Chapter 84 - Albrecht - 2

“Priest, might I borrow your escort for a moment?”

At Albrecht’s next words, Renée’s reason flew far, far away.

Borrow. Renée did not trust that word.

Wasn’t that obvious? There was no law saying something borrowed had to be returned. He could return him ten years later, a hundred years later, or even a thousand years later.

There was only one solution.

‘... Draw it.’

If a romantic rival stood before her, she need only cut him down.

And so, just as Renée, bereft of reason, was about to draw the sword hidden in her cane—

“I refuse.”

Bera’s voice rang out.

Renée flinched and stopped moving. Albrecht’s eyes widened enormously. Aisha looked bewildered.

Amid their differing reactions, Bera added an explanation in a calm voice.

“I am the priest’s escort. I will not go anywhere without her.”

Renée’s face abruptly flushed scarlet. From her slightly parted lips spilled sounds so foolish they defied description.

“G-guh, guh, guh...”

Renée felt her far-flung reason swiftly return to its proper place.

... No, she felt it return, then race off in another direction.

Those words of Bera’s...

‘C-c-c-c-conf...’

For some reason, they sounded like a confession of love.

His words were no different in substance from what he always said. Yet she reacted so fiercely because the situation she found herself in coincided with the sight of Bera coldly rejecting the person she considered her romantic rival.

If the heat now rising in Renée’s face could be expressed as a sound, it would have been “Pop!” That was how red her face had become.

The anger that had been building, the sense of betrayal—none of those feelings, nor anything else, remained inside her now.

Only a heartbeat that felt ready to burst. That alone reverberated through her entire body.

Standing opposite Bera, Albrecht blinked for a moment, turning over the words he had just heard.

He had been refused.

The realization shocked him.

Loved by everyone, Albrecht had never been refused by anyone in his entire life. That was why it shocked him.

One might call it a “novel shock.”

Belatedly realizing that his request had been refused, Albrecht spoke again with an expression of discomfiture that was exceedingly rare for him.

“Th-then let the Saint—, the priest come along as well! How does that sound?”

He wore a smile as he spoke, but could not quite hide the tremor in his voice, causing him to stumble over his words.

Hearing this, Bera asked Renée what she thought, but...

“Priest, what would you like to do?”

“G-guh, guuh...”

The shock of the words she had just heard left Renée incapable of giving a proper answer.

It was a truly awkward situation.

The one who brought it to an end was neither Bera nor Albrecht, but Aisha, who had been listening quietly until then.

Displeased that the three of them were continuing their conversation while leaving her out entirely, Aisha pouted and tugged this way and that on Renée’s clothes.

“Lady Renée. Lady Renée.”

“Y-yes...?”

“Let’s go eat now. Master is waiting.”

The second prince was indeed beautiful, and his beauty had certainly astonished her. Ultimately, however, none of that mattered to Aisha.

A meal with Dovan, who would be waiting at Mari’s mansion, was more important than a second prince she could not even eat.

At Aisha’s words, Renée finally came to her senses. She put on an awkward smile and nodded.

“R-right! Dovan must be waiting!”

She sprang to her feet and headed back the way they had come, her cane tapping sharply as she walked. Bera quietly followed her.

Now only Albrecht remained.

For a long time, he stood there in a daze, like someone who had experienced something utterly unbelievable and absurd.

* * *

Bera had not refused Albrecht’s proposal solely because he disliked him.

... Of course, a small part of him had wanted to wipe that confident look off Albrecht’s face—the look of someone who naturally assumed his proposal would be accepted. But he had refused because he understood that Renée’s safety mattered more than that.

The current situation in the gutter was suspicious. A new cartel he knew nothing about had established itself there and was making moves whose purpose he could not fathom.

Under those circumstances, leaving Renée alone on Eleventh Avenue was unthinkable to Bera.

After the encounter ended, Albrecht did not follow them after all. Bera and Renée returned straight to Mari’s mansion and had dinner, which brought them to this moment.

Bera was in Renée’s room, kneeling on the floor.

“Bera.”

“... Yes.”

Still kneeling, Bera answered Renée, who sat in a chair.

The scene required no further explanation. Bera was simply being scolded by Renée.

It was, in a sense, an inevitable outcome. Whatever else had happened, Renée had discovered that Bera had gone out alone at night.

After the fight with Gartea at Dovan’s smithy, he had promised the weeping Renée that he would never act alone again. And now he had gone and done this.

Bera resolved to humbly pay for his offense.

Hearing Bera’s voice, Renée let out a deep sigh.

She had been too distracted at the time to realize it. Bera had been off doing something dangerous on his own again.

Only belatedly had she realized this. Hurt and upset, she had made him sit before her like this, yet she felt guilty about snapping at him.

How could she not? By now, she knew full well that she was the reason he went off alone.

Renée clenched her fists.

“Will you tell me?”

She was asking why he had acted alone again, why he had left without telling her.

Bera bowed his head even lower and opened his mouth.

He was incapable of lying in answer to Renée’s questions.

“... Do you know about the Empire’s Thirteenth Avenue?”

“The gutter. It’s famous.”

“Yes. When I went to volunteer with you the other day, I noticed that none of the residents of Thirteenth Avenue who should have been there were present. I found that strange, so I went to investigate. Since you will be visiting Eleventh Avenue for the time being, I thought I ought to remove any dangers in advance...”

