Chapter 23 A New Engagement
Chapter 23
23.1
"The Queen has indeed stripped Lucé Ebrard and Beatrice Karagaran of their titles, and has agreed to make Lorenz the new Duke of Ebrard."
When the fox orc knight Reynardel said this, his expression was very complicated.
However, the Euridsi in front of him was humming an unknown tune and happily packing his things in the living room of the south wing of Oplensi Castle.
"Is that hard to believe?" Olidesi said with a smile. "Her Majesty the Queen doesn't like Luce Abrad and Beatrice Karagaran; she probably doesn't like any of the hereditary nobles on the Ethereal Continent. However, for the sake of peace for the people of the Ethereal Continent, she is forced to maintain peace with these nobles."
As she carefully removed the potions from the shelf and put them away, Oridesi shrugged. "So, if I could present to Her Majesty the crimes of Lucé Ebrard and Beatrice Caragallan—crimes with solid evidence and citizen witnesses—she would certainly be willing to strip them of their titles. It's such a simple matter, but only those two arrogant and foolish fellows, Lucé Ebrard and Beatrice Caragallan, couldn't see it."
Reynard looked at her for a long time without saying anything.
When the suitcase in Orridsi's hand was almost full, the former guardian knight whispered, "What about Lorenz?"
Oledsi raised an eyebrow, and Reinardel whispered, "If you hate the Ebrard family, why did you let Lorenz become the new Duke of Ebrard?"
"Oh, Lorenz," Euridsey waved his hand nonchalantly, "he's still useful to me; the empty shell of 'Duke Abrad' is also useful to me. - Um, could you please pass me the top potion bottle?"
Reinardel silently took the potion bottle and handed it to Oledsi, who smiled and said "thank you".
Looking at her smile, Reinardel said, as if possessed by a strange force: "Olidesi."
"Um?"
"Are you...really going to leave Oplunsi?"
For some reason, the knight's voice sounded slightly bitter, and Euridsi glanced at him.
"You don't want me to leave?" she said, smiling brightly. "Unfortunately, my engagement with Lorenz has ended. I'm a free citizen of the Ethereal Continent. I can go wherever I want."
She said, locking the suitcase on the desk with a click.
Reinardel didn't say anything else, but a low voice came from the door of the living room:
"Yeah?"
Olidisi raised her head:
Lorenz stood quietly in front of the living room door.
23.2
When Lorenz arrived silently, Reinardel left silently; only Lorenz and Euridsi were left in the living room of the south wing of Oplensi Castle.
The living room, which was originally decorated very warmly, now looks a little empty:
The bookshelf was almost completely empty, with only a few bottles and jars left that were once neatly arranged; the workbench was cleaned spotlessly, and all the alchemical instruments that were originally piled on one side were put away, revealing a burn mark on the wooden tabletop that had been left by an accident.
In the silence, Oulidsi was the first to break it.
"You are now the new Duke of Abrad," she said. "Good luck."
Lorenz looked at her silently.
Unlike the radiant Euridsi, he looked very haggard - during the previous trial, the Duke and Duchess locked him in the dungeon of Oplensi Castle to prevent him from helping Euridsi.
Although Lorenz was not actually treated like a prisoner, his worry and fear for Euridsi still made him become haggard all of a sudden.
Although he had a vague feeling that Euridsi was capable of protecting himself, what happened in the Judgment Square was still far beyond his expectations.
His mother and father were stripped of their noble titles and became commoners.
He became the new Duke of Eblad, but Euridsi completely broke off the engagement with him.
Lorenz knew Euridice better than anyone else. He knew clearly:
She is leaving.
"You... planned all this from the moment you killed Annie, right?" he said.
Euridice looked at Lorenz and suddenly smiled.
"I didn't kill her." She blinked calmly. "She left Oplunsi on her own."
Lorenz didn't refute her. He simply whispered, "In Oplensburg, you couldn't have hidden your mother from your eyes and perfectly disposed of Anne's body... So, you deliberately threw the blood-stained suitcase into the river, pretending to have placed Anne's body inside it."
Euridice remained silent. Lorenz suddenly laughed. "You knew Mother would keep an eye on you and send someone to salvage it... You knew Mother would use it against you. You smeared Anne's clothes with animal blood beforehand. You knew that at some point in the future, you'd be able to use the 'human blood test potion' to overturn this—you planned everything."
Oledsi sighed lightly: "Lorenz."
"...Tisi."
"Regardless of whether there is Annie or not, I will always be enemies with your mother and father."
“…”
Lorenz didn't say anything. Euridsi looked at him and smiled softly.
"They are your mother and father, Lorenz. But no matter what, I will kill them."
As he spoke, Euridice slowly raised his hand and touched Lorenz's cheek with the back of his cold fingers. Lorenz's skin was also cold.
"In this matter," she said, "I know your situation is difficult, so I don't ask you to do anything for me. It is best for us to break off our engagement and for me to leave Oplunsi."
However, to Euridsi's surprise, Lorenz suddenly smiled.
"You didn't kill them," he said.
Euridice was slightly startled. Lorenz smiled and said, "Lucien became a sinner of the temple, forever losing his freedom and becoming a servant of the temple. Luce and Beatrice lost their titles, their right to live in Fort Oplensi, and all their male and female servants. They are forced to support themselves and make a living with the common people, living what they call a 'lowly' life - for them, this is far more painful than killing them."
