CH 37

Leaving Some Consolation

Princess Julia appeared in a golden nutmeg wagon pulled by six horses. It was already the time when the salon was in full swing.

“Oh, Count Buchanan. How have you been?”

She greeted with a proud but somewhat haughty smile. Cesar laughed as if he was glad.

“Your Highness Princess Julia! My apologies to meet such a precious person in a humble state.”

“Thank you for your hospitality. Miss Buchanan, I’m relieved to see your familiar face but you look pale.”

Julia looked over Kyrie, standing with a stiff face behind Cesar. Cesar looked at Kyrie with contempt and smiled at Julia again.

“It is because my daughter is nervous. It’s the salon where the Princess is participating, so we had to prepare firmly.”

Julia laughed out loud.

“You didn’t look so gutsy…..? Well, that’s good. I’d like you to show me around.”

Cesar headed to the garden with Julia in full service. 

The garden was planted with acacia and cherry trees which were decorated with artificial flower decorations to erase the futility of winter. 

In the sky, heat-producing mana stones were woven like threads, shining brightly, and the servants were busy putting air in the wind tunnel in case it was cold.

In the salon, a large group of fifteen people were chattering in fur. When Julia appeared there, everyone’s eyes gathered. 

After all recognition, the earthly princess did not give them any attention.

“What about the Legend? “

“This way. “

People opened the way as Cesar moved. Among the crowds divided like low tide, the center of the garden, the right pagoda with another vine, was seen.

Nathaniel was there. With a light energy that no one allowed to access, he was looking far away with a decadent atmosphere with a half mixture of boredom and languor.

As soon as she saw him, Julia stopped walking.

“Your Highness?”

When Cesar asked carefully, Julia remained firm with her eyes wide open. 

Cesar looked back at Kyrie, who was behind him urgently, with an impression.

“Kyrie, what are you doing without looking at Your Royal Highness right now…”

“Is he the Legendary Lord?”

Julia asked quietly. It was a cool question, but Kyrie felt a heartbeat from Julia’s voice. 

Kyrie belatedly realized that Julia’s gaze was nailed to Nathaniel and she remembered the fact that she had forgotten.

Nathaniel was too handsome, and Julia had a hobby of collecting handsome men.

“……perfect. Perfect. Perfect.”

Julia’s green eyes began to rise with bizarre aspirations.

“I want to have …”

She murmured, goosebumps appeared on Kyrie’s arms. Fortunately, Cesar came out calmly on behalf of Kyrie.

“You’re Highness. I can only go this far.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t serve you until the end. I think I’ve been hated by the Legendary Lord.” 

“How did it happen?”

“A father with a daughter is always hated without any fault.”

Cesar laughed as if it was no big deal. In fact, he must had been very disappointed, but he didn’t reveal it at all.

Nathaniel earlier had declared a ban on Cesar.

‘If you want to live, you’d better not come to me.’

It was definitely unusual to say if you were wrong, it would be a good enough reason to kill you, the reason was that he was apparently Kyrie Buchanan’s father.

Cesar realized that Nathaniel would not kill him for most things, given the obvious special treatment. 

Then he began to use the name of the Legendary Lord in a clever and mean way. As expected, the legend overlooked it.

“Please excuse me, Your Highness Princess. I’m sorry I can’t serve you until the end.”

“It’s all right, go ahead.”

Julia seemed to have already used up all her kindness to Cesar. 

She strode to the pagora, where Nathaniel was located, to see if she could wait any longer and she said rambunctiously.

“You’re the Legend, aren’t you?”

Kyrie was embarrassed inside. It was polite for the noble to be introduced by their acquaintances when they meet for the first time. 

Julia ignored it and sat across from him without asking Nathaniel’s permission.

“I’m a Princess. Julia Orewinbridge.”

Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed very finely.

‘You don’t seem to like it.’

Kyrie quickly sat down in an empty seat.

“Lord Nathaniel, this is…”

“It would be nice if you could call me Jules.”

Julia apparently thought that her bold charm would work.

Nathaniel’s clear eyes flickered carelessly. There was no answer, so Julia persistently spoke.

“Your Grace was a friend of my ancestor. What do you think of Sel Arellano? It must be quite different from when you lived.”

Finally, Nathaniel reacted. He smiled at someone who knew how beautiful his face was.

[It’s different.]

A spark flashed in Julia’s eyes, her cheeks trembled with laughter.

“Why don’t you come to Sel?” 

[Sel?]

“Yes! Why are you in this place?”

Julia pretended to be gentle and spread her hands, but no matter how much people looked at her, they could only feel arrogance.

“Sel is much better. I’ll lend you the whole palace, not a single floor, the estate must have been returned to you, but it will take time to build a new mansion or find a suitable place. I want you to stay in Sel.”

