Chapter 68: Leo lowers the curtain (1)

On that day, the Weitz Empire’s Academy was bustling from the early hours.

The empire of Weitz, holding the hegemony of the continent.

The academy, gathering the children of noble families of the kingdom, as well as outstanding citizens from both within and outside the country, was housed in a magnificent white building overflowing with decorations that seemed to embody the empire’s prestige.

As the bell of the adjacent church rang at the appointed time in the morning, the corridors, cleansed by the academy’s servants, were filled with students whose excitement could not be contained, their eyes moist with anticipation, flocking in one after another.

Among them, a particularly eye-catching blonde girl proceeded to the corner of the corridor that seemed to offer the best view.

As her figure was recognized, the surrounding students all simultaneously bowed their heads.

Her name was Bianca von Weitzacker.

Wrapped in a rare purple dress reminiscent of blooming roses, she took in a deep breath of the refreshing summer air and spoke with a clear voice.

“Everyone, are you all prepared?”

Instantly, a powerful response echoed from all around.

Her cousin, Natalia, members of the Crimson Rose Society, and all those present were adorned in dresses of the same violet hue.

It wasn’t just the women.

Even male students from upper grades like Oscar Bernstein and Rolf Kvantz, who shouldn’t have been in this lower-grade building, and even the teacher Gustav, wore some sort of purple decoration and stood there.

“She’s here.”

At Bianca’s sharp whisper, the surroundings buzzed with excitement.

Countless gazes were directed down the corridor, through the stone-paved path, towards the hallway leading to the dormitory.

The types of gazes varied.

Some held back tears, some contained strong admiration, while others were desperate to imprint the figure about to appear into their minds—

And then, from the shadows of the hallway, at the moment a small pair of feet took a step forward, everyone gasped in unison.

There stood—truly, a spirit of light.

The first thing that caught the eye were her purple eyes, shining like crystals under the sunlight, seeming to turn gold when bathed in sunlight.

With each blink, her long eyelashes, as if they could make sounds, and her slightly tinted lips, were simply exquisite.

Her glossy black hair, even longer than before since spring, was intricately braided with pearls and lace, with only a part of it cascading down her shoulder. Wearing a white veil that flowed behind her, she exuded the dignity of a born princess.

Yes, pure white.

On this day, the girl whose beauty was reminiscent of a spirit—Leonora von Harkenberg, was clad not in her usual pale gray dress but in an exquisitely delicate white dress that elicited sighs of admiration.

There was another difference.

Her attendant, who usually stuck close to her like a shadow, was unusually keeping a distance from the girl today.

Instead, standing beside her and holding her small hand was—Albert von Weitzacker, the first prince of the empire.

It was like a painting.

The two, adorned in pure white, looked like a promised pair of spirits.

And as the two took another step forward, solemn hymns of praise began from the awakened students.

Some brought out their prized instruments to accompany the melody, while others began to scatter white rose petals.

“O Holy Maiden of Pure Light, Leonora!”

“Leonora, may you be blessed!”

Blessings were shouted from all around.

Watching over the girl’s back, Kai, his eyes welling up, murmured,

“You’re beautiful, Lady Leonora…”

“—… Oh, um, everyone…”

Upon hearing the attendant’s heartfelt words, the girl, who was none other than Leonora, let out a soft sigh.

“It’s not a wedding…”

Her purple eyes, seemingly distant, could also be described as unfocused, and her expression, tinged with melancholy, could simply be interpreted as weariness.

However, walking beside her, Albert picked up on her perplexed murmur and gracefully smiled.

“Well, well. This is their way of expressing themselves—a behavior chosen after much anguish.”

Including me, too.

With an added comment and a gentle glance, Leonora returned a vague smile.

“Sigh…”

And thus, she began to vaguely recall the events of that day, now three months past.

***

That day—on the final day of the Contract Festival, at dawn.

As Leonora faced off against Albert, with a multitude of people looking up at them, suddenly, light overflowed in the sky.

Unable to keep their eyes open from the dazzling brightness, many shielded their faces. But as they cautiously looked up at the sky, they gasped in awe.

In the sky, adorned with golden clouds in the morning glow, there floated a woman with black hair and golden eyes.

Her incomparable beauty and the radiance emanating from behind her back.

The identity of this being was unmistakable to everyone—it was a spirit of light.

“Huh… A spirit of light!”

“To think such a thing would manifest outside the Sacred Pearl’s location!”

The people and the priests buzzed with her appearance.

But the beautiful spirit with black hair gave them only one affectionate glance before seemingly losing interest and turning her body away.

And then, looking down from a great height, she addressed Albert and the others, who were staring at her in astonishment, with a dignified expression.

