Editing Tales of Leo Attiel:Volume1 Chapter6 (section)

===Part 3===


He had started out only wanting to play at being a hero, but even though it was just a game, his thoughts had taken a strange turn.

For a second, Leo was confused by his ow ideas, but immediately afterwards, he felt his blood seething with excitement. He thought that it was almost like a profanity.

Just then, the voice of the herald announcing arrivals rang out, and new guests appeared in the hall. At a single glance towards them, Leo’s blood, which had almost been roaring with heat, seemed all at once to turn chilled.

It was Hayden Swift. He was escorting a woman that he was leading by the hand.

Hayden was, of course, the guest of honour at this banquet, and also an envoy from Allion; the very ones who were thrusting true ‘power’ at Attiel. Leo could not compare to it. Leo’s buoyant feeling receded. Right then, he heard Bernard, who was next to him, ask in a surprised voice,

“Oh? Who’s the beauty?”

Leo took another look at the woman next to Hayden. He hadn’t noticed because of the distance, but it was Florrie Anglatt.

Just like Leo, it was the first time she had appeared in public since arriving in Tiwana, and she was standing beside Hayden, wearing the kind of dress that he was not used to seeing her in and lavishing her smile on her surroundings. It was not only because of the distance and the dress that she had, for a moment, looked like another person to Leo: she was also wearing makeup, which was unusual for her. Although it might be a slightly exaggerated way of putting it, Leo was utterly dumbfounded.

She who combed his hair every morning when he was in Allion, calling out “Brother, Brother,” to him, now seemed like a completely different person. She was a girl around whom there had always drifted the scent of wind and earth, and the faint perfume of flowers, but now, in her grown-up dress and makeup, and wearing a slightly enigmatic smile, she seemed exactly like a young lady born to a noble house.

Was it Hayden who had brought her here? Also smiling all the while, he was holding her by the waist and showing off their intimacy.

Although the behaviour they were displaying was perfectly appropriate considering their positions, Leo had an uncomfortable feeling about Florrie’s smile that he found hard to shake off.

Besides Bernard, a number of voices throughout the hall had started murmuring praise of her beauty. They subsided, however, when the host and the guest of honour – the sovereign-prince and Hayden – finally stood side-by-side. Together, they spoke words about expecting good future relations between the two countries, and they both lead the assembly in offering toasts.

Leo was once again left alone in a corner. 

All the many gazes and the idle curiosity converged on Hayden. He skilfully rode the wave of noble ladies who closed in on him, wanting to speak in person to this Allian aristocrat, and bestowed the perfect smile and words on them. With just a few parting comments to the prince, Bernard also gravitated towards Hayden. It was a scene that clearly showed Leo their difference in ‘power’.

By nature, he and Hayden were equals. Compared to Hayden’s, however, the ‘power’ that Leo had tested to its limits was, in the end, only something to be used in a world of stray dogs. Leo had tasted excitement strong enough to make his blood roar, and because of that, having truly been made aware of the difference in ability between them, he now felt miserable enough to fall prostrated to the floor. He who had been so proud of his privileged access to leftover scraps had his tail stepped on by humans holding stronger ‘power’, his back had been hit with a broom, he had effortlessly been sent scampering away.

''Playtime is over'', he realised.

He became aware that the wave of gazes and curiosity was once again surging towards him. When he looked, Hayden was approaching him, having left Florrie on the other side of the crowd.

Leo’s body tensed up. Facing the smile that Hayden was throwing at him, the smile that he desperately pasted on his own face was so stiff that it was hard to believe he had managed to put on that act earlier, in front of the vassal-lords.
His heart was beating wildly.

''But why?'' Leo himself was puzzled by it.

When they had met at the Anglatt manor, he had not experienced this nervousness that was almost like dread. When Hayden had mocked him, he had even been seized with the impulse to leap from his chair and strike him. So why was it that the sight of the now-smiling Hayden Swift filled Leo with horror from the bottom of his heart? Why was it that even the silk clothes Hayden wore seemed to be giving off a dazzling radiance? Leo was conscious of the damp sensation of sweat on his forehead.

