Chapter 146 - Common Ground

Ferda left the forest and walked toward the village.

Hestia village.

There, he found a house and knocked on its door.

There was no sound from inside.

Thinking it might be possible, he pushed a shadow in, undid the lock, and opened the door.

He was not in the room.

Then where had he gone?

A place a stablehand might enter to protect a princess.

'Perhaps she is there.'

The place Ferda headed for was the inn district.

It had been built to accommodate countless adventurers, and now it was a place used only occasionally by peddlers, while the adventurers had drained away like a receding tide.

Ferda did not have much trouble narrowing down the location.

Because even though it was deep in the night, only one place still had a lamp lit.

When Ferda opened the door, an alarm bell jingled.

"We are not open today."

Ignoring the innkeeper's welcome, Ferda looked around inside.

As expected, there was a man there.

It was William.

He had ordered a single cup and was sitting in a corner seat.

Their eyes met.

A storm of emotions crossed between them.

"Hey, you."

The innkeeper kept pestering him.

Ferda intended to snap his wrist if he so much as touched him.

"Master. Do not be rude."

William stopped the innkeeper as he was about to get rough.

It was a gesture saying he would handle this.

Only then did the innkeeper step back, and Ferda approached William.

William rose from his seat and greeted him.

"I greet you, Regent. What brings you here in the middle of the night...?"

"I came to drink. And you?"

"I came to have a drink as well. I could not sleep."

"At the castle, you said you would not drink because you still had a hangover."

"So I did. If it was going to be like this, I should have had a few glasses of good wine inside."

Silence settled over them.

In the tension that felt like crossing thin ice, Ferda opened his mouth.

"So how many cups have you had?"

Ferda glared at him.

"Only two so far."

William avoided his eyes.

"For someone who has had two cups, your face shows no sign of drunkenness."

"I am the type whose face does not show it."

"I see. Then may I buy you another cup?"

William answered politely.

"No. I have had enough, and..."

"Are you saying you will refuse the liquor bought by the lord of this Hestia village?"

Ferda spoke calmly, but the look in his eyes was far from ordinary.

"I apologize. Excessive drinking is not a knight's virtue. I would ask that you please postpone that cup until tomorrow—"

"Then take the penalty."

Ferda took out the item for that penalty.

It was a dagger.

"If you will not drink, then should that not be the way of it?"

"..."

William closed his mouth.

Ferda's eyes asked him.

Did you sneak the Princess out?

William neither affirmed nor denied it.

As the saying went that silence was assent, that was unmistakably an affirmation.

Please.

Ferda felt murderous intent boiling up inside him.

He wanted to wring this bastard's neck.

Leaving the man who had his mouth clamped shut behind, Ferda called the innkeeper.

"Master."

"Y-yes!"

His rough attitude had changed once he learned Ferda was the Regent.

"How many people are staying at this inn?"

"Well..."

"Do not try to be clever. I am not calm enough right now to go easy on you."

"O-one person."

"A woman?"

"Th-that is right."

"I see."

Ferda threw something to the innkeeper.

It was a single gold coin.

"Go outside and take a piss or something. For about two hours."

"Y-yes? You want me to go outside..."

"I do not mind if you stay and watch what happens here. But the thing attached above your neck will end up falling to the floor. Is that what you want?"

"I-I'm sorry! I-I will go take a piss somewhere far away!"

The innkeeper accepted the gold coin and ran out of the inn.

Feeling his presence grow distant, Ferda began speaking again.

"Now, do not stay silent, and answer my questions. If a knight still remains in your heart, that is."

"... Understood."

William nodded as though he had no choice.

"What were you thinking, doing something like this?"

"Her Highness... was crying as though she had been deeply wronged. She said she did not want to be in a place like this, and begged me to take her away."

"So did you touch her?"

"By touch her, you mean..."

CRUNCH!

Ferda's dagger drove into the back of William's hand.

Bright red blood surged up.

"Urgh...!"

He let out a short groan of pain, and Ferda spoke in a cold voice.

"When I ask a question, you answer."

"... I did not lay a single finger on her. How could I, a mere security captain and not even a knight, do something like lust after Her Highness the Princess's chastity?"

The worst situation had been avoided.

