The Duty of an Elder Brother

I ate lunch alone. The actual Head Chamberlain, Count Windberg, had informed me that the palace entry procedures for Kallios would take some time. It bothered me a bit that I was eating while he might be starving due to red tape, but I agreed to go ahead. I was also slightly concerned by Windberg’s attitude; she seemed to have rushed to my side the moment she heard I had summoned him.

She didn’t seem to approve of me meeting Kallios. I didn’t ask why. Conveniently, the implanted memories contained both the rumors and the truths regarding the twenty-seven-year-old Kallios.

The rumors went like this: The former Duchess murdered Kallios’s mother, and out of a grudge, Kallios killed the Duke, the Duchess, and all three of their sons before seizing the title.

And that was not the truth.

The former Duke of Rotenmeyer died after suffering from a chronic illness for about five years. The Duke’s sons destroyed each other while fighting over the succession. As for the Duchess, I believe it was an accidental death.

Five people dying over ten years isn’t particularly strange. It is a bit unsettling for five nobles of the same family—who usually aren’t in danger—to die, but it isn’t impossible. The fact that the sole survivor was a single illegitimate son might spark suspicion… but it was a coincidence.

I knew this because “Emperor Kaian” had sent the Imperial Knights to verify it dozens of times.

The sky had been dark all morning, and finally, rain began to fall. Thick droplets tapped against the glass before a refreshing, heavy downpour began to roar. It was a torrential rain. Perhaps because habits follow implanted memories, thoughts that “Grand Duke Kaian” would never have crossed my mind. I listened to the rain while brooding over the capital’s flood control status and the unresolved issues in the slums.

“The Duke of Rotenmeyer has arrived.”

“Tell him to enter.”

I straightened my posture, pulling away from the back of the chair where I had been lounging. The ornate, massive doors opened silently, and a man dressed in black stepped inside.

“…Kallios.”

The man immediately knelt on one knee and bowed his head toward me. His movements were awkward and blunt. There was even a small thud when his knee hit the floor. I stared at his wet, dull blonde hair for a moment before managing to speak.

“Duke Rotenmeyer.”

“I greet Your Imperial Majesty.”

Only his monotone voice was familiar. I closed my eyes briefly and opened them. This was a man who had lived a life entirely different from the Kallios I knew. Just as the original Kallios and my brother were different, it was only natural that this Duke Rotenmeyer was different as well. But…

“This is a private setting; your etiquette is excessive. That is enough, come and sit.”

My mind was troubled when I saw the white mask covering half of his face.

Is Duke Rotenmeyer some kind of “eighth-grade syndrome” villain?

Well, he did have a certain atmosphere. Roughly cut blonde hair, head-to-toe black clothing, and a snow-white mask. Moreover, the half of his face that was revealed was still beautiful. The twenty-year-old face that still carried a hint of boyishness had become that of a fully grown man. …Actually, beyond just having an “atmosphere,” he looked incredibly cool and it suited him perfectly. If one were sensitive to beauty and had a rich imagination, they could probably conjure up dozens of sad, tragic stories from those dry eyes that evoked dried blood rather than dried roses.

However, since I lack artistic sensibility, he just looked like he was going through a phase. I looked at the Duke sitting across from me and rubbed my forehead.

“You have striking taste.”

Is Duke Rotenmeyer also a user of extreme pragmatic speech? He didn’t even react to the Emperor’s compliment.

“That thing. On your face.”

When I gestured with my chin, only then did the Duke, who had been sitting like a doll, move his hand toward his face. I frowned while watching his hand touch the mask. Between his loose sleeves, I saw something that shouldn’t have been there. I stood up, walked over to him, and held out my hand.

The mask was placed onto my open palm.

“No…”

I might have complimented it, but I didn’t actually mean it was cool. Frowning, I looked at his face.

“What is this?”

I tossed the mask aside and cupped his face with both hands, forcing him to look up.

“What is this? This… this… this.”

He was swayed by my hands like a puppet. If I lifted his head, he kept it lifted; if I turned it to the side, he kept it turned. But right now, I didn’t have the mental capacity to scold him for that passive attitude. On his left cheek, a red brand was seared. I rubbed his rough cheek vigorously with my hand as if wiping away filth, but there was no way the scarred brand would vanish.

“Which b*stard did this… Who was it? What man did this?”

It was a brand seared with heated iron. It was a practice banned 200 years ago for being cruel, and since the abolition of slavery 150 years ago, it was only mentioned as a “corrupt old custom.” Yet, it was stamped on my brother’s cheek. Moreover, this was… the brand of a s*x s*ave. F*ck, are they actually insane?

“Kallios. Why aren’t you saying anything? Which b*stard was it!”

Kallios, who had been still the whole time, looked at me. A beautiful but lifeless face. Fck. My heart ached. There was no reason for “Emperor Kaian,” who controlled the Dragon Blood perfectly, to have a heartache, but it felt tight and painful as if someone had grabbed my heart. Kallios looked at my expression as if he didn’t understand at all, glanced to the side, and then met my eyes again. I stroked his cheek with a trembling hand. Which fcker that deserves to be torn apart put this on my child’s face…

“He is dead.”

He spoke just as I was thinking about killing the culprit. I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them to clear my blurred vision. A stray tear fell.

“Painlessly?”

Instead of answering, he smiled. It was an awkward smile where only the corners of his mouth turned up, as if he had learned it by watching others, but it was answer enough. I looked at his face and pulled his hand toward me. What I had seen through the loose sleeves wasn’t an illusion. Gritting my teeth, I removed his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves to check. Words carved into his arm with a knife were written there.

