Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 731

Thump-! Thump, thump-!

A huge drumbeat echoed from the Emperor’s camp.

Beric, who had been glaring at Jeylotte with tears streaming down his face, lowered his guard and looked behind him.

Jeylotte did the same. He sheathed the sword he had been pointing at Beric and relaxed his stance. It was a recall order. The camp, realizing the situation was escalating, had ordered a temporary ceasefire. He turned his gaze to Helna, who was lying on the ground, looking up at him.

“Helna, was it?”

“…Yes.”

“Consider yourself lucky.”

Swish.

Jeylotte completely sheathed his sword. As a result, Beric’s tension seemed to break, and he dropped his sword to the ground. Then, he knelt down and lay prostrate, not moving for a long time.

The Imperial Guards, seeing him crying endlessly, were at a loss, guarding their comrade’s back.

‘Damn it.’

Why, of all places, did he have to meet his sister here? If it had been in the capital of an enemy country, it wouldn’t have been this devastating. To block the path in front of the Emperor and threaten to kill the Bariel people… Beric instinctively knew there was nothing he could do.

But still, maybe…

“Beric. Get up.”

“Senior.”

He knew it in his head. He knew it all too well. He couldn’t be with his sister. He couldn’t save her, just like that stormy night. No, he shouldn’t save her.

But his body wouldn’t cooperate. Even though he knew that if he didn’t cut down his sister, everything around him would collapse, it wasn’t easy.

Tap, tap!

Jeylotte watched a soldier running out of the camp. Her roughly tied brown hair was flying in the wind. It was Eirin.

“Is everyone alright?”

“Eirin?”

“Beric, please get up. The Bariel soldiers are watching.”

Eirin whispered carefully through her teeth. At the same time, she checked the condition of Helna and her group, then pulled out a dagger. Beric was surprised and tried to stop her, but that was all. There was no murderous intent coming from Eirin.

Swoosh!

“Ugh!”

Eirin explained as she made cuts on Helna’s arms and legs with her sword.

“The Emperor’s solemn order was to save the Bariel people. Beric, if this person is truly your sister, then she is also one of the Bariel people. It seems she has abandoned her name and is living a new life, but that’s not the important part. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“No, I don’t, I don’t understand.”

Helna silently watched Eirin cutting her body with a sword. To be precise, she was figuring out what she was doing. It was a gesture that seemed to be cutting something off rather than making wounds.

Eirin, feeling it was enough, firmly grabbed Helna’s shoulder and lifted her up. It wasn’t a gentle and warm support.

Clench.

“Since everyone has heard the Emperor’s order, we cannot retract it for the sake of Beric’s personal feelings. Therefore, we will buy some time with a deception. This person was bewitched by the puppet technique [a type of mind control] due to the schemes of King Toolun and committed insolent acts-”

Helna’s eyes widened slightly. …Beric. You really are loved a lot.

“The Imperial Guards, having seen through it, broke the puppet technique and saved all the Bariel people. That’s how it will be presented to the outside world. However!”

Eirin’s grip on Helna’s shoulder tightened. There was a condition.

“Your sister’s sins will not disappear. She must pay for her sins within two days. If Beric cannot accept this… there must be another way.”

Run away with Helna. If you’re lucky, you’ll live in hiding forever, and if not, you’ll be killed by the Imperial Palace’s pursuit team.

It’s a crossroads. Giving him a chance to choose his fate. This was the Emperor’s last consideration for Beric.

Beric looked at Eirin with wavering eyes. Her eyes were warm but firm and unwavering.

“It’s alright, Beric. You are the one chosen by the gods, who sacrificed himself for Bariel. Whichever path you choose, there will surely be blessings.”

“I’m… not. It’s Ian who is chosen by the gods.”

“You have done the right thing by following Sir Ian, so you are also such a person.”

