Trash of the Count's Family - TWSB – Chapter 250: Peace of the Almighty God (4)
<Peace of the Almighty God (4)>
There was a really big issue, but there was nothing I could do.
“Mm……”
That was an even bigger issue.
– Scribble, scribble.
I placed a gown over my pajamas and sat inside the warm Juliette Palace as I started to write.
It was Saturday night again. It had been one week since the Saturday feast that was full of the scent of apples from the calvados. It was dark all around because the staff went to rest, but the area around the desk was gently glowing thanks to the candlestick. The view outside the window had not snowed for a while until it started again last night.
– Tap! Tatap!
– Shhhh, shhhh……
I could hear the snow falling through the crackling logs if I stayed quiet. The Riester Imperial Palace had been peaceful for the past week. I had no idea how things were going outside, but at least that was the case inside the palace.According to Benjamin, Empress Frédérique’s handling of the situation had continued fiercely. The families of the attendants in the Imperial Palace had always been investigated, but the intensity would increase from now on. The investigation on the pair de Riester who made up the Chambre des pairs had already finished and she had moved onto the high-class nobles who come and go through the Imperial Capital and the territories. Priests as well as noble children who went to study abroad in the Vatican were all targets of the investigation. If they were found to have received any foreign capital, it would be difficult for them to avoid the Imperial Guard’s focused tailing and interrogation.
The fact that she was carrying out a multi-generation search of different families yet it did not lead to political fear or McCarthyism was…… Well, it had to be the ruler’s capabilities.
“She was so cool that day.” I thought about the Empress during her birthday celebration and mumbled to myself.
“Kiii?” Demy, who was on his back in front of the furnace, twitched with curiosity. Rhea and Perry had gone off to dreamland a long time ago. Percy was buried between the two of them, and I could only see the tip of his tail. I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I’m talking about her Majesty. She’s so respectable. I think she was born to be the Empress.”
– Cruuu.
Honestly, it was probable that her personality was formed as a result of significant effort and years of work. Anyway, she was truly a dazzling adult. Looking at her even made my heart thump. I still clearly remembered what the Empress had proclaimed on her birthday.
‘Some of you may want to believe that such chaos happened because of Prince Jesse, but, in this Empress’s eyes, those of you who consider this to be chaos are the ones who are suspicious.’
‘…….’
Her red eyes had sparkled full of dignity. The crowd couldn’t even make a sound.
‘This is not chaos but a cleaning. What we are doing is shedding the layers of dust on the Empire.’
She had prepared for the chance that the arrow would be turned back to me. In order to make sure that I, the victim, did not suffer unfair treatment, she had preemptively cut off the chance of it happening. It was also a way to completely destroy Simon de Sarnez and Werner Venetiaan’s goal. Thanks to that, nobody said that they needed to get rid of me.
‘I want to become someone like her Majesty in the future.’
“……This is not the time for that.” I drifted off into my thoughts for a moment before quickly returning to reality.
As usual, the desk was full of history books, the < Biweekly Riester >, and other magazines. It was close to midnight but I couldn’t fall asleep like this. It was still difficult to go outside, and even if I did make it out, it was not going to be for anything meaningful, so I had to at least gather more knowledge. It would not be wrong to say that I had no knowledge of anything outside of Riester. If I was to be asked what I had been doing for close to 1 year since my transmigration……
“This was the best I could do.”
Getting adjusted to a new world after suddenly ending up here was a job of its own, so how would I have had time to learn about neighboring nations, vassal states, or neutral regions?!
– Squee
“It’s okay. I just have to work hard from now on.”
‘I also have friends who can help me.’ I consoled myself.
That was around the time Demy slowly crawled over and stood up while holding onto a chair leg. That was his way of asking for me to hold him, so I picked him up and patted his back. Tithé had been knocked out in the crib since early this evening. He seemed to be deep asleep, as he had been quiet this whole time.
“Okay, let’s take another look. The page I was on……”
Flap flap, the notebook and the history book flipped at the same time. I could clearly make out the records I made in the past. The pages I opened at the start of my transmigration seemed a bit faded. There were a lot of pages with ink stains until April, but the latter ones were more organized.
‘Avoid vs Get involved,’ ‘Pros of avoiding them: Can live until the war’.
I couldn’t help but scoff after seeing the memos of my wild dreams from the past.
‘I tried that but I somehow managed to still survive after getting involved.’
