Chapter 79. Bow down (3)
A clamorous silence.
If I had to put it into words, it would have to be expressed that way. It is a silence created by a mixture of all kinds of evil and surprise.
The first son of King Lemain. The crown prince’s older brother has not even had a investiture ceremony where he will receive a small crown, so you never know when he will collapse. If the situation changes, the first prince has the potential to become the owner of that small crown.
‘Bow properly.’
Randel spoke to the nobles.
Please show a proper example to ‘Planz’ who came here.
Unlike Kalian and Planz, who held hands and let go from time to time, Randel, who had never stood on the side of another brother, showed his true feelings. Since he was a man who had examined the situation so carefully, his actions now must have meant that he was sure of Planz’s succession to the throne.
Because of this, the nobles all fell silent. No, rather than saying I closed my mouth, it might be more correct to say I clenched my teeth. Not even a small sound of wind escaped from the mouths that were clamped together with all their might.
Soon Kalian slowly closed his eyes and opened them. He then turned his attention to Randel, who had an expression on his face that said he had finished his job by saying just one word to the nobles.
“……I guess.”
Calian’s low voice resonates throughout the banquet hall.
As if trying to completely suppress the silence rather than trying to take it away. As if he would take the breath of each and every person gathered in his hands and hold them under his feet and tie them up, as if he would do as much as possible.
Calian, who was aiming at each of the nobles one by one, with dark, dark eyes filling his once pale green eyes, continued speaking.
“I guess I’m not even welcome here.”
Words that were not said to target anyone.
So, these words are addressed to everyone here.
There was no explanation for those words anywhere. It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to explain, it was that I refused.
If it had been the royal palace, Kairisis, or at least any other territory other than Whitlin, something like this would never have happened. The scene of remaining silent in response to the crown prince’s words would not have unfolded.
But this is Whitlin.
Isn’t the first blade that Calian, who ended his withdrawal by drinking poisoned tea, extended towards Vriesen was the one that bought the upper part of Vriesen? No matter how smart Calian was, he would never have been able to achieve it if it weren’t for the huge amount of money that was constantly sent from the Whitlin Estate.
Everyone in Whitlin knows that Calian established a magic school based on the profits from the merchant, trained knights, and used the power of the wizards and knights he obtained as his own to rise to his current position. We know that Whitlin’s contribution lies in the noble symbolism of black hair and red eyes and in raising a level of power that could not have been achieved through the name of Alan Manasil alone. I know of course that if Calian ascends to the throne, he will never turn away from them.
So, you are showing off your pride.
How dare you do this in front of the crown prince of this country.
“If I had come to visit without my brother, or if I had come with him but my brother was on the brink of death. Would I still have been treated like this?… I wonder.”
Calian, who can take away the superficial crown prince’s honor anytime, anywhere, is with him in this castle. No matter how injured you are, your life is not in danger.
So, do they believe in Kalyan’s force and power and treat the crown prince in this way? If only Plants and Randel came to visit without Calian accompanying him, or even if Calian were in a critical condition, would he show the same attitude?
Is it just because he has the guts to trust and manipulate Kalian?
Or is it an expression of loyalty to Kalian?
He said he was curious about what was underlying that pride.
“I think you misunderstood… Your Majesty.”
You can’t refuse to answer obvious questions.
It is an insult to the royal family. And the Crown Prince has the authority to cut off the life of one or two nobles who disrespected him on the spot.
That’s fortunate.
If it weren’t for that, I would never have heard the answer.
“That’s why everyone gathered here is devastated…”
“So.”
Instead of giving a clear answer to the question, Edur cut off Navia, the estate manager, who was trying to defuse the situation with words. And without saying another word, he continued to look at Navia.
If he had been Calian not only on the inside but also on the outside, he would have said more, but Plantz was short on words. I guess he didn’t necessarily say things like, ‘I should understand it because you’re devastated’ or ‘So what should I do?’
When there was no continuation, Navia opened her mouth again.
