Chapter 110: Childhood Friend – Unbeliever
The Marquis asked, delighted.
“What kind of plan do you have?”
“It’s still difficult to say, so I’ll inform you later. You won’t be disappointed.”
“Understood. You may have an audience with the king tomorrow. I will arrange it.”
Margrave Harvey Guidan smiled brightly, as if he firmly believed in him. Lev returned the bright smile and concluded the conversation.
Soon, the marquis called for the steward and said, “Give this guest the best room… no, the third room on the east side.”
He didn’t use an honorific because Lev had requested to be treated only as a visitor for the time being.
“This way, please.”
The steward, who was guiding him with a surprised face, led the way while Lev followed, deep in thought.
‘After adopting Lena as a princess, let’s gather the noble forces.’
In fact, it was worrisome to bring Lena into this wretched kingdom with its trashy princes.
Though he considered going to another kingdom, there were no suitable alternatives.
Conrad Kingdom had a king bedridden and a prince named Eric, an apostle of Oriax, so it was out of the question. The Frederic royal family of the Holy Kingdom was tightly bound by the laws of the Cross Church, so even if he charmed the king, church approval was necessary.
That process would be cumbersome, and using Asin’s power under the nose of the Cross Church was burdensome.
Then, the nearby remaining option was the Kingdom of Belita, but no kingdom was more sensitive to legitimacy than it.
The Kingdom of Belita prided itself on inheriting the history of the Empire, having taken over Orville, the capital of the Achaean Empire.
If Lena, a foreign commoner, were adopted as a princess, not only the nobles but also the citizens of Orville would protest.
Excluding these three kingdoms left the northern kingdoms of Astin & Aster, known as the Magic Kingdoms, but these were honestly too far. Their culture also differed significantly from the south.
Therefore, this wretched kingdom where Lena was born was the best option to make her a princess.
‘It’s odd to enthrone a commoner as a princess, and even more so if she’s a foreigner. Even a charmed king would have difficulties.’
Of course, there would be resistance to enthroning a commoner like Lena as a princess in this kingdom too… but during the conversation with Marquis Guidan, a good plan had come to mind.
According to him, there were still quite a few families that hadn’t aligned with the princes. Generally, these were ‘normal’ nobles who either had no daughters to be harassed or refused to curry favor with the princes, including great families like Guidan and Drageen.
If he could provide a rallying point for them, they would defend Lena for their survival, and she could live securely as a princess under their protection. This seemed like the best strategy to Lev.
Ah, there was one more way to make Lena a princess quite simply…
It was to have Marquis Guidan adopt Lena as his daughter and then marry her off to the prince in place of Harriet.
But that plan was worthless. Because…
Just as he was continuing his thoughts, the steward ahead opened a door adorned with green jade.
“This is it. I will ensure your stay is comfortable. If you need anything, please call me. I will also assign you a dedicated maid.”
Lev entered the room and looked around in satisfaction. The room the marquis had given him was well-lit, with thick carpets covering the corners.
This was the second time ‘Leo’ had entered a noble’s residence.
However, the atmosphere here was very different from the previous place.
The Tatian Marquis’s house where he had stayed before was overall grand and cold.
In contrast, the Guidan Marquis’s house had many small ornaments, and the warm-colored curtains and green walls created a peaceful atmosphere.
Furthermore, the servants wandering around were smiling brightly and chattering, enhancing the tranquility. It was very different from the stiff-faced, silent servants of the Tatian Marquis.
After entering the room, Lev dismissed the steward and hastily shoved his luggage into the drawer. He called for a smiling maid to bring him water and gulped it down.
As he drank, he realized how long he had been talking with the Marquis, as the sunset was now visible outside.
Lev wiped the water from his lips with the back of his hand and thought about the future.
It was a continuation of his earlier thoughts.
‘I can’t send Lena to marry those trash. It’s better to adopt her as a princess. I can take care of those princes myself… Yeah. I have a debt to settle with them.’
Those bastards who used Lena as a tool for their dirty politics! Until now, he hadn’t dared to take revenge due to lack of power, but now it was different. He would never, ever forgive them.
Lying on the soft bed, he swore revenge to the ceiling. His eyes, burning red with determination, and the sunset outside turned the spacious green room entirely red.
The sunset reflected on the shaking curtain faintly sketched a trumpet pattern, probably by coincidence.
* * *
The next day, Marquis Guidan, who sent a messenger to request an audience with the king, headed to the Nevis Church to call his daughter back.
This was also something that could have been done by sending someone with a message, but he decided to go in person. It was easier to have a smooth conversation with his daughter while talking next to the priest facilitating the communication.
However, the Marquis’s face was severely distorted as he entered the church. His expression, which seemed on the verge of tears while gritting his teeth, looked angry.
He walked with large strides, and the people in the church who recognized him quietly stepped aside.
