I Became the Childhood Friend of the Northern Duchess - Chapter 200



200 – The Man Who Was My Friend

After Edgar’s words, the conversation between the four continued in a blur and eventually came to an end.

Above all, what he said was so shocking that Yulken suffered rapid confusion and was unable to continue the conversation calmly.

In some ways, it was uncharacteristic of him, but Edgar could fully understand his feelings.

That’s because the emperor was not simply the master of the country to which he had pledged allegiance, but also a person he had been friends with a long time ago.

It would have been difficult to accept the fact that he had joined hands with an evil enemy and tried to exert his influence on the Robeheim family.

This also meant that the shock he experienced was greater than that of the other three people.

Squeak.

I thought they would go back to their respective rooms and sleep, deciding to share the rest of the story tomorrow, but Edgar went to the study alone and carefully opened the door.

From noble mtl dot come

“… What’s going on?”

Yulken, who was quietly drinking his wine glass while looking out the window, reacted without any signs of agitation despite the unexpected visitor.

“I thought you might need a drinking companion.”

“This is so… “It feels strange to have my true feelings revealed to a friend who is as old as my son.”

As Edgar spoke with a faint smile, a bitter smile appeared on Yulken’s lips.

It was a bit embarrassing to have my inner thoughts read by a man so young, but at the same time, I felt even more grateful.

Unable to reveal his anxious feelings to his wife, he was trying to soothe her with alcohol, and at just the right moment, someone who could help him appear.

“What would you like to drink?”

“You can give me the same one.”

Following Edgar’s request, Yulken took another bottle of the same type of wine and approached the table in the middle.

“If you have a hangover tomorrow, make up my own excuse. Even that child will understand.”

“That can’t be possible. “I plan to treat my drinking partner well and do my official duties tomorrow as well.”

In the first place, he wasn’t asked to come by anyone, it was just something Edgar did on his own.

In addition, the fact that he could not focus his efforts on his duties while hoping for someone’s understanding was something that he could never accept due to his personality.

“Those are your words. Thank you for coming.”

“No. In a way, I confused my father’s feelings his, so wouldn’t I have a duty to comfort him?”

“There’s no need to think about it so complicatedly. “It’s just because my will is not strong.”

Edgar just did what he had to do.

The only reason Yulken hesitated after that, unable to answer properly, was because of the reality that he had to recognize the man who was his former friend his as the monarch he had to serve as his enemy his his.

“Listening to what you said, many thoughts came to mind.”

“What are your thoughts?”

“It’s just an old thought. That friend… No, from the first meeting with His Majesty to the process of becoming distant.”

“… “If you don’t mind, can I hear it?”

When Edgar asked carefully, Yulken smiled and began to recite an old story, as if there was nothing that could not be done.

Even so, it wasn’t something special.

When he was young, he had many encounters with Bartheus due to the exchanges between the previous emperor and Yulken’s father.

At least he considered Bartheus a close friend.

That’s because we had quite similar thoughts and personalities, and it was really fun to talk together.

Above all, these two people were the ones who should one day reign at the top.

Of course, just as there cannot be two suns under the sky, the monarch who would stand at the top would be Bartheus, but Yulken was no less a successor to the archduchy.

Therefore, the two people were not that difficult for each other and were able to share their difficulties.

However, as time passed and Bartheus began to wear the crown on his head, they rapidly became distant.

To be precise, it would be correct to say that Bartheus intentionally stayed away from Yulken.

The occasional letters they sent disappeared, and even when they met on official occasions, the sight of the two people talking separately disappeared everywhere.

Literally the Grand Duke and Emperor. It was just that relationship that changed.

Yulken didn’t think that was wrong.

The position of the Grand Duke was clearly nothing more than a subject of the Hellvenir Empire, and to him, Bartheus was a lord he would one day have to serve with respect.

However, it was his attitude that caused some doubt in the process.

When Bartheus occasionally met Yulken, he would look at him as if he had committed some crime and would avoid the place.

Accordingly, Yulken speculated that rather than just naturally becoming distant due to their respective positions, something external may have played a role.

Even though the doubts naturally disappeared as the time got longer and I couldn’t talk to him as I should.

“We’ve been friends without any flaws since we were young. He is not a saint, but he is not a villain… He was literally a person full of humanity. He was like that…”

‘Are you saying I was tainted by an evil enemy?’

As he could not bring himself to say those words, he swallowed back his words and Edgar, who took a sip of wine, spoke quietly.

“Nothing has been revealed yet.”

“It did. “It might just be a coincidence.”

Yulken nodded in response to his words, but the smile on his lips showed only bitterness.

Three coincidences. This is because the fact that you can only trust an old friend by relying on it felt like an empty sound.

“Actually, I’ve heard from Beatria a few times.”

“If it’s Beatria… “You are talking about Her Majesty the Empress.”

“Yes.”

