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87. Beggar Siblings – Confession

In a dilapidated warehouse at one side of Noyar Harbor, Leo and five knights were gathered.

Amidst the smell of fish and the musty scent of damp tackle, Bart continued his tale.

The royal knights, including Bart, could only catch their breath after crossing into the Orun Kingdom.

Chased by the knights of the Tertan family, they had dwindled from seven to five, and it was thanks to Tadian Lofero, who led the pursuit, realizing that there were no princes or princesses among them.

“Since then, we’ve been searching for the prince. We traveled around the towns near the border between the Belita Kingdom and our kingdom.”

Bart grimaced painfully as he spoke.

“Then we heard the terrible news that the prince and princess were dead. Prince Eric de Yeriel declared himself the sole heir of the Conrad Kingdom.”

The knights sitting around him seemed to share in the despair of that moment, their expressions darkening.

“We foolishly believed it. We swore to take revenge for the prince and princess and ran to the capital, Rutina, to gather allies to help us. However… everyone refused.”

Bart recalled his meetings with the knights of the order he had been close to.

+ + +

The friends he met in the dim tavern greeted Bart, who had lost significant weight, with concern.

However, when he asked for help with revenge, they showed reluctance. One by one, they offered negative replies.

“If Prince Leo were alive, it would be different. Right now, Prince Eric is the only heir. It’s true he’s acted shamefully and lacks legitimacy, but to harm him… that can’t happen.”

“That’s right. Besides, the regime has stabilized now. No one knows when the king will recover from his illness…”

Although they rambled on, the summary was clear: they could not harm the sole heir.

An angry Bart shouted. Luckily, there were no other patrons in the tavern; otherwise, all eyes would have turned towards his explosive outburst.

“You cowardly bastards! Don’t you have any honor as knights? The rightful heir of the kingdom has been exiled, and you spout excuses about not having alternatives and the political neutrality of the order! Aren’t you ashamed?”

At his scathing remarks, his friends lowered their heads.

One knight, waiting for Bart’s tirade to end, confessed in a subdued voice.

“You’re right. It is shameful. But I have a family, and I can’t afford to throw away my life for such a foolish honor.”

“Foolish honor? How can this be called foolish honor? This is about restoring royal discipline…”

“Face reality. There’s only one remaining prince. If we harm him now, it’ll incite a rebellion. The Yeriel family will fall, and a new house will rise. I respect your loyalty, but I hope you won’t become a wandering ghost chasing after a lost lord and harm the kingdom.”

“Shut your mouth!”

Bart shook with anger.

Even though he yelled to shut them up, he knew his friend was right. Killing Prince Eric would be a grave injury to the royal family, and Bart didn’t wish for the downfall of the Yeriel house.

After all, he had been a loyal royal knight.

That only made him angrier.

What about this hatred? Failing to obey the king’s command, losing his lord, and losing several comrades—what will he do with that grudge?

He slammed his cup down and turned away, stubbornly clenching his teeth.

“I’ve chosen the wrong companions. It was foolish of me to come to you for help.”

“Hey, Bart! Bart!”

Bart stomped out of the tavern. One friend ran after him and grabbed him, but he ruthlessly shook off the hand that clung to his collar and disappeared into the darkness.

+ + +

As Bart’s reminiscing went on, another knight opened his mouth.

“We… couldn’t harm the royal family. So we decided to hold Duke Rupert Tertan accountable. He mobilized the army to install Eric as the new prince, so he must pay the price.”

After listening quietly to the lengthy story, Leo interjected.

“Yet that didn’t seem easy.”

“…Yes.”

The Tertan family was one of the major families in the Conrad Kingdom, second only to the Yeriel family. They had as many as fifty knights, but the Duke’s influence didn’t stop there.

Being a long-established family of knights, the Tertan family had countless relatives in the collateral lines, each possessing exceptional swordsmanship.

So, the mansion of Duke Rupert Tertan, where he lived with his relatives, was akin to a fortress swarming with knights.

No matter how blinded Bart and his comrades were by the desire for revenge, they weren’t foolish enough to charge headlong into such a stronghold.

Leo tilted his head slightly.

Listening to them implies that their skills were not as sharp as they were now.

After all, this was a matter from ten years ago…

“After that, we hid here. This was a warehouse used by my father, who was a fisherman.”

While hiding in the secluded harbor warehouse, dreaming of revenge and honing their sword skills, there followed the tale of Bart’s remarkable achievements.

Not only did Bart establish his own swordsmanship ahead of his comrades, but he also advanced beyond that.

The knights learned swordsmanship from Bart, and just last year, they all admitted to having perfected their own techniques.

“Every time one of us improved, we raided the duke’s territory. But last year, Bart seemed to realize something, and his swordsmanship improved tremendously.”

“Don’t praise him too much in front of the prince.”

