A Barbaric Proposal

Chapter 70 | End of the Drought

*

* * *

*

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t worried about how the woman would feel.

[Rienne] “I am worried about that…but I know I have no right to be.”

[Mrs. Henton] “Even if you say that….”

[Rienne] “The old king….No, I shouldn’t phrase it that way. I know what my father did. And I don’t know what I should do after inheriting that kind of blood. I know I should confess and beg for forgiveness, but……but when I think about the day when he learns the full truth of the seven families…”

Mrs. Henton’s face stiffened as she listened to Rienne.

[Rienne] “….Then I’ll probably end up paying for what’s happened. So there’s no point in worrying about what you will do.”

[Mrs. Henton] “You think you’re going to die either way…..so it doesn’t matter who kills you? Is that what you’re saying?”

[Rienne] “I don’t mean it like that. I just…..I only mean that I won’t struggle too much, even if it means protecting my life.”

She just wanted these blissful times to last for as long as possible.

For them to be married safely, for her to hand over sovereignty safely, to build a home safely, and to be happy……safe and sound. Just like that, for as long as they could.

[Rienne] “So please think about what you would like to do. Speak with your son about it as well. If you choose to stay in Nauk, I would not mind you working as my lady-in-waiting in the castle.”

And I hope that your hate ends with me. Hate no one but me. Not him.

He was only a small child at the time. Just as this woman said, children like that are powerless against the schemes and ambitions of adults. There was nothing he could have done to stop it.

[Klimah] “That’s……strange.”

Swallowing the rest of the sweet, Klimah wiped the crumbs away from the side of his face, quietly walking towards the both of them.

[Rienne] “What is?”

[Klimah] “He already knows everything.”

[Rienne] “Excuse me?”

Rienne looked up at Klimah’s passive brown eyes, her whole body trembling.

[Klimah] “Prince Fernand asked me…about what I said to you…..So I told him everything.”

[Rienne] “What did you say?”

Without even realizing, Rienne had stood up, shifting her body to face him. At the unexpected motion, Klimah’s shoulders stiffened.

[Klimah] “I….told him everything I told you, Princess.”

[Rienne] “What?”

Rienne’s vibrant green eyes had widened so much in shock, they couldn’t possibly get any bigger.

[Rienne] “But then, he…..All this time……No, wait, when did you tell him?”

[Klimah] “Yesterday.”

[Rienne] “Yesterday?”

It was just last night as well. When he suddenly became cold towards her and refused to speak with her.

[Black] –‘Honestly, I feel a bit pathetic to have to take those kinds of steps by forcing you every single time. So don’t worry.’

And as he pushed her away cruelly, he told her not to bother with those kinds of things anymore.

[Black] –‘I guess I felt a little desperate. You always seem like you’re trying to leave me. I wanted to see if you would feel just as nervous as I do.’

[Rienne] “If it was yesterday…..then last night…..he’d already learned….what the Arsaks had done…..”

[Klimah] “No.”

Klimah shook his head. Every time he did, the remnants of the sweet crumbs fell into the air.

[Klimah] “He already knew that. Yesterday was just when I told him that you also knew, Princess.”

[Rienne] “He already knew? He…..He…!”

Rienne was so shocked, her body started to stagger. Thinking she was about to collapse, Mrs. Henton instinctively stood up and unexpectedly grabbed and supported her.

[Rienne] “But…..how?”

As if asking for answers from someone who carried none, Rienne aimlessly grabbed at the ends of Mrs. Henton’s sleeve.

[Rienne] “How could he act like that? How? After the late king did something like that? How could he……”

[Mrs. Henton] “First….you need to calm down for a moment.”

[Rienne] “Acting like that…to me……”

[Black] –‘At that point, more than anything, all I wanted was a home.’

Rienne stammered, her eyes widened and dazed as she spoke to Mrs. Henton. Actually, it didn’t matter who she was talking to right now, this woman just so happened to be the person next to her.

[Rienne] “He knew everything…from the beginning. But he said it was all in the past….and that he was glad I was never taken away from him…..”

And then he said—

[Black] –‘From now on, just do whatever makes you comfortable, Princess.’

[Rienne] “I guess I wasn’t okay with it……..I was afraid of what he might do once he knew, but I decided to force myself to accept whatever was to come……”

But he said it wasn’t like that, and he told her to cry. Then he said she didn’t look like someone who’d ever cried properly, so he encouraged her to shed more tears so that she could sleep better.

