Chapter 9

****

‘Didn’t she just repeat my words that I promised to let her do whatever she wanted?’

Lysian let out a chuckle as he stared at Lestia, who had gone from a brave rabbit to a shivering rabbit again.

“No, you can read it or throw it away without permission. The library is overflowing with books of that kind. But you should read normal books first.”

He remembered hearing that it was fate for interpreters to read ancient magic books.

Then there would be no point in stopping her. However, he thought it would be better for Lestia to learn about other books first.

Knowledge has a tight connection with each other.

A child who had not built up a foundation of basic knowledge suddenly gained unknown ancient knowledge, it seemed dangerous.

Well, the decision was for Gerard, the Duke of Verchester to decide.

For now, he was Lestia’s temporary guardian, so Lysian decided Lestia needed the basic knowledge first.

“Eh? Normal books?”

But Lestia was completely oblivious to Lysian’s worries, her eyes shining as she pictured a future of reading mundane books.

“Yes.It means you’ll be studying writing tomorrow. I’ll teach you. You, my sister, your free time is over.”

Lysian shook his head in disappointment, but Lestia was overjoyed.

“Thank you so much!”

She really liked that feeling she got from the book earlier. She wanted to read the other books as well. She was very grateful that Lysian was willing to help her make that possible.

Lysian looked at Lestia, who was smiling brightly, and offered her a cookie.

“Try some of these for now. A book would be nice, but you’ll have to eat a bit more first.”

“Yes, sir!”

Lestia nodded and took a bite of the cookie that Lysian had given her, which was about the size of her palm.

***

Gerard was standing in a grand party hall wearing a black uniform embroidered with the Verchester’s seal.

It was a knighthood ceremony.

The old and decrepit emperor had long since installed the oath of allegiance and left the place, saying he was tired.

Originally, his schedule should have ended with it.

However, the emperor ordered Gerard to attend the party he had prepared for the Verchester.

The Duke of Verchester had never wanted such a grand party.

It was just after his father’s funeral had ended not long ago. Because of this situation, he told the Imperial family that he only wanted a simple succession ceremony.

However, the imperial family freely held a party to commemorate the succession to the title, forcing Gerard to attend. It was a long and tiring schedule over fifteen nights. There was a lot of work at home that he needed to go back and handle.

He also had to make sure that Joel had saved his sister safely….

“Oh, my God, Gerard, Verchester’s seal suits you better than I thought. The former Duke would be pleased to see that his son has grown up like this.”

Crown Prince Eric approached him.

Gerard looked at the Crown Prince, feeling tired. He had a glass of wine in one hand and seemed to be a little drunk.

He seemed to have already enjoyed himself on the other side of the party hall and his appearance was a mess. However, his eyes, like the scales of a snake, were glittering with venom, as they always did.

“I am very happy to see you outside the academy.”

His tone was friendly.

Crown Prince Eric was Gerard’s classmate at the Imperial Academy, and they had been friends for more than ten years, from childhood to adulthood.

However, they were not the best of friends.

Because for all those years, Eric had been jealous of Gerard.

The Crown Prince wished to be the most brilliant and the greatest, befitting his status. However, he had never been able to beat Gerard in any field, be it magic, learning, or swordsmanship.

Furthermore, as soon as he came of age, Gerard jumped into the war and even came back with the title of war hero.

As Gerard built his fame day by day, Eric’s inner world became warped.

And Gerard had never shown himself weak in front of him.

But no matter how great Gerard was, he was still beneath Eric.

Eric was going to be emperor.

And the Duke of Verchester was destined to be the Emperor’s vassal.

Eric sneered and looked at Gerard as if he was very happy now that he had finally reached that situation.

“Crown Prince.”

Gerard greeted him with minimal courtesy on his expressionless face.

During his time at the Academy, Gerard ignored him every time, but now that he was the head of the Verchester family, he had to deal with the Crown Prince, even if it was superficial.

“Gerard, what are you doing? Don’t you enjoy the party? All the noble daughters are after you. It’s the bachelor Duke of Verchester! They all want to show you what’s inside their skirts.”

Eric chuckled and made a vulgar remark. But Gerard was not the least bit perturbed. The Crown Prince’s habits had already been grasped a long time ago.

The more he reacted, the more persistently the Crown Prince annoyed.

However, Eric was more relentless today.

He immediately talked about the Verchester family.

“Strange, why can’t I see anyone from the Verchester family here? It’s a party to celebrate the succession of the new Duke, but they don’t come together and enjoy the party.”

“… I don’t think I need anyone else’s congratulations, because the Crown Prince already congratulates me personally.”

With those words, Gerard moved his gaze from the Crown Prince in what appeared to be a somewhat rude manner.

So far, he had dealt with Eric as the Lord of the House, but as a human being, Gerard did not wish to deal with him any longer.

