Chapter 63

As for the wound itself, he did not think of it negatively.

Even if he failed to treat it in time and a hideous scar remained forever, it did not matter. In the first place, he had only about three months of life left.

‘And that’s not all. The wound itself appeared at exactly the right time.’

Ashton knew the Duchess Rebella well. True to being the Brinita brothers’ cousin, she had aspects that resembled the two of them. In particular, she had a temperament that grew angry when things did not go according to plan, and that demanded compensation without fail for any loss she had suffered.

She would go to Kenneth within the day and pour out her grievances.

When Ashton returned home having changed clothes, with a deep wound on his forehead, the maids ran out in shock. Ashton gave instructions in a cool tone.

“It’s nothing, so go and rest now. I don’t want noisy fussing.”

The maids exchanged cautious glances, bowed deeply, and scattered to their respective places to finish up their work. Ashton waited until every maid had disappeared from the hall, then went down to the underground ‘workshop.’

When he had hurriedly found a house in Reedblon, the most important consideration had been a spacious underground storage room. Now, he was not actually using it as a storage room at all. The maids whose minds had been tampered with did not even know whether this mansion had a basement.

When he hung a lamp, lit it, and stepped into the workshop, the basement’s faintly damp smell hit him in a rush. In the basement stood tall display cabinets and an experiment bench, and here Ashton personally compounded the medicines he took.

The medicine’s recipe was complex. Some components were close to toxic substances, and most of the ingredients required several rounds of processing. Mixing and compounding the medicine was not something finished in a day. It required spending days on it, and inconveniently, the shelf life was short, so he could not make a large batch all at once.

At best, making three weeks’ worth in advance was the limit.

Ashton had struggled even when he was in Letona, making medicine while avoiding Sabina’s eyes.

On one side of the experiment bench, a recipe he had memorized by now was pinned up. He had come by it by chance at a secondhand bookstore in Berna, with an added explanation claiming it was an ancient item capable of controlling the symptoms of the illness that ruled him. It sounded absurd, but Ashton had been desperate at the time, so he decided to be fooled and tried compounding the medicine exactly as the recipe instructed.

The ingredients for the ones he was directed to take when symptoms were mild were fairly easy to obtain, so it had been a challenge worth attempting. But by some stroke of luck, the medicine agreed with his body. And so he had kept himself alive by relying on just those few sheets of paper.

His workshop was filled with all sorts of dreadful things: pots of ominous plants, hearts that still throbbed and leapt as if alive, amorphous life-forms, and more. Most of them were now regarded as nothing more than ingredients for medicine, so he could handle them without a second thought.

With a tired face, Ashton felt around the area near the wound. The surrounding skin was beginning to swell, and heat was building.

He thought sleep was out of the question tonight, so he might as well work—and once day broke, he would need to send a letter to the royal palace.

* * *

If one submitted a request for an audience with Kenneth Brinita, it typically took a week just for it to be approved, and another month before one could actually face the King. Even then, it was common for an order to dismiss the visitor to come down after only about fifteen minutes. Unless someone was blood-related to the royal family, there were no exceptions, no matter how remarkable they were.

But today was different.

Kenneth Brinita had approved an utterly preposterous audience request from Ashton Bryant, a businessman from Letona, that said, ‘I would like to see you today.’

In fact, the King’s side had even asked first, ‘Has anything come in from Ashton Bryant?’

And so Ashton Bryant received an unbelievable privilege and entered the royal palace. Boldly, with the wound on his forehead on full display.

Later, when nobles heard the news, they whispered to one another and traded meaningful looks, saying, “So that’s why he didn’t call a healing mage that very day.”

The moment Kenneth saw Ashton, he stretched out his arms and embraced him.

“Ah, my. Your looks are a precious asset to the women of Reedblon as well, and now they’ve been marred.”

“Haha. You flatter me.”

“It’s regrettable, what happened yesterday.”

“How is His Highness your brother, King? It worries me.”

Kenneth pulled Ashton over and seated him by a sunny window. Soon, short-haired attendants brought tea said to be good for treating wounds, along with a snack made by mixing pine pollen with honey. It was questionable where they had obtained pine pollen at a time when autumn was deepening.

“Reyes? He got a bit worked up. That one’s like that.”

Even while pretending to worry over Ashton’s injury, Kenneth treated what Reyes had done yesterday as though it were nothing, as if it were no big deal. Because Ashton had anticipated it to some extent, he was not shaken.

“Ray still lets his hot blood lead him.”

“Is it not fortunate that His Highness lives with such vigor?”

