Raising the Princess to Overcome Death-Chapter 333: Beggar Siblings - Playing Soldier

Raising the Princess to Overcome Death-Chapter 333: Beggar Siblings - Playing Soldier

332. Beggar Siblings - Playing Soldier
"I can't wait any longer."
Frustrated that Bretin wouldn’t even leave his room to meet with him, Ray was getting restless.
Rera had already voiced her suspicions, demanding, “What’s up with you? And when are we leaving?” To pacify her, Ray had arranged a sparring match with one of the Sauer barony’s knights.
Rera had been delighted by the diversion, but it wouldn’t hold her off for long. So, at the crack of dawn, Ray found Lean and vented his impatience.
“Bretin—if it comes to it, I’ll grab that nobleman by the collar and get this resolved fast.”
And then, true to his word, he ran off, clutching someone’s collar—but it wasn’t Baron Sauer’s; it was Diallo Brina’s.
Ray had kept his skill as a swordmaster under wraps to avoid Rera finding out, so no one could stop him.
“Ray! Wait! I’ve already reached out to Brian Sauer, so if we just wait another day—ugh!” Lean shouted after him, but Ray had already taken off.
Lean ran after him, but with his depleted mana and smaller build, he couldn’t keep up with Ray, who sped off like the wind, even with someone hoisted over his shoulder.
Whew, maybe I’ve been neglecting my training.
Lean had left handling Oriax to Rev, and Astroth needed preparation, so he’d mostly been stuck solving puzzles, meeting people, and strategizing—activities that hadn’t kept him in top physical form.
Still, he had finally gotten a lead.
To understand Bretin’s apparent grudge, Lean had contacted his half-brother, Brian, back in Orville. While church communication was quick, it would still take at least a day for the Orville church to write and send a message to Brian. Since they had sent it yesterday, there was a chance they would hear back today…
Lean raced after Ray, hoping he wouldn’t make matters worse. That guy really doesn’t listen, unlike Rev.
“Oh my! What’s all this? And the prince too?”
Lean, out of breath, reached the stairs.
On the stairs, Nella, the head maid, looked up at him, wide-eyed, clearly taken by surprise as Ray had pushed her aside. She was still in her day clothes, likely just arriving for work.
But Lean ignored her and rushed up the stairwell, bounding up each high step until he reached the baron’s room.
He was sure it would be a chaotic scene. But as he entered, he found himself surprised by the quiet—and by an unexpected figure.
Lerialia was there.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Ray seemed just as taken aback, fumbling as he held Diallo Brina over his shoulder. Despite his usual confidence, Ray could be quite timid around his younger sister, Lena, unlike with Lean.
“My apologies, my friend here seems to be a bit confused… Ray! Let’s go! But, Lerialia, why are you here?”
Lean blocked Ray’s path, feeling relieved that no disaster had happened but still unsettled to find his sister here at this hour.
What is this situation?
The baron was half-sitting on the bed, while Lerialia sat in a chair beside him.
Lean narrowed his eyes, just as Lerialia spoke in an encouraging voice.
“Perfect timing. Go ahead and tell them everything. I know you’re hiding something painful. Holding it all in only hurts you more.”
“…”
Bretin’s face grew troubled as he pondered her words.
When he still hesitated, Lerialia gently took his hand, urging him.
“I feel for the life you’ve led, Baron. But as you told me, it’s time to open that door and step forward, no matter how late it feels. It’s the only way to escape your nightmares.”
At that, her golden eyes glimmered, and Lean’s heart skipped a beat, though he’d managed to keep his sister at bay up to now. Bretin, however, seemed to find courage in her words.
He stood up.
“Your Highness, please excuse me for a moment. Diallo Brina, I have something to say to you.”
“Hrk… Alright, go ahead, Uncle,” Diallo replied, after Ray had let him down. Diallo quickly composed himself, thinking, I was almost done for.
Although he and Bretin were of similar age, Diallo maintained a respectful attitude as his junior by family relation. But Bretin Sauer rejected that notion.
“I am not your uncle. We share no blood.”
“Well, of course. You had a different birth mother, after all. But your father married my grandaunt as his lawful wife, so we are connected by marriage. Even if the two of you drifted apart due to rivalry for the title, that’s simply the reality…”
“No. I cannot acknowledge her as his lawful wife.”
Bretin spoke firmly, disclosing a shameful and painful truth.
