Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 55

[Translation By Divinity]

When Sir Stern, despite his exceptional skills, failed to find the princess, the king summoned him and said,

“Your heroic deeds have greatly benefited the kingdom and set an example for all citizens, but you have failed in the most important task of finding the princess. Should I reward you or punish you?”

Sir Stern replied calmly,

“Punish me. I failed to carry out my lord’s command. It is only right that I be punished.”

The king pondered for a moment and then said,

“Then your punishment shall be to search for the princess eternally. It doesn’t matter if you can’t bring her back to this castle or if it’s after my death. Please find the princess, make sure she’s doing well, and make her happy.”

Sir Stern promised the king he would. Soon after, the king passed away, and Sir Stern once again set off on his journey to find the princess.

And that was the end of the story.

***

The ending of the adventurous tale of the brave knight Stern was truly anticlimactic.

The original story made no mention of whether Sir Stern ever found the princess or where and what she was doing.

People were outraged at the lack of a proper conclusion. But despite that, Sir Stern’s adventures were truly captivating.

Perhaps because of this, the tale of Knight Stern’s adventures, although it began with the quest to find the princess, focused more on other events. The story of defeating the evil dragon was more interesting than the failure to find the princess.

The story, adapted into a children’s tale for young children who struggled to read long novels, often focused solely on the dragon-slaying part, omitting everything else. People knew that Sir Stern’s adventure originally started with the quest to find the princess, but they didn’t consider it particularly important.

However, Damian had this assessment of Sir Stern:

A guy whose life was ruined because he served the wrong lord.

Having to wander endlessly in search of the princess because of the king’s order was ridiculous. He should have been rewarded for slaying the dragon and punishing the evil lord and allowed to live a comfortable life in his later years.

“Sir Stern is Sir Stern. Why should he be punished? No, the king was even more ridiculous for asking him to choose between a reward and punishment. Who would dare ask for a reward in that situation?”

“And the princess should have just come out of hiding when she heard that Sir Stern was searching for her all over the neighboring kingdom. If she had been hiding for that long, she must have done enough, right?”

Damian disliked the story of Knight Stern not only because he had taken his surname from it but also because he held these thoughts. That’s why he couldn’t understand when Lilliana said Knight Stern loved the princess.

“To begin with, you wouldn’t spend your whole life searching for someone you don’t have feelings for.”

Lilliana said, gesturing with the fork she was about to use for the salad served before the main course. Damian awkwardly scooped up some soup with his left hand and replied,

“But it was the king’s order.”

“He searched for the princess for his entire life out of his own will, didn’t he?”

“That’s because the king subtly steered the conversation in that direction.”

“Oh, come on. That’s not it. Look at the timing of the princess’s disappearance. It was the day before her wedding to the prince of the neighboring kingdom, right? She didn’t want to get married.”

“It could have been an unwanted kidnapping.”

“If it were a kidnapping, the kidnappers would have demanded something, right? But there was no mention of that. So it’s clear she ran away on her own because she didn’t want a political marriage. That means the princess must have liked someone else. And that someone was Sir Stern! He was the knight who always protected her.”

“Couldn’t it be that she just… didn’t want to get married? You know, like… being a lifelong single…”

“That’s possible, but isn’t the interpretation that Sir Stern and the princess loved each other more romantic?”

“That’s true, but…”

“That’s why I feel sorry for Sir Stern! He clearly loved the princess, but because she disappeared, he never realized her feelings.”

“Eh…”

Damian tilted his head with a silly expression.

“They could have just confessed to each other. Either the princess or Sir Stern…”

“Well, that’s the part I’m curious about too.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Sir Stern was a great knight favored by the king, despite their difference in social status. So if the princess had just talked to him, I don’t think marriage would have been impossible.”

Lilliana nodded, lost in her own thoughts.

“But why did she run away? I don’t understand.”

Damian rolled his eyes and replied,

“Because she didn’t love him…”

“No, that’s not it!”

Lilliana didn’t give Damian a chance to argue. So he just shut his mouth and listened to her thoughts.

“Anyway, I feel sorry for both Sir Stern and the princess! This story is so sad.”

Lilliana picked at the olives in her salad with a gloomy expression. Damian still didn’t quite understand what she was saying, but he found her different perspective on the story of Knight Stern’s adventures refreshing.

“But I think they must have met again in the end. Most legends and fairy tales end with a happy ending. The ending is obvious.”

To Damian’s surprise, Lilliana shook her head.

“No, you can’t know that for sure.”

“Don’t you want a happy ending where they live happily ever after?”

Damian blinked, and Lilliana swallowed the olive she was chewing and gestured with her fork.

“Of course, if they met, it would have been a satisfying happy ending for everyone. But if they didn’t, there’s a bittersweet beauty in that too. That’s why it’s sad and leaves a lingering feeling.”

Damian couldn’t understand Lilliana’s interpretation at all. But regardless, Lilliana was getting teary-eyed again, immersed in the ending she imagined. Damian quickly handed her a napkin.

And he waited patiently for her to calm down.

After some time, when Lilliana seemed to have recovered from her emotional outburst, Damian cautiously asked,

“But why did you suddenly bring up the fairy tale about Knight Stern’s adventure?”

Lilliana swallowed the olive she was chewing and chose her words carefully.

“Well… your last name is Stern, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Actually, I’ve only ever seen the surname Stern in the Knight Stern fairy tale.”

“Yes.”

“But seeing your last name made me think that Knight Stern might be your distant ancestor. So I was curious if there were any clues about your ancestors in the fairy tale…”

“How did you even come up with that idea…”

Damian muttered with a snort.

“Hey, why are you laughing?”

Lilliana puffed out her cheeks in protest at Damian’s amused reaction, and he cleared his throat and explained.

“I don’t share a single drop of blood with the Knight Stern from the fairy tale.”

“Why not? It’s an oral folktale, so if the real events were exaggerated, there could be a connection to the Stern family.”

Damian’s eyes widened at Lilliana’s question, and he felt a bit awkward about how to explain. He would have to start with his parents and being abandoned at the orphanage, which didn’t bring up pleasant feelings.

This was precisely why he disliked the story of Knight Stern. Whenever someone said, “That’s the name from the famous fairy tale!” or “The Stern family still exists?!”, he had to explain why he had no connection to the tale.

When he was younger, he would earnestly explain it to everyone. These days, he just let them misunderstand, but he still didn’t like people assuming he was a descendant of the Stern family.