Chapter 243 : Chapter 243
Chapter 243 : Bride of the Rose
"......So that is how I ended up coming here."
Philinus II silently listened attentively to Linda's long story.
He sniffled. Surprisingly, Linda was also in the exact same situation as him—exhausted, battered, and thirsty for love.
"I know that aching heart better than anyone."
At his empathetic words, Linda suddenly burst into tears.
Philinus II stealthily leaned forward to hug such a Linda, but even in the midst of crying, Linda pulled her shoulders back and avoided him.
Soon, Philinus II was also overwhelmed with sorrow and burst into tears.
"Linda, actually, I...... I'm still a virgin."
It was when both of them had calmed down to some extent. Philinus II muttered softly as if confessing.
Perhaps it was due to the garden's cozy atmosphere. His stiffly frozen heart was melting pleasantly. It felt like it would be okay to say it now.
"Ah, I see. Me too."
"......Y-You don't seem particularly surprised?"
"What's wrong with being a virgin? It happens. We're still young, aren't we."
"T-That is true, but.........."
"What is the problem?"
Linda shrugged her shoulders as if it were no big deal. Looking at her calm face, Philinus II became embarrassed instead.
'Is it because she's a girl? She doesn't seem to understand at all that something like this is a man's shame.'
In truth, despite being the King standing at the pinnacle of all people, Philinus II subtly wanted to show off the fact that he was a man of principles who had preserved his purity for only one person.
"M-My still being a virgin is, it's because of Adel!"
"......Eh?"
Only then did Linda's eyes widen.
"W-Why?!"
"B-Because I love her. Very sincerely, too."
The fact that he was a virgin, the fact that he harbored romantic feelings for Adeline, and the resolution that he would dedicate his purity to the woman he truly loved..........
Looking at them separately, they were all undeniable facts. If one were to tie them all together into a causal relationship and ask about it, that would be another story, though.
"Ahem."
Anyway, having become a tragically pure-hearted man keeping his chastity for the only woman he held in his heart, at least for this moment, Philinus II purposefully drooped his eyes pitifully.
".........."
It was then. Linda's eyes flushed red once again. Her tightly shut lips trembled so much that it seemed she would burst into wailing at any moment.
Philinus II nodded solemnly, as if what was meant to come had come.
"If you really want to comfort me...... alright, I'll allow a hug. I feel like even your warmth would be a great strength to this lonely heart."
"It seems Your Majesty and I truly have many things in common."
"That must be it. Both of us are in a terrible unrequited love—"
"That knight I told you about earlier, the one who made me come all the way here since the Conwell civil war.........."
The protagonist of the romance history that Linda had extensively poured out to Philinus II was, without a doubt, Bihen Benkou.
She had just made her confession to Philinus II while hiding Bihen's identity and suitably disguising him as another knight.
No matter how close her relationship with Adeline was, they were unmistakable rivals on the romantic front.
If so, Philinus II, who harbored unilateral romantic feelings for Adeline, was practically a comrade in the same boat as her.
Of course, the reason Linda could conspire so brightly with the King was because she did not know Adeline's tragic past at all.
At the time when Adeline's desperate and painful story intertwined with the royal family broke out, Linda was far too young to understand such political situations. Furthermore, the Count Theodore family thoroughly kept their mouths shut so that the terrible rumors wouldn't reach their young daughter's ears, so to Linda, Adeline was merely 'a cool older sister I have to overcome to win love.'
Did that ignorance become courage? Linda tried to convey the truth with a light yet serious heart.
"Your Majesty."
Just then, a voice was heard from afar. The brief, seasoned voice held a strange magnetism that instantly grabbed a person's ears.
"Ah, Chancellor!"
Philinus II suddenly smiled like a child and waved his hand. The pitiful look of him tearing up just a moment ago was nowhere to be found.
'Chancellor Zisair..........'