The Shame of Rotenmeyer.

I was so angry that my vision went dark for a moment. I gripped his wrist and bowed my head.

“Your Majesty?”

“…This b*stard.”

I couldn’t collapse from the shock. I barely managed to catch my breath and asked.

“He is dead.”

I pulled his head into an embrace. His hair, which had been drying after being soaked by rain, began to get wet again. He wouldn’t catch a cold from this, but just in case, I wiped it with my sleeve before hugging him again, covering his eyes with my hand so they wouldn’t get wet, sobbing quietly. Throughout my crying, he remained still. Without even knowing the reason why I was crying. Stupid brat.

“Emperor Kaian” thought the string of deaths in the Rotenmeyer family was just bad luck, but as a reader of “The Dragon’s Empire” and Kallios’s brother, I had a feeling those people dying was Kallios’s doing. The assumption that it might have been actual misfortune was erased the moment I saw Kallios’s face. If Kallios hadn’t killed them, I would have dug up their graves and torn their rotting corpses to shreds myself. For the sake of their eternal rest, it was better that they were Kallios’s handiwork.

A dragon’s dream, one of the possibilities that never became reality.

Since it never happened, I could have just let it go, but I couldn’t. This was what would have happened to Kallios if “Kaian” had been healthy and thus Kallios had never been adopted into the Imperial family.

Kallios put the mask back on. A maid who entered when the tea had cooled was horrified by the brand on his face… and since I kept tearing up whenever I looked at him, I let him cover it. But looking at the mask made me sad too.

I was sad because I was reminded of the pain and suffering he must have endured. But what made me saddest was the fact that he was all grown up. He had endured all those hardships and grown up all alone.

There was nothing I could do for the fully grown Duke of Rotenmeyer.

Nothing at all.

Being sad and pained while looking at him was just my own emotion. It wasn’t for his sake.

I was so sad because of that.

“Are you crying again?”

“No.”

A nasal voice came out. I shut my mouth in embarrassment, but he acted as if nothing was wrong and picked up the teacup in front of him. My brother looked elegant even while holding a teacup, but the guy in front of me… hmm. He looked like he was drinking liquor rather than tea. It looked refreshing just watching him. Fine. Drink up. Gulp, gulp. But don’t drink like that in front of other people, especially the lady you might marry. Honestly, it’s a bit of a turn-off.

He started to wipe his mouth with his sleeve, then paused. Right. You shouldn’t do that either. I was about to hand him the handkerchief in my pocket but then gestured with my chin to the napkin in front of him.

“The situation in Rotenmeyer is not good.”

After wiping his mouth with the napkin, he spoke. I wiped my tear-filled eyes and nodded. Naturally, “Emperor Kaian’s” memories surfaced.

He had come to the capital to obtain the authority of a Margrave and move the army.

The monster that had swallowed the three sons of the former Duke of Rotenmeyer was still alive.

In the west, in the desert bordering the Rotenmeyer fief, an “Orc Lord” had been born. The number of Orcs following the Orc Lord was a staggering seventeen thousand. Given the nature of Orcs who breed quickly, the enemies Kallios would face upon returning with his Margrave status would exceed twenty thousand.

Rotenmeyer’s elite troops numbered seven thousand five hundred, with two affiliated knight orders. Although the twenty-seven-year-old Kallios was a Sword Master, there’s a reason people say there’s no winning against numbers. Victory couldn’t be guaranteed with that amount. I thought for a moment based on “Emperor Kaian’s” memories and then called for the Head Chamberlain. The capable Count Windberg entered with a pen and paper. I watched her push the teacup aside and set up the paper and pen for easy writing before speaking.

“Are you going back immediately?”

“I must.”

“A homecoming alone is lonely.”

I immediately picked up the pen. I wrote a command to dispatch five Imperial Knight orders and for the Western nobles to “actively participate in the war.” Since the Emperor had offered half of his knights, they wouldn’t be able to just pretend to help. After considering for a moment, I added one more sentence at the bottom. I appointed Kallios Capre Rotenmeyer as the Commander-in-Chief of the “Western Orc Subjugation Force” and delegated full authority to him. On a whim, I even unfastened the sword at my waist, scabbard and all. It was one of the Emperor’s symbols… I don’t know why there are so many “Emperor’s symbols,” but regardless, it was a symbolic sword.

[Child. Are you really going to do that?]

I heard the Guardian’s voice. I deferred my answer and handed the sword and the paper, with its still-wet ink, to him.

[That child is not the brother you know.]

I know. That doll-like man is not my brother Kallios. My brother’s movements are as elegant as a dance, and his face is as smooth and glowing as a peeled egg. They share the same taste for black clothes, but unlike that gloomy-looking fellow, my brother has a sophisticated feel. If it were my brother, he wouldn’t leave his hair looking like it had been roughly hacked with a knife. I have no doubt that if it were my brother’s neatly groomed hair, an “angel ring” would shine even when it was wet.

“Go… and come back.”

But I was still his brother.

Being a brother is something you “become” the moment a younger sibling rolls in under you, regardless of your own will.

[You will regret it, though?]

The Guardian, who had been quiet, started acting like a chatterbox. I looked at him, who was just staring at the things I had handed him without taking them, and spoke lowly but firmly.

“I will never regret it.”

As he had done until now, he took the command and the paper without a single question.