“She committed adultery. I saw it with my own eyes. And, of all people…”
“How could you say something so heartless! No matter how strained things are between you, some things are better left unsaid!”
“It was with her own brother, your grandfather—the former Baron Brina. I saw them together.”
Diallo’s face turned red, then pale, outraged.
“Baron! On what grounds do you spout such slander? Though I’m only a second son, I am still of the Brina barony. Don’t fabricate baseless lies!”
“Evidence? You yourself are the evidence.”
“Me? What do you mean?”
In that instant, Lean understood.
Why Bretin was so sensitive. And… why Diallo Brina and Brian Sauer looked so alike.
When Ray had first brought Diallo, Lean had been startled—not because Diallo had slimmed down, unlike the Diallo from before the history change, but because his emaciated figure made him look identical to Brian Sauer. Brian, whom Lean had met in Orville, was an unusually wrinkled man, both before and after the history shift.
So Lean had sent a message to Brian Sauer, asking about this, and now Bretin continued.
“You must have met my younger brother before. He’s thin like you, and doesn’t he bear a striking resemblance to you?”
“…I’m not sure? Back then, I was a bit bigger…”
“So was Brian. He didn’t mind his appearance at all, until right after his visit to the Brina Barony, when he suddenly began losing weight. Can you guess why?”
“…No… It can’t be…”
“Yes, it can. Brian is the child of your grandfather and grandaunt. He’s not your uncle by marriage but rather your uncle by blood.”
Bretin sighed deeply and went on.
“I saw it with my own eyes. When Baron Brina visited our estate, I saw the two of them in a tryst. I should have raised the alarm then… but I was young and foolish. I didn’t understand what it meant.”
The baron’s lawful wife, who couldn’t bear a child.
In the end, she did have a child, as did Bretin’s father with his concubine. So neither was incapable of having children.
So why had she been childless for years? The answer was simple.
Bretin’s father, the former Baron Sauer, didn’t love her.
Whether a strategic marriage or not, he’d been compelled into it, likely for some reason or another, but had someone else he loved and ultimately refused to share a bed with his wife. And eventually, he took that beloved woman as his concubine.
That woman was Bretin’s mother. But his wife’s rage led to ruin.
After long deliberation, the wife called upon her brother, the then Baron Brina, and had an affair with him. She bore his child, intending to make that child, a Brina by blood, the heir to the Sauer estate.
And on the day her child was born, she eliminated the obstacles of her husband and his concubine.
The child that was born was Brian Sauer, Bretin’s half-brother—a younger sibling with whom he shared no blood.
From that point on, Bretin lived only to survive. As a bastard born from a concubine, he humbled himself—if he had to crawl, he would; if he was told to clean up dung, he did so thoroughly, even if he had to do it by hand.
Seeing Bretin’s obedience, the legitimate wife chose not to kill him. After all, she already had an heir.
But her and the former Baron Brina’s vile plot was ultimately thwarted by Prince Arista de Klaus of the Aslan Kingdom. The prince, who’d received the newborn Saintess’s first blessing as a child, possessed keen insight from an early age.
Arista saw through Baron Brina’s intentions and repeatedly rebuked him, effectively blocking Brina Barony’s ambitions in the political arena.
This pressure led Baron Brina to pass his title to his son, Diego Brina, earlier than planned. However, the prince’s investigations continued relentlessly. It was around this time that history changed.
A woman serving Malhas assassinated the king, and the young Arista de Klaus, who ascended the throne at a young age, soon met an early death. This was how history had originally unfolded.
But with the altered history, Arista de Klaus neither lost his father nor was forced onto the throne.
Instead, he continued his duties as a prince and discovered that the Brina Barony and the adjacent Sauer Barony had an unusually close relationship. He immediately dispatched a team to investigate.
This was around the time when the formerly chubby Brian Sauer of the Brina lineage rapidly lost weight—a disguise meant to avoid suspicion during Arista’s fierce investigation, which eventually led to an ultimatum:
- “I, Arista, will not tolerate any further closeness between the two baronies.”
No one knew the full extent of what the prince had uncovered. Diego Brina, who had inherited the title, assessed the situation with his father and made a decisive choice.
Though technically cousins, being the son of his grandaunt, Diego demanded that Brian Sauer relinquish his claim to the title in favor of Bretin Sauer, who then became the baron.
But Bretin lived in despair.
As he grew older, he realized what he had witnessed as a child—that his mother, officially recorded as having died in an accident, had been murdered because of it.