Meanwhile, Lev, who had nothing to do, stayed at the mansion and suddenly realized that the room assigned to him was not just a guest room.
Traces of someone living there remained in places. There were study books in the room, and a well-used Nenato (a waist-high cylindrical percussion instrument resembling a djembe) was neatly placed in a corner.
Judging by the small size of the instrument and the roughly handled books, the previous occupant of the room was a fairly young boy.
When he asked the maid, she told him that this room had belonged to Guidan’s son, “Harveni Guidan.” Harveni, who was Lady Harriet Guidan’s younger brother and the heir to the Guidan family, had died five years ago.
The Marquis had given his son’s room to Lev, who was of a similar age to Harveni, had he still been alive.
“Come to think of it, where is the Marquis’s wife? I haven’t greeted her yet.”
When he asked, the maid’s expression stiffened slightly. The exaggerated smile that had always been present disappeared.
“…The madam is at the Guidan estate. It would be difficult to greet her…”
It was a peculiar addition.
Her tone implied that not only was the Marquis’s wife not there, but even if she were, it would still have been impossible to greet her.
Lev, sensitive to every word thanks to his knowledge of noble society, asked,
“Why is that?”
The maid hesitated a bit. It wasn’t something she couldn’t say, but she seemed uncomfortable, so Lev used his charm on her.
Only then did the maid begin to speak.
“It’s because of an incident five years ago. That day was a sunny day when the young master rode his white pony…”
+ + +
“Giddy up!”
The boy, with eyes mature beyond his years, urged the pony forward. But in reality, his shout was just a brave cry without actually kicking the horse’s belly or pulling the reins, so the little pony leisurely moved forward.
Harveni Guidan remembered his father’s advice not to pull the reins recklessly.
“Son, there’s a slightly cruel principle behind why a horse, stronger than a person, obediently turns its head when the reins are pulled.”
“What is it?”
The boy, eyes gleaming, asked while looking at the splendid pony. He was eager to ride and run around the mansion yard immediately.
“Pain.”
But his father doused his excitement with a gruesome story.
“A horse with a bit in its mouth has its tongue and gums severely pressed. It’s pressed so hard that the tongue can turn blue, and pulling the reins pushes it, causing the horse intense pain. That’s why the horse quickly turns its head when the reins are pulled.”
The boy’s face, which had been smiling while stroking the white pony, turned pale. The pony had a bit in its mouth, and the boy held the reins in his left hand.
“So remember this. Always apply steady pressure to the reins, and when you need to pull, do it softly and gently to lessen the horse’s pain.”
“Dear.”
The Marquis’s wife, standing nearby, interrupted with a stern look. Cutting off her husband’s excessive advice, she gently held her son’s tense left hand and said,
“What your father says is true, but don’t take it too much to heart. You might feel sorry for now, but once you ride, you’ll actually feel grateful.”
Reassured by his mother’s comforting words, the boy cautiously climbed onto the horse.
Fortunately, the pony walked as if nothing was wrong, and Harveni Guidan exclaimed in admiration.
The elevated view was refreshing.
He could look down on his tall father’s head and almost reach the second-floor balcony of the mansion.
The swaying horse’s gait felt like his own steps, and the wide yard visible beyond the horse’s head felt small. This must be the world seen from a horse’s perspective.
The fear of falling that he had when climbing onto the horse disappeared completely.
The childish thought of waving the reins and driving the horse energetically also vanished.
Except for the one time he shouted “Giddy up!” he let the pony walk as it pleased.
‘We have such an amazing relationship…’
Harveni Guidan found the reins in his hand to be paradoxical.
A tool that inflicts pain.
Yet, this tool was what connected him with the pony. Without it, he wouldn’t have been able to mount the horse or share such a bond with the pony.
It was then that Harveni Guidan understood his parents’ words.
“Thank you… for carrying me.”
He whispered softly with gratitude. Thinking that he must treat this pony well for enduring pain and sharing this connection with him, he gently pulled the reins. The pony whinnied and turned back to the starting point.
His father, mother, and sister were seated around a small table in the yard, watching Harveni ride the horse.
“Oh my, you ride so well. It’s hard to believe it’s your first time, my son.”
The marchioness praised her returning son. Margrave Harvey Guidan also looked at him with pride and gave him some advice.
“Son, that pony is still young. If you ride for too long, it will get tired, so it’s best to stop now.”
Harveni Guidan carefully dismounted the pony and smiled brightly.
“Father, thank you so much. I love it. I will be with this pony forever!”
“Haha, you…”
Harveni eagerly shared his first riding experience with his sister, Harriet, who had yet to try horseback riding, when the maid interrupted.
“Just a moment, young master. You need to wipe off your sweat.”
She handed him a wet towel and a dry towel.