– Flutter……
I was back to the spot I was studying. I picked up the quill pen and started to read. I also looked at the large map of the continent that was like a tablecloth underneath the books.
* The neutral region.
The location of the Temple of Boundaries.
– A vast desert with the temple at the center, full of different settlements of ethnic minorities
– Numerous ancient artifacts are buried here
– No armies are allowed inside (Only has soldiers of the Vatican, indigenous warriors are excluded)
– Currently, no Riesterians are allowed entry (some caravans and those whose identities can be confirmed are exceptions, quarantine necessary)
The map was thankfully the newest version that Ganael had found for me. The large Riester made up the southern part of the continent while Venetiaan made up a smaller portion to the East. There was an onion-shaped area in between the two countries.
‘No. Only I think it looks like an onion. The people here say it looks like a tulip bulb.
The continent used to be one country a long time ago. The country’s name was Únĭo. The capital was near the present day Temple of Boundaries.
Basically, the neutral region was now a barren desert, but until about 1,000 years ago, it was the center of an ancient kingdom flowing with milk and honey. The Unité River still flowed through it, but back then, it was as prosperous as Egypt by the Nile River. The battle over the capital was naturally vicious when Únĭo was being split in two……
‘This place, this place is the land where the Peace of the Almighty God blooms. You will need to kill me first if you want to shed blood in this place!’
Ssssss. I underlined a part of the children’s history book. Matthijs Roosegaarde, the Pope at the time, appeared alone at the center of the city to prevent the battle. Historians claim that he was a coward who acted too late. Numerous people had already lost their lives by then and numerous locations were buried under the sand as ruins.
‘Your Holiness, it is dangerous here. Please get away!’
‘No! I will not move a single step. Please stop sacrificing the innocent people of our country!’
Regardless, the man’s appearance had been effective. Both sides, despite having fiercely fought against each other, had no choice but to withdraw at the Pope’s threat. It was impossible to destroy their religious justification in a war where justification was important. The Pope had been shaking but still firmly stood in front of the bleeding believers. All armies withdrew from the Pope’s sight and were never allowed to return.
That was Matthijs’s only yet eternal achievement. The spot where the Pope’s residence was located remained as the continent’s neutral region.
“This is where Elise says she will meet me. She must have decided that it was difficult to completely trust the Empire’s Imperial family after seeing how I was framed…… That was why I wrote a letter.”
I tapped the top of the map with my finger. I could see the luxurious envelope on one side of the desk. The Sérénité coat of arms tightly sealed the envelope. This was the letter I thought long and hard about, day and night, to write.
It was because I had no idea about the real Prince Jesse’s handwriting. I had not responded to Queen Christanne’s letters for the same reason, so I had been a bit scared. I wondered if I should not step in, if my involvement would turn the situation even more serious.
However, an odd instinctual feeling pushed me to write. I was certain that I was already writing in the prince’s handwriting. It was because despite Jung Yeseo never having gone horseback riding, I was able to easily ride because of the Prince’s experience. I had some skill in the dancing of the Beau Monde and I had no issues with doing the Holy Kingdom-style greetings. I didn’t know about ancient texts, but I could easily read Venetiaan and Riester texts. It seemed that the foundation I needed to survive in the QNW world was already taken care of thanks to the Prince. That gave me the confidence to write. I thought it would be okay for me to write a single letter to Elise.
What would I not be willing to do if I could risk a bit of danger to stop the war?
‘Should I write about Spice too?’
‘When you say Spice……’
‘I’m talking about the pig sculpture on the mantle in the reception room. The red one.’
‘Oh. You are talking about that uhh… sculpture, your highness.’
It took Benjamin a bit to remember that Spice was Cornelisse’s creation and then he did his best to control the expression on his face. I was sure he was going to call it ugly, but I brushed it off with a smile because I didn’t want to put him in an awkward position.
I received the help of my friends the whole time I was writing the message. I referenced the Imperial family’s respectful ways for the greeting and the conclusion and confirmed them with the Imperial Crown Prince. (“……I’m surprised that you know how to write.” That punk calmly mocked me after receiving my question. That bastard stabbed at the core of the issue from time to time like this). I added middle names to help her trust what was written in the letter. My sister’s middle name, Usil, my middle name, Losna. I even opened up the letter from Queen Christanne and read through it for the whole day. I wanted to see if there was anything in there that could be helpful.
