Chapter 207
The Embers in the Furnace Remain the Same (5)
When it came to choosing the most beautiful woman in existence, Sigrun was first by far.
The elven race boasted of their absolute beauty. However, even among them, Sigrun was of the noblest of lineages and was so transcendent that all the tributes to beauty in the world would fail to compare to her allure.
Even if her evil and sadistic personality was a problem, there weren’t many in existence who could match the majesty of her appearance.
To name a few: There was a Swordmaster in the era of the Great War, four hundred years ago, there was the White Night Mage, and in this age, there is Arwen Kirgayen.
Of course, their natural beauty was incomparable with Sigrun’s, but each of them shone with a light that could never exist in the elf.
Agnes had possessed the dignity of a commander who had won numerous battles, possessing the fierce beauty that came along with the great honors she had achieved as a knight. Ophelia possessed the innate subtleness and mystical beauty derived from the truths she had grasped. And Arwen possessed a peculiar elegance and grace stemming from her bright and streamlined personality.
Compared to them, Teuton’s princess was clearly lacking. When it came to her natural features and style, she fell far short of the absolutes that Sigrun embodied. Her dignity could not be compared to those who had wielded the sword. She could never come near the White Night Mage’s delicate mystery, and her grace and elegance were lesser than Arwen’s.
In terms of simple appearance, Teuton’s princess did not reach that epitome that others had reached.
Nevertheless, when she appeared, everyone at the dinner table was dazzled.
Her face was pale as if no blood flowed through her veins and as if she would shed tears at any moment. Her body was slender, her shoulders looking so weak that she might fly away were the wind to blow.
If you saw her in a positive light, she would stimulate your protective instincts. If you looked at her with a critical eye, she looked sick. I was in the latter camp.
The other people seemed to have taken up the former reaction, however.
“I, the eldest daughter of the Tudor family, Hestia Neumann, apologizes to the members of the Leonberger the Leonberg Kingdom. I’m so sorry for causing concern,” the princess greeted everyone in awkward Leonbergian that, despite being fluent, was filled with empty words.
“Oh no!” Maximilian replied with unprecedented excitement, “I know that the ferocity and winds of the North Sea of Leonberg are not easy for those from other kingdoms to endure, so it is no fault of yours, princess. You don’t have to apologize.”
It seemed that Maximilian hadn’t even fully realized that Hestia had greeted us in Leonbergian.
Marshal Bielefeld didn’t act that different either. He looked at the princess with a face filled with extreme concern, as if looking at a granddaughter who was in ill health, and I almost laughed at him.
What did they see in the girl?
I looked around and noted that the other people had different facial expressions, but the emotions that existed within them were the same as those of Bielefeld and Maximilian – deep compassion and enthrallment.
The only man who acted as he usually acted was Siorin Kirgayen, who quietly looked at Princess Hestia, one end of his mouth curled up slightly as he tried to hide his sneer. It seemed that he was mentally comparing the appearance of his daughter with that of the princess. Siorin suddenly looked at me as if he felt my eyes upon him. His haughty gaze seemed to scream at me that Arwen was better than Hestia. Normally, I would have stuck my tongue out if I saw such an arrogant man, but I also did not rejoice over the current situation.
The men around the dinner table couldn’t wake up from their daze, and there was no way that Teuton’s envoys did not notice the atmosphere. A sheen of superiority came upon the face of Duncan Seymour Tudor. He smiled happily, and I found the expression rather despicable.
‘Tuk Tuk Tuk~’
I deliberately rapped my knuckles on the table, hoping that the sound would dissipate the reigning atmosphere. Maximilian had been half-enthralled, almost fainting, up till then. He snapped awake and closed his mouth. Princess Hestia looked at me.
“I, Hestia Neumann, eldest daughter of the Tudor family, would like to say hello once again to the Crown Prince of the Leonberg Kingdom, who is the famous Lion of the North. You don’t know how excited my heart becomes by meeting such a famous hero of the continent.”
“Ahh…” Leonberg’s people fawned over the strange smile on Hestia’s lips as her eyes, which were already drooping, closed even further.
“Tchu.”
As I clucked my tongue, Maximilian and the others realized their mistake and shut their mouths, correcting their expressions.
“I have always wanted to see the people of the Leonberg Kingdom at least once. The victory of your kingdom is a wonderful thing to hear of, even for a woman like me who knows nothing of war. So, I always wanted to hear these tales in detail. However, today I am blessed to be seated with several of the heroes who achieved such great things.”
The diners’ expressions became lax once more as soon as the princess tweeted like a bird and praised the kingdom’s victory. It was a spectacle, especially Maximilian, whose comportment was the most spectacular of all as he spoke with Hestia.
