Chapter 66. It’s mine (4)
says Kalyan.
The only time I don’t mind the smell of blood is when I’m eating steak.
A smell that anyone other than a driver cannot smell. Some people with weak stomachs who eat thoroughly cooked meat because they find the smell of blood coming from non-human meat disgusting, may not sympathize with this, but Kalyan did.
And that Calian was trying hard to suppress the feeling of wanting to show his teeth as he looked at the person standing in front of him.
The smell of blood is enough to make you dizzy.
The smell of blood that had already stopped coming from his arm. A puddle of blood formed at the edge of the rooftop, a long blood trail extending to the rooftop railing, blood drops scattered everywhere, and the smell of Aela’s blood on Calian’s body.
The same thing was coming out of the guy standing in front of me. Light, dark, old, not so old. Aside from the blood flowing from the hand holding Aila’s hairpin, the smell of blood was so strong that it was hard to even guess how many people there were. A smell that cannot be erased even by magic.
‘This is Kalyan.’
That’s why I held on to my leash tightly.
As soon as I saw the smile on that face, I felt like I was going to rush at him, sink my claws in, and bite the back of my neck. Because of the smell of blood.
Rashid, the guy who was looking at Kalian, opened his mouth in a relaxed tone.
“I can’t believe someone touched the prince’s things. Could it be that there was something that belonged to the prince here?”
Tuk.
Instead of answering, Calian’s toes tapped the floor once. Because there was no need to say the same thing again.
“I see. But I…”
Instead of answering, Rashid opened his mouth again to hear the voice and unfolded what he was holding in his left hand. A series of slow voices, as if they had not stood still in the slightest, flowed out one after another.
“I only saw one bird, my prince.”
The hairpin is all blood red.
I knew long ago that it wasn’t Aela’s blood. It was blood flowing from a wound on that guy’s palm.
The injured side is the left hand. The scabbard hangs on the left.
‘Right-handed.’
If I had grabbed Aila’s sword with my left hand in a hurry, Aila would have destroyed all of the guy’s fingers. In any other situation, if Aila had been able to wound that guy’s hand, she would have cut off his head instead of just cutting off his palm. So, that is a wound caused by catching Aila’s dagger.
It may not be as strong as Dmirea, but Calian knows best how strong Aela is.
A scar on the left hand of the guy who made Aila like that. It’s a wound that could have been easily struck, but was created by holding on to it. A wound that won’t interfere with a fight but can be a good excuse.
‘A wound intentionally created.’
It was a wound with the same intention as the one contained in the bandage that had been wrapped around Calian’s hand just a moment ago. Because blackmail doesn’t necessarily require someone else’s blood.
Calian, who checked the guy’s face without any distraction from his green eyes, smiled brightly.
“Did you see a bird on such a dark night?”
“Yes. I saw a bird on such a dark night, probably because it was dark and lost. It was unfamiliar to me, so I stopped for a moment, but to my surprise, I saw the prince. Should I call this an unexpected coincidence or… ”
Kalian looked at Rashid for a moment as he nodded in agreement, then lowered his gaze and looked at the hairpin. And Rashid continued without saying anything.
“Should I say it was a predestined relationship?”
“That’s right. It’s a predestined fate. That’s true, Prince. Isn’t it amazing that it feels like a predestined fate?”
“I guess it was interesting enough to capture the Baron’s thoughts.”
“Yes, it is.”
The wind blew.
Kalyan’s hair, which seems to have been made of the most valuable silk in the world, woven one by one, sways in the wind and falls down. It was very different from Rashid’s brown hair, which was meticulously shaped and not at all disheveled.
Calian, who was looking at the flawless outfit, opened his mouth quietly.
“But I… I didn’t bite the bird.”
“Yes. You asked about the prince’s things.”
The guy took a step closer.
“So I answered that I met a bird.”
There was no sound of feet hitting the floor.
Instead, there was a scent.
There was a terrible flower scent.
* * *
Two knights, one wizard.
Arsene looked at the three of them who came at once, as if they had met together and looked like he had a headache.
Arsene quietly raised his head and assessed the situation.
Alan has been away since morning. I said I would go to Libern. For some reason, Needlen, who had volunteered to help, left work in the morning. And another deputy commander who shared the office ran out of the palace.
