“The demonic beasts are acting strangely.”
Raymond listened to the report with a tired expression. Cassian handed him a document and continued his report.
“Last year the demonic beast hordes suddenly stirred, but this year…”
“I’ve heard the reports. I hear even the winter species have suddenly awakened.”
The northern lands of Castrain were always close to the front lines. It was only a matter of when things were worse and when they were a little better. When the weather cooled, things would get a bit easier, but this year’s situation was somehow different from the past.
What was the reason? Was there even a need to find a new reason? The answer was always the same.
The weakening of the barrier, those who rashly tried to study and use demonic energy, and the unconscionable expenditure of manpower due to the Emperor’s blatant attempts to keep the Castrain family in check… If the situation got any worse, Raymond himself might have to leave the capital and return to the ducal lands. A while ago, Duke Ortho had left with a serious expression, saying he had something to investigate, but…
“Honestly, this is a situation we couldn’t have imagined for summer.”
Winter was always a brutal season for humans. Demonic beasts were a species that could move just as easily on top of a mountain of snow. But summer was a season where even the Castrain family, who were responsible for the northern lands, could have a little breathing room. It seemed that relief wouldn’t last much longer.
The shadows under Raymond’s eyes deepened. “What’s the status of the knights?”
“…I purposely kept it a secret from Young Master Lisianthus because I know he would cause a ruckus all by himself, but ten of our regular knights have been seriously injured. The lives of two squires are in danger. The situation is so dire that I have given orders to withdraw all the squires in training.”
“It’s a good thing that fellow isn’t here. He’s not used to losing someone.”
“…He’d just say he could do it by himself, even if it was too much for him.”
His aide, Cassian, sighed.
To outsiders, the Castrain Ducal family probably looked eternally calm and strong. But they were desperately fighting in their own way. No matter how wealthy and powerful their family was, it couldn’t make all their soldiers immortal. Even if they earned money by selling demonic crystals to provide weapons and food, their manpower was limited. The demonic beasts were getting more vicious every single year.
With the exception of the youngest and his adopted sister Vivi, most of the Castrain family’s bloodline was powerful. They would effortlessly accomplish things that other knights couldn’t, even when working together.
Lisianthus, in particular, after he was able to freely control the power of fire, would express his opinion that he would go out and work harder in place of Raymond, who couldn’t move so rashly now that he was also serving as a commander. He neglected high society like a reckless fool and did whatever he pleased, yet he grew very fond of the knights under his command.
One cold winter, when he heard that a young knight was isolated due to an avalanche, he even rushed out with no protection, despite others’ attempts to dissuade him. It was before Lisianthus could properly use the power of fire, and he almost had to have his hands and feet amputated due to frostbite.
Raymond had slapped his cheek then.
Because you are the second young master of Castrain. Because you are the one who will lead these people. Look at the manpower that was consumed just to find you. If you get an irreparable injury, do you know how many more of your subordinates will be lost in the future because of this one decision?
Lisianthus knelt and wept. The young knight he had risked his life to save had been isolated in the snow for too long, and he died the next day. Even on the day of the funeral, Lisianthus was silently shedding a stream of tears.
‘I can’t be like you, brother.’
‘Is that so?’
‘I can’t… I don’t think I can be like you…’
‘Okay. You don’t have to be.’
‘I’m sorry, brother, I’m sorry… But I just can’t bring myself to make that judgment… that I shouldn’t have saved him, that it was my lateness. I can’t live like that…’
Raymond suddenly felt envious of his younger brother, who was honest and cried as he poured out his true feelings. Everyone loved the honest Lisianthus. Even while scolding him, clicking their tongues, and getting angry that he made them worry, they loved the honest Lisianthus. Unlike Raymond, whom everyone kept a respectful distance from, like a person to be honored.
He couldn’t help it.
The first hunting dog Raymond raised was bitten in the neck and killed in a battle with a demonic beast. The talented hunter who taught Raymond how to kill demonic beasts was killed by blood loss while fighting a demonic beast in the form of a polar bear during a cold winter. Even the squire whom Cassian had personally assigned to him, hoping he’d be another one of Raymond’s aides because he was clever and strong, met a similar end.
