Chapter 224: A Single-Edged Sword
The ears of wheat almost touch the ground, and a sickle to reap them. And a single-edged sword propped up at an angle. The emblem on the ornament attached to his chest indicates the arch-enemy of the Quardenze family.
Fluttering his bright red cloak, the man spreads his arms lightly.
Romilie.”
His voice, his low and resonant, melts quietly into the tense air.
I gently removed my hand from hers.I don't shake her off, nor do I express regret for leaving her, but I am very conscious of the fact that it is just a natural movement.
It was too deliberate a pose: the person I happened to dance with was actually the princess of the Spierzeig family, and even though it was a night party, I was surprised ……. The fact that it was a night party , the fact that the dress she wore did not have a crest indicating her house, the fact that they did not reveal themselves to each other, and the fact that they took their hands off each other as soon as they found out her name was Romilie If you take these factors into account, you will understand that I have not forgotten my position as the next head of the Quordenze family.
'Your father is calling for you, sir.
Spiaseik Romilie.
She is the eldest daughter of the Spiaseik family and the sister of Spiaseik Verret, who I personally defeated in Operation Serpent's Fang.I knew who she was the moment I entered the hall and saw her backside her.
There is a certain prestige to what a noble wears. The more powerful a noble wears, the higher quality he wears, and he has to wear it. Romilie's dress is not something that a princess of a weak noble family would wear, and on a Scale of one to five, I would say that it belongs to a four or five.
And since the people of the Eluo continent have colorful hair and eyes, this kind of information is relatively easy to obtain. It is even more difficult to hide the fact that she is a princess of the main family, which is not a shadow family. The Quardenze family even knows that she was nicknamed “Princess Jade” In her childhood.
The Quardenzes even know that she was called Jade Princess when she was a child.
Then I guess this is goodbye.
Yes I'll leave you
She leaves my side and leans close to the Duke of Spierzeig. She made a gesture as if she was going to speak, and then the Duke looked at me and walked slowly toward me.
Our father, out of the corner of my eye, does not move on the spot. I wonder if he was concerned about the repercussions of immediately following up with his child, or if he was daring to see what was going on in order to find out my true intentions. The only thing I know is that I can't tuck my tail between my legs and run away from this place right now.
Romilie is attractive, but her attitude her towards the Spierzeig family is another matter.In order to create a certain amount of distance, I dared to reveal my guarded attitude her and waited for the duke.
'As a father, I thank you for protecting my son's dignity.
Without introducing himself or greeting me, he said this first. Although it was obvious, the tension in this space might break through the limit if we revealed ourselves to each other at this point. The reason why the servants of the Levios family, who have been reflected in the corner of my eye since a few minutes ago, seem to be in a hurry is probably because of this.
The amount of magic power is overwhelming, but the aristocratic pressure generated by his behavior is almost crushing my mind and thoughts.
I tried my best to remain calm and sharpen my thinking to the utmost limit as I carefully replied one by one. Right now I am talking to the Duke of Spierzeig and the Marquis of Kuardenze. I can feel my mental energy being drained at a tremendous rate.
According to the duke, he is relieved that Verret's body was not humiliated. But even if that were the case, it is hard to get used to the idea that a parent who has had a child killed would be thankful to the avenger. Be more understandable if he had suddenly thrown a word of contempt at me.
The colorless expression on the Duke's face was in a way similar to that of my father, who remained expressionless.
'I am not interested in humiliation.'
As I said it, my brain said, “It's not like I'm giving any consideration to the Spierzeik family or anything! Don't get me wrong! I'm not interested in messing with the corpse!” Voice of the tsundere girl saying, “I'm not interested in playing with the bodies!
……How?”
But Tsundere-chan's terribly obvious line is not acceptable on the Eluo continent. Duke Spierzeig looked at me with eyes like he was looking at something inexplicable.
I decided to say the line that I had prepared in case he was going to ask me for an explanation.
If victory is honor, have mercy on me in return.
There was no change in the Duke's facehis.
This is a catchphrase said to have been used by Emperor Zincaen, who aimed to unify the Alpeo region: “If victory is honor, then victory is the reply. Since the battle required a quick execution of the operation, he is said to have inspired his allies by saying that if they had time to play with the corpses of defeated nobles, they should rack up another victory, for that was the true honor.
As usual, I have a feeling that this is a phony saying fabricated by my grandmother, but it is known to the public as the maxim of Emperor Jing Kaen, who succeeded in the unification of the country with a swift wind and lightning.
If you take my current words honestly, it sounds like, “Since we have the very great honor of winning the battle of the main ancestor, we should show mercy to him without playing with death. But if you consider the original story, it would also sound like, “I have no time to play with corpses because I won't have true honor until I destroy the Spierzeig family.
Because my blood knows the sorrow of losing a loved one.”
And he ends with sarcasm.
Reading the words alone, he sounds like a saintly man who has awakened to charity, but no one should take him at his word. It is inevitable that they will interpret it as, “I know the grudge that the Spierzeiks killed my uncle, because I was born in the Kuordenze family.
