Episode 32. Laurent's Purpose
A sudden voice caught Bercheria's and Lacrahan's attention.
Laurent was walking toward them, dusting off the dirt from her legs.
Lacrahan looked at Laurent with narrowed eyes.
He'd felt it from the beginning, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Laurent was strangely hovering around Bercheria.
It was also strange that he knew her identity.
"Prince Laurent."
"Grand Duke Lacrahan."
Lacrahan asked with a blatant expression.
"I forgot for a moment, but why did you say you came to the Periat Empire?"
Laurent turned to Bercheria and smiled.
"Ah. Don't worry about that. I've already met the reason I came here."
The air between the three of them became tense.
Lacrahan snorted in disbelief.
"Isn't it far-fetched to say you came here to meet Bercheria, whose whereabouts even the people of the Empire knew?"
Laurent lifted Owl's shoulder, then released it.
"Should the so-called Prince of the empire be so unreasonable?"
Ten years after the war, relations between the three nations sharing the continent remained tense. This was partly due to Emperor Gerard's lack of interest in trade, and partly because the war's devastation had not yet been fully recovered.
At this point, it was certainly unreasonable for the Prince of the empire, the next Emperor, to travel without the presence of the Guardian Knights.
He assumed there had to be a strong motive, and Lacrahan had concluded that it was Emperor Gerard.
But what if Bercheria was the motive?
While he dismissed it as unlikely, a sense of foreboding lingered.
"And Bercheria will understand that that's not far-fetched,"
Laurent said with a smile.
"I was the one who helped her escape the tower."
Bercheria's eyes widened.
"What do you mean?"
"Der'Ansis is good at many things, but among them, we're incredibly skilled at spinning tough, thin ropes."
She suddenly remembered the rope that had been thrown into the tower when she first left.
It was the second time.
Something had fallen into the tower, where no one could climb or descend.
The first was a Mucha egg, and the second was a rope.
"And another thing, Der'Ansis is good at is communicating with animals."
Laurent knew something that even Lacrahan didn't. Why had Periat lost its protective aura?
Where on earth had Bercheria been?
"It wasn't easy. I had to cross the border, gain the Emperor's trust, and deceive your mother."
Bercheria's lips parted thinly.
Laurent stepped forward.
"How is it? Don't you want to have a serious talk with me now?"
Bercheria lowered her gaze.
After a moment of thought, she asked cautiously.
“Is Prince Laurent asking me to marry you?”
Laurent looked surprised, then burst into laughter.
“Who else asked you to marry me?”
“Yes. Grand Duke Lacrahan.”
Laurent’s hearty laugh suddenly darkened.
Bercheria watched Laurent, then shifted her gaze to Lacrahan, who was standing behind him.
Then she spoke to them both.
“Then it would be best for the three of us to talk together. It’s good to see you all before I leave.”
After speaking, Bercheria turned and calmly climbed the stairs.
Two men watched her from behind with mixed emotions.
The Imperial Palace of Periat.
A man who had just woken up straightened his massive body and walked to the window.
He glanced outside at the pitch-black darkness, then flung the window wide open, and an eagle flew into his room as if it had been waiting.
The man raised his arm and let the eagle land there.
“You have come to tell me something urgent.”
He placed the eagle in a cage he'd prepared in one corner of the room and pulled a tightly folded piece of paper from his leg.
Red fingerprints and bloodstains were visible on the edge.
The man hurriedly dressed.
It was an urgent message from Leone to the Emperor, Gerard.
He quickly left the room and walked without hesitation to the sleeping Emperor's chambers.
"I have an urgent message for Your Majesty, the Emperor."
The knight nodded when the man showed him the paper, then cautiously opened the door and stepped inside.
It was common knowledge that no one in the imperial court was not on Leone's side.
"You may come in."
The man walked inside and knelt before the dark bed.
"Your Majesty, this is an urgent message from Lady Leone."
"Bring it."
Gerard, still half-asleep, nodded, and the man placed the note in his hand.
Gerard opened it with a rustling sound, frozen in place.
"Does this make sense?"
He muttered, as if bewildered.
Then suddenly, he began to scream like a madman.
"Does this make sense?"
Half a century ago, the god who had suddenly relinquished her protection and disappeared had reappeared.
The weather goddess, Bercheria.
"The old woman was right. I should have gone there, no matter what! Damn it!"
The goddess was currently in Lacrahan's territory, and she would soon marry him.