Raymond was the future Duke, and he had to make decisions and take responsibility for many things in place of the Duke, who couldn’t move recklessly. Naturally, he almost never charged into the battlefield on a whim based on his personal feelings. But even so, because he was strong and had many responsibilities, the moments when he had to fight were endless.
Raymond was strong, but the people around him who wanted to protect him were not as strong. Countless people died saying they believed in him and would protect him. It was like the hilt of the sharpest sword being damaged instead of the blade.
Sometimes, Raymond felt as though his heart was a steel ornament floating on a frozen lake. That steel heart, already covered in layers of rust from all the blood it had been soaked in, gave no reaction other than a grating, twisting noise.
And even then, a letter would arrive from the Imperial Palace without fail. Raymond would wipe his cheeks with snow to erase the bloodstains and receive the letter. It was an envelope full of rose-scented herbs that were supposed to help with sleep. And letters written in a round, light-green ink, full of excitement. Since they were fiancés in name, they had to exchange gifts, and so she audaciously sent a lock of her platinum-blonde hair, saying that if he wanted more, he should just ask.
A handful of thin hair, neatly tied with a pink ribbon.
Raymond was seized by a strange emotion when he saw it. Was it a mockery of the princess, protected in the safe imperial palace, living with cheerful abandon while someone was constantly dying to protect this land? Everyone knew the ending of this political marriage. There was no way the outcome would be good for the Castrain family’s sword, who rolled around on the bloody, icy land, and a budding sprout that bloomed on artificial soil.
So why could she so consistently say that she liked and loved him? She didn’t know anything about him. She would scream and run away if she saw even a trace of the dead. She would call him a monster and run away. She always dressed up so nicely whenever she went to the Imperial Palace, so wasn’t she just captivated by that shell? Wasn’t she just coveting him because he was “the” young master of the Castrain family whom everyone praised? What would she think if she saw him rolling around, covered in blood, like a monster among the demonic beasts?
Unconsciously, Raymond picked up the hair with his fingertips as if he were possessed. As soon as he picked it up, a bloodstain appeared on it. He had been wiping his face with snow to clean off the blood. The hair, as thin and soft as silk, looked infinitely shabby with the blood clinging to it. It looked like garbage.
Raymond, without hesitation, put the finely-penned letter, the fragrance, and the hair into the fire. For a moment, he felt like a fool for even picking it up.
This is what a relationship that can neither understand nor love each other is like. Raymond had to protect the people of his desolate land. It’s okay. After all, someone has to do it. Lisianthus is secretly weak-hearted, and the youngest, Rasper, is gentle. There is no one else who can do it but him. He couldn’t let all the work the Duke had done go to waste now.
He thought that would be the end of it.
‘William’s too frail for this.’
Raymond recalled Lisianthus’s expression from a while ago. A slightly awkward smile was on his face, full of laughter.
‘I’ll go, I’ll go! I’ve gotten really close to her, you know. She’s got a frail body, so someone with more drive and strength than William should go. That’s me.’
His cheeks were as red as apples, and his eyes were sparkling. Lisianthus was always a person as honest as his power. When he came back in a terrible state after causing trouble in the Imperial Palace, where he had gone fuming and saying he would give Titania a piece of his mind, his scarlet hair was covered in embers, and he was so covered in ash and stains that he looked more like a puppy who had rolled in a mud field than a human. The words he had thrown out then, too, with foxy, crescent-eyed smile.
‘Oh, she was surprisingly cool and crazy, you know?’
It was truly strange. The fact that ‘Titania’ had changed was clearly a piece of information to be wary of. So he had reported it to the Duke as well. The fact that even Lisianthus, who hadn’t believed it, was now so certain meant that Raymond’s judgment had been correct. And this fact was not bad news for the Castrain family, who were in a standoff with the Imperial Family.
So why did his chest lurch when he saw that honest smile, as if his heavily rusted heart was creaking and spitting out rusty water?
