◈ 303. [Side Story] Winter is coming (3)
It was near dawn when Larc and I finished our interview.
As chiefs of the Western and Southern Fronts, we quarreled fiercely and reached agreements moderately.
“ash.”
But at the end of the story,
“Don’t forget We are brothers.”
personal… … It came down to the topic of siblings.
Lark looked at me blankly and nodded.
“So I want to trust you.”
“You can trust me, bro.”
Lark added to me with a grinning smile.
“And, I also want to believe in Fernandez.”
“… … .”
No, that Fernandez and you will fight to the death… … I poured out advice from the heart in my own way, but he didn’t listen.
“Both of you are precious little brothers to me. I don’t want a future where the defenders of our empire fight against each other.”
Lark said with a firm face, but with a confident tone as if he had his mind set.
“If you truly want the Duke of Bringer to survive, I will turn a blind eye to it. And if Fernandez wants the throne, I will gladly yield.”
“… … .”
I forgot what to say about this declaration.
Even so, do you want them to be together within the framework of family? This first older brother.
“So Ash. my little brother I would be happy if our only three brothers in the world could get along well and be friendly.”
“… … .”
“I am… … I just hope for it.”
Lark spat out silently and brushed his long hair. I smiled warmly.
“Me too, bro.”
Still, family members need this kind of conversation, I thought.
It was something I didn’t like. I also answered.
“All is well, the misunderstanding is cleared, and our brothers again… … I hope the Guardians can have a peaceful meeting.”
No way.
The ecliptic is engulfed in the flames of civil war, and the empire is split in two. I can never go back to those days when the four of us had a meeting of guardians.
However, just as the greeting ‘let’s eat once’ has a strong personality of conveying regards rather than actually meaning to eat.
Just with a wish, I said that too.
Lark smiled bitterly as if he had read the meaning, slowly got up and put on his hood.
“Then see you again. little brother.”
Less painful than the first time, leaving only a light hug.
Lark strode out of my mansion.
Without bothering to see him off, I stood at the entrance of the mansion and watched the back of the first prince as he walked away.
Maybe it’s because he’s tall, and his steps are wide, so he moves away in an instant.
“… … Did you go?”
After Lark’s presence completely disappeared, Dusk Bringer peeked out from the roof of the mansion.
“Did you really go? Is that Larque? You didn’t swing a sword, didn’t settle the ground or uproot the building, talked a little and then quietly backed off?”
Dusk Bringer looked down at me in disbelief. I shrugged.
“Because he has a special brotherly love.”
I care about me, and I also care about Fernandez. Right now, I had no choice but to run to the ecliptic.
Given the magnitude of the crisis, the change in direction has become absurdly easy.
Thanks to Fernandez’s well-timed plotting of treason, I passed this side with ease.
Tadak!
Following Dusk Bringer on the roof, her knights descended one by one.
At the warehouse side of the backyard of the mansion, the heroic characters under my command came pouring out before I knew it. I clicked my tongue.
“I didn’t order it, but everyone was ready for battle… … .”
“A strong man like that is sitting in front of you, not hiding his momentum and showing it openly. Could he have stayed still because he was your men?”
It seems that everyone was preparing to break in if I was in danger.
All of my party members who were hiding were covered in cold sweat. Looking at my subordinates who looked like wet puppies, I smiled.
Lark is obviously out of specification.
It is a holder of strength far beyond the human ark. He must have felt more pressure than when dealing with quite a few boss monsters.
Now that the incident is over, go in and sleep, and everyone gave you a light pat on the back. The party members went back to their respective accommodations with exhausted faces.
“By the way, what kind of conversation exactly did you have that made Lark withdraw?”
Dusk Bringer asked me after confirming that Lark was exiting the Crossroads through the west gate with a smile on his face.
I told you simply. Fernandez will cause a rebellion, and Lark will return to the ecliptic to stop it.
“Reverse mother… … Indeed, the issue of wine and the southern front is such a big event that it becomes ‘something like that’.”
Dusk Bringer, who clicked his tongue and understood, lowered his eyes,
“… … ash. Do you know that all descendants of your imperial family are entrusted with an oracle?”
He suddenly opened his mouth on a subject he had never heard of.
“yes? An oracle?”
It was a completely unfamiliar story, so I narrowed my brows. What is an oracle?
“The guardian tree of the empire… … Everblack, a dark beast, is also a beacon of magic that foretells the future.”
A black thorn tree that was frozen with the emperor in the deepest part of the imperial palace.
It was a story about the tree from which the Empire took its name.
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“The fate of direct descendants of the imperial family is directly related to the future of the empire. That is why the royal grandson is predicted what kind of life he will lead even before he is born.”
Is it because he is the king of the Principality of Bringer, a brother state of the Everblack Empire?
The Duke of Bringer, who had once been on good terms with the Empire, was familiar with all the customs of the Empire.
“According to that prophecy, a middle name used only by the royal family will be created.”
“aha… … .”
I was wondering which school of philosophy the middle name of the royal family came from, but it was like getting a score from the black thorn tree.
“I was also in the position of the oracle. Emperor… … At Traha’s request, we looked into Everblack’s future together.”
Dusk Bringer casually called the name of the current emperor, Traha ‘Peacemaker’ Everblack.
Before the relationship between the two countries went wrong, it seems that they were close in their own way.
After all, this duke is older, and he must be higher in terms of rank. Wouldn’t that be the position of a relative’s grandmother to the emperor?
anyway.
“What kind of future was it?”
“Traha said that he sees three of his sons as heirs.”
I was amazed inside. Since it is a future prophecy, I wondered if it would be as accurate as a weather forecast if I had to hit it well, but I got it right, starting with the number of children.
