novelraw Chapter 170: Beggar Siblings - The Incident
Chapter 170: Beggar Siblings - The Incident
170. Beggar Siblings - The Incident
The dressing room was bustling yet quiet.
In the shadowy backstage area, hidden from the cloud of gathered spectators, everyone communicated with hand gestures and hushed movements.
In the suffocating darkness, the only sounds were the blinding spotlight, the dry wooden stage floor creaking under the actors' feet, and the muffled whispers of the actors preparing for their roles.
“Hoo. Haa. Hoo. Haa.”
Lena took deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves.
On stage, Saint Azrae was chastising the demon Seares by the banks of the Rodran River, while Lena stretched her stiff limbs.
It was almost her turn to go on stage.
After defeating the fourth evil on the Anatolea Plains, Saint Azrae, in despair, would throw a brass goblet and curse the gods. That’s when she would make her entrance.
“Ahem. Ah. Ahem.”Feeling even more nervous, Lena retreated. She feared her voice would crack at this rate.
Barefoot, she tiptoed back to her dressing room and gulped down some water to soothe her throat.
She was scared. The thought of making a mistake in front of the focused eyes of the audience when the first saint made her appearance was terrifying.
Moreover, her entrance marked the end of the second act of
How wonderful it would be if her brother were here.
The tension made her hands and feet tremble. She longed for someone to comfort her, but Jenia was not available. She was on stage, playing the demon Seares, who influences and advises Saint Azrae.
- Knock knock.
Then, someone knocked on the door. Without waiting for permission, the theater owner, Bretin, entered.
“Lena, are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Bretin approached her and turned her around. He massaged her small shoulders and offered some advice.
“You’ll do great. But it’s okay if you make a mistake. Nobody is perfect from the start. Everyone makes mistakes... I’m not saying you should, but if you do, make it a confident and bold mistake.”
“...Are you telling me to make a mistake or not?”
“That depends on how you take it, Lena.”
Lena smiled and turned back around.
“Alright. Then I’ll make a bold mistake,” she said and confidently left the dressing room.
Bretin lingered for a moment, watching the small, delicate girl disappear barefoot through the door. For a brief moment, he was reminded of Cassia’s retreating figure.
A girl who ran barefoot to beg for her father’s life. After the funeral, he had worried that she might commit suicide, but she returned frail but determined. She had returned and stabbed Bretin’s heart with her words.
- “Don’t be too tied up in the past.”
But how could one not be tied up? From the moment he woke up in a blood-soaked bed, the moment his mother, who had sung him to sleep, disappeared, his past was frozen in time.
However,
- “I will live my own life now.”
Cassia’s words made it impossible for him to focus on work. The life he had led, pushing prostitutes into men’s laps, suddenly felt regretful.
What had he done for that girl, Cassia? He had only contributed to ruining her life, and the gold coins she had coldly refused felt worthless. They seemed like mere scraps of metal.
He went to his ‘master.’
Bretin was a bastard, born of a concubine. He went to his half-brother, Baron Brian Sauer, the legitimate son of the Aslan Kingdom’s Baron Brina, and said,
“I want to quit. Please allow it.”
Brian, the ruler of all the brothels in Orville, looked at his half-brother in surprise. With his face full of curious wrinkles, he asked,
“Why do you want to quit? Am I not paying you enough?”
“No.”
“Then are you lacking women? I’ve been sending girls from my brothel to you continuously. Ah, maybe you’re displeased because they’re old? You let them into your bed but never touch them.”
Grit.
Bretin ground his teeth. Brian’s mockery of his inability to sleep without a woman beside him was too much to bear.
“You bastard.”
The curse slipped out, and Bretin trembled as he spoke.
“Still, I am your older brother. We share no blood, but I am still your elder.”
“...!”
“Yes, I knew it. I knew you weren’t Father’s child.”
Father had loved his mother. Despite being a concubine, his father’s love allowed Bretin to receive a good education from a young age, threatening the position of the legitimate wife, who could not bear children.
Then, suddenly, the legitimate wife had a son. It happened exactly a year after her brother, Baron Brina, visited the Sauer family.