And now more tears were welling up in her big eyes.

[Black] –‘The important thing is that you’re touching my wound, Princess. And I am no longer in pain.’

Now she could understand the meaning of those words.

[Mrs. Henton] “I don’t understand. Should I call someone?”

[Rienne] “……….No.”

With tears in her eyes, Rienne smiled widely.

[Rienne] “Thank you, ma’am. And I’m sorry.”

[Mrs. Henton] “Why all of a sudden?”

But before she could ask any more questions, Rienne opened up her arms and tightly hugged the woman. She was so bewildered, she couldn’t even breathe.

[Rienne] “He already knew everything. But he still held me in spite of that. I’m so sorry, but I’m also so grateful.”

[Mrs. Henton] “I don’t really get it…..”

But there was no time to explain things to the confused woman.

Rienne turned around and faced Klimah, then hugged him just as tightly and fiercely as she did his mother.

[Rienne] “Thank you, sir. And I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry……Thank you.”

[Klimah] “P, Prin….Princess….Pr……”

And until the moment Rienne let him go, Klimah’s whole face turned beet red as his voice came out like a quiet stammer.

[Rienne] “Both of you should think about it. What you want to do going forward and how you want to live.”

Once she was finished talking, Rienne quickly turned and left.

Bunching up her skirt in her hands, she ran down the stairs, showing off her ankles as if she were a playful child.

Right now, she wanted to cry a lot.

[Black] –‘If you want to cry anytime in the future, come to me.’

So she had to find him.

*

* * *

*

Meanwhile, Black was on his way back from visiting the vacant mansion on the southern side of the river.

Phermos’ assessment was correct. If they could build proper walls, the mansion would make for good use. The location, the view, the terrain—everything was perfect for a fortress.

[Phermos] “Then, as soon as the repairs on the Temple stairs are complete, we’ll begin construction here. Will we be providing the funds for this as well?”

[Black] “Of course.”

[Phermos] “Hm……If you want to do it properly, this might end up being fairly pricey.”

[Black] “It’s about time the Duchy of Alto sends the gold we’re owed.”

[Phermos] “Oh, has it been that long already?”

Near the Duchy of Alto, there was a gold mine that Black took over the title for as compensation for the war. The Tiwakan lent the mining rights to the Duchy and in exchange, they would send half its revenue to them each year.

Phermos was probably the only person who knew the full breadth of the Tiwakan’s wealth that was scattered across the continent. 

As a result of their exploits, they had things spread out all over the place, and they earned many assets that could not be held like land or mines. There was one gold mine, but they also had several iron and salt mines as well.

The profits from the salt mine alone earned the Tiwakan an amount equivalent to the annual budget of any small kingdom.

When wars were fought, both the winners and the losers suffered great financial losses. But mercenaries? Mercenaries only ever gained money.

With Black’s brawn and Phermos’ brain, the Tiwakan swept through the continent, blindly accruing wealth from all across the land over the past ten years.

[Black] “There’s no way you didn’t know that.”

Black glanced back at Phermos, who just shrugged.

[Phermos] “As expected, I cannot fool you, my Lord. I was going to tell you that building a fortress here would only be the beginning. As you probably know by now, Nauk is like poison. It’s a bottomless pit.”

[Black] “I’m aware of that.”

[Phermos] “And yet, you’re still going to pour wealth into it?”

[Black] “Money can always be earned. And I have more than enough already.”

[Phermos] “Well, yes, I suppose so……Your fortune is so vast, the status quo could easily be maintained, my Lord. And I know even if it were not enough, acquiring more would be nothing to you, but….”

[Black] “The effects of the drought won’t last forever. It will end someday.”

[Phermos] “Sorry?”

Black had spoken with such certainty, Phermos looked at him with a strange expression.

[Phermos] “What do you mean?”

[Black] “It doesn’t make sense for a drought to last twenty years. Unless the climate of Nauk has changed, it’s nonsensical to think it would affect only this area—nowhere else.”

[Phermos] “Oh, that is true.”

[Black] “We need people who have studied the climate, and I plan on inviting scholars here in due time. If we can understand the source, that’ll take us one step closer to fixing it.”

[Phermos] “Ah, so that’s what you meant.”

