Chapter 18
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Chapter 18
Belzeon hastily wiped away his tears with the back of his hand.
But once the floodgates had opened, the tears would not stop so easily.
Instead, they poured forth as if they had been waiting for this very moment.
Both Belzeon and Chesa were startled by the endless cascade of tears.
"Hic...."
Shocked by the intensity, Belzeon even began to hiccup.
With his face flushed and tears streaming down as he hiccupped, he was unmistakably a thirteen-year-old boy.
Not the eldest son of House Basilian....
Chesa gently patted Belzeon as he wept earnestly.
Belzeon clutched the lily of the valley tightly in his hand and sobbed for a long while.
Only when his eyes had turned completely red did his tears finally cease.
"...."
Belzeon withdrew a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his disheveled face.
The small cloth quickly became damp with moisture.
Perhaps it was only after crying his fill that embarrassment caught up with him.
The tips of Belzeon's ears flushed crimson.
As Belzeon absently poked at the lily of the valley with his finger, he suddenly muttered under his breath.
"Father and my siblings are all so willful. They're like untamed colts."
Chesa could only agree with that assessment.
Everyone except Belzeon was impulsive and violent like an unbroken beast.
"My siblings need to learn that the Capital and the Eastern Region are different. In Basilian Domain, they could behave like dogs, but if they do that here, they'll have to pay the price."
Belzeon pressed his lips together firmly for a moment.
"I want to protect House Basilian. To keep the Count from destroying it, to prevent my siblings from tarnishing it.... I want to protect it."
The hand caressing the lily of the valley gradually slowed.
"But things don't go as I wish...."
Belzeon's nose bridge wrinkled deeply.
He suppressed the tears threatening to emerge again and looked at Chesa.
He seemed unable to believe that he had bared his heart—something he had hidden from everyone for so long—before this small child.
'But you're just a little one.'
Chesa hummed inwardly while generously understanding Belzeon.
After all, children that age always believed themselves to be adults.
Chesa herself had harbored such thoughts around thirteen.
"I will send you away from House Basilian before the Pure Child Prayer Ceremony."
Belzeon met Chesa's gaze directly and spoke slowly, as if to make her understand.
"So don't become too attached."
Chesa nodded slightly and thought to herself.
It seemed like Belzeon was the one becoming attached.
"Stop wasting time and go now."
"Yes...."
My backside was already aching from sitting on the stone floor for far too long.
Chesa pretended to be listless and quickly rose to her feet.
Then she toddled out of the Study.
Just as she stepped beyond the Study and reached for the door to close it—
A very small, faint voice reached her ears.
"Thank you for the flowers."
Click.
The door shut.
Before the words could even properly register, the door had closed, and Chesa blinked slowly in front of it.
Something felt strange.
If I had to describe it, it was as though my heart were tickling from the inside.
As that warm, swelling sensation bloomed within me, I drew in a sharp breath.
And I hardened my gaze with resolve.
"Count Rudin."
This bastard was the root of all my problems.
'Why am I so irritated...?'
Seeing Belzeon cry only made me angrier.
Recalling the boy sobbing pitifully, I furrowed my brow deeply.
'This is seriously getting on my nerves.'
Perhaps it was because I'd been living too obediently lately.
The urge to cause some proper mischief bubbled up inside me relentlessly.
I clenched my small fists tightly.
My soft pink eyes gleamed with sharp intent.
"Just you wait."
I was going to pull off some proper devilry for the first time in ages.
***
The Rudin Family was a prestigious house that had accumulated wealth and power across generations under a storied tradition.
The current Count Rudin served as the Emperor's attendant and enjoyed his singular trust.
Recognized for his devoted service to the Imperial Court, he was soon to receive a new title and domain as reward.
Among the various noble houses, it could be said that his was the most prominent.
Thus, not only the ordinary nobility but even the Imperial Dukes dared not act carelessly toward Count Rudin.
With justified confidence as his foundation, Count Rudin grew increasingly arrogant with each passing day.
Yet there was an unexpected rival who appeared before him.
It was none other than House Basilian.
House Basilian was originally renowned throughout the Empire.
But not in a favorable manner.
People's assessment was that they could not fathom why House Basilian was called one of the Empire's three great houses.
This was because, unlike other houses, House Basilian possessed no outstanding qualities whatsoever.
They did not even participate in the Capital's High Society or political circles.
