When My Enemies Began to Regret

6. Typical Romance (1)

Translated by alyalia

A few hours later, in the banquet hall.

‘It’s always amazed me to live a life I’ve been through again. Everything feels so familiar.’

A large crowd gathered there. Of course, the royal family of this Kingdom had a magnificent palace, so they could easily accommodate such a large number of people. And only when all the nobles had gathered did the King, the main character of this party, appear proudly. As the King sat on the splendid throne, Hanar and his son, who were nearby, said,

“Your Majesty is a wonderful person whenever I see him.”

“If Your Majesty listens to your sincerity, he will be happy. You will take over the Celcius family in the future, so you will have a chance to talk with him one day.”

The person who was at the top of the Kasius Kingdom had the charisma of a monarch.

‘He’s already over forty… No, he’s not yet reached forty this year. Still, for an old man, he has an appearance that is not inferior to that commander of the royal knight.’

The King’s face was dignified, and many of his servants regarded him as an idol. However, that didn’t mean that I was also positively looking at the King.

‘No matter how mighty he is, he’s only a king who has nothing but greed for war in his head.’

These days, the reign of the Balmong dynasty has entered a stable period. However, unaware of the preciousness of the peace that his grandfather and his father had achieved through the blood on their hands, Balmong IV began to have a vain dream as the inside of the Kingdom stabilized.  It was a vain dream of establishing a great Empire by conquering all the neighboring kingdoms.

He was a war fanatic. He often felt anxious to take over the land by attacking other kingdoms with his allies. Each time he did that, his territory expanded.

How many lives have been sacrificed in war because of one King’s ambition? What about the slaves who were looted because they lived near the border? Even a few nobles gathered here would die in the future conquest war.

Then I saw a nobleman introducing his daughter to the King. The person with red hair next to him is probably…

“As expected, that family also came to this banquet.”

I glanced around the venue when I saw the nobleman who had climbed the podium so far away that I had to frown. The person I needed to find had bright red hair the same as him. 

‘There he is! But…’

Within a few seconds, I found a man who stood out with his red hair and maroon garment. When I moved slowly and approached, I could see the brooch he was wearing was the seal of the family I was looking for. Still, unfortunately, the person was different from what I was looking for.  

‘It’s not him who has so many scars on his face, but he’s the second son of that family… So, where is the third son?’

I thought for a moment when I found the brother of the person I was looking for. If I tell him, ‘I’m looking for your younger brother,’ will I get an answer?

But this method didn’t seem to be good.

‘Anyway, the person I’m looking for has red hair that stands out like that, so it won’t take long to find it.’

Today’s party will last for a long time. The nobles who danced in the center of the hall had only just taken their first dance, so I proceeded to search carefully.

But about two hours later.

With a tired face, I fled to the toilet room.

‘Where is that bastard!’

Harsh words flowed into my mind. If I had known this would happen, I would have just spoken to his brother and asked where to find him. It looks like I’m acting cautiously for nothing!

‘Even I, the abandoned daughter of the Celcius family, was forced to come here because it is the King’s birthday, so there’s no reason that the third son of the family didn’t come here. I’m sure he’s somewhere here!’

I had already wandered around enough to make eye contact with everyone at the banquet. Eventually, I failed to find the person I was searching for.

‘Is this how parents feel when looking for their missing child?’

It made me frustrated enough to shout out his name.

‘Damn it! Since this is the case, let’s meet his older brother, who was in the venue, and ask him. If it’s not for the banquet like today, I don’t know when I can meet him again, so it’s not the time to be polite.’

I really wondered if he was locked up in the toilet room, but he wasn’t here either. There were nobles who fixed their makeup here. Some men were combing their eyebrows in a more beautiful shape, and some women dyed their cheeks with a rosy powder.

‘There’s no red hair…’

I eventually decided to move to another place. Then, suddenly, there was a crying sound from one of the large rooms.

“…”

It was pretty noisy because there were so many people here. So that little sobbing was quickly drowned out by the surrounding voice, but I turned my head at that sound.

Why do people look away when someone expresses negative emotions?

“It is the King’s banquet, so I never wanted to cry, but when I saw that person, I got scared and couldn’t hold back my tears. Hu, hu…”

“Cry to your heart’s content here. The royal family won’t come here because they use other places.”

“By the way, is that really true? Did you break up your engagement for that reason?”

At the end of my gaze, there were about three young girls that were somewhat younger than me.

‘Break up the engagement?’

I couldn’t miss the words from their conversation, so I approached, pretending to look in the mirror. Then the faint sound of the conversation gradually became clear.

“I didn’t believe the rumor at first, but he hit you. How could a gentleman slap a lady?!”

“Oh my god…”

“It’s violent! His manner is not better than an animal! It’s really terrible. I will never be engaged to a man like that again. Huhu…”

“He’s so shameless! How dare he talk to you at this banquet when he already did such a thing!”

Aha.

My effort to go around here and there was not in vain. 

