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213. Beggar Siblings – The Deliveryman

The capital of the Conrad Kingdom, Rutina, was enveloped in a clear spring breeze. The wind blew through the plains surrounding the capital, hitting the tall castle walls, while the citizens enjoyed the wonderfully warm weather.

“Ah, the weather is nice.”

“I might get a bug in my mouth.”

It wasn’t just the citizens who were enjoying the lazy weather. The guards stationed at the city gates were stretching and idly chatting as well.

“By the way, when is Akinin again?”

“Next month, I think. That’s what I remember.”

“Really? Then things are about to get busy.”

“Yeah, right. Ah – they said to get new uniforms tailored, but I’m out of money. I wonder if the subsidy will come through.”

“What about your sister-in-law? She’s about to give birth, isn’t she?”

“Call her sister-in-law! How can a bachelor like me compare to someone who’s about to be a dad? But my wife is doing well. We found a midwife. Ugh, it cost a lot. Honestly, it seems like there’s no difference, but they say a seasoned midwife is a must.”

“Well, it’s her first childbirth, so it’s necessary.”

“If we have a baby, we’ll need to find a new house, and that’s a big problem. Ah!”

The soldiers leaning against the castle wall straightened up. A massive parade of carriages had approached, almost as if they had materialized out of nowhere.

Unless something special was going on, entry and exit from the castle was free. Thousands came and went daily, and it was impossible, and unnecessary, to check each one. Therefore, if everything appeared in order, the guards mostly let the passersby go.

However, it was customary to report to the guards when something bulky like a carriage was entering. The soldiers usually let carriages pass without much searching.

Occasionally there were soldiers who thought of receiving bribes and unnecessarily rummaged through luggage, a desperate attempt for some extra income, but this time, they couldn’t do that.

These were grand carriages.

Banners with various patterns fluttered in the wind. Those protected by knights were the nobles on an expedition. The carriages of Baron Monarch, Count Wilend, and Marquis Arne were demanding entry on the pretense of attending the “Akinin” and were greeted with salutes as they passed.

However, whose Akinin it would belong to was still to be seen.

Those with ulterior motives. Upon entering Rutina, they soon arrived at Marquis Arne’s mansion and waited for the distinguished guests to disembark.

After a moment of suspense, the figure that appeared was none other than the returned prince, Leo. As he stepped onto the carriage, he gracefully escorted Lady Ksenia of the Baron Monarch’s family and a dazzlingly beautiful blonde girl.

Holding her older brother’s hand, Lena stepped down with a bright smile. The younger sister, who lightly nodded to the lined-up nobles, had outgrown her girlhood.

Dressed in a red-adorned dress, Lena received the nobility’s greetings with leisurely movements. As she began to charm the nobles while gaining the favor of Count Geoff Wilend, she was swiftly regaining the dignity of a princess.

She looked utterly different from the version seen during the revolt when she was traveling around gathering soldiers to support her brother. At that time, she had donned a neat military uniform suitable for wartime, commanding orders with precision like a princess on the battlefield.

But this time, it was a different circumstance; she had become the quintessential princess. She devoted careful attention to her appearance and used gentle words and graceful gestures to win over the nobles instead of issuing commands forcefully.

Her exceptional acuity meant that Prince Leo found himself with nothing to do during their journey.

Surely, he couldn’t just be relying on his sister to handle everything, but Lena had strategically captivated the nobles ahead of him through letters, early morning chance encounters, and tea time with the marquis’s wife.

What exactly the returned prince was hoping to achieve was clear without needing to verbalize it. Thus, they merely sat across the table awkwardly, exchanging demands, but Lena had already set the atmosphere in which the family or nobles would roast the prince on his behalf.

Leo said, “You need not do anything. Supporting me when I take power will be sufficient.”

A tempting proposal ending the discussion right there.

How protagonist-like.

Leo could finally grasp his previous message urging his sister to let her do as she pleased.

All he needed to do was provide minimal protection and arrange an opportunity to meet the nobles. From that point on, Lena would ceaselessly grow, reclaiming her heritage with remarkable speed.

Then, what role was I given in this beggar sibling scenario?

‘To defeat Oriax, of course.’

No matter how talented his sister might be, it was an insurmountable issue. The divine had arranged for Ksenia to be ‘placed’ to meet Cardinal Berg, and through that cooperation, she would have to confront Prince Eric, who served the Evil God.

