READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 17 - 6. Typical Romance (2)
She should have shouted, ‘You dropped something!’
At that time, Fanora was still timid, so she couldn’t speak out loud. Eventually, she hesitated and lost sight of the man, so she belatedly picked up something that had fallen on the floor. It was a fragrant bag.
“Uh… How can I give this back to him…”
Fanora looked at the spilled object and was worried for a moment. But after a few seconds, judging by her calm reason, it was concluded that finding him wouldn’t be difficult.
“Ah!”
There was a cloak hung on the man’s back as he moved away. How could she not know the pattern on it, as a citizen of Kingdom Kasius? Obviously, the cloak was worn only by the knights of the Kingdom. She didn’t look closely at his clothes, but it seemed to be a knight’s uniform.
Maybe he hadn’t already run out of here.
Knowing who the owner of the item was, Fanora went back to the party to return it.
Obviously, several knights were standing at the entrance to the banquet hall. The man has rare bright red hair, so they will return it to its master if I tell his colleague.
At that time, she had not lost her kind personality, even in a desperate situation, so she willingly offered her kindness. And…
“Uh!”
“Ooh?”
In the Rose Tunnel, the last gateway to exit the garden, FanoraI just ran into the one she was looking for. Maybe because her pace was slow, she could meet the man who had come back to this place halfway to exit.
“Hello?”
There she met Carl Andras, whom she should have met a few years later. As Fanora had expected, the man with rose-red hair and blood-red eyes was dressed in a knight’s uniform.
“Sir, did you come back because you lost something?”
“Yes, yes! That’s right. I shouldn’t run around recklessly just because something urgent happened. When wearing a ceremonial uniform like this, things will quickly fall out if I put anything in the pocket.”
“I happened to be on my way to return it to you…! Here you go.”
They achieved each other’s goals after a simple conversation.
“Thank you. Huh? Did you find this too…?”
“This too?”
“T-The thing I lost isn’t this. It’s much more important.”
But somehow, things got twisted, and the man started to panic. “What I’m looking for is a jewel necklace for my nephew…”
“Where did you start running? Wouldn’t it be better to look back from your memory?”
“From the annex…”
“You ran from there until you crossed this garden?!” Fanora opened her mouth wide to his incredible physical abilities, but it was not the time to be shocked. It was because the gentle-looking knight began to cry.
“It’s a big deal. Can I find the necklace before the end of the day? Today is my nephew’s birthday. If I don’t deliver the present on her birthday, my sister will kill me for ignoring her daughter.”
“Calm down, I understand that your sister will be angry, but you’re not really going to die…”
“I’m not kidding. My sister is really capable of doing that!”
Without a moment to be surprised, Carl Andras bowed to her and asked her to help him find the necklace because he was in a difficult position to make a personal request to his fellow colleagues. He explained the details, but Fanora’s answer was already decided.
“It’s an expensive item, so it’s a big deal if someone picks it up. Let’s find it together quickly, Sir Knight!”
“!”
Fanora willingly helped Carl. Fortunately, they could find the necklace without difficulty when they looked back on the road he had been running. In a way, it was no big deal. If he had to pay for her kindness, it would be the price for one meal at the most.
“Your name is Fanora Celsius? Thank you very much. I will never forget it. I will definitely repay this favor by all means!”
Fanora took his words lightly, but she couldn’t ignore the words that followed.
“My name is Carl Andras, the third son of Marquis Andras. So, if you need anything, please send a letter to my family.”
“…?”
What? While Fanora was surprised by the name she heard to the point her mouth was gasping, the knights in uniform, just like Carl, ran out from afar.
“Vice-captain, you have been here. The captain is…”
“…”
“Is he mad that I’m leaving my post?! I must go right away. Thank you for today!”
So to conclude this story, the boy, who was playing around with the necklace on the stairs, would become the youngest vice captain of the knights, who later made incredible achievements in various battles.
“Is that person really him? I only heard that he looked scary like a brown bear.”
Even at that time, there was a big difference between his rumors and real impressions. Perhaps it was because he rarely showed his face except on the battlefield.
* * *
Returning from a brief flashback, Fanora thought for a moment.
A person who always repays favors.
She already confirmed what kind of personality the boy in front of her had in the future. Because he paid off the favor from finding the necklace in an amazing way.
Fanora had once been framed and imprisoned because of a scheme devised by Haures at the behest of Naverius. Suppose the person in the engagement relationship had committed a criminal offense. In that case, even a weaker family could unilaterally terminate the engagement.
Fanora didn’t even get a decent lawyer while in prison at that time. Naverius, the only person to come to see her, would also rot in prison if he committed a crime. The guards would torture her every day and scared her that she would never survive even for a year.
I have to get married to get out of this house. I should run away sooner than later and earn a living by grazing the grass. Why did I think of my family as a family, why did I spend all the money I saved only to get scammed, why did I meet a bastard like Naverius.