"Kelita, you useless piece of shit!"
Kwajachang!
The objects in the room that had once represented the Emperor's flamboyant nature were all shattered and knocked over.
"Huh, huh."
Gerard only stopped his rampage after making a mess of the room.
In the middle of the room, a mess with no room to stand, sat a man from Leone, his scratched cheek bleeding, not yet ordered to stand by the Emperor.
"Where is Leone now?"
"I don't know that much."
Gerard sat on the edge of the bed, his robe fluttering open so loudly that it made a noise.
The fact that he was still breathing heavily spoke to how indolently the Emperor of the Empire had lived.
He picked up the note again and examined it. He read the short sentence over and over again, chewing his nails and shaking his legs.
If Leone were here, she would have definitely given him some advice on what to do next.
"I want to hear more of what you were saying earlier. How did you know I was imprisoned in the tower? Do you know my mother?"
"I'd rather say I tried than I knew. I wanted to know what kind of person you were."
Laurent lifted the cup of warm black tea in front of him.
Taking a sip of the fragrant tea, he spoke again.
"It was about two years after the war. Within Der'Ansis, voices began to grow louder, demanding confirmation that the true Guardian of Bercheria had disappeared."
Laurent looked at Lacrahan's sturdy shoulders and smiled bitterly.
"They couldn't believe that a mere human had defeated the Guardian of God."
Normally, those who didn't live on the land of the Guardian wouldn't sense its aura, so there was no way to confirm it.
Just as the citizens of Periat couldn't detect even a trace of the Guardian of Beloveye, no matter how much they wished to cross the sea.
The Guardian of God couldn't reach those without the blood of that land flowing through their veins.
As the sole Prince, Laurent was unable to participate in the war, so he joined the investigation team instead.
"It took five years for the scholars to be granted entry by the Emperor of Periat, and I was among them, the first to arrive here."
"You came to Periat, a place you had never experienced before, and immediately learned of Bercheria's existence? Something no one else in Periat knew?"
Lacrahan found Laurent's words unbelievable.
He hadn't noticed her presence, even though she was always by his side. He even regularly passed by the tower of Bercheria, where his knights hunted.
"That..."
Laurent glanced at Owl, who was dozing on his shoulder, and shook his head.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you the details of that, Grand Duke."
Laurent turned to Bercheria and sat down with a charming smile.
"Anyway, ever since I found out you were there, all I've been thinking about is how to get you out of there."
"All along, you mean?"
"Yes. All along."
"..."
"Bercheria."
Laurent reached for her hand on the table, but Lacrahan, who was beside her, slapped it away.
Laurent frowned, Lacrahan smiled as he tugged at one side of his lips.
"In Periat, contact between unmarried people is illegal."
"Illegal?"
Lacrahan replied in a brazen voice.
"As a Prince, you must know the law, right?"
Laurent, who hadn't even grasped the laws of Periat, withdrew his hand with a disgruntled expression.
"I watched your mother. For a very long time."
"But only when you visited Periat. How many times? Three? Or maybe twice?"
Laurent turned to Lacrahan, who repeatedly interrupted him, and then smiled.
"Four times, Your Highness."
"Either way."
Lacrahan glared at Laurent, slightly raising his hand as if to tell her to continue.
Laurent turned to Bercheria again and began speaking.
"The important thing is that your mother is more formidable than you think. It's better to avoid her than to fight her. So, come with me to Der'Ansis, Bercheria."
"I can't go."
When Lacrahan answered her again, Laurent couldn't hold back any longer.
"Grand Duke. The choice is hers. And the answer, too, is hers."
"I have something to ask you."
Bercheria's voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to focus the attention of both men.
Her expression, which had been deep in thought just moments before, now seemed determined.
"Tell me anything, Bercheria."
Laurent looked at her as if ready to answer anything.
"Why did you do that?"
"What reason are you giving, Bercheria?"
"The reason you found me and tried to help me escape."
"That is..."
Bercheria stared at Laurent, her face expressionless.
"Is your goal to take me to Der'Ansis? Or do you need my strength, like my mother?"
A sudden voice caught Bercheria's and Lacrahan's attention.
Laurent was walking toward them, dusting off the dirt from her legs.
Lacrahan looked at Laurent with narrowed eyes.
He'd felt it from the beginning, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Laurent was strangely hovering around Bercheria.
It was also strange that he knew her identity.
"Prince Laurent."
"Grand Duke Lacrahan."