‘Astrisha.’
Five letters.
By saying just five letters.
I didn’t know what that meant, there was a lot of work to do, and I wasn’t really interested in what he wanted to say in short words, so I just nodded, but it was only now that I realized that he was probably talking about going to Astricia Street.
what. Since the job was done well, it didn’t matter whether Plants went to Astrisha, Banensha, or crossed the Senyu River.
‘Vice Commander Hertz, there was heavy drinking on Naeransha Street. Judging by the report that a mana wave was detected, it appears that a magic bullet exploded. But now, Vice Commander Plantz, no. His Majesty the Crown Prince and the Third Prince are outside the palace.’
In this situation, it was a bit of a problem that Crown Prince Plantz was outside instead of Vice Commander Plantz. It became a problem to the point where Balkan, rather than the capital’s guards, had to show interest and take action directly.
Arsene, who was looking at the three division commanders except Needlen, opened his mouth.
“What did your highness say?”
“I haven’t reported it yet.”
“why?”
“The commander is not here, but if your Majesty finds out about the situation, won’t you take action in Elazar’s direction?”
Elazar was the name of the newly changed King’s Guard.
Last year, Lemain disbanded the royal guard knights, Karen and Raon, who had been influenced by Briesen. And Planz selected those who were completely in his hands among the knights of the two knights and had them join Balkan.
There was no need to worry about the insufficient number of knights. This is because Count Aizen Eifrin, who leads the alliance of knight families that follow Calian, continues to train knights and send them to Siegfried, and among them, those who are good, are selected by Demirea to be sent to Balkan.
In any case, Lemain, who united the Knights and Wizards into one Balkan, changed the name of the King’s Guard ‘Caera’.
At that time, a knight belonging to Kaera handed Plantz a poison pouch, which led to Calian going to Evan and using the sword himself. Therefore, Lemain eliminated all of the knights belonging to Caera who were suspected of being connected to Brisen. However, since it was naturally impossible to disband the King’s Guard itself, the work was completed by changing the entire management system, including its name.
In this way, the knights in the palace were completely overturned and the king’s position was solidified, but despite this, there was one thing that did not change. These are Lemain’s new breasts, which look like cows.
“When something goes wrong with the Crown Prince or the princes, he always tried to send Elazar away first, but today there is no corps commander to stop him. So I haven’t been able to report it to you yet.”
Calian drinks poison, Plantz is stabbed, and Calian almost dies by accident. In the meantime, Randel thinks it might be worth it to bring Tensil’s Holy Knight into the palace, so Plantz dies and comes back to life. In any case, because he had troublesome sons, Lemaine tried to solve the problem by sending Ellazar first whenever something happened. Even though they knew full well that they were an order of knights that existed only for the king, so they should not act carelessly.
However, when Calian and Plants secretly ran away again, an accident occurred where the magic bullet exploded. Wouldn’t it be clear that nine times out of ten such accidents would have involved Calian, and the remaining one would have been a mistake made by an unknown, crazy wizard. That’s something so obvious that you don’t even have to use your brain to predict it.
So what will Lemain do without Alan to stop him? They will send Elazar along with Vulcan. It would be nice if he didn’t say he would go and see it in person.
“Even if I hide it, they’ll hear it anyway.”
“Yes. The intelligence officer will soon inform Your Majesty of the details. Perhaps you have already heard.”
“Okay, I understand.”
An accident suspected to be a magic bullet explosion occurred outside the royal palace.
It was at this time that Calian and Plants left the palace.
LeMaine still doesn’t know about the accident, and Alan is not there.
Arsene, who finished organizing the situation, opened his mouth. He then gave instructions to Raz, the division commander of the Balkan Knights, and Paleton, one of the division commanders of the Damian Wizards.
“Three knights and twenty wizards. Two of twenty-three each. A total of forty-six people will be sent out. Send half to Naeran and the other half to Astrisha to check the scene. If you see the crown prince and the prince, arrest them immediately… bring them in. .”
“Yes. What should I do if a fight breaks out?”
“If there is a fight where the prince is not present, you will put it down on your own. If there is a fight where the prince is present, do not try to stop it or get hurt, but take control of the scene and wait. I will report this to your majesty and follow you towards Naerangsha.”
“All right.”
After giving a short answer, the three division commanders left the office.