But what about the other scenarios?

…Honestly, I have no idea.

In stark contrast to the beggar sibling scenario with its clear goals, the childhood friend and engagement scenarios lacked any clear direction.

Even if they were merely supportive scenarios for the beggar siblings, each held substantial significance. Minseo firmly believed that only by making Lena a princess across all scenarios could they escape this game. He had his own reasoning, making it unreasonable to dismiss his claims outright, but…

[ Quest: Guardian, 2/3 ]

Could this be it?

It was a fleeting spark of realization. Holding Lena’s hand, as they passed the lined-up nobles, Leo felt reality swim before his eyes. It felt as if an ending had arrived, and confusion swirled in his ears. With Leah aspiring to be a priest, Hirie Gaidan intending to become a knight, and his sister becoming a princess… He could almost fathom what the divine wished from them.

“Brother?”

Leo shook his head, ridding himself of those thoughts. He gave Lena’s hand an assuring shake and began to step back into reality.

I am Minseo’s pawn, a toy of the divine. I would neither sabotage the slowly emerging objective nor strike at the ‘shackles’ that bound Minseo with premature conjectures. I realized there were still many unknowns, and no matter how hard I struggled, I could not step even one foot off the path laid by the divine.

Proceeding naturally, going through all the allocated processes, we would eventually achieve liberation. I would simply be fulfilling my role.

The prince, who had to prepare for the rebellion at Oriax’s stronghold, oddly felt no anxiety about the future. The bewildering spring breeze brushed his hair, and amid sudden enlightenment came an equally unexpected message.

[ Achievement: Quest ‘Katrina’s Life’ Completed – Katrina escapes the shackles. ]

[ The quest ‘Katrina’s Life’ will be erased. ]

‘….’

The timing of Katrina’s death in the last engagement scenario was around now, so what happened? What did I do for her to be freed from her shackles?

[ 18/23 ]

An additional cycle limit had appeared beneath his eyes. Whether he intended it or not, Leo could only accept the ongoing events with a bemused sense of resignation.

*

“Thanks for your hard work today as well.”

In a room at the Rutina church, Leo filled a cup and handed it to him. Former royal knight Galen humbly accepted the drink bestowed by the prince.

“…No, it wasn’t difficult at all.”

The twentieth day in Rutina passed without a noteworthy event. He had thought he should probably bring Bart in before initiating any major actions and realized that his concerns were pointless.

The kingdom’s knights, and even the royal guard knights, had all sworn unwavering loyalty to the prince.

Occasionally, a knight might swear false loyalty, and when asked, “Should we kill him?” the prince would simply laugh heartily, assuring that there was no need to worry, and indeed, he was right. No one dared to betray the prince.

It was remarkable.

Considering that the legitimate prince had dramatically returned, he thought many knights would feel inclined toward him, but he never expected it to be to this extent.

The prince actively engaged with the knights to the degree that it might raise alarm, and in barely twenty days, less than three weeks, he had gained control over the royal guards and three knight orders. The princess, too, was so clever that while staying at Marquis Arne’s residence, she subtly endeared herself with the nobility, like a gentle rain soaking through their clothes.

It was undeniably something to rejoice about, yet…

Galen touched the wine glass slightly bitterly. Then what exactly had they been fighting for? If the prince and princess could resolve everything without any help, then he felt a sense of emptiness creeping upon him, and he unintentionally blurted out.

“Well, it’s only a day or two until… Prince Eric is deposed.”

Leo’s eyebrows twitched, raising slightly.

The date for their plan had been set. Rather than on the day itself, they planned to bring down Prince Eric in front of the nobles and envoys attending the pre-event preparations for Akinin.

However, Galen, who was always by his side as a close aide, couldn’t have possibly missed this. His voice bore a tinge of sentiment, prompting Leo to ask.

“Are you disappointed?”

“……Yes, honestly, I am.”

“Speak. Why is that?”

“I hope you won’t misunderstand.”

Leo smiled faintly.

[ Achievement: Master-Servant Relationship. 2v – ‘328’, Those who have sworn allegiance will never betray Leo. ]

How could he possibly misunderstand? This man would never betray him. Leo raised his glass and clinked it against the troubled knight’s goblet. Finally, Galen spoke.

“I regret that we have done nothing for you and the princess. Personally, I feel sorry for Prince Eric. I served Prince Eric once upon a time, you see.”

“You?”

