Chapter 80 - Rumor Mill

Gazing at the window inside a large, ornate room, a middle-aged man let out a deep sigh, feeling exhausted after what seems to be a week of sleeplessness. Dark circles surrounded his eyes, which made his bright green irises look dimmer.

"Haaah..."

He unconsciously glanced over a portrait hanging on the wall beside him. The portrait depicts an image of a young woman in her pastel dress, showing a demure expression as she gazed at the flowers in her hand.

The focal point, however, are her eyes: the lady in the portrait revealed her happiness through them, sparkling vibrantly against the tamer colors of the entire image.

As the man looked at the portrait, his voice grew hoarse as he muttered:

"Lerish..."

"Oh, what do we have here? A father longing for his daughter, first think in the morning? How sorrowful..."

He turned around, and he saw a young man standing at the door, visibly sneering at him. The young man then mindlessly flaunted his clothes at him, showing off his pitch black suit and coat, and his cane adorned with glowing crystals.

"What are you doing here? Have I told you before that you can't enter unless you have my permission?"

The young man laughed at him and said: "Permission? Surely you'll let me hang out here anytime I wanted even without that, right? Your Ma...jes...ty."

'Your Majesty'.

Although such style bears an extreme weight in Narashelian politics and society, the man addressing him as 'Your Majesty' is no less than a vagrant that disregard the norms of the country. The urge to crush the arrogant brat in front of him has been too tempting for him lately but for some reason, he chose to hide his temper from him.

"Why are you here, anyway? We don't have anything left to talk about."

"Oh, that's not it. I only came here to hang around, that's all."

The young man in black walked towards the portrait and said: "Her Royal Highness...have you already found her?"

"Granz should be coming back with her anytime soon."

"That's good news!" The young man smiled brightly at him. "When I heard news about the princess running away, my heart start weeping, you know? I would be very distressed if something bad were to happen to her."

The king clenched his fist. He did everything to protect his precious daughter from this man, even assisting in her escape, but the young man always has the upper hand against him.

He's the king, and yet...

"My, seems like they're already here. I will be going now, Your Majesty," the young man slightly bowed his head at him.

"You...are you going to see her now?"

"No, not yet," the man grinned at him. "I'm a patient gentleman. That precious moment can wait."

Leaving the king behind, the young man whistled as he twirled his cane around his arm. The king only looked at him silently, keeping his clenched fist hidden behind him.

"If you dare harm my daughter, I will..." he muttered in despair under his breath.

-----

"R-Ren? Where did you go? W-What happened to you?!"

When I went back to Pops' place later that morning I was met with shocked eyes from everyone, after seeing my clothes covered in dirt.

"...Big brother, are you okay? Did somebody hurt you?!" Aoi frantically checked my condition.

"I-I'm fine Aoi, don't worry. I'm not hurt."

"...But there's blood on your clothes! I'm sure you've gotten yourself into a fight with someone!" she persisted.

"Brother Ren...where's Sister Lerish? Did she went someplace with you?"

"S-She..."

"Ren, is there something you're hiding from us?" Saku raised his eyebrow at me.

"Hmmm..."

*gulp*

Seeing their gazes at me turning sharp, I swallowed my saliva in fear of what's going to unfold.

-----

Inside our room, I was made to kneel on the hard, cold floor, in front of everyone as I tell them the truth about Miss Lerish. As I speak, I dare not to look at them directly in their eyes; if I do, I'll be met with the fury of betrayal and disappointment I have never encountered before.

"So as it turns out..." Saki slowly walked around me while expertly twirling a spatula in her hands, making practice swings from time to time, "you made us believe that Sister--I mean, the princess is just an ordinary person despite the evidences of her being otherwise obvious...and you helped her escape the city, am I right?"

As to why Saki is the one doing the interrogation and not the others--

"..."

"Looks like you're not ready to answer us yet," Saki sighed in exasperation. "Aoi, toss the sausage."

"...Yes!" Aoi replied. She grabbed a sausage from her side and tossed it with all her might towards Saki.

Whooosh--!!!

"?!"

Using her spatula, Saki slashed the sausage in two while in midair, falling right on my lap.

This is serious! She's clearly implying a message to me!

"Okay, okay, okay, okay! I'm sorry for not telling the truth to you guys! I'm sorry that I couldn't bring myself to have you involved into this trouble I've entered! I'm sorry that, I betrayed everyone's expectations of me..."

"Ren..." Saku approached and placed his arm on my shoulder. "I know, we know, that what you've said is true--but we're also aware that you don't have any bad intentions when you decided to hide it from us. However, you should've put more trust in us. After all, aren't we comrades here?"

"Big Bro is right. Brother Ren's troubles are our troubles too! I'm very disappointed that I wasn't able to help Her Highness while she's here!" Saki added.

"You..."

"...Whatever your course of action is from this point, we're here to support you, big brother."

Aoi knelt beside me and gently patted my other shoulder. Saki did the same, letting go of the spatula as she patted my head.

It's funny, but they're treating me like a pet right now.

"You guys...you're aware that we're going to go against the kingdom if we continue, right?"

"We know, and we don't care about it," Saku replied.

