CH 118.2

Cloud stepped in front of the podium while a bewildered Lorian shook his head.

“Everyone knows about this person, even if I don’t address. You must remember it well. The holy light I saw that day. The brilliant miracle that saved Lupus, which was reeling in despair!”

The Archbishop, who had been austere until a moment ago, suddenly hollered frenziedly toward the square as if possessed.

On the other hand, unlike the archbishop, the citizens quietly listened to him as if frozen by some spell.

When the Archbishop’s speech to the people ceased, the Queen called Cloud.

“Hero Cloud.”

“Yes, Your Highness the Queen.”

“Unfortunately I was not in the city that day. That’s why I don’t know the fear and despair you all must have felt. I don’t know much about the miracle you brought upon the city that fateful day. But…”

…they knew the miracle had saved cities, kingdoms, and even the continent.

Francisca flourished her right hand.

A knight waiting at the lip of the podium approached and opened a long red case.

Inside the case was a sword, radiant blue and glimmering.

The splendid gold patterns embossed on the sword’s surface and hilt seemed to suggest that this sword was not an ordinary item.

“It is one of the treasured swords that have been passed down from generation to generation in the royal family,” Francisca introduced. “It is one of the swords favored by the progenitor of the Kingdom of Prona, His Highness Caltus.”

“Thank you, Your Highness the Queen.”

Receiving the sword, Cloud slid it into the scabbard.

He turned around.

The eyes of countless citizens were focused only on him.

Still, Cloud fretted not.

Rather confidently, he drew his sword and brandished it at the sky.

-…

There was no applause or cheers like for Francisca or Lorian. On the contrary, in the plaza, which became as quiet as it was strange, citizens put their hands together and prayed.

One couldn’t have known about other places, but here, in Lupus, the symbolism of Cloud was something else entirely.

* * *

“Damn it!”

Returning to the room, Lorian plucked off the bracelet and flung it away. The slammed bracelet was pinned into the wooden slat, but he didn’t care.

Compared to the sword Cloud had received, that thing was nothing more than a toy.

“You insult me like this, huh?”

The coronation was, in a nutshell, a play to keep Cloud afloat.

Lorian and Francisca were just supporting characters to make the play stand out.

“That damn bastard…”

Originally, the main character in the play should have been Lorian, not Cloud.

To do that, he tried to enlist the Archbishop’s affiliation.

But the archbishop betrayed him.

""

Lorian remembered what he had said when he confronted Archbishop Vedic after the coronation ceremony.

– You took the bribe, so why didn’t you keep your promise?!

He couldn’t say he was actually betrayed because the archbishop had praised him a little.

“What bribe you are talking about, Hero Lorian…”

A person called a priest could be so shameless.

But Lorian couldn’t argue further.

There was no evidence and the other individual was the archbishop of a foreign Kingdom, and the meeting at that time was clandestine. And if Vedic was caught, he would be embroiled too.

He was angry but could only chew at the inside of his cheek.

“Whoa…”

Lorian pounded at his chest to relieve the frustration.

“You cannot blame me for what comes next.”

He would now have no choice but to go a little into the rougher way.

He seized one of his knights and gave his command.

“Go and tell the queen. I want to meet her.”

* * *

“Imploring a meeting… Is that really what he said?”

Queen’s temporary residence.

Francisca asked, lying comfortably on the huge bed. Her demeanor as a queen was nowhere to be found.

“It was Leslie’s idea, not mine. I only made the bigger picture, she wove all the nuances.”

The same went for Cloud, who answered.

He was lying in the same bed, as if not talking to the queen of a monarchy.

It might be a heart-dropping scene to others, but the two of them were used to it.

The time the two spent in the countryside hiding their identities was by no means short.

Now, whenever they got formal in front of others, they would laugh behind the back.

“Now, now, don’t get carried away by trivial matters like this. So maybe now? Did you do what you said before?”

“Uh huh. Make an appointment for tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Do we really need to? Wouldn’t it be better to make them wait a long time until they are vexed?”

“I think that would be fun too.”

Cloud stretched and propped up.

“It’s time to finish it. I’ll finish it all tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night? That’s fast.”

“Shedia did better than I thought. I will reward her when she comes back.”

Two pieces of moonstone and she would be happy, right? It was twice as much as originally planned.

Shedia would be delighted.

Cloud nodded and saw Francisca yawning.

“Sleepy?”

""

“I guess it’s because I have not rested properly in days…”

“Then sleep. I’m leaving.”

Just when he covered her with the blanket and was about to get out of the bed.

“Why don’t you sleep with me as well?”

The words she uttered made Cloud stop.

Cloud turned his gaze to her. She looked at him with her innocuous, liquid gaze.

“What? Didn’t we do it before?”

“Is a village girl and a queen the same?”

“What’s the difference? As I am… Ah!”

Cloud flicked Francisca on the forehead.

“Stop talking nonsense and just go to sleep, my queen. I’ll be leaving.”

“Hero, how dare you hit the queen? Hey! This is treason! Treason, I say!”

Cloud raised his middle finger and left the queen’s quarters. When he came out, the knights guarding the mansion looked at him strangely. Cloud frowned at them.

“Did you guys think it was weird? That’s insulting to royalty. If you don’t want to be flogged for blasphemy, don’t even think about spreading rumors.”

“Ye, Yes sir!”

Cloud, placating the knights, headed for the gymnasium.

As always, Lorraine, lightly armed, was waiting for him there.

Lorraine, who found Cloud, spoke before he could say anything.

“Go back and come properly armed. Today’s duel will be the last.”