episode_0153

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Since when did it start?

What I hated about you

‘Have you heard the news about Irene? They say that at a young age, he is already sparring with adult soldiers. He will become a shield that will protect you in the future, so make sure you stay close to him.’

‘Lin, did you hear? It is said that Irene is the most talented person in the history of the Juliet family, no, of all the families that support the Brans family. ‘Don’t you think we’re so lucky to have her in our generation?’

‘Since you were born with the blood that allows you to control Irene, isn’t it only natural that you should be better than her?’

When Rin was still young.

When I was just beginning to understand how the world worked-

Lynn has heard the name of a girl named Irene more often than her own name.

She was such an amazing girl.

That was all Rin had to know as long as he had eyes.

He showed a brilliant talent in swordsmanship, and was intelligent enough to understand and master the Book of War to a certain level at a young age.

The best thing about being an escort was that it was very obvious that she had no ambitions.

‘Lin. I am the sword and shield that protects the Brans family. It has been that way since birth, and it will never change.’

Iren would always say this while looking at Lin.

Even when I was young, I could tell that she meant what she said.

therefore.

At a young age, if I saw someone who bowed down like that and swore loyalty just because of my name and the fact that Brans blood flows through me, it would have been normal for me to like them.

but.

Rin, at a young age, did not like her that much.

To be precise, I hated it.

‘What are you?’

Why do your father and brothers care more about your future, which only supports the Brans family, than the future that I, the legitimate son of the Brans family, will create?

It may have been a childish thought when I was young, but as I got older, that thought only became more and more entrenched.

The only thing that allowed him to breathe and live was the fact that he, not her, was a much higher person.

No matter what she does, she has to stay under me, and no matter what I do, I can’t get under her. This was as natural and natural as heaven and earth being divided, and only that fact comforted Rin, who felt an unpleasant feeling that was difficult to explain in words when looking at Iren.

At what point did it start?

Ironically, I was starting to get annoyed that she was even truly pledging loyalty to her family.

If she had been a hypocritical woman, I could have hated her outright, but since she didn’t show any signs of that, I felt like a very strange person for hating Irene like that.

Still, it was okay until then. Since he wasn’t the heir yet, it was just a matter of seeing his face less.

As time goes by and my head has grown to a certain extent, it is done.

Just as his father had predicted, after the death of the emperor, the Eingart Empire, where a dog fight broke out between the successors, collapsed, split, and eventually a turbulent period unfolded –

Our Brans army, which had already secured the golden land called Arnel Castle, was able to secure a more advantageous starting point than anyone else in the central continent, where the largest number of feudal lords had proliferated.

The entire continent has already been devastated by the bloody civil war between the crown princes that lasted for several years.

As a result, the one who took the throne was not Argot, who was the most powerful, nor Sidmid, who was the representative opponent to Argot, but it was Serpina, the youngest child who suddenly appeared and had no presence.

From what I heard, Serpina purged her brothers who shared her blood in a very cruel and cunning way, and Lin thought that as she watched the people of the empire suffering from the aftermath.

Since we inherit the Brans family’s blood, we must solve this problem.

This isn’t about having a cause for the people of the empire or bringing peace to the continent or anything like that – it’s purely about one’s pride.

It was a feeling that started from the pride of having to become ‘a worthy person worthy of the name of the Brans family.’

Fortunately or unfortunately, her brothers – Chell was more interested in battle than politics, and Kalinz was more interested in self-preservation – so the crown that her father had been carrying fell in front of her without much difficulty.

Rin thought it was from this point on.

The moment when I can make my name shine as myself has finally come.

Like Iren, I can prove that I am an excellent leader by eliminating the tyrant Serpina, who is causing everyone’s resentment.

When I received a call from my father who was about to die, I went to visit him with a somewhat excited heart.

but.

‘Lin. Irene will be by your side. He is a child who has the potential to become a greater person than any other escort knight. I will definitely protect you as a monarch. Just as Irene’s father protected your father… … If that child stays by your side… … The hegemony of the continent… … To our Brans army… … .’

The father who passed on the throne to him mentioned that woman’s name even at the moment of his death.

I’m not saying you will be a great monarch –

That Irene will become a greater person than any other escort knight.

Even at the moment of death, he was spitting out her name.

It was that moment.

Rin’s reason for maintaining a relationship that seemed to be okay on the outside, even though she actually disliked him, was cut off.

After Lin sat on the throne of Brans County.

Unlike the empire, the succession ceremony ended without any problems, and in a situation where there was no need to organize the ranking, what Lin chose was an active expansion policy.

Chell, who would later be called the First Sword of Brans, and Irene, who also had the talent to be called a siege specialist.

