Chapter 75
“I— I have to fix this somehow.”
They’d been cornered by Titania putting on an act of pity and by that obnoxious Flux who, for whatever reason, had taken Titania’s side. And though he’d shown a somewhat pathetic side after giving in to Raymon’s threats, this couldn’t end like this.
He gave Gregory a glance. Gregory, who had looked dazed a moment ago, seemed to snap back to himself as soon as Kronen’s gaze landed on him.
“Anyway, the princess has already left, so we’d better change the atmosphere and let people go home.”
The minor Duke Raymon, who’d appeared out of nowhere, had grabbed Titania and carried her off as he pleased. The temple was… a mess at a glance. They’d even said the sacred relic room had been damaged; whether the dedication ritual could be carried out properly was doubtful.
A short while ago they’d been arguing about whose fault it was, but here, somehow—
“…Everyone, a lot has happened today. Please head home for now. I will personally take responsibility for resolving the regrettable events that occurred today.”
“Yaaa.”
At that moment. Lisianc—Lisiancius (Lisiancious?)—who had been watching Raymon—who had scooped Titania up with a weird, puckered face as if he’d just bitten into a sour lemon and disappeared—suddenly straightened his shoulders and spoke in a sharp tone, as if nothing had happened.
“Sir Gregory, who had such an awful lot of business that you had to send me far, faaar away?”
“……”
His red hair was all mussed, his eyes the same fierce red, shining dangerously. And the sword he held in plain view.
Lisiancius really did look as if he’d been riled up to the point of boiling.
No wonder — he’d been angry for some time now. More precisely, his anger had started the moment he realized that, while he’d been forced to leave the temple and wander off to some remote place, Titania had basically been left at the temple without a proper guard.
Or, to put it more exactly: ever since he’d seen the flames burning inside the building.
It felt oddly familiar.
And it hadn’t been that long ago.
Not long ago, Lisiancius had been happily setting off fireworks with Titania in the Rose Palace, hadn’t he?
Back then he’d been surprised, embarrassed, and even a bit amused, but he hadn’t felt this angry.
Watching the lively, reckless Titania, there had been a slight, subtle feeling at times.
Still, his honest impression had been, “I didn’t know she could be like this.”
As he learned more about Titania afterward, Lisiancius had been swept by an odd emotion.
It resembled endless guilt, but something he couldn’t bring himself to admit. Titania acted as if she’d forgotten the past when she’d wanted to eat him whenever she saw him. As if she’d become someone else, she’d been refreshingly friendly to Raymon as well…
“She doesn’t spare herself.”
She had no hesitation about stepping forward herself.
Of course, that behavior wasn’t necessarily bad. Titania’s actions had often met with success.
But oddly, seeing the flames blazing so brightly in the temple from even far away, Lisiancius had felt something ominous.
He had been there to protect Titania by staying by her side.
Having nearly died once and then acting fearlessly — thinking of that oddly resolute stubbornness as she wandered among the beasts —
He figured that someone like him, who needn’t worry about pride or appearances, should stay near and keep watch; that would at least make him feel less anxious.
When Lisiancius had arrived wildly breathless at the burning temple and looked for Titania, she was already in the midst of her smoke-and-show.
Debbie and Barbara were desperately shouting, “Calm down, Your Highness!” and trying to restrain her, and she didn’t appear seriously injured, so it probably wasn’t a huge crisis.
But…
“Why?”
Why on earth hadn’t she run away?
Of course, there was the possibility she herself had set the fire, as she had in the Rose Palace.
No, odds were strongly on that. It was almost inconceivable that someone would go to the temple where a dedication ceremony was about to be held and deliberately set fire to the interior.
Besides, Lisiancius knew how capable an escort—and assassin—Debbie was.
With Debbie right beside her, who would steal a sword? Many citizens were shocked at the temple fire and had come running with water-jars. Titania must have been deliberately showing all sorts of things in front of them and trying to get what she wanted as a result.
“That’s dangerous, though, right?”
If he’d been by her side, he would have stopped her. No, he would have opposed setting the fire from the start. It was different from the Rose Palace.
After all, it was the royal palace and her own venue.
Everyone would have banded together to rescue Titania.
But this place was different.
