Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 57

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The party was over.

“You’re leaving already?”

The teacup she was holding trembled, the contents sloshing as if about to spill.

Vanessa struggled to compose herself, awaiting the other person’s reply.

“Yes.

The party is over, and I think it’s time I returned to my territory.

His Majesty has also said that there would be no problem in the royal family even if I became the heir.”

“Still… Lord Zion.

Couldn’t you stay a little longer…?”

“I have a lot to do.”

Zion wanted to quickly go and pick up Trisha Faker and spend the remaining time just resting.

From the start, he had met Kim Yu-hyun, reported his survival, and made a contract with Lilith.

Then, he immediately participated in the war and suffered immensely. Before that fatigue could even fade, he had to come up to the royal castle again to attend the party and got caught up in an explosion in between.

‘What kind of insane forced march is this?’

He stepped forward a bit to prevent Kim Yu-hyun’s mental breakdown, but this was enough.

Now, Zion’s true desire was to return to his territory and get some peace of mind and sleep.

‘…So, he doesn’t enjoy the hustle and bustle or the luxury of the royal castle after all.’

Of course, Vanessa had misunderstood again.

“When you return, the next time we meet, you will be the official heir, or after you become the new Count Klausen.”

“Perhaps I might be meeting not a princess, but a queen.”

It was quite a dangerous remark, but Vanessa didn’t say anything in particular.

Instead, she simply took a sip from her teacup with a slightly stiff expression.

“Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

“Keep a close watch on the North.”

Vanessa looked puzzled at Zion’s sudden warning, as if asking what he meant.

“It’s just a request I’m making to you.

We Klausens are busy enough watching the border with Nudia.

Don’t you have those who trouble the kingdom in the North as well?”

“…It’s been three years since they’ve been silent.

This is sudden, Lord Zion.”

“It’s strange when those who used to be noisy suddenly become quiet.

And three years is quite a long time for someone, but not a very long time for a group to sharpen their swords and spears.”

If any other noble had said this, Vanessa wouldn’t have taken it so seriously.

As the northern barbarians made an agreement with the kingdom and began exchanging a certain amount of food and goods, the annual looting had almost stopped.

In the midst of this, suddenly telling her to keep a close watch on the North was a statement that could pour cold water on the current peaceful atmosphere.

‘But…’

The words of the man before her were hard to dismiss with a smile.

His eyes, voice, and actions were full of conviction.

Zion was so certain, as if something was bound to happen in the North.

“…I understand.

I will secretly send people to keep watch.”

“Make sure the prince doesn’t find out.”

The princess realized that Zion was telling her to build her own merit.

She smiled softly and opened her mouth.

“How strange.

We’ve only met twice, yet you speak as if you know so much about me, and act for my sake?”

“…It’s just a feeling.

A feeling that you would be a better ruler.”

“That’s quite a dangerous and unbelievable reason.”

That’s what she said, but her expression wasn’t exactly displeased.

Whether the feeling the man spoke of was truly a ‘feeling,’ or whether it was a word driven by affection.

Vanessa wanted to believe it was the latter.

“…I really must go now.”

“Yes.

I should be leaving the royal palace soon.”

The princess stood up and extended her hand.

The young man followed her up and carefully took her outstretched hand.

“I hope we don’t have to wait several years to meet again like last time.”

“I will try.”

With those words, Zion bid farewell and left the princess’s room.

He had already greeted the king and the prince, and this was a separate meeting specifically to see Vanessa one last time.

“…”

As a princess, it was unprecedented to personally escort a noble’s son, who wasn’t even the head of a family, outside the palace.

So Vanessa simply sat in her room, watching the young man grow smaller and smaller through the window.

“We’ll meet again soon.”

For a brief moment, she felt that the position of princess was cumbersome.

But soon, she shook her head and cleared her mind, recalling the words Zion had left behind.

‘Keep a close watch on the North.’

Beyond the northern part of the kingdom lies a desolate land where various tribes live.

A world where they can’t unite even though they are of the same race, and just fight and eat each other is their daily life.

It was a region lacking in everything, but especially food, so they would invade and loot as soon as the kingdom’s defenses became even slightly weak.

Eventually, the Hispaña side mobilized a large force to subdue them, but it was a war that only left scars on each other, and eventually they decided to promote peace through trade.

‘That was three years ago.

During that time, the northern barbarians have been quietly trading without causing any major disturbances.’

They had been living peacefully for three years, but before that, they had been clashing with the kingdom for over 30 years.

It would be impossible to say that their warlike nature, to the point where they wouldn’t stop fighting each other to the death, had disappeared in just those three years.

“…You must have had a reason for asking me that favor.”

Zion’s words that he might be meeting the queen.

Vanessa knew how dangerous that statement was, but she couldn’t bring herself to rebuke him.

It wasn’t that she felt good, but rather that she felt a sense of relief at being recognized by someone.

As a princess, she didn’t have strong power, but she could still gather and predict the situation by mobilizing those around her to gather news from the North.

Vanessa decided to pay attention to the North as Zion had said.

―

“Are you leaving right away?”

Is this déjà vu [the feeling that one has lived through the present situation before]?

It felt like I had just heard those words.

Zion chuckled and nodded at Helen’s words.

She stared at the man in front of her for a moment before continuing.

