Chapter 25
“If you keep pushing yourself like that, Arzeo… when will you ever be able to rest in peace? ”
Leira said it out of pure concern.
If someone constantly pressures themselves, one day they break. When pushed to their limits, their judgment becomes blurred, or they give up everything entirely.
She wanted to steady him before he reached that point.
“…I can’t help it. Nothing will change anyway.”
“I also don’t feel very good. After looking around today, I realized there’s nothing I can do here.”
“I can tell.”
“When I say things like this, I mean it’s okay even for you to feel the same way.”
Even with Leira, Arzeo found it hard to express his honest feelings.
Since he didn’t seem ready to open his mouth, Leira gave him a gentle smile.
She suddenly remembered something from long ago. Perhaps all princes weren’t so different.
“I think I’ll rest for now. Maybe tomorrow I’ll find something I can do.”
“You’re planning to stay longer? ”
“Well, that’s why we booked a room, isn’t it? ”
“……”
“I want to see a little more of this place.”
“Weren’t you supposed to hurry back to the capital? And the pursuit squad is on the way.”
“But we still have some time. And the fork in the road I mentioned isn’t far from here.”
That was true. They had ridden hard, putting a good distance between themselves and the pursuers.
Besides, the pursuit squad had no easy way of knowing where they went. Unless Leira ran around shouting, ‘I’m the Foresteia duke’s daughter! ’, gathering information on her location would be difficult.
When Arzeo didn’t argue, Leira flashed him a bright smile, bowed lightly, and disappeared into her room.
Eugene, who had been standing nearby, glanced sideways at Arzeo’s expression.
Arzeo stared at the floor with cold eyes, then leaned back against the sofa, tilting his head.
He let out a long sigh. When he opened his eyes again, he looked like his usual self.
“She really leaves me with nothing to say.”
He could argue back if he wanted to… but somehow she made him lose the will to fight back.
Eugene hid a small smile at Arzeo’s muttered complaint.
“I’ll look around a bit more and organize the report.”
“…All right.”
Once the report was submitted, the crown prince would handle the situation. A crown prince who genuinely cared for the people.
Arzeo only needed to help his older brother maintain that reputation.
That was the only way things would stay peaceful—just as he wished.
“We’ll only stay until tomorrow. We leave after that.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Arzeo ruffled his own hair lightly, then waved his hand and entered his room.
With the door at his back, he slumped onto the bed with a bored expression.
It wasn’t that he felt nothing. But he didn’t seem as troubled as Leira.
In fact… she seemed to care more about the suffering of his empire’s people than he did.
‘The Foresteia territory must be a very peaceful place.’
He could guess as much just by watching how Leira interacted with others. A calm place, a place where no one was forced to sacrifice themselves.
If his older brother became emperor, and he gained freedom from royal obligations… then maybe—
‘Maybe I should settle down in the Foresteia duchy.’
He already owed Leira a debt in many ways, so that wouldn’t be so bad.
While imagining this, Arzeo found himself smiling without realizing it.
***
Meanwhile,
The Valois Empire’s second prince, Noel, was gentle and full of justice.
He could never ignore someone in trouble nor overlook wrongdoing.
Noel always sided with the citizens and willingly fought corrupt nobles.
Because of that, many nobles began to pin their hopes on him—believing that if Noel became emperor, the Valois Empire would flourish under a virtuous ruler.
Of course, among his supporters were also selfish nobles who only followed him for advantage. But public sentiment strongly favored Noel regardless.
And the brighter Noel shone… the more the relationship between him and Lloyd deteriorated.
Thinking of those two, Arzeo’s behavior now seemed like the wise way to maintain peace.
If only Noel had acted a bit more like Arzeo, perhaps those two brothers might have had a more harmonious relationship.
Leira shook her head lightly, pushing those thoughts aside. She tied her soft platinum-blonde hair up high today instead of letting it down as usual.
Seeing the empire’s citizens suffering clearly weighed on Arzeo too. Watching him hold himself back only made Leira even more determined.
