Side story – War of the Roses Ⅱ
Vlad follows the familiar path to the smile of the rose.
However, even though he was in the process of returning home, Vlad’s expression was somehow full of displeasure.
“…Please don’t let them follow me.”
“How can I?”
“Weren’t you close with them?”
Because the kids from the back alley were still following behind Vlad.
Vlad wanted to go quietly with a rose smile and avoid the countless knights who were shouting for battle, but he ended up letting out a long sigh when he saw a bunch of children following him.
“By the way, how old are you and you’re playing marbles with the kids?”
The children’s eyes are as sparkling as the glass beads they are holding in their hands.
Vlad, who could not bear to tell those eyes full of envy to go away, began to express his dissatisfaction towards Nibelun, who was easy going.
“And if you wanted to play marbles, you should play it with the kids from the alley up there. “Don’t you know how clever the kids here are?”
“is that so?”
They were children from the back alleys who learned about the world too early because they had no one to protect them.
Since he was dealing alone with children who thought of everything as a matter of survival, it was only natural that Nibelun’s win rate was disastrous.
“But I really wanted to do it with the kids here.”
“why?”
However, the magician looking for mystery really wanted to get the children’s beads.
“Because the kids here have the brightest beads.”
“huh?”
That’s because of all the marbles I’ve ever seen, the ones rolling around here were the brightest.
The children’s eyes, looking at the brightest star in the darkest place, were truly worthy of the mystery that Nibelune sought.
“…But I still can’t pick it. “You’ve already become a b*tch.”
“Then please help me just this once. “Can’t you eat together with me and play marbles?”
“It’s crazy. really.”
A wizard who begs the sword master of this era to play marbles with him.
After hearing that, Vlad laughed as if he was dumbfounded and started caressing the back wall of the building he had already reached.
“All the kids are gone?”
“It’s my territory from here on out.”
The children had been following closely behind Vlad just a moment ago, but now they were moving away from the alley without even taking a single step.
Perhaps it was out of respect for the territory that had long been rooted in the back alleys.
“But why are you pushing the wall?”
“This is not a wall.”
The back wall of an alley with no one around.
Vlad pointed out one of them and started pushing the wall with his shoulder as hard as he could.
“…It looks like no one has used this in a while.”
The wall Vlad was whining and pushing against was actually a back door disguised as a wall.
The back door leading to the rose smile that only Jorge’s gang knows.
“Keuung!”
It was a back door that was constantly opened when the back alley was dark.
However, the hidden hinges were covered in rust, as if no one had used them since Godin’s visit.
Creak –
A secret door that opens with difficulty, as if even oneself has forgotten that it is a door.
Vlad opened the door with old dust falling on his head, and what greeted him was a dark-skinned boy with his eyes raised in surprise.
“What the hell!”
“…….”
The first person to greet Vlad upon his return was Ned, who was standing on a large barrel and holding a bottle of liquor at him.
However, his surprised appearance was extremely suspicious, as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t have done.
“Blah Vlad? “When did you come here?”
“ha.”
Even though it was not explained, it was a sight that was easily recognized.
Because it was something Vlad himself often did as a child.
“Refill the stolen alcohol yourself. “I will tell your brother about the amount that is missing from that container.”
“wait for a sec! “I can explain everything!”
“You better fill it up quickly. “Before Ottar beats you up for not enough money.”
Ned hurriedly got down from the barrel as if he had finally figured out the situation, but Vlad and Nibelun were already at the end of the stairs leading to the first floor lobby.
“I told you that stealing is something only smart people do.”
“Vlad! wait for a sec!”
Vlad opened the door as if he couldn’t even hear Ned’s voice crying desperately behind him.
Then suddenly, brilliant lights shine into the corner of my eyes.
Vlad frowned for a moment at the light from the chandelier hanging above him.
“It’s always the same here.”
But soon, the corners of Vlad’s frowning eyes began to turn round as he heard the approaching noise of the store and the smell of food permeating his nose.