The bright blue eyes that had been looking at their backs calmly, as if nothing was a big deal, turned sharp as soon as the door closed.
‘But I’m free these days. Sir Brigitte took over the intelligence work. Thanks to you, I have time to play with Coco.’
‘Then, President of the Association. ‘Is Sir Bridget the only one doing the information gathering now?’
‘what. ‘Didn’t you hear from Prince Calian?’
‘Why would our prince tell me what he is doing with the president of the association? ‘He doesn’t talk to me unless it’s something I need to be involved in.’
‘Oh yeah. I guess so. Anyway, that’s right. Sir Brigitte is currently in charge of Kyris’s internal intelligence work alone.’
‘Is this possible alone?’
‘uh. The Association is still in charge of Tensil-related information, and the Prince has not specifically asked us to look into it further within Kairis. So I think it’s okay for Sir Bridget to move alone for now. I see that they recently started investigating Gray Briesen, and they told me to talk to them if I need more people.’
I was thinking about the conversation I had with Euria yesterday and the magic bullet.
Magic bullets are not very common items. Although it has strong killing power, it is prone to heavy drinking and is extremely expensive. Rather than use it to harm someone and get caught right away, it is better to use that money to buy poison or hire a wizard from the back world to deal with it quietly. Therefore, there were very few people who used magic bullets.
And Arsene knew only one person who, knowing full well that it was an effective weapon, noisy or not, had set out to do a job that was even quite dangerous, while earning enough pay to not care whether it was expensive or not.
“You shouldn’t have an accident with our prince in these times…”
In addition, the person who would turn around when Aila did something wrong also knew very well how much he needed to be cautious right now.
“It’s a big deal.”
Arsene stood up.
Then, after using clean magic to clean up his outfit, he roughly adjusted his clothes and quickly walked towards Arpia Palace, where Lemain would be.
* * *
Kalian said:
Since ancient times, the best perfume is a fruity scent.
The sweet scent of peach that makes you feel good, the refreshing tangerine scent, the coconut scent that soothes your mind, and the ever-refreshing lime scent. Why do they leave all the good scents behind and do that?
Kalian, who almost immediately showed his displeasure at the strong scent of flowers wafting through the wind, looked at Rashid again.
“The prince said he was someone who couldn’t resist being curious, but… Strangely enough, I too am very curious. Because of this, no other memories come to mind when I am surprised to see something amazing. So, if the prince can tell me how I came across a bird on such a dark night, then I will look back on my memories.” I
wonder if the grape-colored dress came to mind because of its scent or because of the stench that could not be covered by the scent.
” About who touched what was the prince’s.”
The tip of Calian’s finger toward the floor drew a long curve.
‘There’s a snake. There’s another one.’
Kalyan looked satisfied as he felt the scent of my old father and me coming from the new friend he met today. How can there be only one snake in the world? It was truly amazing and nice to meet another snake so close. On the other hand, I felt disgusted.
“If I said I knew, they would wonder how I knew. If I say I don’t know, the Baron won’t be able to remember either… So how should I answer this?”
“Are you worried, Prince?”
“I am worried, Baron.”
“Would it be difficult for you to regard this as a pleasant worry? “If it’s not a night like this, you never know when we’ll meet again.”
Calian nodded as if that was correct and closed his eyes slightly. Then, he took a deep breath, as if he had been momentarily intoxicated by a familiar yet unfamiliar strong scent. After resting and exhaling, I opened my eyes.
“Anyway. There is one thing I would like to tell the Baron. Is it okay if I talk to you?”
“Yes. It’s okay.”
“I’m a human. It’s not a bird.”
Calian’s finger pointed at Aela’s hairpin once again.
“It seems like what the Baron picked up was a bird’s feather. “I’m telling you that it’s not that visible to my eyes.”
“Ah. Is that so?”
“That’s right.”
“I really made a big mistake. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. There was someone else who saw it like that. I’m used to it.”
Kalian took a step closer
and quietly picked up the hairpin in Rashid’s hand.
“There it was again. It would be right to say that.”
“Was there?”
“There was.”
A harmless smile spread across Rashid’s face.
It was the same.
It was truly a strange, joyful, and disgusting feeling.
He was turning the hairpin in his hand around and examining it. Calian spoke again.