Since he couldn’t step forward recklessly, she decided she needed to find something she could do.
When she stepped out of the room and spotted Arzeo, she called out immediately.
“Ah, Leira…”
“I’m going to look around the sculptor village area a bit more.”
He had been about to say something, but her sudden announcement made him raise an eyebrow.
Just yesterday she looked gloomy, yet now she seemed full of energy.
He preferred this look to seeing her hang her head, but… it stirred a strange feeling he couldn’t quite name.
“You seem to be in a better mood.”
“Yes. I might be able to find something I can do today.”
He didn’t understand why she was so eager to do something.
He also felt bad when he saw others suffering. But most people prioritized their own responsibilities over everything else.
And with her hair tied high like that—something he had never seen before—she looked livelier, brighter.
And… annoyingly beautiful.
Realizing his own thoughts, Arzeo pressed his fingers to his forehead.
“All right, all right. Let’s go.”
He nodded with the air of someone who had already given up resisting. He planned to let her do what she wanted anyway.
He assigned Eugene a different task, then left the inn with Leira.
They passed the sculptor village and headed toward the rocky mountain, following Leira’s direction.
From afar, the mountain looked like any other. But up close, it was different. The outside was dark gray, but once carved, the stone inside was white.
And that stone, once carved, glowed faintly in darkness.
Inside the mountain, there were paths used by workers carrying stone.
As they moved deeper, they saw a few exhausted people.
They were carrying stones dug out from the mountain, sweating heavily, their faces visibly worn out.
There were far too few workers for the workload.
Everyone looked gaunt and drained as they moved.
One of the workers noticed Leira and Arzeo approaching and asked with confusion,
“Who are you? What brings you here? ”
“Oh, we were just looking around the mountain,” Leira replied.
“I see.”
After hearing that, he quickly lost interest and returned to work.
They had been working since dawn, loading dug-out stones into carts.
“You don’t look well. Are you all right? “Leira?” he asked gently.
“Ah… yes,” they answered vaguely, continuing to work without pause.
Leira stood still, watching them. Anyone could see they were severely short-handed.
On the way into the territory, they had seen many villagers who’d been driven out.
It seemed the lord reduced the number of stone workers drastically and forced the remaining ones to work beyond their limits.
‘Something I can do…’
After observing how they worked, Leira rolled up her sleeves.
She had neither the strength nor the wealth to solve things in a grand way.
But helping didn’t always require power or money. There were small things she could do.
“If it’s just carrying stones, I could help,” she said, smiling as her teal eyes sparkled. She walked toward a pile of stones.
If the territory lord was squeezing money from this village—
If he reduced the number of miners, overworked them, forced the sculptors to mass-produce carvings—
Then the one thing she could immediately help with was carrying stones. She couldn’t touch the sculptures themselves.
“No, no! Do you really think you can lift those? ” Arzeo jumped forward, horrified, and grabbed her arm.
“Why not?”
“Look at the stones. Then look at your arms. You’ll break your arm before you move a single rock.”
“They won’t break.”
“Even strong grown men struggle with those! ”
The workers looked at Leira, then at the stones, then nodded in agreement with Arzeo.
“We appreciate the thought, miss,” one of them said with a faint, tired smile.
The fatigue on their faces eased just a little. Seeing someone so delicate wanting to help made their hearts feel lighter. She even looked a bit adorable.
But the sun beating down on them was still merciless.
A middle-aged man wiped his sweat and muttered to himself:
“It’d be nice if we at least had some shade…”
There was no proper shade anywhere near the work area.
There were trees farther down the mountain road, but going all the way there to rest was unrealistic—they were too busy, and there were too few workers.
“Shade? ” Leira blinked and repeated.
The man wiped his forehead and nodded roughly.
“As you can see, the sun is brutal. It’s torture to work in the daytime.”
At those words, Leira immediately turned her head and looked around.
This was something she could handle.
Creating trees—growing shade—was within her power.
‘But…’
If she used that power openly, the pursuit squad would find her quickly.
But she didn’t want to stand around doing nothing either.
