Chapter 207

A voice came out as if it wasn’t that surprising anymore.

“Is it Brisen again?”

At that small murmur, Chamberlain Raoul, who was nearby, bowed his head and expressed his full sympathy with Lemain’s feelings.

It was around that time when Calian barked and Planz fluttered and roughly made up and agreed to do something similar.

Lemain entered the Seigne Pavilion with a much lighter heart thanks to the pleasant conversation he had with Flanz, whom he had met when leaving the Arpia Palace, and looked down at the nobles with eyes that instantly made him feel very uncomfortable.

While my arrival here from Arpia Palace was delayed for a while, I was just informed of what happened at the Senyu Pavilion.

If I were to be honest, Evan made a mistake nine hundred and ninety-nine times, and Demirea made a similar mistake at least once. However, even if Evan was the one who made the mistake nine hundred and ninety-nine times, Demirea’s one mistake was a bit more. I am concerned that Evan will use this incident as an excuse to plan something else.

Lemaine’s eyes, which were looking at each of the nobles gathered in the conference room, stopped in front of Demirea. A low voice followed the gaze.

“Prince Siegfried.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Demirea answered in a calm voice, as if to prove that although Slayman looked just like him, his personality was not even as similar as a mustard seed.

Lemain looked at Demirea standing among the chatty nobles for a moment and then opened his mouth.

“I heard that even though he was the heir of the dukedom, where he was supposed to set an example, he showed his will to live towards other nobles.”

Demirea remained silent without making any excuses. And Evan glanced around the audience, being careful not to show his feelings about catching the right pod. In short, they were careful not to give off a pleasant appearance.

Whether it was because of his joyful heart or because of his light-headedness that was always happy that Lemaine did not notice that everyone except the dukedom to which Demirea belonged, including Evan himself, was just categorized as ‘nobles’, Seren only wondered. Only Ti would know.

Lemain, who had been looking at Evan longer than at Demirea, who was listening to the story, turned his head towards Demirea and continued speaking.

“We must be careful to prevent stories like this from being heard again in the future.”

Lemain said just one word and then closed his mouth. Aside from the age difference, even though the duke’s son threatened the marquis, he just told them not to do that again and settled for it. Evan, who would never like Lemain’s treatment like this after he ended it with just one word, turned his head to the other side to hide the wrinkled corners of his eyes.

“Yes, Your Highness. I will.”

And Demirea bowed her head and answered with a straight face, as if she had expected Lemain’s reaction to be that way. He didn’t even say, ‘I will be careful’, but just said, ‘I will do that.’

Where else in the world can you find such fundamental and biased treatment and shameless answers?

“majesty.”

Therefore, Evan was careful not to show his discomfort and called Lemain.

In fact, if it had been this time the year before last, I would never have called Lemain in such a calm voice. No, wasn’t Lemain at that time even able to create this situation in the first place?

Anyway, no matter how much I think about that time, I will never be able to go back in time, so Evan, who quickly freed himself from the delusions of the past that are of no help now, opened his mouth to Lemain who was looking at him.

“As your Majesty said, it is clearly a mistake for the heir of the dukedom, who should be an example to all nobles, to commit such an outrageous act within the royal palace. I think there should be an appropriate punishment.”

Lemain did not answer right away.

Lemain, who was looking at Evan for a long time with his unique dark blue eyes, spoke as if repeating Evan’s words.

“It’s a fitting punishment.”

Demirea heard that voice and just quietly lowered her gaze.

If Evan had been a person who knew how to determine who was at fault first, he wouldn’t have done something like this. However, Demirea did not do anything unnecessary, such as making an annoyed face towards Evan, feeling pitiful, or glaring at Evan with an angry face. As for who started the fight first, they kept their mouths shut without saying a single word of protest. Because there was nothing good to be said about it.

Lemaine, who had been observing for a moment the starkly different reactions of Demirea and Evan, spoke again.

“As the Marquis said, the Little Duke is the heir to the dukedom, so the Little Duke’s fault should be seen as Siegfried’s fault.”

In a situation where the nobles were just staring at Lemain’s mouth without making a sound, Lemain said the following.

“Therefore, if the Little Duke is guilty, it would be appropriate to hold the Duke, the head of the family, responsible for that crime. Would it be a fitting punishment for the mistake to deprive the current Duke Siegfried of his title for leaving his successor alone in the capital and neglecting him? ”

Are you depriving me of the dukedom?

