Chapter 1 - Chapter 1, Episode 1

「Uuuhh…」

「Shut up. You’re annoying.」

 

Arriving at the port of the Royal City of Lauretalia, I entered the naval building to prepare for the triumphal parade and went straight to the room to which I had been assigned, curled up in a blanket and moaning in my bunk.

I heard the cold voice of my twin brother Alec, and something bumped against my side on the blanket.

When I pulled my face out of the blanket, I saw Alec sitting in a chair next to the bunk, his long legs stretched out and stuck into my side.

 

「Kicking is awful.」

 

Even when I grudgingly told him about it, he would not change a single expression on his face or raise his eyes from the book he was reading, as if he was in the middle of a conversation.

If his subjects saw him, he would have no royal dignity, but this is usually how he looks when the two of us are together.

 

Even though we are twins, Alec and I do not look that much alike.

The only thing we have in common is our golden hair and blue eyes.

Alec is more like our mother, with his tall muscular frame, slitted eyes, and overall sharpness.

I am more like our father King, with a gentle, at best, and at worst, undignified appearance. I have always had a complex about my slightly droopy eyes.

 

Alec was a king from the moment he was born.

Swordsmanship, horsemanship, magic, learning. He excelled in all the talents required of royalty, was unflagging, and was still good at using people.

If I had been in a position to compete for the succession as a male, I would have been crushed by a sense of inferiority.

 

「We don’t have time for the parade. Hurry up and get dressed.」

「Unpleasant. It’s painful.」

 

Since then, I’ve been afraid to face Theresa and have avoided her.

Born and raised as a princess, I was, to my own surprise, unaccustomed to being disliked head-on by others.

No, of course I’ve seen plenty of people with bad intentions, but this was my first experience of being rejected by someone I was doing a favor for, and I didn’t realize how hurtful it was.

 

「What’s going on with you and Theresa?」

「Uh… how do you know?」

「You would be blatantly avoiding her.」

 

He has a big attitude but looks around him.

 

「So, what happened?」

「I asked her to be my friend, she refused and said she didn’t like me…」

「Why did you have to say that again?」

 

I’m a little miffed at the way Alec says it, as if he’s taken aback.

 

「Because I wanted to make friends with her…」

「No, that’s not what I mean. You knew Theresa hated royalty and nobility.」

「Eh?」

「Hmm? Don’t tell me you didn’t notice.」

 

He sighs and shakes his head saying, “oh dear.”

I fling the blanket off and get up in surprise.

 

「Is that true?」

 

Even I, as royalty, have a certain amount of observational skills to spot people with a certain amount of facepalm.

What was there to dislike in her meek demeanor?

No, that’s wrong. When we first met, she was more like this, transparent.

Rather, her current friendliness is the result of a year’s journey that has not brought us closer, but rather distanced us.

 

「Yeah. Well, it’s true that she’d rather keep her distance than hate them. If you’re trying to figure out if there’s malice or not, you might not even notice. That was just rejection.」

「Rejection…」

 

Was it the rejection of that atmosphere of not letting her go beyond a certain point?

Where did that rejection come from?

I think it was the word「equal」that brought out her intense emotions. It touched something in her heart.

 

「So, what are you going to do?」

「What am I going to do?」

「Dumped. Running away. You’re just going to keep on not seeing each other.」

「That…」

 

What on earth do I want to do?

I wanted to be her friend and she hated me.

I think it’s time to let it go. Knowing why she hates me will not change that fact. Then I should just give up.

 

I closed my eyes and think of Theresa.

I think of my encounter with her.

 

◇ ◇ ◇

 

That was a year ago.

Around the time when the Demon Lord was born, a coalition army led by the five kingdoms that possessed the Holy Sword was formed, and a decision was made to conduct an infiltration campaign by the bearers of the Holy Sword.

I was riding in a carriage to welcome the Saint in the name of my elder brother Alec.

 

A saint is a being recognized by the Relic (sacred relic) that are the counterpart of the Holy Sword.

While the Holy Sword is a Regalia (royal power) and can only be handled by the lineage of the ancestral kings of the Five Kingdoms, the Reliquary chooses a maiden with extremely high psychic magic power, regardless of her lineage.

 

Mind Magic is one of the three traits of magical power.

Inner magic power that acts on one’s own body and mind. Mind Magic, which acts on others other than oneself. External magic power that interferes with natural phenomena.

Of the total amount of magical power, how much can be used for which trait varies from person to person.

Those who excel in Mind Magic are able to use techniques such as warding and healing, while mages who excel in external magic are called Methodist. Many of them belong to the Orthodox Church as priests.

 

It is said in the lore that Saints, along with the Holy Sword, are indispensable in defeating the Demon Lord.

It is said that although the sword can defeat the Demon King, the defeated Demon King is said to spread a curse far and wide, and that only a Saint with a Relic can contain it.

 

It was about a year ago that the Relics kept in the Orthodox Church in Lauretalia chose a Saint whose seat had been vacant for a long time.

Since the Orthodox Church, as a matter of principle, cannot be intervened by the five kingdoms, no detailed information about what happened has reached me, but it seems that there was a considerable mess.

Not even the unveiling of the new Saint was done, and it was buried under the Demon Lord’s turmoil as it was.

So I don’t even know the name of the new Saint.