“It has been many long days since we last met, Prince.”

“Y-Yes.”

As though the skin of his throat had gone stiff, his voice would not come out smoothly. Hayden raised one eyebrow, ever so slightly, but did not show any other reaction, instead taking two wine cups from the table. He held one out.

“No, I already…” Leo was about to raise his hand to refuse, but at the same time, 

“Take it. Everyone is watching,” Hayden whispered in a fearfully low voice.

Leo’s shoulders started in surprise. He hurriedly accepted the cup from Hayden. With a clear clinking sound, they brought their two cups together. Hayden emptied the contents of his in one go, while Leo only drunk a mouthful from his. He started coughing immediately afterwards, though, probably because he was so tense.

“Oh my, my,” Hayden raised his shoulders and turned to the people watching. “Was it a little bit too soon to offer alcohol to the prince? It’s true that he still young. I do not know the customs of Atall, for which I beg your pardon. Or maybe… did the prince perhaps misunderstand, thinking that Allion wanted to kill him, he might have been excessively afraid of me. Thinking, for example, that I might have slipped poison into the wine.”

His joke cut dangerously close to the bone. 

“Lord Leo, if you come to visit Allion again, please spend your time at ease there. That way, you won’t jump to the wrong conclusion and run away so quickly.”

Several people laughed. Essentially, Atall would only have the right to exist if they took it as a joke. 

Leo felt as though he wanted to just disappear. Although he actually didn’t need to cough anymore, he kept it up because he did not know what to do with himself.



Percy Leegan had been closely watching the scene and, much later, Leo Attiel talked to him about it and frankly confided that never, before or since, had he felt as terrified of someone as he had then.

Because of that, Percy would occasionally think, 

''Hayden Swift clearly made a mistake in allowing the prince to escape from Allion. Within the country, there was some debate about who, between him and Claude, bore responsibility for that. And for Hayden, Lord Leo wasn’t the only opponent that he failed to kill: it had been the same with Bishop Rogress, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he was furious at the thought that his reputation had been dragged through the mud.''

''If, at the time…''

''Hayden had already publicly given the prince a verbal smackdown. If he had been content with leaving Atall out of it…''

''If only his sadistic tendencies hadn’t still remained unsatisfied, if only he hadn’t whispered something like that, in a voice deliberately too low for others to hear, in order to deal the finishing blow to the prince…''

… then history might have been different.

Perhaps the Principality of Atall would not become what it later became.

But of course, and just as it is widely said, ‘what-ifs’ cannot change history.

And back then, Hayden Swift had deliberately touched the prince’s arm, as though they were close, and, while pretending to have a pleasant conversation with him, he had whispered it.

That fact could never be erased.



Hayden strode jauntily away from Lord Leo. Once more left behind, the prince stared at his retreating back with an almost vacant expression. What Hayden had whispered as he was leaving was still ringing in his ears.

This is what he said:

“Well done from escaping from Allion. But that’s the absolute best that you can do. I’ve said it before: ‘if you plan on standing against us, then you have to be ready to give up your own life’. You don’t have that. No, actually, every man in Atall is missing that. It’s probably just as I said before. Everyone here is carefully watching my mood and continues to live without determination. What the hell does ‘live’ even mean here? If all you crave is to eat your allocated amount of fodder, and to sleep soundly under someone else’s watch, then that’s no different from cattle. O Lord Prince of this country of cattle. The peace you are ‘living’ in is simply something that Allion has granted you. It won’t last for much longer.”

He was speaking fast into Leo’s ear, his eyes gleaming fiercely as he did so.

“I wanted to see for myself – how far can my own power go? The ones who gave me this chance were you and Claude. My thanks.”

With those equally rapid parting words, he left.

