hotmtlnovel Book 1: Chapter 18
Book 1: Chapter 18
Book 1: Chapter 18
The Kingdoms Darkness
Did her highness manage to depart from the capital without any problem?
Inside a room of the palace in the capital of Claydale Kingdom, a large country that was located at the southern part of Thurs continent, the man who was the owner of that room asked that question to a young butler. The butler quietly opened his mouth in reply.
In regard to her highness the first princess, she didnt particularly mention anything about her bodys bad state of health and was able to depart from the capital today. If there isnt any problem on the way, her highness will be able to arrive at the territory of Margrave Dandall two weeks later just as scheduled.
I see. Her highness Elenas selfishness in this palace was troubling, but when she arrive there, we will be able to entrust her to her grandfather Dandall and leave the rest to him.
The owner of this room, the prime minister of Claydale Kingdom, Margrave Belt Fa Melrose had been acquainted for long with Margrave Dandall since they were still academy student. He recalled his friends face while leaning deeply on his chair.
This Claydale Kingdom was three countries in the past. The old royal families of Dandall at the north and Melrose at the south were left alive as the margrave in those areas. Originally the role of margrave was to mediate between the nobles in that region, but due to the political problem from the unification at that time, in order to suppress the dissatisfaction of the nobles and people of the former Dandall Dukedom and former Melrose Dukedom, a tradition was made where the head of the two houses would be given important posts of the kingdom.
Dandall was entrusted to be in charge of the military matter. For generations, a family member of the head of Dandall House would be the one taking the position as the head of the knight order that also acted as the field marshal of the military.
Melrose was in charge of the domestic affairs. For generations a family member of the head of Melrose House had always been assigned as the prime minister.
More than a hundred years had passed since the unification. The ill feeling between the nobles of the old royal families had faded and they considered themselves as people of the same country, but it was difficult to change a tradition that had taken a deep root after this late, so the two margrave houses were still monopolizing the two important posts.
The first princess Elena that became the topic here was born from the second queen who was a princess of Dandall House.
At that time there was no noble lady of suitable age from the duke houses. Originally that princess of Dandall House was the only one worthy to be the first queen with her pedigree and beauty, but the young man who was the crown prince at that time instead chose a viscount daughter as his first queen. That lady of viscount house was his classmate in the sorcery academy and her name wasnt even listed among his fiance candidates.
That viscount daughter who became the first queen safely gave birth to a son who became the crown prince of this generation. At the next year, the margrave daughter who became the second queen gave birth to Elena.
The second queen whose beloved fiance was snatched away from the side at that time became desperate so that her child could be the next king at the very least, but because the child that she gave birth to was a girl, her hope was almost completely crushed.
But the second queen was unable to give up completely. She gave Elena special education for gifted children with an abnormal zeal since she became aware of her surrounding. As the result, Elena reached the level where she possessed four elements, but her body lost its healthiness due to the excessive amount of magic power that she possessed. Everything was for the sake of surpassing the prince that the first queen gave birth to. But ironically, the one who got concerned with Elenas weak body and became her mental support was the prince that the first queen gave birth to.
The young Elena was showing affection to her half-brother to a degree that was unthinkable for a normal brother and sister. The king who felt that Elenas affection was going a bit too far decided to separate her from the crown prince temporarily by sending her to the parents house of Elenas mother the second queen for recuperation.
Currently at Dandall, there was Lady Clara Dandall who was one of the fiance candidates of the current crown prince.
It was worrying whether it would be alright for the first princess who harbored affection to her big brother to approach her brothers fiance, but Elena and Clara were cousins and they had been playmate with each other since they were little. Elena too had never bared her fang toward Clara, or rather, perhaps as the result of the gifted education that Elena had received, as long as her brother wasnt right in front of her, she was actually an extremely brilliant girl with calm personality.
Belt-sama isnt going to head there too?
