NOVEL NEXT Chapter 160
Chapter 160. The Beggar Siblings – Rienatris
“What’s this? Xenia, did you know him?”
The woman dressed as Queen Leicia thought for a moment and then nodded. She bypassed Ober and approached Leo.
“I thought you wouldn’t come because it was raining while we were waiting… Oh my, is this the younger sister?”
Xenia turned her attention to Lena. She examined Lena, who was nervously looking around.
“You are really beautiful.”
She took off the crown she was wearing and put it on Lena’s head. Although Lena was dressed in simple white clothes, with the crown, she looked entirely different.
The dignity of a noble royal.
The white priestly dress looked like the modest uniform of a king, and her still-wet hair reminded one of the king’s hair wet with holy water at a coronation.
That is, if you ignore how her golden eyes were darting back and forth quickly between her brother and the woman in front of her.
“You have a good figure as well…”
Minseo took off the crown.
The crown, which looked like gold but was actually made of tombac (a type of brass that looks close to gold with around a ten-to-one copper-to-zinc ratio), was quite light.
Lena, back to her original self, quickly hid behind her brother, and Xenia and Leo’s eyes met.
“…Ah, did I make a mistake? She was so pretty, I wanted to try it on her.”
She looked at Leo’s stiff expression, then promptly apologized. Despite her apology, seeing that Leo’s expression did not soften, she found it a bit strange and said,
“Well, then… could you wait a moment? I have another play scene, I’ll return after finishing it.”
Xenia, holding the crown, turned and walked away with her back straight.
Click-clack.
In the bustling dressing room, where the actors who had just finished their performance were changing clothes and redoing their makeup for the next act, her high heels made a clear sound as she departed.
“You had something to ask, so you came to see Xenia? You should have said so from the beginning.”
Ober spoke. He seemed to have forgotten that he had initially dismissed Leo by saying he smelled.
Well, he was always like this.
He would tell someone to “go get more milk from your mother,” and then casually say, “I’ve thought you were a special friend since the first time I saw you.”
While waiting for Xenia, Lena and Leo took seats guided by Ober at one side of the theater.
Santian Rauno followed them. “Everyone here is part of our Rauno family? Today, we all came to watch the play together,” he bragged, and Lena, seemingly not disliking the attention of someone her age, responded, “Really? Wow. There are so many.”
While waiting briefly, the red curtain rose, signaling the start of the second act. Listening to Ober’s snoring, Leo fell into thought.
He didn’t see the ending of the last episode of “Childhood Friend.” However, he remembered the process clearly, even though he missed only the ending.
He didn’t see the ending of the episode about the engagement either, but thanks to Leo Dexter’s detailed explanations before he disappeared, he roughly knew how it unfolded.
Among the information Leo Dexter shared, some were important and others seemed trivial.
First, the less important ones:
Leo Dexter left messages like “Be wary of Yuan. That guy…”, “Something was strange with my uncle and Lena’s actions regarding my mother.”, “Be cautious of Viscount Bryna. That guy…”, and “On the way to Manubil, I met the great warriors of the Albacete tribe. They were…”
Unfortunately, this information was not very useful.
While it might help avoid some crises, it was not considered essential for ‘clearing’ the game.
They were just background elements structuring the engagement scenario.
An actor portraying Banoon Rauno’ took the stage again. Listening to the song about his impossible love for Queen Leicia during his disciplinary probation, Leo filtered out the important information.
The Noguhwaho had disappeared.
As a result, while visiting the trading post, Leo Dexter met the sisters Lan and Anne, and after capturing the demon Snow Horned Deer together, they headed to Bernoulli.
Leo Dexter seemed puzzled as to why the spirit best disappeared, but Minseo had an inkling.
There’s a kind of game like that. One that doesn’t respawn the monsters you hunt.
It was a sneaky way to limit the rewards from hunting to just once. Knowing how tricky the game “Raising Lena” was, Minseo wasn’t too surprised about it.
However, the fact that capturing a spirit beast could have a permanent impact on the game was a highly significant piece of information.
How to utilize this? Minseo didn’t know yet… Ah?!
Something suddenly came to mind. Unconsciously, Minseo slapped his knee, a flicker of heartfelt hope rising within him.