Is it easy to be prepared for death? Is it something everyone is allowed to go down to that strange temple and fight life and death with monsters? There are many strong people like Beric, and there are many who step forward for their beliefs. But there weren’t many who were both.

“Choose.”

Then, Eirin lightly struck the back of Helna’s neck, knocking her unconscious. If she were to say something foolish, it would be the same as ruining the opportunity the Emperor had given with difficulty.

Now, all that remained was Beric’s choice.

“……”

Beric looked around. The Bariel people who had died with their eyes open. The enemies watching the situation from above. Eirin, Jeylotte, and even the Imperial Guards. Everyone was waiting for his decision.

Beric roughly rubbed his eyes with his sleeve.

Swish.

He shouldn’t cry. That wasn’t his way of solving things. If possible, he wanted to save his sister and protect the people around him, but… if that wasn’t possible, he had to choose one. Without regret, just one.

Beric clenched his teeth, thinking of Ian’s group who had gone up to the Toolun capital. A faint, metallic taste of blood filled his mouth, but he didn’t notice it.

‘…Past and future.’

Helna was the past, and everything Beric was looking at was the future. He had seen the future at the Masantar Temple, and he knew how brilliant and great those processes were. Beric rubbed away the tears that kept welling up.

‘What was I living for?’

To meet his sisters? No. He thought his sisters were dead. Then?

…To become stronger.

‘What was I trying to get so strong for?’

Beric recalled the day he first met Ian. The day he clashed with the Chunryeo tribe in the desert and the day he fought with Siao Shi to be selected for the Imperial Guard.

When the princes started a rebellion and when he faced Rutherford. In all those moments, he strived to win. What was he doing all that for?

‘Ah.’

That’s right. To protect the people he cared about. To prevent the past where he had to let his sisters go like that from repeating itself… To protect the happiness of ‘now’.

Whoosh-

After a long time had passed, and just as the direction of the wind changed, Beric opened his mouth as if he had made up his mind.

“…Let’s go back.”

To the camp-

To where he needed to be.

* * *

Splash-!

Cold water was splashed on Helna’s face. As she barely exhaled and regained consciousness, the dark interior was the first thing she saw. She couldn’t immediately recognize objects or shapes.

“Sister. Are you awake?”

“…Beric?”

“Looks like you are. I wanted to let you sleep more, but there’s no time.”

Beric was sitting close to Helna. He was perched on a small chair, his elbows on his knees. From that, Helna realized that Beric was in anguish. And also that the shackles binding her limbs were quite sturdy.

“Beric. Please untie this.”

“Sister. What about Media?”

“…Media?”

“Yeah. She was captured with you.”

At Beric’s calm question, Helna felt her heart sink. As if her buried shame was trying to burst out, an unpleasant tremor continued inside her body. Beric raised his eyebrows as if urging her, and Helna kept biting her lower lip.

“Sister?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what happened to her either. We got separated while being sold. If she’s alive, I think we’ll meet someday. Just like I met you now.”

Helna vaguely glossed over the topic and changed the subject.

Beric sighed deeply and stared at the shackles binding Helna’s limbs. He wanted to untie them, but he couldn’t. That would be an act that went against his decision.

“Why did you do that?”

“…What?”

“You’re not on Toolun’s side either. If you had just let us pass, things wouldn’t have gotten this complicated.”

“Is that something the invaders should say?”

The meaning behind the word ‘invaders’ was clear. It meant that there was no longer any trace of the country of Bariel left in Helna’s blood. For her, her homeland was Toolun. That’s why she was willing to risk death to block the Emperor’s march.

Beric realized this, but he couldn’t accept it. His sister was a little girl who loved picking flowers in a small village in Bariel…

Helna kept twisting her body, as if uncomfortable, and pleaded.

“Beric. Please untie this.”

“…Why did you do that?”

“What?”

“The slave trading.”

Helna stopped struggling and looked at Beric coldly.

“That’s funny.”

It was a clear sneer. Helna let out a low laugh and added.