The boy quickly wiped his face with the dry towel and then used the wet towel to wipe the pony’s neck, asking,
“When will it be fully grown?”
Although the pony had been trained to wear a bit, it was still young, with not all its teeth grown, and meant only for the Marquis’s young son.
The Marquis told him that the pony would need about two more years to be able to walk long distances while carrying its rider, and Harveni, disappointed, fiddled with the pony’s mane.
Only being able to ride for such a short time… it was so disappointing.
“What about receiving a blessing? The child is so disappointed…”
It was the margravine’s suggestion.
A priest could bless animals too. However, the effect on animals was quite different from that on humans.
While blessings uniformly protected humans from evil and disease, their effects on animals varied.
Some horses became stronger, some grew faster, and some gained better stamina. There were also many cases where there was no effect at all, making it a gamble for horse traders to spend a lot of money on blessings.
Of course, for Margrave Guidan, a great noble of the Orun Kingdom, it wasn’t a gamble at all.
“Hmm… that sounds good. There’s no guarantee it will grow faster, but there’s nothing to lose. Since we’re talking about it, why don’t we go to the church now and get the blessing?”
“Wow! Really?!”
Harveni Guidan jumped for joy, holding his sister’s hand and shaking it excitedly.
Harriet Guidan, looking exasperated, said,
“Oh, go ahead. I’ll go inside first. I’m tired from being in the sun for too long.”
The young lady politely excused herself and went inside with her maid. The maid glanced back to see Marquis Guidan, the marchioness, and Harveni Guidan leading the pony out of the mansion.
+ + +
“There was an accident. A really… unbelievable accident.”
The maid, sitting across from Lev on the terrace overlooking the yard, sighed as she continued.
From this point on, even she was recounting a story she had heard from others.
After going to the Nevis Church, the Marquis requested a blessing for his son’s pony. The church, having received a large donation, readily bestowed the blessing.
But perhaps because Harveni’s pure joy was so palpable, the priest bestowed a stronger blessing than usual, and that caused the problem.
The young pony, startled by the bright white light that enveloped it, kicked out in surprise, striking the boy who was standing right behind it with eager anticipation.
Tragically, Harveni Guidan lost his life on the spot.
“The Marquis was utterly devastated…”
The maid vividly remembered the returned Marquis screaming in anguish. He hurled curses and blasphemies at the holy deity and smashed all church-related items in the mansion. He locked himself in a room, consumed by madness and grief.
From that room came the sounds of relentless crying. Occasionally, unspeakable curses and sounds of destruction could be heard.
The maid had gone through great trouble to bring meals to the Marquis she respected.
He refused to eat and wouldn’t bathe, so she had to enlist the help of knights to subdue him.
If he had been a cruel master, neither the maid nor the knights would have endured such hardship.
However, Marquis Harvey Guidan was always a kind employer, and the late Harveni Guidan was a sweet boy who, even when scolded by the maid, would honestly apologize, saying, “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
Everyone in the mansion deeply sympathized with the Marquis and did their best for him.
Thanks to their efforts, the Marquis managed to bury his son in his heart and emerged from the room, though he was gaunt and haggard.
He resumed his duties, but by then, the Guidan family was already politically cornered.
Rumors spread maliciously—saying the Marquis had gone mad, that he dared to curse the holy deity, that his only heir had been punished by heaven. These slanders tarnished the Guidan family’s reputation.
Had he taken any longer to regain his senses, he might have lost his position as a border Margrave. If not for the secret efforts of his friend, Ebeny Drageen, it surely would have been taken from him.
Marquis Harvey Guidan began to work tirelessly to maintain the family’s standing, but unlike him, the marchioness never recovered.
After months of fainting and waking up repeatedly, she closed off her heart. She stopped speaking and stared blankly into space, ignoring anyone who approached.
The only ones she reacted to were her husband and daughter, but seeing them made her burst into tears and faint again. Using her convalescence as an excuse, she was sent to the mansion in the Guidan territory.
“…They say she remains shut in her room there… How did such a harmonious family end up like this…”
The maid, unable to hide her pity, concluded her story with a sigh.
Lev now understood why Marquis Harvey Guidan had become an unbeliever.
And why the people in this mansion worked so hard to maintain a cheerful facade… They were doing it out of consideration for their once kind and now unfortunate master.
“Oh! I’m sorry. I must go now. The master has returned.”
At that moment, the maid, looking down from the terrace, stood up abruptly. When Lev turned his head, he saw the Marquis’s carriage arriving at the front gate.
The Marquis, approaching the mansion with heavy steps, recognized Lev on the terrace and called up to him.
“The date for the audience with the king has been set. The day after tomorrow, you will accompany me to the royal palace.”
From below the terrace where his son had first ridden a horse, the unbeliever’s green eyes looked up, filled with deep fatigue.