“Withdraw your hand from that girl.”

It was a voice that shook the mind directly, a voice that seemed to slip effortlessly into the hearts of everyone present, although it wasn’t raised.

“A spirit of light…!? Why…”

“Why have you manifested your esteemed figure there…!”

As Albert expressed his puzzlement, Safita promptly questioned in ancient Elrandic.

The only petite girl—Leonora, on the other hand,

“W-what…!?”

(Why is Al-sama pretending to be a spirit of light again, aaaah!?)

Understanding her true identity, she displayed a different kind of astonishment from the others.

The majestic spirit resembling the epitome of noble beauty, however, seemed unperturbed by the commotion of the commoners.

Instead, she raised a graceful finger and pointed it directly at Leonora.

“I’ll say it again. Withdraw your hand from that girl. This priestess… is now mine.”

“What…!?”

“……..!”

As Albert asked in astonishment, Leonora, realizing the declaration made to her by the golden spirit, momentarily felt her heart race, then raised her face in sudden understanding.

Albert, on the other hand, stepped forward to protect Leonora, who had inadvertently blurted out in surprise.

“…Excuse me, what exactly do you mean by that? While she may indeed have been sent as a priestess to bless you, her body is undeniably her own. No matter how noble your status, it would be impossible to claim it freely.”

To which the spirit responded fluently in ancient Elrandic, demonstrating her versatility.

However, the beautiful spirit with black hair simply narrowed her affectionate golden eyes and slowly declared.

“—It seems you still don’t understand.”

“What…?”

“What is it?”

“Whose effort do you think allowed that girl to stand there intact?”

To the stunned Albert and others, she gracefully inclined her head and said.

“— It was me who saved her when she was on the brink of death.”

“On the brink of death…!?”

At the ominous word, Albert and Safita both held their breath.

Simultaneously, while the others were tense, Leonora, admiring Alta’s skillful maneuvering that had captivated the audience’s hearts, couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe.

Addressing them with a gentle voice as they looked up at her, the beautiful spirit said.

“Remember. You must remember.”

“The large amount of blood was still dripping from her attire, even after she stood there. If so much blood had been lost from such a small body, there would have been no way she could have survived… losing that much blood.”

Lost, but not lost.

With the skill of a charlatan, Alta ingeniously staged “the girl’s imminent danger.”

“Chained to serve the spirits of darkness, if she had not been seen fit to be offered, I could have overlooked this girl. However, her soul seemed too radiant and captivating to me. Therefore, I saved her. If I hadn’t intervened, what do you think would have happened…”

The conclusion was left vague, left to the imagination of the audience.

But Albert and Safita, who were brilliantly ensnared by the ruse, imagined the worst-case scenario in an instant and paled.

“What…!”

Meanwhile, Leonora, who had realized what had happened to her, let out a groan, feeling a sense of awe at Alta’s skillful manipulation.

Even though everything she said was true.

She didn’t lie, but she twisted the truth to make it acceptable.

Indeed, one could say she was like a master salesman, bursting with dubious sales talk.

“Why did you heal her wounds…!?”

Albert asked with a tense expression, but Alta smiled without giving a direct answer.

“I took a liking to this girl. I wanted her.”

(Wow, this is also true…!)

Remembering being told by Alta, Leonora marveled at what sophisticated maneuvering looked like.

However, while one party was impressed, the other party, Albert, became increasingly tense.

“To want…?”

(Understood.)

“This girl, as my priestess, will serve me for life, and… serve only me.”

“……!”

“……!”

At the declaration of a lifetime of service, both Albert and Leonora held their breath.

However, one was filled with despair, while the other with excitement.

To be a servant of the spirit of gold for life, what bliss it must be.

As Leonora, her eyes moist with excitement, inadvertently cried out, Alta smiled gently at her.

“Now, priestess. Come with me. We shall build a sanctuary to celebrate my radiance, and you shall sever all ties with the secular world, devoting yourself to prayer there.”

“That is the greatest compassion I can offer. In exchange for salvation, what I command of you.”

(Oh Al, you’re even casually mentioning the cathedral!)

The way Alta seamlessly weaves in her desire for the cathedral, which Leo had long wanted, made Leo almost reel backward.

If it were anyone else, Leo might have wanted to say, “You’re being way too opportunistic,” but when it’s the gold spirit of faith speaking, it’s a different story.

Instead, Leo felt a surge of admiration like, “Wow, she’s amazing!” and looked up at her with clasped hands.

With her words choked up and her eyes moist, looking up at the spirit, Leo’s appearance could only be seen by onlookers as that of a tragic beauty torn apart from her beloved in exchange for life.