What if someone exploited the chaos to actually hurt her?
What if the flames grew too intense and she suffered great harm?
Of course, Lisiancius knew one of the biggest reasons already.
“A truly splendid sight — quite admirable, isn’t it?”
“Do you have something to say to me?”
“No, but with everything in this state… are you still going to insist that you’re the head of Princess Titania’s guards?”
Lisiancius’s open sarcasm drew a dark glare from Gregory. The soldiers who had gone far from the temple following Lisiancius and had only late discovered the fire, then returned, looked helpless watching the friction between the two.
“Who would have expected a fire in the temple?”
“Spare me the obvious lines. Are you going to hand that head position over to me?”
“Now you’re trying to compete with me outright? Ha! No matter how powerful the Kastrain family is, I am His Majesty the Emperor’s….”
“When things happen, do you know how incompetent commanders fare on the battlefield? They can’t assess the situation, can’t take responsibility.”
Lisiancius tilted his head and smiled. Innocent as a boy, mischievous as a rascal, cruel as a demon in that grin.
“Let the underlings die.”
“……”
“If you lack the ability, you’d be better off slinking away and hiding. Trying to scheme one’s way through usually means throwing your subordinates’ lives into hell first.”
“Are you threatening me now?”
Titania was desperate.
‘When the Rose Palace is being remade, sneak someone from the duke’s house in to make a small opening.’
‘…….’
‘I’ll pay you back later. Right now, well. As I said, who knows — some bored person might set a fire and the princess, who’s reckless as ever, could get burned to death.’
She thought it was okay to risk herself if it could at least produce a slightly better outcome…
He remembered the green eyes he’d met that had smiled so casually.
The next moment, when others had rushed in, those same green eyes had turned into the glare of a furious madman.
Raymon—when had his brother known about that change in her?
Maybe from the beginning?
When Raymon had appeared on the scene, Lisiancius had been surprised. Others might not have been, but Lisiancius’s reaction was different.
He knew Debbie transmitted news promptly to the Kastrain family via special communications.
It was a natural precaution in case an emergency developed.
Still, he had never expected Raymon to actually show up here.
The brother he knew was the embodiment of responsibility.
The situation in the north wasn’t in any way relaxed at present. Even someone like Lisiancius, who only did what was ordered, knew that.
From the start, Raymon was practically acting as the duke’s proxy. That he’d come down this far was akin to bringing a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken—a bit overkill.
Of course, Titania, who’d been merrily putting on a pitiful show to needle the priests a moment ago, had frozen in place, flustered.
Raymon silently urged the hesitant Titania and hurriedly took her away from the spot.
If someone had seen, they might have thought she’d been abducted. It was unlike him. His unusually possessive behavior—reluctant to let her go—looked odd even to Lisiancius.
Had Raymon always been so pushy? He hadn’t.
He seemed desperate to get Titania away from that place right away.
His face was still the same deadpan, his tone dry, but his hurried actions gave away his agitation. He pulled Titania along without giving her time to react, and he didn’t properly explain to the others who remained, who were themselves bewildered.
As if afraid of something.
If he feared something, what could it be?
Lisiancius instinctively understood. Perhaps he even imagined something similar. Like when Titania had faintly smiled and passed out after he’d rescued Vivi.
Sometimes Titania looked precarious, as if she would stake herself and, with a tousled smile, sleep soundly thinking, “I got what I wanted.”
“Threatening? Hardly. I was only complaining that a commander should behave like a commander; if he did, serving him would be enjoyable. If you felt that’s a threat, then Sir Gregory must have never known what real threats are.”
Those were the kinds of things that made Titania take risks.
“Kronen priest, Sir Gregory.”
Lisiancius smiled like a hunting dog who’d caught a scent. Gregory, whose eyes met his, stiffened, and so did Kronen, who was trying to pacify the citizens and send them away.
“From now on, please take good care of her. Okay?”
Lisiancius might not have realized it, but that look was very similar to how Raymon had pressured those present when he’d come to take Titania. Especially the murderous light leaking from his eyes.
Of course, he’d acted on something, but for Kronen and Gregory—who had been planning something and then taken a blow to the back of the head before they could implement it—the situation must have felt truly unfair.