* * *

6. Typical Romance

Leaving the noisy banquet hall behind, I went down to the side road and saw a new landscape. Then I stopped in front of the stairs in the corner of the venue. This is the path used by the court musicians performing on the second floor. Therefore, it was customary for no one to pass here now when the banquet was in full swing. But I saw a boy sitting on the stairway in front of me. His figure dressed modestly in a coat embroidered with the family’s emblem.

‘Red hair. Red eyes.’

When I found the person I had been looking for, I approached him without hesitation. Perhaps bored, he loosened his necklace, held it with both hands, and played it around.

“…”

That person must be the third son of that infamous family. However, seeing him when he was still a boy was completely different from the rumors I had heard so far.

The social world gossiped about their red eyes and red-haired family. Everyone said their bodies were all huge like beasts, and their faces were scary enough to make you cry as soon as you saw them, even just looking at their picture. However, the third son of the family I met was far from looking like a beast.

‘He will be popular when he grows up.’

Although he is not as handsome as the son of Duke Jalier, whom I met last time, he had a warm impression that made you want to praise him. Soon, the boy raised his face and looked at me. There seemed to be a hint of kindness in his expression, which had a faint smile on his face.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, I was turning my necklace.”

“Why?”

“Uh… I have nothing to do. Some people say they get angry when they see me, so I decided to stay here for today’s banquet.”

The boy responded nicely even when a stranger suddenly spoke to him. He even offered a bright greeting with a voice full of kindness.

“Anyway, hello!”

Still, he seemed like a person who lacked manners because he was still spinning his necklace.

“Hello.”

I didn’t mind it and responded with a polite greeting before continuing the conversation.

“Are you referring to the daughter of Count Jade when you said someone gets angry when they see you?”

“Yes!”

“You recently broke up with her… for a disgraceful reason.”

“Ah… that’s right. I got my engagement broken up. It was my fault.”

He was an acquaintance I knew in the future.

‘I’m sure he said that he broke up his engagement when he was young. The reason was so shocking that there was no engagement talk for him again in the future.’

Judging from the current conversation, this boy has the same personality and values as the one I met in the future. Now that I have confirmed the person I was looking for, how should I get to the main point? It made me ponder for a moment.

“But what brings you here?”

The red-haired boy sitting on the stairs spoke first. At the same time, his innocent gaze touched me. I finally called his name.

“I’m looking for a dog, Carl Andras.”

“Dog?”

The boy, called Carl Andras, looked around, put the necklace he was playing in his pocket, and stood up.

“You brought your dog to the banquet too, didn’t you? Have you lost your dog? I will find it with you.”

Although he lacks some of the manners of the noble, he had enough quality to make up for his lack.

‘And now…’

I recalled for a moment, then shook my head and replied, “It’s not that I lost it. I’m trying to get a new one. It should be obedient to me and very good at hunting.”

“Hunting? That’s good. It should be a dog with a big body, sharp ears, and strong biting power for that purpose. What was the name of that breed again?”

The conversation that followed was really useless.

‘Does he like animals?’

As I watched Carl Andras’s bright reaction, I opened my mouth again.

“The dog I’m looking for is you.”

“…me?”

“If you don’t like being called a dog, how about a servant?”

“Pardon?”

Carl Andras only blinked his eyes at the sudden remark. After a few seconds, he began to mutter.

“Hey, I’m not a dog. Is this a metaphor? I’m sure I’ve learned it, but I’m not good at studying, so I don’t know about it.”

“…”

“Or is it about a game of tossing a ball? My role is to fetch the ball like a dog.”

“Europa.”

I, who had not seen it, spoke one word to begin the main point, and his mutter ceased. I didn’t stop there and began to come up with sentences that could change the way he looked at me.

“I have Europa.”

“…”

“And I can give it to you if I want to.”

The next thing Carl Andras did was obvious. He changed his complexion in an instant.

* * *

Carl Andras.

To explain our first meeting with this boy, I had to go back to the spring three years ago. That was when Haures was still alive, and I was being framed. At that time, rumors about me were not good, so I couldn’t actively engage in social activities, but I could attend the places where nobles had to show their faces, such as the birthday of the royal family and the New Year’s festival.

But what can I do if I attend the party?

My fiancé doesn’t even dance with me. The conversation with my family was absurd, and the nobles who gathered there pointed their fingers at me as they looked at my curly black long hair. So I attended the banquet but hid in the garden.

I liked insects. This would contradict with what Naverius wanted, but I couldn’t change my natural preferences from birth. So I would use my time to adore the little life as I sat on the grass in the garden.

“Huh?!”

But one day.

That time too, I, who had been dragged out to the party I didn’t want to come, fled to a garden open to guests. There was something that attracted my attention at the pavilion built there.

“W-Wait… a minute…!”

Someone sprinted past me like a bullet.  At the same time, I recognized that the sprinting red-haired man had dropped something. But by the time I spoke timidly, the man had already gone too far.