Chapter 47
47. Lisbury's Promise
Creak. The iron door, rusting with moisture, scraped open with a nerve-wracking sound. Splosh. Even the sound of footsteps was thickly clinging with dampness. As if the iron door was too narrow, the black hair of the person entering the room tilted slightly.
“……”
The person sitting on the floor slowly raised his head. And his eyes widened in surprise.
“……!”
He probably regretted only having one eye. The man, who had been squatting on the floor instead of sitting on a chair, forgot his discomfort and tried to stand up abruptly. To see the person entering more clearly.
“Guy… Guynerth… Fer, Fern… Fernand Guynerth…”
The beggar old man stammered out a name.
“So you recognized me. Strange. I didn't look like this back then.”
The old man, who had lifted his buttocks halfway, couldn't bear his own weight and slumped back down. Splosh, splosh. Black, who had approached the old man, pulled up a chair he wasn't sitting on and sat down. The eye level became much closer.
“I remember your face as well.”
The slow words flowed quietly through the humid air.
“Cardinal Manau.”
“……!”
It wasn't just Black whose identity was revealed. The beggar old man also had a name to hide.
“Was it 20 years ago that your body became like that?”
“……”
“No, I should ask if it was 21 years ago.”
Black added in a low voice after the silence of the old man who was once the Cardinal of Nauk. The old man couldn't bear it any longer and nodded in response. 21 years ago was the day Black lost his blood relatives and left Nauk. On that day, the then-Cardinal Manau lost one eye, one arm, and one leg. His cousin Klima lost his father and his two-year-old younger sibling. It was all a secret that happened on the same day. Manau, whose chin was trembling, suddenly slammed his head on the floor. Thud! The sound, painful just to hear, echoed through the basement. His forehead was torn, and blood flowed. The area beneath Manau's dirty hair was soaked with blood.
“Kill me. Kill me, please……”
His stammering speech suddenly became clear. At the same time, Manau's voice was clearly heard. Perhaps Manau had deliberately pretended to stammer to hide his voice.
“That's difficult.”
Black watched without any reaction the former Cardinal, whose body was already half-destroyed, making a voice that sounded like he was about to cry with a broken forehead. He had no emotion on his face. Even 10 years ago, he might have felt something. But not now. As he had told Liene, he had forgotten most of the emotions that originated 21 years ago.
They were things not worth remembering for him. On the battlefield, where life and death crossed in the blink of an eye, there were truly important things. More than emotions that were 20 years old.
“Princess Liene will find you. Tell her what you know then.”
“……?”
Manau raised his head.
“What are you saying……”
“Literally, what you know.”
“……”
His eyes, shaking madly, were asking if he was being serious.
“There's something you guys are misunderstanding.”
Black slowly spat out the emotionless words.
“I came to take Nauk, not to destroy it. I'm getting a little annoyed because no matter how much I say it, you don't believe me.”
“Who, who on earth would believe that? That's not possible. There's no way it could be……”
“That's why I haven't reclaimed my name.”
“……?”
“Because if I reveal my name, most of you will act like you are now.”
“……”
Manau endlessly mulled over what Black had said.
“My name is Tiwakan, and that's enough. It seems like Tiwakan is the only name you need to know.”
Not reclaiming his past name meant that he would forget and bury the past as it was. It was something Manau couldn't understand at all.
“Can you… forget it?”
“I already have.”
Thud, Black pushed the chair and stood up.
“You weren't a very smart man in my memory, but you've managed to hide your identity and survive for 20 years, so I guess your brain is working. Depending on how you talk to Princess Liene, the future of Nauk will be decided.”
“……”
He could tell. What would happen if Black's name was revealed. Similarly, what would happen to Nauk if his name was revealed. Manau nodded as if dropping something heavy.
“I understand.”
“Make something up appropriately. Use the name I used when I left Nauk.”
“I will.”
After hearing the answer, Black turned around without saying anything else. Just as the sound of his splashing footsteps was about to stop at the door, Manau shouted.
“But don't kill him!”
“……Who?”
Black turned his head for a moment.
“Klima. He hid his name by becoming a cousin, but he is the first son of Hinton.”
“……”
Black's face, which had been indifferent until now, twisted slightly.
“He has been swayed by Kleinfelter and stained his hands with a lot of blood, but… Guynerth's son must not kill him.”
“I'll take care of it.”
Black only said that and left the basement first. A moment later, Tiwakan's mercenaries came in and lifted Manau up. Until then, Manau was burying his face in his hands and crying endlessly. * * *
“Ah, did the lord go himself?”
Fermos had been examining the royal records in the King's office all along. It was as promised to Liene to find the culprit. Then he discovered an interesting fact. In fact, it was more surprising that Liene didn't know about it. Of course, he had no intention of breaking his promise, but Fermos was cautious. He thought he should consult with Black first before telling Liene about this. So he looked for Black and heard that he had gone to bring the beggar old man himself.
“Hmm, it seems like you have something to talk about separately… No, no. I shouldn't even guess about these things. I understand. Go ahead and leave. …Ah, wait. What about finding the cousin? Have you found him?”
“No. It seems like he knows the roads too well, so it's giving us trouble.”
“Aish, you idiots. What were you doing without learning the roads in the meantime?”
“Don't be too harsh. Everyone said they were doing their best. Still, how can they be the same as someone who has lived here their whole life? Besides, he's wearing a priest's robe. People who don't know why he's being chased are hiding him and stuff like that.”
“Damn it. It's going to take a lot longer.”
“That's right. Wouldn't it be better to offer a reward?”
“That won't do. It's too much our style. As you said, he's a man wearing a priest's robe, so if we treat him harshly in public, it'll bring shame to the lord.”