“Are you really going to finalize this deal with just a verbal agreement, without any written proof?”

“Yes.”

Zion gave her all the rights to the drink that was created with his idea.

At the beginning, the distribution was handled by the Haines Merchant Guild, but the detailed parts of the production were practically Zion’s own ideas.

Instead, she agreed to transport all the goods Zion requested to the Klausen County within three months.

A fairly large-scale transaction, started and ended with words, without a single document.

“…What do you trust in?”

“I trust you.

The woman named Helen Haines.

A talented guild leader who created a guild and grew it so large, even if it was to avenge her enemies.”

Helen coughed softly at the embarrassing compliment and looked at Zion.

As a guild leader, she had received many compliments from many customers.

From her appearance to her abilities, so many compliments.

But she had never seen a man who spoke so frankly, without any flattering air, as the man sitting in front of her.

As if he had known her worth from the beginning, Helen unconsciously muttered in a slightly prickly voice.

“I don’t know why you’re saying that when you’ve only known me for a few days.

I trust you’re not judging me based on my appearance alone.

You should know that not all fairies are just beautiful.”

“Of course, I know very well.

Brainwashing humans like crazy and pushing them into the royal palace to die, and treating them oppressively as if they were subordinates, even though they are half-bloods.

Fairies are no different from humans.

I know very well, so don’t worry.”

“But…”

“But why do I see you so favorably?

Isn’t it obvious?”

Zion leaned slightly forward, looking at Helen, and continued.

“You can endure and wait for an opportunity, no matter how long it takes, to achieve your goals.

You have built a guild that didn’t even have a name into a fairly influential guild within the royal castle.

Isn’t that good enough?

I’m looking for a skilled guild leader, not a kind-hearted fairy woman.”

“…”

“And you and I have already made a deal with satisfactory content, not just once, but twice.

That should be more than enough to build trust in each other.

Am I mistaken?”

At Zion’s question, Helen slowly shook her head.

Even though he saw her true self, even though he saw the bottom of her trying to do anything for revenge, the man had no rejection.

A noble whose nobility is his pride.

“You are a truly strange person.

A person who shows the opposite of the rumors, but also has more than those rumors, a person who is really hard to grasp.”

“I hear that a lot these days.”

As if all the business was over, Zion tried to get up from his seat without hesitation.

Then Helen hesitated for a moment whether to say this or not, but finally opened her mouth.

“I’m sorry.”

“About what?”

“That… you can’t handle mana.”

“Ah, that?”

Zion, who has a body with zero mana sensitivity that even Helen, who lived an unhappy life, pities.

Muttering to himself that it was absurd, he shrugged as if it was nothing.

“I’ve never considered it a misfortune.

So I don’t care.”

“…Is that so?”

“No one can make me feel pathetic and miserable, Helen.”

“Yes?”

“I only become pathetic and miserable when I acknowledge myself as such.”

At those words, Helen felt a chill in her heart for a moment.

It was as if those words were prepared for her.

“In that sense, although it’s just my perspective.

You are a wonderful woman.”

“…That’s unnecessary.”

She was just a flower that had already been scratched and broken by someone else, all withered.

The light had already faded, and she barely remembered when there was brilliance in her life.

If it weren’t for the man named Zion Klausen, she would now be losing even the guild she had barely built and only looking forward to Sefer Kashgar’s death, making her insides rot again.

Zion smiled, whether he knew Helen’s inner thoughts or not, and said.

“Anyway, please fulfill the request without any setbacks.

If it’s delayed, both you and I will have a headache.”

“…I will fulfill it without any setbacks, but may I ask you one thing?”

“Of course.”

“The war is over, and there is no longer any place in the kingdom where the shadow of war looms, but why are you suddenly preparing such a huge amount of food?”

She’s a guild leader, so she must have noticed something strange.

Zion stared at her for a moment, then lightly brought his index finger to his lips.

It meant that there was no reason to explain that far, that it was a secret to him.

“I really don’t know what to make of you.”

“Let’s just say I’m the rumored young nobleman of the frontier.”

“It sounds very strange when you say that yourself.”

When Helen snapped at him like that, Zion chuckled and left the guild.

He stretched his back and looked up at the sky.

‘The reason for preparing food.’

Kim Yu-hyun, who went to the royal castle, later went north to suppress the rebellion of the northern nobles and also fought with the tribes living there.

As the scale of the war suddenly increased, the royal family hurriedly sent reinforcements.

At that very timing, the pirates in the south, who had been quiet, began to be active again.

It was the dawn of the ‘Era of Great Chaos.’

‘You’re not going to stop it?’

Needless to say, of course not.

The reason I’ve been active so far is only for the safety of my home, Klausen County.

And it was just to design a new image for the messed-up Zion Klausen.

As a bonus, I also took care of a dimensional traveler whose mentality was half-destroyed.

‘Kim Yu-hyun, you be the hero who saves the world.

That’s your destiny, right?

But at least as a sign of respect, I’ll take care of your mental health.’

In fact, it was a bit, no, a lot inappropriate to call Kim Yu-hyun ‘hyung’ [Korean term for older brother used by males], but Zion didn’t care.

‘A stupid villain says he will destroy the world, an ordinary villain says he will rule the world, and a clever villain catches those two villains and wears the mask of a hero.’

Zion’s ultimate goal was that clever villain.