“I will be forever unhappy as long as you live, Kaian.”
“You are the King, aren’t you?”
Even when he heard Valquiterre’s words, he couldn’t sympathize.
“I only rule over a single southern territory.”
How could Valquiterre, who ruled over a huge kingdom occupying the center of the Ita Continent, be so attached to the land of Rowen?
“The Kingdom of Oberon looks up to you and praises you, so why...?”
“Did I want that?”
Valquiterre’s eyes flashed.
At the glimpse of madness, Kaian felt like taking a step back from where he was sitting.
“Tell me. Have I ever wanted that?”
Valquiterre clenched his teeth. He heard a crunching sound.
“I’ve never acted mean to my parents since I was born.”
Kaian listened helplessly to what he was saying.
“Why is that? Why won’t she hug me affectionately? I thought she was originally like that, but Bianca is different.”
It was a story of the siblings who grew up apart in the palace.
“I’ve never even been congratulated on the day I was born.”
The day Kaian and Valquiterre were born was at the end of October, after the autumn festival.
The adults who were deciding where the brilliant children who didn’t need to be born in Temnes would go would have needed time to take some action.
There was no way they could have known in advance that Lady Elise was pregnant with twins.
And they probably didn’t know what the babies in her womb would look like.
Everything would have been arranged in a hurry after seeing the symbolic colors that the babies were born with.
“So the King’s birthday is two weeks after my birthday?”
Kaian After celebrating his birthday, a grand banquet was held in the palace to celebrate the birth of the Crown Prince and the King.
“The King’s birthday? Who are you kidding? Who was born that day?”
A feast was prepared every year for no one who needed to be congratulated.
Valquiterre eyes turned red.
"She put a shell on me to be King and made me do whatever she said like a doll."
"Why do you think that? You could have been a King who was more outstanding and better than anyone else."
"That's not what I wanted!"
He was furious.
"I'm not Valquiterre. That's just a being that was created to be a perfect King. You just put me in there and made me fit in."
"Valquiterre."
"Don't call me by that name!"
Valkyrie sniffed.
"Kaian. Your name was my original name. You took away everything I should have enjoyed as the eldest son."
Kaian felt dizzy.
"What are you going to do if you tell me that now?"
He listened to Valquiterre's pain, but it wasn't his part as a brother.
He was at a loss as to what to do with him who was belatedly complaining about the lack of affection that the late Queen Sylvia or his parents should have given him.
'I'd rather give him the territory and everything else.'
Many nobles were obsessed with the sense of being chosen while ruling the people.
They thought that their power was not based on the serfs and the people who supported them, but because they were chosen ones, they were superior.
In fact, it was not like that. The power of the lord was complete only when the people recognized and respected him.
Therefore, it was right to have a sense of love for the people rather than a sense of being chosen.
'Please do not cut off food to the Valmonde estate even if I die.'
When Kaian tried to remember when he was so attracted to Claudel, he remembered what she had said at one time.
'Please. The children are starving.'
He vividly remembered the woman who had a sickly face and begged to save the starving Valmonde people.
Even as she was dying, he thought it was noble to sacrifice her remaining life for those of lower status than her, so he hurled abusive language at her and sent a carriage loaded with food to Valmonde as she wished.
That intention alone was worthy of praise.
This war was a fight without justification or practical benefit.
Now he can clearly see that Valquiterre's worries are the cause, but there is no proper solution.
The more he fights, the more innocent people will get hurt and lose their lives.
Blood will be spilled on the land that can be cultivated, and only when Valquiterre and Kaian reach a conclusion will they know when the war will end. Kaian just wants to give up the Rowan estate and the Temnes title and take Claudel, Julien, and the family members who want to follow him and run away. He wants everything and gives everything.
But Kaian knows that that cannot be a real solution.
Didn’t he come out to fight, leaving his wife and children behind?
Who could guarantee that there would be no repercussions if he resorted to stopgap measures and reached an ambiguous conclusion?
Kaian was frustrated by this situation.
“It’s not something I can do for you.”
At those words, Valquiterre's face crumpled as if he was about to cry and he laughed at him.
“As expected, you don’t understand me. How could you know, when you have everything?”
“You have more.”
“You wouldn’t know, since you were born and never felt lacking anything.”
“Yes. You’re right. I don’t understand you.”
Then, did they have no choice but to fight in the end?
