Chapter 45
“Sis!”
“Where have you been until now? We thought His Highness had eaten you up.”
The mercenaries greeted Sian with near-jeering criticism. Sian twitched her eyebrow and looked around the room.
In the middle of the spacious room with several beds, a lavish feast for visitors was spread out. On each table were meats and stews giving off savory aromas, salads with dressing, and roasted vegetables.
Sian smiled, pulling the corners of her mouth wide, seeing the luxurious table satisfying both sight and smell.
“Eat a lot. Rest well before we leave.”
Sian smiled brightly, her eyes crinkling.
“…?”
Sian had let down her light-colored hair, which she usually kept tied up. Her smiling face framed by the cascading hair was objectively very pretty.
“…W-why are you smiling like that, sis…?”
However, the mercenaries already knew from long experience. A pretty face is a trap. The prettier she smiles, the more tremendous things are coming.
“Did something go wrong with His Highness…?”
Max, who had been by Sian’s side the longest, asked in a trembling voice. However, Sian just kept smiling and shaking her head.
“It’s not bad enough to say it’s bad.”
Is she in a good mood, or is this the calm before the storm?
The mercenaries stopped what they were doing and focused their attention on Sian. Sian crossed the room with an unreadable expression, looking for her luggage.
“…Aren’t you going to eat, sis?”
“You eat first.”
The meat that had been melting in their mouths just moments ago now tasted indiscernible due to a strange uneasiness. The mercenaries exchanged anxious glances among themselves at the table.
If they couldn’t find the cause of Sian’s strange behavior, they wouldn’t be able to properly fill their stomachs even with the luxurious meal in front of them. Finally, Max stepped up.
“Lady Sian.”
“Yes?”
Sian took something out of her luggage and sat down at the bedside.
“Why are you taking out paper?”
As Max watched, Sian, with a bright smile on her face, had taken out paper and a pen. Sian, who had even neatly brought out ink, answered, “Oh, this.”
“I’m going to write a new contract.”
Sian smiled softly, somehow shyly, in a way that didn’t suit her.
“Did something happen with His Highness?”
Dr. Zivago, who had been tearing into meat at the far end of the table, narrowed his eyes, instantly grasping the situation.
“What do you mean? Nothing like that.”
Sian’s face returned to normal at Dr. Zivago’s sharp question. The mercenaries finally relaxed and resumed their interrupted meal, seeing Sian return to the cold expression they were familiar with.
“If nothing happened with His Highness, why are you rewriting the contract?”
“That just means nothing happened privately.”
Sian calmly answered Max’s question. Of course, far from nothing happening privately, something tremendous had happened.
In a sense, it was so tremendous that it was easier to feign composure. The relationship that had progressed so much in a single moment was so dizzying that it didn’t feel real at all.
“I’m going to write a proper contract, certified by the temple. From now on, we, the Dragon’s Claw mercenary group, will accompany and assist in proving the innocence of Carlston Klaus, the Third Prince of Igrion, who has been falsely accused of assassinating the Dragon King.”
“…What?”
The mercenaries, who had just resumed their meal, shouted before they could even swallow a single bite.
“So you were persuaded in the end?”
“Persuaded? I was considering it from the beginning. People have loyalty, you know.”
Sian said nonchalantly, without even wetting her lips.
‘Liar.’
The mercenaries thought simultaneously, their gazes turning cold in an instant.
“We’ll be leaving for the capital soon after preparing. So eat and rest as much as you can.”
“To the capital?”
“Yes, this trip to the capital will be a long journey, and it will be different in scale and danger from what we’ve been doing so far. So if anyone doesn’t want to go to the capital, speak up now.”
At Sian’s words as she held her pen, the mercenaries exchanged glances among themselves.
“What happens if we say we don’t want to go along?”
“Regrettably, we’d have to part ways here.”
When Rune, a mercenary who still had some hesitation, asked, Sian nodded as if it were no big deal.
“Is that individual dismissal or team dissolution?”
“…Well. I don’t want to disband the team either. But I’m giving you the choice in advance because it seems like it will be that dangerous.”
Although the mercenaries had willingly agreed to help clear Carl’s name at the inn in Ivarid, they seemed quite tense at the mention of the capital as their next destination and Sian’s stern warning.
A heavy silence settled in the room for a moment.
“…I’ll go. I’m going.”
Skull was the first to raise his hand high. The rest of the mercenaries just watched cautiously, even stopping their meal.
“I’ll go too.”
“Me too.”
The mercenaries who had been showing signs of deliberation spoke up one by one. Not a single person said they would leave.
“What about you?”
