To the Love Born in the Lowest Place

“Your Majesty, we haven’t received any information about Hamelsvoort…”

“…I see.”

August’s reaction was so calm that it made Marquis Schmidt even more uneasy. What’s this? He’s someone who would have killed servants out of anger and still had energy to spare.

“Above all, considering that there have been no reports from the waters near the capital and the port of Miergrund… I think they might still be in this country… Shall we send people to Viscount Wolfe’s domain? I find that place suspicious.”

“There are many ways to leave this country while hiding one’s identity.”

“Pardon?”

“Did you verify the identities of everyone leaving Miergrund?”

“Ah… Because it would be troublesome if a fight broke out there… Complete identity verification wasn’t carried out…”

“Yes, I thought as much.”

As if recalling something, August’s green eyes shone brightly.

“It must be Merna after all.”

“Do you mean the Merna Empire? Ah, since Walter Hamelsvoort is with them…”

“We need to expand the search externally. Send soldiers to Merna as well and track them secretly. We can’t cause a military conflict there, so we must be careful.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

Thinking that they had left this country, his mood suddenly seemed to sink. He looked at the statue beside him with a fierce gaze, then turned his head back to Marquis Schmidt in front of him. Marquis Schmidt had a serious face as if waiting for his orders.

He knew well that Marquis Schmidt would eventually turn his back on him if a larger force emerged.

‘But until then, I can use him.’

August knew it too. His throne was shaking. But…

“Control all letters going to the Lartman Duchy. There’s no need to intercept the letters. Just confirm where all the letters are sent from.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

He had no intention of giving up the throne willingly. Even if this throne was taken away, he would fall only after tearing apart those who tried to take it. Let’s fall into hell together. August chuckled.

* * *

As the ship stopped at the port, seagulls sitting on the harbor squawked and flew into the air. Among the merchants carrying luggage, Liv disembarked from the ship, escorted by Hayden.

“Ah…”

Liv exclaimed in admiration as she raised her head and looked into the distance. She could see buildings built in a different style from those of the Holy Hilysid Empire. Gray stone buildings, a huge cathedral, streets filled with strangely shaped buildings that jutted out precariously…

They caught a carriage near the port. Walter, using Garcian with the coachman, had an unusually excited face.

“My sisters, the Merna Empire is a good place to live. You’ll soon come to like it too.”

At that moment, raindrops began to fall from the sky. However, no one on the street seemed to think of opening an umbrella. The rain was falling so finely that it was hard to say whether it was raining or not. Liv recalled what she had read about the Merna Empire in books. It was said to be a country that was always rainy and humid.

After leaving the port, the group traveled by carriage for several days. They rested at inns along the way. Normally, Liv would have been amazed at the exotic scenery of the Merna Empire, but now the beauty didn’t register with her. Liv just sat quietly in the carriage, repeating to herself what she had to do in the future.

Finally, the carriage arrived at its destination.

“This is the home of Count Leopold Lester, Count Lester. He’s my friend, and he recently inherited the title of count.”

The gate was decorated with a crest of two lions biting each other. After Walter said something to the guard, a moment later, a man who looked about Walter’s age came out to greet him and smiled.

“Walter!”

He continued speaking, but Liv couldn’t understand any of the words. After the two conversed, Leopold guided them to their rooms.

[Leopold… my younger sisters…]

Because Walter’s words contained words Liv knew, Liv focused on their conversation.

[This… Hildegard Hamelsvoort… here… Liv Lartman…]

Walter seemed to be introducing them, and after hearing Walter’s introduction, Leopold grinned.

[Ah, those younger sisters?]

‘What?’

Somehow, Leopold’s eyes looking at Hildegard and Liv didn’t seem kind. There seemed to be a strange sarcasm in the intonation of his pronunciation of ‘younger sisters’. It might be that she was mistaken because of the unfamiliar language, but Liv decided not to take this feeling lightly and kept a close eye on him.

[Room… this way…]

[Thank you.]

Liv, who understood part of Leopold’s conversation, thanked him. Then Leopold looked at Liv with strange eyes, and then turned his head and made eye contact with Hildegard.

‘Hmm.’

Seeing this, Liv was convinced once more. Leopold Lester does not have good feelings towards Liv. Well, there could be many reasons. An adopted younger sister of a friend, indeed, is not a very welcome existence.

As a citizen of the Merna Empire that values class, Liv, known to be of commoner origin, is not a welcome existence, and because of Liv, Walter even had to share his inheritance.

