novelraw Chapter 160: Beggar Siblings - Liatrice
Chapter 160: Beggar Siblings - Liatrice
160. Beggar Siblings - Liatrice
“What’s this? Jenia, you knew them?”
The woman dressed as Queen Leisia pondered for a moment and then nodded. She bypassed Ober, who had asked the question, and approached Leo, saying, “I waited, and it started to pour... I didn’t think you’d come. Oh my, is this your sister?”
Jenia shifted her attention to Lena, scrutinizing her as she hesitantly observed her surroundings.
“You’re really beautiful,” she said, removing the crown she was wearing and placing it on Lena’s head. Lena, clad in a simple white dress, looked entirely different once the crown adorned her head.
The noble aura of royalty.
Her white priestess robe now resembled a frugal king’s ceremonial attire, and her still-wet hair evoked the image of a king’s hair soaked in holy water during a coronation.
Except for her golden eyes, which were darting back and forth between her brother and the woman in front of her at an incredibly fast pace.
“You have a great figure too...”
Minseo removed the crown. Though it appeared gold, it was actually a prop made of tombac (a type of brass, roughly 10% zinc, that closely resembles gold), making it light.Returning to her original self, Lena quickly hid behind her brother. Jenia and Leo exchanged glances.
“...Did I make a mistake? She was so pretty, I just wanted to see how it looked on her,” Jenia said, looking curiously at Leo’s stern face and then sincerely apologized. Still puzzled by Leo’s unyielding expression, she continued, “Um... well then... could you please wait a moment? There’s another act coming up. I’ll be back after finishing.”
Jenia, with a straight posture, walked away.
Clack, clack.
The dressing room was bustling with actors who had just finished their performance and were changing clothes and fixing their makeup for the next act. Yet, her footsteps were distinct as she walked away.
“So, you wanted to ask something, and you were looking for Jenia? You should’ve said so from the start,” Ober said. He seemed to have forgotten that he had dismissed their initial approach with a rude comment.
Well, that was how he always was.
He would tell you to go back to your mother’s milk, and then turn around and say, “I thought you were special from the first time I saw you,” with complete nonchalance.
Lena and Leo waited for Jenia, taking seats in a corner of the theater guided by Ober.
Santian Rauno followed them closely, bragging, “Everyone here is part of our Rauno family. We all came to watch the play together today.” Lena, seemingly pleased by the attention from someone her age, responded, “Really? Wow, that’s a lot of people.”
While they waited, the red curtain rose, and the second act began. Listening to Ober’s snoring, Leo fell into deep thought.
He hadn’t seen the ending of the childhood friends scenario. But even though he didn’t see the ending, he clearly remembered the process.
He hadn’t seen the engagement scenario either, but thanks to Leo Dexter’s detailed explanations right before he disappeared, he had a general idea of what happened.
Among the information Leo Dexter provided, there were both crucial and seemingly unimportant details.
Let’s start with the unimportant ones.
Leo Dexter had left messages like, “Beware of that guy Yuan. He’s...”, “Something was off with Uncle and Lena’s behavior regarding my mother.”, “Watch out for Viscount Brina. That guy...”, and “On the way to Manubium, I encountered the warriors of the Albacete tribe. They...”.
Sorry, but those were useless bits of information.
While they might help avoid some crises in the future, they didn’t seem like critical information for ‘clearing’ the game.
They were merely background details that composed the engagement scenario.
The actor playing the role of Rauno reappeared on stage. Listening to his song about his unrequited love for Queen Leisia, Leo sifted through the crucial information.
Noguhwa Lake had vanished.
Because of this, Leo Dexter met the sisters Ran and Anne, and after capturing the monstrous Sulgak Saro together, they headed to Barnaul.
Leo Dexter seemed to have been completely puzzled as to why the monster had disappeared, but Minseo had a theory.
There were games like that. Those that didn’t respawn the monsters you hunted.
It was a tactic to limit the rewards from hunting to just once. Knowing how stingy the game ‘Raising the Princess’ could be, Minseo wasn’t too surprised.
However, the fact that hunting a monster had a permanent impact on the game was highly significant.