……I had worked so hard to get it done, so it felt so worthless and disappointing to see it returned without even being read.
“Not now though.”
– Squee
To be specific, I had felt that way until one week ago. But I had no time to despair. People might still be dying at the border right now so I couldn’t just keep paying attention to a letter that was returned. The two World Wars in my world happened with only 25 years between the two. Thinking that something similar might happen here would jolt me awake even in my sleep.
“That’s enough about the letter…… There’s this thing on my birthday. Maybe I’ll ask about it during my Monday lesson.”
– Screeeech
I pointed to the ‘Grand Celebration of the Advent of the Almighty God – February 22nd’ written in my notebook, which made the divine beast grumble. He even started to push my tummy to urge me to go to sleep. I calmed the punk and checked the clock. My jaws immediately dropped.
‘How is it already 1am?!’
“Aigoo, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know it was so late.”
– Whimper
“Yeah, big bro is so bad. Let’s go night night. I’ll stop studying now.”
We were going to get a bunch of guests starting in the morning because it was Ganael’s birthday. I put my notebook in my pocket and quickly got up with Demy in my arms. Sleep was important.
*
That morning of February 24th was very bright. The inside of the palace was always beautiful, but the outside was dazzling from the piles of snow. The cold died down a bit as well.
The weather was not lacking at all for Ganael’s birthday. His large gold eyes were sparkling with overflowing affection. I cautiously looked around the room before quickly receiving the cake from our friendly chef, Laurence.
“Tada!”
I then walked in with a smile on my face. I didn’t forget to move cautiously so that the candles did not go out.
‘Wow!’ ‘It’s so pretty!’ People gasped in admiration all around. I brought the sky blue and gold cake to today’s main character, and our friends all rushed in to say something.
Most of them were saying similar things. ‘Master Ganael, hurry!’ Or, ‘Ganael, hurry up and make a wish!’
“I will. Huuuuuu……!”
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
The child quickly chuckled and blew out the candles. Vice Captain Élisabeth, who was in casual clothes today, gave her fiance a kiss on his cheek while everybody other than crown prince Cédric clapped our hands with joy. There were exactly seventeen candles that were blown out. A scene from the < Sound of Music > had been running through my mind since a few days ago.
I quietly whispered so that only Ganael could hear. ‘I’m so thankful for everything you always do for me. Happy birthday.’
The young boy’s eyes started to tear up.
“May the Almighty God’s blessing be with you.”
“Ganael, happy birthday!”
“Happy birthday, Master Ganael!”
“Happiest of birthdays to you. I hope it is a great one!”
“May you always be healthy.”
“……Everybody, thank you so much.”
Benjamin and our Juliette family, then Eva, Sand, Sir Johann all wished him happy birthday one after the other. Romero Palace’s David and mountain keeper Agnes said warm words as well. Ganael looked so happy that even I was smiling.
‘Haiya!’ Christelle quickly poked her index finger into the cake and placed some whipped cream on the young boy’s cheek.
Everybody laughed. As Pierre followed Christelle and placed some cream on his friend’s nose…
– Bang!
“Aaaaaah!”
“Holy Almighty God!”
A small magic tool popper went off! Paper butterflies of five different colors started to fly around Ganael. Everybody blanked out for a bit at this magical sight.
Marquis François looked at us and laughed out loud. “Hahaha! You seemed quite surprised. My apologies, Madam.”
“That is okay. You made such a beautiful item, Marquis Duhem.”
The man who supposedly came back up from his territory for today’s celebration, kissed the back of Isabelle’s hand before quickly starting to explain his creation. The crown prince, who was silently sitting on the couch, let out a quiet sigh. I couldn’t help but chuckle because this seemed like a scene straight out of a sitcom. I was so proud of the punk who was scowling but still came on time……
– Plop!
‘Huh?’
“Sand, you dropped this.”
“Ahh! Thank you very much, your highness. I almost lost it!” The priest’s round body bowed deeply as he thanked me.
The fact that his round eyes opened wide made it seem as if the envelope I picked up was very important. I smiled and subconsciously looked at the envelope.
‘The Grand Celebration of the Advent of the Almighty God in the 1614th year of the Holy Calendar. Temple of Boundaries Pilgrimage Schedule’
‘……Huh?’
— Translator’s Comments
Wait whuuuuut? Sand is keeping things from us??
