Chapter 10.8

After the Second Prince left with those meaningful words, Brienne and her group also left Seints Medical Center. Diashi had suddenly complained of a headache and went for treatment.

Garzen, watching Brienne’s tense expression, asked quietly,

“Hey, Miss. Are you alright?”

“What do you mean?”

“Perian… that bastard. I should have ripped his mouth apart when he said those filthy things to you. Sorry for just watching. I’ve never had a good outcome when confronting him. He’s always trying to poison me.”

So that’s why Lusell tried so hard to stop him. Brienne recalled Lusell’s desperate plea and nodded, frowning.

“I’m fine. Actually, I enjoyed it.”

“What?”

Garzen blinked in disbelief. Brienne glanced at him and smiled faintly.

“I feel my blood boil when I say what’s right. It’s been a while since my heart raced like this. Of course, what he said to you was truly unbearable.”

“…Blood boiling, huh. Where did you pick up that phrase?”

“From Miss Diashi.”

Garzen looked at Brienne, who was shining with determination, and massaged his forehead. He’d always known she was extraordinary, but since meeting Diashi the mage, Brienne’s speech had grown bolder.

And…

Her eyes when facing Perian.

Garzen recalled Brienne’s unwavering pale green gaze. Thinking back to the moment when she shone as if she were the only one in the world, he felt his heart ache.

Garzen absentmindedly rubbed his chest and cleared his throat.

“Ahem, Miss, you’re scarier than I thought. At this rate, I won’t have to worry about you anywhere.”

“What? Why would you worry about me, Zen? And why would you even think of sending me somewhere?”

“That’s obviously because…….”

Garzen trailed off, pursing his lips as he looked at Brienne, who asked incredulously. Brienne shrugged her shoulders and walked ahead.

“Anyway. After meeting that arrogant Second Prince, I think you are actually a pretty decent person. It feels like I’m seeing you in a new light, Zen.”

“I feel the same whenever I meet him. Our prince often makes slips of the tongue, but the Second Prince—he doesn’t slip. If Prince Perian is absolute evil, then our prince is… pure evil, perhaps.”

Lusell, walking beside Brienne, nodded in agreement. Following behind the two, Garzen felt unjustly accused.

“Wait a second—who are you comparing to who? You can’t seriously be putting me on the same level as that worthless bastard, can you?”

“Do you truly not understand? Then perhaps recall that slip of the tongue you just made a moment ago.”

At Lusell’s teasing remark, Garzen scratched the back of his head with a groan.

But Brienne didn’t seem to care, climbing into the carriage and changing the subject.

“Zen, Lusell. About moving Miss Diashi to the Third Prince’s palace as soon as her treatment is done—”

“Oh, what about it?”

“I just feel uneasy. Can you let her family stay with her, just in case? I heard she has a lot of siblings.”

“Oh, her family?”

Garzen raised his eyebrows as he closed the carriage door. Lusell nodded right away.

“I was worried about that too. Since we’re not sure what happened to Miss Diashi, I think it’s best to follow Miss Brienne’s suggestion and be cautious.”

“Alright, if you both agree.”

Garzen nodded and rolled down the window, giving instructions to the knight standing outside. The knight bowed and stepped back, and the coachman signaled the carriage’s departure.

Garzen relaxed, leaning back with a sigh.

Brienne brought up her next question after the carriage had left the city where Seints Medical Center was located.

“……By the way. Was the Second Prince really here to investigate Hamartia?”

“Why? Is something bothering you?”

Brienne hesitated under Garzen and Lusell’s gaze, shaking her head.

“I can’t say for sure, but… something feels strange. He did call me a gatekeeper or whatever, but honestly—what right do I have to block a prince from meeting his own country’s people?”

Brienne was a noble of the Rontiano Empire, not of the Holy Kingdom of Roeta. Her status was lower than a prince’s, and she had no real power.

If he came all the way here himself, why would he just leave?

With a darkened expression, Brienne spoke carefully.

“……Maybe the Second Prince is somehow connected to Hamartia?”

“I did suspect that for a moment…….”

Lusell, who had been jotting notes in his notebook, slowly looked up.

