Chapter 651

Chapter 651: Act 13 – Siblings II

The maid Edsha looked outside with some concern; the azure sky was clear, but beneath the gauzy clouds, the increasingly heavy port seemed to hide a certain unsettling shadow. In her gaze, a sea of red rooftops stretched into the distance, with the grand architecture portraying a unique landscape of the Passalus Area.

This was the splendor of nobility, exquisite, exuding a comforting aroma everywhere. Yet the traces left by the rainstorm remained; the broken branches in the yard, which had yet to be cleared away, seemed to symbolize some ominous sign.

“I had someone go and clean them up, those people below are really unacceptable,” Edsha sighed softly, speaking more as if questioning than to herself.

She stared at the man’s back on the terrace; his long, deep brown hair, almost black, flowed like a waterfall over his red cape, which was edged with white fur and draped down to the ground.

“Edsha, it’s unnecessary. You know I wouldn’t notice anyway; there’s no need for you to be so meticulous,” the man replied, his voice gentle like a flowing stream. He lifted his head, as if taking a deep breath, “Hmm… Can you feel it? This is the scent after a storm; the air is the cleanest now, as if the world is renewed.”

“But actually, it’s pretty dirty outside at this time, with branches blown down by the wind and tiles scraped off the rooftops,” Edsha responded, “For ordinary people, it’s quite dangerous to go out onto the streets at this time.”

“Hey, Edsha, if you didn’t mention it, I wouldn’t even know! You always do this; is the world really that hopeless in your eyes?” The man couldn’t help but chuckle. Seeing him sigh made Edsha feel a bit uneasy, but she still replied, “My duty is to report what I see, Your Highness.”

The man smiled faintly but said nothing in return.

Suddenly, she saw a flock of white doves flying from some direction, likely from the square on Nosoc Street. The maid stared blankly at the birds soaring high, not because they evoked a sudden desire for freedom; she turned her head back, looking at her master, and asked worriedly, “Your Highness, it has been many days now.”

“Don’t worry,” the man replied. Edsha detected uncertainty in his tone, but she knew her master’s temperament well, so she refrained from voicing her concerns, burying her unease deep in her heart.

This had become second nature for her.

The room fell silent for a moment, and Edsha quietly watched the flock of doves fly away. She suddenly recalled the stories she had heard from the elders in her childhood, rumored to say that flocks of birds from the north would migrate south through storms, battling their fate amidst the downpours and lightning pouring from the sky. But could that really be true? She couldn’t help but glance at that back again.

…

Outside the coach, the bustling shops formed a unique landscape in the port city. Although the scent of war seemed to have just slightly faded, the merchants had already revitalized Ampere Seale with bustling energy.

Brendel opened the coach door and carefully assisted Antinna down from the carriage. The aide lady felt somewhat embarrassed; as a servant, this should have been her role, rather than making the lord do it.

Next was the merchant miss, Romaine, who leapt from the carriage straight into Brendel’s arms. The business lady then giggled, provoking Brendel to playfully pinch her tender cheek.

“Ah!” Romaine’s brows immediately shot up.

Brendel raised his head to look at the carriage on the other side of the square. The curtain of that carriage was slightly lifted, and a half-elf maiden was watching them from inside, giving a slight nod in his direction.

Though Princess Grifian was eager to find a solution to the northern unrest, the meeting time with High Priest Wood was ultimately pushed to the next day—

Currently, Ampere Seale was filled with forces from all sides. In the end, however, it was still the princess’s faction that held the upper hand, followed by the temple and the northern nobility. Originally, the temple’s strong stance was well-founded, but after this well-known blunder, it too had to temporarily retreat from the limelight.

As the one ultimately responsible for this incident, Wood could no longer be considered the temple’s number one figure in the port; after he left his position as High Priest, the temple had already determined a new candidate. The new High Priest, Gladys, was hardly prominent within the temple, but Brendel was quite familiar with this consistently neutral figure; he was a good-natured person and would later serve as a priest in the Duchy of Antobro, advocating for the temple to maintain a just and neutral stance. The fact that the temple sent him to Ampere Seale reflected the Crusian shift in attitude towards the northern and southern powers. The new High Priest wouldn’t arrive at the port until around mid-year, leaving Wood to take care of some of the temple’s daily affairs for the time being.

