Chapter 189 – Chapter 5: King – 3
Upon hearing that there was a legitimate successor who inherited the king’s blood, Robert was momentarily troubled.
“Did the prince only have one daughter?”
“That’s right. “I have no other children.”
“How old are you?”
“They must have just had a coming-of-age ceremony.”
“Do you know that you are of royal blood?”
“Not in my opinion. The royal granddaughter lived as a very ordinary commoner.”
“Hmm…”
“What is your reason?”
The ‘king’ that Robert and other nobles waited for was never like this.
A king is a stern being who reigns over everyone.
He must not be too old or too young, and must have the strong power to silence everyone and the sharp ruling power to control everyone.
This is also true when looking at the examples of past kings.
No matter how young you were, you had to be over 22 to be eligible to sit on the throne, and you had to be over 33 to start ruling.
However, the ‘prince’s daughter’ that Joseph spoke of had just had her coming-of-age ceremony.
It meant that he was too young to sit on the throne yet.
Actually, the age issue could be overlooked. Inevitably, there are cases where a person becomes king at a very young age. The throne could be maintained by having someone rule by proxy.
No matter how well I thought about it, there was a fatal problem that bothered me.
It is none other than the prince, not the ‘son.’
It means that only a ‘daughter’ was left behind.
Lobrt moved his lips and silently said ‘Queen.’ Then her whole body began to convulse as if she was rejecting it.
He was a supreme knight. He suppressed his rising sense of discomfort with patience and didn’t tremble violently, but even thinking about it himself, it was really strange.
That’s right, there has never been a woman sitting on the Deseo throne before.
Since he will be used as a scarecrow anyway, there is no need to consider his qualifications as a king.
Shouldn’t the scarecrow at least have the appearance of a scarecrow?
Making a commoner girl king was no different from putting her crown on a twisted straw.
“It feels a little different from what the lords hoped for. Above all, it is questionable whether everyone will be able to understand the ‘successor’. From what I’ve heard, I can’t help but think that the person who will become our king is just an ordinary, dull commoner girl…”
“I thought it would definitely be difficult for you to accept it easily.”
Josef took a deep breath, as if anticipating Lobrdt’s cautious tone of concern.
And then he got lucky.
“Do you know about the royal ‘ruby ring’?”
“Ruby ring? Are you talking about the ring that the previous king made?”
“Yes. And this is the ring that was given to the prince. Ruby. In other words, ‘red blood’. A ruby ring that proves the noble royal lineage… “What if the royal granddaughter has it?”
Robert remained silent in tension.
There is no one who does not know about ruby rings.
At that time, all the Deseo nobles attended and saw it.
A ring given to a true prince without any doubt.
A large ruby carved into dozens of angles was gently placed on top of a gold frame. An ‘irreproducible ring’ crafted by the best craftsman in Deseo for 5 years.
If anyone has the ring that was lost when the prince disappeared.
Who would dare say that he is not a king?
“The lords of Dragonez, and the twenty-four families and high-ranking knights of Deseo. All the commoners and commoners on this earth did not ask about the king’s qualifications. What we have been serving for the past 300 years is…”
Joseph asked quietly.
“Isn’t it ‘noble blood’?”
After hearing those words, Robert had a deep understanding.
Sir Kinthorpe’s choice was truly right.
There was no mistake in his words that everyone would eventually be able to understand the ‘king’ that Joseph would nominate.
The blonde knight stood up without hesitation.
“Sir Joseph. “Can I go to Brisden right now?”
Haha! Of course. “I will guide you.”
* * *
The two men headed from Gordburg to Teildon.
Because time was running out, their warhorses ran without stopping. The two covered the distance that would normally take two days in just one day.
As soon as the day dawned, I followed Joseph’s guidance and climbed the rough mountain path.
Everything went smoothly. The weather was nice, and there were no major problems.
As long as you take the royal granddaughter and head to Deseo safely. It all ends.
The Dragonez army, equipped with a justification, would advance more unstoppably, and the civil war could end that quickly.
I arrived at the mountain village called ‘Brisden’ with high expectations.
“…”
They fell into silence as they saw the scene unfolding before their eyes.
“… What is it?”
There was no Brisden.
There wasn’t a single person in sight, and only ashes remained, as if several houses had burned down.
The intact houses seemed to have been abandoned for a long time, with only the sound of the wind whistling.
“Sir Joseph. Is this right?”
“… “I don’t even know what happened.”
Joseph trudged through the village as if he couldn’t believe it.
I called someone’s name in a loud voice, opened the door of the house, and searched inside. All they found were hungry field mice.
“Obviously, everything was the same two months ago…”
Joseph, having lost his footing, went down the hill. There was a large house underneath.
It was an amazing house. It was different from private houses that only had a large fence around them. It was a house with an unusual structure, with a large wooden door built in front of the garden.
Dalgak. Dalgak.
Joseph approached the wooden door and began to guess the code.
“Was it this?”
I tried stacking pieces of wood from memory, but it didn’t work out.
“Then… “Is it February 2nd?”
He stacked the pieces of wood again, but that didn’t work either.
In the end, Joseph, who could not guess the password, simply jumped over the fence.
Then he opened my section and looked around the house.
Robert asked.
“Are you here?”
“Yes. It was the prince’s birthplace, and it is the house inherited by the royal granddaughter. Huh – but now…”
Joseph said in despair as he looked at the empty house.