Leo Attiel was rooted to the spot in surprise. Why, for what purpose, with what intention, had Hayden spoken that way?

''Atall’s peace won’t last for long.''

What did those words mean, and what was he trying to hint at with them?

Leo felt like he was being overwhelmed with the ‘power’ that Hayden held. It was as though he was being once more knocked down by the aberrant words that Hayden, who was still calmly walking away, had uttered.

At the same time, however, a strong sense of resistance emerged within Leo. It was close to the feelings that he had experienced when Hayden had heaped abuse on Atall, Leo’s native land, but now, the kindling had taken fire, and the flames were starting to burn brightly within him.

''What can I do with my ‘power’? What can I say? What can I change?''

Hadn’t he just been given a vivid demonstration of their difference in ‘power’? Leo understood it. Everyone understood it. Earlier, when he had been talking to Bernard, he had the impression that only he himself understood the current situation, but in fact, it was because everyone was aware of that ‘power’ difference that they had to constantly monitor Allion’s mood, and that his father went through so much trouble to seek out good relations with Allion.

It was at that moment, just after he had been verbally belittled by Hayden Swift, that Leo’s eyes met those of Florrie Anglatt. Not wanting to see the pity in her eyes, Leo was about to turn away, but the first to break eye contact was Florrie.

Hayden, who had just returned to her side, had urged her about something. The girl who had spent six years with Leo took a step forward and once more gave her greetings to the Atallese dignitaries, starting with Sovereign-Prince Magrid, who was close by.

“Although my abruptness may be impolite, I thank you all for the kindness with which you have received me. I will warmly remember it for the rest of my life. I will soon be returning to my native country, but I pray that both Allion and Atall will continue to prosper.”

Hearing that Florrie was going back, Leo forgot for a second about the storm swirling inside him. It had all been to protect Leo’s back that she had done the unthinkable and left Allion’s domains, but by now, she had already fulfilled that duty. Therefore, it would be best for Florrie to return, both for her and for her father’s sake.

Even though his rational mind told him that, Leo could not help feeling melancholy. The relationship between the two countries was still uncertain, ad this might well be where he and Florrie parted ways in this life.

''At least a few words…'' Leo was about to step forward with a different reason from earlier. 

His eyes once again connected straight with Florrie’s; she once again turned away but then, the next moment, she seemed to change her mind and smiled at him. 

Leo suddenly understood why he felt such a strange sense of discomfort from Florrie’s smile. This was not her usual smiling face. Although with that said, he had the impression that he had seen it before, but it was only now that he remembered when and why that had been.

It was the same smile that Florrie had given her family just after her beloved mare, ‘Princess’, had been put down.

From the next morning onwards, she had appeared at table with a smiling countenance. Be it Claude, his wife, Ellen, or Florrie’s brothers, Walter and Jack, who usually often teased their sister, all of them noticed that her doe-like eyes were red and swollen, but they pretended not to see. Ellen made a point of asking for her daughter’s help in the kitchen, while Walter and Jack hogged Florrie’s favourite food until their father was provoked into scolding them. The brothers had done that a lot when they were young, but now, since it was a little childish, it seemed unnatural of them. Florrie had never stopped smiling while her father was forcing himself to yell angrily.

She now had the same expression as back then.

Moreover, now that he had taken a few steps forward and could see her face from closer then earlier, he felt that he understood the reason for her almost incongruously thick makeup. Both her cheeks were rouged, but only the left one was somewhat dark in colour. Or rather, it was to hide that colour that she had needed to put reddening powder on both sides.

Leo realised that there was a mark. And not something like a birthmark, but a recently-given bruise.

In that instant, there was the sound of something clanging in his heart.

The separate gears that had been spinning randomly up until now seemed to suddenly fit together.

He had not logically reasoned it out. It was simply that Leo’s brain had retained the fact that Hayden Swift had once wanted Florrie Anglatt. Only by placing that fact at their centre did he now feel like he could make sense of the strange events that had taken place. 