Albert, during the recent proposal, understood why the girl had seemed distressed and refused, twisting his fair beauty in anguish.

“Leonora… is what the spirit says true?”

“Well… um, yes. It’s all true.”

Leo’s sudden realization and slight tears caused the prince to fall silent.

With despair welling up in his ice-blue eyes, he traced the corner of the girl’s eye with trembling hands.

In that moment when the spirit reached out its hand, right beside the girl’s eyes, which changed from purple to gold.

“…It’s true, isn’t it…”

And with that, he tightly embraced her small frame.

“What… what is this, Leonora—!”

The pristine morning sun tinted with a fiery red illuminated the two as elongated shadows crawled across the floor without overlapping.

A shard of light bouncing off the young man’s golden hair seemed to trickle down the girl’s white cheeks like tears.

As he concluded his reminiscence, he couldn’t help but think of such words.

Alta’s staged “beautiful lie” was so novelistic, or rather, so story-like.

And yet, this romantic plotline that overflowed with romanticism seemed to perfectly match the thought processes of the aristocrats, as Leonora’s departure from the noble society, or rather Leo’s escape, was accepted without a hint of doubt.

To cast the blessing of light onto the poor areas, a shining cathedral was to be erected in the backstreets, perhaps behind an orphanage.

A shrine maiden would reside there alone, seeking wisdom from the poor and wise rather than the wealth of the rich and foolish if in need.

Should any of the nobles with dragon blood violate this rule and spy on the girl’s life, “all salvation shall be nullified.”

Alta added these conditions so Leo could return near the orphanage and so Lena, after the swap, could live freely. Even this was smoothly accepted, much to the surprise of Leo and company.

(…Well, maybe it wasn’t so smooth after all.)

He corrected himself inwardly, his gaze distant once again.

Yes.

The people accepted the words of the spirit, yet they did not accept them.

While there were no voices doubting the truth or falsehood of the light spirit’s words, they hesitated to comply, resulting in unrest erupting everywhere.

First, despite being with Leonora, Kai and Gustav, who allowed the girl to suffer such a fate, attempted resignation due to overwhelming guilt.

Kai, in particular, was on the verge of taking his own life, so Leo spent three days and nights comforting him.Leo didn’t know that his line “Look! I’m alive!” would later be adapted into the iconic line of the Harkenburg Opera Company’s representative piece, “Lord, Rejoice in Life” and somehow managed to get him back on track.

As for Gustav, Leo’s words, “If you truly care for me, then instead, prepare a comfortable cathedral,” seemed to resonate, and the cathedral constructed by the Order of Holy Knights, with the explosion of spirit power, would be completed in just three months, a miraculous speed.

Around the same time, the duke and duchess, who were preparing for a full-scale uprising of the entire army in Weitz, collapsed and attempted to go insane.

Seeing them on the verge of starting some sort of black mass to vent their anger against those who had brought their beloved granddaughter to the brink of death, Leo spent two months tirelessly soothing them, continuously urging them not to be consumed by such emotions for the sake of this incident.

There was some talk of capturing the men involved in the ritual, but Leo hastily argued against it.

Moved by their granddaughter’s words that they had only been deceived and that they wanted to entrust the role of supporting the lower city to them, the couple shed tears—yet, in return, the interrogations of Alir Ad became extremely harsh.

Although Leo felt sorry for Alir Ad, he couldn’t help but feel grateful to the mentor for focusing their resentment solely on him, rather than on Elrand or Kai and the others.

Now, on top of all this, Albert, wearing a somewhat solemn expression, declared that he would abandon his position as prince and descend to the town himself.

Well, if that’s the case, Leo thought casually about taking him under his wing as a younger brother, but without even needing to consider it, it would completely ruin the scenario of the swap resolution so carefully arranged by Alta.

So, with the addition of the articulate Lena, Leo hastily intervened to stop him.

However, when Lena declared, “I’ll take care of her life in the lower city by myself,” the situation became even more chaotic.

With no attachment to his status as a prince anymore, Albert became stubbornly determined to be the one to protect the girl.

Although Lena looked as if she regretted it, in the end, Leo, in desperation, blurted out,

“Rather than becoming a wise but poor person, make everyone around me rich and wise. If you do that, you might be freed from the constraints of the spirit’s words, and your thoughts might change.”

Somehow, those words seemed to touch a chord within him.

Albert’s face turned solemn, and he clenched his fists even tighter than before.

As he said, “I swear on the name of the King of Gold,” those words would later become the title of a song performed by a minstrel, climbing the hit charts, but of course, Leo would never know.

And finally, when Bianca, Natalia, and their fellow students learned of the whole series of events, they too fell into panic one after another, some collapsing, some prostrating themselves in tears.