All the nobles’ eyes widened as if they would pop out at Lemain’s words, which were as impactful as the news of Freya’s admiration. Evan had nothing to say.

Titles of nobility are inherited only upon death. The only exception is when a noble is stripped of his or her title by order of the king for his or her personal sins. At this time, if there is a legitimate successor to the family, the title is forcibly passed on to that successor.

Of course, this is also in the law.

But isn’t it the duke and no one else?

He had a status equal to that of princes. There was no precedent for such a duke being stripped of his title. Even among nobles other than dukes, there has never been a precedent for a heir to be punished like that just because he lost his life in an argument with another noble.

Despite this, not a single person looked at Lemain as if his Majesty had lost his mind.

Lemain, who had kept his mouth shut for a moment as if to give the nobles time to think, spoke again.

“It’s not a very pleasant behavior for you to ask me to blame you instead of resolving a trivial argument on your own, but it’s not like I don’t understand the Marquis’s unfair feelings. So, I will punish Duke Siegfried as you wish.”

Evan’s head spun.

If the absurd thing Lemain said was done from the heart, and if he really did it, the succession to Demirea would immediately follow.

So, this is Lemain’s ploy to use this incident as an excuse to hand over proper power to Calian.

‘Lemain…!’

If you ask Sleiman, who is not of much help to either Lemain himself or Calian, to give up his title, Sleiman will say that this is the time, surrender the title, and spend the rest of his wonderful life traveling around the country of Kairis with Serie. When he gets tired of enjoying the trip, he spends his old age peacefully brandishing a sword somewhere in the south, and makes Dmirea, who is completely addicted to politics, a real duke and gives it to Calian.

It is clear that Calian’s intention is to give legitimacy to one hand of Calian, who has both empty hands, and a shield that no one can penetrate in the other hand, and to seat him on a proper throne that is completely different from Lemain.

Evan, who tried to properly object to Freya’s admiration for this incident but ended up getting caught, spoke as if nothing had happened.

“No, Your Highness. I will resolve it amicably on my own.”

It was clear that no matter what Demirea did in front of Evan in the future, Evan would not be able to ask Lemaine to punish him for it. No matter what wrong Demirea does, Lemaine will unconditionally say that he will strip Slayman of his title. Rather, Evan should step forward and oppose the punishment of Demirea.

Lemain’s deep blue eyes stared at Evan once again.

For a moment, Evan thought that he would never forget those blue eyes that shine so sharply that it was hard to believe that he was the same person as a day in the past that could no longer be returned.

“Yes. It’s a good thing you decided to do it yourself.”

Lemain said this without adding another word and then turned his head away from Evan. And then he gave a brief nod to Chamberlain Raoul.

The meeting finally began.

* * *

Smart guys are annoying.

Sensitive guys are annoying.

I really hate dealing with someone who is smart but also sensitive. My older brother turned out to be a really smart but sensitive guy, so I hated him so much, but watching him suddenly try to be my older brother is really confusing. It’s complicated, frustrating, ridiculous, and more than that.

“It’s not possible.”

It even requires patience.

A lot of that too.

“why.”

“I told you, I will do it.”

I’ve said it three times already.

At the birthday banquet hall, I endured it because of Evan, and at the Wilhelm pavilion, I endured it because of Arsene. I held back today because of those grass heads. Especially today, I was so proud that I thought to myself, “I’m all grown up now. I’ve really become an adult starting today, so I held back really, really well to the point where I thought, ‘It’s okay to drink now.’

It’s that light green Jeon Seo-gu that suddenly asks you to give me your ring because I’m going to talk to Secretia. They said they didn’t want to be treated as Jeonseo-gu, so let’s leave out Jeonseo-gu.

Anyway, I made it clear that I would just talk directly to that guy who looked like a green potato sprout. He said it three times, so there’s no way he couldn’t have understood it with his good mind. There’s no way I couldn’t understand why you said you didn’t like it. I know damn well that I can’t lie, so I’m not doing this because I don’t trust my words that I won’t hide this incident and will talk about it.

“So, please tell me what you have to say.”

I decided to just let go of being an older brother. Anyway, I thought it was really ironic that it was that guy who called Kalian Kalian, relieved him of some of his guilt about the old Kalyan, and pointed out and acknowledged where Kalyan should be now and who he should live as, but I still felt quite grateful.

It’s because I feel like it helped me out of something that was trapped in ice with no place to go and everything was blocked. I decided to truly appreciate that.