“Isn’t it the truth? Since then, we’ve made Bart our captain. We even succeeded in breaking into the duke’s castle, kidnapping the steward. We heard that the duke’s grandson came all the way to the Orun Kingdom…”

From here, Leo already knew. They had rushed to the Irotashi River, killed Palace Tertan, and were chased by the duke. Along the way, they had lost two more comrades, leaving them with just five from the original seven.

When the tale of their fallen comrades arose, the expressions of everyone darkened.

But Bart thought differently.

‘It is divine providence.’

Up until recently, he regretted not rushing to kill the duke, yet that turned out to be the right decision.

Had he gone to kill the duke then, he wouldn’t have been able to meet the prince now. The deaths of the two comrades, which had once seemed tragic, now brought him comfort.

As the knights wrapped up their tale, Bart posed a question to the prince.

“Prince, how did you find us? I had confidence that no one would detect us…”

It was a difficult question.

Leo fell silent for a moment, choosing his words carefully. He couldn’t just say he followed the direction indicated by the Tracking Skill, so he cleared his throat.

“I was hiding in the Belita Kingdom until recently, and I just returned to our kingdom. While traveling, I heard there were knights who had killed the heir of the Tertan family and fled. They were said to have been raiding the duke’s territory for several years.”

He could not concoct a completely fabricated lie, as they were now ones he would work with, and he feared it might cause issues with Lena.

“They bear a grudge against the duke and possess considerable skills… I thought perhaps they could collaborate with me. When I discovered they had once been royal knights, I realized those who had fled with me were indeed you.”

Though there were leaps in logic, it couldn’t be helped. He had no choice but to rely on the bonds formed through their servitude.

“But you have hidden your tracks so successfully that I couldn’t find you. Initially, I thought you had fled to the Orun Kingdom, but it was said that a lady from the Gaidan family was with Palace Tertan. While I heard she hadn’t been harmed, relations with the Gaidan family in the eastern border of the Orun Kingdom had reached a breaking point, so you couldn’t have fled that way… Therefore, I surmised you must have taken a boat to vanish so swiftly in the Irotashi River.”

Leo scanned the faces of the knights, assessing whether they believed him.

“If you went by boat, shouldn’t you end up back at this Noyar Harbor? So I waited here. To have run into each other like this must truly be good fortune.”

It was a cleverly woven lie, and he had no way to prove his falsehood. What was he to do with his reasoning?

The Tracking Skill was indeed such a deceitful ability. It provided a means to locate specific individuals without covering all the steps.

The knights’ jaws dropped.

“Y-you found us with only that little information, Your Highness? That’s truly impressive!”

They were overjoyed and praised the prince.

He was merely a prince aiming to fulfill the king’s command. With stubborn beliefs and a thirst for revenge, he had only grown more loyal towards the lost prince.

Without this, he likely wouldn’t have been able to endure.

[ Achievement: Master-Servant Relationship – ‘5’, As long as their loyalty remains unshaken, those who have sworn allegiance will trust and follow Leo. ]

But now, it was no longer the case.

Oh, venerable prince! He seemed like someone truly worthy of the throne.

The heavens must have made us wait so long to place him upon the throne.

Although Leo raised his hand to calm the knights’ excitement, their questions were far from finished.

“Your Highness, where is the princess…? S-sorry.”

One knight hastily posed a premature question and realized his mistake before he finished, quickly seeking forgiveness. He had been so excited about the prince that he asked something he shouldn’t have.

The knight, overwhelmed with embarrassment, cringed under the other knights’ glares.

The atmosphere turned somber, but,

“He should be alright. It’s still early morning, so he might still be asleep.”

Upon the prince’s words, cheers erupted.

The knights couldn’t contain their excitement and jumped up and down like children.

After living as a ghost for ten years, they were no longer spirits. They had protected the prince and princess, and now a glorious future awaited them.

No one inquired about Barin and Neil, who had run off with the prince and princess. They all already knew without asking.

Eventually, after ten years, they would realize how well they had done and how honorably they had died.

*

In the shabby lodging of Noyar Harbor.

As usual, Lena woke up late and stepped out of her cramped room. Suddenly, she found herself surrounded by men calling her “princess.”

“We greet the princess!”

“W-what are these uncles doing?”

Lena’s eyes widened as she looked at her brother, who was smiling at her.

“They are the knights who used to serve us, Lena. You’re a princess.”

“C’mon, stop joking. Who are these people?”

“I’m not joking. You are the princess of the Conrad Kingdom. Your real name is Lena de Yeriel.”

“Wait, hold on a minute. I need to think.”

Lena, flustered, blinked her pretty eyes before ducking back into her room, murmuring, “W-what’s going on?”

Having followed her brother around and rummaged through trash bins all her life, Lena found it hard to accept that she was a princess.

When her brother had jokingly taught her about princess etiquette, she thought it was all just fun and games. It was amusing to learn graceful gestures, and she didn’t mind being called a princess.

But now, to be told she’s a real princess?

That’s just absurd.

Surely her brother was playing some kind of prank.

