Episode 106
Even the Barons Elyon and Mathils were not included in the target group. They fell for Baron Prozy’s three-inch tongue.
‘It’s better than I expected.’
Thanks to Prozy’s efforts, Amy and I have put aside our plans for the time being. Instead of raising an army to absorb the barony, we decided to use the barons, led by Prozy, to gain loyalty from the nearby weak lords.
By accepting the six barons, the Hebron Viscounty more than doubled its dominion. From Hebron to Baron Ludwig, there was no land that was beyond my reach.
‘The military power is sufficient. It is to raise the security of the entire territory to the maximum before the branded monster appears. It is enough for a weak traveler to walk alone throughout Hebron.’
It was a dreamlike story.
In the Kingdom of Zenon, the only lands that were that safe were the capital and the direct territory of the Duke of Breio.
Amy was in charge of the aftermath of the barony subordinate to me.
Because of that, I had nothing to do.
No, I was able to focus on what only I could do.
“Gasp! Gasp! Gasp! Woof!”
Since I started living as Louis de Hebron, it was the first time I had felt so sick that I almost vomited.
I lay sprawled on the floor, gasping for breath.
I tried to relieve my fatigue by practicing Aura.
I fought for three days and three nights, but I never won a single battle. My opponent was the Duke of Breyot, whom I had imagined.
I felt a presence and turned around to see the lord’s direct informant standing there. He was tasked with delivering me urgent news from all over Hebron.
The informant looked around the messy parade ground, made eye contact with me, and quickly lowered his head.
“Lady Ruby de Breio, Lady Breio, is visiting Hebron. She passed through the Jayleson Territory three hours ago.”
“what?”
“Lady Ruby de Breo… … .”
I had just been fighting with Ruby’s father.
Her sudden appearance left me stunned.
‘Ruby is coming to Hebron to meet me!’
The smell of sweat wafted from his body.
I couldn’t meet Ruby in this state. I knew her well, but this was Ruby’s first time seeing me.
I hurriedly got dressed, but I didn’t hear any news that Ruby had come to see me.
It was the same even if I killed time by drinking two cups of tea. Even while I tried to recall Ruby’s memories and recreate them with my hallucinatory powers, there was no news.
‘What? You didn’t come to see me?’
There was a possibility. He might have come to see my father, not me. If he had intended to see the lord of a territory in the first place, he would have contacted me before he arrived here. Also, a soldier, not my informant, should have brought the news.
“Syang.”
Baaaaaaaaaaaa!
Finding Ruby’s location wasn’t difficult. I opened the tricycle and scanned the area around Hebron. I didn’t have to search everywhere, I just had to find an expensive-looking carriage that didn’t seem to fit in Hebron.
‘There’s no carriage? Did you come on horseback?’
As Louis de Hebron, there was very little he could learn about the Duke of Braiot. He could only obtain information that the Duke of Braiot had deliberately made public, and to learn anything more than that would likely incur their wrath.
The Ruby I knew was only her childhood self. She was small, a bit coquettish, and hated wearing pink dresses so much that she would step on the hem of her skirt and tear it.
‘Ruby was a tomboy. If she still has that personality… … .’
I searched all over Hebron.
I looked around the street to see if there were any fast-moving horses, then scanned the area where my father might be.
‘Found it!’
Ruby was in the old Hebron castle. When I was promoted to Viscount, I started to build a new castle, and now I look after the affairs of the land from the new building.
The old castle was used as the Hebron Academy and occasionally as a guest house.
‘You may not want to, but I really want to meet you.’
If I had to pick one person I would like to meet in the Duke of Braiot’s House, I would choose Ruby without hesitation.
She was the only person who made me feel a sense of kinship with her.
“uh?”
In my tricycle, one more person was captured besides my father and Ruby.
It was Gaius.
He was also a member of the royal family, so he would have known the daughter of the Duke of Breyo. But the two of them looked unusual.
‘No way… … Ah, no way.’
The fact that Ruby and Gaius didn’t call me meant that they had no intention of meeting me right away. However, this was my territory, and it was basic courtesy to treat the lord with favor even if he was of royal blood.
“His Majesty Gaius.”
“Count Hebron.”
The air in the reception room was hot.
Father and Ruby’s eyes were red, and Gaius’s cheeks were also flushed. It seemed like they had been talking about something serious without me knowing.
Everyone looked at me with a puzzled look, but I was sure they were talking about me.
“No one has revealed Gaius’s location. It’s just that my eyes are special.”
I touched my forehead with my fingertips.
The moment the trident opened, Ruby opened her mouth slightly. Even for her, it was the first time she had seen the Brecha symbol.
‘You’ve grown so much that I didn’t even realize it.’
Ruby last came to see me when I was eight years old, when I was locked in the basement.
-I might not be able to come in the future.
-huh.
-Shall I speak to the Duke one more time?
-No, that won’t do.
-Then what should I do?
-You just keep living. Then, you’ll be able to meet again someday. Can that happen? Because our Ruby is a child as clear as the sky.
-Tch!
