Raising the Princess to Overcome Death Chapter 61

61. Childhood Friends – The Two

After finishing dinner, Harie Guidan and Philas Tertan went out to the terrace to enjoy the beautiful sunset.

Over the past week, the two had grown close quickly, and it was becoming common for them to spend time alone, dismissing the servants.

As they silently admired the sunset, Philas took off his coat. He covered the stone chair on the terrace and seated Harie. They exchanged smiles under the glowing sunset. It was Harie who broke the silence.

“You’ve brought quite a few knights with you. Why is that? Do you plan to kidnap me?”

Harie now mixed in a joke as she posed a question that could have been taken seriously. While she had brought only two bodyguards, Philas Tertan had brought fifteen knights.

It was natural to increase the number of guards when crossing into another country, but the number was excessive.

Philas replied with a grin.

“How could I dare to kidnap a lady? It’s because my grandfather cherishes me too much.”

Harie didn't probe further and continued with what she originally wanted to say.

“Oh... That’s a shame. I thought I’d finally get to explore the Kingdom of Conrad.”

She spoke in a soft tone with her eyes lowered.

Understanding her hint, Philas realized the moment had come to declare his resolve. He decided to disobey his grandfather’s command.

‘It’s not disobedience. He told me to give her the necklace and return, but he didn’t say not to bring her back.’

Philas intended to take Harie Guidan to his ducal estate.

He planned to bring her and ask his grandfather for permission to marry her.

It was undoubtedly presumptuous, but he didn’t want to give up on this woman.

Philas Tertan swallowed and cleared his throat as he took a necklace out of his inner pocket.

“Would you accept this?”

“Oh my! What is this? It’s so beautiful.”

Harie widened her eyes in surprise. However, she already knew from the chief attendant that he would give her the necklace.

When exchanging gifts between nobles, they had to be verified by a magician to ensure there was no malicious magic involved.

Philas had requested a magician upon arrival, and the necklace was examined.

Of course, there was no issue with the necklace.

‘Even if it had an enchantment spell, it wouldn’t matter.’

If it was from this man...

Harie pretended to hesitate and then subtly leaned her head forward. Philas, blushing, put the necklace around her graceful neck.

The gold necklace, tinged with a faint pink hue from a mix of silver and copper, ended in a dark red gemstone that hung like a flower bud.

The gemstone maintained its color, unaffected by the glowing sunset covering the land.

As Philas, now very close, looked into her eyes, he spoke.

“I... like you.”

He was earnest, and Harie felt a powerful emotion as she saw Philas's neck turn crimson.

How rare it was to encounter such pure affection in the cold aristocratic society. This moment was likely a dream scene for young ladies across the continent.

Her heart pounded violently, and the mask Harie wore shattered, revealing her true feelings. She gazed unwaveringly into Philas’s brown eyes with her green ones.

The thought of meeting him just to avoid the repulsive princes faded away.

It had to be this man.

“I, I also... like you.”

As Harie shyly confessed, her lips moved closer to Philas’s. But he held her shoulders.

As Harie, with her lips parted, looked at him curiously, Philas confessed the truth.

His grandfather intended to refuse their marriage. Philas pleaded for her to accompany him to the Kingdom of Conrad to help gain his grandfather’s approval.

How lovable he was.

Philas neither hid the truth nor tried to solve the problem alone.

He asked for help.

Harie, pulling his collar, whispered. In the ear of the one destiny had paired her with, she uttered a vow as noble as a knight's sacred oath.

“Thank you for asking for my help. I will follow you anywhere. Even if the path leads to hell, it’s fine. We are lovers now. No one can separate us.”

With those words, the two nobles became lovers, sealing it with a deep kiss. They stayed on the terrace until the sunset faded.

A few days later,

“What did you say? Lena! What do you mean?”

Leo shouted in surprise at Lena’s unexpected words.

“Why? Isn’t it great?”

Harie Guidan had announced her intention to leave for the capital city of the Conrad Kingdom, Lutetia.

The chief attendant was astonished by the unplanned long journey and tried to dissuade her, but she remained adamant.

Harie had requested Lena to accompany her, saying she lacked a maid to take care of her.

Initially, Lena declined, stating she had to go to Lutetia to become a priest. However, she accepted when Harie promised to write a recommendation letter to the Crusader Church.

Lena explained.

“She offered me a generous salary and said she’d write a recommendation letter. She also mentioned that it would take at most six months. I needed to earn tuition money in Lutetia anyway, so it worked out much better, didn’t it?”

“But...!”

This is a disaster!

If Lena gets the recommendation letter, it’s over. With that letter, she would be admitted to the Crusader Church educational facilities in Lutetia and receive a tuition waiver upon arrival.

This would ruin the original plan to find the prince and establish a connection while Lena was earning money in the capital.

Lena glanced at Leo, who looked troubled, and said, “Aren’t you happy?”

“...Of course, I’m happy. Why wouldn’t I be? This is great news.”

Leo forced a smile under her suspicious gaze.

“Wait a moment, Lena. But before that, you need to take money to your parents. Winter is just a few months away...”

He tried to come up with an excuse, but Lena’s swift response thwarted his ploy.

“I’ve already sent it.”

“Huh? When?”

“Yesterday, I asked Lady Harie to send my wages to Demos Village.”

“......”

It was no use. Lena had acted on her own.