He should have known his Lord would have such a broad view of things. While Phermos was worried about what it would mean to pour wealth into this starving kingdom, his Lord was thinking of plans for the far future.

[Phermos] “You are really determined to settle here, my Lord. Though that reminds me, before we came here, didn’t you mention that you were only planning on staying for a while? What made you change your mind?”

Black glanced back at Phermos.

Pulling back, Phermos cast his gaze at the ground. For some reason, his lord’s overbearing glare and narrowed eyes made it feel like he was wordlessly calling him an idiot.

[Phermos] “Why are you looking at me like that?”

[Black] “That’s how it was back then.”

With how he spoke, his voice was soft like he was mumbling to himself. Phermos thought for a moment that his lord’s voice seemed very human right now.

When Black answered, his tone was conveying the idea that he did not wish to answer, but his mouth opened all the same.

[Black] “At the time, I was thinking of leaving once I claimed it as my own.”

[Phermos] “Like the mines, you mean.”

Like any other possession, once Nauk became his, it would have been left in the care of others so that it could continue to survive even when he needed to leave. On the whole, he held no particular dissatisfaction with his life as a mercenary, and so he planned on living mostly the same even after he was married.

[Phermos] “But the Princess is here in Nauk, and she ended up becoming someone you grew attached to……so that’s how we got here.”

Phermos muttered to himself just out of earshot, nodding his head. Pulling on the reins of his horse, he suddenly turned back to Black.

[Phermos] “I don’t think that’s such a bad thing.”

[Black] “What are you talking about?”

[Phermos] “You settling here, I mean. You’d make a fine king.”

But the moment he said that, Black answered so quickly, it was like he didn’t even have to think about it.

[Black] “I have no intention of becoming a king. Nauk already has a perfect monarch.”

[Phermos] “Well, that’s….. Of course, I won’t deny that the Princess would make a beloved Queen, but isn’t Nauk’s political situation too delicate for her to handle?”

[Black] “That’s why she’s amazing. She managed to keep a hold on things despite everything.”

[Phermos] “By selling royal property, you mean.”

[Black] “It was to protect her sovereignty. Because of what she did, Nauk won’t accept anyone but Princess Rienne as its ruler.”

That was why the Kleinfelders could not gain control by force. A rebellion would be simple enough for those people, but in the end, they never could.

The reason why Rienne was still called a Princess was because she had yet to be officially crowned due to opposition from the six families. However, the people of Nauk adored her, thus allowing her to keep her place.

The wealth she spread by selling property was what gave her that foundation of support.

[Phermos] “Well…..Caring for the people is certainly something that makes an ideal monarch. But the problem is that there are limits to that. The Princess will run out of wealth soon enough, and then what would happen? Would the people still support her then?”

[Black] “That won’t happen, so the question is irrelevant.”

Phermos’ lips tensed.

[Phermos] “So you’re trying to say that you will fill that deficit, my Lord.”

[Black] “I can do that much. That’s my job.”

[Phermos] “…….I see.”

Phermos adjusted his shoulders, then turned his head forward.

Black or Rienne. From his perspective, there wasn’t much difference. The act of pouring out all they had for the sake of the nation was exactly the same, and it was something that any person claiming to be a ruler should do.

Or perhaps their intentions were a little bit different?

The Princess wished to do it for Nauk, but his Lord wished to do it for her.

Seeing that, he realized that the two of them got along better than expected. Perfection in any relationship was nigh impossible, but this was the most ideal he’d ever seen.

But in any case, if Black had decided his role, then that meant Phermos’ role was also decided as well. 

This could end up being fun for him.

Working hard to turn a ruined kingdom into one of prosperity and wealth, being led by two impeccable leaders. Phermos nodded along, moving the conversation forward.

[Phermos] “Then all we need to do is successfully get past the council meeting. The Kleinfelders will definitely be dealt with, so all that’s left is to tightly tie a leash to the rest and keep them contained.”

[Black] “I’m looking forward to it.”

For the meeting, Black had a particular trap set in place. Understanding his meaning, Phermos gave a bold smile.

[Phermos] “As am I, my Lord.”

As they talked, Castle Nauk was just ahead of them. After passing through the drawbridge, Black headed towards the stables.

And that’s when he saw someone waiting for him.

[Rienne] “Lord Tiwakan!”

* * *