“You’re living well in the Imperial Palace, getting good food and treatment, so does the world look the same to you? Why did I start selling people? Because that was the only way!”

Thud!

As Helna’s voice rose, there was a commotion outside the tent. It was his worried comrades who had gathered, just in case, for Beric.

“Do you know what I went through after being dragged away like that? I was really curious. Why do people only take advantage of those who are struggling? Why can’t they help a little? But after growing up a bit, I realized. That was the easiest way to survive. Desperate people will fall for it if you just scratch their sides a little. Ah! There was one thing I was grateful for about Bariel.”

Helna screamed in anger. At first glance, it seemed like she was scolding Beric, but it wasn’t.

She was scolding herself. The anger at not being able to be genuinely happy to see Beric after so long. The shame that came from not being able to tell her younger brother about her past life. Yet, the desire to survive that kept pushing up from within…

All of these things were combined, and it seemed to be showing her the bottom she had been trying to ignore, making her feel so ashamed that she couldn’t bear it unless she screamed.

“There’s nothing easier to trick than the Bariel people.”

“Sister. Stop it.”

“Beric. Please save me just once. Isn’t it too pitiful for me to die like this? Looking at you, it seems like you have a really important position. Huh?”

Beric mumbled, tears streaming down his face. The more Helna spoke, the more he felt like the sister in his memories was being erased.

“Why have you changed so much, sister?”

“People change. You’ve changed too, haven’t you? You couldn’t even handle a few thugs when you were young, but now you’ve become strong. If it were the you from back then, you wouldn’t be agonizing like this.”

Of course, he would have said he would save his sister and throw everything away. But not now. Just like Helna had changed, Beric had changed too. Now, he had too many precious things.

“Beric. Help me. Save me.”

He couldn’t save her back then, but he could save her now, right? Helna’s whispers tickled Beric’s heart like the devil’s.

Helna, realizing that Beric was wavering, sighed even more deeply and said.

“Beric. If you were as strong back then as you are now, we wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

At her words, Beric, who had been crying with his head down, stopped his tears. Wait, this… isn’t this something he’s heard before? When he raised his head, Helna was watching him, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.

“Sister.”

“Yes. Yes, Beric. My brother.”

“The me from back then is why I am who I am now.”

“……”

“I, I was so sorry to my sisters and my mother. That’s why I wanted to become stronger. So that I would never lose someone precious again.”

Beric thought of Ian.

If you were stronger, if you had done a little better, this wouldn’t have happened? How was that different from the dark breath that Crony whispered to Ian?

Beric shook his head without realizing it. No. That’s not it. If he admitted that, then Ian would eventually be defined that way too. As an incompetent Emperor who was defeated by Crony because of his own mistakes.

“That’s why I’ve become like this. I’ve become stronger, and now I have so many precious people by my side.”

“I am! Beric, I am!”

“Sister, are you precious to me? But, am I precious to you too?”

If I’m precious to you, can you so confidently ask me to save you and throw everything away? Truly? Tears trickled down Beric’s cheeks again. It was the last bit of lingering attachment.

“……”

“I wanted to say I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you that day. And-”

He wanted to hear his sister say it was okay. That was all. That it wasn’t his fault, and that they could just let go of each other’s fate and move on.

Helna could feel that Beric was coming to terms with things in his heart. Growing desperate, she twisted her body and shouted.

“No! Beric, you, you can’t just abandon me like this! We’re connected by blood!”

Clank! Clank!

Beric suddenly remembered Jeylotte’s words. If he had willingly taken her to the Emperor when he found out it was Helna, the situation would have been different.

What if Helna had told him to protect what was precious to him, even if it meant killing her? Would his heart have cooled down like this? Would he have looked at Helna with eyes that were gradually growing colder even then?

“I’m sorry, sister. I-”

Beric took a short breath. The commotion outside had also subsided. Everyone was waiting for his decision.

“I want to stay here. There are people I want to be with.”