Let the Whales Fight, This Shrimp is Leaving! - Chapter 78

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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 78
If someone asked whether Idir Hubert was frightening now, the answer was obviously no—she was terrifying.
Absolutely terrifying.
The way she pushed him to his limits during their sparring, the sheer aggression with which she threw herself at him—
If he ever found himself facing her on a battlefield, Deyan would throw down his sword on the spot and surrender without hesitation.
He could not fight her.
He could not win against her.
His very instincts were screaming this at him.
So why didn’t he just run away?
The thought never even crossed Idir’s mind—nor did her heart desire it.
It was truly an odd thing.
“It will suffice if you settle in Count Nemanic.”
But why was he doing this for Idir? Why did he want to?
Was it merely a sense of obligation?
Simply responsibility?
“Still, I carry their blood. I bear the name they left me, so the crimes of the past, the debts accumulated through the years—all of it is mine to answer for, mine to bear.”
Had her words—insisting that Deyan too bore responsibility—pricked his conscience?
Was that why he felt he had to take it on?
……To some degree, yes. But that alone was not the reason.
“Mm.”
Unable to untangle the knot of his thoughts, Deyan let out a low groan.
He wished Glay Holdin were here; he could have asked him, sought his counsel. The absence of that option was keenly felt.
“Huh? Why worry over something like that? The answer’s right there if you just look!”
In Glay’s absence, Deyan imagined what his friend would have said at a moment like this.
He tried to follow the thread of Glay’s usual outlook, his manner of speaking, the shape of his reasoning.
He was still wrestling with this when it happened.
Knock-knock.
A soft rap at the door broke his concentration.
Rather than calling out permission, he opened the door himself.
“Your Highness.”
It was none other than Idir Hubert who stood before him.
Deyan looked down at her in surprise, then quickly collected himself and stepped aside to make room.
“Please, come in.”
He didn’t dare ask what had brought her here.
This was the Grand Ducal Castle.
There was no room within these walls that Idir Hubert could not enter.
Even with Deyan lodged here, the true master of this place remained her.
He watched her settle onto the sofa, fidgeted awkwardly for a moment, then took a seat across from her with studied composure.
‘Why has she come?’
The question formed, but truthfully, he had some idea.
It must be about the proposal he had made earlier in the day.
The suggestion to evacuate citizens of the Plene Grand Duchy from war-threatened regions to Count Nemanic.
“I’ve been thinking about the proposal you made.”
Exactly as he’d thought.
Deyan straightened his posture before she could even deliver her decision.
She must have wrestled with this choice tremendously.
The least he could do was sit properly and listen with full respect.
Reading the sincerity in his rigid bearing, Idir’s beautiful eyes swept over him slowly, up and down.
Under her gaze, Deyan’s body grew even more taut.
What was she waiting for? Why the long pause?
Thump-thump. His heartbeat sounded unusually loud in his own ears today.
Idir’s expression was peculiar as she watched him sit there, motionless.
She tapped her slender fingers against her own knee, worked her small lips in uncertainty, hesitating.
Was it difficult for her to speak?
Or had she reached a different decision?
Perhaps she meant to ask him to fight in her stead?
Any answer would do.
He just hoped she would say something, anything, to break this tension.
Deyan rubbed his thumbnail nervously, waiting with desperate hope for her lips to part.
“That…”
At last, the seemingly endless silence was broken.
Deyan’s head snapped up, his eyes meeting hers.
She, who had been turning her gaze away in thought, now looked at him with a sly intensity.
“Do you know how to drink alcohol?”
“Pardon?”
The question came from nowhere.
“Do you get drunk easily?”
“I… well…”
Deyan trailed off uncertainly.
‘Alcohol? Why ask about that all of a sudden?’
Was her dilemma deep enough that she needed drink to steel herself?
Perhaps he should have given more thought to her position before making such a proposal.
And yet, in his estimation, it had been the best option available.