Kaian closed his mouth for a moment, not wanting to end up with an ending he didn’t want.
“You are the King, aren’t you?”
Even when he heard Valquiterre’s words, he couldn’t sympathize.
“I only rule over a single southern territory.”
How could Valquiterre, who ruled over a huge kingdom occupying the center of the Ita Continent, be so attached to the land of Rowen?
“The Kingdom of Oberon looks up to you and praises you, so why...?”
“Did I want that?”
Valquiterre’s eyes flashed.
At the glimpse of madness, Kaian felt like taking a step back from where he was sitting.
“Tell me. Have I ever wanted that?”
Valquiterre clenched his teeth. He heard a crunching sound.
“I’ve never acted mean to my parents since I was born.”
Kaian listened helplessly to what he was saying.
“Why is that? Why won’t she hug me affectionately? I thought she was originally like that, but Bianca is different.”
It was a story of the siblings who grew up apart in the palace.
“I’ve never even been congratulated on the day I was born.”
The day Kaian and Valquiterre were born was at the end of October, after the autumn festival.
The adults who were deciding where the brilliant children who didn’t need to be born in Temnes would go would have needed time to take some action.
There was no way they could have known in advance that Lady Elise was pregnant with twins.
And they probably didn’t know what the babies in her womb would look like.
Everything would have been arranged in a hurry after seeing the symbolic colors that the babies were born with.
“So the King’s birthday is two weeks after my birthday?”
Kaian After celebrating his birthday, a grand banquet was held in the palace to celebrate the birth of the Crown Prince and the King.
“The King’s birthday? Who are you kidding? Who was born that day?”
A feast was prepared every year for no one who needed to be congratulated.
Valquiterre eyes turned red.
"She put a shell on me to be King and made me do whatever she said like a doll."
"Why do you think that? You could have been a King who was more outstanding and better than anyone else."
"That's not what I wanted!"
He was furious.
"I'm not Valquiterre. That's just a being that was created to be a perfect King. You just put me in there and made me fit in."
"Valquiterre."
"Don't call me by that name!"
Valkyrie sniffed.
"Kaian. Your name was my original name. You took away everything I should have enjoyed as the eldest son."
Kaian felt dizzy.
"What are you going to do if you tell me that now?"
He listened to Valquiterre's pain, but it wasn't his part as a brother.
He was at a loss as to what to do with him who was belatedly complaining about the lack of affection that the late Queen Sylvia or his parents should have given him.
'I'd rather give him the territory and everything else.'
Many nobles were obsessed with the sense of being chosen while ruling the people.
They thought that their power was not based on the serfs and the people who supported them, but because they were chosen ones, they were superior.
In fact, it was not like that. The power of the lord was complete only when the people recognized and respected him.
Therefore, it was right to have a sense of love for the people rather than a sense of being chosen.
'Please do not cut off food to the Valmonde estate even if I die.'
When Kaian tried to remember when he was so attracted to Claudel, he remembered what she had said at one time.
'Please. The children are starving.'
He vividly remembered the woman who had a sickly face and begged to save the starving Valmonde people.
Even as she was dying, he thought it was noble to sacrifice her remaining life for those of lower status than her, so he hurled abusive language at her and sent a carriage loaded with food to Valmonde as she wished.
That intention alone was worthy of praise.
This war was a fight without justification or practical benefit.
Now he can clearly see that Valquiterre's worries are the cause, but there is no proper solution.
The more he fights, the more innocent people will get hurt and lose their lives.
Blood will be spilled on the land that can be cultivated, and only when Valquiterre and Kaian reach a conclusion will they know when the war will end. Kaian just wants to give up the Rowan estate and the Temnes title and take Claudel, Julien, and the family members who want to follow him and run away. He wants everything and gives everything.
But Kaian knows that that cannot be a real solution.
Didn’t he come out to fight, leaving his wife and children behind?
Who could guarantee that there would be no repercussions if he resorted to stopgap measures and reached an ambiguous conclusion?
Kaian was frustrated by this situation.
“It’s not something I can do for you.”
At those words, Valquiterre's face crumpled as if he was about to cry and he laughed at him.
“As expected, you don’t understand me. How could you know, when you have everything?”
“You have more.”
“You wouldn’t know, since you were born and never felt lacking anything.”
“Yes. You’re right. I don’t understand you.”
Then, did they have no choice but to fight in the end?