The Duke of Spierzeig's gaze, which seemed to see right through me, made me break out in a sweat. The servants of the Levios family, who were moving about in the distance, were a great distraction.
“As it should be,” My father's voice said.
It was my father's voice. I had expected my father to come after a certain amount of tongue fighting, but he entered the battle surprisingly quickly.
As my father began to glare at the Duke of Spierzeig, I tried to find out what was going on around him, but it seemed that he was not particularly condemned for his behavior.
Having handed over the leading role in the tongue fight to my father, I felt a little more at ease.
It was only after the fall of Castle Laishleif that the Levios family was informed that the Spiaseiks would be participating in the royal social. However, that was a formal notice. If we include the period of coordination, we should assume that the talks had been in progress for a long time before that.
According to my father, he had felt the shadow of Spiasek, who was active in the dark, since the end of the civil strife between Levios and Millendorva. At that time, the Spierzeig family was not yet in a desperate enough situation to visit King's Landing. It is more reasonable to assume that they were trying to cross paths with the Levios family through a completely different strategy.
Since the Levios family seems to have wanted to stop the expansion of the Kuordentse family, it is not surprising that they were thinking of taking advantage of the Spiaseik family, and it was not too difficult for the Duke of Spiaseik to predict this idea.
My father's main purpose in putting together the Quordenze allied forces to attack Nambonan City was to respond to the growing voice of the Mirendorva and Aterahan families, but I think he was also somewhat concerned about the Spiaseiks' moves.
In the end, however, all of the scheming that was going on behind the scenes was crushed by Operation Serpent's Fang.
It must have been a last-minute decision for the Duke of Spierzeig to take the helm in joining the royal society. The Levios family probably had no other choice but to drop the matter.
Participation in social gatherings is the province of the royal family, and basically any noble family that has not traditionally been hostile to the Levios family can participate. Levios and Spiaseik families are not in a state of war. The Levios family supports the Quardenze family's cause of war, but they are wrong. If he refuses, he will be pointed at behind his back, “Are the Levios doing the bidding of the Quardentzes? If I refused, I might be pointed at behind my back.
What's more, my father had participated in royal society when he was an Imperial aristocrat. Even though it was just before his defection from the Empire, the Quardenze family, of all people, had set a precedent. A weakness that could not be loudly condemned.
Either way, the royal social was a pretty big adventure. Even though the royal family would use its prestige to guarantee the safety of the participants, if they died, that would be the end of it. Well, it could be said that the Spierzeig family is being pushed to that extent.
Even moving to the royal capital would be difficult. Naturally, they could not pass through the Quardenze, Silopea, and Evenapis territories. In the great rebellion operation of the Spiaseik family, the noble families located to the west and south of the Evenapis family are working as their subordinates, so they probably came to the royal capital through their territories, saying that they would make peace with the Kuordentse faction. The Zeldmitra family may also be involved to some extent since they came via the southern part of the kingdom, but as long as …… We have not clearly stated our refusal to participate, we can't question them.
In any case, since they are passing through Lake Meo, I wonder if it would be possible to take advantage of their return trip to sink the boat. Or, perhaps, the city of Hartinos could launch an attack by deploying all of its water power at once. Would that be too dishonest?
Thinking about this, I looked at Romilie, who was standing diagonally behind the duke. Then my eyes met with hers. She was not smiling amiably or glaring at me, but simply standing there with dignity.
She is a picturesque woman. Rose's assessment of Romilie was correct. When I return to Quardenze, I'll reward her with a generous supply of seed.
……Blood is passed down from parent to child.”
Although the words are few, the father and the duke are engaged in a tense, bee-yapping war of words. Families.
The history of the relationship between the Quardenze and Spierzeig families began with the founding of the Quardenze.
During the time of the priests, aristocratic families throughout the continent were under the control of high priests in charge of their districts. However, these priests often stayed in the Holy City of Maguaussee, and it was the noble families obedient to the Zesu Church's High Priesthood who were appointed as assistants who actually organized and coordinated the nobles in the field. The head of the noble family appointed to this role was called the Imam.
The founder of the Quardenze family, the priest Quardenze, sought the position of imam before entering Newnery so that he would not be underestimated by the surrounding nobility after his conversion to nobility.
He must have thought that it would not be difficult for him to obtain the position, since he was descended from the mainline Pullotista family, the Holy Family of Pullotista, he would be a priestly noble, he would be based in the major city of Newnery , and the Spiaseik family had already been appointed as the imam of the Vojstra district.
In the end, however, this did not happen.
According to documents that have survived in the Kuordenze family, this was due to sabotage by the Spiaseik family. A curse of bitterness.
The diary of the time contained a long list of bitter, spiteful, and cursing epithets. How is this attitude inappropriate for a place where those who share blood go hand in hand?”
Duke Spierzejk, referring to the fact that the theme of the royal social was a gathering to celebrate the end of the internal conflict between the Levios and Millendorva families, shot his father his an oversized sarcasm.