How to leverage this information wasn’t clear yet... Ah?!
Something flashed in his mind. Unconsciously, Minseo slapped his knee, feeling a surge of hope.
‘I can save Enen!’
Yes! That’s right!
The adorable girl Enen from the Euta tribe, who raised mushrooms in the forest near the northwest of the Holy Kingdom. Leo first met her in the third childhood friends scenario after Lena was expelled from the capital church.
Her manner of following her brother Euta around reminded him of his sister Lena in the beggar siblings scenario, and he quickly grew fond of her. He had always wanted to repay the grandmother of the siblings for her selfless kindness.
But in the fourth engagement scenario where the breakup proceeded, he saw it.
Enen being torn apart and killed by the beast Oantahu.
Her limbs were ripped off and left on the ground, her torso mangled, her legs chewed up, and Enen’s head bleeding from her ears.
It was a horrific scene, one that was unbearable to witness in a sane state. But what made it even more brutal was that her death was repeatedly occurring.
Every time I replayed the scenario.
There was no way to help her. The Holy Kingdom was far away, and it wasn’t feasible to reach it every scenario.
But now, if I could visit that place even once, in any scenario, and defeat Oantahu just once, Enen could live. There was a chance to free her from the endless cycle of death.
Following Minseo, Leo smiled. Though it was a sad scene where Rauno’s unrequited love was being performed, Leo barely suppressed his urge to burst out laughing.
Whether it was useful for clearing the game or not, the fact that he had a way to help Enen lifted a significant weight of guilt from his shoulders.
The fact that hunting the monster had become difficult wasn’t very important. He was already an expert thanks to that achievement.
The issue was...
‘The next engagement scenario will be harder now...’
Without the monsters, how would he avoid the war events? It would be nice to find just one or two more.
Leo’s joy faded somewhat.
Then, recalling another piece of crucial information left by Leo Dexter, his joy vanished completely.
MalHas.
There was another vicious Ashin. To be precise, there were two of them.
The ancient Ashins, Malpas and Halpas, were ruling the two northern kingdoms.
Leo’s brief smile quickly turned into a deep sigh.
The Beggar Siblings scenario starts with nothing, yet the final stage is just(?) being a ‘prince’ serving Oriax.
In terms of both military and economic aspects, it can be the best starting point. However, the final stage of the Engagement scenario involves dominating two kingdoms and dealing with ‘kings’ who are already half-consumed.
How did they balance it this way... The Engagement scenario really had no answer.
“Should I rely on other scenarios to clear it?” Leo shook his head as he pondered this.
It was an attempt to shake off his thoughts, but just then, a familiar face appeared on stage.
It was Soirin, the flower shop girl who had shown interest in Leo when he was part of the Rauno family.
“...She became an actress.”
She had once confessed in a carriage heading to the Arvile Theater with Leo that she wanted to become an actress when she was young.
He wasn’t sure if she was a full-time actress now, but Soirin was doing an excellent job in the role of Baneca Rauno, Banoon Rauno’s younger sister.
“Brother! I’ll help you. Drink this love potion. I’ve already given it to Leisia. Don’t worry. She’ll never know...” Soirin said darkly.
According to records, Baneca was an ambitious figure. With an androgynous charm, she was very ‘handsome,’ looking much like her brother Banoon Rauno, and she had used his name to achieve her desires before suddenly disappearing from history.
Banoon Rauno threw the potion bottle. Watching his furious performance, Leo was puzzled.
“Why is this place a theater? Why is Soirin an actress?”
It seemed somehow related to freeing Cassia, who used to work in this brothel...
But he didn’t know yet. Moreover, as the scene changed and Jenia, dressed as the queen, appeared on stage, Leo found it hard to continue his thoughts.
Thump, thump.
Queen Leisia requested the exiled Banoon Rauno to return to the frontline. The play focused on Banoon’s internal conflict, but Leo couldn’t take his eyes off Jenia.
Because she resembled Chaehwa?
No.
There was a resemblance, but Jenia was a completely different person. Leo knew this, yet his heart pounded.
It felt like...
“I like that woman.”
