Raising the Princess to Overcome Death Chapter 83

83. Beggar Siblings – Past and Future

When the Sword Master's son, Gilbert Forte, was assassinated, Orville was thrown into chaos.

Count Herman Forte, who lost his only heir, was furious, and all the guards in Orville were mobilized to find the assassin.

However, the investigation faced difficulties.

This was due to the peculiar nature of the brothel operated by Viscount Brian Sauer where the assassination took place.

Most of the patrons there were nobles or wealthy individuals, so the soldiers couldn’t search freely.

Thus, the investigation turned into a political tug-of-war.

The Sword Master faction seized this opportunity to fiercely pressure the royalist faction, who retorted by asking what benefit they would gain from killing such a scoundrel.

Eventually, the leader of the royalist faction, Marquis Benar Tatian, stepped in to calm the situation. After all, the assassination occurred in a brothel directly operated by Viscount Sauer, a member of the royalist faction.

“If the Sword Master faction continues to press me, I will reveal the list and information of all the patrons I have accumulated over the years!”

Viscount Sauer, showing his determination not to back down, scrunched up all the wrinkles on his face.

Marquis Benar Tatian calmly sat the viscount down and gently soothed him. He was smiling softly.

No one knew what the two discussed, but a few days later, Viscount Brian Sauer closed all the brothels in Orville and returned quietly to his estate.

Marquis Benar Tatian, having shown the sincerity of removing a member of the royalist faction, cleanly extracted himself from the situation by partially disclosing information about the patrons who visited the brothel on the day of the assassination, thereby signaling the Sword Master faction to back off.

With the information revealed, non-noble wealthy patrons were hit hard.

They were rounded up and subjected to severe hardships, and the investigation quickly narrowed its focus.

The only unidentified person among those who entered the brothel that day was a young man with a boyish figure and golden eyes. Upon identifying his features, many of the guards in Orville were taken aback.

The suspect, presumed to be the assassin, was someone they knew.

The suspect was a beggar who, every morning as soon as the north gate opened, went to fetch a small cup of water from the lake.

The beggar was strikingly handsome for a beggar and drew a lot of attention because he took only one cup of water each day with such care, as if afraid it might spill.

When a soldier, moved by pity, gave him some bread, the beggar had said, “I won’t forget this kindness.” This response had become a topic of gossip among the guards.

Later, realizing his mistake, the beggar bowed his head in apology, making an even more ridiculous statement...

In any case, when the beggar was identified as the suspect, the guards went looking for him.

However, he had disappeared weeks earlier, and the investigation hit a wall.

Despite thoroughly searching Orville, they couldn’t find him, prompting a flurry of communications through the church’s network.

An order was issued throughout the Kingdom of Bellita to capture the boy with golden eyes who used to be a beggar.

The incident that upended Orville also reached Katrina’s ears.

Upon hearing the suspect’s description, she immediately knew the assassin was Leo... but she kept silent.

Katrina was well aware of Gilbert Forte’s notorious reputation.

‘He must have had a grudge against that scoundrel... Oh right, he said he had a pretty sister.’

It seemed the boy had approached her to get revenge on the noble who messed with his sister and to escape to another kingdom using a pass.

‘So his claim of wanting to join the knight order was a lie.’

Though disappointed, she had a more pressing issue.

‘Wait a minute, this is a big problem. If he gets caught at the border, it’ll affect me too, won’t it?’

Damn it. After contemplating, Katrina...

‘To hell with it. I'll just pretend I don’t know.’ ─ she concluded.

Even if it backfired on her, she could just claim she was deceived too, and besides, she had taken a liking to Leo.

Frankly, such a noble brat deserved to die a hundred times. Even if he was the Sword Master's son, he had to be punished.

Katrina kept her mouth shut and told no one.

Meanwhile, the Rauno family, who sold information about Gilbert Forte, also kept silent for a different reason.

- If it’s revealed that we sold information, we’re all dead.