His desire to wring the man's neck also softened.

"Tell me."

Ferda asked him.

"What dream did you have? Did you think that if you ran away like this, the Princess would open her heart to you?"

"I... watched Her Highness from close by as her adjutant."

William said.

"I had a prejudice because her name was Princess, but she was an excellent leader and someone worthy of respect."

"As a soldier, you could not simply stand by and watch her suffer such absurdity?"

Ferda stared at his face.

If that fine knighthood of his was his scheme to justify his actions, Ferda intended to cut off his head without hesitation.

"Her Highness... was trying to make the worst choice."

"And what was that?"

"She tried to kill herself. With a dagger..."

Olivia had finally collapsed under the absurdity they poured onto her.

"When I saw her about to kill herself, I barely managed to take the dagger away."

"So? What does that have to do with what you did now?"

"She begged me. She said there was nothing in the world she could trust, and that she wanted to go somewhere far away from this place, even for a little while... That is why I came here with her."

It was absurd.

Ferda asked him, his voice full of anger.

"Can you not tell right from wrong? You are not a knight, but a security captain. Did you think I could forgive you after committing an act that disturbs that very security?"

"... Of course not."

William also did not think his actions were right.

"But if I closed my eyes to the injustice suffered by a comrade with whom I had shared life and death, would that not be no different from me stealing her merit?"

He said he had followed his convictions completely.

If someone else had said that, Ferda would have dismissed it as a cowardly and pathetic excuse, but William was different.

He could have dodged, blocked, or counterattacked the dagger flying at the back of his hand, yet he did not.

Even though his hand had been pierced, there was no venom in his eyes.

He merely accepted it humbly, as though he had known this result would come.

If it was noble, then it was noble, but if it was poison, then it also felt like poison.

"Why did you not report to me?"

"It was impossible right away. So I intended to report the progress to you tomorrow morning."

"What progress?"

"Her Highness's condition is very poor right now."

"That should not be something you need to concern yourself with, should it?"

"That... is true..."

Ferda thought inwardly.

What should he do with this bastard?

For the moment, he could not be certain.

Ferda let go of the dagger.

"Stop the bleeding yourself. And wait."

"... Yes."

Leaving William behind, Ferda climbed the stairs.

In the pitch-black darkness, there was a place where candlelight glowed faintly.

Ferda opened the door without knocking.

The door was not locked either.

As though she knew someone would come.

Inside was the princess the stablehand had abducted.

The moment Ferda saw her, he could not help but be shocked.

It was a state that made William's remark about checking her progress understandable.

"Olivia Arken... are you really the Princess?"

Blond hair and blue eyes.

Clothes that looked like they had been picked up from somewhere, loose around the waist but tight around the chest.

The Princess's smeared makeup and disheveled hair made the atmosphere strangely sensual.

It was fascinating.

At the same time, he understood how she had managed to get out of that place and come here with him.

Looking like that, she was completely different from the Olivia Ferda knew.

Only her makeup and atmosphere had changed, yet she felt like a completely different person.

Olivia glanced at Ferda.

"What are you doing? Aren't you coming in?"

Ferda went inside.

Olivia brought the mouth of the liquor bottle in her hand to her lips.

Gulp, gulp.

Pah!

She crudely wiped her mouth with her hand.

If one thought of her as the Princess, her actions were so vulgar as to seem strange.

"So you were here."

"Yes, I was here. You found me quite well, didn't you?"

"The Empire has been turned upside down."

"I know. Someone stole a jewel, so wouldn't it be strange if it stayed the same?"

Olivia sneered as though she found it satisfying.

She had called herself a jewel before, but this was the first time the words had carried proper emotion.

She rolled her eyes and glanced at Ferda.

Her lightless eyes and drunken, dazed expression instinctively sent a dangerous signal.

"What did you do with Adjutant William?"

Ferda answered.

"I will punish him. He abducted the Princess."

"Don't. The problem is me, because I know too well how to use a man like that. A rigid man like him is easy to control if you threaten him with a knife."

Her eyes turned toward Ferda once more.

"Unlike someone who has no interest."

She brought her lips to the mouth of the bottle again.

"Please stop drinking."

Ferda stopped her with words.

