Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 104

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 104
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“Your sister-in-law worries about you a great deal, Yerenika.”
“She seems to worry more lately. Why the sudden concern?”
“It’s not exactly sudden.”
“Then what is it?”
Sergei Lebanon gazed at his childhood friend with a deeply troubled expression. Yerenika, the precious youngest princess of Lebovni, stared back at him with genuine confusion in her eyes. He looked down at her for a moment, then awkwardly averted his gaze.
“What is it? Why are you avoiding my eyes?”
Because you’re too beautiful. He refused to say it—his last shred of pride rebelled against inflating her already considerable vanity.
But truthfully, Yerenika had always been beautiful. Those rare, sweet pink locks even in Lebovni, the crystalline sky-blue eyes distinctive to royalty, the delicate, well-proportioned features. She’d been beautiful from the start, but lately… even more so.
“Why is he suddenly getting bashful?”
Sergei Lebanon flinched and turned his face sharply away, earnestly rationalizing to himself: I’m just thinking about facts, facts! Yet worry began creeping up his spine regardless.
“From now on, never walk alone, Yeni.”
“Then give me a reason. A real reason.”
Yerenika’s expression had turned irritated. Sergei Lebanon exhaled deeply. Because you’re beautiful enough that someone could abduct you without it being strange. Even he, who had watched her since she was a tiny child, found it difficult to regard the current Yerenika as merely a stone. He rolled his eyes and answered carelessly.
“Look in a mirror. A mirror.”
“Why would I look in a mirror? I’m always just as beautiful as ever.”
“…Right. At least your personality makes up for it.”
If she would just keep her mouth shut, she’d be like a doll—beautiful enough never to tire of, even after a year. Sergei Lebanon clicked his tongue with a bitter expression.
“You’re just being self-absorbed.”
“Call it self-awareness, would you?”
“…Fine.”
This was exactly why he hated telling her directly that she was beautiful. His heart, which had begun racing faster, found its rhythm again. But this was only possible because his conversation partner was Sergei Lebanon himself. To him, who had known Yerenika since she was merely Brizni, the impression of “how reckless” came before the observation of “how beautiful.”
Yet the fact that such was his own impression didn’t make Yerenika suddenly ugly. Regardless of gender, his friend—who drew everyone’s attention—walked the streets with no caution whatsoever. Finally, Sergei Lebanon reached out and pulled her hood down over her head. An immediate complaint escaped her lips.
“It’s hot.”
“Your face will tan.”
“…?”
What nonsense is this? Yerenika looked at him with that expression. Sergei Lebanon pretended not to notice and looked away. In the old days, he wouldn’t have gone this far, but certainly now it was difficult to let her wander about carelessly, poking into this and that. Whether by appearance or by the aura she gave off.
In fact, he first noticed that Yerenika had changed somewhat around three years ago. Until then, she was simply a nobly raised princess—a bit willful, temperamental and unpredictable, unable to endure discomfort or pain well, like a child. Fundamentally honest in her emotional expression, transparent with no gap between her inner and outer self.
…Or so she had been.
“Anyway, everyone’s being overprotective. I’m making an effort on my own.”
Yerenika’s grumbling continued at length. Sergei Lebanon let her complaints go in one ear and out the other as he continued thinking. So she had changed somehow, quite a while back.
Of course, her recklessness, her rash tendencies, her unbecoming careless speech and behavior as a princess—all of it was similar enough. So much so that even he hadn’t noticed it clearly at the time. Yet thinking back now, something was truly different.
“Hmm…”
And after returning from spending three and a half months in Belgot, the change in Yerenika was obvious at a glance. It wasn’t merely a matter of outward appearance. Until then, she had been a child who revealed everything inside her, piece by piece. But the current Yerenika seemed far more skilled at keeping things locked away inside. Whenever he tried to subtly approach and peek inside, she would narrow her eyes and push him away sharply.
“We’ll go together only to the base of the mountain. Don’t follow me to the Temple. Understood?”
“…I’m not even curious.”
Just like now.
What exactly had happened in Belgot? Where had she obtained that illness, and what had transpired with the Belgot Emperor that made her so eager for letters that arrived every ten days? What was their true relationship? Yerenika had never properly answered a single one of his questions. Sergei Lebanon clicked his tongue in disapproval.
