Chapter 69: 38

Chapter 38: The Three Siblings

"Now that those bandits and convicts are onto us, keeping you with the mercenary legion isn't necessarily a very safe option. However, given your physical condition and the dangerous times that we're currently in, I can't allow you to head north on your own without any protection," Erwin said to himself, paying no heed to the fact that Onean was unable to reply due to her paralysis. "How about this? I had a look at the map earlier, and several dozen kilometers east of here is the city of Haggardy. If we head northeast along the coastline from Haggardy, we'll reach the city of Xeto in several dozen more kilometers, and once we get there, there will be a provincial road that leads directly to Newen. Once we reach that point, I presume you'll have mostly recovered from your injuries, so when the time comes, you're free to go anywhere you please, and I won't stop you, is that alright?"

Erwin turned to Onean as he spoke to gauge her reaction.

However, Onean didn't want to expend any more emotional energy, and she closed her eyes and refused to look at him, not wanting to look at the face of her brazen captor any longer.

"I don't know what you were getting so worked up for. Am I the type of person who would take advantage of you in that situation?" This was a rather shameless statement from Erwin. After all, he had taken advantage of Onean on multiple occasions in the past. He quickly realized this himself as well, and a sheepish smile appeared on his face as he chuckled, "Now that I think about it, I am that type of person, aren't I?"

Even though Onean was incapable of saying anything, she opened her eyes and glared at him with a vicious expression upon hearing what he had just said.

Unbeknownst to Erwin, what Onean was truly enraged by was how conceited he had been in deciding to take matters into his own hands and making decisions on her behalf.

All of a sudden, Erwin was struck by the urge to mess with Onean a little. "This is a special type of rope that'll absorb any magic power that you try to use, so save your energy. I borrowed this thing from Kaiba, and he told me that he's used it on many women in the past already."

Onean merely looked back at Erwin with a cold expression.

A faint smile appeared on Erwin's face as he leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "However, I'm a gentleman who prefers to secure consent. Forcing yourself onto a woman isn't anything to boast about, isn't that right?"

Onean continued to glare at him with a cold expression.

It seemed that he had forgotten that the woman before him was the princess of the Effer Kingdom. Otherwise, he would've perhaps been more apprehensive about the potential consequences of his actions and words.

Newen City, Burmen Province.

Lana was standing on a tower in Prince Lazaar's manor, and her long red hair was dancing wildly in the frosty wind. From her vantage point at the top of the tower, she could see the entire city of Newen. Even during times of war, the city was still as lively and bustling as ever. Prince Lazaar's presence in the city inspired a great deal of confidence in the hearts of the common folk here, and in their eyes, it was only a matter of time before Prince Lazaar forced back the troops of the Skycourt Kingdom.

This wasn't only due to a sense of blind faith that all of the people of Burmen had toward Prince Lazaar. Many of them still remembered what the city of Newen had been like just seven or eight years ago. At the time, the city had been nothing more than a dilapidated town with a population of no more than 100,000. Its walls were in a state of severe disrepair, and magic beasts were often coming from the Terarody Mountain Ranges hundreds of kilometers away to terrorize the town's citizens. Looking at the grand and majestic city that the once-dilapidated town had become and thinking back to how those terrifying magic beasts had been driven back to the mountains, everyone was full of praise for all of the exceptional work that Prince Lazaar had done over the years.

Prince Lazaar's manor had been built upon the foundation of the once decrepit Newen Fort. At the moment, it didn't serve much of a practical purpose, but it had become an important landmark in the city.

Several years ago, a trio of young children could often be seen playing on the top floor of the manor. Everyone would look up at the three young children playing on the tower in the manor, thanking the heavens for rewarding Prince Lazaar for his tireless efforts. In exchange for everything he had done for the province of Burmen, the heavens had blessed him with three children, all of whom were exceptional in their own right. Regardless of whether it was their appearance or their aptitude in martial arts and magic, all three of them were among the best in their generation.

