Chapter 68 - 6
Since the weather had cleared up for the first time in a while, Anna was out in the garden from early in the morning. Her breath was pure white.
The deep blue sky, unique to winter, was so high and clear it looked like it had been painted with a transparent pigment. It was beautiful. She wanted to keep watching it forever, but it was too cold for that.
After the snow, which wasn't enough to pile up, had melted, everything would get muddy, so she really wanted to clean up.
Besides, Anna loved the fresh, piercingly cold morning air. When the newborn air filled her body, it felt like the start of a new day was washing her heart clean, setting her on a new path.
"It's co~ld."
The air she exhaled with her words billowed out in a soft white cloud. The clear winter days were very cold, and Anna blew on her hands. She had been careless and come out bare-handed, thinking it wouldn't be as bad as the winters back home, where there was less snow. Maybe she should go back for her gloves…
But Anna quickly changed her mind.
When she was at the church, she always worked with her bare hands, so it shouldn't be a big deal, really. Lately, thanks to Annie's various concerns, she had forgotten about this kind of cold.
Her hometown was probably covered in snow right now. The snow, piled up to the height of the roofs, would be warmly blanketing the fields, orchards, and pastures. She missed that scenery, where the places not covered in snow were frozen solid.
What had she been doing this time last year? Amidst the snow, had she been spinning the wool sheared from the sheep in the fall, making warm knitted things? Or had she been weaving linen from the flax harvested and dried from the fields along the riverbank?
In any case, it was a world of difference from her current comfortable life. After all, there was no snow to shovel.
"Father, everyone, I'm sorry~ I'm having a little too much fun."
She whispered an apology to her adoptive father and the children at the orphanage in the distant Village of Vishnu. When she remembered, her hometown was so nostalgic, its scenery so gentle, so heart-wrenching… Lately, her chest ached every time she thought of it.
Why was it so heart-wrenching, why did she feel so lonely? She didn't know herself. She hadn't come that far, yet for some reason, her hometown felt distant.
As if to shake off that sadness, Anna shook her head. No, no, she had come to clean, this was no time to be lost in thought.
"If I can get some cheap yarn, maybe I'll knit a scarf for Ritz and Franz. Or maybe a knit hat? Maybe I should teach Joe how to knit."
She had recently learned that yarn was sold in colorful dyes in the capital. But the price was worlds apart from Vishnu.
"I wonder what color would suit them…"
Imagining it to herself, Anna picked up the cleaning tools she had placed on the ground again. She had brought a bucket and a deck brush, so she wanted to at least scrub the terrace in front of the entrance. It was more fun to clean while thinking about various things like this than to clean mindlessly.
As she scrubbed with the deck brush, she happened to notice smoke wafting in the clear blue sky. Smoke was rising from the chimney on the roof. Someone must have woken up and started a fire.
"I wonder who's up."
Watching the smoke drift on the wind, Anna muttered to herself.
"It's definitely someone other than Ritz, right?"
Feeling a slight pang in her chest, Anna looked up at the window of Ritz's room.
Ritz had come home very tired last night. Usually, he would chat a little with Anna and the others in the living room before going upstairs, but last night he had only shown his face.
He might have intended to smile and act as usual, but she immediately realized he wasn't the usual Ritz. Just that alone made her heart stir with unease.
As part of her daily routine, she went to Ritz's room to say goodnight before bed, so she went to say goodnight to him last night as well.
Ritz was in his room as usual, but one thing was different. He seemed to have been drinking alone. For Ritz, who made it a principle to drink cheerfully outside, this was extremely rare, and it was the first time Anna had seen him like that.
Ritz exchanged words with his usual smile, but the somewhat dark color of his eyes and the unusually strong smell of alcohol on him bothered her a lot.
She was still a bit worried after that, so she went to check on him after Joe went to sleep, but the light in his room was still on.
When she quietly opened the door and peeked through the gap, she saw Ritz holding a liquor bottle with a troubled look on his face. Unable to call out to him, Anna silently closed the door.
