Chapter 44: For Whose Sake?

There was no right to refuse.
The clear blue of a sunny sky hid itself away, replaced by a color that dragged anyone who looked into it down into the abyss.
Even between two people who trusted one another, their original positions in life were as far apart as heaven and earth.

Royalty and slum-born.
The summit and the very bottom.

The reason such two people became friends dated back more than twenty years.
It began when Siel, disguised as a commoner and lost in the slums, was about to be attacked by vagrants, and Vered, who had been watching, saved him on a whim.

Without averting his eyes from Siel or changing his expression, Vered leaned back against the chair.

“That’s a funny way to put it.
It almost sounds like I was working together with those human traffickers.”

“That’s true.
In reality, the one you were working with was Cain Fuchs.”

“……”

Vered fell silent.
Even when the truth was pointed out, he did not try to change it.

“Vered.
Won’t you tell me everything from the beginning, in your own words?”

“From the beginning?”

“Yes.
Why you got involved with Cain in the first place.
How you even met him.”

“He’s the one who assumed we were partners.
If a duke’s daughter was kidnapped, it was obvious that not only the ducal house but the royal family would move.
Cain understood that much.
But there was something he didn’t understand.

—You, Siel.”

“……”

“He never imagined the church—no, that you yourself—would act.
There are people mixed among the ducal house and the royal family who worship you, the royal uncle.
I had them constantly feeding me information, so I knew about the kidnapping immediately and expected you to rush either to the ducal estate or the royal castle.”

Even if his mother was a commoner, his father was unquestionably a true royal.
Many nobles sought to turn Siel, who had almost no backing, into a convenient puppet.
That was precisely why he renounced his claim to the throne early on, before being dragged into pointless and troublesome succession disputes.

Before that, he had been raised as a reserve crown prince.
Despite being subjected to education even harsher than that of the crown prince, Siel absorbed knowledge at an astonishing pace.
The nobles supporting the crown prince trembled in fear.
If he continued to grow like this, he would eventually surpass the crown prince.
By the time they decided they needed to act quickly, Siel already understood their thoughts as if they were laid bare.
That was why he voluntarily gave up his right of succession.

At the time, Sirius, then the crown prince, showed no reaction.
He merely listened with a cold, composed expression.
The relationship between Sirius and Siel was frigid, like ice.
Sirius’s mother was a duke’s daughter, while Siel’s mother was a commoner.
The pride of the queen consort, born a duke’s daughter, would not allow it, and she repeatedly warned Sirius to have nothing to do with Siel.

During the carriage ride, Bernhard had said—

“Father can’t meet Uncle very often, and sometimes he seems lonely.”

Now, meeting again, what would there even be to talk about?
There had never been much conversation to begin with, so there was no need to force one now.
Year after year, messengers came asking to arrange meetings several times a year, but Siel dismissed them all outright.

Knock, knock.

The door opened immediately after the knock.
A female servant entered, pushing a cart with snacks to accompany the wine.
She arranged several dishes on the table and then left the room.
Siel took a sip of wine, while Vered picked up a baguette and tore it in half.
He pulled out the soft crumb inside and ate it.
Once the crumb was gone, he placed the hollow crust on his plate.

“You really have a unique way of eating bread.
Even with sliced bread, you leave the crusts perfectly intact.”

“Leave me alone.
That’s how I like to eat it.”

“All right, all right.
Now then, continue.”

At Siel’s prompting, Vered swallowed the crumb and nodded.

“The information the ducal house has on Cain is probably something like this.
A solitary man with no parents, no lover, black hair always styled the same way, glasses, a silent and serious butler devoted entirely to his work.”

“The group we captured at Piccolino didn’t include Cain.”

“Of course it didn’t.
The Cain who served the ducal house for seven years—was me.”

“……”

Seeing that Siel was not surprised, Vered nodded to himself, thinking, as expected.
The calmness of the man before him was abnormal.
Even if his own life were threatened, this man had never once lost his composure or panicked.

—Except for a single exception.

Siel remained silent and took another sip of wine.
After setting the glass down, Vered continued.

“I met Cain eight years ago.
I don’t know where he heard the rumor that I was good at disguises, but he came to me with a proposal.
He asked me to become a butler at the House of Vitkenstein.”

“……”

“He said they would handle all the arrangements, and that all I had to do was keep acting as a butler.”

“So you accepted.
Why?
Did you know his goal at that point?”

“More or less.
When he told me that he planned to kidnap the duke’s daughter, who had been born just half a year earlier, at the right time, I thought he was completely insane.
The fact that he intended to sell her to human traffickers, have me deal with them, take the leftover money and their funds, and then leave the country with the girl was already crazy enough.
On top of that, he even planned to violate the girl, which made it worse.”

