Book 10: Epilogue
Calvin - who was taken into custody by Liam - was thrown on a frontier planet owned by the Banfield family.
It is not an environment-friendly place for the crown prince of a major power to spend time.
Calvin will never leave the frontier planet again.
"Calvin-san, I think it's time for you to go up."
"Is it that time already?"
"Yes, you've been working too hard today."
When Calvin got off the heavy equipment and checked the time, it was past seventeen o'clock.
Looking around, he saw nothing but a line of heavy equipment in the middle of a pioneering project.
A man younger than Calvin asks what his plans are for the rest of the day.
"Are you going straight home again today?"
Calvin nods shyly, wiping the sweat off his face.
His long hair has grown short, and he has shaved his beard.
He had recently started tanning, and his skin was darker from the sun.
"The kids have been nagging me to play with them. I'm taking them to an amusement park on my day off tomorrow, so I'll have to rest today or my body won't be able to handle it."
"You're very family oriented."
"I had been neglecting my family until a little while ago. I'd like to apologize for that."
"Calvin-san, a loving husband?"
"Things happened a long time ago."
When Calvin was taken into custody by the Banfield family, many of the women who were married to him offered to leave him.
This was because they did not want to live in the Banfield household, which everyone knew would be a hardship.
However, there was one woman among them who followed with her children.
The one whom Calvin fell in love with and proposed to was a former commoner.
She was the only one who followed Calvin with their child.
At first Calvin refused to take his family with him for fear of how they would be treated by the Banfield family, but his wife, who was in a weaker position and would go with him wherever he went, forced him to let her follow.
She told him that she would prefer to be with her family anyway, and Calvin cried tears of joy, although it was shameful.
Therefore, he now spends his time with his family first.
"Calvin, are you not attending the drinking party again today?"
"I'd like you to join us because his stories are so interesting."
"Oh, he's kind of intelligent, isn't he? He can do a lot of things, and there's a rumor he's actually a nobleman somewhere."
"No way. There is no way such a person would come to a frontier planet."
"It's not impossible, you know. There are many noblemen who run away for various reasons. That man must have run away because he was fed up with the aristocratic society."
"Wow. So he works with the nobility."
"Well, that's the rumor."
Unaware that it was the former crown prince of the empire who was working with them.
Calvin buys souvenirs on his way home from work and returns home.
The house is terribly small compared to the palace and is smaller than Calvin's own room.
When he returns, his wife comes from the kitchen to the door.
"Welcome home. Dinner is ready."
"It smells good."
When he enters the house, the children now jump on Calvin.
"Daddy, what did you bring me?"
"I'm home from work and dirty, so if you want to cuddle, do it later. I brought you some doughnuts."
"Wow!"
He watches as the kids slam into the living room with a box of doughnuts.
He feels guilty at the sight of them.
(I wonder how my ex-wife and children left on the capital planet are doing?)
Calvin, concerned about his family not being here, talks to his wife.
"How was your day?"
His wife answers the vague question, guessing what he means.
"An investigator from the Banfield family came over at noon, we talked, and that was it."
"What about the future?"
"Nothing in particular."
Calvin and his family were placed in the custody of the Banfield family, but their life was at the level of a commoner.
Calvin, who is highly educated, can choose from a variety of jobs if he looks for one, and he spends his time relatively freely.
Although they certainly cannot afford luxury, Calvin and his family enjoy an ideal life in a sense.
In the palace, one needed permission to do anything, and one had to look around to see what the people around him were thinking.
But that is not the case here.
Calvin's true feeling is that although he cannot afford luxury, it is better than a life of inconvenience.
That said, he is also anxious.
"Hmmm, normally I would think it would be more like this--strict, wouldn't it?"
"I wonder if the Duke of Banfield thinks it's enough punishment for the former crown prince to live the life of a commoner?"
Calvin is strangely convinced by his wife's opinion.
He and Liam had been enemies, but there was certainly a purity in him.
Ironically, Calvin believed Liam in some way.
"I thought he'd go through a lot of trouble. Certainly a lot of hard work, but if I'm being honest, I feel better about it now."
"Is that so?"
"I don't have to worry about succession battles and all that. If I had known this was going to happen, I would have accepted defeat sooner."
Calvin was glad in the end that he did not take on the empire.
Under the watchful eye of the Banfield family, Calvin and his family enjoy life in general.
.
Barony of Exner.
With the support of the Banfield family, the planet had developed in a different way than before.
However, Baron Exner continues to use the mansion he has been using for some time.
He did not have to make new provisions like Liam did, and led a simple life.
Kurt, too, was living such a simple life without thinking of it as a hardship.
The three of them are taking a walk in the courtyard of the mansion.
In front of Kurt and his family, the one in the dress is number 3588.
Kurt calls her name.
"Lily, don't go too far."
"Yes."
Although she looks like a newly grown girl, [Lily] is like a young child.
She doesn't mind getting covered in mud and playing around.
Watching over her next to Kurt is his fiance, Cecilia.
She is now being cared for by the Exner family and is about to be married.
Cecilia is a calm woman who is watching Lily with warmth.
"Oh my goodness, Lily is such a naughty girl. She reminds me of Licitea when she was little."