Ritz's anguish cast a strange shadow over Anna. She didn't know the cause of the sharp pain in her chest, but she understood the source of her uneasy feelings.
It was anxiety. Why was it? In Ritz's dark eyes, she had somehow sensed something in common with herself. She didn't know what it was, but it had quietly cast a shadow in her heart.
She thought about talking to someone, but for some reason, Anna couldn't bring herself to talk about it to anyone. Not to Annie, Evans, or Joe, of course, but not even to Franz, who had traveled with her.
The shadow that Anna and Ritz shared was probably what was stopping her.
"I wonder if Ritz is okay…"
Putting her own feelings aside, Anna worried about Ritz. She unconsciously plunged the deck brush in her hand into the bucket. Cold water spilled out onto the still-dry, chilled ground.
"Oh no, I spilled it."
She spread the spilled water with the deck brush and scrubbed with all her might. The original color of the brick terrace, which had been stained with mud from shoes, gradually returned. As she did so, her mind cleared a little.
Wouldn't Ritz talk to someone about it?
Her thoughts suddenly returned to her worries about Ritz. Or was he talking to Edward? Edward was Ritz's best friend, the person Ritz trusted most, so Ritz's trust in Anna probably didn't even compare to his trust in Edward.
But… wasn't it okay for Anna to be the one to accept Ritz's worries? She was always being taken care of by Ritz, so she wanted to be of some use to him.
She suddenly found herself thinking that. But Anna knew. Ritz's trust in her wasn't that deep.
The person Ritz would confide in was probably not Anna, but Edward or his old companions.
"If I were more of an adult, I wonder if he would have trusted me."
After muttering that, Anna shook her head. Thinking about it wouldn't bring her any answers. So she had to do what she needed to do now. And what she needed to do now was clean.
Anna put more force into the deck brush she was holding. How long had she been at it? When she had scrubbed most of the terrace and looked up, Anna noticed someone standing in front of the main gate.
They were far away and partially hidden by the gatepost, so she could only see glimpses, but she could tell that the person was taller than her but shorter than Franz, and had flaxen hair.
The person seemed to be looking for something. And that something seemed to be related to this house. Realizing this, Anna put her deck brush and bucket aside and headed for the main gate.
As she got closer, she could see the person more clearly. It was still a child. A boy, it seemed. In terms of appearance, he probably wasn't much different from Anna.
As she got even closer, Anna remembered that she had seen this person before.
"Ah, that person…"
The boy was dressed in plain clothes and had his face hidden by a scarf, but it was definitely the face she had seen in the arena on that day… the second day of the New Festival Month.
That person who had challenged Ritz to a fight and lost so easily…
Standing in front of the gate, she knew her memory was correct.
"It's His Highness Prince Greig… why?"
Greig, who noticed Anna, looked surprised for a moment, but his face quickly tightened, and he looked down at Anna as if sizing her up.
She thought his attitude was a bit rude, but without saying it out loud, Anna stood in front of the gate.
"Do you have business with us so early in the morning, Your Highness?"
Anna could be polite when she needed to be. But Greig responded to Anna's cheerful smile and uncharacteristically polite tone with coldness.
"I'm here on business. I have something to discuss with the Minister. Open the gate."
Anna was a little angry at his high-handed attitude. She didn't teach the children at the orphanage that it was okay to be so arrogant when visiting someone's house.
Manners were important in all things, and even among close friends, there should be mutual respect.
Anna stared fixedly at the boy who couldn't even greet her properly. Having worked at the orphanage for a long time, Anna believed it was her duty to admonish children who couldn't greet people properly.
Slightly irritated by Anna's attitude, Greig raised his voice.
"How long are you going to keep me standing here? Hurry up and open the gate."
Anna put her hands on her hips and glared at Greig.
"No! I won't open it."
"Wh…"
Greig was speechless. He had probably never been spoken to like this in his life. That's why he couldn't even greet people properly.
"You know who I am, don't you? Open it."
With his arms crossed, Greig tapped his arm with his index finger in irritation, half-shouting. But Anna didn't back down.
"Absolutely not!"
"Why not?"