If she fell for this, she might become the laughingstock for the rest of her life.

Taking deep breaths, Lena puffed up her cheeks, emerging from the room with a grumpy expression. “Alright, I get it! You win, brother!” She declared her surrender, but her brother and those strange uncles didn’t change their story.

It took quite a long time for Lena to accept the truth that she was a princess. She hid in her room for several days, hoping those odd uncles would soon disappear, but instead, they moved her to a nicer lodgings to stay with them.

Lena was shocked, but the one who was shocked even more was Kasia.

Upon hearing that Leo was a prince, her face turned pale, and she kneeled down. She begged for forgiveness for the disrespect shown by a lowly woman.

Leo urged her not to do this and helped her up, introducing her to the knights as a kind person who had assisted him, but Kasia’s complexion remained unchanged.

She would never forget the moment she first saw Leo. Just gazing at him felt as if her heart would stop. When he announced that he would leave, she followed him without even thinking.

She didn’t care that the gold coins she received as retirement were precious. She felt worthless for not being able to offer him more, and she worried he might not take her with him.

And she even did dirty deeds to protect him on the mountain. For Leo, she could do anything.

But—

A prince?

After moving and spending several days with Leo and the knights discussing what to do next, Kasia prepared food while shedding tears.

It was audacious for a lowly woman like her to fall for someone so noble.

‘Someone like me… A filthy woman has the audacity to even think about him…’

Kasia found it unbearable.

Even now, whenever she saw him, her heart raced, only to plummet into despair.

It was a relationship that should never happen. He must meet a graceful noblewoman, someone of his caliber.

To have someone like her—a commoner who could only sew shoes and do “that”—near him would only tarnish him.

In the end, Kasia packed her things in the dead of night. She didn’t bring much with her, so her belongings were scant.

Having left the shoes she made for the princess nearby, she carried the prince’s shoes close to her chest, unable to muster the courage to give them up, and dashed outside.

She planned to leave secretly.

Now that he sought knights to serve him, he wouldn’t need someone like her.

As the thought that she might never see him again struck, tears burst forth, yet she believed she had made the right choice.

The salty sea breeze, mixed with the brine, scattered the tears streaming down her cheeks in every direction.

Thus, she decided to put an end to her ridiculous unrequited love and head north, toward her father’s shoe shop.

But,

“Kasia!”

Leo caught up to Kasia just one day later.

How could he have found her so quickly?

“Kasia! Where are you going without saying a word?”

“……Your Highness.”

Seeing the prince, who was breathless from running, the tears she thought had dried up began to flow again.

“Don’t cry. Please tell me what’s going on. I’ll help you.”

“…Please let me go.”

“What do you mean? Why would you leave?”

“I, I…”

Kasia lowered her head and exhaled tremulously. The moment had come to say everything she had been unable to.

In a secluded, gently swaying meadow, Kasia confessed that she was a common woman. She revealed that even on the day they first met, she had been of that status.

“The past doesn’t matter. Come here. Let’s go back and talk.”

But the prince didn’t seem surprised, as if he already knew.

She thought he would be shocked and dismissive, but instead, he carefully took her hand and pulled her close, almost desperately.

Kasia’s heart warmed.

Truly, this man was extraordinary.

He was someone she couldn’t help but love.

However, she firmly stood her ground and didn’t move. The more magnificent he was, the less she could be with him.

“I cannot be with you, Your Highness.”

“Kasia. Please… let’s go together. I don’t care what you’ve done in the past. It’s alright.”

“Do not call me ‘sister,’ Your Highness. I have never seen you as a brother. I am… I am…”

Kasia blurted out the sentence that had trembled in her heart since the day they first met.

“I love you.”

In the silence that followed, a gust of wind swept past the two.

Leo didn’t love Kasia.

He felt sympathy for her, wanted to help her after the complex feelings that formed throughout their relationship, but he harbored no romantic feelings towards her.

“So please let go of my hand. I beg you.”

“…But! N-no, Kasia.”

Leo couldn’t easily let go of the hand he held. How could he just send her away? He hadn’t yet done anything for Kasia.

Yet… Kasia wanted to break ties.

Should he accept her feelings? Should he admit that he had loved her as well?

He didn’t want to. Although he had lied his way through life, he did not wish to lie about loving someone.

Pretending to break the engagement with Lena had left him with deep wounds and regret. He would never repeat that again.

But to accept Kasia’s feelings… however false it may be, wasn’t it a way to look out for her?

As Leo hesitated, Kasia spoke.

“I know that you don’t love me, Your Highness. You thought of me as a good sister, right? Perhaps you might think I’m a strange person.”

“…”

“So Your Highness, please let me go. I beg you.”

“That’s not possible. I owe you… Kasia, you’ve done me a great service. I must repay you.”

At the prince’s plea, Kasia’s heart quivered painfully. A small desire seeped through the cracks.

Kasia opened her mouth slightly.

“Then please hug me just once.”