Even though time has passed and people have changed, the smile of a rose still welcomes me.
Vlad, who had finally returned there, started taking familiar steps with a faint smile.
※※※※
Rose’s Smile has now been transformed into the only luxury inn in the North, not Changgwan.
Vlad and Nibelun were walking through a corridor that was slightly different from before.
——————
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“The room is small.”
“This is big enough.”
Vlad entered his room on the 4th floor without anyone noticing and began putting down his luggage in a simple-looking space that was different from the fancy hallways he had walked down so far.
“But why did you prepare a room in a corner like this? “It seems like it’s a floor that I only use alone.”
“You shouldn’t have been caught back then.”
The hallway on the 4th floor, where only one customer could enter, was even quiet, unlike the bustling atmosphere below.
“You know what, I’m talking to myself. “I was talking to Quihano.”
“iced coffee. “It was like that.”
A space on the 4th floor that looks somewhat lonely.
Vlad quietly scratched the bridge of his nose as he looked at the hallway on the fourth floor, which seemed wider now that there was no one to talk to anymore.
“Are you here now?”
“……”
But even if there was no Quijano inside, there was someone else waiting for Vlad here.
“Jemina.”
“You still came back early this time.”
A red-haired lady leaning her arm on the railing and quietly looking at Vlad.
Gemina, wearing a dress that looked as bright as her appearance, was staring blankly at Vlad.
“Well, it takes about half a year. “It’s better than before, when I left a year ago to end the war.”
However, the look in Gemina’s eyes now contained sharp rose thorns that even Vlad found difficult to ignore.
“How long are you planning to stay this time? “Will you stay for a week?”
“Lady Gemina. “Can I just come down now?”
“okay. “The cat goes down.”
Nibelun, sensing that the atmosphere was unusual, quickly began to leave the place.
Vlad’s hand was behind his back, as if telling him not to go, but knowing where he shouldn’t be was one of the important virtues a member of society should have.
“Oh, it smells really good. “I really like that meat stew.”
“That’s potato stew. “You hate potatoes.”
“I decided to start liking it starting today. “The potato stew looks really delicious.”
Nibelun flows away like water despite Vlad’s quiet efforts to dissuade him.
Vlad lowered his head as if he was in pain as he watched Nibelun descend through the gap that Zemina had made.
“Customers keep coming, but there’s no room. “Now I think they will open the 4th floor as well.”
“I couldn’t help it this time. “You know that the Orthodox Church asked for it.”
“Yeah, I know. “I went to catch the warlocks at Andrea’s request.”
To quell the embers of war and sometimes to punish the surviving warlocks.
For two years like that, Vlad traveled the world swinging his sword without stopping.
“But shouldn’t you get some rest now? Even then, I was in bed for almost several months.”
“Of course, I want to rest too.”
“ha. “I don’t know because I’m young now.”
But Jemina, who was watching from the side, knew well.
The current Vlad is moving around to fill the emptiness in his heart rather than to do what needs to be done.
“Later, when you get older, it all comes back to you as a bone disease. “You should know better what happens to mercenaries who behave carelessly, right?”
“…….”
“Take a long break this time. “I heard Haven also came back.”
People around me praise me every time I swing my sword.
But Vlad smiled bitterly as he looked at the only person who told him that it was time to rest.
“Hey…”
Vlad hesitantly opened his mouth towards Jemina, who turned her back as if she had already seen him come.
“why?”
“I’m going to go somewhere right away this time too.”
“……however?”
At Vlad’s words that they had to leave as soon as they returned, Jemina’s eyes began to grow cold again.
“Go or leave. “I’m busy.”
A stubborn boy who tried to follow his own path no matter what anyone said.
Jemina, who knew that there was nothing she could do because she understood the boy best, let out a soft sigh and began to go down the stairs.
“Shall we go together? this time.”
However, even Jemina had no choice but to stop in shock at the words she heard now.
This time, not alone, but together.
Jemina was startled by those words and turned around to see Vlad holding Bayezid’s letter in front of her.