Anna pointed her index finger squarely at Greig. Greig, who had probably never been pointed at before, was so taken aback by being pointed at from such a close distance and head-on that his eyes widened.
"Listen, just because you're a prince doesn't mean you don't have to say hello. You came to someone's house this early in the morning, right? I think a 'good morning' would be appropriate. That's just common courtesy."
"Wh…"
"It's probably the same for royalty, farmers, and merchants. There's nothing more pathetic than someone who doesn't know their manners!"
"P-Pathetic?"
"That's right! Even Ed-san, the King, says good morning to everyone."
After rattling off everything she had to say, she looked and saw Greig's mouth hanging open. She couldn't tell if he couldn't argue back or had forgotten how to.
He might have been so genuinely surprised that he had gone past anger and was simply dumbfounded. But Anna didn't stop there.
If no one told him, he would end up not realizing his own faults. That was absolutely not okay. Greig would be king in the future, so manners were even more important for him.
She didn't want the grandson of Edward and Patricia to end up like the false king Stewart, who had been trapped in the Infinite Nightmare.
"And besides, I'm not your servant, so I don't care if you order me around. If you want something done, you have to ask nicely. Understand?"
Finally coming to his senses, Greig stared fixedly at Anna. It seemed he was reluctantly admitting defeat. The cold probably had something to do with his desire to get inside quickly.
"G-good morning. I'm sorry to come so early, but I have business with the Minister. Would you mind opening up?"
Was the resentment seeping into the edges of his words just her imagination?
"Yes. You said it properly, good boy."
With a broad smile, Anna patted Greig's head through the gate, just as she would with a child at the orphanage. For a moment, she thought Greig's face lit up with a happy smile.
But immediately after, Greig hastily erased that smile, and his face turned bright red. Did he have a fever? It didn't seem to be anger, but Anna didn't know why.
Unlocking the gate from the inside and opening it, Anna smiled at Greig.
"It's about a sixty out of a hundred, but I guess it'll do. Please come in."
"…Thank you."
With that, Greig tried to quickly slip past Anna, but she stopped him.
"What is it?"
Still with a red face and looking down, Greig stole a glance at Anna, and she smiled brightly at him.
"You said thank you properly. A perfect score."
Greig, now redder than ever, averted his eyes from Anna. He was so red he looked like steam might come off him. He had just been saying it was cold, but now was he hot?
Boys this age were always so difficult. Even during her time as a caretaker at the orphanage, that was an age group she had to be quite careful with.
"I have business with the Minister, so please announce me…"
"Yes, Your Highness. Please wait a moment."
Would he be surprised if she suddenly brought Greig with her? Anna opened the front door, had Greig wait inside, and hurried alone to the drawing room. Annie, Joe, and Evans were always there.
"We have a guest. He seems cold, so Annie, could you please?"
"This early?"
"Yeah. It's His Highness Prince Greig."
"!!!"
Letting out a voiceless cry, Joe and Annie jumped to their feet. Evans was also wide-eyed.
"Please make him some warm tea."
"! Of course! What should I do, what kind of cup should I use? For a member of the royal family!"
As Annie bustled about, Anna tilted her head.
"…I think the same as for Ed-san would be fine…"
"That's… His Majesty comes often, but… it's His Highness the Prince, isn't it?"
"But Ed-san is the king, right?"
"Ah, you're right, I forgot."
Annie darted into the kitchen as if convinced. Because he visited so frequently, the members of this household were completely used to Edward.
"Anna, what should I do!?"
Anna tilted her head at the flustered Joe.
"What do you mean… I think you should just act normal."
"'Normal' is impossible with royalty here! I'm already freaking out with just His Majesty!"
"It's okay, really. It's not like he's going to eat you."
As she was placating Joe, Franz came down to the drawing room with a perplexed look on his face.
"Anna, there's someone at the entrance?"
"Yeah. His Highness Prince Greig."
"…Is this a hangout spot for the royal family?"
Franz, who was up unusually early, tried to go back upstairs, but he stopped when Joe looked at him pleadingly.
"What?"