Fanora was terrified at that time. She felt at the thought that she would never get out of the prison, so she trembled alone in solitary confinement, then recalling the memory she had forgotten. It was when the third son of the Andreas family told her to send him a letter if she needed something.
I don’t know why he did it back then.
To be honest, it was an absurd story from the beginning. It was just that she helped him to find the necklace for his nephew. If she hadn’t been there, he would have found the necklace. Because it was in an obvious location. Besides, it must be out of courtesy that he said he would return the favor. But it was the only string Fanora could grab at that time.
Eventually, Fanora wrote her first letter to him from prison. She pressed down the fact that she was unfairly imprisoned and sent it to him. To be honest, she didn’t expect him to do anything about the situation. She just wanted to complain because she felt so frustrated.
But what was the result? Fanora was released from prison a few days later.
“…”
It was Carl Andras who paid for her huge bail. His subsequent actions were also bizarre. He requested a retrial of the judgment against her charges. At the trial held shortly afterward, he even sent a lawyer from Marquis Andras.
He is the third son who didn’t inherit the title. Even if he obtained a high position among the knights, he would not have a lot of wealth, as the money he earned from his salary and estate were different… But he paid my bail.
That was too much. At that time, Fanora had lost everything she had, so there was no benefit in helping her, and he would not have even known whether it was true that she had been falsely accused. Nevertheless, he kept his promise to help.
After that, a war broke out during the trial, and I never saw him again because he was sent out.
“Europa… Do you really know the whereabouts of the holy relic Europa? No, how do you… What’s your name? I need to hear your name first. Which family are you coming from?”
After a moment’s thought, Carl poured out questions to her.
Well, anyway.
The Holy relic, Europa. That thing was good as a strong leash to tie this crazy dog. She must be the only person in this world who knows the whereabouts of both the holy relics.
Is my life such a mess because I’m lucky on this side?
She belatedly focused on her conversation with Carl.
“What is your name?”
“I’m Fanora from the house of Celsius. And the clue for that holy relic is… Europa’s form is a bull-shaped earring.”
Fanora cherished even the promise he had made to her, so she decided that it would be better to keep him with a sincere deal. She also knew from her previous life that Carl wanted to have the holy relic Europa.
How could she know that? Because Carl even published a notice in the newspaper later. He said he could give everything he had to anyone who brought him the holy relic Europa.
Now that she thought about it, it was a foolish act. Europa was in charge of ‘time’ among the three holy relics that interfere with the world’s laws and was said to bring eternal life to its owner. Who would sell eternal life for money? Unlike Ganimede and Io, which were owned by the royal family and the pope, only the owner of Europa didn’t have a clear history.
“No ordinary person would know, but I can’t believe you know that…”
“I’ve seen it myself, so I know how it looks.”
“!”
Fanora didn’t know why Carl wanted Europa. But what was certain was that before regressing, he said he wanted this holy relic so much. Thanks to this, in the past, rumors of him had spread in society, and he had been deceived by swindlers who were asking for money because they knew Europa’s information. Standing as the flower of the wall, she overheard Carl always questioning the shape of the holy relic to anyone who came to him to give information about Europa.
“How do you know the shape of Europa?”
“Ah, that’s… I have an old book about holy relics at home. It’s completely different from the holy relic books that sell on the market.”
Did she succeed in passing the first gate? Carl Andras continued with a flushed face as the conversation progressed.
“Ugh, but do you really think you can give it to me?”
“Do you want that holy relic so much?”
“To be exact, only Europa. I really want that!”
From that look on his face, he seems to have wanted Europa since he was this age. He acted as if he would do anything for Europa. Did he really want to live long?
But, considering the family history of Marquis Andras…
Fanora understood his greed without difficulty. Marquis Andras’s family, to which he belongs, had been used as a spear and shield of the Kingdom for generations. This might be a good explanation, but the problem was the nature of their family.
It is reasonable for the Andras family to die at a young age, so it is worth having Europa.
Their family was a crazy family who regarded combat as the best pleasure of their lives. Perhaps because of their tendency to be too violent, they often did meritorious deeds. Still, the members of their family were often short-lived.
“If you could change your personality, you could live long without Europa.”
“You know what the blood of the Andras family is like… Uh, d-don’t tell me the condition for receiving Europa is not to fight?”
Fanora was silent for a moment with a pose that didn’t fit her current young age and then brought out the next words. “It’s not like that. I already said before that I need a servant.”
“Dog… right?”
“Yes. There is something I want to ask Carl. You need to help me achieve all of my goals, so when my 18th birthday comes or before that, I will let you have Europa.”
“Aren’t the conditions interesting?”
Carl showed great interest that Fanora went through a simple confirmation process before forming a secret deal with him.