It was the same feeling Rev had when he looked at Lena. Early in the scenario, Leo de Yeriel, with Minseo’s strong influence still present, objectively assessed his own state.
However, every time Soirin approached Jenia, his heart sank, and when Banoon Rauno shut himself in his mansion and Leysia frowned in worry, Leo felt anxious too.
The act curtain fell.
The second act ended with the King of the Arcaea Kingdom, Toddler Akiunen, personally visiting the Rauno family mansion and knocking on the door.
Leo and Lena’s play-watching ended there. After a short break, the third act was to start, but Jenia, having removed her makeup, approached them.
“My role is over. Will you watch more?”
“No. I watched with great interest. Your acting was superb.”
Despite being in her late teens, Jenia appeared much more mature than her age, and she burst into laughter. Normally, she would take it as a polite compliment and show modesty, but she laughed heartily without covering her mouth.
Just like Chaehwa.
“Thank you. I was worried since it was my first time playing Leisia, but your praise reassures me. Well then... shall we go?”
Leo had no idea where she intended to take them, but he stood up, nodded, and helped Lena to her feet. He asked Santian Rauno, who was disappointed, to greet him next time. They passed by Ober, who was still snoring, and exited the hall.
Jenia climbed the stairs inside the theater. As they ascended the creaking wooden steps past the second-floor audience seats, signs of habitation began to appear here and there.
“No Entry Except for Authorized Personnel.”
Despite the sign, the third floor of the theater was a residential area.
The small, crowded rooms, laundry hanging everywhere, low-ceilinged rooms visible through open doors, unmade bedding, and rough low tables were all signs of life. However, being on the top floor with windows open, the air wasn’t stuffy.
“Jenia, are you done?”
“Not yet, sister. The final act remains.”
“Really? Then I’ll go down a bit later. By the way, did you return the petticoat you borrowed? I washed it earlier, so it might not be dry yet.”
“Got it.”
As they walked down the narrow corridor, a woman sitting in an open doorway spoke, puffing on a cigarette while sewing.
“A prostitute,” Leo thought.
Prostitutes couldn’t easily hide their past. Having observed Cassia for a long time, Leo could recognize certain common traits.
Hair that appeared tousled despite being cleanly brushed, thick and clumsy makeup likely intended to mask her past and her modesty, a delicate neck that invited one to grab it tight... The list went on.
However, the woman differed from the prostitutes Leo had seen so far.
Her eyes were clear. Although a touch of gloom remained, they sparkled with hope, much like Cassia’s eyes when she was making shoes.
“Have they settled here?” Leo wondered, convinced that this place used to be a brothel.
“Could Cassia be here too?” Leo glanced around as they walked, but soon arrived at Jenia’s room.
Her room was quite spacious.
It wasn’t clear whether she was fortunate to get a large room at the end of the corridor or if women working as actresses were given better rooms, but her room was very clean. She seemed to take good care of her living space, with a bed, a desk by the window, and a fine carpet on the floor.
A round table that looked quite expensive had a flat flowerpot on it, with a Liatrice flower blooming like a silver fluff ball on its sturdy stem, brightening the room’s atmosphere.
Of course, the overall impression was good, but signs of daily life were still evident.
A low ceiling, a laundry line near the wall with wet clothes and undergarments hanging. Jenia quickly threw the undergarments into a cabinet under the desk and sat down as if nothing had happened.
Leo and Lena sat on small triangular stools near the table.
A moment of silence followed. Lena, clueless about the situation, darted her eyes around, and Leo, equally confused, remained silent.
Watching them, Jenia chuckled.
“You’re quite different from this morning.”
Jenia pulled her chair closer to the table. Sitting straight with her hands clasped and placed on her lap, she looked intrigued.
Waiting for her to speak first, Leo finally heard Jenia start the conversation.
“Haha, alright. You win. I like you too. But I’m not ready to date yet. No matter how intense the first meeting was, I can’t just accept a man I’ve just met.”
Jenia’s eyes flicked briefly to the laundry line before returning to Leo.
This morning, this handsome beggar had spilled water on her. What he said afterward was even more astonishing.
He boldly declared that he liked her and demanded her help.
Who would have thought she’d live to see such a day?
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