The fighting between Allion and the temple. The actions that Allion’s side had taken at the time. The reinforcements that Atall had sent. The way Claude’s position had worsened. Or how, even without the looming threat of the guillotine, Leo had almost been murdered in the mountains.

Why it was that the only time Hayden had been thrown into a complete panic was when he had learned that Leo and Florrie had escaped, to the point of emptying his own headquarters. And why he had left the battle front and was now to be seen in distant Tiwana, capital of Atall.

To reiterate: there was no logical process of reasoning.

Why, what, how… – he had not thought about any of these. He did not yet hold the key to solving those mysteries.

But the crucial point here was the fact that just as the gears clicked together in Leo’s head, Hayden placed his hand once more at Florrie’s waist.

When he did so, Hayden once more flashed a scornful – or possibly triumphant – smile. At least, that was how it appeared to Leo, and that was all the answer he needed. Part of the high-handed and oppressive atmosphere surrounding Hayden fell away, and human emotions were clearly visible from him.

“I wanted to see for myself – how far can my own power go?” Hayden had said as he was stepping away from Leo.

Your ''power, you say?''

The driving force behind the first step forward that Leo Attiel took was the fury that raged within him.

''Would that be the power to snatch Florrie away and to destroy Atall?''

That man could do it. Leo could feel it. Hayden’s parting speech had not been a hollow threat or mere mockery. He was the kind of man who, if he could do it – no matter how ridiculous it might seem to other people – would do it. He had basically announced to Leo that he would be leading troops to attack Atall.

''After you’ve destroyed Atall, are you going to hug Florrie’s shoulders with your bloodstained hands? Are you going to force to always wear that smile?''

Rage managed to propel him forward for his second and third steps, but before he could take another one, an insurmountable wall seemed to appear before Leo’s eyes. Even though his fury was so strong that he was almost dizzy from it, there was a limit to anger.

It wasn’t rational. Simply giving in to a violent impulse would not allow him to break through or smash down anything and everything. Leo bit the edge of his lip and clenched his hands so tightly into fists that his nails bit into his palms.

''It would still be fine if it was just my life. I’ve already twice prepared myself for death. But the enemy is Allion. If all of Atall gets caught up in this…''

“''No''.”

Leo’s shoulders started with surprise as he suddenly had the impression that someone’s breath had tickled his ear. 

There was no other person near him. What had appeared like smoke beside him was the stagnant black ''sludge'', which had taken the shape of another Leo Attiel. It was an existence which could sometimes be called an aggregate of every emotion that Leo had tossed away, and which, conversely, was sometimes that other viewpoint which was utterly detached from all emotions that Leo adopted.

“The enemy isn’t Allion. What your power can and should crush, set fire to and overthrow – that is…”

Leo Attiel could feel each of his own footsteps reverberating strangely loudly inside his brain. Before he had even realised it, the insurmountable wall had cleanly vanished from before his eyes. He walked past Bernard, who was standing at the end of the line of people crowding around Hayden, then Tokamakk and Oswell – Leo’s profile crossed by the line of sight of each of those three vassal-lords. 

The next was Percy Leegan.

Perhaps Hayden had sensed something, because he turned around, looking surprised. By that time, Leo had already passed him by. Hayden continued to look as though he was enjoying his conversation with the surrounding nobles, but he was inwardly nonplussed.

The next moment, both Hayden and Florrie, who was standing next to him, were left startled.

The sound of laughter blew like a breeze through the hall. 

It was Lord Leo. He had suddenly appeared right in front of Hayden and Florrie, and continued to laugh loudly, as though he had completely lost all restraint.

“What the…” Hayden Swift was clearly annoyed by it.

Florrie, too, looked surprised. However, she opened her large eyes even wider at what Leo said once he had finished laughing.