Lacrahan asked with a blatant expression.
"I forgot for a moment, but why did you say you came to the Periat Empire?"
Laurent turned to Bercheria and smiled.
"Ah. Don't worry about that. I've already met the reason I came here."
The air between the three of them became tense.
Lacrahan snorted in disbelief.
"Isn't it far-fetched to say you came here to meet Bercheria, whose whereabouts even the people of the Empire knew?"
Laurent lifted Owl's shoulder, then released it.
"Should the so-called Prince of the empire be so unreasonable?"
Ten years after the war, relations between the three nations sharing the continent remained tense. This was partly due to Emperor Gerard's lack of interest in trade, and partly because the war's devastation had not yet been fully recovered.
At this point, it was certainly unreasonable for the Prince of the empire, the next Emperor, to travel without the presence of the Guardian Knights.
He assumed there had to be a strong motive, and Lacrahan had concluded that it was Emperor Gerard.
But what if Bercheria was the motive?
While he dismissed it as unlikely, a sense of foreboding lingered.
"And Bercheria will understand that that's not far-fetched,"
Laurent said with a smile.
"I was the one who helped her escape the tower."
Bercheria's eyes widened.
"What do you mean?"
"Der'Ansis is good at many things, but among them, we're incredibly skilled at spinning tough, thin ropes."
She suddenly remembered the rope that had been thrown into the tower when she first left.
It was the second time.
Something had fallen into the tower, where no one could climb or descend.
The first was a Mucha egg, and the second was a rope.
"And another thing, Der'Ansis is good at is communicating with animals."
Laurent knew something that even Lacrahan didn't. Why had Periat lost its protective aura?
Where on earth had Bercheria been?
"It wasn't easy. I had to cross the border, gain the Emperor's trust, and deceive your mother."
Bercheria's lips parted thinly.
Laurent stepped forward.
"How is it? Don't you want to have a serious talk with me now?"
Bercheria lowered her gaze.
After a moment of thought, she asked cautiously.
“Is Prince Laurent asking me to marry you?”
Laurent looked surprised, then burst into laughter.
“Who else asked you to marry me?”
“Yes. Grand Duke Lacrahan.”
Laurent’s hearty laugh suddenly darkened.
Bercheria watched Laurent, then shifted her gaze to Lacrahan, who was standing behind him.
Then she spoke to them both.
“Then it would be best for the three of us to talk together. It’s good to see you all before I leave.”
After speaking, Bercheria turned and calmly climbed the stairs.
Two men watched her from behind with mixed emotions.
***
The Imperial Palace of Periat.
A man who had just woken up straightened his massive body and walked to the window.
He glanced outside at the pitch-black darkness, then flung the window wide open, and an eagle flew into his room as if it had been waiting.
The man raised his arm and let the eagle land there.
“You have come to tell me something urgent.”
He placed the eagle in a cage he'd prepared in one corner of the room and pulled a tightly folded piece of paper from his leg.
Red fingerprints and bloodstains were visible on the edge.
The man hurriedly dressed.
It was an urgent message from Leone to the Emperor, Gerard.
He quickly left the room and walked without hesitation to the sleeping Emperor's chambers.
"I have an urgent message for Your Majesty, the Emperor."
The knight nodded when the man showed him the paper, then cautiously opened the door and stepped inside.
It was common knowledge that no one in the imperial court was not on Leone's side.
"You may come in."
The man walked inside and knelt before the dark bed.
"Your Majesty, this is an urgent message from Lady Leone."
"Bring it."
Gerard, still half-asleep, nodded, and the man placed the note in his hand.
Gerard opened it with a rustling sound, frozen in place.
"Does this make sense?"
He muttered, as if bewildered.
Then suddenly, he began to scream like a madman.
"Does this make sense?"
Half a century ago, the god who had suddenly relinquished her protection and disappeared had reappeared.
The weather goddess, Bercheria.
"The old woman was right. I should have gone there, no matter what! Damn it!"
The goddess was currently in Lacrahan's territory, and she would soon marry him.
"Kelita, you useless piece of shit!"
Kwajachang!
The objects in the room that had once represented the Emperor's flamboyant nature were all shattered and knocked over.
"Huh, huh."
Gerard only stopped his rampage after making a mess of the room.
In the middle of the room, a mess with no room to stand, sat a man from Leone, his scratched cheek bleeding, not yet ordered to stand by the Emperor.
"Where is Leone now?"