“But His Highness Perian has no reason to stir up Hamartia. To set aside the obvious—that he’s a prince born into luxury and would hardly attack his own country—he’s also the First Prince’s right-hand man and has no interest in the throne.”

“That’s right. If he wanted to betray the First Prince and be crowned the next King, he should have stopped this incident.”

The explosion at the academy library was a hot topic not just in Roeta but across the continent. All the ancient tomes, preserved for centuries, were destroyed, and Roeta’s pride—the library—was so damaged it would take decades to rebuild.

This was an event that would fill a page in Roeta’s history books.

If the Second Prince had prevented the disaster, his reputation would have soared. He might even have been chosen as the next King.

Listening to Garzen and Lusell, Brienne nodded.

“I see…… I guess I was being suspicious for no reason.”

“Not at all. It’s just that he doesn’t have a motive. But even so, Prince Perian’s warning about not peeking into the well keeps bothering me.”

‘Don’t peek into the well.’

Brienne tilted her head at the phrase. It seemed to be a saying she didn’t know.

“What does that mean, exactly?”

She asked cautiously, and Lusell, flipping through his notebook, looked over.

“Oh, it’s a proverb from Roeta mythology.”

“A proverb?”

“Yes, it’s about an old well in a village.”

Lusell closed his notebook and continued.

“One day, a mysterious well was found in the forest. It gave sweet water to the thirsty, gold and silver to the poor, and medicinal herbs to the sick.”

“A wish-granting well.”

Garzen, noticing Brienne’s interest, chimed in.

“That’s right. But then, people wanted to look inside the well. Since it kept granting wishes, they thought there must be even more inside.”

Brienne remembered hearing a similar fable as a child. Even in different countries, the lessons were often the same. It was a story about how greed leads to ruin. Brienne nodded.

“But those who looked into the well ended up falling in, one by one. Even when voices cried for help from inside, no one could look in. No one could rescue those who had already fallen.”

“Oh, so that’s why you shouldn’t look in…….”

Garzen agreed, shrugging his shoulders.

“But even in the myth, it never says what was inside. Some say there was a monster that ate people, others say it was endlessly deep water, and some say there were mountains of corpses. No one knows for sure.”

“So which version do you believe, Zen?”

“Me?”

Garzen blinked at the unexpected question, then spoke a bit sheepishly.

“Well…… When I first heard the story as a kid, I really thought there was gold, herbs, and sweet water all mixed together. Treasures beyond imagination inside the well. So maybe people leaned in to look for what they wanted and just fell in…… Everyone laughed at my idea, though.”

Garzen, uncharacteristically shy, seemed hesitant to share his thoughts. Brienne smiled softly and nodded.

“It’s a good idea. Then let’s ignore Prince Perian’s advice and think that way.”

“……What?”

Garzen looked up at Brienne, who smiled as if she’d expected this.

“Just like what you said. Let’s believe everything we want is inside the well. If someone holds us from behind, we’ll never fall in.”

Brienne glanced at Lusell.

“The person who erased Diashi’s memory—I don’t know who it is, but I want to get revenge for her. I also want you to put the Second Prince in his place.”

“Miss Brienne…….”

Lusell closed his notebook and parted his lips as if searching for words.

“……Ah, I wanted to say something cool, but nothing comes to mind. I’ll just have to thank you again, as always.”

“What is that, Lusell? That’s not sincere.”

Brienne’s gentle laughter filled the large carriage. Garzen unconsciously covered his face and looked out the window.

The more he remembered the faces of the First and Second Princes, who had mocked his childhood thoughts, the hotter his face became.

It must be anger. But why did his heart keep pounding so wildly?

“……Maybe it’s not anger.”

“Excuse me? What did you say?”

Lusell tilted his head at Garzen’s muttering. Only then did Garzen lower his hands from his face and sigh.

“Lusell, when we get back to the palace, call a physician. I need a check-up as soon as possible.”

“Why, Zen? Are you sick?”

Brienne looked at Garzen with concern, but he couldn’t bring himself to look back at her.

Maybe he simply didn’t have the courage to turn his head.