Ikshid gripped the table cloth with his aching head.
"I'm sorry to say this in front of you, but I think it might be better for him to voluntarily give his neck to the pirates and return if he managed to escape, after he had given up all the mines in a mountain range. I don't know how many times I've been thinking about this."
"You're right."
Tashian closed his eyes and responded with a light nod.
Eun-woo trembled at the scene of their betrayal.
'No, when did these two men, who used to growl and fight in front of me, take each other's sides and weigh my brother's life?'
He was a brother in a novel that she had never seen before, but her brother was a very, very important person to her.
Eun-woo jumped up from her seat to defend her brother, whom she had never met, in front of these two insensitive men.
"That's not fair! Heaven knows that human life is precious, and Earth knows that too!"
With her fierce momentum, Ikshid and Tashian faltered back. Regardless, she insisted with all her might.
"Even though the two of you know deeply about my brother's abilities, there is no one in the world who has been caught up by pirates and would come back alive! He must return before the Victory Banquet! If he is unable to return before then, I won't be able to escape from the duke's house…"
She barely managed to pull herself together and uttered those last words coming from her throat.
".. It- it's not like that. It was just my brother life is precious! Not the thing I said earlier!"
Ikshid and Tashian exchanged glances with their surprised faces. Ikshid who got embarrassed by her unexpected words, quickly came to his senses and began to appease her.
"No, Elli. Calm down. A task force that was dispatched from our Hellasium military base, has already begun to search for your brother's whereabouts. His Majesty's strict order has already been sent down to put Your Older brother's safety first."
"What's important here is not safety, but how fast my brother will return to the Imperial Palace.…!"
Eun-woo, who had been shouting out of frustration, said, "Oops. Of-of course, his safety is the most important thing!"
As she finished her last words, she sat down on her chair. She calmly cleared her throat in front of the two men who were sitting dumbfounded. Ikshid looked at Eun-woo and stuck out his tongue.
"The renovated residence of him after Miller returns is a good place to have a stop and talk. He has a younger sister who cares about his health regardless of whether or not she is like this, so he will have to come back without a single strand of hair missing on his hair."
Eun-woo thought that she was too much, so she slightly bowed her head to cover her reddened cheeks. At that time, she felt a presence nearby her. Tashian, who frowned, put his arm on the chair where she sat, and stared at her.
Eun-woo, who received his gaze, shrank her back.
Did I make a mistake? Was Eleanor never a woman who made such a loud noise?
There were so many thoughts which came into Tashian's mind that he opened his mouth with feeling doubtful.
"I didn't know you'd be so worried about him."
Eun-woo was very embarrassed.
Don't tell her that Eleanor and Miller's friendship as siblings was not as good as she expected?
She leaned back and pulled herself away from him. She answered while stroking her hair innocently.
"It- It's all obvious. Because he's my brother."
"… Is that so?"
He pondered hard about something for a moment and lifted his face slightly.
Eun-woo blinked in surprise. He looked down at her and said with a serious face.
"Don't worry. I'll bring him in front of you at all costs. So you can just stay at my residence until he comes back."
If she asked him to move a mountain, he would do it, doubtlessly. With his serious eyes, Eun-woo's whole neck heated up and she stiffened in one moment.
Seeing that, Ikshid muttered mischievously, turning the chair back.
"Today, the male and female bluebirds had the best scene…."
(TN: Representing Tashian and Eun-woo.)
Tashian pretended to not hear him. Ikshid murmured as he clicked his tongue.
"It's been 3 years since I've left the capital because I was pushed back, so I thought that I'd never show my face once again, but Your Majesty would be heartbroken if he inquired about this had I used a different reason."
Ikshid's eyes were on Eun-woo, who was listening to those words from Tashian. She broke into cold sweats as she looked at him.
"I saw His Majesty once when I entered the Imperial Palace. If you are talking about the post-war situation report, I understand that the Deputy Commander Gerald replaced it."
"How can a general commander and a deputy commander be the same? This is a dereliction of duty!"
"Stop being stubborn. Your Majesty knows better than anyone else that I have more work to do in the city."
Tashian's voice was now mixed with an indescribable annoyance.
Eun-woo now wondered if she should turn the subject of the conversation between the two.
They seemed to be fighting, but somehow, her worries had increased because of them. One could only view it as them clowning around trying to one up the other.
"I heard the news that you have joined the Senate again this time. I do not care at all about your safety, but I hope that you will take into account the position of His Majesty who has to deal with it."
"This wicked guy … ! I knew from a long time ago that the lower officials from the Court are plotting treason! How those old men of the Senate hold their head up high stiffly in front of me?! If you hadn't mobilized barbarians to defend this border in the first place, Tashian, this wouldn't have happened!"
"I'm the one who sent for your majesty's seal on the paper. Without me seeking for permission, the lower court would have known in advance that the engagement at that time was likely to have been difficult and guessed at it."
Ikshid finally burst into anger and slammed the table. Eun-woo was surprised as the plate containing the refreshments slipped towards him.
"The word barbarian is funny too! Since when has Kartina become a place of barbarians? I don't understand the stubbornness of the party's senior council. Since we have clearly exchanged tributes and princes over the past 2000 years, this is enough to be a country!"
It was a ridiculous exclamation, but it ended with Tashian raising his eyebrows. The long-standing hostility between the Senate and the imperial family was not a Great Wall that had just been built overnight.
"However, the claim that this mobilization of the Kartina army caused the blood of the barbarians to mix with the army and disturb the people… .. Where did these bones of dogs* come from?! Eleanor's older brother said that without blinking an eye in front of me, but at the end of the day, he almost turned his head in front of the emperor!"
(TL: Bones of dogs; someone who likes to butt in.)