Kaian closed his mouth for a moment, not wanting to end up with an ending he didn’t want.
“So what you want is to go all the way?”
“...”
“Don’t be stubborn, Valquiterre.”
“Don’t order me around.”
“Why should you fight when there’s no gain?”
Valquiterre snickered at his words.
“Why isn’t there any gain? Aren’t you suffering losses just by being dragged into the battlefield?”
"...Are you doing this to harass me?”
“Why not?”
When the words didn’t make sense, like going round and round in a circle, Kaian finally raised the white flag in his mind.
“If you try to hurt others, you’ll be the one who gets hurt the most.”
“Don’t show off.”
“Let’s call the negotiations a failure.”
Kaian stood up from the table.
He stopped and looked back as he was about to leave for the tent on the other side.
“If you leave like this, we’ll be enemies next time we meet. Won’t you regret it?”
“Yes.”
As Valquiterre said curtly, Kaian’s new form disappeared between the fluttering tent hems.
“...”
As Kaian disappeared, a chilly air filled the barracks where the two were sitting.
Valquiterre instantly felt goosebumps on his arms and a chill running down his back.
“...No.”
An unbearable fear suddenly enveloped him.
“I didn’t want that.”
He quickly got up and ran outside, pushing through the tents Kaian had escaped from.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty?”
The soldiers of the allied forces guarding the opposing camp looked surprised at him.
However, in the meantime, Kaian, riding his fine horse and flying fast, had already gone a long way, raising a cloud of dust.
“Kaian!”
“...”
“Don’t be stubborn, Valquiterre.”
“Don’t order me around.”
“Why should you fight when there’s no gain?”
Valquiterre snickered at his words.
“Why isn’t there any gain? Aren’t you suffering losses just by being dragged into the battlefield?”
"...Are you doing this to harass me?”
“Why not?”
When the words didn’t make sense, like going round and round in a circle, Kaian finally raised the white flag in his mind.
“If you try to hurt others, you’ll be the one who gets hurt the most.”
“Don’t show off.”
“Let’s call the negotiations a failure.”
Kaian stood up from the table.
He stopped and looked back as he was about to leave for the tent on the other side.
“If you leave like this, we’ll be enemies next time we meet. Won’t you regret it?”
“Yes.”
As Valquiterre said curtly, Kaian’s new form disappeared between the fluttering tent hems.
“...”
As Kaian disappeared, a chilly air filled the barracks where the two were sitting.
Valquiterre instantly felt goosebumps on his arms and a chill running down his back.
“...No.”
An unbearable fear suddenly enveloped him.
“I didn’t want that.”
He quickly got up and ran outside, pushing through the tents Kaian had escaped from.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty?”
The soldiers of the allied forces guarding the opposing camp looked surprised at him.
However, in the meantime, Kaian, riding his fine horse and flying fast, had already gone a long way, raising a cloud of dust.
“Kaian!”
He shouted, but Kaian, pitch-black under the midday sun, seemed not to hear him and disappeared into a dot.
“Are you okay?”
“Do you have anything else to say to the Duke of Temnes?”
“Nothing.”
Valquiterre shook off the soldiers’ support and entered the barracks.
He hurriedly picked up the bottle of wine on the table, put it to his lips, and gulped down a few sips.
“Ugh.”
All he wanted was a pitiful and meaningless consolation.
Was it? It must have been hard.
However, he did not hear the words he wanted.
No one in the world could understand Valquiterre.
How could there be?
“Are you okay?”
“Do you have anything else to say to the Duke of Temnes?”
“Nothing.”
Valquiterre shook off the soldiers’ support and entered the barracks.
He hurriedly picked up the bottle of wine on the table, put it to his lips, and gulped down a few sips.
“Ugh.”
All he wanted was a pitiful and meaningless consolation.
Was it? It must have been hard.
However, he did not hear the words he wanted.
No one in the world could understand Valquiterre.
How could there be?
He had worked so hard that he would kill anyone who knew his secret.
Only a few people knew that he was born to the Duke and Duchess of Temnes and was sent to the royal palace after deceiving everyone by claiming that he was the Queen’s biological son.
In the Temnes household, only Baron Colon, who claimed to be his close friend and butler, in the royal family, Count Makie, who was Queen Sylvia’s closest confidant, and Madame Repel, who raised him, survived with their secrets.