“You should stop it with the pranks, Florrie. If you say that you’re going back to Allion immediately, everyone will actually believe you. Since nobody here knows you all that well, they’ll take even a silly joke seriously.”

As mentioned, Florrie’s eyes went round and she was left speechless, but her natural complexion gradually slowly returned to her make-up-coated cheeks.

“W-What silly joke? Leo-nii… no, Lord Leo, I…”

“You’re really sulking at me for not making many opportunities to meet here in Tiwana, huh? I had my own circumstances. Well, it’s not like I don’t understand where you’re coming from.”

“Prince, what on earth…?”

“It’s fine, you don’t have to pretend. I had intended to personally tell Father and everyone else once things had calmed down a bit more. But if you can’t wait anymore and are talking about going back to Allion, then it can’t be helped. Let’s make the announcement here and now. Florrie,” Leo casually stretched out his hand and took Florrie’s in his.

Hayden opened his eyes wide in anger, but Leo payed him no attention and pulled the bewildered Florrie to stand next to him.

“Father. Mother. I need to introduce you to her.”

“Leo, what are you saying?” Sovereign-Prince could not conceal his confusion. “I already know the young lady.”

“No, this is something nobody will know about,” Leo smiled as he made his announcement. “Claude Anglatt’s daughter, Florrie Anglatt, and I, Leo Attiel, have promised our future together.”
[[Image: Leo_Attiel_Den_v01_327.png|thumb]]
“What!” Hayden let out a voice that was almost a shriek.

He was the only one to do so. Florrie was speechless. Leo’s father and mother, as well as the vassals, at first all looked as though they had heard a joke in poor taste. Leo, however, was smiling.

“Sir Claude has not yet officially given me his blessing, but we can send a messenger from here. If it comes down t it, I’ll even go myself. When we receive permission from the king of Allion through Sir Claude, I’ll be happy to hold the wedding at once,” he continued, at which point, Percy Leegan stepped forward.

“What a happy story,” he smilingly followed Leo up.

Percy, of course, had no way of knowing either the prince’s circumstances, or even whether what he was saying was true or not. But this short amount of time had been enough for him to form a good impression of the prince, and he was moved by the impulse to have his back.

“What this means is that when His Highness, Lord Leo, and Miss Florrie get married, relations between Atall and Allion will get warmer, and all those misunderstandings that have occured will all be solved at a stroke.”

At that point, the people in the hall grew noisy with excitement. Hearing what was happening, those in the courtyard were also gathering close.

Leo Attiel swept his gaze around the enthusiastic crowd.

“May I hope that you will all celebrate it?” he asked.

Say what you would, the prince who had seemed about to sow the seeds of trouble with Allion was instead going to become their best bridge with Allion. There was nobody who did not welcome this development. Everyone there clapped as they unanimously called out their congratulations.

Florrie Anglatt blushed bright red, and tears flowed out from her limpid eyes.

Unfortunately for her, however, after giving her slender shoulder a single pat, Leo quickly released her arm and, still smiling, walked towards Hayden Swift.

The sound of applause was ringing out incessantly. Amidst it, Leo deliberately took a heavy step forward and trod lightly on the tip of Hayden’s boots. Hayden’s scowling expression turned into one of surprise.

In exactly the same tone that Hayden had earlier used on him, Leo whispered softly,

“Smile. Everyone is watching.”

“W-What?” Hayden was struck dumb, but rage quickly flared up within his eyes. “What are you trying to pull, you bastard? Even an ignorant brat like you… you can’t think that you’re going to get away with s-something like this and…”

“What do you mean?” Leo laughed brightly. “There’s currently no great cause worthy of sending troops from Allion and Atall. Or instead of a cause, are you, my little friend, going to substitute that power that you were so proud of earlier to move the army? It’s fine, I’ll happily show it you: how Atall, how its second-born prince, Leo, will turn the tables on you.”

Hayden’s Swift’s eyes opened as wide as they would go.



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