Euridice tilted her head and looked at Lorenz curiously: "And you don't seem to object."
Lorenz closed his eyes gently.
When he opened his eyes again, they were clear.
"I choose you, Euridsi," he said.
Lorenz said this, smiling slightly - his smile still looked so sincere.
"From the day I met you," he said, "I vaguely knew that one day I would have to choose between my old family and my new family."
Lorenz said, shaking his head slightly, "My grandfather, Prince Sideros of the old Elton Kingdom, was an indecisive man. My grandmother hated this kind of thing about him. When she talked about him, she often said: 'He wanted this and that, and he didn't want to give up either. In the end, he got nothing.'"①
Oledsi nodded slightly: "That's correct, it's obvious."
"So," Lorenz smiled, "I've always known that I must recognize my own heart and make my own choice."
Having said this, he repeated: "I choose you, Oulidsi."
Olidisi looked at him and suddenly laughed too.
"That really surprised me," she said. "I didn't expect you to have thought this through so early on."
In his previous life, it was a long time before Lorenz broke up with his mother and father. At that time, Duke Ebrard and Lady Beatrice stood by Prince Constance, while Lorenz chose to be loyal to the Queen. Duke Ebrard had already decided to take action against Lorenz, and the two sides broke up completely.
This time, when everything was still peaceful, Lorenz made the same decision in advance.
"Perhaps," Lorenz said quietly, "this isn't just about you, Tisi. This is about me—in choosing you, I'm choosing myself."
Euridsi looked at him, and Lorenz curled his lips slightly. "Perhaps, a person's growth is when he begins to realize that his mother and father are not great and omnipotent gods, but ordinary people whom he does not agree with."
As he spoke, his gaze drifted slightly away. "When I was little, I was terrified of my mother and father coming to the academy. Not because I was afraid of them asking about my grades, but because I was afraid of seeing... the way they looked down on other apprentices."
Lorenz said this, and Euridice vaguely remembered it.
"It's true," she shrugged. "The Duke and Duchess are not welcome at the academy. I've heard them openly refer to some apprentices as 'lowly commoners.'"
Lorenz shook his head and let out a wry laugh. "That's not all, Tisi. If I do my best in the three studies and four arts, they'll rightfully say, 'Of course, children of the Ebrard family are smarter than those of the lower classes.' But if I don't do my best in the three studies and four arts, they'll scold me, 'As a child of the Ebrard family, how could you let those lowly commoners step on you?'"
When Lorenz said this, although he tried to keep his voice calm, a trace of pain and embarrassment flashed in his eyes.
"I was terrified of them coming to the academy, Tisi," Lorenz whispered. "That was the first time I knew what 'shame' meant. What's even more terrifying is that the masters and apprentices in the academy wouldn't refute them; they would just stare at me with complicated expressions. At times like this, I often wish I could disappear—I wish a big hole would appear in the ground right away so I could crawl in, hide, and never come out again. Or maybe I could just die right away, that would be fine too."
Euridsi remained silent. Lorenz closed his eyes slightly. "In fact, it's not just at the academy, it's the same at Oplensi Castle... They always look down upon the servants in the castle with disdainful eyes, as if looking down upon them, ordering them to do this and that. If a servant does the right thing, it's because the mother and father have given them the right guidance; if a servant does the wrong thing, it's because they themselves are 'as stupid as a pig, a complete piece of garbage.' Living with my mother and father makes me very uncomfortable. I often feel like I can't breathe."
Even Euridice on the stake had never heard these words of Lorenz.
Oledsi looked at her former husband with a complicated expression, seeing the vulnerability he had never shown to anyone.
Lorenz Ebrard of the Order of Oplenci always had a sunny and sincere smile, and he always exuded a friendly and sincere energy.
However, no one knows the source of this energy; just as no one has ever seen the shadow of the sun.
"No one is born a noble person," Lorenz said softly. "I became what I am now because... I don't want to be like my mother and father."
As he said this, his eyes became calm again.
"Whenever I have a bad thought, a voice in my head will immediately appear. That voice will ask me: Do you want to be like your father?"
Lorenz shook his head and smiled, "Then, cold sweats would immediately break out on my back—no, I would tell myself: I absolutely, absolutely will not become a person like my father."
So, he smiled sincerely at everyone; he respected everyone who worked with his own hands.
He delivered firewood to the elderly in the cold season and ice to the academy in the hot season. He worked hard in the Knights Templar, building carriage roads for the city of Oprunsi, maintaining order in the market, and cleaning the city.
All this is not because he is a noble person by nature, but because of his fear and panic:
"I absolutely, absolutely do not want to be like my father."
Lorenz looked at Euridsi and said slowly: "Luce Abrad and Beatrice Karagaran are not the role models I want to be. Rather than choosing you over them, Tisi, I chose myself -"
He said, stroking Oledsi's hair slowly.
“Your beliefs are my beliefs,” he said. “Your choices are my choices. We are the same people. We are fighting for the same things.”
Euridice stared at him, and Lorenz said, "Tisi."
“…”
"If you can't stay... then can you take me away with you?"
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