CH 22

The next day, Raidorl went to the palace with a civil servant who had come to meet him. This was to have an audience with his brother Granard, who had become king.

As it was an audience with the king, he could not take his maid, Neimilia, with him, so he had to leave her at the mansion. 

However, in case of emergency, a shadow messenger, created by Neimilia, lurks in the shadow and its purpose was to help him escape from the castle in the event of an emergency.

“Thank you for your patience. Now, please make your way to the audience chamber.” 

Raidorl waited in the parlour until Granard was ready, but after a while he was ushered into the audience hall.

“His Royal Highness, the King’s brother of Raidorl Zain, is here.” 

When Raidorl entered the audience chamber, he found a man seated on a throne at the far end of the room.

On each side of him were his subjects, who were expressing a variety of emotions: anxiety, hope, hostility, confusion.

“………” 

Raidorl walked silently up to the throne, dropped to one knee and bowed his head.

“Lift up your face, Raidorl.”

“….”

Granard says in a grave tone, and Raidorl follows his brother’s advice and raises his head. 

Looking up, a man sitting a step higher than Raidorl is Granard Zain.

He is Raidorl’s half-brother, and the one who banished him from the capital after he became the wielder of the holy sword, Dáinsleif. 

“……have you lost some weight?” 

As Granard sat on his throne looking down at him, Raidorl’s mind wandered.

His older brother, who is ten years older than Raidorl remembers, looks a little scrawnier than he used to, and his hair is beginning to show some white.

“Being a king is a hard job, isn’t it? This brother of mine has young white hair.” 

Raidorl waited for the king to speak, holding back a smile that threatened to creep into his mouth.

Granard looked down at him in silence for a few moments, then opened his mouth solemnly.

“I am glad you have come, Raidorl. My brother.”

“Well, it’s been a long time, Your Majesty the King.”

“Hmm ……, don’t talk to me like I’m a stranger. I may be a king, but we are still brothers. You can call me as you used to.” 

“Well, I’ll take your word for it, …… brother.” 

He breathed in and suppressed his anger.

“You think you’re a stranger? brothers? You’ve banished me without question, and now you’re talking nonsense!” 

“I am very sorry that I could not attend our father’s funeral. Please forgive me, a helpless brother for not being able to support you as king.” 

“It’s all right. You have done an excellent job of keeping the demons at bay in the southern frontier cities. Your success has reached the Royal Capital. That’s my little brother.” 

“What a waste of words.” 

Raidorl and Granard. The two brothers continued their conversation in a cheerful manner, with smiles on their faces.

The vassals around them were expecting the reunion between the exiled brother prince and his king brother to be quite a bleak affair, but they were relieved to see them conversing in a more relaxed manner than they had expected.  

However, only the Prime Minister, Lockwood Marcell, had a sullen expression on his face, as if he had bitten something bitter. 

“What a surprise! I had no idea that their relationship had become so strained.”

Most of the vassals watching the audience did not notice, but for some time now both Granard, sitting on his throne, and Raidorl, kneeling in front of him, have not smiled at all.

No matter how softly Granard speaks, his eyes are hostile, glaring at Raidorl as if to cut him down. 

“It is to be expected that His Highness Prince Raidorl has a grudge against His Majesty the King. But I never imagined that His Majesty would have such inflexible feelings toward him…….” 

Granard was born as the first prince of the previous king, Bernard, but from an early age he had a deep respect for the first king, who was the holder of the Holy Sword. 

He has been educated as a crown prince with the ambition that he would eventually be chosen as the Holy Sword and lead the country to further prosperity as the founder of the Zain Kingdom. 

Lockwood, who was supporting Granard, noticed that Granard was jealous of Raidorl, who had become the wielder of the holy sword Dáinsleif. 

Raidorl’s banishment to the frontier was not only to prevent a split in the country between the first prince, who is running the affairs of state in place of the sick king, and the second prince, who has become the holder of the Holy Sword. 

It was also due to the dark flame of obsession that burned in Granard’s heart.

“Even so,……, the death of His Majesty the First King and the accession to the throne of His Majesty the Granard have already made His Majesty’s position so secure that there can be no succession dispute. I thought that the resentment against His Royal Highness Raidorl was somewhat cleared up……” 

Apparently, Granard’s hatred and jealousy are far deeper than Lockwood had imagined.

And – no doubt – Raidorl is also aware of this black emotion.

His brother, who had banished him, still hated him. He must have sensed this clearly and is returning the hostile look.

“Will ……this be enough to win the heart of His Highness Raidorl and make him fight against the Empire? So, after winning the war against the empire and saving the country, will the brothers be able to reconcile?” 

There is no way they can do that. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Lockwood gulped down a nervous spit.