Chapter 83 - Albrecht

"You may go."

Albrecht addressed Doran, his eyes curving into crescents.

Doran scrambled to his feet and disappeared without looking back. Then the tall figure, who had remained silent until now, lowered his hood and spoke.

"Sir Bera, what are you doing here?"

A familiar voice.

Bera turned his head, bewildered by the figure before him.

"... Count."

Albrecht's companion was Count Vaishur, the owner of the mansion where Bera was staying.

Bera narrowed his eyes, studying Albrecht and Count Vaishur as they watched him. A possibility occurred to him.

'... These two?'

Could they be the group that had recently established itself in the gutter?

His thoughts raced onward. The answer was no.

Bera knew Albrecht. He knew Count Vaishur.

Neither would ever compromise for the sake of a goal. However important their objective, they would not stand by if anything done to achieve it violated their convictions.

In other words, they would never settle here while quietly tolerating the cartels' crimes.

'Then why?'

Why were they here?

While he pondered that question, Count Vaishur spoke again.

"... Sir Bera?"

"Ah..."

This was hardly the time to speculate. Bera pushed down his mounting questions and bowed his head. The excuse that left his lips was one he had improvised on the spot.

"... I came to investigate."

"Investigate?"

"Our volunteer healing work is not far from here. I thought I should check for any potential dangers."

"Ah... Right. Of course."

Understanding dawned on Count Vaishur's face. He turned toward Albrecht.

"Ah, Your Highness. As I was just telling you..."

"Indeed. A pleasure to meet you. I am Albrecht van Frich, second prince of the Empire. I greet the apostle of oaths."

Albrecht placed his right hand over the left side of his chest. He dipped his head slightly, his brilliant golden hair rippling.

Bera's eyebrow suddenly twitched. Even amid his surprise and confusion, something about that formal greeting began to grate on him.

The reason... Did it even need saying? It was Renée. He remembered her talking about Albrecht's looks before they came to the Empire.

That feeling lent a slightly sour edge to his voice.

"... I greet Your Highness."

Words alone. He offered no formal gesture of respect. Even setting his personal feelings aside, Bera's position did not require him to do so. An apostle of the Holy Empire was held in higher esteem than the kings of most kingdoms.

"Well, now..."

Albrecht raised his head with a radiant smile that betrayed not the slightest disturbance.

Surely he had some pride, yet Bera's lack of courtesy did not seem to trouble him. He continued in a soft, measured tone.

"What an unexpected meeting. I have heard the news. The Saintess is to bestow the blessing at my coming-of-age ceremony, I understand?"

"That is the arrangement."

Again, his tone was sullen. Finding Albrecht's audacity in mentioning Renée thoroughly irritating, Bera maintained his rude demeanor.

"May I ask a question of my own? What brings Your Highness to this mangy place?"

He had turned the question back on him.

Albrecht smiled awkwardly for a moment, then turned toward Count Vaishur. The two appeared to exchange a meaningful glance.

A brief silence passed.

"Hmm. It is rather difficult to discuss that here."

A tactful refusal.

He was concealing his purpose. Suspicion was just beginning to show on Bera's face when Albrecht spoke again.

"Might I visit you another day, Sir Bera? It will not be long. This place..."

Although he trailed off, Bera understood at once.

The presences caught within the range of the senses he had extended earlier were increasing, one by one.

Had he caused too much of a commotion?

Bera let his irritation show, then nodded in response.

He judged that withdrawing was the right choice for now. There was no urgency to questioning them, and the man promising another meeting was Albrecht himself.

Setting aside his personal dislike, Albrecht would not be saying this merely to get out of the situation.

Bera trusted the Albrecht he knew, so he readily agreed.

"As you please."

Even as he spoke, his gaze swept over Albrecht.

Some called him an angel descended from the divine realm. Everyone's beloved, whose beauty would last forever.

Albrecht's looks were renowned throughout the continent, but Bera could not agree with those descriptions.

That blond hair was frivolous. It looked flighty, and it annoyed him.

He wanted to plant a fist in that perpetually smiling face.

And what was that rat-dropping-sized body? No wonder he toppled over without accomplishing anything, when a supposed knight was so utterly scrawny.

Having already defeated Albrecht in his previous life, Bera picked apart the man he had somehow begun to clash with in this life, letting out a derisive chuckle.

He did it without even realizing.

'I win.'

In physique and in skill, Albrecht was no match for him.

His heart gradually grew lighter. Feeling that relief, Bera gave a brief nod, turned, and walked away from the two men.

Naturally, Albrecht had no way of knowing what was going through his mind. Watching Bera suddenly chuckle and leave, he tilted his head.

"Hmm. Quite an unusual gentleman."

The remark was directed at Count Vaishur.

Count Vaishur answered with a series of awkward chuckles.