“In fact, when we first declared our severance from the Empire, everyone on the continent laughed at us for being foolish. Everyone said that Leonberg would soon be trampled by imperial boots.”
“The people of Leonberg’s royal family who made that difficult decision are simply wonderful and admirable.”
“We did it because it was something we had to do. We did not do it to gain anyone’s respect.”
“So then it’s even more respectful. There are a lot of people in the world who turn away from what they have to do at the first sign of struggle.”
Maximilian became encouraged by the princess’s words and kept talking about the path of thorns our kingdom had marched upon.
“Hmmhh,” I coughed to caution Maximilian, but his gums didn’t stop flapping. The man who tended to hide his heart like a ghost’s seemed to have become a different person today. When I studied him, I saw he was even embarrassed; heat was starting to flicker upon his ears.
Perhaps Maximilian had fallen in love with the princess from Teuton at first sight.
It was something I couldn’t understand. What’s so special about a woman with a chronic illness?
Arwen was prettier, and more importantly, she was wise and strong. And it wasn’t just her.
Gunn and her comrades might be half-elves, but they had inherited the blood of the faeries – and they were beautiful. And they, too, had more than enough skills to play a vital role on the battlefield.
In comparison, Princess Hestia of Teuton was just a sanatorium patient with a chronic illness.
It didn’t make sense that Maximilian and the others couldn’t snap awake as they looked at her. Leonberg was full of beautiful women who are adept in battle.
“Tcha,” I clucked my tongue without realizing it, and the princess suddenly shifted her eyes as she looked at me.
“I see. It’s amazing,” she said, still facing Maximilian, whose mouth almost clapped as he spoke on and on. Hestia’s eyes smiled at me without Maximilian noticing. As I looked at those bright eyes, I could not keep myself from laughing. The princess’s eyes blazed with greater intensity.
I didn’t know why she was smiling so, and I could only chuckle at the sight. From that point on, I leaned back in my chair and began to stare at Hestia. The princess gently rolled her eyes away from me and looked at Maximilian again, who had been recounting sagas all the time.
The only problem was…
“My brother …”
“If it wasn’t for my brother …”
“In fact, even when the uproar was so great in the north, my brother …”
“The Crown Prince …”
“My brother’s …”
The saga Maximilian told of was not his but mine. It was absurd. Here was a guy who was bragging about his brother to a girl with whom he had fallen in love with at first sight.
“Maximilian.”
“So, there was my brother- Yeah, brother? Please tell me.”
“The food you have been served is cooling off.”
He looked down at his meal and gently spoke to me.
“I didn’t even notice it. Thank you for enlightening me, brother.”
If Maximilian had been another guy, he would’ve felt bad to be faulted in front of a woman. But not Maximilian; instead of feeling bad, he looked at me with a respectful spirit, as if I had imparted some great truth to him.
“Now, let’s eat before it cools more,” Princess Hestia said with a sigh as she recommended the meal to everyone. I became passionate about eating, then. While I enjoyed my meal, I felt a strange gaze settle on me several times. When I looked up, the princess from Teuton was staring at me. I blatantly met her gaze, and she returned to her meal of sesame seed cake, blushing.
But the appearance of her eating her meal didn’t seem a wonderful sight to me; Hestia was a girl who did not possess any qualities I liked. I shook my head a little and then went back to eating. Even if I didn’t like the Teutonic princess, I did like one thing – the fact that Duncan Seymour Tudor, who had been constantly scratching on my nerves, was silent. Thanks to this, I was able to leisurely finish my meal for the first time in a long while.
* * *
“No, brother! How can you say that?!”
When the dinner was done with, I called Maximilian over and asked if he liked Princess Hestia – and the guy jumped at the question.
“I do not desire to dare intervene with your marriage, brother!”
“Ah, I am not interested in marrying her. Meeting her in person today made it even clearer.”
Maximilian tilted his head at my words. Then he asked how I couldn’t like her since she looked great and possessed gentle sexuality.
“It’s unreasonable. I don’t think she could hold even a wooden sword properly. A flower that is merely nice to look at has no use to anyone. How can I love a woman who cannot protect herself?”
Maximilian thought about what I said and then asked me, “Brother, what do you think it means to have a spouse?”
I pondered on it before replying.
“Marriage must be between people who encourage each other, people who lead one another to greater growth, who recognize and trust each other’s talents and character.”
Maximilian’s looked at me as if I had said something absurd.
“Is that a spouse, or a comrade?”
“If the person you will spend your entire life with is not your comrade, then what are they?” I asked, and Maximilian sighed.
