Raising the Princess to Overcome Death-Chapter 204: Beggar Siblings - Cat's Cradle
204. Beggar Siblings - Cat's Cradle
"Shouldn't you hold the outer part? With your pinky."
"Like this?"
"Oh no— it unraveled."
In the softly swaying carriage, Santian and Lena were playing cat's cradle.
As the thread slipped out, Tian wrapped it around his hands again. It was the 'shuttle.'
The starting point of cat's cradle, the shuttle was made by looping the thread around both hands and lifting the thread caught on the other palm with the middle finger.
Lena looked at the shuttle Tian handed over and thought for a moment. Should she go with 'chopsticks'? After contemplating, she decided to go the straightforward route, pinching the crossed parts of the shuttle with her thumb and index finger. Wrapping the outer string, she created the 'tray' with a snap.
The tray was a frame with four crossing threads. Only those familiar with cat's cradle would know that there were two types of trays: flipped and non-flipped, and this one was the latter.
Tian considered making 'scissors' but opted for a simple path. Grabbing and turning the crossed parts like Lena had done, he created 'chopsticks.'
"I find this one the most fun."
"Me too."
Chopsticks were a frame of four parallel threads, leaving no room for choice. Lena crossed the inner threads with her pinkies, then wrapped the outer threads with her thumbs and index fingers.
What Lena held now was the 'loom,' a flipped shuttle, again leaving no choice. Tian's hands now held the 'flipped tray.'
This is where the subtle charm of cat's cradle begins. If someone saw cat's cradle as a game to win or lose, they wouldn't endure this process.
With a flipped tray, one could create 'scissors,' 'cushion,' or a 'non-flipped tray.' However, even if Lena made 'scissors' with her pinkies, it would only revert to a flipped tray.
Unchanged sequences and returning to the starting point are boring, so Lena made another choice.
She lifted the tray in Tian's hands as if making chopsticks. Because it was flipped, she created the 'cushion.' A diamond in the center of the frame, this is commonly called an 'ox's eye.' But in reality...
When the 'ox's eye' appears, you lose.
Lifting the ox's eye with her thumb and index finger, Lena would create the 'fish,' a frame with two parallel lines in a central square, from which nothing could be made. Any attempt would unravel it, meaning Lena would lose.
To win, Lena should have chosen differently from the start.
When Tian first held the shuttle, instead of going for the tray, he should have pressed the crossed parts to go straight to chopsticks. Then Tian would have made the loom, and Lena would have held the flipped tray.
But cat's cradle is not a game to win.
Tian gently took the string between Lena's thumb and index finger with his pinky, steering away from making the fish.
And so, 'scissors' emerged.
Sometimes called a spider web or clover, it has many names due to its complexity.
Scissors are a frame where 'six threads converge in the center.' Unlike other frames where one could estimate what to do by eye, the scissors required pulling the crossed parts to find the hidden thread.
Grateful that Tian didn't end the game and let her continue, Lena picked up the scissors. Spinning it to find the hidden thread, she made the only possible route, the flipped tray. Tian had yielded to her.
From here, it was a repetition.
Passing the flipped tray, it would turn into a non-flipped tray, allowing the game to start over.
Lena and Santian chattered as they continued their game. Though the journey was monotonous, the boy and girl didn't feel the passage of time.
Meanwhile, Leo watched his sister and Santian with a peculiar gaze.
'Why is my sister entangled with this kid?' he thought, unable to definitively identify Minseo anymore.
Though it hadn't always been this way [18/22], since Leo's 18th achievement started the beggar siblings scenario, it had only been a few weeks, and Minseo's traces had faded.
Thus, Leo's view of Tian had also shifted.
When Tian first emerged from the baggage, Leo, with Minseo's traces, considered him a burden.
There was nothing this kid could contribute, and he wanted to send him back immediately, but Lena intervened, "Ah—why! He's coming with us! You brought along Sister Jenia too!" and an argument ensued.
But both Minseo and Leo were weak against their sister. Especially Minseo, who was particularly soft towards Lena.
'Yeah. We don't have time to return to Orville... it's half a day's carriage ride. Can't send him back alone.'
Leo had no choice but to allow Tian to join them.
In hindsight, having a friend to keep his sister company on a journey that would last months wasn't bad.
Even if the gangster group Rauno Family of Orville, who controlled the commercial district, came chasing them for 'kidnapping,' they had Jenia as a witness, so there would be no problem. Nothing to fear.
This perspective had changed a lot in the weeks that followed. Leo stroked his chin, observing the curly-haired boy a year younger than Lena, who appeared often.
Leo's view of Tian wasn't so negative. Though he saw him as an unnecessary addition on their journey to reclaim their {bloodline}, he found the boy rather likable.
Due to the third beggar siblings' scenario ending. Chased by Marquis Tatian and separated from his sister, Leo had deeply worried about her.
Lacking tracking skills, he had searched the entire kingdom, damaging his eyesight with depare root juice to change his eye color. Unable to find her, he had even wandered into the neighboring kingdom.
He worried endlessly about what had happened to his sister. Alive but potentially captured and mistreated by the marquis.