“There is no one.”
“What happened to this town?”
“I don’t know either. “I think I’ll have to go to Taildon to find out more details.”
As he looked closely, he suddenly realized a strange feeling.
“…”
Unlike other houses, this house alone had ‘traces of living until recently.’
There were unbaked cookies thrown away in the kitchen, and a pile of freshly used firewood piled up in the furnace.
It was a strange thing.
It is a deserted village where thieves are unlikely to come into a remote mountainous area like this, and there is nothing to take.
After all, there are traces of someone spending the winter stoking a fire in ‘this house’.
As I looked around the house, thinking that someone had been there just a few days ago, I became more certain.
There are two chairs facing each other at the table.
Two glasses. Two forks, too.
Two pillows were placed side by side on the slightly tilted bed.
Was I not alone?
At least it was hopeful news. This means that Tia is definitely alive.
The fact that he left a trace like this probably means that he was with Ritz not long ago.
Joseph let out a sigh of relief and left, closing the door.
“… Let’s go back.”
The two people, unable to earn any income, went back down to Taildon.
The first thing Joseph did was find the owner of the inn.
He solemnly informed him that it was important official business, and asked what had happened in Brisden while he was away.
And then he heard a shocking story.
“What?! “Ritz is dead?”
“That’s right! I heard that Ritsu and Tia had a fight – I can’t believe that those two can fight, but anyway – so Ritsu, in her despair, threw her body off the cliff -. So she banished Tia and held her funeral…”
“Wait for a sec. “Wait a minute.”
Joseph was so frustrated that he unbuttoned his chest.
He exhaled harshly and shouted in a loud voice as if he did not understand what he had just heard.
“This is nonsense! Who said that? Ritz and Tia are definitely not that kind of kids! Ritsu is not the type to fight with Tia, and she is not stupid enough to choose suicide!”
“So- I think so too-.”
“Shit. Ritz is dead? Then… “Who on earth do those traces of being with Tia belong to?”
While Joseph was muttering to himself.
Robert, who was quietly listening next to him, was also doubting his ears.
“I think the Brisden people were arrested because of some kind of problem with arrears. I heard that the lord made a contract to lend firewood and receive labor in return.”
“Ritz made such a contract? So where are all the people of Brisden now?”
“I set off with the expedition team. “It’s not here.”
“Damn it!”
After yelling, Joseph immediately left the inn.
Robert, who was following behind, asked.
“Sir Joseph. Where are you going?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. The situation is very bad now. Tiaga… No, the king’s whereabouts have become unclear. He says it’s already been two months since he was banished from Brisden. Meanwhile, our Lord Kintoff personally put down his order and left for Deseo, so it will be hard to find him around here.”
“No. I understood that. Well, unless I heard wrong…”
A complex look passed through the knight’s eyes.
“Just now… Did you say ‘Tia’?”
“Yes? Ah. That’s right. Tia Anthea. That’s how it works.”
Joseph spoke casually, but at that moment, Robert’s eyes opened.
After stumbling for a moment, he barely made it to the wall of the inn.
“Lord Robert? Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
“The prince’s daughter… “It’s a tiara?”
In that voice, which was always armed with calmness, subtle tremors and cracks suddenly appeared clearly.
It was a feeling that could not be hidden.
Enthusiastic joy over the fact that Tia is alive.
And the great shock that she was of royal blood.
The two things got mixed up and Robert couldn’t even stand properly.
What kind of terrible trick of fate is this?
He buried the child he thought was dead in his chest, and went looking for a new king, hiding his own life and death just for the sake of revenge.
In fact, this whole journey itself… That girl.
I was looking for Tia.
“Ball? Are you okay? “Would you like to relax for a while?”
“No. It’s okay.”
Lovrt asked, clenching his fists.
“Sir Joseph. Our King… “You must be somewhere, right?”
“I’m not sure, but in my opinion, he’s definitely alive.”
We’re almost there.
There is only one step left before I can hold onto Tia’s delicate shoulder again.
The girl’s shadow scattered like the wind and disappeared again.
There was really no way now.
Joseph guessed that he wouldn’t have gone that far, but it still required an extensive search covering the entire Dragonez Mountains.
You can’t mobilize an army and search the mountains to find one girl. Even the lords, whose attention was focused on Deseo, could not afford to do so.
As if mocking his stranded fate, a letter arrived addressed to Robret.
It was news that the main family had suffered great damage in the aftermath of the war.
It was time for him to step forward in order to save the collapsing family.
“Prince, let’s go to your hometown first. “I will continue to pursue the king.”
“… Please take care of me.”
In the end, Lobrd had no choice but to break up with Joseph and return to Deseo.
About two months had passed while commanding the battlefield there.
The end of the war that seemed unlikely to come is slowly approaching.
In Deseo, where dark clouds always hung over the sky, the sound of metal clashing has died down. The nobles’ soldiers surrounded the palace and were waiting for the king to come out on his own.
And Joseph, who had said he would continue to look for Tia, also appeared in front of him again.
“Lord Robert. “It’s been a while.”
“Did you find it?”
“Yes. “I found the last traces in Rotten Barn.”
“Rotton Barn? But isn’t this Deseo?”
“You’re right. It is said that he came to Deseo via Rottenbahn about 15 days ago. It’s definitely true. Furthermore, it’s right here.”
Joseph was full of confidence.
“Now it is time to have an audience with ‘him.'”