But Eric chuckled and took another step closer to Gerard.

“Let me guess. The second one, Joel, is probably busy with the academy, the third, Matthias, is probably traveling freely again, and the youngest, well, ………..”

“You know that the fourth one is not in good health.”

Gerard made no secret of his displeasure as one by one the names of his brothers came out of Eric’s mouth.

Then Eric chuckled, unable to hide his delight.

“It’s fun to see Gerard, who had always been so numb, react this way.”

So how would he react to the story that follows?

“Haha. That’s not what I meant, Gerard. You know that I’m not interested in the fourth.”

It was the scum, who was born in Verchester, but was too weak to take a step outside the house, even at the age of fourteen.

Eric said, sipping the wine. Then, mockingly, he spoke his mind.

“I meant the youngest. You got a cute little sister recently, didn’t you?”

At those words, Gerard’s eyes, which had been as calm as a lake in the middle of winter, sank deep for a moment.

Lestia’s existence seemed to be known to the imperial family.

Then, when did it start?

Was it before his father’s death or after?

Did they know she was the interpreter?

No, if they did, they would have already found Lestia.

“So you knew.”

Gerard answered nonchalantly.

If the imperial family already knew about Lestia’s existence, hiding her will only lead to more trouble.

Especially if Crown Prince Eric knew about it. He would spoil Gerard’s good mood in any way he could. Just like now.

“It’s been a really long time since a girl was born in the Verchester family. I’d love to see her once. I’m sure she’s beautiful.”

“She is only eleven years old.”

However, the mention of his sister in the mouth of the prodigal Crown Prince alarmed Gerard, who was in no mood to talk.

Erichen’s lips were dry and parched by Gerard’s ferocious spirits, but he giggled, pretending to be bold.

“Haha. Yes, I’ll send an invitation to that lovely lady soon.”

Then he happily mouthed off what he wanted to say.

“Anyway, the former Duke was…well… I’m grateful that he’s left five  Verchesters in his bloodline, when there’s just only one or two born in a generation… “

“…”

“Gerard, you have to do the same. It is for the sake of my empire, to which you are loyal. The more wizards we have, the better. Only then will we be able to win the war and protect our people.”

It was a stallion and a hound.

Gerard twisted up his lips and stared straight at Eric.

“Huh?”

Eric stepped back, feeling the air around him froze cold for a moment.

“You’re very worried, Your Royal Highness.”

‘You are like a speck of dust, not worthy of my loyalty.’

Gerard felt the urge to kill the Crown Prince right now by sucking all the moisture out of his body right in front of him.

No, it might be better to plunge him into a spray of magic and drown him in his distress…………

In an instant, the tens of thousands of different ways of killing Eric that Gerard knew of passed through his mind.

But the b*stard was the Crown Prince.

They must not make the Imperial family an enemy.

Only the imperial family knew how to make the magic neutralization Stones, so Gerard had to be patient.

The need for the magic stone was the fatal weakness of the wizard family Verchester.

If he was alone, he would do as he pleased. But he still had his siblings to take responsibility for.

He couldn’t leave them to die. He had to get a supply of the magic neutralization stones from the Imperial family.

Gerard forced the edges of his lips to curl up to make a smile.

“Thank you for your concern, but the Verchesters that I take care of will be better than my father did.”

Crown Prince Eric, who was as hard as stone, finally cleared his throat.

“Mmm-hmm! Then I will look forward to it.”

“I, too, am looking forward to the future empire that the Crown Prince will create.”

That was how the two ended their conversation.

Meanwhile, the ladies in the party hall, who were staring at Gerard, made squeaky little noises.

“Oh, did you see the Duke of Verchester smile earlier?”

“Yes, I did. I wonder what kind of conversation he had with the Crown Prince to make him smile like that.”

“Hah ………………… he’s really handsome. I hope he smiles more often.”

“I know. Why does he always walk around with no expression on his face when he’s so dazzling when he smiles?”

But no one noticed the deep anger hidden behind Gerard’s gorgeous smile.

***

Crash!

After his conversation with Gerard, Prince Eric returned to his room and knocked the wine glass in his hand onto the floor. Then he suddenly started breaking things.

“You little wizard. How dare you…”

The crown prince always broke things this way, and was quick to be physical with his subordinates. This made the palace servants and attendants tremble with fear.

Then a servant approached Eric and said,

“Your Highness, please calm down. We have found one who is doing well in Verchester. I know a lot about the Duke’s sister.”

“I see. I’m glad to hear it.”

A sly smile instantly appeared on Eric’s face, which had been twisted in anger.

Then, seemingly having made up his mind, he fluttered his two snake-like eyes lazily back and forth.

“Gerard, I’d love to see that cocky little bastard panic.”

***