, from where Reb set off, lay southwest, thus the routes were slightly divergent.

After settling down, Leo thought it would be fine in such a naive village and told Ksenia that he would bring a friend briefly. He indicated he would return as soon as possible, then set off in the direction where Reb was located, using {tracking skills}.

And that evening. From a mountain near Taamun village, a middle-aged man came down, swaying his waist-tied cord and leather pouch.

“Uban, you’re back. What’s up this time?”

A villager asked with some displeasure. The hunter smiled slyly.