Those were nerve-wracking days. Desperately, Leo became a devotee of the Holy Cross Church, wandering until he suddenly reached an ending.
Fortunately, it was the ending where Tian and Lena got married.
A wedding photo of his sister with eyes dry as fallen leaves like his own.
Tears welled up as she squinted her pretty eyes, scanning the guests, wondering if her brother might have come... My heart ached seeing my sister looking around. I'm here. It was heart-wrenching, yet I was relieved. It must have been tough to elope with such a beautiful sister, but Tian did well. I offered a prayer of thanks.
Since then, Lena married Tian twice more. The fourth beggar siblings scenario, where my sister became a furious duke influenced by the Barbatos apostle childhood friend scenario, ended with Lena returning to Orville and marrying Tian with Jenia Zachary's help.
In the fifth scenario, where Lena was left alone in the theater and became an actress, she also married Tian.
It might be mere coincidence.
But when something similar happens three times, people start to think it's not a coincidence but fate. Leo looked at Santian Rauno for a moment before turning his head.
Opposite him, Jenia sat upright, sleeping quietly. Leo thought about how she was suffering because of him and opened the small window to the coachman.
He asked the coachman to go a bit slower. The coachman, sent by Count Peter, was strangely polite.
*
In the villages they encountered, Lena, Jenia, Santian, and Leo would each get a room for the night, repeating this routine and setting off early the next morning.
Leo was in a hurry, so they spent most days confined to the carriage, but Lena and Tian still enjoyed themselves. This time, Tian had made a slingshot and was teaching Lena how to use it.
Sticking their heads out of the carriage window, they shot pebbles at the passing scenery.
The slingshot wasn't a modern one that Minseo knew. It wasn't Y-shaped with a rubber band but rather an ancient type, a sling, where a leather strap with some elasticity was used to hurl stones.
Slings were used by almost all civilizations regardless of era or location. This primitive hunting tool...
What does it matter?
Leo took his eyes off the children playing well together. Feeling the fatigue of travel, he gently stroked Jenia's hair, who was sleeping against his shoulder, and then got out of the stopped carriage.
“Here?”
“Yes, we've arrived. We'll stay here for two days. Lena, put your hat on.”
They had arrived at 'Taamoon Village,' not far from the ruins of Vadobona Castle. In a past scenario, after killing Gilbert Forte and fleeing, he, his sister, and Cassia had spent the winter hiding in the visible mountains.
‘I never entered this village back then...’
A nostalgic memory. Before being freed from her shackles, Cassia cooked, his sister cleaned the dugout house while learning letters and etiquette, and he hunted...
Cassia seemed to have struggled with mountain life, but back then, they were quite harmonious.
It was also the first time he challenged the {Bloodline} event, eagerly hoping to meet Sir Bart, a royal guard who might open up a path.
Of course, they weren't being chased this time. Count Gustav Peter had agreed to take care of Gilbert Forte.
As long as Gilbert Forte didn't attend the banquet when the prince arrived in Orville, it would be fine. Leo had asked Count Peter to keep Gilbert away.
It didn't matter how—whether through an extravagant trip or an invite to a wild party—as long as Gilbert Forte didn't kiss the princess and end up being sent to the cathedral, it would be fine.
Though it seemed well-handled, Leo was still anxious. He wasn't sure if Count Peter would follow through on such an odd request.
It wasn't a difficult task for the Count, but it might not be important enough for him, and there was a chance that Lena might meet Gilbert Forte.
If that happened, Lena would be expelled from the cathedral.
‘...If it comes to that, it will probably say that the childhood friend scenario has changed in this ending. I can help prevent it in the next childhood friend scenario.’
Leo calmly considered the worst-case scenario. Unfortunately, he had to gamble a bit on her future this time.
It was to prevent Sir Bart from attacking Philas Tertan and Harrie Guidan. To do so, they needed to reach the Conrad Kingdom as soon as possible, but resolving the issue with Gilbert Forte without killing him took time.
It was an inevitable choice... but he felt sorry for Lena. He would have to send Rev to the cathedral.
“Wow. Is that a carriage? It's huge.”
“A great noble must be traveling.”
At that moment, villagers came out, awed by Count Peter's enormous carriage. They murmured among themselves but didn't avoid Leo and his party, bowing politely.
As expected, it was a simple village, untouched by nobles.
Still, they needed to be cautious, so Leo pressed down on his sister's hat as she tried to take it off. He assigned Tian the task of watching Lena to make sure she kept her hat on and went to meet the village chief to arrange lodging.
They planned to stay for two days. The destination, the Conrad Kingdom, was still far, but they stopped here to pick up Rev, who should be rushing towards Orville.
The Conrad Kingdom was southeast, while Rev was coming from the southwestern kingdom of Orun, so their paths slightly diverged.
After securing their lodging, feeling that such a simple village would be safe, Leo told Jenia he was going to bring a friend. He assured her he would return by today if possible and rode off in the direction where Rev was, using {Tracking}.
That evening, near the Taamoon Village, a middle-aged man came down from the mountains, his rope and leather pouch at his waist swaying.
“Wooban, what now?”
A villager asked, clearly displeased. The hunter grinned slyly.
Chapter 204: Beggar Siblings - Cat's Cradle
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