"Missing that appearance for a very long time will be a heavenly regret."
"Okay. You always ask me to kill you. I'll kill you today."
Tashian did not snort at the threat. This is because the prince's dissatisfaction with the senate dates back to when he was an ordinary prince.
In response to his feeble response, which seemed to be of little interest, Ikshid sat deeply leaning against the chair with an uneven look on his face. His eyes swept past Tashian's indifferent black eyes.
'By the way, I can't believe that he's a member of the board…. Even though they are only half- brothers.'
He unconsciously compared in his mind the man in front of him and the former successor of Reinhardt, who fought in a confrontation over the agenda presented by the Senate just a few days ago.
The Presbyterian Church was created from its roots to confront the imperial family. The highest rankers determine the rise and fall of the nation established to maintain the dominance of the imperial family and prevent the monopoly of the neighboring forces. The head that time, was the Duke's half-brother; the former Duke Reinhardt.
Even before he ascended the throne as a prince, Ikshid clashed with the Senate in every case with his unique angular stone-like nature. At the center of it, there was always a face that looked exactly like that cold face.
Ikshid grumbled, shaking his brown hair nervously his mood ruined.
"They all do kinds of charities like giving soup in the name of tradition, but what really falls into our imperial family are these, Honor? Fame? Taking advantage of people they are ruling? OK, this is it. But in the end, it's just like sucking up all the sweet water and throwing away all the covered miserable deeds those Officials did."
Ikshid could not hide his displeasure, recalling the appearance of the senior council sitting in the seat of the consulate wearing more luxurious costumes than anyone else.
"They are blinded by the power they have in their hands, that they paid no heed to the nation's circumstances! That's the same with Genova. What was the answer from the congressional conference to the request of opening the Korean language to all? We extended a hand towards them, to provide an opportunity for interaction, only to be cut down in response! There's no point in crying over spilled milk… the day will come for them to pay back for shedding the blood of the innocents."
Ikshid's eyes sank resolutely.
He thought of Diego Miller, whom he sent as an envoy. It was another sword he had been sharpening and honing in order to alleviate this problem.
In the eyes of others, Diego Miller would have been nothing more than a once-promising and unsuccessful aristocratic master who kicked away the path of being a successor, which had always been a solid road, and traveled around the continent from betting on the chess board.
But it wasn't Diego Miller's idea.
In fact, he was sent to perform the mission under the secret order of Crown Prince Ikshid Fedellamon.
If Tashian Verk was a long sword that had been prepared as a response in the face of the Senate, Diego Miller was a dagger designed to cleverly manipulate forces against the prince behind his back and eventually break them apart.
Ikshid asked with a sharp look at Tashian, the first knife he held for the first time since arriving.
"So, how was the atmosphere of the new people in Genova? Was the hostility towards the new country serious?"
"…That's why you sent him with me. When it comes to wielding a knife, he would be born again, for he has slight knowledge in that topic, but he's a man who handles these things very well."
He had already turned the hearts of more than half of the nobles in Genova to the pro-imperialist faction.
Is he saying that the larva also has a talent for rolling? Tashian clicked his tongue, recalling the poor cooperation of hands and feet of the man, which was fatal flaw to Diego's sword technique.
He sincerely wondered how Diego had been able to keep ten fingers and ten toes intact while staying so close to his sword so far. Seeing Tashian's veins stand on his forehead, as thought of Diego. Ikshid smiled assuredly of himself.
"Anyway, you've worked hard."
"I just swung a knife where they told me to."
Tashian responded bluntly. Eun-woo watched the two men silently.
"It's good to just swing the knife, where I ordered it. It can be a problem because some people can't swing it, even if they're asked to."
"… If you were talking about that idler, the guy who put a foot on the battlefield and ran like a great hero."
Tashian looked at Eleanor, the sister of the subject in question, who stirred up people's minds, and then, gently grinded his teeth thinking again about the guy who went through all sorts of accidents in front of him and turned his stomach upside down from stress.
"Thanks to you, I had been doing a lot of babysitting, which is not even a task available on the battlefield. Do you know how difficult it is to keep someone who can't even hold a sword properly alive there?"
A skill that was not helpful was useless on the battlefield, so it was a distraction.
Tashian tried hard not to hit the table in front of Ikshid, who's lips began to twitch in his effort to hold back his laughter from the other.
She was watching.
"Are you laughing now? It's not the first time I've had trouble dragging him at an important moment."
"No, I just imagined Diego holding your pants in front of the enemy…"
Tashian's forehead wrinkled into frowned violently as if his blood vessels were about to protrude out. He looked as if he was thinking about grabbing the crown prince's neck right in front of him, and eventually breathed heavily as if he was enduring his feelings of intense anger. He said, grating his molars tightly.
"Anyway, I came back with my neck attached properly, so I'm done. Please don't think that he's responsible for even walking into the pirates."
"Tashian. But don't be so cold-hearted. Our sister's eyes are shaking like an earthquake."
Ikshid, who was watching Eun-woo, with his glowing eyes responded mischievously. Surprised by suddenly being pointed out, she quickly shook her hand.
"Wh, what are you talking about? Tashian, I had never been nervous."
In fact, however, as the prince has said, Eun-woo was nervous to the point where her hands trembled. Eleanor's brother's reputation was worse than expected. Eun-woo was eating snowflakes because of her brother, who she had never met, and sitting between the two men who were having a bitter conversation over Diego Miller.
At Ikshid's words, Tashian opened his eyes and looked at her.
"I… didn't mean it like that."
Then, suddenly, Tashian opened his mouth staring at her with a very troubled face. Perhaps he thought he had made a mistake in front of her with his gibberish, with a stupid expression that was unheard of, in the world.