“Where did you pick up these strange habits…”
“What? This bastard really…”
An invisible force struck Sergei Lebanon squarely on the crown of his head.
“Ow. What do you take your older brother for?”
“Water. Why not?”
Bickering. The meaningless verbal sparring stretched on endlessly. Sergei Lebanon bristled at each quick retort, yet inwardly he chuckled. Watching this, it seemed his friend’s temperament had grown considerably more refined compared to those childhood days when he’d been nothing but reckless and difficult to handle.
So Sergei Lebanon simply let his friend’s strange behavior slide. Besides, it was more urgent to block the gazes of countless men constantly drawn toward his friend.
“Hey, come with me!”
“Back off. Get far away!”
Thoughts of the Belgot Emperor and his changed personality quickly vanished from Sergei Lebanon’s mind.
* * *
“How many days will you stay this time?”
“I’m not sure. About a week?”
I shaded my eyes with my hand. The Temple halfway up the mountain was completely obscured by the backlighting of the setting sun.
“A week. Got it. I’ll wait here at this time a week from now?”
“If something comes up, you can leave early. You don’t have to wait.”
“I’ll get scolded by my sister-in-law.”
“…All right then.”
Faced with Sergei Lebanon’s unusually persistent determination, I finally nodded. We parted ways at the fork in the road at the base of the mountain. Sergei Lebanon headed toward the Training Ground where the Knights under the Lebanon Duchy conducted special drills, while I took the uphill path toward the Temple above. The bundle on my back rustled, and Raulus poked his head out from within it.
[I know why he’s acting like that.]
“Please don’t tell me that horrifying story about how he does it because he likes me.”
[Now that’s some proper self-consciousness right there, little one.]
“Yeah. I’ll admit that.”
Climbing the mountain after a month away was somewhat taxing for me. Training to read mana and grow more familiar with the sacred had certainly helped, but it consumed considerable physical stamina. So even now, two years later, my physical abilities had nearly converged to zero.
Still, at least I’d escaped that pathetic state of collapsing at every turn!
—or so I’d like to say, but the fact remained that I couldn’t even properly climb a single mountain path. That was a problem.
“Huff. Hah.”
[Want me to carry you?]
“Don’t joke around…”
I let out a hollow laugh looking at the tiny wolf cub, barely large enough for one of my legs to step over.
[I could just grow bigger.]
“Yeah. I enlarge you, lose consciousness, and when I wake up I’m at the Temple. Is that how this is supposed to go?”
[Exactly.]
“Are you serious or just messing with me?”
Raulus never returned to the house-sized form he’d been when I first summoned him. That was purely due to my limitations as a summoner.
If I enlarged Raulus beyond his current forearm-sized form, my already insufficient sacred power would be drained away in an instant. So I didn’t even dare consider making him any larger. Besides, if he grew any bigger, it would be difficult for me to keep him with me anyway.
“Huff… I made it.”
After what felt like well over an hour of climbing, a spacious flat area appeared before my eyes. The entrance to Raulus’s Temple—the only one in all of Lebovni.
[Finally feels like I can breathe again. Ah, this is nice.]
Raulus bounded excitedly toward the Temple entrance. I wiped away my sweat and took a deep breath. The warm, sacred-infused air entered through my nose and mouth, filling my lungs completely.
It wasn’t as refreshing as the Temple in Barishard of Belgot, but it was enough sacred power to keep me energized. I moved forward, pursuing Raulus, who had already disappeared from my sight.
“Come with me, Raulus…!”
Once a month, sometimes a week or two weeks apart—my visits to the Temple of Lebovni always followed the same pattern.
“Welcome, Princess.”
“Yes, Priest. It’s been a while.”
“Shall I guide you to the Prayer Chamber again today?”
A kindly priest with a weathered, wrinkled face greeted me—Julius, the High Priest overseeing the Temple of Lebovni. As I nodded, Julius smiled warmly.
“With such devotion from the Princess, I’m certain Raulus will one day come to understand your wishes.”
“Yes….”
I tried my best not to look back at the wolf cub sprawled across the temple floor, breathing in sacred rhythm with deliberate composure.
Once Julius, who had guided me in, left, I was alone in the spacious Prayer Chamber. I set down my belongings and unfastened the buttons of my robe. I heard the sound of Raulus padding after me through the entrance.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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