Edgar’s eyes narrowed as the unexpected name popped out.

I was curious as to what he had heard from the Empress that made him seem so accepting.

Even so, there was something strange about her attitude in the imperial palace, and Edgar also had doubts about the relationship between her and her emperor.

“It was probably about three years after the two got married. Beatria suddenly sent me her letter.”

“Are you someone who doesn’t normally send letters?”

“No, I wasn’t that type of person. It was just a matter of the content.”

Yulken quietly and drunkenly recited the contents of the letter, which were still vivid in his mind.

“It says this. ‘Yulken, he’s strange. Yesterday, he came into my bedroom after drinking and asked me to kill him. Scary. What did that good person do wrong to make himself a sinner? ‘Yulken, I want to send you a letter to see if you know anything.’”

“Sinner… “What do you mean?”

“Okay. After that, we sent letters often, but we lost contact at some point. “I guess I couldn’t find the right guess even before I lost contact.”

Sinner. Why did he call himself a sinner?

What did she do wrong to her only wife and why couldn’t she tell it?

‘Is that why the relationship became so distant?’

Edgar recalled the lonely eyes of the Empress he had last seen, and for some reason his thoughts deepened.

We can’t be sure, but considering her her expression her her tone of voice, and her relationship her her with the emperor, as she said herself, it would be correct to say that Bartheus ‘ secret she has not yet been revealed.

“The reason I couldn’t take your friend’s side after hearing what you said was because these words lingered in my head.”

“Your father also thought that there was something troubling your Majesty.”

“Well, maybe so.”

Yulken assumed there was some kind of misunderstanding between the two, and it had been a long time since he paid attention to them.

There was nothing I could do other than wish her well as an old friend.

Now that I have come to hear Edgar’s reasoning and even vaguely agree with what I had been thinking about on my own for a long time, I felt bitter in many ways.

I thought that maybe he said those words to Beatria because his sin was really serious.

“In reality, the two things may be completely unrelated. But for some reason, I don’t think that’s the case.”

“Do you have any evidence?”

“No, there is no basis. Rather, it probably means that her heart has already changed at the point where she cannot trust that friend even though there is no basis for it.”

Although Yulken has a lot of faith in his intuition, he places just as much importance on tangible evidence.

The reality of him believing Edgar’s reasoning without any proper physical evidence was, in a sense, surreal.

However, in other words, it can also mean something like this.

In a situation where there is no physical evidence, he cannot solidify his faith in his old friend with only Edgar’s reasoning and his own intuition.

At that moment, you already guessed that he was an accomplice.

Even if the Amman coincidence was correct and the post-war situation indicated that Bartheus was on Albrich’s side, trust could not have been broken.

However, Yulken threw it away himself. The reason was simple.

Because somewhere in the back of my mind, I was shouting. He is the enemy.

“I once saw a phrase like that in an old book. “Human sense is so excellent that even if you hide it with a smiling face, the right person is clearly visible, and even if you show off with angry eyes, your allies will touch your heart.”

“…”

Edgar couldn’t say a word.

What he is about to say from now on is that he will make his old friend and master his enemy his his his.

Maybe he was making a remark to stop himself and strengthen his resolve.

There will be no comfort or respect whatsoever.

“Starting tomorrow, you will also closely investigate the matter of Bartheus. However, please understand that I cannot easily come to the forefront until proper evidence is provided.”

“Yes, I didn’t intend to ask my father for something like this anyway.”

Edgar still had hope.

In fact, everything he guessed now is just a lie, and it’s okay for him to be arrogant and just use his head in vain and end up causing a rift between two friends, so I hope that doesn’t happen.

Therefore, unless the outline of something was clearly revealed, I had no intention of asking Yulken for help or bothering him any further.

“Do you have anything else to ask of me?”

“Doesn’t exist. “I’ve already received a lot of help.”

There were only two reasons why Edgar wanted to tell him about this.

To hear the past and humanity of the man named Bartheus.

And to ask permission to dig him up.

Now that you’ve achieved those two things, all you have to do is step forward.

Without losing hope, but with the awareness that Bartheus could be the enemy.

Looking at it, it seems truly paradoxical.

“Then I guess I’d better drink this last thing before I go to bed. “Both you and I will have a lot on our minds today.”

“Of course.”

As the two people who made the final toast were about to tip their wine glasses, Yulken suddenly lifted his mouth from the rim of the glass and expressed the curiosity that suddenly occurred to him.

“But isn’t it time to sleep with my daughter? “I don’t think there’s any reason to worry about what’s going on around you.”

“Puup-! Cough! Cough!”

Because of Yulken’s words, which I don’t know whether he was joking or not, the air that had been heavy just a moment ago was immediately relieved.

Seeing Edgar coughing repeatedly in pain, Yulken patted his back with a happy smile and expressed his sincere apology.

In the end, how the conversation ended is probably something only the two of them know.