ESL Chapter 70

At last, the body of the man who had stood firm as a rock gave the faintest flinch. Luciel knew it well. A man this loyal — the moment he laid eyes on him, guilt and self-reproach over having failed to protect him would consume his every thought. Even the precious daughter who had led him to his current circumstances would be wiped from his mind. That was just how loyal a knight Jacques Rombel was.

“…My daughter…”

Jacques’s throat seized up as though completely blocked, and he could not utter a single reply. He was startled that the young lord already knew the truth, but even more suffocating was the fact that he had no words to offer. Luciel looked down at Jacques’s trembling form, then lowered the sword he had been holding to his throat and spoke.

“By rights, you should be stripped of your position as captain of knights and exiled from this ducal house. As you yourself said, I would be within my rights to take your life.”

“……”

“But I won’t do that. That would be too light a punishment. Shouldn’t you at least spend the rest of your life working yourself to the bone — for my sake and for the sake of this house? Look forward to it. I intend to work you until you drop.”

Don’t even dream of retirement, no matter how much you beg.

Hearing Luciel’s voice, which carried the faintest trace of a smile, Jacques doubted his own ears. But when he realized it was no hallucination, he squeezed his eyes shut without thinking. The knowledge that he had been forgiven by the young lord, and the gratitude he felt toward the young lord for forgiving someone like him, all mingled together, and he wept hot tears within his heart. Having been unable to open his mouth for some time as he struggled to suppress his surging emotions, the very first words that escaped Jacques’s lips were a rebuke.

“…You are far too lenient… Such matters must be handled with firm resolve.”

At Jacques responding exactly as he had anticipated, Luciel gave a light swing of the sword in his hand and smiled.

“Because it is you. Had it been anyone else, I would have cut them down long ago.”

Luciel swung the sword a few more times as though loosening his grip, then picked up the scabbard Jacques had thrown down and sheathed the blade. He then handed the sheathed sword back and said:

“Your daughter will be rescued by the Black Kavan. We’ve found her location. In return, there is something you must do for me.”

Jacques, who had widened his eyes in shock at Luciel’s words that he would rescue his daughter, slowly closed them again as if trying to steady the emotion surging within him once more. When the knight opened his eyes again a moment later, the tangled feelings had vanished, leaving only the same steadfast loyalty as before.

“Whatever it may be, simply give the order.”

*****

After Jacques had departed, a beautiful girl who had been concealing her presence in the shadows stepped forward. It was Lea — her jet-black long hair tied up in a ponytail, dressed in practical trousers.

“He really is a loyal knight, just as you said.”

“Yes… loyal. Stubbornly so.”

A faint smile rested on Luciel’s lips as he stood by the moonlit window.

“I’m glad. That he didn’t betray your trust.”

Lea recalled the trust Luciel had shown toward Jacques that morning. The reason she and Luciel had come to meet Jacques was simple.

Luciel had tried to stop her from participating in the surprise operation, but he had crumbled at a single smile from her. Unable to prevent her resolve in the end, he had set one condition: she would have to bring along an escort he personally approved of. She had suggested Ian and Guster, but he had flatly refused, saying they would be of no help. In truth, she too had only been able to think of Ian and Guster, but she hadn’t pressed the matter — she had no desire to bring Ian or Guster to a place where that madman would be. Instead, she had posed a question.

[Then who should I bring?]

As though he had anticipated she would ask, Luciel had answered without a moment’s hesitation.

[Jacques Rombel. The captain of knights of the Mihael Order of Knights.]

When she asked why, he had smiled quietly.

[Because there is no one who can protect you as reliably as he can.]

Lea still remembered Luciel’s expression at that moment. He, who rarely trusted people easily, had worn a gaze entirely free of doubt. She had understood it then — that he trusted Jacques deeply, from the bottom of his heart. And so she had hoped all the more that this person named Jacques would prove as loyal as Luciel believed him to be. And Luciel had been right. Jacques Rombel was a knight of rare and genuine loyalty.

“So you won’t object to me participating in the surprise operation anymore, will you?”

Lea smiled as she asked, her mood lifted by how well things had gone — and at that, the light in Luciel’s eyes grew deeply still. Honestly, he did not want to send her. No matter how carefully you accounted for contingencies in a plan, exceptions always existed. And that madman would be there too, they had said. Whenever a madman was involved, exceptions inevitably occurred. The problem was that the madman had shown interest in Lea. The conclusion: the probability of an exception occurring that involved her was far too high.

‘But it would do no good to say so… Given Lea’s nature, backing down without even trying would be difficult for her.’

In that case, the only thing he could do was reduce the probability of an exception occurring as much as possible. Reduce it and reduce it again, until no exception could occur at all. Just as he had arranged to send Jacques along. Concealing that inner thought, he wore a faint smile tinged with wistfulness and spoke — hoping, just a little, that she might feel sorry toward him for her choice… and that somehow, because of that, she would return unharmed…

“…If it’s what you want… how could I possibly object…”

And Lea fell for that calculated expression and those calculated words.