Who could he confide in and get understanding from? About such a secret that no one in the kingdom should know?
Valquiterre became an unwilling sacrifice to life, his soul torn to pieces.
“Ugh... Ugh.”
Tears welled up in his eyes belatedly.
In fact, he didn’t want to admit that he was becoming a mess without being able to control himself.
The King’s reign had been going smoothly to some extent, but somewhere something went wrong and he started to go astray without time to fix it.
Valquiterre thought that the reason was that he wasn’t the real King. He had to hold someone who had passed away responsible for it.
Unable to do so, he turned his anger toward Kaian.
“Kaian... Kaian... I’m suffering.”
Even his brothers, who had been holding hands and playing with each other's umbilical cords for ten months in the same womb, did not understand him.
"What should I do?"
The carriage, which had been running down the hill with a broken wheel, could not stop even when it reached the edge of a cliff.
Even though he saw the catastrophe before his eyes, Valquiterre could not stop him.
The sound of his horse's hooves thumped the ground loudly.
Amidst the violent shaking, Kaian heard a voice calling him from afar.
Kaian!
But he could not look back.
The family crest of Temnes fluttered in the distance on a flag.
Below that, he could see soldiers standing in line, unable to rest properly, worried that he would return safely after requesting a private meeting.
And surely, in Rowen, out of sight, his wife was praying for his safety, holding a small child in her arms that had become quite lovely.
What Kaian could see before him were the things he had to protect.
He was afraid that if he turned around, he would easily give up the things he had to protect just as his brothers had wanted him to do.
One day, he remembered his wife, who had been pregnant, secretly looking at him.
'I tried to trust you even if it meant hurting the one I loved.'
Even when he was weighed against the names of Valquiterre and the Duchess of Temnes, the fact that he had always been close to his blood-brothers stung his heart like thorns.
“Here!”
Kaian spurred on his pace and ran faster.
A drop of sweat or a tear flowed down his wildly fluttering black hair and disappeared.
“Valquiterre. Never regret it.”
Only a few people knew that he was born to the Duke and Duchess of Temnes and was sent to the royal palace after deceiving everyone by claiming that he was the Queen’s biological son.
In the Temnes household, only Baron Colon, who claimed to be his close friend and butler, in the royal family, Count Makie, who was Queen Sylvia’s closest confidant, and Madame Repel, who raised him, survived with their secrets.
Who could he confide in and get understanding from? About such a secret that no one in the kingdom should know?
Valquiterre became an unwilling sacrifice to life, his soul torn to pieces.
“Ugh... Ugh.”
Tears welled up in his eyes belatedly.
In fact, he didn’t want to admit that he was becoming a mess without being able to control himself.
The King’s reign had been going smoothly to some extent, but somewhere something went wrong and he started to go astray without time to fix it.
Valquiterre thought that the reason was that he wasn’t the real King. He had to hold someone who had passed away responsible for it.
Unable to do so, he turned his anger toward Kaian.
“Kaian... Kaian... I’m suffering.”
Even his brothers, who had been holding hands and playing with each other's umbilical cords for ten months in the same womb, did not understand him.
"What should I do?"
The carriage, which had been running down the hill with a broken wheel, could not stop even when it reached the edge of a cliff.
Even though he saw the catastrophe before his eyes, Valquiterre could not stop him.
The sound of his horse's hooves thumped the ground loudly.
Amidst the violent shaking, Kaian heard a voice calling him from afar.
Kaian!
But he could not look back.
The family crest of Temnes fluttered in the distance on a flag.
Below that, he could see soldiers standing in line, unable to rest properly, worried that he would return safely after requesting a private meeting.
And surely, in Rowen, out of sight, his wife was praying for his safety, holding a small child in her arms that had become quite lovely.
What Kaian could see before him were the things he had to protect.
He was afraid that if he turned around, he would easily give up the things he had to protect just as his brothers had wanted him to do.
One day, he remembered his wife, who had been pregnant, secretly looking at him.
'I tried to trust you even if it meant hurting the one I loved.'
Even when he was weighed against the names of Valquiterre and the Duchess of Temnes, the fact that he had always been close to his blood-brothers stung his heart like thorns.
“Here!”
Kaian spurred on his pace and ran faster.
A drop of sweat or a tear flowed down his wildly fluttering black hair and disappeared.
“Valquiterre. Never regret it.”
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