"I don't want to be the only commoner among royalty. Um, Franz-san, it would be helpful if there were a few of us rather than just one."
"…Fine."
With a look of resignation, Franz sat down in a dining room chair and ran a hand through his hair with a yawn.
"You're up early today, Franz."
"I fell asleep while reading in bed and woke up early."
"I see."
In that case, Ritz was probably still asleep. She felt a bit sorry for him after yesterday, but a guest had arrived, so it couldn't be helped.
Therefore, it was appropriate for Anna, who knew Ritz's situation from last night, to go and get him.
"It seems he came to see Ritz, so I'll go wake him up."
Anna shook off the gloom in her heart and headed upstairs to wake Ritz.
Ritz, scratching his bed-head hair, was the last to arrive at the dining room where everyone was gathered.
He had barely slept last night, lost in thought. He had tried to borrow the power of alcohol, but it only made him more awake, and he ended up drinking more and more.
He had finally been able to see his best friend, finally been able to see the faces of his companions, yet here he was, cowering at the sight of his own lifespan. It was pathetic beyond words.
Even Anna, who had come to wake him, seemed to be at a loss. Something about cleaning, something about scolding Greig for not saying hello, he couldn't make head or tail of it. He had finally managed to get dressed about five minutes after Anna left the room.
But his attire was, by no stretch of the imagination, suitable for meeting a prince.
He was wearing his usual clothes for going out for a drink, and there was no time for his disguise in such a short period. His black hair, still messy from sleep, was uncombed, but he figured it was better than keeping him waiting.
When Ritz entered the dining room, it was enveloped in a subtle tension. Anna and Franz were particularly unchanged, but the other three were taut with tension. Especially Joe, she was something else.
She was frozen like a statue and hadn't moved a muscle for some time. It was amusing how she trembled rigidly when she did move slightly.
For her, who had been making a living as a petty thief in the slums until just the other day, living hand to mouth, to be sitting at the same table as royalty, and a prince at that, the tension was unimaginable.
Annie looked bewildered, as if wondering if it was okay for a ghost to be there, and Evans's expression was also a little stiff.
Amidst all this, Greig sat quietly without fidgeting. Acting calmly as royalty was probably something that had been drilled into him from birth.
When Ritz appeared in the dining room, an air of obvious relief flowed over the faces of everyone except Greig.
"Yo, Greig, you're up early…"
Greig, who saw Ritz say this with a yawn, widened his eyes.
"Hm? Is something on me?"
Ritz, scratching his head as he asked, realized the reason for Greig's surprise. It wasn't that something was on him, but that nothing was, which was surprising. No white hair, no beard, no monocle…
"Minister, that's…"
Unable to make any excuses to the speechless Greig, Ritz scratched his messy-haired head.
"Mm… I'm surprisingly young, right? Surprised?"
"Of course I'm surprised! How old are you, really!? Are you younger than my father?"
At the indignant Greig, Ritz could only laugh.
"How could I be? I've been on the front lines since the civil war, you know? I'm much older than Gerald."
Apparently, neither the royalty, nor Shasta, nor the Chamberlain had said anything about Ritz's apparent age.
Greig, who boasted of having read the history books, probably knew that Ritz was of the spirit race, but how they aged was not written in the books.
"Greig, I age differently than humans."
At Ritz's simple answer, Greig's face changed in an instant. He looked at Ritz with a surprised, curious expression.
Since they were a race that rarely left the forest, it was undoubtedly a rare sight. Besides, Ritz didn't talk about his age unless asked, and little was known about the ages of the spirit race.
In fact, Ritz had never met another member of his race outside the forest.
"Then Minister…"
"Ah, Ritz is fine. It's a hassle, isn't it?"
"Ah. Then Ritz, how old are you, really?"
Unlike his father, his was a personality that didn't require logic. Greig's question had changed from an interrogation to a genuine query. He was trying to act strangely mature, so this aspect was still childish and likable.
"I am 150 years old."
"150! That old!"
"That's right. More than ten times your age."