"Indeed he is."

Having heard the general circumstances from Mari, the count shook his head at the way Bera was guarding against Albrecht.

* * *

The next day, at Count Vaishur's mansion.

"Ta-da!"

Aisha exclaimed, dressed in snow-white priestly robes. There was only one reason for the outfit: she, too, would be joining today's volunteer work.

Her ears perked up as she spoke, her face brimming with enthusiasm.

"I'm going to help Lady Renée today, too!"

"I'll be counting on you."

Renée smiled softly and took Aisha's hand.

A small pang of guilt stirred within her. She felt sorry that her volunteer work had kept her from giving Aisha much attention lately.

Everything in this unfamiliar land must have felt strange and frightening. How grateful she was that Aisha could still be so cheerful.

As Renée reflected on that, Bera spoke.

"This is not a pleasure outing. Refrain from such frivolous speech."

"Yeees, siiir."

Aisha mocked his reprimand, and Renée burst into a stifled snort of laughter.

"That's enough. Let's get going."

Why did they bicker like this whenever they were together? Thinking that one of them would lose their temper again if she did not intervene, Renée stepped between them and set off.

It was a pleasant morning. Both her relationship with Bera and the fulfillment she found in each day's work left her thoroughly content.

* * *

The day passed much as the previous one had.

The volunteer work was still taking place on Eleventh Avenue, and all Renée had to do was draw on her overflowing divine energy to care for the patients.

One might expect such simple, repetitive labor to become boring, but that was not true of Renée, at least.

Naturally good-hearted, an exemplar of selflessness, she did not feel even the slightest boredom in these circumstances.

There were the patients' words of gratitude.

There was the fulfillment of knowing she had healed someone with her own hands.

Naturally, Renée kept tending to patients without noticing the passage of time. Then, as the day drew to a close, something unexpected happened.

A commotion arose around her.

Renée tilted her head at the suddenly swelling murmur.

"Bera?"

She was asking what was happening.

He answered in a slightly troubled tone.

"... His Highness the second prince is approaching."

The second prince.

Renée mulled over those words for a moment, then jolted as something occurred to her.

A strained smile formed on her face, and a question slipped out.

"By His Highness the second prince, you mean..."

"... Yes. Albrecht van Frich. The very person you are thinking of."

She did not wonder why the second prince was coming here now.

Another word had sprung to mind before any such question.

'A lover of men!'

A romantic rival!

Of course, Bera himself had called it nothing more than scandalous gossip. It was still unconfirmed, but that hardly stopped her from feeling nervous.

Renée straightened her back. Her expression began to stiffen.

Meanwhile, the murmuring grew louder.

Amid it, she heard Aisha mumble dazedly.

"So pretty..."

Her voice sounded almost dreamy.

At those words, Renée felt her heart plummet.

'P-pretty?'

A man?

Startled, she briefly lost her composure, then struggled to steady herself.

'R-right! Men can be pretty, too!'

His looks were famous throughout the continent, after all! Of course! He could be pretty!

Renée took two deep breaths, clenched her fists, and listened to the approaching footsteps.

Then came a greeting.

"I greet the priests of the Holy Empire."

A clear voice, like jade beads rolling, rang out around them.

Renée felt goosebumps rise at the sound.

'W-what is that voice?!'

Why was it so delicate?

He was supposed to be a man! His coming-of-age ceremony was supposed to be soon!

It felt as though everything she knew was being shaken. Amid the strange sensation of her understanding collapsing, Renée gulped and answered.

"H-hello...!"

She must not panic. Yes, she had to be confident! Nothing was certain yet! He might not be a romantic rival!

It was wrong to judge someone on rumors alone!

With an expression so pitiful it was almost painful to behold, Renée asked Albrecht a question.

"Um, what brings you here...?"

A desperate wish lay within her: please do not break her heart. Please do not stand in her way, now that things were finally going so well.

But the world, which had always been cruel to her, seemed unwilling to grant her wish this time either. As ever, it shattered her budding hopes.

"Ah, forgive me. I have some business with the holy knight here."

Her heart gave another heavy thump.

'Is he really a romantic rival?'

As the thought arose, Renée tried desperately to calm herself and suppress her anxiety. Then she heard words she could not possibly ignore.

"Sir Bera, did you get back safely last night?"

'Last night...?'

The two of them had met? Without her knowing?

Her thoughts raced. A picture formed in her mind.

A dark night, with even the moon hidden. Two people meeting by chance.

["Who are you...?"]

Something snapped.

Suddenly, Renée's reason gave way. All expression vanished from her face.

"... Yes."

Bera's reply.

By the time she heard that answer, Renée's hand was already reaching for her cane.

'... A romantic rival.'

Ah, the time to draw her blade had finally come.

... Or so Renée thought.