 

The carriage had passed through the commercial district of the royal city and was approaching the border of the lower districts.

First, I headed for the main temple near the palace, where I was greeted by the archbishop, who united the Orthodox followers of Lauretalia, who told me with a complicated look on his face that the saint was not here.

Frankly, I didn’t know what it meant.

No matter how urgent the situation is, they have given us a heads up that we were going to pick up the Saint yesterday.

If it didn’t make sense that the Saint wasn’t at the temple, then they should have called her back, but they only told us where she was.

 

And now that I have been told where to find her, here I am.

The carriage stopped, and I climbed down from the open door with the help of my escort, a Kingsguard knight, to find myself in front of a desolate orphanage built halfway into the lower section of the city.

Children in worn-out clothes were playing in the small yard, looking at me with their big mouths open.

Their cuteness made my mouth drop open.

 

「It’s a Princess!」

 

One of the girls exclaimed.

I guess she didn’t really know I was a princess, she just saw me in a dress and thought I looked like a princess.

 

The girl who shouted tried to run toward me.

I felt the Kingsguard knight suddenly put his hand on the hilt of his sword and tried to get in front of me.

Faster than I could lightly raise my hand to restrain him, the knight’s movement stopped unnaturally.

 

I can see by the signs that strong magical power is acting on the knight.

Is this an application of the art of warding? I can’t believe that they can instantly deploy a ward that is strong enough to stop the movement of a knight, who has strong internal magic power.

The presence of magic power was felt from the young nun who was holding the girl who tried to run up to her from behind.

 

「Don’t do that, if you get closer,」

 

The nun’s gentle but strong voice brought the children, who were about to move with the girl, to a halt.

What does she mean?

If they get too close to me, will they get a slap on the wrist?

But the knight actually put his hand on the sword. Maybe that’s what they thought.

The knight’s hand on the sword was just a threat, and if he had really rushed to the sword, I would have done my best to restrain him, if not with a clear intent to kill.

But I understand that the other party cannot know that.

I gestured for the knight to step back, and at the same time, the warding technique seemed to have been lifted.

 

The nun was a beautiful girl.

She was probably in her mid-teens, a few years younger than me. She had shiny black hair that fell out of her veil. Her white skin was a perfect match to her hair. Her face was as fair as a doll’s, even though she still looked a bit young.

Her beauty is not spoiled at all by her simple, worn-out monastic clothes.

 

The moment I saw her, I knew.

This person is the Saint.

She is so quiet, even though she has enormous magical power inside her, comparable to that of a royal family.

 

I hold the Kingsguard in place and enter the grounds of the orphanage.

The nun steps out in front of me as if to protect the children.

For a moment, my gaze and hers cross. Her calm purple eyes are not frightened, but they are assessing me. Not for the royal emblem engraved on the carriage, but for me, the human being.

 

If I tried to harm the children, she would turn against me without any hesitation or mercy.

Yes, I could be sure of that.

 

This girl’s eyes, I’m afraid she can see through everything.

I saw someone with the same kind of eyes once.

His Eminence Johann VII, Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, whom I met at the consecration of my fifteenth coming of age.

The one who was once called the Archbishop of the battlefield, who continued to heal people without distinction of camp or status over fierce battles.

The eyes of one who continued to see the hell of the human world and still did not hate people.

 

An incomprehensible sense of shame welled up in the pit of my stomach.

The prestige of a Saint is comparable to the royalty of the Five Kingdoms.

Perhaps this person was not born to a noble family, at least not one that could be shown to the public. If she were, she would have been unveiled in a big way.

This person stands on equal footing with me simply on her own strength.

 

A person who is the opposite of me, who is not well made, but is in the position of a princess by blood alone.

The overdressed dresses. The well-tailored carriage. The attendant guards. She does not need everything that makes me a princess.

 

But our gazes met for a moment, and then she bowed her head deeply.

I felt guilty for making her bow, but at the same time frustrated that she bowed.

You don’t have to bow to me.

 

「Greetings. Please raise your head.」

 

Yet, in public, I can only act as a princess.

 

「Your Royal Highness. How can I help you in a place like this?」

「I heard that you have the Saint here. May I speak with her?」

 

At my words, the nun finally raised her head.

Then, with a graceful bow, she said her name.

 

「I beg your pardon. I am Saint Theresa of this generation.」

 

 

◇◇◇

 

 

Then I open my closed eyes.

 

Yes, from the moment she met me, she saw me as a human being dressed only as a princess.

She saw「me」without the pretense of being a princess.

 

Then it is unreasonable for her to dislike me on the grounds that I am a princess.

If she rejects me on the grounds that I am royalty or nobility, I reject her「dislike」

Therefore, I must question her dislike.

 

I get off my bunk and head for the exit of my room.

 

「What’s wrong?」

「I’m going to change. I will be in the parade.」

 

I answer Alec’s question shortly.

The awkwardness of seeing Theresa has not gone away, but there is no reason why I should be the only one to refrain from doing so unilaterally.

There is no reason why I should give up on her.

 

We had been traveling together for a year and I knew nothing about her.

I didn’t even try to know her.

But it was the same for Theresa.

I am sure she doesn’t know anything about me either.

 

So let’s start there.

From getting to know her, again.

And to get to know who I am.