“Brother, marriage is not an act akin to the recruitment of excellent knights.”
“What? Is it strange to wish that the person you will be with to have an excellent skill in one area?”
Maximilian opened and closed his mouth several times and finally emitted a deep sigh.
“Anyway, I have no intention of getting married, so if you like her that much, we can arrange your marriage. And I did notice that you like the princess very much.”
“Brother! When did I say that!”
“Are you shouting or not?” I said with a laugh, smirking, and Maximilian sighed again.
“If you do not wish to have Princess Hestia as your spouse, then what about Sir Arwen?” Maximilian asked me after a while in a weird tone of voice. “She is a proud champion of Leonberg, and her appearance and character are sublime enough to be classed as the best in the kingdom. And the Kirgayen family has been loyal to our family for generation after generation. No one can say that Sir Arwen lacks qualifications.”
I frowned.
“From what I’ve seen so far, she seems to have you on her mind, brother.”
“My relationship with her is not as you think it is, so stop being absurd.”
“Brother, you don’t seem to know her that well.”
It was ridiculous to hear such words from a foolish man who had boasted only of his brother in front of a woman he had fallen in love with.
“That’s it. Stop saying strange things. The meetings start in earnest tomorrow, so make sure to get some decent sleep.”
As I said this, Maximilian’s expression became serious.
“I will prepare myself without a hitch.”
“Make sure you do that. Now, I must rest as well.”
Maximilian gave a small bow of his head as he heard my dismissal. When he grabbed the doorknob, he suddenly turned around and asked, “Brother, are you sure that you don’t like Teuton’s princess?”
“I will never love a woman who is constructed out of glass.”
“Okay, brother. Then the negotiations will proceed with us using the armaments you brought from the north as bargaining chips, as previously mentioned,” said Maximilian. He had suddenly returned to his usual bright self, and he left the room.
“Tchu. He should take the muffs from his ears and stop his pretense.”
I had seen the slight sliver of relief that had passed over Maximilian’s face, so I could only laugh.
‘Dok Dok Dok~’
Then, someone knocked on the door.
“This is Siorin Kirgayen, your Highness.”
“Come in.”
When he opened the door, the handsome man stepped inside.
“I have a few things to discuss about tomorrow, so I am making a rude visit to your Highness at this late hour.”
“If you think you’re being rude, keep it short,” I said, and Siorin did not so much as change his expression when faced with my impudence. Rather, he continued chatting.
“But before we talk about tomorrow, I would like to ask your Highness a question.”
“What?”
“Is my daughter truly undesirable?”
I looked straight at Siorin. It seemed that he had overheard my conversation with Maximilian from outside. A fire was raging in the count’s eyes. After seeing that expression, I knew he wanted to know what kind of man I was, and how I dared to reject his daughter.
“Does your Highness understand that I talk about the daughter I had loved my entire life?” Siorin asked with a sincere smile, then continued on as his face became sorrowful.
“She is a child who has pledged her entire life to the sword. At this rate, after I leave this world, she will be alone for several decades, forever. With that in mind, I have to act out of love.”
“I don’t think Arwen will say she chose the life she lives because of her father’s love,” I said, stressing the fact that Arwen wasn’t a woman who was dependent on her father. Siorin looked sick as he heard me say it.
“That’s not what’s important now.” Siorin quickly regained his politeness, looked at me, and said, “No one can think about anything but your Highness’s marriage. If your Highness were to marry, she would not refuse.”
“Arwen?”
No one was asking the concerned parties about this supposed marriage; all they did was to make a fuss about Arwen and me.
“It seems that you don’t know your daughter, count. She doesn’t look at me in that way.”
“It seems rather that your Highness does not know the woman’s heart.”
“Everyone has been telling me that today.”
Maximilian had said it to me a while ago, and this time it was Siorin’s turn to utter the same sounds. The former statement was the ignorant view of a young man, but the latter was not. It came from a man who was once the desire of the kingdom’s women, a man who was now prime minister.
He wasn’t a man prone to spouting groundless bullshit.
“Hmm,” Siorin mused in a polite yet powerful tone as he touched his chin for no apparent reason as if facing an unexpected situation.
“So, I’ll ask your Highness again. Before answering, please note that the question is now a formal request from me as the head of the Kirgayen family to determine the will of the royal family,” Siorin said, his posture pristine as he looked straight at me. “Going on the premise that your Highness is not marrying Princess Hestia Tudor, is your Highness willing to welcome Arwen in marriage?”
Siorin spoke, his face full of worry lines, as if forcing out words he didn’t want to speak, but his eyes were as serious as ever.
What was this suddenly unfolding situation?
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