However, times had changed since then. Since Prince Lazaar's return from Sarus, everyone had learned that his second son had been disfigured. He used to be so dreamily handsome that countless female servants of the manor couldn't help but swoon at the mere sight of him. They were always looking for excuses to pass by his window, just so they could steal a few glances at the face of the man who regularly featured in their most romantic dreams.

In his current state, Jeff was confined to a wheelchair, and most of his face had been ruined. The new flesh that was growing was spread unevenly over his face, presenting a ghastly sight that one couldn't bear to look directly at. Thanks to Lana's magic potions, he no longer needed to conceal his own face with bandages, but truth be told, it would perhaps be better if he continued to hide his own face.

Lana took a glance at Jeff, who was seated beside her in his wheelchair. His head of glossy brown hair was completely gone at this point, and she couldn't help but heave a forlorn sight at the sight of the mottled and disfigured skin on his scalp.

"Stop being so sad all the time. I'm the one who was disfigured, not you," Jeff said in a calm voice as he cast his gaze toward the north, where he could just barely make out the Terarody Mountain Ranges, which stretched for as far as the eyes could see in all directions.

Lana knew that her own glum mood was only making Jeff feel worse, and she was feeling quite guilty.

"Compared with this face of mine, I'm far more disappointed to have lost everything I've worked so hard for my entire life," Jeff sighed. "Not only will I never be able to use a sword again, I can't even feel my legs anymore."

A surge of sorrow welled up in Lana's heart upon hearing this, and she blinked vigorously to hold back the tears that were threatening to flow from her eyes.

At the time, Jeff's physical condition had been extremely terrible, so they had waited a few days before pulling out those silver needles from his spine. However, the parts of his spine that the silver needles had been driven into were extremely vital points, and they had been driven in very deep. Once the needles were removed, Jeff immediately felt his own bodily control deteriorating by the day, and his power also rapidly seeped out of his body. At this point, his lower body was completely immobile, and he had become a cripple in just a few days.

For a cripple like him, there was no point in pursuing martial techniques any further. Even if he did, no matter how hard he worked, the power that he accumulated would inevitably seep out of the two wounds on his spine, so his efforts would be rendered completely futile.

Recently, Lana had been reading through all types of magic potion books, working herself day and night to try and find a way to heal Jeff's spine, but to no avail. In the end, even Jeff himself was telling her to give up on the futile endeavor.

Right at this moment, a calm yet confident voice rang out from behind them. "Don't worry, Jeff, your brother's here for you."

A tall and imposing man in a black fur coat made his way into the room, walking with the gait of an accomplished general. This man was none other than Prince Lazaar's eldest son, Aiden.

"Aiden, you're finally back!" A wide smile appeared on Lana's face as she dove headfirst into Aiden's arms.

This was the first time that she had smiled since her return from Sarus, but as soon as she was caught in Aiden's embrace, her smile began to give way to broken sobs, and soon, she was bawling into his chest.

Aiden stroked her back with a smile, then cast his gaze toward Jeff with no change in expression whatsoever, as if his brother hadn't changed at all in his eyes.

"Don't cry, you're making it look like you were sent to a torture chamber rather than on a trip to the capital city," Aiden teased. "Who's got you so down in the dumps?"

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"There's not a single good person in Sarus! All of them are shady bastards!" Lana replied in a hateful voice as she wiped at her own teary eyes.

"Alright, then how about I get you to lead our troops to raze the capital city to the ground in the future? Will that be enough to please you?" Aiden consoled with a smile.

This sounded like nothing more than a joke, but both Lana and Jeff were shocked to hear this.

"Don't go making jokes like that, Aiden," Lana complained with an amused pout as she squeezed Aiden's arm, then said in a voice that was audible only to the three of them, "His Majesty has only recently set off from here, and there are still many of his informants hidden in the manor and in the city at the moment."

Aiden smoothed down Lana's slightly disheveled long hair, and his smile remained completely unchanged as if he hadn't heard Lana's cautionary words at all. "When have I ever lied to you?"