"Why? Is it unsightly for a woman to drink straight from the bottle?"

"That behavior is unsightly no matter who does it."

"Right? Yes, it is... I hate it too. Depending on alcohol like a fucking loser."

A fucking loser...

He flinched at the sight of her cursing so openly.

Even while seated, her body swayed as she lifted the bottle again.

"I hated it so much too. I truly despised people who drank and lost themselves."

"..."

"If you have time to be sad, you should work harder and live tenaciously, shouldn't you? But pathetically escaping reality like this."

"..."

"But... now I understand how those people I despised felt. You try and try, but that effort hardly works at all. Do you know why?"

"..."

She pointed at the sky.

"Because the sons of bitches in those high places stop you."

Heh heh heh.

Letting out a laugh, she drank from the bottle again.

BANG!

She slammed it down hard enough to break the table.

She brushed back the hair that had fallen along with the liquor bottle.

There was a dagger gripped in her hand.

Ferda looked at that dagger, then asked Olivia.

"What will you do from now on?"

"From... now..."

Olivia leaned back against the chair and let the words spill out.

"What is there from now on? Like the other noble ladies, I will probably do nothing but giggle with those ridiculous laughs and spout things I don't mean, ha ha, ho ho. Do you know what that resembles?"

"I do not."

"A whore."

Olivia rested her chin in her hand and stared intently at Ferda.

"Regeeent, have you ever played with a whore?"

Now that she was drunk, she was spouting all sorts of things.

"I have not."

"Then that's perfect. I'll play that role for you. Come here."

"Do not do something you will regret."

"Why? There are different kinds of whores. Those who only do cheap things are cheap whores. Those with the knowledge to entertain a little elegantly are high-class whores. They say mages play with those kinds of high-class whores."

"Is that so?"

"You're thinking this right now, aren't you? Why does a person called the Princess know so much about high-class whores?"

"..."

"I came to learn it naturally. Do you know what the difference between those two is?"

"... I do not."

"At least guess. Now, don't keep those lips stuck shut. You're pissing me off. I said, don't piss me off."

Her emotions grew more intense.

The dagger in her hand gave off a vicious gleam.

It did not seem like she intended to use it to swing at Ferda.

She was probably thinking of using it for self-harm.

To Ferda, that was the worst possible situation.

"Status, I suppose."

"Status! What is status? Bloodline? That noble and glorious golden blood?"

"I suppose so."

"Suppose so, my ass. That thing called status is useless, you know?"

"..."

"I don't know how it is for men, but if you're born a woman, you're nothing more than an ornament. Your job is to cater to your husband, whether he is useless or outstanding. I wondered how that was any different from being a whore."

Listening to her lament made him feel as though his mind was being contaminated.

Ferda was someone who should not care what happened to her, but even thinking that irritated him.

"Because that is how they treat me, even though I commanded the battlefield, they say the young lord bastards who moved under that chain of command were greater. Heh heh, sons of bitches."

"Your language is harsh, Princess."

"Why? Did you think I was some sheltered bitch in a flower garden, too much of an idiot to even use vulgar curses like this?"

He should not have said that.

From that point on, a torrent burst from Olivia's mouth.

"These fucking bastards, all of them staring at my chest. Trying to sleep with me somehow, trying to touch me, inching their hands closer whenever they could. Did they think I didn't know? Sons of bitches. If they're so impressive, shouldn't they at least acknowledge the work I did?"

Olivia spat curses.

Then she glared at Ferda with spite-filled eyes.

"You're the same too, aren't you, Ferda?"

"... What are you talking about?"

"Be honest. You're a man around my age, aren't you? This should be when your desires are running wild, isn't it?"

Ferda knew she was pretty and beautiful.

Even in such a ruined state, she could still be beautiful enough that he felt she could not be human.

However, Ferda had never felt lust for Olivia.

Not in the past, and not now.

There was no pounding of the heart, no excitement for her.

When Ferda said nothing, Olivia let out a hollow laugh.

"Since it's come to this, should I just change completely? Instead of being a lofty flower, if I roll around here and there as a loose woman—"

"Olivia."

Ferda called her name.

The words she had been pouring out as if vomiting them stopped at those four syllables.

"Do not say anything more that you will regret."