As Leo sat there in dismay, Lena urged him, sounding frustrated.

“Leo. You’re hiding something, aren’t you? Please tell me. It feels like you’re not the Leo I know, and it’s scary.”

Her earnest eyes met Leo’s. But in the end, he remained silent.

Finally, Lena pouted and said, “Anyway, I’m going to follow Lady Harie. Let me know if you decide to come along.”

With that, she left.

How did it come to this?

Leo returned to his quarters and collapsed onto his bed. Grabbing his head, he fumed.

Nothing is going my way!

He had planned to go to the Holy Kingdom using his tracking skill, but was held up at the lord’s castle due to border pass issues. Lena was trying to earn money for her parents, and while he waited for her, she found a way to join the Crusader Church on her own.

‘Why is everything going wrong?’

He couldn’t force Lena to act against her will. She had already started to suspect that he was hiding something.

With her increasingly suspicious demeanor, he couldn’t risk any drastic actions.

‘Should I have shown her the initial funds and the money from my father from the start? So she could give it to her parents?’

But then there was the risk that Lena’s parents might refuse the money, resolving the issue of her church tuition.

‘How did Lena get so close to Lady Harie? Nobles rarely care about commoners...’

Leo felt overwhelmed by the complexity of the situation.

This childhood friends scenario, while seemingly more relaxed and less perilous than others, was surprisingly full of obstacles.

The closest capital, Nevis, had princes who were all worthless, so they had to go abroad. To take Lena across the border legally, they went to the lord’s castle, leading to this mess.

They couldn’t wait until the nobles’ meeting ended to leave.

Staying in Demos Village triggered the event of her leaving for the church, leading to a critical decision.

If he let her go, she would become a priest, and if not, he’d have to marry her.

And with Lena’s sharp intuition, he couldn’t drag her along by force. This childhood friends scenario wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

Feeling like everything was falling apart, Leo took a deep breath to calm himself.

‘...Fine. Going to the Conrad Kingdom isn’t a bad idea.’

This scenario had its problems, but so did the beggar siblings scenario.

In Orville, Count Peter, who knew their lineage, made it difficult to make his sister a princess in Bellita Kingdom.

Therefore, in that scenario, they would need to go to the Conrad Kingdom to reclaim their lineage, and gathering information now would surely be beneficial.

Moreover, the noble visiting here was Philas ‘Tertan.’ The biggest supporter of the prince who expelled the beggar siblings was Duke Tertan.

‘If I can enter the Duke’s estate as a servant following Harie Guidan, I can learn a lot!’

He decided to stay optimistic. It was already difficult to prevent Lena from entering the Crusader ChurChapter So, he would follow her to the Conrad Kingdom and gather as much information as possible.

After that, he would be content with finding the prince of the Holy Kingdom before the ending of Lena becoming a priest.

Since it was said to take about three years for her to become a priest, he’d figure out what to do with the remaining time in Lutetia.

Leo calmed his troubled heart and began planning again.

As he pondered, counting on his fingers without any writing tools, the snoring of the servants lying on the floor grew louder.

In the full bloom of autumn, with vibrant foliage, six carriages formed a procession heading east from the city of Bospo.

Due to the presence of two high-ranking nobles, the procession was heavily guarded by 17 knights and nearly 30 soldiers.

The maids serving Philas Tertan and Harie Guidan occupied one carriage, while Leo, who managed to join as a servant under the pretext of accompanying Lena, sat beside the coachman of Lady Harie’s carriage.

Crossing the border was easy.

At the Kingdom of Ohren’s checkpoint, Guidan family’s knight presented their badge, and at Conrad Kingdom’s checkpoint, Tertan family’s knight did the same, avoiding any inspection.

Whenever the procession halted, Philas and Harie left their respective carriages to find each other.

Though not yet engaged, they longed to converse even in brief moments, regretting the need to part each time the carriages moved.

Leo, too, sought out Lena whenever they stopped. But she remained sullen and distant.

“Unless you tell me what you’re hiding, I won’t say anything either.”

“Lena. I’m not hiding anything. Really.”

“Hmph.”

He couldn’t reveal the truth, and there was no way to explain it!

Frustrated, Leo believed her sulking would eventually pass. After all, Lena was his long-time childhood friend.

In less than two weeks, the carriages entered the western estate of the Tertan family, a border marquisate.

They reached a large river a day’s journey from ‘Radoga,’ the western trade hub of the Conrad Kingdom. It was the Irotashi River, one of the three rivers that made Conrad Kingdom prosperous.

At a narrow point in the river, an ancient stone bridge built by the Arcaea Empire spanned the water.

The procession moved onto the bridge.

“We’ll conduct an inspection.”

But seven soldiers blocked the middle of the bridge.

Despite the Tertan family knight presenting his badge in advance, the soldiers did not move, forcing the procession to halt.

Tadian Lopero, the knight commander escorting Philas Tertan, advanced with displeasure.

“What is the meaning of this? In the carriage behind is Lord Tertan. Move aside immediately... Ah!”

But his expression turned cold as one soldier removed his helmet.

The soldier, eyes gleaming with madness, spoke in a grinding tone.

“Long time no see, Tadian.”

With that, the seven soldiers drew their swords. The swords they wielded were two-handed swords, indicating they were not mere soldiers.

All seven were knights.