Yesterday, the princess had taken him to meet Wood, the acting High Priest, but unexpectedly, the latter was out of the city at the time to calm the parishioners. It wasn’t until the next morning that the invitation from the High Priest finally reached the two of them.

Brendel brought Antinna along, but the merchant miss clamored to go as well for certain reasons—primarily due to her impressive performance in the final battle that caught everyone’s attention, as well as the series of discussions regarding the ownership of the Titan’s remnants, where Romaine played a key role as the actual operator. Currently, Romaine’s name was well-known in the port, so it was not surprising that Brendel brought her along. Of course, the key reason was that Brendel knew there was no way he could ever win against the crafty merchant miss.

Meanwhile, Princess Grifian brought along her younger brother. The four of them soon met in the central square. At the princess’s invitation, Brendel and the aide lady switched to the carriage, and the three squeezed into the carriage decorated with lilacs and crescent moon emblems, where Brendel immediately noticed the younger prince Haruze seated next to the princess.

In history, Prince Haruze sat quietly beside his sister, just as Brendel remembered many years later—a quiet and delicate young boy, or more accurately, still a child. He had both hands somewhat awkwardly resting on his lap, head bowed, with soft strands of hair nearly reaching his chest at the neckline of his shirt. If it weren’t for the royal emblem on his white shirt and the lion-patterned sword at his side, it would be hard to believe this was the future king of Erluin.

Seeing her brother like this, Grifian couldn’t help but sigh. In her view, Brendel would undoubtedly hold an important position in this kingdom’s future; she had initially wanted her brother to establish a good relationship with this ‘heavyweight’ in the kingdom. In fact, she even hoped Brendel could become Haruze’s tutor—this was not merely a far-fetched notion, as Brendel’s current abilities were more than sufficient for the role. If he needed to be modest, apart from Turiman, who comes from the old monster of the revival era, possibly no one in Erluin could claim to be qualified to teach this prince.

But the princess was also aware that with her brother’s current demeanor, it would be difficult to gain favor in her ‘knight’s’ eyes, after all, a teacher-student relationship is mutually reinforcing. From her perspective, Brendel didn’t require a royal student to assert his identity, nor would he be willing to teach a mediocre disciple who would embarrass him.

Of course, some might be tempted to seek favor with the royal family by pursuing such a position. Grifian had seen many such examples. When Overwell was willing to teach her swordsmanship, it was partly for this reason, as it was well-known that King Obergo VII cherished his daughter.

But unfortunately, not everyone is like Sir Wolf, and not everyone is like Brendel. As Grifian considered this, she could only let out a soft sigh.

However, she did not expect that while she felt somewhat hopeless about the matter, Brendel, who was quietly sitting beside her, was actually quite interested in the young prince. He sat next to the aide lady, and with the princess not speaking for a moment, the merchant miss curiously opened a drawer in the carriage to look for pastries—obviously, she had taken this ride with Princess Grifian before. In short, there was no one initiating a conversation for a moment in the carriage. Using this brief silence, Brendel carefully scrutinized the future king of Erluin seated across from him.

To be honest.

This was the first time in this life that he saw this young prince, and even counting his past life, he had only met this prince a few times. Although during the final period of Erluin’s revival, he did interact with the upper circles of this kingdom, he had never truly become acquainted with this prince.

Of course.

Nominally speaking, Haruze should have been the king of Erluin at that time.

But due to some well-known reasons, such as Duke Anlek’s obstruction, this future king likely never had a day of independence. In fact, he himself also lacked this ability. In Brendel’s memory, Prince Haruze was just as he was now—introverted and timid, which was almost the deadliest flaw for a royal—perhaps even for any noble.