‘I can save Enen?!’
Yes! That’s right!
The cute girl Enen who raised mushrooms in the forest near the northwestern part of the Holy Kingdom with the Euta tribe. Leo first met her in the third childhood friend scenario after Lena was expelled from the central church.
Her behavior of following her brother, Euta, around, reminded Leo of his sister Lena in the beggar siblings scenario, and he quickly grew fond of her. After receiving favors without compensation from their grandmother, he always wanted to repay them one day.
However, in the fourth engagement scenario where the engagement was terminated, I saw it.
Ennen being torn to pieces by the beast called ‘Oantahu’ and dying.
The girl’s torso thrown on the ground, her legs chewed, and Ennen’s head bleeding from her eardrums.
It was an incredibly gruesome and insane scene, but the more horrific part was that this death kept repeating.
Every time I went through a cycle.
There was no way to help. The Holy Kingdom was far away, and it wasn’t possible to go there every cycle.
But now, if just once, any time in any scenario, I visited there and caught ‘Oantahu,’ Ennen could be saved. There was hope to liberate her from the endless cycle of death.
Following Minseo, Leo smiled. Though it was a sad scene where Banoon Rauno”s unrequited love was being acted, Leo barely suppressed his laughter.
Regardless of whether it was useful to clear or not, there was a way to help Ennen. That alone made the guilt I felt back then much lighter.
The fact that it became harder to accumulate ‘beast hunting’ achievements wasn’t very important. I was already an expert by that achievement.
The problem is…
‘The next engagement scenario has become more difficult to progress…’
How to avoid the war event without the spirit beast. It would be good to find at least one more.
Leo’s joy subsided somewhat.
And recalling another important piece of information left by Leo Dexter, the joy vanished completely.
MalHas.
There was one more sinister Asin. To be precise, two.
The Asins Malphas and Halphas, who had emerged in the distant ancient times, were ruling the two northern kingdoms.
Leo smirked briefly, but soon he could only sigh deeply.
Starting with nothing but a battle against the Prince serving Oriax in the final stage—that was the Beggar Siblings scenario.
Conversely, beginning with the best military and economic prospects, but ending with a scenario where the two kingdoms were already under control and half-devoured by the ‘kings’—that was the engagement scenario.
Their balancing act was truly poor… there really was no solution for the engagement scenario.
‘I must depend on other scenarios to clear it.’ ─ Leo thought and shook his head.
It was to escape from his thoughts, but a familiar face appeared on stage.
It was Soirin, a florist girl who had shown affection to Leo when he was part of the Rauno family.
‘…She became an actress.’
She had confessed to wanting to become an actress while on a date with Leo in the carriage heading to ‘Arille Theatre’ when she was young.
It’s unknown whether she became a full-time actress. But Soirin was doing a great job playing the role of ‘Vaneka Rauno,’ Banoon Rauno’s sister.
“Brother! I will help you. Drink this love potion. I already gave it to Leicia. Don’t worry. She’ll never know…”
Soirin said ominously.
According to records, Vaneka was an ambitious character. With androgynous charm, looking very much like her brother, she often achieved her aims by impersonating Banoon Rauno but suddenly disappeared from history.
Banoon Rauno threw the potion bottle. Watching the acting of enraged shouting, Leo couldn’t help but wonder.
‘Why is this a theater? Why did Soirin become an actress?’
It seemed related to Cassia’s liberation, who worked at the brothel, but…
Nothing was clear yet. And as the scene changed and Xenia appeared on stage as the Queen, Leo found it hard to continue his thoughts.
Thump thump.
Leicia asking Banoon Rauno, who was under house arrest, to return to the front lines. The focus of the play was on Banoon’s internal conflict, but Leo couldn’t take his eyes off Xienia.
Did she resemble Chaeha?
No.
There was a bit of resemblance, but Xenia was a completely different person. Leo’s heart pounded despite knowing it clearly.
This feeling was like…
‘I like that woman.’
Just like when Lev looked at Leah. At the beginning of the scenario, Leo de Yeriel, reflecting Minseo’s traces intensely, objectively checked his state.