“The first son will suffer because he is too warm and compassionate, and the second son will cause trouble because he is too cold. Everblack prophesied.”
“Wow, isn’t accuracy a joke?”
I think I would have made a ton of money if I had sold fortune-telling in Korea, but that thorn tree.
Dusk Bringer chuckled.
“So Traha reversed the middle names of his two sons.”
“Eh?”
“It is literally. Contrary to the prophecy, I added my middle name.”
For the warm-hearted Lark, ‘Avalanche’, which means ‘avalanche’.
For the cold-tempered Fernandez, ‘Amber Keeper’, which means ‘Ember Keeper’.
Not to live according to the destiny that each other was born with, but out of the desire for each other to compromise. that it was changed
I put my chin on my chin and made a whooping sound.
“It’s fun.”
I’m not a fatalist, but the story itself is interesting.
“Then, is Lark actually the ‘Amber Keeper’ and Fernandez the ‘Avalanche’… … ?”
“Well, it’s a middle name, but it’s something the emperor likes.”
Dusk Bringer crossed his arms and sighed lightly.
“Listening to the story of Larc and Fernandez, it suddenly comes to mind. What happened decades ago… … .”
Suddenly, I felt a chill on the nape of my neck.
Winter is near. Maybe it will snow soon.
When I heard about the middle names of the two, I thought that.
If so, the blizzard of the winter that is about to shut up. The avalanche that will pour down on this empire.
Is it Larque? Or is it Fernandez?
Which one is the true master of this winter?
“… … There, Archduke. Then.”
I sneaked up next to Dusk Bringer and poked her side with my elbow.
“As the third person, what kind of fate was predicted?”
“huh?”
“I’m a bit curious about what kind of fate was prophesied to give me this middle name.”
It’s a boneheader.
After receiving such a terrifying and terrible prophecy, how could they give their lovely youngest son a middle name like this?
I was curious and stabbed his side, but Dusk Bringer is great! He coughed and turned around.
“… … I don’t remember.”
“no! Where is that! Does it make sense that I can’t remember the other two?!”
“It’s hard to say this, but Lark and Fernandez are two of the greatest geniuses in the history of Everblack’s royal family. On the other hand you… … Didn’t the buds turn yellow from an early age? Compared to my two older brothers, I thought I didn’t have to pay attention.”
Dusk Bringer poked at Ash Kim’s career as an arrogant bully, and when I was making a hurt expression, hehehehe again! I was embarrassed.
“So it seems that I forgot it from my memory. Please understand.”
“You’re doing too much… … Makes me wonder… … .”
While I was babbling, I became curious about something else.
Moving to the other side of Dusk Bringer, I stabbed the other side with my elbow. Dusk Bringer struggled in embarrassment.
“No, speak! Why do you keep stabbing my side from earlier!”
“I’m pretending to be friendly… … anyway. Speaking of names, I have another question.”
Actually, I was curious from the beginning.
“Why is your name Dusk Bringer, Grand Duke?”
How come someone’s name is Dusk Bringer?
… … Not the same teasing meaning.
It was because the girl duke in front of her was taking the name of her distant ancestor and using it as her own.
The Empire’s guardian dragon and the world’s last fire dragon. Duskbringer is the name of the legendary red dragon that married the Emperor of the Empire hundreds of years ago and gave birth to the first Duke of Bringer.
He must be the dragon who stopped Jormungandr, the serpent that overturned the world, and saved the empire.
Dusk Bringer inherited that name. Why? Is it the same feeling as Jupiter Junior?
“… … .”
Then Dusk Bringer just looked up at me. No, why do you look at me like that? Was it a rude question?
“… … ash. You deserve it.”
“yes? Qualification?”
What are you talking about all of a sudden? Were you talking about names?
“You accepted my subjects, and as you boasted, Larc… … The pursuers under his command were also shaken off. Rejected by all allies, abandoned by the world, you accepted us. You have already earned my trust.”
“No what… … haha. Thank you for saying that.”
I’m happy to receive compliments, but no, so why did I leak to Samcheonpo while talking about my name?
“… … But, not yet.”
“yes?”
“I want to wait a little longer to see if you are the one who deserves to know the meaning of my name.”
Dusk Bringer, slowly taking his gaze away from me, whispered softly.
“When the time comes, I will let you know first. The meaning of my name.”
“uh… … yes.”
It was a light question, but I heard an answer that was somewhat heavy.
I shyly scratched the back of my head.
I didn’t know, but this neighborhood seems to have a deep meaning in its name. Don’t you engrave your fate in your middle name, or do you not have a meaning that you can’t tell others.
“Now, let’s talk about names!”
Dusk Bringer, who had become his usual humorous face, grinned, showing sharp teeth.
“Today was great, Ash. I will trust your words even more from now on.”
Lark and the 1st Corps of the Imperial Army, which must have been the biggest worry, withdrew without fighting, so it seemed to put my mind at ease. The face is bright.
I smiled softly.
“I will closely monitor the movement of the western front and the ecliptic. Please feel free to spend the winter here.”
“Yes, thank you very much.”
Dusk Bringer, who smiled at me, bowed his head to show his respect, then took his knights and left the mansion.
I looked north as she was going, then I looked west again. Already there is no trace of Lark.
Now the world is changing.
The road next to the collapsing precipice, I just run desperately.
***
“… … .”
Heading for shelter outside the North Gate, Dusk Bringer was thinking.
In fact, she remembered it clearly.
The fate of the third prince of the imperial family.
A prophecy that was like a curse that Everblack, a dark beast, spat out at the emperor.
– Your third son will tear the empire apart and ruin it.
– But at the same time, your third son will make the empire prosper forever.