“And that’s where you met the prince?”

“... Yes.”

Renée’s brow furrowed at his answer.

“Why did you go without telling me?”

If that was the reason, shouldn’t he have told her before he went? Wasn’t it unfair to say nothing when he was acting to protect her? If it really was for her sake, shouldn’t he at least tell her why he was leaving?

At those words, packed tightly with such feelings, Bera clenched his fists.

Why he had kept it secret.

What excuse could he offer? He had been reluctant to reveal where he came from.

To explain why the absence of gutter rats on Eleventh Avenue was strange, and how he knew so much about it, he would have had to reveal his origins. He had said nothing because he was ashamed.

But that no longer served any purpose.

Realizing he had no choice now but to reveal everything, Bera’s expression sank into solemn misery.

He had to speak, but the words would not come. He was afraid of how Renée would react the moment he told her.

Fearing that she might be disgusted with him, he had intended to tell her once he could take enough pride in himself to no longer be troubled by such things. But time had not waited for him after all.

“Bera.”

Renée urged him again.

Bera clenched his teeth for a moment, then took a deep breath and moved his lips.

The words kept catching in his throat. Somehow, he forced his way past that resistance and pushed them out.

“... It is because I come from that gutter. I thought that to explain why I was going... I would have to tell you that as well. I was ashamed of it, so I said nothing.”

“... What?”

“I am sorry.”

Bera could not raise his head.

He had barely managed to finish speaking, but there was an unmistakable repression in the words he had forced out. Shame was the proper name for that feeling.

“But...”

Renée’s words trailed off unfinished, scattering into the air.

At Bera’s confession, Renée felt something press hard within her. It was as though a boulder too immense for her to bear had plummeted at tremendous speed and was crushing her heart.

Suddenly, she remembered something.

The words Bera had spoken in Remeo when they first met, several years ago now.

[“I lived my entire life in evil, only realizing too late that it was wrong. And so I wished to change.”]

He had said those words when he spoke of wishing to pursue the light.

At this moment, Renée began to dimly understand what Bera’s words had meant.

He had been a resident of the gutter.

That single statement allowed her to understand what the “evil” he had spoken of was.

No words came.

Even knowing how Bera might interpret her silence, she could not speak.

She had thought him merely rigidly upright, and for that reason had not attached much weight to the evil he claimed to have committed. That made the revelation all the more shocking now.

Renée’s lips shifted, but no sound emerged.

Her fingertips began twitching for no reason, cruelly escaping her control and refusing to stop.

Had she come to dislike Bera?

If asked, her answer would of course be no. How could something like that make her dislike him? Her feelings were not so shallow.

It was simply that she could not think of what to say to Bera when he looked unlike anything she had ever seen before, exposing feelings he had never shown. That was what prolonged the silence.

Renée clenched her fists tightly. She pressed her lips together and steadied herself.

It’s all right. I don’t mind.

That was what she needed to say.

And just as she was about to force out her voice—

KNOCK, KNOCK.

“Saintess, you have a visitor.”

Norn’s voice broke into the room.

* * *

The mansion’s central hall.

Standing there, Albrecht reflected on the events of that afternoon.

‘I made such a foolish mistake.’

Unable to recover from his discomfiture, he had made such a poor showing. Surely that was ample cause for reflection.

“Whew...”

Albrecht sighed. His golden hair swayed as his head dipped slightly, and his golden eyes were filled with worry. That alone formed a picture.

Beside Albrecht, Count Vaishur watched him with a growing sense of concern.

‘I hope he doesn’t make a mistake.’

Naturally, he was worried about Albrecht.

Beloved by all. A masterpiece bestowed by God. This second prince, described by those and countless other accolades, had one fatal flaw.

Namely, a boundless self-love that made onlookers clutch the backs of their necks in frustration.

... It was a secret known only to the second prince’s closest confidants.

Fortunately, no one in the Empire disliked him, so the problem had never come to the fore. Today, however, it was becoming a much greater issue.

Count Vaishur recalled Bera’s attitude when they had met in the gutter the previous night.

He had unmistakably disapproved of Albrecht.

Count Vaishur closed his eyes and offered a prayer.

‘Please, please let this pass smoothly, without incident.’

May that self-loving prince read the room.

While he was still praying—

“Here they come.”

Albrecht spoke.

Opening his eyes, Count Vaishur saw Albrecht smiling as brightly as sunshine, and the Saintess and apostle approaching from the distance, hand in hand.

Suddenly, Count Vaishur’s fingertips twitched.

‘Why do they look so...’

Downcast?

Didn’t they look as though they had been fighting?

Something was wrong. Realizing this, Count Vaishur grew tense.

Moments later, the gradually shrinking distance between them closed to five paces, and Albrecht spoke.

“I am sorry about this afternoon! It seems I was inconsiderate. Please accept my apology.”

He extended one hand, offering a radiant smile that showed his white teeth.

Albrecht was certain that if he apologized with such sincerity, the other party would accept it with a smile. What he received instead was:

“Yes, well...”

An indifferent reply.

Albrecht’s expression abruptly froze. Not only his expression—his entire body froze. Still wearing his smile, he even stopped breathing, every movement coming to a halt.

Meanwhile, the gloomy atmosphere between Renée and Bera showed no sign of improving.

Count Vaishur could only squeeze his eyes shut.