Max, who had come to stand by Sian’s side, was the only one maintaining silence. Sian looked around the room once more before finally resting her gaze on Max.
“Well, I’m unconditionally on Lady Sian’s side. Of course I’m going.”
Everyone agreed to go to the capital. Sian unconsciously pulled the corners of her mouth into a smile.
The journey to the capital.
Choosing that path, which was obviously going to be in the middle of political strife, was largely Sian’s personal decision. If Revenant, a past nemesis, was included among the forces aiming to gain advantage by targeting the confrontation between the Crown Prince and the Prince, she would be of help to the Prince as she knew Revenant better than anyone else.
However, that wasn’t the only reason for her change of heart.
‘I only hope you find a path where you can be happy.’
It’s not bad now either. Sian thought about the High Priestess’s words echoing in her mind. It wasn’t a lie to say she was happy enough now.
She had reliable comrades who blindly believed in her, and she had enough ability to choose and handle her own path.
But that’s all. You can’t truly get what you want if you deny yourself.
Sian recalled what happened in the garden that had been filled with only silence.
It felt as if the sensation of Carl stroking her hair still lingered. Sian lightly grasped the ends of her hair where his gentle touch had been. It felt as if she could still feel the warm body temperature.
I like him.
Sian honestly acknowledged her feelings. She wanted to respond to his pure emotions towards her, even though—no, because—he knew nothing about her.
The brilliant silver that had cast its shadow during what was essentially the lowest point of her life. She wanted to grasp that morning.
“You can always speak up if you change your mind. As I’ve said several times, clearing His Highness’s name is a big matter related to the imperial family.”
“What did the Crown Prince’s envoy say?”
“Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like the Crown Prince suspects Carl either. That’s why I decided to step up too.”
Max blinked at Sian’s words.
“If he doesn’t suspect him, why did such a thing happen?”
“It seems there are other intermediate forces. It was the Crown Prince’s side that suggested coming to the capital.”
“…It’s so overwhelming that it doesn’t feel real. To think we’ll be following the Crown Prince and His Highness.”
Skull, who had been the first to raise his hand to go along, spoke with a dumbfounded face, belatedly realizing the situation. Sian smiled bitterly.
“To be honest, I feel the same way.”
The mercenaries fell silent for a moment at Sian’s honest answer.
“But if you’ve picked up a cat, you have to take responsibility to the end, right?”
In the silence filled with complex emotions, Sian picked up her pen and twitched her eyebrow.
“I’ve heard your opinions, so make sure you’re all prepared.”
Sian added. But the direction of her voice, more solemn and firm than ever before, was not towards others. It was towards herself.
‘It would be my honor, lady.’
The low, kind voice that had resonated in her ear.
‘You ungrateful bitch.’
Reva’s cold voice overlaid it. Sian shook her head, tightly closing her lips at the mixture of memories created by her fear.
I should try as far as I can go.
Sian thought, focusing her gaze on the blank paper she had taken out. Even if following him to the capital would mean confronting the fate she had been avoiding all this time.
She couldn’t imagine how Carl would react when he learned about the self she hadn’t even acknowledged. It would be a lie to say she wasn’t afraid.
Still, if she truly wanted him, she wanted to try. Even if Carl were to deny her like Reva did, her heart would ache, but at least she wouldn’t have any regrets.
Pain can be healed by time, but regret and lingering attachment from giving up without doing anything would obviously torment her for a lifetime.
Steeling her resolve, Sian picked up her pen and began writing on the paper.
* * *
“It’s fortunate in a way that the lady has changed her mind.”
Michael said with a faint smile. Carl, sitting across from him, also smiled lightly.
“However, I don’t want to put her in danger. It’s enough to get information about the dragon hunter Revenant from Sian. I won’t put her forward any more than that, so make sure to convey that to my brother.”
“As you wish.”
Michael answered willingly. And the look and expression Michael directed at Carl again seemed to Carl to be filled with quite complex emotions.
“You must really like her, Your Highness. Seeing as you’ve even promised engagement in the meantime.”
Carl suddenly felt like he might cough awkwardly at Michael’s words, but he swallowed it down.
…Engagement. It was a word he had uttered himself, but it still pricked his conscience.
It was a lie he had unconsciously told, thinking that no ordinary explanation would allow him to bring Sian to a place where secrecy needed to be maintained.
‘She’s my fiancée.’
When he whispered it, Michael seemed to understand quickly as expected. Also, to the Crown Prince who was questioning Sian’s presence, Michael cleverly made a gesture of putting a ring on his finger and raised his ring finger.
‘Marriage, girlfriend.’
