CHAPTER 54………………………………………
She walked quietly, stepping softly. Even her breathing was careful.
“By the way… Stephan was a prince?”
Thinking back, there were moments that had always seemed strange.
The way his fingers were neat when opening a canteen, the disciplined way he folded his hands while standing straight. The pleasant sound of his footsteps echoing in the hallway.
Small, trivial things that, once noticed, kept catching the eye—things that were very different from first impressions.
“I thought the hair growing on the crown of his head was lighter than the rest… must be dyed.”
In the past few days, Privetina and Stephan had sparred in fencing after dinner. Stephan usually won, but they were gradually syncing better than at first.
Stephan was kinder than she had expected.
Whenever she sat down in frustration over her poor skills, he bent down from his 190-centimeter height to meet her eyes. He knelt and extended his hand. Privetina practiced longer, wanting to match him for just a little more time.
Tonight, too, after parting ways with Stephan, she had been practicing fencing alone late into the evening on her way home.
If only she hadn’t noticed Heliodor, the guildmaster, cautiously moving around…
Could she have indulged in this little romance a bit? Could she have let her feelings for Stephan go unchecked?
By status, Privetina had been a baroness-in-waiting. But now she had thrown that title away herself and become a commoner.
A baroness-in-waiting and a commoner trainee knight. Either way, their social ranks were far too low to dream of a future with a prince.
She realized, at that moment when she had to let go, that this sorrow she felt was truly her first love.
“Focus! Onyx Privetina! This isn’t the important thing!”
Privetina, biting her lip, opened her eyes wide. She quickly and cautiously left the spot, faster than anyone else could have.
She was going to meet the people who could satisfy her curiosity—right now.
Creak, squeak—
“What the… this door really needs fixing. Every night the wind makes it dance.”
Adamas sighed while drying his wet hair in front of the fireplace.
Sapheiros, just out of the bathroom, looked at him and chuckled softly.
“It’s not the wind. It’s a guest.”
“Huh? A guest?”
Approaching the door confidently, Sapheiros opened it calmly and said,
“It’s late. Is something wrong?”
“Oh! Tina? What are you doing at this hour?”
“Director, Mas….”
“Yes, Tina. Speak.”
“Is it true that Pantheon and Stephan are really princes?”
“…Tina, how did you find out? Come inside first?”
“I saw Pantheon meeting Heliodor, the guildmaster, late at night. The guildmaster called Pantheon a prince.”
Privetina emptied the cup of soybean milk Adamas handed her in one gulp.
A moment of silence passed. Adamas tapped the table and asked,
“So, if Tina’s right, Pantheon and the guildmaster were pretending not to know each other?”
“Yes. That’s right, Mas. They had known each other from the start. There were signs.”
“Signs? I didn’t notice anything unusual.”
“You wouldn’t have, Director, Mas. When Pantheon was teasing Mas during the sponsorship event…”
Privetina glanced at Sapheiros and spoke carefully.
“Keep going.”
“At that moment, you, Director, ran shouting to where Mas and Pantheon were, so you didn’t see, but the guildmaster trembled—just enough for me standing nearby to notice. He must have been surprised to see Pantheon, as they weren’t strangers.”
“So despite that, he acted as if he was seeing Pantheon for the first time?”
“Exactly, Mas.”
“Huh… now that you mention it, I did notice something odd too.”
Sapheiros spoke.
“What is it, Ross?”
“The guildmaster’s last words.”
“Last words?”
“I wondered to whom he was giving such a graceful, courteous farewell. Now it makes sense if it was to Pantheon.”
“I see… so Pantheon’s last words weren’t meant for me.”
“Last words?”
“You know, when he shouted for anyone to come to his room anytime, giving directions.”
Privetina nodded as Adamas spoke.
“I heard that too. I thought his voice was unusually loud, but from the start, it was for the guildmaster.”
Privetina clapped her hands once, then quietly let her shoulders slump with a sigh.
“…So Pantheon and Stephan really are princes.”
Tears had begun to gather in her gloomy brown eyes.
While Adamas fidgeted, Sapheiros quietly handed her a handkerchief.
Only then did Privetina realize she was crying.
“Sniff! I should’ve listened to Mas. No matter how handsome, I shouldn’t have let it slide. Sniff!”
“Huh? Tina, what do you mean by that?”