"Has Father already made a decision?" Lana asked as she looked into Aiden's eyes.

Aiden nodded in response, then cast his gaze toward the mountains in the distance as he said in a low voice, "Father told me to make a trip to the barracks in Leeku."

"He's asking you to go to Leeku?" Jeff asked as he turned to Aiden with wide eyes.

Aiden nodded in response, then squatted down before patting Jeff on the shoulder. Looking at Jeff's horribly disfigured face, a murderous gleam flashed through his eyes as he said, "Don't worry, Father and I aren't just going to let this slide. All of those bastards in the capital will pay for what they did to you!"

Jeff faltered slightly upon hearing this, then closed his eyes before heaving a long sigh.

During these past few days, he had been keeping up a strong facade, but that was only in an attempt to lift Lana's mood. He had been one of the most talented young martial artists of his generation not long ago, yet not only had he lost all of his powers, he had to face the brutal reality of having to live out the rest of his life as a wheelchair-bound cripple. In the face of such a ruthless tragedy, one could only imagine just how much courage it would take for Jeff to simply continue living.

After hearing what Aiden had to say, Jeff tilted his head back to face the heavens as he closed his eyes, and tears began to flow down the irregular skin on his face. In that instant, it was as if his heart were already dead.

Lana and Aiden couldn't help but also be moved upon seeing this.

The wind continued to blow, and the three of them stood on top of the tower as if they had returned to many years ago.

"I see the winters in Newen are still as cold as ever. It's been many years since the three of us have been able to stand together like this to look out at the scenery in the city," Aiden sighed with a reminiscent smile.

"You barely come back now since you were given an official rank in the army," Lana complained with a displeased pout.

"You're right, it's all my fault." Aiden turned to Lana with a smile before pinching her cheeks. It sounded like only a halfhearted joke, but in reality, he was feeling very guilty about what had happened to Jeff.

Lana became even more displeased upon having her cheeks pinched, and she put on a menacing expression like a petulant kitten that was about to pounce.

Jeff sat in his wheelchair and watched the two of them as a smile appeared on his face for the first time in a long time.

After speaking with Jeff and Lana for a while, Aiden set off for the barracks in Leeku. This was a secret military base that even King Cameron didn't know about, and it had been set up on an obscure mountain in the southern region of the Terarody Mountain Ranges. All of the soldiers stationed there were Prince Lazaard's most trusted troops. These people were constantly by Prince Lazaar's side. They knew what Prince Lazaar's personality was like, and they were all extremely secretive about the location of the base.

"The wind blowing out of those mountain ranges is extremely cold. I wonder if those nobles and royals from Sarus will be able to handle it," Lana suddenly said without any context as she looked out over the city with a cold smile on her face.

Meanwhile, Aiden was speeding away into the distance from the manor, followed closely by two groups of white-robed magicians from the True Light Church.

"I think what you're actually wondering is if Erwin will be able to withstand the cold," Jeff said in a teasing voice.

"Why would you mention him all of a sudden?" Lana whined with a displeased pout.

"Well, he did steal a kiss from you, after all. I'm only expressing the concern that an elder brother should toward his sister," Jeff said with a serious expression.

Upon hearing mention of that kiss during the Pillow Sword Tournament, Lana's face instantly became flushed with embarrassment. "Hmph, I don't want to talk to you anymore."

She then turned to depart, but Jeff caught her by the wrist as he smiled and said, "On my desk, I have all of the reports from the army that came from Sarus."

Lana hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then replied with a carefree smile, "I'm not interested. When did you become the type to stick your nose into other people's business like this?"

"Alright, just pretend like I never said anything then," Jeff said as he released her.

As Lana was descending from the top floor of the tower, she gradually disappeared into the shadows.

Jeff looked on at her departing figure and heaved a faint sigh. "I know you too well, Lana. You're not the type of person who can just get over something like this, but there's nothing you can do even if you can't get over him."

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