“Please relax, my Majesty. Everyone is just embarrassed to have to meet you and the princes unexpectedly.”
okay.
I will never apologize or say hello again.
With something like this, we can’t find out their true intentions.
I still don’t know whether to say this is shameful and laughable or amazing and thankful. But I know very well that those guys are incredibly stiff.
One corner of Calian’s mouth, who was staring at Navia with light green eyes, rose slightly but clearly enough.
“That’s interesting.”
I think of Evan and Gray, who bowed low towards LeMaine after experiencing something similar.
Except for Count Navia, who manages the prince’s estate on his behalf, the others are at best viscounts or barons. There are so many lower-ranking nobles that even Calian can’t tell how many there are in Kairis. Since their noses are higher than that of the Marquis of Brisen, it is bound to be fun.
– Shake it off!
Calian, who skipped the explanation of what he enjoyed, sat down on the chair and made a loud noise. Next, Randel, who quietly sat down, looked at the nobles, and the nobles who were allowed to sit slowly sat down.
Either that or not.
Calian, not paying any attention, stretched out his hand. I lifted the dark red wine, smelled it, held it in my mouth, and swallowed it.
He lifted the spoon and used the fork and knife in an elegant movement that no one could imitate. With an expression on his face that said he couldn’t taste a single word of food, he put a small piece of the dish in his mouth, chewed it silently, and then slowly swallowed it.
Not only did I no longer say anything, but I also didn’t look at anyone and say, ‘You can talk while eating.’ Whether it’s Raven, Lucy, or some crazy idiot, they arbitrarily took away the right to communicate that everyone alive has.
The dinner began in clamorous silence.
* * *
If you stay inside too much, you will become suspicious.
However, if you move around too much, it can hurt your body.
‘So what are you saying?’
Remembering Calian’s words that he was on his way to dinner, Planz frowned without realizing it and sat up. Then he whirled for a moment. The walls and ceiling blend together and find their proper place.
Thanks to the power of blessings and Hina’s healing, my damaged insides were completely healed, but the dizziness still seemed to remain.
Below article. The winter I spent in Kairis, the winter I couldn’t tell if I had died and come back to life, or if I had really died and been reborn. Even then, it took quite a long time for blood to refill the deeply healed body.
– …… Flash.
okay.
That winter.
As soon as I feel dizzy, the fact that I experienced the same sensation as today on that cold, dark winter day, and the light green eyes of ‘Kalian’ I met today appear in my mind, recalling memories of that at will. And again, the face of a person who looks a lot like Planz, but who will never resemble him again, overlaps. The grape-colored dress comes as if drawn and sways dizzyingly.
The face that stayed in the deepest part of the drawer and on the mirror I face every morning, without expression, movement, or breath, sits on the shadow of my younger brother, who had been talking, moving, and breathing all day. It comes to mind with no way to do anything.
Not just because of my smart brain or because I walked through a day that no one would have to go through, but just because. Just like anyone who has let someone go.
That’s how it comes to mind.
The face, the eyes, the steps, the scent is so strong, and that sharp
“… ha.”
Silike.
Suddenly.
There’s nothing I can do. like that. like that.
-What are you doing?
It was intense.
While doing office work.
Suddenly it got intense. While working again.
– If you were lying down, get up now, brother.
I am pushed out by the voice that comes at me as if it were blowing at me. Before I knew it, it had been pushed away as if it were blowing away.
Plantz raised his head as if he had suddenly woken up and stiffened his shoulders. This is because black hair and red eyes are reflected in the mirror placed on the nightstand far away. Planz, who seemed to have woken up in surprise at the sudden commotion, looked at the face in the mirror. I remembered again why I was taking on the appearance of my younger brother.
Then, many words began to be heard as if they were not giving us time to look back on the winter that had just passed. As if I knew what he would be thinking about right now. It may not be possible, but it seems like it really is.