“Nothing. I was just too surprised. Apparently I cry when I’m shocked. Sniff! Director, I’ll wash this and return it to you later.”
“…Keep it.”
“No, no. I’ll wash it nicely and give it back.”
Privetina shoved the snot-stained handkerchief into her pocket.
“We’ll try to get them out as soon as possible. Don’t worry. And take the handkerchief. Please.”
“I’m sorry, Tina. It was serious, so I couldn’t tell you. I won’t lie to you anymore.”
Seeing Sapheiros comforting her in a serious tone, and Adamas with a guilty look, Privetina slapped her own cheeks.
Right, I didn’t come here just to confirm my first love! Focus, Privetina!
“Then Mas, I have a question.”
“Ask anything, Tina. By the way, are you hurt? Your face is red.”
“There are more important things than my cheeks!”
“Huh? Surely nothing is more important than Tina’s cheeks.”
Privetina smiled at Adamas’ serious tone.
“Do you know the Necklace of Auckland?”
“Huh? What?”
“The Necklace of Auckland.”
“How do you know about that? Where did you hear it?”
“Pantheon asked the guildmaster to find it. But I’ve never heard of it before. Is it famous?”
“No… now? Not at all. But why is the Necklace of Auckland now…”
Adamas’ eyes trembled, unable to believe it.
“…Mas! Adamas?!”
Sapheiros’ urgent voice called out, and Adamas shook his head violently.
“S-sorry. Well, yes. The necklace refers to the Necklace of Auckland Ocarina, the first empress of Francis. Tina.”
He continued calmly, though his heartbeat echoed in his ears.
“Did I say it wrong? Mas, the first empress of Francis was ‘Dania,’ wasn’t she?”
Privetina tilted her head, and Sapheiros nodded.
“Tina’s right. ‘Auckland’ is a family I’ve never heard of before.”
“Sorry. I should have said it disappeared from history. More accurately, it was erased completely…”
Adamas forced a bitter smile, looking at the stunned faces of Sapheiros and Privetina.
“About fifty years later, in the summer of the 670th year of the Empire, a record-breaking downpour occurred.”
“Huh? Fifty years later?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Tina, Ross, listen to me first. Then ask questions.”
Adamas spoke firmly, stopping them.
“More than half the capital was flooded, and the northern tower of Francis Castle collapsed completely. Emperor Sixto Francis struggled to deal with the flood, and during this, a discovery of the century occurred.”
The emperor had contracted the tower repairs to a private company via auction.
During the repair, a skeleton and a blood-stained diary were found.
The diary’s owner identified herself as the first empress of Francis.
A hidden side of history surfaced.
The Francis Empire originated as a small new state in the ruins of the Duchy of Primera.
Though called an empire, it only became a true empire under Liger Francis II. Before that, even as an empire, it was small.
Shuon, a famous monster hunter of Primera, was called the Lion King because of how he looked fighting monsters with his platinum hair flowing like a lion.
He built influence by hunting monsters and joined forces with the Duke of Auckland to establish a new nation—the Francis Empire.
The “three-way path blessed by God” was actually where they gathered forces to march on Primera Castle.
Shuon beheaded the Primera king and became emperor, marrying the Duke of Auckland as empress. He then erased records of the previous kingdom and focused on self-deification.
But…
“As soon as Shuon crowned the Duke of Auckland as empress, he imprisoned her at the top of the north tower of Francis Castle. He erased all records of her existence in history.”
“…Is that true? Why would he go that far? Didn’t want to share power?”
“That’s part of it. He probably realized that if she were alive, he became emperor with someone else’s help.”
“Why is that a problem? No one can live alone in this world.”
“Shuon wanted to be a flawless emperor. In the diary of Empress Auckland, it says: ‘Shuon called himself a flawless king. In reality, he was just a bundle of obsessive inferiority.’”
“The Lion King was like that?”
Sapheiros, listening quietly, darkened. He had always admired the Lion King’s wisdom and bravery.
“Mas, could it be that you’re a descendant of the Lion King? Like Stephan?”
“Do I look like a prophet?”
Adamas bit his lips until it hurt.
Should I stop here? Call the fifty-year-old story a joke?
But…
For the development of the territory, cooperation with Sapheiros and Privetina is essential. I have to tell the truth.
His heart raced. Cold sweat ran down his back. Clenching and unclenching his fists, Adamas slowly steadied his voice.
“I… am from the future.”