When Bianca clung to him, her eyes red, saying, “Leonora, don’t go…!” and Natalia covered her face, sobbing, saying, “If only I had gone…!” even Leo, despite himself, was torn.

(These people, they’re really something, lamenting so vividly…)

The way the women lamented was truly astonishing.

Holding daily meetings of the Crimson Rose Society or the White Lily Society, writing poetry to express their grief, counting their tears, and crying out their grievances to the spirit of light together, they had become completely engrossed in the beauty of the title 

“Bride of the Spirit.”

Thus, the atmosphere within the academy gradually shifted to one where it was said, “Isn’t it sad that Leonora is leaving the academy? No, it’s sad yet joyous, let’s celebrate her marriage with the brightest smiles!”.

With each passing day, Leo, who was continuously showered with “bridal items” such as veils, embroidery tools, and a white bouquet from them, now marched along with a slightly contorted face, humming something like a wedding march.

(This is the first time I’ve thought something I got for free was kind of awkward…)

With such thoughts in mind,

Well, regardless, if those who had formed a friendship with him, even if under false pretenses, could accept his parting without sorrow, it was a relief.

Those who had seemingly overcome the dramatic, somewhat aimless, and tumultuous emotions typical of nobility, and who were now beaming with smiles, were surely grateful.

Leo, for once, looked not at the floor where loose change might be lying around but at their faces, as they walked.

(Well, there’s nothing here that I can pick up anyway.)

Leonora von Harkenburg—a girl who had been allowed to attend the academy for less than a year, was about to disappear from this world forever.

During his time at the academy, picking up what was dropped there was considered “fair game,” but taking something from a place unrelated to oneself was theft and a crime.

There was a deep trench between scavenging and stealing.

That was something Leo had firmly decided he wouldn’t cross.

(…Besides, I’ve received enough already.)

Flowers. Needles. Sweets. Gold coins.

And smiles. Happy times.

Friendship.

Knowledge and skills were treasures never to be stolen.

And surely, memories were treasures too, never to be stolen or turned into theft, perhaps one of the few treasures.

Eventually, as they reached the end of the cobblestone path and arrived at the grand iron door they had once passed through, Albert stopped walking.

He turned Leo’s body, ensuring his face was visible to everyone around, then stepped back himself.

And, as if representing everyone present, he spoke in his usual, almost singing tone.

“Leonora von Harkenberg. We pray for your selflessness and the eternal blessings from the spirits.”

With a resounding voice, everyone held their breath to listen.

Albert continued, no longer with the artificial smile he had when they first met, but with the freshness that came after overcoming struggles and making decisions.

“While I couldn’t tether you as a woman, in other words, it means our relationship with you is eternal.”

If this were a real wedding, it would be the moment to pledge eternal love.

Instead, Albert pledged unwavering friendship.

“Among us, you belong to no one. Purely, only to yourself. Not as a woman to be loved and protected, but as an independent individual. Not as a lover whose love and emotions are questioned, but as a pure and dignified saint. We will eternally engrave you in our hearts and offer unwavering respect and friendship.”

Women should be protected by men, beautiful and helpless creatures.

In the strong currents of such a society in Weitz, Albert’s acknowledgment of a girl as a human being and his praise for her dignified strength could be seen as exceptional.

However,

“…”

Looking at Hanna, who was once denied even food because she was a woman, Leo suddenly softened his expression.

“…Thank you.”

By removing the filter of madness from the executioner, Leo had only recently begun to truly face this person named Albert.

He seemed to possess the typical romanticism of nobility, but at his core, he was sincere and earnest.

It seems he has been appointing close aides regardless of age or status recently, and I heard that after he ascended to the throne as the King of Coin, his dream is to eradicate hunger and poverty from every town.

Leo couldn’t help but look forward to his reign.

Although they couldn’t become lovers, if they had met under different circumstances.

With him now, they might have become good friends.

As Leo nodded, Albert smiled gently and took his hand, raising it high into the air.

“Everyone!”

Turning to the others, he declared loudly.

“Let us pledge here and now. Even if we don’t see her, she will always be by our side, and we will always be by hers!”

The students who heard cheered, raising their fists in unison.

Indeed, from this day forth, whenever Albert or someone from the academy was depicted in paintings or novels, a young girl was always drawn, as if she were a spirit.

It was a momentous occasion when the people of Weitz encountered the concept of “mental supplementation.”

As the cheers subsided, Albert turned to the girl again and gently let go of her hand.

Then, with his ice-blue eyes narrowed kindly, he said,

“Go, Leonora.”

“Yes… Albert-sama.”

For the first time, not calling him “prince,” but properly using his name.

Leo shook hands with Albert and parted ways.