– You have to eat dinner. If you continue to lie down and fall down due to dizzy spells, your hundred crazy men said that they would just carry you around on your back in peace until the inspection was over. Of course, it would be fun for me, Brother Randel, and Sir Hertz to see you being carried on the backs of the Vulcan guys, but I don’t think it will be an entertainment that even you can enjoy, so please eat. All the nobles here know that you are not seriously injured, so please eat without hesitation. Please eat meat. eat a lot. If you just stir the grass, anemia will last a long time.
My quiet mind suddenly became noisy.
What that guy says is probably true. If it’s true, then why does he eat a banana like that every time he gets up from lying down? Are you just trying to interfere with my meal again? I wonder if they are interfering with my meal because my dining table is so dirty. Come to think of it, I wonder if my broken arm has completely healed. I wonder if I went to dinner with an arm that wasn’t yet healed. I wonder if it’s because I’m so ignorantly putting up with the pain that I’m having a hard time eating. Is that why you are nagging me like this?
Before I knew it, the scent had gone and a nagging voice came in.
Before I knew it, the nostalgia was gone and the commotion came.
– okay.
I answered obediently without saying no.
-…… That’s strange. Why do you think you understood it so mildly? He said he was most annoyed by people nagging him to eat meat.
-If you don’t like it.
– no. You say you will eat well and grow well, but would you hate that? It’s not that I don’t like it. You are such an amazing pea. I commend you for that.
…… Annoying.
In fact, the most annoying thing is not my younger brother’s nagging me to eat meat, but the way he keeps pointing me toward the light green grain, his extremely subjective evaluation of me as weak, the frequent cutting off of his tail, and the way he sometimes forgets that I am his older brother. A clear thinking system, barking that increases day by day… everything, including the current situation where I can’t figure out which of the many things is most annoying. It’s all annoying.
Before I knew it, the scent had disappeared, and instead, my black hair, which had been sinking straight away to no avail as I brushed it out of habit, was shaking slightly due to the irritation that kept coming.
After that, I ate it.
A faint smile appeared on his bright red lips for a moment and then disappeared.
-You’re barking a lot again. Are you lacking food?
– yes.
– why.
– I only ate two bites at a time. Brother, doesn’t your mouth get shorter in front of nobles? So I’m trying not to eat more than three bites of food. If I try to follow you, I will puncture my bones.
– Anna.
– yes.
If you say it won’t grow, then it won’t grow.
I really believe these words.
– so. why.
I asked him why he was talking to me since he must have been barking a lot.
Isn’t it time for dinner to end yet? I’m sure he’s not the kind of guy who’ll contact you just to nag you to eat something.
– I have a question.
– sun.
– I don’t eat bell peppers anymore anyway, and I’m avoiding ripe carrots and unripe onions. Brother, can’t you eat a salad full of oregano or not? It’s grass, but the scent is a bit strong, so I’m not sure if you eat it.
A nagging question, an unimportant question, and a lot of barking. It seems right that I contacted you for that reason. The main point that continues now is not that important.
Did my brother, who is well-versed in fighting, try to silence the nobles? So, were you bored just chewing your food without saying anything?
After roughly assessing the situation, Plantz gave an answer.
– not really. I’m not going to eat.
– Can’t you eat ostrich meat or not?
– I’m not going to eat.
– You can’t eat a whole roasted pig.
– I… I can’t eat it.
– ah. I quite like it. I guess I should pass it on too. Then… what should I eat…
I ask what the strong-smelling herb salad is like. Make sure you eat ostrich and piglet meat. I don’t know why you’re asking me to distinguish between what I can’t eat and what I can’t eat, since I’m planning on not eating it anyway.
Anyway, a few more words were exchanged.
– All right. Then eat.
– you.
– yes.
– As for the arms.
– Hina was here, right? It’s almost done.
– okay.
– You don’t have to worry. I’m not enduring the pain.
– okay.
– yes.
The only time I don’t get tired even when talking through a communication device is when I’m with Hina. Whether I open my mouth or not, the fact that my younger brother talks a lot doesn’t change, so I feel a lot of fatigue. So Planz, who was thinking about eating or just lying down, looked up. I looked at the food that the baby elephant had set out a little while ago.