The Brans army’s occupation force, led by the two men, was successfully implementing an incredible speed war that no other army had been able to achieve.

In that way, the Brans army became the loser of the central continent in a very short period of time.

And right at that point.

At that point, Lin let go of Iren’s hand.

The ostensible reason was to give her, who must have been exhausted from leading the occupying army, a break, but-

It was a very different move compared to his contemporaneous actions of deploying Chell to the southern front and giving him full authority.

Irene’s new position is to be in charge of the second barracks at Arnel Castle.

It was a situation that no one could help but call a demotion, but-

In any case, there was no one in the Brans army who could defy Lin Brans, who as a monarch showed remarkable results in gaining hegemony over the central continent in a short period of time by using them as a rule.

Instead, what Lin began to focus on was collecting talent hidden on the continent.

It is true that Irene was a great woman, but she was not a truly outstanding person on the continent.

Except for sieges, her brother Chell was superior when it came to fighting, and even though she was excellent at war, she was not as capable as famous strategists, so there was a belief that she would be able to find a replacement for her.

Lin continued to collect talent. In the various weak countries you encounter in the process of expansion, if you see a talent who shows even the slightest signs of usefulness, bring him in and make him a close associate, and then test him to see what his abilities are and whether he has no ambition to be as obedient to me as Iren. It had become a routine.

In the process, not a single person passed her test.

Still, people who thought this person would pass chose to die instead of surrendering to her.

Still, I couldn’t give up. Because we had to get someone capable of replacing Iren someday.

And, finally-

Before my eyes, a young man with white hair, Swen, appeared.

“What I will lose is my life. However, Lin-sama sacrificed my life… … You will lose the world.”

The first meeting that gave me shivers.

Bold suggestions that no one could have imagined were, in retrospect, all the right things to say.

After a few tests, I was confident that this man would really be the one for me.

You found it!

I have finally found someone who can support me no matter what, someone even better than Iren!

Moreover, he passed his test not only in terms of ability.

Even though he was given a prostitute as a gift, he didn’t seem at all displeased, and it was impossible to read any ambition in his only desire for success and fame.

Swen, a kid just like you.

I’ve been waiting for a girl like you, Swen… … !

In that case, all that remains is to remove the annoying entity from before your eyes.

As I was spending time with that in mind, an almost ghostly good timing rolled into my eyes, and… … … …

* * *

“… … My lord, my lord!”

“Um… … Umm.”

“Master, are you out of your mind?!”

“Farfalle… … ?”

When you open your eyes… … Farfalle was looking at herself with very worried eyes.

Reminiscing about the past… … dream… … ?

As the senses in my entire body gradually return, I realize that I am now lying somewhere.

Little by little, my vision returned, and I began to recognize the situation.

What were you doing now?

and… … Finally, who did you see?

“Ah… … .”

As soon as I remember who I saw-

My head is pounding.

Someone keeps stabbing and cutting into one’s heart with a knife.

“No… … Swen… … Why on earth… … why… … .”

“Master, calm down… … Come to your senses. First of all, you need to sign the documents. We need to go back and refine our battle lines and look for opportunities.”

“Swen… … Swen… … You, me… … He wasn’t the one to support me… … ?”

But he even lied to me and deceived me… …

… … ah.

At that moment, Rin realizes the scary truth.

The truth of the fact that no matter how harshly he treated Swen, he followed him without any particular reaction.

It’s not an expression of infinite loyalty like Iren, it’s just… …

―You just never once treated me as your true master.

It was something like that.

It was something like that.

From the moment you came to me from Runarien, not even for a single moment… … .

Rin wanted to sob, but she sensed that she didn’t even have the strength to shed tears anymore.

So I… … You missed it all.

Irendo, Swendo.

Talents I was jealous of, and talents I newly discovered.

All with my own hands-

“… … My lord… … ?”

――Just like that, Lin Brans’ time stopped.

* * *

After Lin lost consciousness, several attendants, including Farfalle, supported her.

It seemed that Serpina provided him with a place to rest until he came to his senses.

And how much time has passed?

“… … .”

Lin’s eyes as he walks here to sign the document… … was dead

The tyrannical and charismatic Lyn Brans, once full of life and glee in destroying our army just to get me under his wing, was nowhere to be found.

What was in front of my eyes was just a doll signing the alliance papers without a trace, as if there were a string hanging above its head.

Even now, it has been impossible to infer with 100% accuracy why an alliance with the Brans army is beneficial to our army, but-

Looking at Lin, who was completely broken down, I felt like I could understand the fact that it was beneficial to our military.

‘Brance-kun is finished now.’

That much, I could know without needing a brain of 100 intelligence.