In her bed.
Since then, Bretin could not sleep without someone beside him.
Whenever he was alone, the nightmares would return, and he was unable to marry. Instead, he would have different maids sleep beside him each night, hiding in his room, indifferent to his family’s eventual decline. That was how he had lived.
Bretin let out a heavy sigh. Saying it all out loud left him feeling unburdened.
Finally, he had voiced the truth to someone with no connection to him—the man who bore an eerie resemblance to his estranged brother, Brian. He felt as if a weight had been lifted.
Had Brian himself been present, he might not have been able to say these words... but now he was filled with newfound courage.
“Feel better, don’t you? Now you can move forward,” Lerialia said with a gentle smile.
“Yes, I think I can.”
He decided then and there that he would confront the Brina Barony as well.
It was long overdue, but with the parties responsible still alive, he resolved to address the matter and put an end to it.
Bretin bowed respectfully to the lovely princess.
“Thank you, kind princess. Thanks to you, I’ve found my path.”
“It was nothing; I only listened. You already knew the way. And… I think I’ve found my path, too.”
Lerialia gave him a radiant smile, which Bretin returned before turning to address Lean.
“Your Highness, I understand why you’ve sought me out, and I know why you brought this man here. I cannot allow smuggling, but I can help establish a lawful trade route. Diallo Brina, I would like to speak with you privately.”
“Goodness! What is all this?”
Just then, Nella, now dressed in her maid’s uniform, entered with wide eyes. Why was everyone here so early in the morning?
Bretin offered a warm smile to the maid who had stood by him for so long.
“Nothing to worry about. Thank you for opening the door for me. And… congratulations on your engagement. I know it’s late.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s go.”
Bretin walked briskly out with Diallo. Lean could feel the air shift with the newfound resolve in Bretin’s stride.
But Lean had another pressing matter to address.
“Lerialia, what did you mean by ‘finding your path’? And why are you here?”
“Brother.”
“Yes?”
“I’m done pretending.”
Lerialia spun playfully, a bit shy. Pressing herself against the thick curtains, she confessed, either embarrassed or apologetic to her brother.
“I’m a princess. I can’t keep acting like a naïve little sister forever. Not like when we used to play hide and seek.”
“…”
“I need to follow my own path. Brother, I know you’d like to live quietly with Lady Jenia, but that’s not for me. I’m going to secure a place where I can live on my terms. And… I hope you’ll be there with me.”
“…”
Ray whispered from the side, “Hey, what’s going on with your sister?”
“Be quiet.” Lean nudged Ray with his elbow and looked carefully at his sister.
If she had been recklessly driven by memories of the past, he’d have scolded her, but Lerialia met his gaze with a bold and determined look.
Golden eyes glinted sharply. On the face of his once-adorable sister, there was not immaturity, but a commanding presence.
Lean exhaled deeply.
“Fine. Do as you wish. But what are you planning? I’m not going to help you. And I won’t allow you to involve anyone from the Bellita Kingdom. Especially not Marquis Benar Tatian; he’s far too dangerous.”
Lerialia seemed deep in thought, clearly weighing her options.
Playing hard to get, are we? Well then…
Just then, Lerialia spotted something, her face lighting up as she turned and threw open the curtains.
“Fine! I’ll manage on my own. But promise me—no interference, as long as it’s not Bellita’s people. And don’t get involved with whatever I decide to do with them.”
“Them?”
She pointed out the window.
Following her finger, Lean looked outside and gasped, “Oh no!”
Ray glanced out the window, puzzled.
“Isn’t that Sir Hazen? What’s he doing here?”
Damn it. Damn it all—another mess my dear brother has dumped on me.
Sir Hazen and a dozen men were approaching through the garden.
Their uniforms displayed the insignia of Conrad Kingdom’s Second Order of Knights, making it clear they were here on official business to escort someone of importance.
It seemed that they had been sent, likely under the guise of political neutrality, with orders to “eliminate” him and Lerialia, but Sir Hazen, while outwardly neutral, was one of their strongest supporters.
Lean glanced at Lerialia, who was rubbing her palms together with a barely contained, eager smile—as if they had arrived just in time.
A wave of dread washed over Lean.
He had no way of predicting how big this would become with a blade in his sister’s hands, nor the scale her “soldier’s game” would reaChapter Lean mentally apologized in advance.
“Rev, I’m sorry.”

Chapter 333: Beggar Siblings - Playing Soldier