"...I've been longing to cause havoc on a large scale for some time now. Perhaps this is the right opportunity to do that," Aoi said.

"But about Her Highness, why would she try to run away in the first place? Is there something wrong going in the palace?" Saki asked.

Saku flicked her forehead and said, "Of course, there's only one reason why she would do that."

Indeed, there's no other reason other than 'that'.

"I think, we should try to get the big picture first before we plan our next steps. Any rumors coming from the palace will surely spread quickly among the residents, so we have to keep our ears open," I suggested to everyone.

Moreover, I can use this time to lie low for a while. Those people might've let me go for now, but I'm sure they'll do everything to not let me get close to Miss Lerish again.

"Got it. Saki and I will use our connections at the convention to gather information about the princess!" Saku raised his thumb at me.

'Ah, speaking of the convention, we're about to be late!' he exclaimed. The siblings then hurried preparing their things and as they were about to leave, I said to them--

"Thank you, you two."

"Save those words for later," Saku spoke with a wave of his hand. "We haven't started anything yet, no?"

After the two left the room, Aoi muttered: "...I believe you've learned your lesson now, big brother."

"Yeah." I nodded.

Things like this only proves that no matter how strong I get to be, I'm still powerless when they're around...

And honestly, I have no qualms about it. I'm very fortunate to have these people around me.

-----

I then took a bath to clean the dirt still sticking on my skin. With a small pail, I doused my body with water so cold to steel my senses, and to remind myself that everything's but a minor setback.

Afterwards, I spent the remainder of the day reading about the current royal family, government policies, and Narashel's relations with the other countries. Thanks to Pops being an avid reader and having a good amount of relevant media in his mini library, I didn't need to go outside to read books. Skipping breakfast and lunch, it was already evening when I finished reading most of the books I've gathered.

"...Big brother, are you sure you don't want to go out? Do you really want to spend the whole day reading books like these?"

Frowning upon a book in which her childish mind still can't comprehend, Aoi voiced out her complaints at me.

"Like I said, I need to cool down for now. This is a national matter more than anything, so we can't just storm the palace without preparations, right?"

'That', and Miss Lerish's safety, are both national issues. To ensure Miss Lerish's safety I have to tackle 'that', and by doing so I'll inevitably antagonize someone who's a hallmark figure here in this country, or worse, the State itself.

I need to be careful so as not to let my friends' heads roll, if not mine or Aoi.

"...But, if we do nothing...--"

"Ren! Ren! You have to hear this!!!"

Suddenly, Saku came full of sweat and panting loudly, as if he ran all the way from the venue up to here. Saki followed after him, crying 'wait for me, Big Bro!' as she dragged herself into the entrance.

"Y-You got something from your connections?"

"Yes, and very juicy at that!" Saku said. "But before that..."

Then, the siblings both set up all three locks on the door, closed all windows, and blew the flames off all but one lamp. They told Pops that we'll be having a meeting in our room, and he calmly agreed, saying we have to light the lamps again after we're done.

With the four of us inside our room, Saku began speaking: "Alright. To put it bluntly, our hunches are apparently right. Her Royal Highness the Princess of Narashel...is about to get married."

'That'.

Actually we shouldn't be even involving ourselves in these matters. Though against her will, Miss Lerish has to, and should, marry someone sooner or later, political marriage or not. I've read several laws regarding marriages of such type and to my dismay, I can't find any wrong with her predicament.

"I see. Who's the lucky guy then?"

Saku snapped his finger and said, "That, is the juicy part of the story. After the news about the princess' marriage came out, rumors about the man she's going to marry circulated shortly afterwards. According to my sources, our lucky Prince...isn't a prince."

H-Huh?

"If he's not a prince, then some other noble, perhaps?"

"Nuh-uh! They said he's not a noble either, nor a rich merchant. That man, also based from my sources, is what they call..."

"A man of mystery," Saki said.

"That's right. Rumors speak of a young man that came from nowhere and asked the king for his daughter's hand in marriage. Of course the king vehemently opposed such offer and threatened to execute the guy, but they say that for some reason the king relented, and had started arranging for his daughter's marriage with that person. Whether the king was forced to make that decision or not is not clear," he explained further.

A mysterious guy, huh...

If those rumors were true, that guy isn't just a simple person. I don't know why, but I'm feeling bad vibes when I think of him.

"Still, those are just rumors. Unless we see the truth for ourselves, those things will remain as speculation," I argued.

"But, such a scenario is possible, right? News about a princess marrying someone who's not a member of aristocracy would surely spread throughout Narashel and possibly, to the neighboring countries as well. Whether we want it to be true or not, this is history in the making."

"..."

"...Big brother..." Aoi looked worried at me after seeing me become silent for a few moments.

I looked down and muttered, "This...it feels like what we're doing is pointless, after all."

"...B-Big brother?! What are you--"

"But you know what guys, I also feel like this pointless thing we're doing is the right thing to do."

My promise...I will fulfill it no matter what.

"After all, doing pointless things is what we young people excel at," I said to them.

With renewed vigor I stood up, and declared without hesitation:

"Let's save Miss Lerish."