“Would you like to come with me to Rutger’s succession ceremony?”
“……together?”
Rutger’s family succession ceremony where all the nobles of the North will gather.
Jemina was well aware that asking to go there together had a greater intention beyond the simple meaning of companionship.
“…Can I have it?”
“of course. “There’s no one I can take with me other than you.”
“really?”
Seeing Jemina’s face starting to relax little by little, Vlad began to laugh along with her.
However, soon even my smiling face could not help but harden in front of the letter from Jemina that I opened.
“I don’t think so.”
“……hmm.”
A letter that Jemina took out from her pocket as if to look at it.
On the outside of the letter was a white tree emblem that Vlad was familiar with.
“I was going to give you tomorrow so you can rest today, but I have no choice.”
I don’t know why, but Jemina’s smile as she held that letter seemed cold.
“I have to decide. Vlad. “Who will I take with me to the succession ceremony?”
A letter full of lemon scent, sent with a rose smile.
The person who sent the letter was Baron Alicia Haynal, another of Vlad’s ladies.
※※※※
“The crop this year is very good. Baron. “Everyone said they were happy and said there was a good harvest.”
Dermar, a city full of summer scents.
Outside the window behind her, the trees of Dermar, which had become greener this year, were welcoming Alicia.
“……is that so.”
This year’s crop is good.
Daremar, a territory in Hainal where the city is prosperous due to trade with the elves and the smiles never leave the faces of the residents.
“Then what do you do?”
“yes?”
However, the face of Alicia, the owner of this city, was not filled with a happy smile, but only dark shadows.
“Then what do you do? “I hope the territory prospers like this!”
It was a moment when everything was going well, but Alicia’s heart was filled with helpless anxiety.
“What can I do if Yeongman prospers? In fact, Hainal itself is drying up and dying.”
“Alicia…”
Even though she had a shady face, she was the beautiful lord of Hainal.
However, Alicia was sad that there was no one to see its beauty.
“…Are there any more marriage proposal letters coming to me? “It’s okay to be a noble, but it’s okay to be a knight without any foundation.”
“That…”
In response to Alicia’s question, old knight Duncan lowered his head as if he didn’t know what to do.
“Not one person this year….”
“Not one person?”
“yes. “Not one.”
This is because in the past, the contacts from marriage proposals that would have been coming in non-stop have stopped all of a sudden.
Baron Alicia has wealth, fame, and even territory.
However, even though Alicia had everything, there was a good reason why no young man easily challenged her.
“urg! profit! “It’s all because of Vlad!”
The sight of Alicia shaking her hair and screaming looked quite bizarre.
However, Duncan was just nodding his head as if he understood her feelings.
“Why are you so handsome! “He even cuts off other people’s marriage paths!”
Vlad Aureo, knight of Lady Alicia.
There was no way that a foolish person would dare propose to the Sword Master’s Lady now that everyone on the continent knows about their relationship, which even involved exchanging handkerchiefs.
“Is this where the line of Hainal will be cut off? Am I going to become the unfilial daughter of the world?”
“Oh oh. Alicia.”
If you’re going to leave it like this, don’t bother touching it.
It’s like the limit of the world that even ate up this family’s treasure.
“no. That can’t be possible. “It’s a high day that I’ve been able to protect somehow.”
Alicia’s eyes were getting colder as she looked out the window.
It was like the only struggle of Hainal created by the blue blood of the nobles.
“Now that it’s like this, I need to take out the seeds. “Because I have to pay for it somehow.”
Blonde hair and blue eyes. And the bloodline guaranteed by the sword master of this era.
Alicia’s eyes, dreaming of that, were shining strangely.
-……!
And the Deermar tree above was shaking quietly, as if supporting Alicia’s decision.
A white snake dancing on a green tree and small spirits shaking their bodies beneath the snake.
“Why are they like this?”
“What? Are you having a festival or something?”
The spirits were so happy that even the dispatched elves were embarrassed, and they were shouting Alicia’s name with all their might as if to quickly bring the seed.