“In any case, it will be difficult to appease the Baron’s curiosity today. Because it’s difficult to find an answer. I think I’ll have to put my curiosity aside for a while.”
“It’s a shame, Prince.”
“I hope you don’t feel too sorry. Because my regrets will be just as big.”
“Still, I hope that one day we can exchange answers. Is that okay?”
“Well. How do you think?”
Kalian raised his head.
Rashid looked at Kalian.
“In any case, it seems the Baron was satisfied with meeting my person. I won’t get this back.”
Kalian slowly moved his hand. Then, he placed the hairpin that had belonged to Ayla back on Rashid’s left hand, then grabbed his hand and squeezed it into his fist. He picked it up because he liked it, so he held it as if telling him not to miss it
. I pressed the hand that was holding it tightly so that I could carve the broken hairpin with the broken beads into the deep wound caused by Aila’s dagger. “I already decided to buy a new one, so it has already become an unowned item.
”
It dripped, as if it were an answer to Kalian’s words.
The blood that had stopped in Rashid’s hand flowed again. Kalyan smiled, as if he didn’t care that his hand got wet with the blood as well. A smile filled with a harmless, fragrant
smile
. ‘It looked like I made it.’
Rashid glanced at his hand without changing his expression and raised his head. Then he smiled like a child who found a more interesting game. He smiled with a flawless and innocent face. “I considered it a gift and thanked it
. ………”
“How many times do I have to tell you before you understand what I’m saying?”
But like this.
Rashid was interrupted by a sound coming from the bottom of the building.
“But, Little Duke. There was a report that there was a suspicious explosion here and that we should investigate immediately.” ”
It’s okay to say it was an order from the Marquis of Briesen. I’ve already guessed it.”
“… That’s not true, Duke.”
“Didn’t you say that you would come out of the Balkans and meet them in person to hand them over? It’s not against the rules and procedures, so it’s hard to understand why they’re going to arrest this person.” They were
so focused on each other that they didn’t notice, and a commotion broke out.
The reason Aila came here was to chase after Gray. Isn’t that right? Gray must have confirmed that there was an explosion here. There must
have been enough murmurs to know what happened even if you just stood there for a moment. Who knows who is lying down now? Who saved him? Where did he get up? It’s not hard to know who went. Whose son might be involved in this?
Isn’t there a simple way to get Kalyan to step down from this position without killing Rashid? Just send someone to arrest Ayla and cause an even bigger commotion. That’s
why Gray summoned the capital guards.
Not knowing that this would mean nothing more than a slight disruption to the conversation between Calian and Rashid, he threatened to
arrest Demirea and Ayla, who were standing in front of Ayla. Kalian, who confirmed their confrontation, looked at Rashid. His words were half sincere and half ridiculing.
“I thought the Marquis cared about you. I guess I wasn’t wrong.”
I don’t know if that generosity was really affection.
Rashid smiled and nodded at what was said without this afterword.
“Yes. I guess the Marquis was very worried about me. It’s unfortunate, but I think it would be better to promise next time, Prince.”
“I think we should do that.”
“And I will not forget and keep the gift you gave me. Until next time.”
“Understood.”
We were both going to leave anyway.
Thanks to Gray, we only had less time to say a word or two, so there was nothing to regret.
So Rashid bowed deeply and showed his respect with an expression that showed no regrets. . Kalian also nodded lightly. After that, he used his magic power to wipe away all the blood around him, leaving behind only the blood that had flowed from Rashid’s hand. After organizing the surroundings, Kalian tried to go down using the back of the building
. I turned around.
‘……Ah.’
And then I saw
a group of knights and wizards coming towards this place from afar. A person driving a horse in front of them under a magic lantern that was brightly lit so that people wouldn’t be startled by the sudden appearance of an army. Anyway, I didn’t listen to my brother’s words. The face of a person eating a meal.
I looked at Planz.
The green eyes that found the same thing moved slowly.
I looked at my cousin who was approaching from afar.
“Ah. I never thought I’d see you like this…”
He seemed to have forgotten the pain that was radiating from his tight grip.
“Isn’t this truly a great coincidence!”
A joyful voice filled with small admiration came to Calian’s ears. The terrible scent of flowers. The smell of perfume filled with perfume spread along with it.