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It wasn’t the first time Ruby had talked about breaking up with me. She had said before that we wouldn’t be able to meet, and I was saddened by that, but I hoped it wasn’t true.
How many times has that promise of parting been broken?
‘If I had known that would be the last time, I would have done better.’
Gaius quickly regained his composure and gestured to me.
“I was going to call you anyway. Say hello, this is Lady Ruby de Braiot.”
Ruby just glanced at me and didn’t greet me properly.
She was pressing her eyes tightly with a handkerchief.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Louis de Hebron.”
Ruby’s eyes became slightly cloudy when I introduced myself.
She might have been imagining her dead brother through me.
“I have heard a lot from His Majesty Gaius. It is a ruby.”
Ruby straightened her spine and puffed out her chest.
She asked me with that noble expression typical of the Breyo family, as if asking when I had cried.
“You received a letter from your brother?”
I looked at Gaius.
It was a secret that I had received a message from Luis de Breyot. I expected this information to reach the royal family, but I did not expect Ruby to mention her brother.
I believed that there was a fairly solid bond of trust between Gaius and me, but that has now cracked.
Gaius also felt sorry and spoke anxiously.
“Don’t look at me like that. Ruby will soon be my wife, so… … .”
“Huh?”
I thought, “Oh no.” I made a fierce expression without realizing it.
We had known for a long time that Ruby was engaged to a royal blood. There were rumors about the engagement, but nothing was announced. It seemed like both sides were holding onto their cards until the very end.
There was a lot of speculation that he would be the third prince.
The eldest son had already married the eldest daughter of the Margrave Lorenz family, and there was a high possibility that a rebellion would break out if the second son were to be connected to the Breyo family.
The third son, who had a weak power base, was a strong candidate for a son-in-law, but no one could have dreamed that Gaius, the headache of the royal family, would be chosen as Ruby’s companion, contrary to everyone’s expectations.
Gaius looked at me with a displeased expression and asked.
“What is that expression?”
“The age difference between the two people is… … .”
“There’s a five year age difference. But does that really matter?”
Of course, there was no problem.
In a marriage between nobles, a five-year age gap was considered normal and even something to be thankful for on the woman’s side. This was because it was common for people to marry for political reasons with someone twenty years older than them.
The fault lay with Gaius for leaking the secret, but I saw that one mistake had upset the balance of the negotiations. Gaius, though simple-minded, was also a man who was used to dealing with the sly nobles.
“I’m sorry. I must have lost my mind for a moment when I saw your beauty.”
I admitted my slip of the tongue and lowered my posture.
Ruby looked down at me like that. She looked at me with eyes full of suspicion and asked.
“Did you make me special clothes because of my brother’s letter?”
“Yes.”
“What else did your brother say? Did he say anything else about me?”
Ruby looked troubled, even though she tried to pretend not to notice.
I couldn’t help but smile happily because it was exactly like what I had seen when I was young.
“Now that I think about it, I think he was telling me stories using ancient magic. He must have suffered from loneliness a lot, but he cared a lot for his younger sibling.”
Ruby stared at me intently, telling me to keep talking.
I took a deep breath.
There were so many things I wanted to tell Ruby when I saw her again. Even when I was locked in the basement of Duke Braio’s house, I could have written books about what I wanted to tell her.
It was a perfect opportunity to tell Ruby how I really felt.
“… … I have a younger sister who is four years younger than me. She is a very lively child named Ruby. People were anxious because they couldn’t dress her in pink, but she hates pink. She never said that, but you could tell just by looking at her. No one paid attention to her, or rather to us. The elders of the family had a plan. Our lives were not supposed to deviate from that plan even a little. Unlike me, my younger sister is very smart and talented. She will grow up to be a person worthy of Bray. However, there is one thing I am worried about. Ruby has sensitive skin, so we have to take special care when making clothes, but no one in the Bray household pays attention to her skin. So if you get the chance, make clothes that my younger sister can wear comfortably and give them to her.”
“Your brother said that?”
“Actually, I think I heard more than this, but unfortunately, my memory was not able to remember everything.”
“No, it was perfect. Even the way he spoke and his facial expressions were exactly like my brother’s, so I almost fooled him.”
Ruby didn’t trust people easily.
That was also the educational policy of the Breyo family. Even if they were family, they were to be suspicious, and only the head of the family was to be looked upon with suspicion and obeyed.
“I’m not brave enough to fool Braio.”
“So you want me to believe this nonsense?”
It was a ridiculous story. Anyone who had experienced the dungeons of the Duke of Braio would have been even less likely to believe what I was saying. The dungeons of the Duke of Braio were designed to block communication with the outside world, and to detect any trace of magic.
This is why I insisted on using the excuse of ‘ancient sorcery’.
‘It’s not like there was no way at all.’
In the past, they had no choice but to accept their confinement, but now they have found a way to communicate with the outside world.
It was a risky measure that drained some of my soul’s strength, but it could be used as evidence to prove my words if the time came.
“I do not force my beliefs on anyone. That is the doctrine of Brecha.”
I reminded Ruby that I was a priestess serving Brecha, the god of truth.
