The Flower Dances and the Wind Sings

22.

“Huh? Why are you coming back alone?”

Kent scratched the back of his head with a puzzled look.

“Didn’t that boy kill someone? And apparently, he’s only an apprentice knight, but you’re not taking him to court either? Well, he’ll be ruled innocent anyway. But still, you shouldn’t be like this. Looks like even the Captain succumbs to power. Too bad I admired the Captain.”

With a voice full of irritation, Earnhardt told briefly why he ruled it as self-defense. After hearing the details, Kent opened his eyes wide and shouted.

“The Duchess of Bernhardt?! No. This is insane! If the boy didn’t notice, we’d all be like this, right? This-?

He slit his throat saying that. Kent’s face darkened as Earnhardt nodded bluntly.

“That boy saved our lives… Shouldn’t I be grateful to him for this?”

“Don’t spout nonsense.”

“Still you have to take it to the court. It looks like self-defense to me, but the Captain doesn’t seem to like it. I’m afraid you’ll spend the next few days grumbling about it and venting your anger on us innocent people.”

Earnhardt put his arm around Kent’s shoulder, who was worried about being the target of Earnhardt’s anger for the next while.

Kent grinned and shrugged, but Earnhardt didn’t budge. Kent asked with doubtful eyes.

“What are you trying?”

“There are three reasons.”

Kent looked at him, who was spouting nonsense.

“What do you mean?”

“Reasons why I had to let the little one go.”

Earnhardt’s lips crept up.

“First, as you said, even if he’s not a formal knight, he is an apprentice knight. There’s a chance he might be brought to court, but he has a justification for killing Carter’s group. In other words, there is a high probability that he won’t be charged for murder.”

“…….”

“Second, do you know who that little boy’s mother is?”

“The Duchess of Bernhardt? How can a man like me know? I’m busy making a living.”

“She’s a Visaride.”

Frightened, Kent raised his head.

“By Visaride you mean… H-h-her Highness, the deceased Queen Eshahilde’s family?! The family that gave birth to eleven queens….”

“Yes, you’re not stupid after all.”

Who doesn’t know that? It’s known that if a woman is born in that family, she would become a queen. Kent opened his mouth with a grim look.

“… What’s the third reason?”

“The third…”

He moistened his lips with a confused look.

“The Duchess’s brother, Marquis Visaride has been appointed as Lord Chamberlain. The judiciary is already under the Visarides.”

“Oh, Lord…”

“Yes. Oh, Lord. And he was appointed at only thirty-five years of age.”

“…….”

“Therefore, it’s better not to get involved as much as possible.”

If you want to live long, that is. Listening to Earnhardt, Kent was amazed at their world that he didn’t know much about.

“Captain… I couldn’t possibly…”

“Kent, there’s a saying in the East.”

“…….”

“There is no flower that remains red for ten days*.”

Earnhardt threw shade.

“Is there a power that lasts forever?”

***

Earnhardt left and Veron relaxed. Fortunately, things ended well. Of course, they had to end well. What can a knight from a humble family do? Earnhardt seemed hesitant to cover things up like this.

Veron thought suddenly. Does he realize that Vicente was being kind to him by killing only Hunter, who tried to hand over the Duchess to the Drion’s henchmen?

If it were the Duke of Bernhardt, they would be all dead. No king can get involved in the matters of the duchy. There is only one ruler there, the Duke of Bernhardt.

“Your clothes are dirty.”

Since earlier, my lord has been persistently watching the bloodstains on his clothes as if he doesn’t like it.

“Are you uncomfortable anywhere? Hurry, let’s go back home.”

Vicente didn’t answer Veron’s words and put the sword in the sheath. The sound of the blade sliding into it rang sharply. He then said quietly.

“I want to change my clothes before that.”

“Can’t you change at the mansion?”

A dry glance touched Veron’s face.

“Mother will have a hard time seeing me like this.”

Suddenly, Veron’s eyes were wide open.

***

Raindrops formed one by one at a time on the windows and soon began to pour down. It was a calm day, with no wind, only the sound of rain falling and hitting the floor gently resonated.

Ercella stared blankly out the window and thought about the news Lianne gave last night.

She said that the Metropolitan Police Department recently caught a human trafficking ring that was active in the capital. It was unknown where it was caught, but she was very surprised that the day of the capture coincided with the day Vicente and Ercella went out.

If I encountered them, I would have been in trouble. In the worst-case scenario, she would have been sexually harassed and killed or handed over to a slave dealer.

When the scene was painted in her head, goosebumps sprang up on her forearms. Suddenly there was a cool chill. Ercella calmed her chest by rubbing the goosebumps on her arms with her hands.

Then suddenly, she remembered Vicente, who tried to send her back early that day.

Did he know something? Vicente said he had something to do and asked her to go first. And it so happens that a human trafficking ring was caught right after.

Don’t tell me.

“Did Vicente-?”

She muttered without realizing it. It was hard to believe that Vicente was the one who caught the trafficking ring.

However, she immediately dismissed her suspicions and let go of her thoughts. That day Vicente came home with a huge number of books. There more than ten books were piled up in his hands.

When Ercella asked in surprise, he said he actually had a book he wanted to buy and bluntly cut short the conversation, so that she pays no mind. The way he blurted that out gave away his inner thoughts. Clearly, he was not behind that incident.

Tip tap. Tip tap.

The sound of pleasantly falling rain began to thicken. It must be a downpour. I plan to stay home today, so I can enjoy the sound of rain.

Ercella decided to clear her complicated mind. This is because there are many things that I haven’t cared about so far because I’ve been putting Vicente as a priority.

Ercella took a paper and a pen from the drawer at the end of the room and sat in a chair in front of the table. Then she moved her pen and drew a question mark on the paper. The small sound of the pen scribbling on paper was heard.

“The Duke of Garten has decided to visit Conrad.”

Thinking about it, there was something strange about Harsen’s words.

“Didn’t Count Pantetz go before?”

Prior to her return, Count Pantetz was appointed to attend the talks with Conrad. But this time, it’s Duke Garten.

Ercella realized that the post-regression events were not the same as before. She felt bad about it. Count Pantetz, who had a gentle disposition, was much better in diplomacy than Duke Garten.

However, Count Pantetz also failed to extinguish all the conflicts between the two countries. Eventually, three years later, the conflict between Grania and Conrad reached its peak.

A war of nerves with Conrad was always a thing. If they secretly asked for it, this side would always fight it without much thought.

As time went by, their small voices gradually grew louder, but in the end, no one expected Conrad to come out like that. Ercella was also quite embarrassed when she heard the news.

Was there a war later?

Ercella wanted to know if the war broke out after her death. But if it was after her death, even she who had once experienced the future could not know.

I’ll never know.

* This is a Korean idiom that says, “There is no power that lasts for ten years, and there is no flower that remains red for ten days”.

I’m back ^^My exams are over, so I’ll be uploading often now.