Nathaniel’s smile deepened every minute. Kyrie noticed that Nathaniel was like Julia. He was very courteous, and Julia was kicking as hard as she could.

“Your Highness, why don’t we talk a little more and then tell some stories?”

“Don’t come in, Miss Kyrie.”

“Doesn’t the Crown Prince wonder how Lord Nathaniel is doing?” 

Julia stopped at the meaningful words. She looked at Kyrie as if she was shooting, and smiled as she shook her cheek.

“Oh, I see. I’m sorry, Miss Buchanan. You’re right. My brother was also wondering how Nathaniel was doing.”

Kyrie swept her chest (PR: idiom for feel relieved). Julia was more tactful than Eden.

“I’d like to ask Miss Kyrie to join us. Kirier. If I say it to myself, I think I’m going to talk about secrets of the Royal Family without realizing it. You know me, don’t you?”

Throughout the conversation, Nathaniel rarely spoke, and Julia spoke enthusiastically or appreciated his face about the benefits of staying in Sel. 

Kyrie indirectly restrained Julia whenever Nathaniel’s smile deepened in the meantime.

Finally, Nathaniel brought up the topic first.

[I just realized that you’re a wizard]

Julia was pleased.

“You’re interested in magic, aren’t you?

[I am, Kyrie, hold this up.]

“……”

He moved his eyes slowly, looking at the cane, and Julia and Kyrie’s eyes strangely followed it.

[Do you know the lab in Orewinbridge?]

Kyrie breathed in on the main subject that came too suddenly.

At that moment, something like interruption(a blockage to mind, more or less a psychological blockage) appeared and blew the air. 

Time began to flow very slowly. Julia opened her eyes. And moved her chin up and down like a broken nutcracker.

“I, I don’t know…”

[About my seal.?]

“To find, out, about…”

[Did Orewinbridge send it?]

“Oh, ah, ah, ah …”

Julia’s chin rattled. Nathaniel did not laugh at her.

[The answer is wrong. You wonder how the Emperor sealed me. You know that neither. Right?]

“Y, y, yes it is….”

[Do you know what happened 540 years ago?]

“Th-that’s, o-only, Mo-mo-the-ther, k-k-know” 

[The Emperor would have coveted the position of Kyrie Buchanan]

“Th-tha-that’s ri-ri-right”

Julia’s condition gradually became strange. She gasped like a suffocating person and drooled from her mouth. 

The blindfolding condition lasted too long. There was a vague sense of anxiety that Kyrie should not leave her alone anymore.

“Nataniel! “

Kyrie rose from his seat and hugged Julia.

The world is back on track.

Hugging Julia as if to hide her from Nathaniel, Nathaniel giggled with a polite cynical smile.

[I don’t know anything about this.]

“What did you do?”

[I just casted a spell.]

“What kind of magic!”

[It’s the magic that you almost got trapped in.] 

(T/N:Referring to that mind Magic she got in last chp) 

Kyrie blinked her eyes.

“How did you know that?”

[The forest animals are quite competent.]

“Was it such a scary magic?”

[That’s what happens when you increase the intensity.]

“She won’t have any mental problems or aftereffects, she won’t right?”

[Unfortunately, you stopped it too early for that to come.]

He spoke as if he were really sorry. Kyrie looked down at Julia in her arms, unable to hide her embarrassment. She seemed to be out of her mind yet.

[Let that sit down. Because she won’t remember.]

Fearing Nathaniel’s words to end, Julia stepped away from Kyrie’s arms on her own. 

She remained still like a doll, and Kyrie looked around anxiously. People were still looking this way with admiration, but they seemed to know nothing.

[Now, here’s what I found out.]

“What did you find out?”

[First, the Emperor is the only one who knows a little bit about the events of the founding of the Empire and it was not reported to the other members of the Royal Family]

Nathaniel spoke monotonously as if to explain the chess rules.

[The Emperor only told me, ‘I don’t know anything’, ‘I thought you were dead.’]

“Vallabriga wanted to ignore what happened to Orewinbridge.” 

[It must have been unfair to die from the work of the ancestors..]

A faint contempt appeared on Nathaniel’s face and then disappeared.

[Second, the Emperor doesn’t know that I can use magic.]

“Is there no record left?”

[That was the third. The Emperor only knows that I was asleep with the magic of Orewinbridge, but surprisingly no information. So where was it recorded?]

Kyrie answered without blocking.

“It must be at the Royal Library or the lab of Vallabriga.”

Nathaniel leaned back in the chair, he put his arm on his armrest and struck his chin.  

When his long fingers covered his lips, all that was left was a pair of eyes shining like a blue supernova.

[You should have wanted something to covet] 

(T/N: this line was directed towards Kyrie)

The covered lips seemed to be smiling for some reason.

* * * 

〔He won’t like it.〕

Leschaux said. 