Is it because I talk a lot? I feel hungry.
Plantz moved again and sat down on the end of the bed. And as I was about to put my feet on the slippers on the floor, I stopped.
Even though it’s in the room, Kalian is wearing slippers.
It would be more realistic to see Coco with gloves on. So I forgot my slippers, put my feet into the black shoes next to them, and stood up. I walked slowly and sat in front of the table.
– ……clatter.
I raised my fork and knife while making a very quiet noise.
You can leave the green peppers, but you have to eat the ripe carrots and unripe onions, and you’ll have to leave the salad full of oregano flavor. Ostrich meat too… I guess I’ll have to eat it just for today. I can’t eat piglets.
I would have rather been hurt a lot.
If that were the case, I could have just had some soup.
I thought I should at least go for a walk after eating all of these.
While thinking like that.
* * *
From the dinner hall to walking down the hallway and up the stairs.
During this time, Calian did not say a single word. The same goes for Randel, who was walking next to him. When I saw the two, I didn’t pay attention to the people who bowed to me and just walked past them. After that, I stopped only after reaching the most carefully decorated hallway in the already well-decorated Lord’s Castle of Whitlin.
A hallway with a VIP room.
With an empty room in the middle, ‘Planz, who plays Kalian,’ and Randel are side by side, and ‘Kallian, who plays Flanz,’ is staying in the largest VIP room on the opposite side of the empty room.
Of course, the empty rooms in the middle or on either side of the VIP room that the three of them were to use were to be shared between Eila, Euria Kirie, Arsene Jan, Relic, and Den. In addition, the Balkan crew unpacked their belongings in the rooms at both ends of the hallway. It would be unsafe if there was an empty room in the middle of the VIP room or at the end of the hallway.
“I’m worried that you might not have been uncomfortable.”
Only after reaching that hallway does Kalian’s mouth open.
“Are you saying I was uncomfortable?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Would there have been any inconvenience? Just one word was enough.”
“I’m worried that what I said may have been unreasonable.”
Randel revealed that he was on the crown prince’s side with just one short, bold statement. Of course, there is Calian inside, but isn’t it just a matter of appearance to appease Plantz? Therefore, Calian was paying attention to Randel’s intentions.
Randel turned his head.
Then, as if grazing the small silent screen that had just been created, I stared into Calian’s light green eyes.
“Is the statue you are making the second one you saw?”
“…… you’re right.”
After hearing the short answer, Randel looked at the face of ‘Planz’, whom he had been seeing all day, for a while longer and then spoke.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t think it was the same.”
He thought that the real Planz, who didn’t want to bow down in front of him even if he was about to die, was different from the Planz that Calian was showing right now. So, I don’t really think that he was forced to take Plantz’s side. That’s what I said.
“I’m glad you see the difference.”
The sight that Randel hated so much. I didn’t really intend what the silique-covered planz would really look like, but I ended up showing it to Randel. Kalyan created and clearly showed a side that the current Plants cannot even imitate.
So, Calian, who thought that he would never again see Landel, who told Plantz that he ‘resembles Silike’, opened his mouth.
“Then dinner wasn’t free?”
“I just thought it wasn’t all that fuss.”
“That’s a good thing too. I was a bit bored.”
“There was a lot to see.”
I thought you were saying meaningless things.
Calian, who had expected that kind of answer to come, nodded his head indistinctly. Normally, I would have been happy, but I didn’t smile because the small silent curtain only blocked the sound.
“Did you just look?”
“It was also engraved.”
“Just because you learned it, it is harmful to abuse it to random nobles. Use it after carefully examining the opponent and the situation. If there are people of high reputation, you should not deal with them like I did today. Those who have the potential to act rashly should also do the same. You should not deal with them. However, if you are in a situation where you want to provoke people who are proud, have a light mouth, and are short-thinking, be sure to use it when a trustworthy escort is with you. If you send the same move more than once to an opponent you have used once, it may backfire, so do not use anyone. “Don’t forget how you treated me like that.”