"Wow… ah…"
Greig, who had let out a cry of admiration, hastily closed his mouth. He seemed to have realized that he was acting childishly. He hurriedly put on a serious face, but it was already too late.
"When you act like that, you're just a normal kid, you know."
When he said this cheerfully, Greig's face predictably flushed with anger.
"Don't treat me like a child!"
"Yeah, yeah. Now, don't get so angry."
When he was lightly dismissed, Greig turned his gaze away from Ritz with a sulky expression. He had probably never met anyone who treated him like a normal child before.
At Greig's sullen profile, Ritz let out a small sigh that no one noticed.
The position of future king, promised since birth. Certainly, he couldn't live a normal life with that. That couldn't be helped, but it worried Ritz a little.
It wasn't about his future, but the future of the country.
Because Edward was raised as a commoner's child, he became a king who put the people first. Given Gerald's gentle nature and his self-reflective personality, it was hard to imagine him becoming cruel.
But this boy was born as the direct grandson of the king, grew up in the royal palace without any hardships, and was overconfident in his own sword skills. That part of him was a bit concerning.
Thinking that far, Ritz gave a self-deprecating smile. It wasn't Ritz's job to think about such things. It was the job of the king, the crown prince, and the queen. Apparently, he was being too sensitive about the future of this country.
He hadn't cared about the country's internal affairs while he was away, but now that he was back at the center of things, he found himself worrying about unnecessary things.
"Your Highness, what about breakfast? Have you eaten?"
At Anna's voice asking Greig, Ritz was suddenly brought back to his senses. It seemed Greig had remained silent while Ritz was lost in thought.
"My business comes first. I can eat later."
Apparently, Greig was being a little considerate of Anna. Had something happened?
Setting aside Ritz's question, Greig fixed his gaze on Ritz again.
"Alright then, let's hear it. What's this about? You came barging in this early in the morning, so it must be something important, right?"
Ritz, who had been leaning back in his chair, straightened his posture and asked Greig. After a moment of hesitation, Greig, as if he had made up his mind, looked straight at Ritz and spoke.
"Ritz, you're going with my father to destroy the drug syndicate, aren't you? And it's a dangerous, life-threatening mission, isn't it?"
The words that came out of Greig's mouth were enough to stun everyone present. Their surprised gazes immediately turned to Ritz.
"Huh? You didn't say a word about that…"
Anna looked at Franz with a bewildered expression. Franz just shook his head silently.
Damn it, he had kept it a secret from them so as not to cause unnecessary worry.
"How do you know that?"
Trying to play dumb wouldn't work, so Ritz just asked back, staring quietly at Greig. His gaze, a complete change from his usual relaxed attitude, was one that would not allow for excuses or evasions. Greig flinched and answered in a small voice.
"Yesterday… I was listening outside the conference room…"
Come to think of it, there had been no guard posted outside the door during yesterday's meeting. They hadn't wanted to leak even the smallest detail to outsiders. That had backfired. He never thought Greig would be listening.
"I see, so you eavesdropped on a top-secret meeting."
"'Eavesdropped' is rude, don't you think!?"
"What else would you call what you did but eavesdropping!?"
At Ritz's sharp rebuke, Greig's cheeks flushed bright red.
"So what if I did!? My father is about to go on a dangerous mission, and it's cowardly not to tell me anything! I had a right to know!"
Greig flew into a rage, spouting selfish arguments.
"I heard at the training ground that Ritz would be going with him as an observer, so…"
So Greig had been following Ritz and Gerald the whole time.
"You followed us all the way there? I'm amazed."
"So what!? Why can my father let this mysterious man who just showed up recently protect him? I can't understand it!"
With his face flushed with anger and frustration, Greig vented his emotions at Ritz. Ritz somehow sensed his purpose for coming here today.
He was probably frustrated. And just plain angry. At the attitude of his grandfather and father, who placed their trust in someone who had suddenly appeared.
And at his own skill, which had been so easily defeated by that untrustworthy opponent.
"Why does my father trust a guy who wears a disguise and won't even show his true face? Why is my grandfather so quick to entrust everything to him!?"