“I’ll come back safe and unharmed. I promise.”

“Then swear it to me.”

At the soft, earnest whisper that sounded suddenly beside her ear, Lea lifted her head and looked at Luciel. His beautiful emerald eyes, reflected in the moonlight, held only her.

“…I swear.”

As if entranced, she reached out both hands and clasped his tightly, whispering. At the resonance of that sweet voice, Luciel looked down at her with a sunken gaze. His instincts cried out at him to pull her into his arms right then and taste those rose-petal lips — but he quietly suppressed those instincts. Not yet… it was not yet time.

Having no idea what thoughts Luciel harbored within, Lea had been holding his hands tightly — and only when his hands closed around hers in return did she come back to her senses.

“Wha— wha—?”

When did I take his hands…? Lea was briefly flustered, but soon thought — well, what does it matter… It was Luciel, after all, not anyone else… The warmth his large, warm hands gave wasn’t unpleasant… She must have grown accustomed to it, living together as they had, she thought.

“Let’s go back, Lea.”

“…Okay.”

At Luciel’s words, Lea turned the ring on her finger while still holding his hand. A great silver magic circle appeared and vanished, and the two of them disappeared along with it.

****

At the hour when Lea and Luciel were meeting with Jacques, Lanster was lying on the sofa in his office, holding up a single sheet of paper and fluttering it.

“Acting Duke Mihael must be quite anxious. Just look at him passing documents without reading them properly. It’s made things much easier for me, though.”

At the afternoon administrative meeting, Cheor had shown a clear inability to focus. Under normal circumstances, he would have found reasons to reject every bill Lanster had put forward — but today, he had barely glanced at as many as five bills and had not said a word against any of them. As a result, the nobles who ordinarily followed Cheor’s lead in voicing opposition had begun watching his reactions, and that atmosphere spread among them in turn, allowing the bills to pass in record time.

Lanster chuckled to himself as he recalled Cheor’s expression throughout the meeting — as though he had bitten into something foul.

“I wish every meeting could be like today’s. That aside, when is this fellow going to show up?”

At Lanster’s grumbling, Thomas tidied the documents he had signed and replied:

“Rather than waiting, why not get some rest, Your Highness? The result will be the same even if you speak tomorrow.”

“Ugh, I don’t want to. He said if I pulled this off, he’d properly introduce that young lady to me.”

Watching his master behave like a sulky boy, Thomas shook his head helplessly.

The whole affair had begun the moment Lanster realized that Luciel had never once formally introduced Lea to him. He had used that as leverage to pick quarrels at every turn, and Luciel, who found the constant pestering tiresome, had eventually made a proposition: if Lanster accomplished what he wanted, Luciel would introduce her formally, just as Lanster wished.

Of course, what Luciel wanted was, by the look of it, something nearly impossible to achieve. There was no way Cheor would fail to block it. But fortune seemed to favor the crown prince — Cheor had not examined things carefully, and thanks to that, a document bearing the stamp of approval now fluttered in Lanster’s hands. Lanster had been waiting with bored yawns, when a silver magic circle appeared on the floor and his eyes lit up.

“You’ve finally returned.”

Lanster greeted them warmly, but the welcome he received in return was, as always, a cold rebuke.

“What are you doing still awake at this hour?”

Luciel appeared holding Lea’s hand, and upon finding both Lanster and Thomas waiting, he looked at the two of them with evident displeasure.

“Wow — I even wait up for you and I get scolded? I really can’t live like this.”

Then please go to sleep, Your Highness… Thomas shot him a look of exasperation, but Lanster stubbornly approached Luciel and waved the paper he was holding in front of his face.

“You see this, don’t you? Come on, fulfill your promise quickly.”

“…What is this?”

Luciel snatched the paper that was waving about in front of him, read its contents, and furrowed his brow slightly. He had thought he would never receive it in his lifetime — the fact that Lanster had obtained it in a single day was both astonishing and irritating.

“Has my uncle finally lost his mind?”

At Luciel’s blunt words, Lanster laughed heartily and thumped his chest with pride.

“All thanks to my ability. So hurry up and keep your promise.”

Lanster’s sparkling, expectant gaze made him look so much like a pet eager for its master’s praise that Lea had to suppress a laugh. She knew well that in ordinary circumstances he carried himself with flawless perfection as crown prince, but watching him like this, it seemed more and more as though this was his true nature.

Luciel handed the document back to Lanster and let out a put-upon sigh.

“I suppose there’s no help for it. Allow me to make a formal introduction. This is my friend and the young lady of Duke Kaien of the Yurasen Empire — Miss Leas Rotse Kaien.”

“It is a pleasure to properly make your acquaintance. I am Leas Rotse Kaien.”

Lea greeted Lanster with a bow following the etiquette of the Yurasen Empire.

“The Kaien ducal house?!”