Father died. On the day the son was born, Father had a mysterious accident, and young Bretin, who also lost his mother, could do nothing. He had to pretend to know nothing and become a dog of the Sauer family to survive.
That’s how he had lived.
“Do you want to die?”
Baron Brian Sauer’s face contorted with anger. His rapid weight loss, an attempt to erase the traces of the chubby Brina family, left him looking gaunt.
Bretin said nothing. He stood there trembling, as if daring him to kill him.
The two half-brothers, not sharing a drop of blood, glared at each other. After a long silence, Brian Sauer snorted.
“Fine. I’ll treat you as my elder. What do you want?”
“...I want to take the brothel I managed. I don’t ask for more.”
Though the position you hold rightfully belongs to me, Bretin was content with that. He abandoned the name ‘Sauer’ and converted the brothel into a theater.
To the prostitutes, it was a thunderbolt out of the blue. With nowhere to go and no skills to fall back on, they were at a loss. But Bretin made sure they could live on the theater’s third floor.
Prostitutes, who even at their best, could only hope to become the concubine of a worthless man.
Thinking of his mother, Bretin sought out Cassia. She had sold her father’s shoe shop and started anew in a cheaper neighborhood. With her help, he helped the prostitutes gain independence one by one.
He was making amends, one step at a time.
In the dark dressing room, Bretin shook off his thoughts. He opened the door and whispered, “Good luck,” to the girl about to step onto the stage.
A smile.
Lena, wearing a mask that covered half her face, smiled. She bounded up the stage steps, her small body full of energy.
A lively mountain girl.
I am a lively and kind mountain girl.
Lena stepped onto the stage, shaking a pouch full of wild berries. As the spotlight shone down on her, she threw off her mask.
- Wow!!
A cheer that almost sounded like a scream erupted. Lena’s golden hair fluttered, her small, adorable ears were exposed, and her charming nose bridge glowed under the spotlight. However, beneath her delicate jawline, a deep shadow was cast. Her lively golden eyes sparkled so intensely that they silenced the noisy audience.
She had caused a scene.
Ignoring her brother's repeated advice led to an exhilaratingly thrilling flood of the crowd's attention. Yet, Lena found their gazes surprisingly easy to handle.
It was fortunate her brother wasn’t here; otherwise, she would have been scolded severely. But a mask for a mountain girl? She had to take it off.
“Can’t you hear me?! A person shouldn’t look like that! Get up!”
Lena shouted at Saint Azrae, who was sitting in despair, and the play
Leo, however, did not witness this.
*
Meanwhile, at Orville Royal Palace, a ball was being held in the Silver Liatris Hall.
Named after the flower symbolizing nobility, the hall was fittingly beautiful.
Thousands of silver candlesticks adorned the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the capitals of the pillars, illuminating the vast hall brilliantly. The semi-circular mirrored ceiling and the white marble floor were intricately decorated with silver Liatris flowers.
The hall exuded the craftsmanship and stubbornness of its creator, reflecting another meaning of the Liatris flower: obstinacy.
Leo was on duty.
He had confiscated the swords of the noble guards and replaced them with ceremonial swords without sharp edges, a rule that applied to all knights of the First, Second, and Third Orders entering the palace.
The only people allowed to carry their swords in the palace were key figures like the commander and deputy commander of the knights, and the royal guards protecting the palace.
“You look sharp. Enjoying yourself?”
Katrina approached, teasing him. She was a knight of the Second Order, wearing a form-fitting uniform.
Although there were skirts for female knights, she wore the same navy-striped pants and cloak as her male counterparts.
“Weren’t you supposed to treat us once you got paid? See, I told you being a royal guard would be tough.”
“Just hand over your sword.”
“Jeez, you’ve gotten stuffy.”
Katrina handed over her sword and followed her comrades.
Leo couldn’t afford to pay attention to Katrina at the moment. He was busy scanning the area, looking for Princess Chloe, Gilbert Forte, and Prince Arnulf de Klaus.
The ball was proceeding without a set agenda.
It was essentially a preliminary event for the visiting prince from the Astin Kingdom, allowing the nobles to meet him beforehand.
Despite the bustling dance floor filled with nobles’ children, ladies, and the attendants and knights from the Klaus Kingdom, Leo could easily spot Prince Arnulf.