“……”

Siel frowned deeply and let out a heavy sigh.
There were people with twisted fetishes everywhere.
Faustina being targeted by a man obsessed with young girls was pitiful beyond words.
However, the reason Cain fixated on Faustina went far beyond that.

“Cain was obsessed with someone named Arva.”

At the name Arva, spoken by Vered, Siel nodded.

“More precisely, he was an Arva fanatic.”

“……”

“She was a shy girl who loved plants and animals and often went outside to admire flowers.
Just an ordinary girl.
But even if Arva herself had no such intention, she possessed an enchanting charm.
Back then, many young noblemen were captivated by her.
I was one of them.”

The image of Arva, who now existed only in memory, vividly resurfaced.
Flowing, captivating red hair, drooping aquamarine eyes, a bewitching beauty that confused people simply by existing, and yet a timid personality that kept her hiding behind her elder sister.
As she grew, her allure only intensified, and by the time she reached her debutante age, she was called an unrivaled beauty.
Even noblemen who already had fiancées were captivated by Arva, and engagement annulment scandals erupted one after another.
In response, Arva’s parents sent her to a distant territory.
They believed it would be better for her mental well-being to live quietly surrounded by nature rather than in the glittering royal capital.

“Even though she withdrew from the noble academy, Arva didn’t seem bothered.
Rather, she was relieved to be able to live freely.
…But you see.”

Arva’s popularity was so abnormal that people called some of her admirers fanatics.
There were those who chased her even to the distant territory.
Most were driven away by her parents, but some cleverly hid themselves and tried to approach her.
When nobles were involved, their families dealt with it, so the problems didn’t surface much.

However—

“The noble academy allows commoners to enroll if they have the ability.
Among the commoner fanatics was the son of the former chairman of the Molte Trading Company.
That was Cain Fuchs.
The man you worked with.”

“That explains why he had money.
But Fuchs—where’s that name from?”

“It’s his mother’s maiden name.
If he had used the name Molte, the duke, who was Arva’s cousin, would have noticed immediately.
By the way, this information came from the unfortunate-looking man at Piccolino after I made him talk.”

“That was the real one.”

“Yes.
He talked very easily, so I figured as much.”

Having eaten only the crumb from half a baguette, Vered downed his wine in one go.
Siel finished his own glass, picked up a bottle from the wine cooler, and refilled both of their glasses.

Vered then voiced a question that had lingered since Piccolino.

“When we were in that room, what did the knight tell you?”

“Before going to your room, we captured the rest of the group.
To prevent suicide, we gagged them, but… Cain bit down on the poison hidden in his back teeth and died.”

“Oh, that.”

“You knew?”

“I told him it was a drug that would put him into a death-like state.
I said he should pretend to be dead until things settled down.”

“But in reality, it was poison.”

“I actually enjoyed pretending to be a butler.
I never lacked food, clothing, or shelter.
I got to see a lot of interesting things too.”

Hypothetically speaking—
If Vered had told Siel everything from when Faustina was four, what expression would he have shown, and how would he have reacted?
Just imagining it sent a strange thrill through him, making his entire body shiver.

He made contact eight years ago and infiltrated the ducal house as a butler seven years ago.
The one-year gap was a preparation period, during which he was drilled in the conduct required of a servant to nobility.

Siel looked at Vered, who was suppressing laughter at his own amusing memories, with exasperation.

“Laughing to yourself like that is creepy.”

“Can’t help it.
It’s funny.”

“I see.
I won’t ask, since I can tell you won’t tell me.”

“That’s for the best.
It’s nothing good.”

Yes.
Nothing good.

“I’ll ask you something too.”

“What is it?”

“Even with your worshippers feeding you information, you arrived too quickly.
It was too fast.”

“……”

“I estimated it would take another full day.
That would have been today.”

“You didn’t look surprised when I arrived.”

“I expected you to come.
The issue is the speed.
Why?”

Rose-colored eyes that would hurt Vered if touched.
Roses have thorns, after all.
The savagery hidden within beauty peeked through from deep inside.

The reason Siel arrived sooner than expected was thanks to advice from Neige, whom he had met at the royal castle that morning.
He had long wondered how the child knew facts known only to those involved back then.
He intended to return and ask Neige directly, though whether the boy would speak honestly was another matter.

After struggling, the answer he gave was—

“Because I have capable worshippers.”

It was a flimsy excuse.
Vered saw through it, but did not pursue the matter further.
After so many years, they knew each other’s personalities well enough.

Siel cut a piece of blue cheese with his fork and brought it to his mouth.
Even his casual movements were entirely without waste.
The education ingrained in him as a prince manifested without conscious effort.

Suddenly, Siel rang the bell.
When a servant immediately arrived, he asked, “Do you have any hot soup?”

“If cream soup will suffice.”

“Bring it.”

“Understood.”