Killing a noble was a major incident. When they sold the information, they thought the buyer aimed to gain some benefit from approaching the decadent noble, not that he would kill him.

They couldn’t afford to risk their lives...

The Rauno family quickly shut down their information trading channels and went into hiding.

[Achievement: Long Live the Rauno Family - Gained slight favor with gangsters affiliated with the Rauno family. Gained slight hostility from families antagonistic to the Rauno family.]

[The ‘Long Live the Rauno Family’ achievement is disappearing.]

While chaos reigned in Orville and the entire Kingdom of Bellita, the person at the center of it all had retreated to a mountain in the south of the kingdom.

In a small hut halfway up the mountain, Leo, who was tying a rope in front of it, read the message that his achievement had disappeared.

As expected.

He knew that killing Gilbert Forte would cause a massive backlash.

While the assassination itself wasn’t a gamble—since it was easy enough and Leo was confident he could evade pursuit—the real gamble lay in what would come next.

He planned to spend autumn and winter in this mountain with Lena and Cassia and head to the Kingdom of Conrad once the situation calmed down.

Having been chased by Marquis Tatian in the previous beggar siblings scenario, he was confident in hiding.

He also had {hunting} skills to survive in the mountains.

In truth, killing Gilbert Forte was a tremendous gamble.

The assassination itself wasn’t the gamble. The assassination was not difficult, and Leo was confident he could shake off any pursuers.

The gamble lay in what would happen going forward.

A few months later, in the western part of the Kingdom of Conrad, at the Irotashi River, Baron Bart will kill the grandson of Duke Rappert Tertan.

This is a future event. It is certain to happen because it occurred in the previous childhood friend scenario.

However, when Cassia gave me the gold coins, I had this thought:

‘If I head south as quickly as possible with this money, perhaps I can prevent the tragedy of the previous childhood friend scenario. All I need to do is get Lena and Leo out of the procession where they are serving as a maid and servant.’

This wasn't a consideration before I received the gold from Cassia.

I didn’t have the travel expenses to go that far.

When I sold the information that the prince of the Kingdom of Astin would arrive and be humiliated in the fall to raise money, it was already too late to help them.

But Cassia giving me nearly two months' head start opened a new path. I contemplated, but unfortunately, that idea was quickly dismissed.

First, I had to move with Lena and Cassia, so I couldn’t travel that fast. My sister, who couldn’t ride a horse, had to ride in a carriage, which would be slow.

We might barely make it in time, but...

Here was the second problem.

If I didn’t deal with Gilbert Forte and left, Lena would be expelled in the next childhood friend scenario.

Conversely, if I dealt with him, I would be held back like this.

It was a choice between heading south quickly to help the ‘previous’ childhood friend scenario or killing Gilbert to benefit the ‘next’ childhood friend scenario.

The images of Lena and Leo dead by the Irotashi River flashed before me. But what I chose was the ‘next’ one.

When a past scenario was changed, the consequences were unpredictable. The only thing known was that the rewards remained the same even if the ending changed.

Just as the {Tracking Skill} remained the same despite the ending changing, even if the childhood friend scenario changed, the {Swordsmanship.3v: Bart Style} skill obtained at the time would remain the same.

It didn’t seem like anything additional would be gained.

Clearing it was also uncertain.

In the past childhood friend scenario, Leo tried to arrange a meeting between Lena and the prince, and Lena was suspicious of the changed Leo.

Even if I prevented her from going to see the prince, there was a risk of their relationship breaking down, just like in the previous betrothal scenario, because Lena didn’t trust Leo.

After much deliberation, and feeling sorry for them, Leo chose the sure path.

If they couldn’t arrive before the two died, everything would be completely messed up. Additionally, if they traveled hastily, his sister’s butt would be sore from the bumpy carriage ride.

It was a tough decision, but that didn’t mean all problems were solved.

Baron Bart.

What would happen to that knight?

If he killed the heir of the Tertan family, he would undoubtedly be chased by Duke Tertan.