Priest Quardenze, founder of the Quardenze family, and Priest Spiaseik, founder of the Spiaseik family. Both of these families are Holy Unity Pruotistas. These two families that hate each other are like brothers derived from the same family.
Father shows no anger at all and smiles fearlessly.
He is not at all angry and smiles wryly, “This is an idea that does not fit in the kingdom. Perhaps you should return to your homeland and tend to your family heirlooms.”
The heirloom my father is referring to is the single-edged sword that the Spierzeig family may possess.
The crests of noble families have various designs, but not many of them depict a single-edged sword.
The single-edged sword was a symbol of an obedient weapon that had no blade on the bearer's side and could be wielded to the priest's heart's content, and only noble families who served as ushers were permitted to use it on their coats of arms.
The Zeldmitra, Aterahan, and Millendorva families also have swords on their crests, but they are all double-edged swords.
The Zeldmitra family could not use it because they were not in the role of usher. Of subordination to the priests.
The hatred that the father harbors is anger at the murder of his brother. He mixed it with the past events that went back to his blood and insisted that there was no way to make it go away. Well, I think that in the end, the cause of the hatred is also the result of the grudge that has been passed down from the Spierzeig priests to their children and grandchildren, and has continued to the present day.
At the forefront of the hatred that clashed in front of Romilie and I, the words we exchanged gradually dwindled. There is no longer any room for repairing the relationship between my father and the duke.
After a few moments of silence, the Duke of Spierzeig took Romilie and left.
The light of the moon illuminates the truth.
Tell me one last thing.
What is……?
If you say too minor a word, I have a hard time recalling it.I think it was a saying left by a craftsman or something long ago.I thought for a moment about what kind of craftsman it was,and then I remembered from the content of Romilie's conversation earlier that it was a saying left by a perfume-making craftsman.
A top perfumer blends perfumes under the moon, or something like that. It was something to the effect that by concentrating only on the fragrance in the darkness, without looking at unnecessary information and away from the hustle and bustle, the truly important things would emerge .
Considering that it was a statement by the duke, we should still consider it an allusion related to Romilie.
The moon means night, so the truth is that the feelings you had for Romilie at the soirée are the truth about you.
Even the path of the beast looks like the right path when it is illuminated.
Only beasts go in the dark, my father said I guess he meant that I should not be misled by the Duke of Spierzeig's statement his.
While I was thinking about this and that, the duke had left the hall. The faint scent of sweet flowers seems to linger in the air, perhaps because he is feeling a sense of regret for Romilie.
'Soon the soiree will be over.
I can't question him right here and now, so I'll ask him after we return to the Quordenze mansion……. It was easy to understand that Father was saying that.
'Yes, that's right. It will be crowded right after we finish, so shall we stay close by?”
I really can't help it if we move after this and meet the Duke of Spierzeig, so I'll just stay close to my father. The time remaining is short, so it won't look strange if you and your son are together I had to make a good impression.
My father and I sat down at a table near the wall.
We were far enough away from the surrounding nobles that even if they gave us a sermon, they wouldn't know we were there. I was nervous that the sermon might suddenly start.
If victory is honor,……, That was pretty good. He was looking a little pale.
My father said, a little good-humoredly. I didn't see any signs of panic at all, but from my father's point of view, the duke looked a little frightened.
To be honest, I had not expected such a critical response, so I asked him frankly about the question.
He said, “…… Mu? Wasn't the first time you brought up Arpeo as a check that you would succeed to my will?”
Apparently, there was a misinterpretation. When I explained what I was thinking when I made that comment, my father thought about it for a moment and then understood.
I see. Wilk doesn't know about the end of his brother's life, does he?
Yes, he did.
It is a topic that is very difficult to ask about.
The civil servants ask for the details from the father, and the knights answer in vague terms, so there is no reliable source of information. Perhaps they are afraid to talk about their family's misfortune, or perhaps they don't want to mention the scandal that caused their Lord's death, or perhaps both.
I have to know someday, but I've been putting off that someday for a long time. As long as there are future social engagements, I would like to hear what they have to say today, since I've gone to so much trouble .
Then we'd better have a talk.
'Is… The right place for it?'
If possible, I wanted that talk to take place after we returned to the Quardenze mansion.
It's good that it's here.”
Father turned his head and exhaled deeply, probably to calm himself down. There was no need to rush him. I was just going to sit back and wait for him to calm down.
However, I immediately sensed something strange about the atmosphere in the hall.
The tension should have dissipated after the Duke of Spierzeig left, but the servants of the Levios family still had stiff expressions on their faces. On the contrary, the Levios knights started coming in and out of the hall one after another, and even the atmosphere was becoming more and more tense.
My father seemed to have sensed the change in the atmosphere at about the same time as I did.
He stopped taking deep breaths, checked his surroundings, and immediately tried to send his maid to run.
But that was an unnecessary order. Before I could do so, one of the Levios knights walked up to our table.
He was of a military temperament, so he got straight to the point.
It's a hexenbiest.