However, every time Soirin approached Xenia, his heart dropped, and when Banoon Rauno stayed confined, making Leicia frown worriedly, Leo also became concerned.
The act curtain fell.
Act 2 ended with Toddler Akiunen, the King of Archean Kingdom, personally visiting the Rauno family mansion and knocking on the door.
That was the end of Lena and Leo’s play viewing. After a brief intermission, Act 3 was about to begin, but Xenia, having removed her makeup, approached and spoke.
“My role has ended. Will you watch more?”
“No. I was deeply moved. Your acting is truly excellent.”
In her late teens, Xenia, looking much more mature than her appearance, burst into laughter. Usually, she would have understood it as a formal compliment and shown humility, but she laughed heartily without covering her mouth.
Just like Chaeha.
“Thank you. Actually, this is also my first time playing the role of Leicia, so I was worried, but hearing your compliment puts me at ease. So… shall we go?”
Leo had no idea where she was proposing to go, but he stood up and nodded. He held Lena’s hand to help her up and told Santian Rauno, who looked disappointed, to see them next time. Passing by Ober, who was still snoring, they left the hall.
Xenia ascended the stairs inside the theater. As they climbed past the level where the second-floor audience seats would be, traces of habitation began to appear in spots inside the large wooden building with its creaking stairs.
No Entry for Unauthorized Personnel.
Despite the conspicuous sign, people resided on the theater’s third floor. In the cramped and substandard rooms, laundry was hung everywhere, through open doorways low ceilings and unmade beds were visible, along with crude sitting tables. However, thanks to being on the top floor and having all the windows open, the air was not stale.
“Xenia, are you finished?”
“Not yet, sister. The final act remains.”
“Really? Then I should go down a little later. Oh, did you return the undergarment you borrowed? I washed it earlier, so it might not be dry yet.”
“Got it.”
As they walked past a narrow corridor, a woman sitting by an open door spoke to them. She was smoking a cigarette while sewing.
‘A prostitute.’
For some reason, it’s not hard for prostitutes to hide their past. Leo, who had long observed Cassia, could distinguish certain common traits they shared. Even with cleanly combed hair, there was an inexplicable roughness, heavy and clumsy makeup perhaps to hide their past and their shabby state, a slender neck that appeared fragile and feeble, evoking a desire to grasp it tightly… the list was endless.
But unlike the prostitutes Leo had previously encountered, the woman just now had something different—clear eyes. Despite their inevitable gloominess, there was a hopeful sparkle, similar to the eyes of Cassia, who used to make shoes.
Could it be that they settled down in this place? Leo was convinced this area used to be a brothel. He wondered if Cassia might also be here. After a brief walk, they arrived at Xenia’s room.
Her room was quite spacious. It wasn’t clear whether she was lucky to get the big room at the end of the corridor or if actresses were given better rooms, but Xenia’s room was very clean. It showed signs of domestic care, with a bed, a desk by the window, and a fine carpet on the floor.
A round table, which seemed quite expensive, had a flat vase with a flower called Liatris. Its stem rose straight with a tuft of silver fluff at the end, brightening the mood of the room.
Despite the overall pleasant impression, there were still signs of a busy lifestyle. Clotheslines with wet clothes and undergarments hung close to the low ceiling. Xenia quickly stuffed the undergarments under the desk and sat down as if nothing had happened.
Lena and Leo perched on a small triangular chair beside the table.
A moment of silence followed. Naturally, Lena, who had no understanding of the situation, only rolled her eyes, and equally baffled, Leo kept quiet.
After staring at him for a while, she chuckled softly.
“You’re quite different from this morning.”
Xenia pulled up her chair closer to the table. Sitting with her back straight and hands clasped down to her knees, she appeared engrossed.
Go ahead, speak first. I don’t know anything. ─ Leo, who had been waiting, thought. Finally, Xenia broke the silence.
“Haha, alright. I give up. I like you too. But I’m not ready to date yet. No matter how intense our first meeting was, I can’t just accept a man I’ve just met.”
Xenia’s eyes briefly glanced at the clothesline before returning to Leo.
This morning, this handsome beggar had spilled water on her. And the follow-up was even more audacious.
Saying he liked her, he had boldly asked the emaciated beggar to help him.
The world is full of surprises.