The famous lord of the lowland folk of Cruz, Holdland, had a well-known saying: “Nobles can be vicious, insidious, greedy, or even ineffectual, but they must not lack responsibility!”

Yet Prince Haruze happened to be such a person.

It was said that his temperament was closely related to the new queen of Obergo VII, though this was merely a rumor. Still, court struggles had more or less nurtured this young prince’s timid disposition; though Princess Grifian was deeply favored by the old king, Brendel knew that the power dynamics within the royal family had consistently favored Siphai—the queen’s faction.

Historically, Prince Haruze wouldn’t awaken until after his sister, Princess Grifian, was murdered, but by then it was too late. Later, Madara invaded Erluin for the third time, leading to Erluin’s downfall.

After that, Brendel left that sorrowful land. Later rumors suggested that Aike and Yula’s daughter, Ailara, had reformed a resistance organization against Erluin. Some said that Prince Haruze did not d*e in the fire when the royal capital fell but was rescued by the Cross Knight, Bud, and later married Ailara.

Yet all of this remained speculation, and no one had seen it with their own eyes. Not to mention that Brendel had long been far away in Saint Ausoor at that time.

However, history did not lead Brendel to look down on this prince; instead, it deepened his curiosity. He had read an article online where a certain Erluin netizen introduced this prince, claiming that although Prince Haruze was shy and reserved, he was actually outstanding in many aspects, particularly in his talents for magic and swordsmanship.

The article even subtly hinted that the young prince might be a chosen one.

Of course, to Brendel, this was merely one-sided commentary. However, it did not hinder his pursuit of the truth. According to what he knew, Prince Haruze had been learning swordsmanship under Princess Grifian’s instruction from a young age, reportedly with little success, which had caused great despair for the eldest princess. So, from where did the article draw its conclusions?

Was it merely for attention?

Brendel glanced at Prince Haruze’s hands, which were as white and delicate as a woman’s. He couldn’t help but shake his head; these were not the hands of someone who had trained with a sword for years, nor would they belong to someone with exceptional swordsmanship talent.

It was well known that any talent comes from hard training. Even a sword genius like Bud had achieved results through countless hours of practice; there is simply no such thing as a free lunch in this world—of course, Brendel understood his own circumstances were an exception, but he did not think Prince Haruze was like him, an otherworldly traveler.

But did this young prince truly have an aversion to swordsmanship, or was he simply not good at it? Which version of the story was correct? Sitting in the carriage, Brendel pondered, but it seemed Haruze had noticed his gaze, causing him to retract his hands.

“What’s wrong?” The princess immediately recognized her brother’s unusual behavior and asked somewhat displeased. The royal education required their descendants to maintain at least a minimum appearance in any situation, and today Haruze clearly exceeded that standard.

She knew her brother was generally introverted and shy, but being this flustered was a bit excessive. Especially, she didn’t want Haruze to leave an impression of being easily bullied in front of Brendel.

Seeing his sister turn serious, Haruze was startled, stammering, “N-Nothing, sister.”

“Your Highness, the young prince is only ten years old this year, isn’t it a bit early for him to be studying magic at this age?” Brendel suddenly squinted and spoke up.

Nobles often had their children follow renowned court wizards to learn magic and knowledge, such as the chief court wizard Livwz, who died in the Battle of Ampere Seale, taught Princess Grifian, and Mage Gherlok taught the king’s eldest son and other sisters.

However, in truth, any magic from Vaunte would eventually involve drawing from the forces of the Sea of Magic. While aimed at weaving rules, dark magical power would more or less influence the caster, which is why wizards often had weaker constitutions.

For the same reason, generally speaking, wizards’ apprentices typically began learning related knowledge around four or five, but real magic study usually began after reaching adulthood, or at least after the age of thirteen.

But Brendel noticed something interesting about Haruze.

He could almost affirm that this young prince had studied dark magic.

…

(PS: I quietly managed to write a chapter amidst the writer’s block; it’s slightly better now, sobs) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)