DRD7

Chapter 7

Helios and Ogotai carried on a light conversation as if sharing a casual chat. Yet, amidst the seemingly easygoing exchange, a tightening feeling grew within him.

The thought that he would have to be stuck with that woman for at least a few months during the hunt crawled in his mind like an irritating little bug. Without showing it, Helios asked carefully:

“Is the Mistress of Morghenda’s Tower someone reliable?”

“Well… if we’re talking about skill, she’s superior enough to have killed her master. Personally, I find her repulsive.”

Ogotai scratched her chin absentmindedly, choosing her words carefully.

“But she’s good to work with. If she has a goal, she’ll achieve it, no matter what. Even if it means killing those like family.”

She looked Helios in the eye and smiled. Like a mischievous boy.

“Of course, I’m always on your side, Helios.”

Helios recalled Mari’s report, which said that Ogotai had strongly defended Enya. Even if Ogotai sided with him, the part of her that could never be read remained. In the midst of mocking himself for not trusting even his sister, he recalled the air from last night. The slightly sweet, yet pungent tone of her words.

‘Then you should endure it too.’
‘Think of what you’ve killed and what you’ve protected.’

Why did that line come back to him? He had endured all his life, yet now it felt sudden.

He smirked bitterly and covered his mouth with his teacup.

“I am also on Your Highness’s side.”

“Coming out quickly?”

As he left the Crown Prince’s residence, it was Enya, not a retainer, who greeted Helios. Seeing the retainer struggling behind her, he guessed the situation. A mere retainer would hardly dare oppose the owner of the tower, especially when it was the infamous Mistress of Morghenda’s Tower.

He merely cast a glance at Enya leaning against the carriage entrance and climbed in. It was a look as if giving alms to a beggar. Enya laughed faintly, amused, and sat directly across from him.

The door closed, and the carriage began to move. Enya surveyed the cramped, aging interior with narrowed, slightly amused eyes.

“The carriage is modest, Sir Knight. Even for a paladin, isn’t this a bit too tight?”

“Get to the point.”

“I don’t care what you and the Crown Prince are scheming. But now that things have come to this, I should at least act knowledgeable.”

Though she had been in seclusion for a long time, her experience allowed her to sense the subtle unease surrounding the royal court.

First, Helios.

Since he was still a paladin, it was clear the emperor had not granted him a title. Perhaps he had refused a title to live purely as a cleric. But if that were the case, he wouldn’t have attached himself to the Crown Prince and dipped a toe into court society.

He wanted something. Most would assume he sought to serve the prince, but…

“Nameless lands, a crumbling wasteland. A knight from the setting sun.”

Her half-lowered black eyes fixed on him. It was as if the fabric over the window had been drawn aside.

“You intend to become the lord of the West, don’t you?”

Helios slowly returned her gaze. His look showed no hint of wavering as he read her thoughts.

“Correct. You are my justification.”

He admitted it willingly.

Though his official position in the political sphere was merely a cleric under the Crown Prince, the reality was different.

He wanted to be the lord of the West, an independent power outside the city and the capital, owning land where he could carve out his life.

“Monsters dwell beyond the borders, and power resides in the capital. But to the people in the capital, the likes of the Demon King or monsters are mere tales.”

Since most monsters lived in the borderlands, inland people felt no direct threat from them. To the citizens, a paladin who had slain a Demon King was a wondrous tale; to the powerful, merely a bothersome cleric.

To receive a title, he had to establish his presence in the capital, a new battlefield. To Ogotai, who sought to expand her influence, Helios was a valuable pawn. Likewise, Helios needed the Crown Prince to gain his title. Their alliance, though temporary, was convenient for both siblings.

It would all become evident in time, but Enya noticing it wasn’t exactly pleasant.

‘Quick to catch on.’

Though she lived in seclusion, she was persistent in matters of politics.

“Well, they wouldn’t simply hand out a title without you proving yourself, right?”

He stayed silent, so Enya muttered to herself:

“Hmm, since the Morghenda Tower Mistress and the Radiant Knight are joining the hunt, and the mental-realm monster is affecting the capital… it will certainly leave a strong impression.”

She glanced out the window and fell silent for a moment.

