WeTried Translations
Translator: Hydrogen B
Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 159: At Winter's End (8)
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The first time Kyle saw Grand Duke Rivelius, he was struck by how much the man resembled Elysia. It was not just his refined features, but the very air he carried.
The bright platinum-blond hair characteristic of the Archandia imperial family. Deep blue eyes glinting between the strands.
Adrian Archandia. Once the imperial prince most favored by the Emperor.
A man entering his forties, he possessed eyes far sharper and livelier than his age would suggest. Dark shadows lay beneath his lashes, as though he had not slept properly for days. Yet his gaze did not dull in the slightest as he looked at the strangers entering through the open door. If anything, it seemed even sharper.
Especially when it swept over Kyle.
“Your Grace.”
“You've worked hard, Gilbert. You may leave us now.”
The Grand Duke offered no further explanation. The perceptive old noble bowed deeply, then quietly withdrew.
“You must have had a difficult journey coming here on such short notice. Sir Hermann, Sir Walter, did anything unusual happen on the way?”
The Grand Duke rose slowly and approached Kyle. Though his eyes were heavy with fatigue, neither his bearing nor his manner of speech had lost their composure. Adrian's platinum hair shone brightly in the late afternoon sunlight.
“Unfortunately, no.”
Hermann answered on behalf of the three.
“Is that so? That's a relief.”
“How have things been in Rier?”
“I'd like to say nothing major has happened here either, but there's far too much work to deal with. As you know, the situation within the Federation, including the Council, is endlessly complicated.”
The Grand Duke muttered as if complaining. His tone was quite casual, unlike his dignified voice. Given Hermann's informal attitude, they seemed to have known each other for quite some time.
“It would be a problem if the operation were delayed.”
“That won't be an issue. It will proceed as planned. More importantly, could you give us a moment alone?”
After a dozen or so seconds of formal small talk, Adrian finally got to the point, glancing at Kyle. Hermann let out a low hum as he looked back and forth between the Grand Duke and Kyle, his eyes narrowing.
“Kyle.”
“It's all right. I have something to say to him as well.”
“...All right. See you later.”
When Kyle gave a small nod as if telling him not to worry, Hermann said nothing more. Like Gilbert before him, he left the room, taking Walter with him.
Creak, thud.
The open door shut firmly as its hinges groaned. Only Kyle and Adrian remained.
A heavy silence settled over the neatly arranged study, reflecting its owner's personality. Kyle's black eyes met the Grand Duke's blue ones once more.
“We've exchanged letters before, but this is our first time meeting face to face.”
Adrian was the first to break the silence.
“Kyle. Kyle Baldrick. Sir Kyle. Duke Baldrick. The last Commander of the Knights of Ash. Hailen's Blue Wolf. Which do you prefer?”
He turned and sat on one of the sofas in the center of the study. Kyle glanced once at the closed door behind him, then at the window where the late afternoon sun was sinking, before sitting opposite the Grand Duke.
“Call me whatever you wish.”
“...The last Commander of the Knights of Ash is more polite than I expected. May I call you Sir Kyle?”
“If that is more comfortable for you.”
“Very well, Sir Kyle. I'll ask directly. What happened to Elysia? Your letter said she would come to Rier with you.”
Adrian did not beat around the bush. He immediately asked what he wanted to know most.
So that was how he would approach it.
From the Grand Duke's perspective, there must have been countless things he wanted to ask from the moment Hermann found Kyle alone. Why was Elysia not with him? Why had Duke Mortein withdrawn to the rear? What had happened between them? All of it.
“I parted ways with Elysia.”
Kyle did not hide anything. He answered honestly.
“You parted ways?”
“Yes. Because it gave her even a slight chance.”
“Why?”
“Once the enemy noticed us, there was no other choice.”
“Did you fight Duke Mortein yourself?”
This time, Kyle did not answer.
His silence was confirmation enough.
“What happened? The fact that you're alive and standing before me means...”
Kyle did not recount everything that had happened that day. He simply lifted his shirt slightly.
“Ah...”
Adrian, who had been pressing Kyle anxiously in a way unlike himself, unconsciously clamped his mouth shut.
Though it had fully healed, a clear scar still remained on Kyle's chest, as though something had pierced straight through him.
The blade had been far broader than an ordinary bastard sword or longsword.
It was the mark left by Duke Mortein's greatsword.
“I'm sorry. It isn't that I doubted you, Sir Kyle. It's just...”
Adrian's posture, which had barely maintained its composure until then, suddenly sagged. He bowed his head and covered his face with both hands.
The reason Duke Mortein had suddenly retreated to Archandia.
It had to have been to capture Elysia and take her back. If killing her had been the goal, there would have been no reason for the Commander of the Celestial Knights to expose his route and rush to the rear so hastily. Kyle had lost once, and while Elysia fled alone, she had fallen into the Empire's grasp.
Adrian already knew all of that, but hearing it directly from Kyle made it feel different, and not in a hopeful way.
“Elysia... she is alive, isn't she?”
“Probably.”
“I see. Then there is still a chance.”
As long as she remained alive until they destroyed the Empire, they would be able to save her. After taking several deep breaths at Kyle's immediate answer, Adrian lifted his head.
“How much did Elysia tell you?”
“About what?”
“The circumstances within the imperial family.”
“She told me everything.”
“Then there is no reason to hide anything else. As you know, I never married. Perhaps that was why she felt even more precious to me. To be honest, my relationship with the Emperor was not bad either. It was very good, in fact.”
“The Emperor before Elysia's mother died.”
“That's right. Everything went smoothly until my brother's mind was consumed by the First Emperor. At that time, Rivia, Elysia's birth mother, was still alive, and the Empire had not been split in two.”