“Don’t do that.”
There is no separate mountain education.
A little while ago, Calian made the nobles realize their situation where they could not even speak without permission, and at the same time made them feel a sense of crisis that it might not be possible for the 3rd prince Calian to take away the crown prince of Plants.
Thanks to this, I was able to teach Randel one of the hundreds of ways to suppress nobles who recklessly fight with him. This is a method that Randel would really like, as it maintains a noble dignity and does not cause a hasty fuss.
“Now, can we just wait and see how the people here will change?”
Randel, who had just finished a most satisfying dinner that was the quietest since he was born, looked at his youngest brother, who had the most unfamiliar face since he was born, and asked.
“Yes. Just in case, always pay attention. Don’t leave your guard alone.”
“I think so.”
“Be careful with your cup of tea. Playing with food… I wouldn’t do something that even Devlan didn’t do, but this is Whitlin. You and Brother Randel might get even more hate. Didn’t it work?”
“What a useless caution.”
I almost laughed for a moment.
Even though so much of what is useless has disappeared from Randel, there is still so much of it.
Calian, who wiped away his laughter and overcame the crisis he once experienced at the banquet hall, gave his answer.
“Still.”
“Watch what you put in your mouth. The people here are just as displeased with the second child as I am.”
That’s actually true.
No matter what poison you put in it, Randel is a person who can treat it as a unique spice. Kalian is no different. With my current body without any wounds, no matter what poison I encounter, I will not be harmed.
So in the end, there is only one person you have to worry about.
“That’s why you made an excuse and changed your appearance with your second son.”
These peas are extremely fragile and even flutter around.
“……Did you recognize me?”
“Who doesn’t know?”
Calian nodded and looked at the door of his room.
Whether they are servants here or servants of nobles allied with Whitlin. You’ve probably seen enough to see the Crown Prince and the First Prince having a conversation with each other, so the conversation ends here. We couldn’t exchange long words as if we were too close friends.
Landel, who noticed Calian’s gaze, took a step back.
“Okay. Then take a break.”
“okay.”
The Balkan soldier guarding the door opened the door to the crown prince’s room. Calian entered the room where the Plants guarded by Kyrie would be contained, without even paying a single glance.
– Sweet.
The door closes behind you.
I bit Relic and stayed in the room.
I felt very empty, but I didn’t ask for more tea or dessert. I was sitting on the sofa, got up, took a quick shower, went out to the terrace for a moment, looked outside as it got dark, saw the stars filling the sky, and before long, I came back and called Relic again.
Calian handed the awkward cardigan he was wearing to Relic and lay down. Reric, who was busy moving around, closed the open window and pulled down the curtain, walked to the bed and carefully covered it with a sheet.
– Sarak Sarak.
Jan is probably doing the same thing by now.
Instead of making a face like Relic’s, which was completely unfamiliar, he couldn’t even hide the look on his face that he really, really didn’t want to do, but had no choice.
While imagining the baby elephant’s dissatisfied face, Kalyan couldn’t hold it any longer and burst into silent laughter. Thanks to this, Reric finally learned what the crown prince I serve would look like when he laughed about something really interesting. Of course, the real Planz wouldn’t laugh like that, but just in case. Someday.
“Rest in peace, my Majesty.”
Relic, with a slightly lighter face, said good night.
Then, I pulled down the thick curtains surrounding the bed, turned off the light, and went outside.
Calian closed his eyes.
immersed in darkness The silence seeps in.
The moonlight outside the window does not reach the bed.
– Tick tock tick tock.
The sound of a second hand could be heard from the clock on the table.
While listening to that sound.
I listened quietly and quietly without saying a word.
– ……Sureuk.
I opened my eyes again.
The smell of wind.
The sharp smell of a knife at the end.
A deep murderous intent appears in the light green eyes that come to mind after smelling it.