Helios had no idea what thoughts ran through her small head. At a glance, she appeared empty-headed. Yet that very face had exterminated her own comrades. He didn’t need to pry, but a compulsion arose to know what she was thinking.

Since she was joining the hunt, it was natural for him to be curious. Still, Helios stayed silent and waited for her to speak. Showing curiosity first would give her an excuse to manipulate him.

Her slender index and middle fingers pressed lazily against her plump lips. Only when the carriage left the palace and the path opened up did she break the brief silence.

“It’s hard to earn recognition from family.”

“…….”

“Isn’t that right, Knight?”

He didn’t understand the logic, but Enya had even grasped that the emperor ignored Helios for personal reasons.

Even without personal bias, there were valid reasons the emperor had not granted Helios a title.

Helios was the illegitimate son of a deceased consort, had abandoned the imperial surname, and the emperor, who doted on the Crown Prince, would not welcome a new power entering the court.

Yet Enya expressed it plainly: “It’s hard to earn recognition.”

Her words could have been sarcastic, but they were accurate.

The emperor—and his one true father—hated Helios Depert.

Yet the shrewd emperor, unable to refuse Ogotai’s insistence on hosting a feast for his younger son, would prepare a banquet and feign praise for Helios’s achievements. The public merely assumed the emperor actively worked to attach Helios to the Crown Prince.

Helios waited for her mockery, expecting a slight cut, a word about being a forsaken son, or deserved scorn.

Instead, silence lingered on Enya’s face.

He assumed it was a calculated move to negotiate. If anyone else spoke, it would be one thing, but any rumors from a member of the hunting party would complicate matters.

Helios decided to speak first.

“Do you require compensation for your silence?”

“No. This suffices.”

She neither sneered nor mocked. Her words, for a brief instant, felt gentle, as if she shared a similar pain.

“I said I needed to understand the situation. I’m not asking for anything.”

Helios immediately frowned. A person like him, who moved only when it suited his interests, had no right to hear that and remain unmoved. If she was using her own illegitimate status to gauge his background, it was even more irritating.

There was no reason for them to empathize, but there was also no reason to believe her words blindly. She had strangled Gray in the garden without hesitation. He admired her cold efficiency.

“I can’t trust you.”

“……What?”

Enya’s bewildered expression was perfect. If she were sincere, perhaps she would have been better suited as an actress than a mage.

“There’s no reason to trust that ‘suffices’ of yours. Consider this a warning—if you divulge anything from today’s conversation, don’t think you’ll walk away unscathed.”

Helios’s green eyes flared. Bowing slightly, he whispered directly to Enya:

“I could reduce Morghenda to ashes in two days.”

“Are you threatening me?”

The silence confirmed it. Enya glared at him, flabbergasted.

He could have attacked her using her family background, but he had maintained minimal courtesy. Of course, she didn’t expect ordinary pleasantries either.

Yet, since they were now working under the Crown Prince’s orders, keeping boundaries was proper. No need to reveal disdain so openly.

Enya began to wonder. Why had she agreed to this plan when she disliked him so much?

“I have a question. Did you know I’d join?”

“I expected someone would, but I didn’t know it would be you.”

He spoke without expression.

“I only knew the framework of the plan myself.”

Ogotai may appear impulsive, but there was no one more meticulous and calculating than her. Hiding her true intentions under a boisterous exterior, she revealed only the framework of the plan because she didn’t fully trust Helios.

‘They seemed close.’

As a trace of doubt crossed Enya’s face, Helios dismissed it.

“Your Highness does not stab from behind, Morghenda Tower Mistress.”

Enya was momentarily stunned. For a fleeting moment, she had assumed his childhood was as troubled as hers and felt a tiny spark of sympathy. She was foolish.

What on earth had caused her to feel that kinship last night? She wished she could dig up and discard everything from the garden.

Minimal courtesy? That no longer existed.

‘I’ll completely ruin him.’

With a clear goal set, her chaotic emotions receded like the tide. She reclined against the carriage seat, her usual indifferent expression returning.

“Good thing you volunteered to serve the Crown Prince. If a stray rock causes a bloodbath in the palace, the Tower Mistress would naturally suffer.”

“Is that all you have to say?”

Her attack met with no reaction from him.

She had expected him to crumble easily.