They merely remained secluded in the gloomy Black Forest of the East.
That strange happenings occurred in that Black Forest was the extent of the rumors surrounding the house.
Then, just once, House Basilian suddenly shook the entire Empire with an incident.
Count Basilian appeared in the Capital with a woman of unknown origins, requesting the Emperor grant him a title so that he might marry her.
The Capital's High Society was abuzz for some time over Count Basilian's declaration to marry a woman of unknown status.
Particularly, there was much speculation about the woman's origins.
The basic assumption was that she was a slave.
There were even whispers that she was a high-class courtesan from abroad.
The rampant rumors reached their peak when Count Basilian brought the woman to the Imperial Palace.
On the day of Count Basilian's audience at court.
Nobles consumed by curiosity gathered like clouds.
Count Rudin, the Emperor's attendant, also eagerly awaited the Count's appearance, though he pretended otherwise.
The moment he beheld the woman, the Count could not help but gasp in admiration.
"My word, this is extraordinary...."
She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.
Her elegant presence was like a goddess of beauty beyond mortal reach, and merely gazing upon her made one dizzy.
All who beheld her praised her as transcending human beauty.
Count Basilian, who appeared alongside the woman, was himself a remarkably handsome man.
So much so that several young ladies and noblewomen who caught sight of him fell ill with lovesickness.
It was anticipated that a new figure would shake the Capital's High Society....
Yet for some reason, Count Basilian departed for the Eastern Region almost immediately after securing his wife's title.
The Capital's High Society, which had gossiped about Count Basilian and his wife for some time, gradually forgot them.
And years later.
News arrived that the Countess had died.
Like her origins, the cause of her death remained unknown.
The romantic love of the couple, like a fairy tale, ended in tragedy.
Upon hearing the news of her death, Count Rudin clicked his tongue sympathetically for a moment, but soon erased it from his mind.
He was far too occupied to spare attention to such trivial matters.
Count Basilian, whom I had forgotten, suddenly intruded into my daily life when I received an imperial decree.
"Bring Count Basilian to the Capital at once!"
The Emperor, who had received the Holy Knight dispatched from Hilderd, issued the command with a ghastly pallor draining his face.
To think he would send me merely to fetch Basilian.
Count Rudin obeyed the imperial order faithfully, though his pride was wounded.
Though I saw him again after a long time, Count Basilian appeared scarcely changed.
I had expected him to have aged considerably, having lost his wife, yet his face remained taut without a single wrinkle.
There was no opportunity to wonder at his undiminished appearance.
I was too preoccupied with my fury at Count Basilian's arrogance.
For a provincial bumpkin from the Eastern Region, he feared nothing whatsoever.
He was so audaciously disrespectful to me and to the Holy Knight alike that my eyes nearly rolled back into my head each time the Count opened his mouth.
He deserved immediate imprisonment, and yet the Emperor favored Count Basilian.
In fact, after the Count withdrew from the palace, the Emperor subtly summoned me to offer his counsel.
"He says he will remain in the Capital for some time—I entrust you to look after Count Basilian."
Count Rudin could not suppress the jealousy roiling within him.
The thought of crushing that man's arrogance kept me awake through the night.
Mercifully, the gods favored Count Rudin.
An opportunity presented itself without delay.
"Haha! Today was most satisfying."
Count Rudin burst into hearty laughter.
Whenever I recalled the eldest son of House Basilian rendered helpless before me, I could not help but smile.
Thinking of using this incident to extract an apology from Count Basilian himself, I felt sated even without food.
Unlike the delighted Count Rudin, his wife remained uneasy.
"But will it truly be all right?"
"What do you mean?"
She dampened my spirits with needless worry.
"Those red eyes keep haunting me.... It troubles me deeply."
"You worry over nothing. After all, they are merely children. I shall handle Count Basilian myself."
"Then I suppose it is fortunate...."
Count Rudin soothed his wife's unnecessary anxieties.
That night, the Count raised a toast to himself alone in the Study with wine.
Thoroughly intoxicated, Count Rudin never made it to his Bedroom, instead falling asleep on the Study's sofa.
He was sleeping deeply and soundly.
Then, in an instant, the Count's eyes snapped wide open.
An inexplicable sense of threat had jolted him awake.
"...!"
He came to his senses with a violent start.
And he realized he stood in a strange space.
It was an immense chessboard, with alternating squares of black and white forming a vast grid.
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