On the other hand, Linda lowered her eyes. Should she call it a woman's sixth sense? The hair all over her body stood on end. It wasn't just because of his bizarre outward appearance. Her instincts seemed to be warning her.
She had seen him once from a distance when the Imperial Capital party arrived in Pretoria, making this only her second time, but the more she looked at him, the more she felt a sense of incongruity that was hard to describe.
Philinus II approached with a limping step and greeted Zisair.
Seeing those two together at a glance, Linda almost burst into a chuckle without realizing it.
A King with a limp in one leg and a Chancellor with bizarrely long arms. It was as if dolls that were each mismatched in one way were facing each other.
"Did you finish your talk well?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Simultaneously with Zisair's answer, his cloudy pupils buried in his deeply sunken eyes turned toward Linda.
Linda absentmindedly bowed her head. For a moment, she felt as if she were being crushed by something.
Zisair quietly stared at her and spoke softly.
"Bihen Benkou has promised to go to the Imperial Capital."
***
SCRAPE— SCRAPE—
Only a sound of friction rang out in the quiet room. It was the sound of the half-piece Remnant Orb, which had been split in half once again, and the ring on my index finger interlocking and scraping against each other within the palm of my hand.
'Going to the Imperial Capital was inevitable anyway. I have to finish off the Lust Demon.'
Is that all? I also have to meet Bolero's group and that Saintess of Solari.
'......I can't grasp what kind of trick this is.'
I looked down at the halved Remnant Orb that was broken in two. I had looked at it so much that it was on the verge of wearing out now.
—Since you saw it during the Poison Demon's time, you must know it well. What this jewel split in half means.
Zisair said that while holding out his half of the Remnant Orb with his face changed as if he had used some disguise technique.
The moment the bastard finished speaking, I snatched the Remnant Orb and broke it without hesitation.
Zisair made a slightly stung expression for a moment as if he had been bitten by a bug, then soon smiled confidently again.
—This is the end of this damn eternal life as well.
At that moment, I failed to manage my facial expression.
The wave remaining on my fingertips was telling me. It was a real Remnant Orb.
The bastard rubbed his chest with his hand.
—If even this half here disappears now, I will perish forever. Well, I prepared myself for it, but now that it has actually come to this, it truly feels strange. To think that I would face death like a human.
I don't even want to imagine what my face looked like listening to those words. It was probably contorted foolishly for all to see.
Perhaps that was why the corners of Zisair's mouth, who was staring fixedly at me, stretched wide as if they would reach his ears.
Only then did I realize it belatedly.
Did the bastard not know I would crush it when he handed over the Remnant Orb that was like his lifeline?
No, that couldn't be. Rather, he must have given it to me expecting even that.
In other words, the bastard had smashed the shackles of eternal life himself.
—This should be enough to fully convey my sincerity. Isn't that right? Bihen Benkou.
Paradoxically, his eyes, which had been consistently inorganic and languid all along, finally surged with vitality.
As if an obsession for life only arose after he voluntarily became terminally ill, after descending from a transcendent being to a mortal.
"What are you thinking so deeply about, My Lord?"
The one who woke me from my thoughts was Ramba. How deeply had I been immersed in them that Zisair's voice rang like an auditory hallucination? I had to blink my eyes several times before I could barely adjust my misaligned focus.
"Ah, sorry about that. Right, you said someone placed a curse on you."
"......Yes. They said it was a Synchronization Insect."
"A Synchronization Insect."
Ramba had been standing in front of the office door when I returned from my private meeting with Zisair.
It was a conversation I had been putting off day by day because I hadn't had the time.
'Hmm.'
I stroked my lips. The more I thought about it, this situation was also by no means something to be taken lightly.
"You say the Leader of the Wild Dogs and Sewer Rats is the most suspicious?"
"Yes, yes. But I have never once met the Leader face-to-face. I always only exchanged orders through messengers dispatched from the Imperial Capital headquarters."