But what’s stranger than that in Liv’s view is…

‘Suspicious.’

Leopold’s eyes seemed to contain some kind of goodwill towards Hildegard.

If he’s going to dislike Liv, he should dislike Hildegard equally, but strangely he seems more kind to Hildegard. Liv began to wonder what Leopold’s ulterior motives were.

* * *

Since entering the Merna Empire, Walter seemed strangely more energetic.

“Liv, Leopold is close to the 2nd Prince of the Merna Empire. He’s arranged an appointment with the 2nd Prince in three days, so we just need to stay here until then.”

“Yes, thank you.”

While waiting for the meeting with the 2nd Prince, Liv decided to continue learning Garcian from Walter. And what Liv learned in the process was…

[Please promise. Please answer. Could you give me some water?]

“Good, Liv. Let’s stop with requests here, now let’s practice commands.”

That she was learning the language very quickly.

Looking back, despite growing up in Abgrund and being at a much greater disadvantage for learning language than others, Liv eventually mastered the language to the same level as others. So Liv might have had a talent for learning languages from the beginning.

Memorizing words was not difficult for Liv, who had excellent memory skills. She could even quickly grasp how to modify sentences.

“Excellent, Liv. Then for today, just memorize these 100 words or so.”

“Yes.”

After Emmett left, Liv began to mutter words alone in the room.

[Apologize. Smell. Cancel. Remove. Erase…]

At that moment, she heard someone knocking on the door of the next room. Because the next room was the space Hildegard was using, Liv narrowed her eyes.

“Could it be…”

As soon as she opened the door and went out, Liv could see Leopold as expected. Leopold, who made eye contact with Liv, smiled sheepishly.

[Liv, have you been well?]

[Yes, I’m doing well thanks to Leopold.]

Although it was awkward Garcian, it was enough for conversation. Although Liv had to understand most of what the other person was saying by intuition.

[I… Hildegard… have business…]

[…Could you say that again?]

[I came to see Miss Hildegard.]

[Ah, me too.]

When Liv said that, Leopold’s face became a bit troubled. But unable to refuse Liv, he ended up waiting for Hildegard to come out with Liv.

A moment later, Hildegard, who opened the door and came out, looked a bit surprised to see Leopold, then her expression brightened again when she saw Liv.

“Sister!”

“Hilda, it seems this person came to see you.”

“Really?”

Hildegard made a troubled expression, then taking advantage of the fact that Leopold couldn’t understand Hilysid, she continued with a nonchalant expression.

“He’s been coming to see me often these days. I don’t know what it’s about.”

“Hmm, I think I know.”

“Actually, I have some idea too… But it’s troublesome for me.”

“Why don’t you try talking to Brother Walter?”

“I wonder if that would be good after all… But we’re in a position of being indebted…”

[Miss Hildegard.]

At that moment, Leopold’s voice was heard, so Hildegard smiled awkwardly towards him.

“Yes?”

[Do you two… have time?]

Because Hildegard, who didn’t understand those words, just blinked her eyes, Liv quickly intervened to save her.

[Hildegard can’t speak Garcian. I can help you.]

[Ah, Miss Liv…]

In the end, Leopold began the conversation in a voice that didn’t seem to like Liv.

[Miss Hildegard, when you return… will you become a Saintess?]

“Hilda, he seems to be asking if you’ll continue being a Saintess when you return.”

“Well, that’s not up to me. If I regain my qualification, I’ll probably try to fulfill the role of Saintess again.”

[Perhaps.]

Liv converted Leopold’s words into Hilysid and conveyed them to Hildegard. Hildegard’s answer was then delivered to Leopold through Liv in awkward Garcian.

[In the past… difficult… past… family… do you remember?]

“Hilda, he’s asking if you remember the family you lived with in the slums in the past?”

“Well, I’m an orphan.”

[Hildegard doesn’t have her birth parents.]

What Leopold mainly asked Hildegard about was her personal information. Finally, as the conversation was coming to an end, Leopold smiled at Hildegard.

[Take care. If you learn Garcian… it would be good…]

After he left, Liv sighed.

“I thought I had learned a lot, but I can’t even understand half. Even though it seems like he’s deliberately using easy words.”

“Language isn’t something you can learn just like that. It’s natural.”

Child, your language skills have surpassed those of ordinary humans.

Because our child hears our voices, learning human speech should be easy.

“Ah.”

Liv finally realized why she could learn languages faster than others. The voice of God had made it easier for Liv to understand human speech.