And hadn’t Glay said it time and again?
“In times of crisis, you must always think clearly. If you slip even once, you die.”
“I die…?”
“Well, you haven’t had your head separated from your body yet, have you?”
Stay clearheaded.
So he had looked at the situation with clear eyes.
The truth was, Deyan harbored no great attachment to his own lands.
He had never wanted this inheritance, and even the name Nemanic stirred up such terrible memories that they made his blood run cold.
He simply kept them buried and out of sight.
Moreover, according to the records, some two hundred years ago, that very land had belonged to the Plene Grand Duchy.
Of course, back then Plene was merely a fiefdom, not yet a nation, but still.
So he could convince himself that after so many long centuries, the land was simply returning to its rightful owner.
With that mindset, he had made the proposal. But had he been reckless?
“Count Nemanic.”
Idir forcibly pulled his wandering attention back to her.
“Yes?”
“Are you listening to me?”
“Y-yes, I am listening.”
Deyan nodded hastily.
Idir’s gentle eyes sharpened slightly.
“Then why won’t you answer?”
“I… I apologize.”
“Don’t lower your head.”
“Ah, yes.”
“So then, the answer?”
The answer? The answer…
What was the question again?
After a moment, Deyan collected himself and shook his head.
“I’ve never drunk before, so I couldn’t say for certain.”
“At your age, you’ve never had a drink?”
“I was moving from battlefield to battlefield…”
“But surely whenever you won, there was a victory banquet. Even if the Emperor treated you like a chess piece, he would have afforded you that much, wouldn’t he?”
“Yes. There were. I received commendations, wealth, war spoils…”
“But you’ve never drunk at any of them?”
“I was always injured afterward and couldn’t attend. I sent Glay in my place.”
“Ah.”
Idir let out a soft sound of understanding, catching the meaning in his words.
She, who had seemed somewhat annoyed, folded her arms and glanced at him again with renewed interest.
“Well, if you can eat poison and not die, I suppose you won’t get drunk from alcohol either.”
“Since I’ve never tried it, I can’t be certain, but yes, that’s quite possible.”
“Let’s test it then.”
“Pardon?”
Deyan started to object, but Idir offered no response.
Instead, she rang a bell to summon servants.
Without her having to say a word, the maids streamed in and set food and two bottles of alcohol on their table before withdrawing discreetly.
“If you need anything, please call again! We hope you both have a wonderful time!”
Nancy withdrew with a bright smile, closing the door smoothly behind her.
A peculiar silence settled over the room once more.
The atmosphere felt even more rigid and tense than before, or so it seemed.
Then Idir poured an equal measure of alcohol into two glasses.
One for Deyan.
One for herself, which she brought to her lips.
She did not clink the glasses together in that familiar gesture.
How could she? She had been discussing war with the leader of the enemy just hours before.
As Idir brought the glass to her lips, Deyan followed suit.
The sensation of hot liquid sliding down his throat felt foreign and strange.
Soon his stomach grew warm.
He could vividly recall the shape of his own organs, which he had once glimpsed with his own eyes.
“I’ve been thinking about the proposal you made this afternoon.”
With difficulty, Idir began to speak.
Deyan set down his glass and gave her his full attention.
“I wondered if there might be a better way, but I couldn’t find a satisfactory answer.”
“I understand. I too wish there were a better option, but…”
Deyan couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence, so he fell silent.
Glancing at him sideways, Idir tilted her glass again.
Her glass was already half-empty.
This alone told him how much inner turmoil she was enduring.
“The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to ask you something.”
Her eyes, settled and serene now, held the green of summer.
That vibrant green that trembles so beautifully beneath the brightest white sun.
As Deyan gazed into that color as if enchanted, he was startled by the sound of his own heart pounding in his chest.
‘Is the alcohol not working?’
Just as he thought this—
“Why are you doing this for me?”
Idir asked the question.
She demanded an answer that Deyan himself had not yet found.

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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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