“Haha, you think so too, do you?”

Kenneth gestured for Ashton to drink the tea. Ashton obediently did so. By now, both men’s gazes had grown sharp. Kenneth knew what Ashton wanted to confirm, and Ashton had information he wanted to draw out of Kenneth.

Ashton was curious about ‘how much Reyes had learned.’

Kenneth was the one on the defensive. Ashton knew that the quality of what he could obtain here would change depending on how skillfully he moved.

“But yesterday, it seemed His Highness was rather unusual.”

“Ah, was he?”

“Yes. As though he bore some ill will toward me.”

With a smile, Kenneth quietly watched Ashton. He looked comfortable, as if savoring the silence. Ashton, too, wore a polite hosting smile. His forehead wound throbbed.

‘Social maneuvering is filthy every time.’

“Ray is like a racehorse. When something catches his fancy, he can’t tell left from right, front from back. You could call that passion, or you could call it stubbornness.”

A chill ran down Ashton’s spine. This was not merely a description of Reyes’s disposition. Kenneth was clearly giving a hint. Ashton had to pry apart every phrase and struggle to understand what each expression meant.

‘Something caught his fancy?’

Ashton’s complexion shifted slightly. In his head, several possible scenarios formed at once. The most likely was that Reyes had gotten hold of some clue through Helio.

Helio could not possibly have already undone the Seal. The boy had merely found a way to communicate with Reyes by digging into a gap Ashton had overlooked. Still, the fact that Helio was steadily rebelling left Ashton strangely sentimental.

‘Then His Highness the King’s brother can now be taken to know that my origin isn’t Letona. And the King in front of me must have received that report as well.’

Perhaps there were soldiers outside the door to arrest him. That would be troublesome. Not yet. It was too soon.

But luck was on Ashton’s side. Kenneth continued in an unhurried tone.

“Come to think of it, you went to your hometown with Miss D’Vialis this time, didn’t you?”

Hometown.

After hearing about Reyes, Kenneth used the word ‘hometown’ to test him. Here, Ashton had only one choice.

“Yes. We went back to my hometown. It was an enjoyable trip.”

“Haha. Good.”

Ashton took in the tea, which had cooled a little.

Kenneth narrowed his eyes and looked at Ashton. He had no intention of arresting Ashton, and so he had not stationed soldiers outside.

Even so, it was surprising. With the words Kenneth had scattered, Ashton would have grasped the situation to some extent—yet he kept sipping tea and continuing the conversation, calm and unruffled, with no sign of tension. An excellent poker face.

Ashton thought he understood what it meant to stand at Reyes’s opposing pole. And also why Reyes looked as though he wanted to go mad whenever he saw this man.

Kenneth did not think Ashton’s essence resembled his own, but he understood which side of Ashton made him seem similar to Kenneth.

Kenneth was a man of moods. In a good mood now, he decided to grant Ashton a reward he had not intended to give.

“And Ray……. Because of the blaze surrounding him, he sometimes lets even something important slip right past.”

Something important?

Ashton nearly fumbled his cup as he rolled those words around in his mouth.

His poker face cracked.

Those words brought a lightning-bolt realization. He stared at Kenneth with eyes wide, then forced himself to pull himself together.

His heart began pounding. He covered his mouth and thought for a moment. If what Kenneth had just said meant what Ashton believed it meant…….

Kenneth Brinita would not act as an obstacle.

Ashton calculated how to speak in a way that would give Kenneth certainty while still allowing Ashton to escape if something unpleasant happened later. After agonizing, he opened his mouth.

“Your Majesty……. You still think Helio and I resemble each other like brothers, don’t you?”

At those words, Kenneth burst into a brisk laugh.

“Ah, of course! Back then, the boy looked so terribly displeased that I held back a move. But yes, I do still think so. Come to think of it, that day was the Magic Research Achievement Presentation, wasn’t it? Soon, Miss D’Vialis will make public the answer to the questions raised that day.”

A flood of information poured in. Ashton sharpened his senses so as not to miss even the smallest nuance.

Kenneth still thought Helio and Ashton looked like brothers. And that day had been the Magic Research Achievement Presentation……. Kenneth and Sabina had conducted joint research.

Kenneth’s magic had been essential to their research.

When Ashton’s thoughts reached that point, his hand trembled lightly. Kenneth watched with enjoyment as Ashton finally revealed a trace of agitation. The moment of savoring did not last long. Ashton soon smiled.

“Ah, come to think of it, thanks to your magic, Your Majesty, the trip was enjoyable. Because it allowed me to leave many traces…….”