“Quite a long time ago, yes. Then, when Princess Lena was born, my assignment changed. I became her escort.”

“I see. So you must have seen Brother Eric when he was young.”

“Yes, for about a year or so…”

“What kind of person was he?”

Galen took a sip of his drink. Perhaps because it served as a catalyst, he let slip something that could sound almost irreverent.

“He was a soft-hearted boy.”

“…That’s hard to believe.”

He had met Eric de Yeriel just once. Five years older than Leo, he had dark eyes and almost the same blonde hair, but except for the brown tint that symbolized Tertan lineage rather than the blue of the Yeriel royal house, they bore a striking resemblance, yet their aura was entirely different.

A cold and sharp atmosphere. Taking into account how nervously tense his gaze had been, to refer to him as soft-hearted was a ridiculous claim. If he had sacrificed countless people as Oriax’s apostle, such thoughts became even more absurd.

However, Galen didn’t retract his words. Sipping his drink, he began to recount the boy he had met, Prince Eric de Yeriel.

It was a full fifteen years ago.

When he had just become a royal knight, Eric de Yeriel was only six years old at that time. The young prince was severely mistreated.

With the birth of Leo de Yeriel, the legitimate heir to the throne, the position of Eric, born of a concubine, had become precarious, much to his misfortune.

Though it was unavoidable, the prince was far too young to accept such a reality with dignity. He had been bewildered by the changed attitudes of the palace’s staff, who had once lauded him as a future king, and it was only when the queen fell pregnant with a second child that he seemed to grasp his situation.

A prince who could never become king.

How many such figures have echoed through history? It must have been a significant disappointment, yet, to Galen’s eyes, thankfully, Eric seemed to be earnestly trying to accept it. He had said to Galen:

– “I’m alright. I hope my mother doesn’t feel sad… I must smile a lot.”

So this is what royalty is like.

The novice knight Galen had been inwardly impressed. It was hard to believe such words came from a small boy whose height barely reached the waist.

Yet, even that Prince Eric was eventually twisted. The incident’s catalyst arose during a trip to Marquis Tertan’s territory with his mother.

“’Yvonne Tertan’ the concubine princess suddenly went missing. Since then, Prince Eric has been very irritable.”

As a royal guard knight escorting the prince, Galen had been there. Yvonne Tertan, the daughter of Duke Rupert Tertan and Eric’s mother, had vanished without a trace, and amidst the whispers of the entire kingdom, Eric de Yeriel began to deviate. Sporting a dangerous countenance, he had pushed everyone away…

“Wait, Yvonne Tertan went missing? Why? Where did she go?”

“No one knows. She just disappeared one day. Duke Rupert Tertan searched with all his might but couldn’t find her. Oh, I remember something strange from that time. The duke was desperately searching for not only his daughter but also a certain jewel that had gone missing with her. It was said to be the size of two fingers and shaped like a red flower bud…”

Leo was seized by a slight tremor.

There was something… something he felt he understood. How Prince Eric de Yeriel had become an apostle serving Oriax and where Yvonne Tertan had vanished to.

She had been offered as a sacrifice.

The jewel was undeniably related to Oriax. It had undoubtedly passed from Eric to Duke Tertan, who, enchanted, later handed it to his grandson, Palace Tertan, and finally ended up in Hirie Gaidan’s possession. If that were the case…!

‘Hirie Gaidan was the deliveryman.’

He understood Oriax’s intentions. The duke would have refused, yet he insisted on passing the jewel through Palace, eventually giving it to Hirie, who then found herself in a position where, if the engagement fell through, she would have to marry a prince from the Orun Kingdom. So, the jewel’s intended destination was either Aton or Alzeor de Lognum.

However, as Hirie and Palace fell in love, things became complicated. They had recklessly returned to the Conrad Kingdom, seeking permission to marry, and in the midst of it…

‘Sir Bart!’

He had encountered Bart. And Bart had snatched the necklace from Hirie. There was no reason for him to do so, yet he did.

“…Prince?”

Galen was staring at Leo.

The wine swirled gently, trembling with his hand, as Leo’s deductions crashed against the wall. He couldn’t fathom why Bart had acted that way.

“What’s wrong?”

“…It’s nothing. Thank you for sharing.”

Leo tried to drink calmly. Everything was prepared, and an absolutely unwinnable fight was scheduled for the day after tomorrow. However, he belatedly realized that he had overlooked something small but critical…