"I don't know that much."
Gerard sat on the edge of the bed, his robe fluttering open so loudly that it made a noise.
The fact that he was still breathing heavily spoke to how indolently the Emperor of the Empire had lived.
He picked up the note again and examined it. He read the short sentence over and over again, chewing his nails and shaking his legs.
If Leone were here, she would have definitely given him some advice on what to do next.
A single urgent letter from Rione meant Gerard had to judge everything on his own.
“Assemble the Imperial Guard.”
The man raised his head.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“That bastard Lacrahan, deceiving the imperial family by pretending to marry Kelita? Do you think I'll just let this slide!”
The man cautiously backed out of the room.
After closing the double doors behind him, he spoke to the guard knight with a stony expression.
“Summon the Captain of the Guard.”
“Yes, sir. I'll bring him immediately.”
Watching the guard knight dash off, the man brushed his injured cheek with the back of his hand.
“The Emperor, that son of a bitch.”
Muttering in a voice no one could hear, he trudged down the dark corridor.
***
Bercheria placed her hands together on her thighs and looked at the two men seated before her.
“May I ask a question first?”
Bercheria, seemingly having already made up her mind, did not wait for their reply.
“Prince Laurent.”
“Yes, Bercheria.”
"I'd rather say I tried than I knew. I wanted to know what kind of person you were."
Laurent lifted the cup of warm black tea in front of him.
Taking a sip of the fragrant tea, he spoke again.
"It was about two years after the war. Within Der'Ansis, voices began to grow louder, demanding confirmation that the true Guardian of Bercheria had disappeared."
Laurent looked at Lacrahan's sturdy shoulders and smiled bitterly.
"They couldn't believe that a mere human had defeated the Guardian of God."
Normally, those who didn't live on the land of the Guardian wouldn't sense its aura, so there was no way to confirm it.
Just as the citizens of Periat couldn't detect even a trace of the Guardian of Beloveye, no matter how much they wished to cross the sea.
The Guardian of God couldn't reach those without the blood of that land flowing through their veins.
As the sole Prince, Laurent was unable to participate in the war, so he joined the investigation team instead.
"It took five years for the scholars to be granted entry by the Emperor of Periat, and I was among them, the first to arrive here."
"You came to Periat, a place you had never experienced before, and immediately learned of Bercheria's existence? Something no one else in Periat knew?"
Lacrahan found Laurent's words unbelievable.
He hadn't noticed her presence, even though she was always by his side. He even regularly passed by the tower of Bercheria, where his knights hunted.
"That..."
Laurent glanced at Owl, who was dozing on his shoulder, and shook his head.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you the details of that, Grand Duke."
Laurent turned to Bercheria and sat down with a charming smile.
"Anyway, ever since I found out you were there, all I've been thinking about is how to get you out of there."
"All along, you mean?"
"Yes. All along."
"..."
"Bercheria."
Laurent reached for her hand on the table, but Lacrahan, who was beside her, slapped it away.
Laurent frowned, Lacrahan smiled as he tugged at one side of his lips.
"In Periat, contact between unmarried people is illegal."
"Illegal?"
Lacrahan replied in a brazen voice.
"As a Prince, you must know the law, right?"
Laurent, who hadn't even grasped the laws of Periat, withdrew his hand with a disgruntled expression.
"I watched your mother. For a very long time."
"But only when you visited Periat. How many times? Three? Or maybe twice?"
Laurent turned to Lacrahan, who repeatedly interrupted him, and then smiled.
"Four times, Your Highness."
"Either way."
Lacrahan glared at Laurent, slightly raising his hand as if to tell her to continue.
Laurent turned to Bercheria again and began speaking.
"The important thing is that your mother is more formidable than you think. It's better to avoid her than to fight her. So, come with me to Der'Ansis, Bercheria."
"I can't go."
When Lacrahan answered her again, Laurent couldn't hold back any longer.
"Grand Duke. The choice is hers. And the answer, too, is hers."
"I have something to ask you."
Bercheria's voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to focus the attention of both men.
Her expression, which had been deep in thought just moments before, now seemed determined.
"Tell me anything, Bercheria."
Laurent looked at her as if ready to answer anything.
"Why did you do that?"
"What reason are you giving, Bercheria?"
"The reason you found me and tried to help me escape."
"That is..."
Bercheria stared at Laurent, her face expressionless.
"Is your goal to take me to Der'Ansis? Or do you need my strength, like my mother?"
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