Kyrie was taking a night walk with him, Leschaux would often stop by to see Kyrie after Nathaniel returned to the countdom of Buchanan. 

“I don’t quite understand. Do you hate it when people covet you?”

〔He probably thinks it’s natural for humans to covet him. You’re the one he’s talking about.〕

“Okay, that’s a perfectly unconvincing answer.”

Leschaux walked silently for a while under the night sky where the moon rose. The dry bush garden on Buchanan Street was surprisingly well suited to him. 

Given that Nathaniel also fit well like a picture, she didn’t even know that the deep sinking atmosphere of transcendent beings fit well with winter.

〔I have said this to you before. You’re the only one who means something to Nathaniel.〕

“I see. That was the first thing I wasn’t convinced about.”

〔You asked for evidence.〕

“You didn’t answer.”

〔I’ll answer now because in the past, we were also favored by Nathaniel in that way. Of course, but I didn’t know back then that was how he cared about someone.〕

Leschaux looked up and looked at the moon. Despite the cold air, no breath came out of him.

〔In the past, Vallabriga and I woke Nathaniel up.〕

“Was he asleep at the time?”

〔That’s right. In the past, we found him in the ice and thought we had met a god or a devil. So we made a wish, Vallabriga is the founder of the country, I had the strength to help〕

Leschaux’s voice lowered.

〔Nathaniel made it happen.〕

“Was it only the Lord and Vallabriga that meant something to Nathaniel at that time?”

〔That’s right〕

Leschaux stopped walking and popped his hand through the bushes. There was a strange color of worm sitting on the finger that came out again.

〔For us, humans are this much. A worm〕

Kyrie listened to Leschaux’s explanation with mixed feelings. A strange-colored worm fluttered its wings on Leschaux’s finger.

〔We can push and kill humans for fun as much as we want. But we won’t bother to do it. You don’t have a hobby of pushing down on all the bugs you see on the street either.〕

“I suppose so.”

〔That’s how you usually ignore bugs but one day, one of the bugs bites your toes and calls your name. Kyrie Buchanan, wouldn’t you be surprised?〕

“Of course I’d be surprised if a bug called my name.”

〔Surprised. It’ll be fun. So you might listen to a bug that can call your name. It’s not going to be that difficult.〕

Kyrie easily realized that she was the bug who called his name. The first person to wake Nathaniel up from his sleep in Hercula. 

That was who she was now, and previously, it was Vallabriga Orewinbridge and Lore Leschaux.

‘What about before then?’

Kyrie suddenly dropped her thoughts and asked.

“Then if I… if I want something from Nathaniel, he can make it happen. It’s too easy for him.” 

〔That’s right.〕

“But because I didn’t ask him for anything…”

〔Nathaniel isn’t doing anything right now.〕

“Are you sure?”

〔Positive.〕

“How can you be sure?”

Leschaux looked back at Kyrie. 

Cherry-colored eyes, as clear as colored glass, resembled Nathaniel. The worm on the fingertip flew away before she knew it.

〔Because I’m no longer a human being.〕

Kyrier had goosebumps on her arm without realizing it because of the cold echo of the answer. She just pretended to be cold and rubbed her arms to avoid looking.

“That’s a relief—I don’t think I’ll ask him for anything.”

〔It’s not just about that.〕

“Not just that?”

Leschaux looked at Kyrie with glimmer.

〔Let’s say you have a bird that you cared about. Let’s say one day it’s being chased by other birds.〕

It was a bug earlier and now, a bird. If Kyrie had said it was okay, she would have thought it would be easy to be referred to as an earthworm. 

She clenched her lips as she recalled Nathaniel, who was probably watching this side of the house somewhere.

〔You are the only person in the garden of the world, and what if the only bird that can call your name is about to die?〕

“The Buchanan is not such a weak family.”

〔That’s what we see.〕

“……please continue”

〔You might think like this. Let’s kill all the other birds. One bird on my shoulder is more important than a million unnamed birds.〕

Leschaux looked at the moon. 

The moon was like a fine ring in his red-purple eyes, Kyrie heard the cold sound of water standing deep in the snow, close to the heart.

〔So Kyrie Buchanan. Please use the Legendary Knight and the Patriotic Knight.  So no one can look down on you.〕

Leschaux’s low, rough voice easily penetrated Kyrie’s heart without any interest (T/N: 비장미- No matter how hard you put in your human endeavors, you feel aesthetic emotions when you can’t overcome your given conditions)

〔Because when something happens to you, you don’t know what he’ll do〕

Leschaux left the mansion leaving the words. 

Leaving some consolation.

‘But you don’t have to worry too much. Nathaniel likes to be polite. He’ll keep his dignity unless it’s something that should be done.’

‘why is that?’

‘Otherwise, everything is too easy’