His directionless anger was aimed straight at Ritz. He deliberately took it all in silence.
"The drug syndicate and the ones who tried to kill my grandfather are working together, aren't they? In that situation, what guarantee is there that you're not one of the conspirators who plotted the king's assassination!?"
After saying that much in one breath, Greig channeled his pent-up anger into his fist and slammed it on the table.
At the words 'king's assassination' and the vibration of the table, Evans, Annie, and Joe froze as if struck.
The attempted assassination of the king… This was completely unknown to the public. In fact, the capital was as peaceful as ever, and there was no change in the king's demeanor.
"Why can't it be me? Why can't I be the one to go with my father and protect him…"
As Greig's anger quietly turned to frustration, the standing Anna approached him. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder. In this moment, Anna seemed much more mature than Greig.
"…Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
To the slightly calmer Greig, Ritz spoke quietly.
"I understand how you feel. But you won't do. You can't protect Gerald. Gerald is more than just your father; he is the crown prince of this country."
As Greig's anger seemed about to reignite, Ritz remained perfectly calm.
"If you can't trust me, that's fine. But what's important in this mission is true strength, the ability to protect people's lives. You don't have that."
"What did you say?"
Without giving Greig a chance to shout again, Ritz continued.
"Don't be so conceited, Greig. Your sword isn't one that protects people. It's a sword to show off your pride. In the end, it's nothing more than child's play from training."
At Ritz's stern declaration, no one could speak. Joe, for one, shrank back as if intimidated. It was only natural. He had never shown this side of himself, not even to Anna or Franz. He had wanted to remain a carefree, lazy man in front of them.
But that wish was now shattered.
After a long, painful silence, Greig, his eyes still filled with anger directed at Ritz, groaned.
"You're trying to say I'm useless, is that it?"
"That's right. There's no place for you here."
As if to slam his contained anger, Greig stood up. The chair fell over with a crash.
"Sorry for interrupting."
With that one parting word, Greig passed behind the speechless Joe and Annie and stomped out of the dining room, his footsteps heavy.
"Wait a minute, Greig! Hey, Ritz, are you just going to let him go?"
At the frantic Anna, Ritz just shrugged his shoulders silently.
"Honestly!"
Anna pouted and shot Ritz a light glare before chasing after Greig. She had probably been expecting Ritz's usual method of acknowledging the other person in the end, no matter how harsh he was.
But this time, no matter how much Greig kicked up a fuss, Ritz's role in the mission would not change.
Ritz's role… was to prioritize protecting Gerald's life and to make him aware of what he lacked as a king. That was all.
The gazes of everyone who remained were painful, but Ritz maintained his silence. It was Franz who spoke to him.
"Ritz, is it true that there's a mission to destroy a drug syndicate?"
"Yeah."
Franz let out a small sigh. Franz probably had his own things he wanted to say.
"You can't take us with you… is that it?"
"That's right. Sorry, but it's not a situation where I can protect you two."
Ritz deliberately answered matter-of-factly. The questioning Franz let out a small sigh. He probably understood that they would be a burden if they went.
But they had come this far together and had been present during the Stewart incident. That's why he probably really wanted to ask, Can't we go with you?
Anna would probably think the same thing.
But Ritz had no intention of getting the two of them involved in this matter. They were both still young and inexperienced. They were two people who should live long lives, learn many things, and grow.
That's why he couldn't involve them in his dangerous mission, one where he was prepared to throw away his own life to keep a promise from the past.
"Franz, you of all people should understand, right? Why Greig is so eager to throw himself into battle?"
"…?"
To the confused Franz, Ritz spoke quietly.
"That kid still doesn't know the terror of possessing the power to kill people. That's why he wants to brandish his power."
Franz's blue eyes widened in realization, and then he nodded deeply. In Saradio and at Laria's mansion, Franz had learned that his power could take a person's life.
But Greig still didn't know that battlefield.
"Annie, breakfast. I have to go to a meeting today, too."
Ignoring everyone's questioning gazes, Ritz let out a deep sigh and opened the newspaper that had been left on the table.