When the servant left, Siel turned back to Vered.

“You used to like putting soup into hollowed-out bread and eating it, didn’t you?”

“It turns into a bread bowl.”

“If you want, I can have one made.”

“No need.
There’s cream soup, right?
That’s enough.”

“Very well.
They’re probably reheating it now, so let’s continue.”

He poured a third glass of wine.

“With this kidnapping incident, it will be difficult to continue the engagement between that child and Bernhard.
You understand why, don’t you?”

“No idea.
I’m not interested in noble affairs at all.”

With a shrug, Siel replied flatly, “The engagement will be annulled.”

Fortunately, Faustina was rescued in a very short time.
She suffered no violence or abuse from the culprits.
She remained untainted.

Even so, there was no tangible proof to show.
Vered was present, but he was an orphan from the slums, not someone of value.
Even if he testified, it would amount to nothing.

Even if the royal and ducal houses concealed the truth, it would inevitably leak somewhere.
Once exploited, rumors would spread instantly, and Faustina’s standing as a duke’s daughter would collapse.
Distrust would also fall upon the royal and ducal houses for keeping her as a fiancée despite knowing the truth.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the engagement between Faustina and Bernhard had not been made public.
If it were annulled now, the damage to both sides would be minimal.

“However…”

Siel’s expression grew bitter.

“Knowing His Majesty, he’ll use any means necessary to maintain the engagement.
She’s the reincarnation of the goddess the royal family has awaited for generations.”

“That.”

“Hm?”

“Cain only said she looked like Arva, but the traffickers said the same thing.
Fairy tales become reality in this country, but do they really need to keep clinging to that girl?”

The House of Vitkenstein had more than one daughter.
There was also the younger sister, Elvira.
She, too, carried the blood of the goddess.

Siel rested his hand on his chin and thought.
At that moment, the servant entered with the cream soup after knocking.
He placed a bowl before each of them and quietly left.

Vered dipped the bread crust into the hot soup and ate it.
Siel almost commented about not making it a bread bowl, but when Vered began pouring the soup into the hollow crust near the end, he said nothing.

Vered grimaced slightly at the hot broccoli but ate it without complaint.

“To put it simply, it’s about the density of blood.
Just as the royal family inherits lapis-blue eyes, daughters born to the Vitkenstein family share the same appearance if the goddess’s blood is strong.
A small amount is meaningless.”

“The duke said the reincarnation of the goddess must marry into the royal family, but are there no exceptions?”

“The reincarnation itself is extremely rare.
Only a handful have been born throughout history.
It’s been centuries since the last one.
There are exceptions, though.
When a princess marries down, or a prince marries into another house.”

“So in the end, royal blood is necessary?”

“Exactly.”

“Huh.”

Normally, marriage to the crown prince was required.
If the crown prince already had a fiancée, then the next prince would marry her.
Only in unavoidable circumstances would marriage to a noble with royal blood be considered.

Would Siel believe it if told that Faustina herself believed the engagement with Bernhard would eventually be annulled?
Vered placed the soup-soaked potato into the bread crust.
Being asked for a reason was inevitable, but he didn’t have an answer that would satisfy Siel.
This topic was too much for him.

He decided to stay silent and took another bite.

“Well then, once we finish this, shall we go check on those two?”

“Can I ask something?”

“What is it?”

“Will you punish me, Siel?”

Even if Vered claimed he ultimately intended to save Faustina, the kidnapping became reality because of him.
He had deceived the ducal house for seven years as a false butler and ensured Faustina was kidnapped at a precise time and date.

The crime of kidnapping a noble lady—especially the crown prince’s fiancée—was severe.
At best, he might be granted a swift execution.

With Vered’s words, the atmosphere shifted instantly.
It became so heavy and suffocating it felt as if gravity itself pressed down, making it hard to breathe.

“No, I won’t,” Siel replied lightly, easing the tension.

“There’s nothing to gain from handing you over.
Though, you won’t be able to return to that kind of work anymore.
Just stay here.
Having you around will help me in many ways.”

“You want me to serve God?”

“If it’s you, my self-proclaimed lazy priest’s friend, you can manage.
Just kidding.
Do whatever you like.
Just help me out occasionally.”

“Sure, sure.”

Only a future of being overworked awaited him.

As Vered agreed with apparent reluctance, Siel asked one last thing, his blue eyes sharpening with seriousness.

“If I hadn’t come, and you had killed Cain and the traffickers, what would you have done with that child?”

Vered met Siel’s gaze head-on.
This was the answer he had prepared from the beginning.

“I would have delivered her to you, Siel.

Because if I did—”

“……”

Siel fell silent.
A shadow crossed his almost divine features.

“In that case, perhaps she would have been able to keep dreaming a little longer.”

The words, spoken not for anyone else but as if to himself, were filled with pain and longing.