The mercenary sighed irritably.
“Things here always seem complicated.”
“What can you do? Even if it's a small place, the head of the mercenary corps and the royal family are different… Ah, wait a minute.”
“……Vice-Captain?”
Fermos, who had paused for a moment, turned his head back and forth as if nothing had happened.
“Ah, no. Anyway, catch him quickly.”
“I'll run until my shoes wear out.”
“Please do.”
Fermos gestured for the mercenary to leave.
“The royal family……”
His gaze, filled with thoughts, left the air and turned to the old royal records.
“Only the records before the year the coronation was held have disappeared accurately. The lord said that Nauk originally belonged to him.”
Fermos's finger tapped the page that Liene said had disappeared.
“One plus one is two. The missing records must be about the lord. And Princess Liene hasn't seen them yet. …Should I tell her this? The lord doesn't want it to be known. What should I do……”
Complex thoughts flashed across his face as he muttered to himself. * * *
“Ah… I can't stand it anymore.”
It was impossible to keep pretending to lie in bed. Rather, her back hurt more, so Liene finally threw off the blanket and got up. Madam Flambard, who had been neatly folding and putting away the boiled and ironed cotton cloths in the closet, jumped up.
“Princess! Aren't there guards outside?”
“This much is okay. They won't know if you don't raise your voice too loudly, Madam.”
Madam Flambard glanced at the tightly closed door with an embarrassed expression.
“I will be careful. But, are you not in pain?”
“I feel much better than usual. It seems that medicine is working.”
“Who knows what kind of medicine it is.”
“Judging by how drowsy it makes me, it must be a sedative or something. Thanks to it, I’ve been lazing around since morning, doing nothing. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve done this.”
“……At least he did that right. You’ve lost more weight lately, Princess.”
“Surely not. I must have grown taller.”
Liene sometimes felt her wrists looked thinner whenever she saw her sleeves becoming looser, but she suppressed her childishness.
“It would be stranger if you didn’t lose weight... But really, what should we do? It’s become even harder to reveal the truth about the child after what happened today.”
“……Indeed.”
Liene was just thinking the same thing. After deceiving him this much, the betrayal would sting even more when he learned the truth later.
“It’s better not to tell him, right?”
Liene’s voice was as quiet as a murmur.
“That’s hard to say, Princess.”
“You’re helping me with this too. The anger won’t be directed at me alone.”
“Well… it wouldn’t matter what I take the blame for. I just feel sorry for you, Princess… and I feel a little sorry for him too.”
“……”
When Liene didn’t say anything, the Madam carefully continued, watching her reaction.
“He seemed to have steeled his heart quite firmly. No man in the world would speak of another man’s child like that, Princess.”
“I know.”
“That’s why I…”
“That’s why I’m scared.”
“He’s more… What? What do you mean?”
“I’m worried about what he’s trying to gain by going so far, by doing all this.”
“Princess…”
The Madam blinked, as if she hadn’t even considered that.
“I’m worried about what he’ll do when all of this builds up and I completely open my heart to him.”
“How could you have such… dark thoughts?”
“Don’t you think so? You saw his subordinate smudge the letters on the floor yourself.”
“Well… maybe that subordinate did it on his own. Or maybe my old eyes saw something wrong.”
“……”
Liene laughed silently. She couldn’t tell if the Madam was saying the same thing she was thinking. I want to believe that my suspicions are just deep-rooted. I want to believe that the man hasn’t done anything wrong, and that I’m just narrow-minded and dark, and that’s why I can’t trust him.
“The old man in front of the temple will tell us something.”
“I hope he doesn’t say anything like what you’re thinking, Princess.”
Me too. Desperately. Tang, tang. It was then that they heard a knock on the door.
“Princess. Someone is requesting an audience.”
That loud, clear knock was a habit of Tiwakan’s mercenaries. Startled, Liene shook her head with a bitter smile.
“Go and open the door. I’ll pretend I was lying down.”
“Of course. Please, lie down quickly.”
But there was no need to lie down. The people who had come to see Liene were not people she could possibly greet while lying in bed. * * *
“I hope you’ll excuse me for receiving you in the audience chamber instead of the hall. I’m not feeling well.”
“I understand. To think that such a small frame is carrying the child of a beast. Your body must be exhausted.”
“……”
Liene’s face, which had been trying to maintain a calm expression, twisted as if it would crack. Yes, these were the kind of people they were. The people who had come to see her today were from two of the six families who had signed the Lisebery Treaty. The six families had varying degrees of loyalty to Kleinfelter, but they were basically his proxies.
“I didn’t know that having a filthy mouth that can’t distinguish status has become a virtue of the Grand Council elders. Or is it a new way to mourn Lyndon Kleinfelter?”
“Wh-What did you say?”
The head of the Ellaroiden family raised his voice in anger.
“Where did you learn to speak like that…!”
The Grand Council had been convened in Nauk a few years ago. Liene had just been crowned and seated on the throne. Liene, who suddenly had to bear all sorts of burdens, seemed frightened and withdrawn. She had a hard time even looking straight at the six nobles who were clamoring for someone among them to be regent. The Liene they remembered was probably just a young girl who barely managed to say in a trembling voice, with tears welling up in her eyes, that she would protect her own crown. That’s why they couldn’t easily accept Liene, who was sitting comfortably in the seat of honor and responding to their words.
“I’ll return those words to you. Think about who dirtied their mouth first.”
“Ha…! In just a few years!”
Ellaroiden glared at her. But he wasn’t threatening in the slightest.
“Princess. Did you call?”
It was thanks to Tiwakan, who appeared immediately, rattling his sword hilt at the slightly loud noise.