No matter how great a knight he was, he was still human, and numbers would prevail eventually.

‘He must survive...’

Leo bet everything on a crest he saw right before dying in the previous childhood friend scenario.

He believed that the knight would be the greatest helper in progressing the {Lineage} event and left Orville with this in mind.

No, actually, he didn’t bet everything. Anyway, he killed Gilbert Forte for the next scenario and was now stuck like this.

‘Was killing him too greedy?’

It was unsettling.

In this now frustratingly difficult situation where he couldn’t see an inch ahead, he tried to gain the tiniest bit of advantage. He tried to take care of both the ‘current’ and ‘next’ scenarios.

But... preventing Gilbert Forte from reaching the city church was crucial. At the same time, he needed to leave Orville as soon as possible to find Baron Bart.

So, hoping that the great knight, Baron Bart, would not be easily caught, he killed Gilbert.

Leo let out a big sigh, so big it could be mistaken for a yawn.

He was anxious.

“Brother, are you tired?”

“No. Not at all. Did you finish organizing inside?”

“Yes!”

Lena crawled out of the hut. Her curled-up form was adorable. How could she be so pretty no matter what she did?

Lena turned the snare her brother made around in her hands and asked.

“Is this for hunting?”

“Yes. Just wait two days. I’ll give you some meat to eat.”

For a moment, the sibling duo of Euta and Enen came to mind. Euta also boasted that he would hunt and give Enen meat to eat.

But Enen...

The image of Enen’s broken body flashed in his mind.

As Leo’s mood began to darken, Cassia appeared from afar.

“Leo, I’m back.”

“Was it heavy? Cassia... sister.”

“No, it wasn’t heavy at all. Just a few dishes and some clothes.”

In the weeks they spent traveling after leaving Orville, Leo and Cassia sorted out their titles for each other. Leo called Cassia ‘sister,’ and Cassia called Leo by his name instead of ‘Sir Leo.’

Cassia initially refused, but since she was about ten years older than Leo, she reluctantly agreed. Although she continued to use formal speech, their conversations became much smoother after sorting out their titles.

Leo told Lena to organize the clothes and dishes that Cassia brought inside and then asked softly.

“What did the villagers say? Did they believe it?”

“Yes. They didn’t seem suspicious.”

The place they settled in, halfway up the mountain, was close to a small village called ‘Taa Moon.’ They chose a location near the village rather than deep in the mountains for Lena’s sake.

Living like a wild person in the mountains is tough.

You can’t have proper food, clothing, or shelter, and you have to survive on roughly cooked meat or berries every day.

While Leo could endure it alone, he didn’t want his sister to suffer such discomfort.

So, they set up not far from the village and planned to occasionally buy supplies.

However, it was Cassia’s job to visit the village. Lena was too beautiful, and Leo, being pursued, couldn’t show his face to anyone.

“I told them that our father fell ill, so we moved to the mountains. I said we might be contagious and that we wanted to receive items from a distance, and they believed it.”

Cassia knew that Leo had killed a noble.

Since they had to hide here for at least six months and needed her help, Leo told her the truth.

He explained that he had to kill a certain noble before leaving and asked for her help.

Cassia smiled, her eyes welling up with tears, saying she was glad he asked for her help.

When they came up with a suitable lie for the villagers, it was Cassia who thought of saying, “Our father fell ill, so we moved to the mountains.”

It must have reflected her experience.

“That’s a relief. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”

As long as she could stay by this man’s side, such things were nothing.

She would do anything.

Though living in the mountains was inconvenient after spending her whole life in the city, she preferred his words over a soft bed. Also, this man was someone who had become a turning point in her life.

Cassia was very proud and happy that she could be of help to him... but her role wasn’t just to fetch items from the village.

One day, while Leo was hunting, Lena was organizing the house and learning the letters her brother had taught her, and Cassia was doing various household chores, a middle-aged man approached the hut.

He had a fishy smile on his face.