However, Leo’s main focus was elsewhere. He wasn’t concerned about the prince but rather the potential disruptions he had to prevent.
‘Where is she? She must show up.’
Leo roamed the ballroom, searching for the princess.
He found Gilbert Forte.
He was reluctantly following his father, Count Herman Forte, who appeared with Prince Cleon de Tatian, whose wheat-colored hair resembled a bountiful harvest. Prince Cleon was approaching Prince Klaus, while Gilbert idly observed the surrounding ladies.
For Leo, this presented another option.
Instead of focusing on the princess, he could try to lure Gilbert Forte away from the ballroom.
But that wasn’t the best approach.
It would be easy to lure Gilbert, who had a reputation for womanizing. Handsome Leo could suggest they flirt with the ladies together, and Gilbert would readily agree. However, as Leo had seen in previous attempts, killing Gilbert Forte didn’t prevent the war.
And with the imposing Sword Master glaring at him, Leo felt uneasy approaching that direction.
He had to stop Princess Chloe de Tatian. Preventing her actions would be the key to success.
Leo had a plan for intercepting the princess.
He could spill a drink on her by accident or tear her dress by falling into her. Any method that would cause her to leave would work. If the war still erupted despite these efforts, it would confirm that the {War} event was unavoidable.
‘There she is!’
After wandering the ballroom for a while, as the tempo of the music quickened and the atmosphere reached its peak, Princess Chloe de Tatian appeared.
She indeed possessed the beauty worthy of being called the flower of the Bellita Kingdom.
Her golden hair, like that of her brother, cascaded down to her waist in rich waves. Her smooth jawline and neckline subtly disarmed any man’s guard.
Her neatly drawn eyebrows and large, dreamy eyes held a clear golden hue. Her flawless white skin supported her gentle smile.
But Lena is still prettier.
Leo, having identified his target, hurried towards her. He saw the princess heading towards Gilbert Forte, the prince, and other nobles, and quickened his pace. He grabbed two drinks from a passing attendant.
Then, at that moment,
“Sir Noel?”
A man dressed in the finest crimson balaena leather and adorned with a green brooch engraved with a tilted scale called out to Leo.
It was Marquis Benar Tatian.
With icy blue eyes, the marquis looked Leo up and down, appraising him, and spoke.
“Please spare a moment. I have a proposal for you...”
The marquis motioned slightly with his chin, indicating they should move to a different location.
“I’m sorry. I have urgent matters to attend to. Could we perhaps discuss this another time?”
Why now, of all times?
Despite the urgency, Leo couldn’t afford to be rude to the marquis. Offending him would make the situation far worse than merely dealing with the princess.
Leo bowed respectfully. The marquis, not expecting a refusal, paused briefly before responding, allowing Leo to slip past him.
Damn it, I’m going to be late.
Princess Chloe was already making her way towards Gilbert Forte. Gilbert, noticing her approach, turned to face her.
Right in front of the princes. A scene of unprecedented rudeness was about to unfold.
Thus, any rudeness on my part is negligible.
Pretending to head towards Katrina, Leo raised the drinks high and shouted, “Katrina, sister!
I’m over here!” Without actually seeing, he intentionally collided with Princess Chloe, causing both drinks to spill all over her chest.
The princess, drenched in wine, looked down at her soaked chest and then raised her head. Her eyes widened in shock, and...
“I-I’m so sorry... Ugh!”
Chloe grabbed Leo by the collar and yanked him close, kissing him fiercely.
In the midst of his astonishment, Leo saw her smiling brightly, as if genuinely delighted to see him again, and she pulled him closer, deepening the kiss.
The ballroom fell into a stunned silence.
Marquis Benar Tatian watched Leo with a peculiar expression before turning away. The Sword Master glared menacingly, while Prince Cleon de Tatian sighed, rubbing his forehead.
And amidst it all, Prince Arnulf de Klaus, with his navy blue hair, let out a displeased chuckle, while Gilbert Forte whistled appreciatively, admiring the spectacle.
Whi-woo!
It was a colossal incident, one that would immediately stir up chaos in Orville.
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