Ozuhow can I go there when Im the prime minister? Although her highnesss recuperation isnt made public, someone from the dark side is taking control of the security at the recuperation resort right?
My elder sister Sera is in charge of the security there, so I believe there will be no problem.
Melrose House that was in charge of the domestic affairs also held the additional post as the chief of the dark side, an organization that was in charge of gathering information, protecting VIP, and removing any dangerous individual from behind the scene.
This young man called Ozu was also a descendant from a retainer family that had served Melrose House since they were still a royalty. He was a butler of the prime minister but he was also a knight from the dark side.
At present the kings children were only the crown prince, the first princess, and then the second prince who was just born. Although the king himself was also still young, that number of children was clearly too few for a nation of this scale.
Because of that a part of the high class nobles was secretly maneuvering to send in a concubine for the king. The crown prince and Elena had also gotten their lives targeted several times by the people who desired to obtain a part of the interests, but they were all removed by the dark sides knights who were constantly guarding their surrounding without the knowledge of anybody else.
Currently Melroses territory was being governed by Belts eldest son as feudal lord representative, but Belt who was holding multiple duties even now glared at Ozu asking if he intended to increase his work any more than this.
Belt was a noble with a lot of magic power, so his outer appearance was still that of a man at his mid forty, but his actual age was already at the late fifty.
Belt himself wanted to live like the previous king who had already handed over the throne to the current king and indulged himself in travelling with his wife the empress dowager for a comfortable retirement or the head of Dandall House who passed his position as the field marshal to his son and lived in his territory surrounded by his grandchildren. But his surrounding wouldnt allow him to retire at all.
A while after that, a tall and lean btler appeared from the mansion together with the guard. He seemed to be in his thirty with a face that looked slightly ill natured.
Yoo, Castro. Are you in good health?
Viro, youre late.
That man didnt even pay any mind to Viros casual greeting. He turned his gaze at me who was behind Viro.
So its that kid. She is smaller than I expectedis she usable?(TN: I dont know whether this guy has realized that Aria is a girl or not, but Ill use she anyway.)
Ive given her the minimum training. Besides, itll be better if you dont group her with the random brats around.
Viro grinned. The butler, Castro grimaced slightly.
For you to say that much. Viro, show yourself to Sera-sama. You kid, come with me.
After saying that Castro started walking toward the mansion. I turned my gaze to Viro. He shrugged and smiled wryly.
That guy has a bad look and he is also unfriendly, but he is simply an inflexible person so dont worry. For now well part temporarily here. Have that guy tell you about your work.
Understood.
Which part of what you said just now could serve as a factor to reassure me? I would separate from Viro from here and be alone. Even so he too should be assigned with security work in this place, so there was a chance that I would meet him again for sure.
For now I too followed behind Castro who was walking ahead and headed to the back of the mansion. Just from looking at his back and his way of walking, I could feel that he was quite powerful.
.
Castro RaceHuman
Magic Power : 123/130Stamina : 244/260
Overall Combat Strength : 355
.
But not at Viros level. He was dressed as a butler, but he might be a scout with rank around 3. I was guessing that his combat strength would be more than 400 if he used body strengthening.
tsu!
The moment I caught up to Castro, he threw something without even showing any preliminary movement. I who was on my guard against him jumped away to dodge that. There stabbed on the ground was a thin knife.
My eyes stopped at that only for a moment before I kept my posture low while my hand reached toward the knife on my waist. Then the faint killing intent that was leaking out from Castro vanished.
Hoo even Viros nonsense doesnt seem like a lie.
Whats your intention?
Was he testing me? But, even if he wasnt serious, that knife would have pierced my foot if I was just a normal kid.
If you got injured from just now, Id use it as an excuse to dismiss you right away. But, its just as Sera-sama said, there will also be times when it will be useful to have a child as lookout. Viro is the one taking you here so we will hire you but, let me tell you just one thing before that.
Castro slowly turned around and glared condescendingly on me.
I dont trust a slum dweller like you.