Ramba shuddered.
"There was absolutely no opportunity to open my chest and put a bug inside it or anything like that."
A sound of deflating air slipped from my mouth before I knew it at his desperate explanation. Well, in the eyes of a layman, it seemed a curse technique using a medium looked like a physical act of directly cutting open the body and performing surgery.
"I have nowhere to ask, but since you are an Imperial, My Lord, I thought perhaps you might have some inkling.........."
To be honest, there were figures that immediately came to mind throughout listening to Ramba's story. In truth, there were few people in this land capable of performing such sorcery in the first place.
'Zisair, Raven.'
The Wild Dogs and Sewer Rats have branches extending like capillaries all over the Kingdom. They are the bastards who claim to be the eyes and ears of the Kingdom, holding all kinds of secret rumors in their hands and shaking the political situation.
From what I heard, their head was thoroughly shrouded in a veil. That was to be expected, since from noble aristocrats to vagrants in the streets, there was no one who hadn't had their weaknesses grasped by them, so there was no benefit in revealing their identity.
'The true boss of the Wild Dogs and Sewer Rats is actually Zisair or Raven..........'
It was a sufficiently plausible hypothesis. Rather, it was almost harder to deny that they were the masters of such a massive information network.
'Raven said he was watching me.'
It wasn't a problem to think about too much difficulty. The real problem was that I needed to properly soothe this pitiful beggar right now.
To me, a knack like this was harder than dealing with evil spirits.
KNOCK, KNOCK.
The knock that rang out just in time was like the bell of salvation.
It was Ellen.
"Cult Leader, the Duke of Conwell wishes to see you. Shall I bring her inside?"
"No, tell her I am coming out."
"Yes."
I stood up, following Ellen who was going back out the door. I patted Ramba's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Ramba. I will catch that bastard of a Leader and make sure he pays the price for distressing you."
"M-My Lord......?"
"With this, the justification to go to the Imperial Capital has increased by one more."
In a conversation between men, a single fiery promise like this was much better than a hundred cringeworthy words and consolations.
I left the office, leaving behind Ramba with a bewildered expression.
"I apologize for keeping you waiting, Your Grace."
I paid my respects to Adeline. To me, Joel, who was by her side, bowed his head.
"Could we talk while we walk?"
"Of course."
At Adeline's words, Joel didn't follow us anymore, as if he already knew.
Our footsteps naturally headed toward the walking trail that connected along the outskirts of the mansion. It was a place we had often walked together while staying in Pretoria these past few days.
The setting sunset was spreading deep red along the ridges of the distant horizon. It was exceptionally red today. Perhaps because of that, the shadow cast over Adeline's face looked dark.
"What did you talk about with the Chancellor?"
"He told me to come to the Imperial Capital."
"Is he offering you the position of Guard Captain or something?"
"He didn't point it out explicitly, but it was similar."
"It seems that the Royal Guardian thing or whatever wasn't truly a joke."
"I suppose so."
If it were other people, it would have been a conversation they could have exchanged in a light, joking tone. However, what in the world was wrong with the two of us that even trivial conversations didn't know how to become completely light?
"......Well, it doesn't matter either way."
We stopped without anyone having to say it first.
I pointlessly tapped the wooden railing that someone had loosely driven into the top of the hill with the tip of my foot. Meanwhile, my gaze was fixed forward. The blazing sunset came into full view.
"I will absolutely not send you alone this time."
I turned my head. Adeline was staring piercingly at me.
This time as well, as expected.......... I couldn't let those words slide by idly.
"Are you saying you will jump into a deadly situation? It is not like you, Your Grace."
Adeline shook her head.
"I didn't think a day like this would come, but it seems I must tell you a little about my story."
"Well, please do. If not now, when else would I hear it."
"That's right. After all, it's not a story to be told while sharing a blanket. If I'm going to tell it, it has to be now."
I nodded without much thought, then paused.