The current Emperor, Leonis, had been known for his gentle policies until ten years ago. He changed after Elysia's birth mother was sacrificed in the creation of Izra's Thorn.
“My brother used to tell me every night that it felt as if someone was whispering in his ear every moment.”
“.......”
“At first, I dismissed it as his imagination. But things only grew worse. There was nothing I could do. I suspected something, but I had no clear proof.”
The Emperor gradually changed. Some even said he had been driven mad.
Before he changed completely, he summoned Adrian one night and asked Adrian to kill the Emperor himself if the Emperor ever crossed the line. That was why he granted Adrian the title of Rivelius. There was no one else he could ask to do such a thing.
“Is that why you defected?”
“Because there was no other choice. I could not kill my brother, even when only his shell remained. I had neither the will nor the strength to do it. Even so, I did not abandon the name Rivelius. It was the last inheritance my brother left me before he died in spirit. All that remained was to uncover the truth.”
Fortunately, the time he had spent had not been entirely wasted. Only after receiving Kyle's letter did he learn that his suspicions were correct. The entity consuming his brother's mind was the First Emperor, and the medium was Dawn, the treasured sword passed down through the imperial family.
“To be honest... I don't like the Federation very much.”
Adrian's blue eyes turned toward the window beyond the desk.
“The Council, the five kingdoms, the scattered authority. There were times when I thought the Empire's system was more ideal. But I ultimately devoted myself to the Federation. It was the only way to kill the First Emperor who took my brother and Elysia from me.”
“I feel the same.”
Kyle did not deny Adrian's words.
“I want the First Emperor dead as well. Even if my life is shattered in the end.”
“I'm glad we understand each other.”
Adrian smiled for the first time since facing Kyle. It was a smile that somehow felt refreshing.
“We will soon turn the Federation upside down. The operation I mentioned earlier is part of that. Do you know about it?”
“To some extent.”
Hermann had said they would replace the Council. There were too many obstacles in the way to fight the Empire as things stood.
“Then this will be quick.”
Adrian straightened from his forward-leaning posture and continued.
“Just as there are factions within the Elandor Empire that support war and factions that oppose it, the Grandecia Federation also has hardliners and moderates. Until now, the moderates who wanted to preserve peace even if it meant humbling themselves before the Empire held the upper hand. But not anymore. We cannot leave rotten flesh untreated forever.”
“You plan to cut it out?”
“Sometimes bold sacrifices are necessary. We've waited long enough.”
His words were brief, but the weight behind them was not. Kyle could tell Adrian had agonized deeply before reaching that decision.
“What forces do you have?”
Not everyone would support reform. There had to be many people within the Federation who were especially favorable toward the Empire, along with spies. If they were going to use force to start a civil conflict, they would need strength to match it.
“The Chevaliers have agreed to join us.”
“The Chevaliers?”
“Do you know Godfrey, the Commander of the Chevaliers?”
Kyle nodded. Godfrey de Servier, leader of the Council Knights. He had never met him personally, but Godfrey was so famous, like Duke Mortein, that Kyle had heard of him through others. He was also the Federation's greatest knight, now nearing sixty.
“Unlike the other knight orders, the Chevaliers are always bound by the Council's restrictions. Officially, it is meant to prevent the Federation's finest knight order from being carelessly abused, but...”
“They've been held back.”
“Exactly. The complicated procedures have become poison instead. The same goes for the political factions within the Chevaliers. Every one of them comes from the nobility, so their interests are tightly tangled together.”
“.......”
“But that ends now. Along with reforming the Council, I plan to remove the shackles binding the Council Knights. I have already discussed it with Duke de Servier, the Commander of the Chevaliers. He seemed hesitant at first, but once he made his decision, his reply came quickly.”
“Can he be trusted?”
“In the sense that he is rigid, yes. He is an old knight who keeps his word no matter what. And we have the Ash Knights as well. We have enough strength. There is no need to drag this out. The hardline nobles will join us on their own, and the fence-sitting centrists will retreat as best they can.”
The Ash Knights would move from within, while the Council Knights moved from outside. The suppression would end quickly. To kill or take hostage a few specific people, a small elite force was better than an uncertain majority.
“When?”
“Next month, a regular banquet will be held in Renavik. Did you know?”
Kyle silently nodded. Every five years, nobles from across the Federation gathered in Renavik.
The Federation Council's Grand Assembly. An important day when the Federation's future policies were decided. On that occasion, the kings of all five kingdoms gathered in Renavik without exception. Naturally, countless nobles followed them. It was the only day when every king in the Federation gathered in one place.
The banquet was inevitable. Nobles from each kingdom, who rarely had the chance to see one another, would never let that opportunity pass.
“How convenient.”
“Yes, the timing is perfect.”
Whether by coincidence or not, the five-year Grand Assembly and banquet in Renavik were just around the corner, at a time when the Imperial Army's invasion had entered a lull. There could be no better time to carry out their plan.
“The Kingdom of Russel has lost half its territory, yet it still calls for a truce with the Empire. Most of its high-ranking nobles are practically bought by the Empire.”
“.......”
“Selaine in the rear is the same. It has always been friendly toward the Empire. But that ends now as well. Russel's royal house will be replaced by House Laporte, hardliners to the core for generations. As for Selaine's throne, the indecisive current king will be replaced by a decisive crown prince.”
Those bought by the Empire. The spies secretly planted among them.
“Of course, we will have to deal with every insect that crawls out during that process.”
Adrian's voice was resolute.
“There will be a great deal of bloodshed.”
“It is necessary. I don't care if I go to hell afterward.”
His dark blue eyes fixed on Kyle as though piercing through him.
“What about you, Sir Kyle?”
“.......”
“I intend to kill them all. Are you prepared to cast everything aside to destroy the Empire as well?”
Footnotes:
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