Kurt smiles at Cecilia as if he is troubled.
"I am sorry. I'm sorry I took her in on my own selfishness."
Hearing this, Cecilia shakes her head.
"I think it's the right thing to do as an aristocrat."
Cecilia did not seem bothered.
Partly because she didn't get informed that Lily was a clone created by Cleo, but also because Cecilia is good-natured and close to Kurt at heart.
She is convinced that Kurt took poor Lily in.
However, she still had a slight doubt.
"Perhaps she was Kurt's favorite?"
"That--can't I deny it?"
Kurt makes no secret of it and tells Cecilia how he feels.
"It is true that I wanted to help her. Her background is complicated in many ways, though. Besides, she won't live long. I want her to be happy, at least for a short time."
"Are you going to make me a concubine?"
"No way. I think of you as my little sister."
When Kurt said this, Cecilia was relieved to hear it.
"I'm a little happy to hear that."
"What?"
"I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was a little jealous of Lily. Since Kurt-sama brought her here, I was worried that she would despise me."
Cecilia tried to like - or rather, liked - Kurt, even though it was a political marriage.
Kurt feels sorry.
"That's not true."
(--Sorry. I can't betray Liam. Maybe Liam will fight your brother if he wants to. -As a result, I will betray you someday.)
Kurt sees Lily running around happily and is angry at Cleo for what he did.
(It's still understandable that he betrayed Liam. I'm angry, but it's still politics. I don't agree with it, but I accept it. But still, there are areas that should not be touched. And His Highness Cleo crossed it easily.)
To win over Liam, they cloned him and relied on artificial intelligence.
He also went too far in collecting the nobles' property.
Kurt saw a glimpse of dark folly in Cleo.
(If His Highness Cleo ascends to the throne at this point, the empire will surely be in shambles.)
As he fears for the future, Lily collapses.
Kurt rushed over and picked Lily up in his arms.
"Heh heh, I fell down."
"Come here."
Kurt and Cecilia take Lily to a nearby watering hole to clean off the mud.
The place is like a fountain, but once in the water, the dirt was broken down. And yet, as soon as she leaves the spot, she dries up.
Lily flapped her hands.
"This is awesome. It's already clean."
Seeing Lily like this, Cecilia was a little puzzled.
"I wonder if it's that great? Where else would I find it?"
To a puzzled Cecilia, Kurt explains a bit about Lily's circumstances.
"Lily grew up in a very special place, so she often doesn't know about these everyday things."
"That's--I'm sorry. I wasn't being tactful."
When Cecilia apologized, Lily shook her head.
"I'm fine. Because, you know, Lily had Mr. Hat."
"Mr. Hat?"
When Cecilia turns her head to look at him, Kurt shakes his head to indicate that he doesn't know either.
"I think she was a caretaker where she grew up, but I don't think Lily knows the details either."
Lily talks frantically about Mr. Hat.
"You know, Mr. Hat is very knowledgeable. If I was in trouble, he would help me, and if I was in pain, he would heal me. Hehe, Kurt gave me name, so someday Mr. Hat will call me by my name, not my number."
Kurt gently strokes Lily's head.
"Yes, that's right. I hope they call you someday."
"Yes! Mr. Hat was the only one on my side. But how can I meet him?"
"Hmmm."
Kurt folds his arms and thinks.
(The facility where Lily grew up is probably top secret, and maybe they've already tried to destroy the evidence. The Mr. hat might not even be there. And even if he were alive, there's very little chance we'd ever see him again.)
It is unlikely that Cleo left behind any evidence of his exposure to the taboo, and even if he did, it would not exist in its former location.
So, Kurt tells Lily.
"Shall we pray to meet one day?"
"Pray?"
Lily puts her hands together as in knowledge.
Then, she suddenly scurried around.
"What's the matter, Lily?"
"Ano ne! Ano ne! Now, there was this wan-wan*. He said he would deliver it for me!" [TL/N: I think she's referring to the spirit dog with the statement.]
"Woof woof?"
Kurt looked around, but the dog was nowhere to be seen.
Somewhere in space.
The guide, wearing only a hat, was shedding tears.
The tears he shed turned into beads and drifted around him.
"I can't believe I can't even curse Liam. In the past, Mithril wouldn't have been able to bounce curses back at me."
I have lost a lot of my power, and on the contrary, Liam has become more powerful than before.
The gap between them is only widening.
"I'm not giving up. I will never give up. Liam, if only I can destroy you, I can come back and bring this world to the bottom of misery. If only you weren't here."
A dog appeared at the back of the guide who was mumbling and muttering his resentment.
It has a knife in its mouth.
When he releases the knife, it flies toward the guide.
The knife - a knife that was filled with Lily's gratitude.
The knife pierces the guide's hat.
"This gratitude is Liam! No, no, no. No way, this is--3588! How can your gratitude reach me! Oh, no. Don't stick it in too deep! My body will crack! It'll crack!"
Seeing the guide struggling desperately to pull out the knife, the dog seems satisfied and disappears somewhere.
"I looked over you so hard and you betrayed me, 3588!"
The guide's shout was the only sound that echoed through the space.
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