But that is that and this is this.

Did you give Chase the ring because you knew what he was going to say?

“Okay.”

Planz, who was leisurely looking at Calian, who was torn between his ever-increasing anger and patience, took a sip of strawberry tea, put it down, and continued speaking with a relaxed expression on his face.

“Give it to me.”

ah.

Serenity.

What sin did I commit in my past life that I have to live patiently every day, tangled up with a guy like the bottom of an unripe strawberry?

Or Master.

Have you ever taken medicine that reduces memory loss in strawberry tea? If you have such medicine, please send it to Secretia. Why are you giving such a good thing to a guy who can’t tell whether it’s potato sprouts or strawberry stems?

Calian, who once again suppressed his nowhere-to-direct frustration and his rapidly growing anger, looked at Plants with unwavering eyes. Then, as he visited Serenti and Allen once in a while, he thought about the mindset of someone who is cultivating to realize the truth of human life, and answered calmly.

“If you tell me, I will tell it to you.”

“I just do it.”

Calian smiled brightly.

“Ah. I guess I should have just gotten rid of it.”

It’s a bit surprising, but I really should have just killed him a long time ago.

I should have just killed Arsene and that guy who looked like a freshly grown bamboo shoot, followed my teacher to the south, and lived there while raising Raven and Lucy. Whether the world is destroyed tomorrow or not, it’s like spring sunlight, summer showers, autumn sunsets, and winter snow. What if it wears off just by looking at it? I bought ripe strawberries and strawberry ice cream for my lovely Hina, who is just a waste every day, and shared coconuts with Kirie. I should have lived by sucking on the inside. I should have lived in the south and talked to the cliffs, or the trees, or the crashing waves, or whatever. I think it would have been less frustrating to live that way.

“What?”

What are you saying that you’re going to get rid of? You just spoke informally again, but did you learn that from Devlan to run wild without knowing what’s up or down? Where does that bastard live? What did he teach that kid? I need to meet him. Seeing Plantz’s eyes look like this, Calian smiled prettily once more and added,

“There is. Something like bamboo shoot kernels.”

Planz, who had an expression of uncertainty as to whether he understood what a bamboo shoot was or not, lifted one lip toward his red-eyed younger brother.

“Lennon Brissen came to the palace.”

damn.

What kind of bastard are you? Who is worse than the guy who made beer?

“…… Who said that he came to the palace?”

“I don’t know.”

Calian sighed deeply as he looked at Plantz, who had extended Needlen’s life with just two words.

Also, they put my heart on the line and threaten me.

Before you think about why Lennon came, why Evan brought Lennon out, and whether Arsene really went near Gray’s location because of the moving magic circle, etc.

Calian, who once again made a firm promise to kill Evan as soon as possible to prevent him from doing this, took off the ring and placed it on the table with a face full of shame and regret. Then, because I felt sick to my stomach, I took a big gulp of the strawberry tea that was left for Alan.

“Don’t say anything strange.”

“I don’t have a hobby of barking. I’m different from others.”

Plantz, who chuckled as he watched Calian start to think deeply about whether to get rid of Devlan first, Evan first, or the pea sitting in front of him first, tapped the ring.

“Mana.”

I thought about learning some magic to get rid of Lucy, but since I couldn’t handle mana at all right now, they told me to connect quickly.

In the end, Calian, who was defeated by the pea’s stubbornness this time, sighed as if it would become a habit and infused magic into the ring.

After that, Calian, who was concentrating on the ring and thinking that maybe they had started a conversation, looked around as he had nothing to do for a while.

A cozy office that has now become as familiar as Kalian’s room. Just being here makes me feel relieved. Because I know it’s all thanks to Alan, who always puts Calian first……

Put Calian first…

“Master?”

Only then did Calian, feeling somewhat empty, mutter quietly. This was because I could not sense the presence of Alan, who had been outside the office a little while ago.

Normally, I would have just thought he went for a leisurely walk somewhere, but today is a little different.

Calian, who had just remembered what Alan had said right before he stormed into the office, smiled awkwardly and opened his mouth.

“no way.”

It’s not like he’s at some royal palace near a seaside town right now.

“…Oh, no way.”

Calian, who muttered this one more time and briefly thought about what kind of person Alan was, got up from his seat.

I’m going to visit my teacher, who seems to have gone a little far away for a while because of the peas in the gale.