“His Majesty the King would not have abandoned you as his successor without anything. He must have given you something, and it must be an intelligence network.”
The best intelligence organization that understands the entire Airian Kingdom in depth.
The Royal Intelligence Service.
“I won’t answer.”
She just smiled ambiguously and did not provide a definitive answer. Cain shrugged, as if he hadn’t expected it, and continued on.
“So what about Lamaring?”
“He has two grown sons, so it’s obvious.”
“A problem with the successor?”
The members of Count Lamaring’s family never imagined that their personal story would be brought up in Ethelred’s underground storage room.
“Correct.”
“Is there a child that the count supports?”
She shakes her head.
“No. To be more specific, he has yet to reveal who he supports.
Oleciren made a pitiful expression as she said this.
Cain quickly noticed the expression and inquired.
“You don’t think he’s trying to take over the Ethelred territory, which is buzzing with his grandson, and divide it up for his two sons?”
“Hmm…….”
Oleciren did not respond right away.
She simply scratched her cheek with an ambiguous smile.
It was a joke, but Cain was the one who was embarrassed because of her reaction.
“Really?”
“To be specific, I believe he intends to give a reasonable amount to Ross Marquis while leaving only a viscount’s territory. If my younger sister becomes King.”
“Those crazy people.”
Cain spat out the word immediately.
It is not a small plot of land.
He couldn’t believe they were taking so lightly the count’s territory, of which there were only five in the Airian kingdom.
She nodded as if agreeing.
She then added a word.
“But there’s a bigger problem.”
“Bigger than this?”
Oleciren looked directly at Cain.
“There’s someone stuck in the basement who’s not moving an inch at a time like this.”
“I’m not ignoring it, I’m just waiting for the right time to create a minimum justification…….”
“Isn’t it because you want to naturally hand over power to Abel?”
Oleciren’s sharp insight penetrates Cain’s unspoken heart.
“…….”
“The innocent people of Ethelred have no idea. But I see it. You’re moving as if you’re about to leave, and you’re putting Abel in the position you should be in.”
Cain silently met Oleciren’s gaze.
He had been caught in an instant, but he did not want to lie to her.
“I guess you weren’t lying about playing around in the political scene of the kingdom.”
So he admitted it calmly.
“Are you surprised that this older sister is quick-witted?”
“And she’s talkative.”
“Why are you doing that?”
“What?”
“If you were a young lord of your age, you’d all want to gain power, inherit your family, and fight head-on, but why are you trying to give it all up?”
“…….”
“Count Edmund is said to have attained the level of master. I have never seen him in person, so I’m not sure how strong he is, but I know.”
Edmund once drew his sword to prove that he was the strongest swordsman in the kingdom.
On that day, at that location.
There were members of the royal family and two marquises.
They realized they shouldn’t use force on Ethelred.
That was the fearsome power of Edmund’s sword, which had advanced to the level of mastery.
However, Oleciren had seen something far more formidable.
“A sword that freezes the sea and divides the horizon. Even Count Edmund would not be able to accomplish that.”
Oleciren moved closer and continued speaking.
“The world is not so simple that such power comes for free. You must have made a sacrifice. Maybe your lifespan?”
“Did Little Mother tell you?”
He had expected that Arna, who had lived as a special mercenary on the continent, would notice.
“Anyone who sees it would know, unless they’re an idiot.”
He hadn’t expected someone who grew up on the island kingdom of Airian to notice.
She took a deep breath.
She was neither a playful young girl nor a pitiful aspiring witch struggling against fate.
“Cain Ethelred. What on earth do you want?”
She posed a fundamental question as the kingdom’s first princess.
Cain smiled wryly and responded.
“……Nothing.”
He has no regrets about becoming closer to Oleciren than in his previous life. However, it wasn’t something that he could talk about.
Cain had no choice but to speak evasively, but she appeared to have received her answer.
“Do you want a family without you?”
“A family without me?”
“A world that will turn out fine on its own even if the man named Cain disappears someday. Like a person who knows when he will die worrying about what will happen after he is gone.”
Cain couldn’t open his mouth because her words were more accurate than he had expected.
He had anticipated that his intentions would be discovered someday.
He didn’t expect Oleciren to be the first to do so.
She smiled softly.
“Don’t go.”
But Cain firmly rejected her smile.
“I have to go.”
“Nothing can fill the void you’ve left. Perhaps everyone will miss you despite pretending not to.”
“It’s enough to pretend.”
Oleciren pursed her lips.
She clenched and unclenched her fists, looking through the other materials in the storage room for no apparent reason before spitting out her heart.
“You don’t like that way.”
“Leaving?”
“Living like there’s no tomorrow.”
Cain hardened his expression.
Adding his age from his previous life, Oleciren was now very young. Her eyes, however, were more accurate than he had expected.
“You live as if you’re going to leave in a year.”
Cain’s life was fierce, not to mention desperate.
And the fact that he was going to clean up the kingdom within a month seemed like he was being chased, so Oleciren felt a strange sense of unease.
Because he was so exceptional and brilliant.
She wasn’t sure how much longer he could shine like this.
“It’s the life I chose.”
Cain responded firmly again.
The cliff that day.
The tombstone of Little Mother, whom he had faced with the intention of putting an end to everything, was still vivid in his mind.
“I didn’t do it because someone told me to; I chose it because it’s right. So it’s fine.”
“You think that’s right……”
“I decide what’s right and wrong. I also decide whether to do it or not.”
Cain cut her off.
She let out a deep sigh as she realized there was no more room to dig.
“Be prepared. That kind of attitude will be a great trial for you someday.”
“I’ve been prepared from the beginning.”
“Stubborn.”
Thud━.
She rose from her seat.
Then she began to remove a few books from the study without hesitation and place them on the table.
‘Family history books.’
Cain, who had looked through them all, immediately noticed what these books had in common.
She had chosen ten books like that.
Oleciren’s eyes were faintly filled with witch-like power.
She pointed to the thin record Cain was holding.
“That’s the oldest of what’s here. On the other hand.”
She said, arranging the books on the table one by one.
“These are fairly recent. The oldest is forty years old, and the most recent is one year old.”
Cain flipped through the book with one hand.
The texture and appearance of the records indicated that they were old, but the fledgling witch claimed they were recent.
“Interesting?”
Cain looked up with a smirk.
“I guess so.”
Oleciren smiled back.
Recent records were stored in the underground storage room, where the dust was old and no one had entered.
Even if he becomes a warrior.
Even if he became a front-line warrior.
It was the key to opening a secret door that he had never known about.