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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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Have you ever come face to face with the daughter of an enemy you killed?
If not, it might be a little hard for you to understand my feelings right now.
What kind of feeling is it? It’s the feeling of wanting to pour about four glasses of brutally strong liquor, take three drags of an equally brutally strong cigarette, and down the liquor with that smoke.
The moment I saw Aethelthryth’s face, the face of my father’s enemy, Aella, came to mind, and memories of my father, along with Aella’s final moments, flashed through my mind in an instant.
The remnants of emotions contained in each of those moments also rose to the surface of my consciousness, struggling and desperately trying to shake my psyche.
But I am not my father, and the already dead Aella is even less so.
The mind of Helgi Ragnarsson did not allow the grudges of the past to consume the spirit of the present.
“Aethelthryth. You must be Aethelthryth.”
After a moment of silence, that was all I could manage to say.
“Konungr Helgi. It is an honor to meet you like this.”
Aethelthryth, unable to hide her trembling voice, hastily bowed her head.
What should I say to that red crown of her head? That I killed your father?
That he screamed like a pig when he died?
And why did I have to kill him?
Because your father killed my father like a mere pig?
But wasn’t my father a raider? Not just any raider, but a raider king whose name was famous throughout Europe? Wasn’t it a just death that Aella delivered?
Where in this world is there such a thing as justice?
Would Aella’s hands be clean, and would the hands of the Pope in Rome be clean?
When the whole world is full of raiders with just different names, was it not Aella himself who, in order to erase his own name, his own throne, the authority of the king he had brought down with his own hands, threw my father into the snake pit?
In an era where strength is justice anyway, in a corner of my mind that was trying to find logic, a feeling I hadn’t known I had reared its head.
A loneliness that only a stranger to the era can feel. A solitude that only one who is isolated can have.
But I blew this futile feeling away with a single small breath and said to the bowed Aethelthryth.
“I will say this to Bóthilda, the woman who will be Halfdan’s wife, as well. Do not show me too much reverence. Are we not people who will soon become family?”
At my gentle voice, Aethelthryth lifted her head, her eyes a mix of fear and faint expectation.
It was then that Sigurd, who had been watching our conversation with bated breath, let out a small sigh.
My brother, who feared nothing in the world, seemed to have been nervous at the moment his wife-to-be met his king.
But did Sigurd know? That he had chosen the wrong moment to be nervous.
I, for one, didn’t really care who Sigurd married, but it seemed Mother Aslaug had other thoughts, so this was a sin he would have to bear himself.
Anyway, Sigurd, having regained his usual pace, seized the moment and offered me a greeting.
“Konungr Helgi! My Konungr! I have finished the first chapter of the Saga for you, so I shall sing that song for you throughout this feast!”
“…I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say such horrible things, Sigurd.”
Sigurd, spouting crazy talk the moment he saw me.
I thought it was the worst joke, but seeing Ubba’s heavily distorted expression, it seemed to be true.
Alright, I would avoid Sigurd for the time being.
“To have achieved such a great feat, yet still not enjoy music…! What a sad soul you are, Helgi!”
“…What on earth are you talking about? Anyway, I’m glad you arrived safely, Sigurd.”
The feeling of gladness at seeing him after a long time was but momentary.
Ten seconds after Sigurd opened his mouth, my head began to ache.
Still, after leaving behind Sigurd, who returned my greeting with a handsome smile and said he was also glad to see me, I also exchanged greetings with Ubba, who seemed to have matured a little more.
“Ubba, I’m sorry for calling you here so suddenly.”
In fact, the one who might be most annoyed could be Ubba.
Sigurd and Halfdan were the ones getting married, but Ubba, to put it bluntly, had nothing, did he?
Given the nature of weddings, which are usually prepared over a certain period, this sudden ceremony must be an incredible nuisance for Ubba, who liked to move like clockwork according to a set plan.
Fortunately, there was no particular change in Ubba’s expression when he heard my words.
“Sorry? Helgi, this is all Sigurd’s fault. You might even be the biggest victim. You could have prepared for your wedding more leisurely, after all.”
“Ah, that doesn’t matter. Ubba, things like weddings are better done quickly, don’t you think?”
In fact, I even felt a certain amount of gratitude.
“Is thaaat so?”
Ubba raised an eyebrow in surprise. Next to him, Bjorn was chuckling.
I had to move before that eldest brother of mine, who had become noticeably more lighthearted since his (nominal) retirement, said something useless.
“Now, let’s all go inside. It’s not right to keep a woman with child standing outside for long.”
“What? This, this…! Helgi! You think of Aethelthryth as too weak a woman! Aethelthryth is as strong a woman as I am!”
Sigurd, who had misunderstood my words, suddenly wrapped an arm around Aethelthryth’s shoulder and chided me.
The red-haired woman, tucked into his embrace, gave an awkward smile.
And Ubba, who had probably been watching this spectacle all winter, closed his eyes tightly and sighed as if he were sick and tired of it.
“…Yeah, I bet you’re so happy to have gotten a strong woman pregnant. So you want to keep standing here?”
“What are you saying! Aethelthryth is a strong woman, but she needs rest! You wouldn’t be ignorant of the fact that even the strongest warrior needs good rest…!”
No, what on earth do you want, you crazy bastard.
“Pfft, pfft, pfft.”
Bjorn’s low laugh, as he had been quietly watching his younger brothers, barely caught my reason, which was about to disappear.
Soon, Bjorn started walking along the path first and said quietly.
“Now, now, let’s hurry inside. Our two mothers will be waiting for us.”
Mothers?
‘Right- our mothers are here…?’
There was no reason for me to tire myself out with a war of words here.
Though he himself didn’t know it, wasn’t Sigurd in fact an aurochs, no, a pig or a chicken just before being led to the slaughterhouse?
A cool smile bloomed on my lips as I slowly moved my steps for the sake of the pregnant woman, whose belly had not yet begun to show.
Is this what they call the stratagem of killing with a borrowed knife?
Revenge would be sweet.
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‘He has definitely become more formidable.’
A bear moving right in front of him.
The huge something in the shape of a man had now reached a stage where it controlled the surrounding air just by existing.
When he faced Aethelthryth, for a brief moment, didn’t it feel as if his body was freezing under that heavy gaze? Though it was just for an instant, he had never seen such a stiff expression on Sigurd’s face in his life.
Tension? No, the word ‘instinctive fear’ would be more fitting.
Ubba wondered how that giant warrior in front of him could move so smoothly, but he did not stop thinking in his head.
‘In any case, it is a good thing that Sigurd has taken Aella’s daughter. With this, the lords of Bernicia have no choice but to bow their heads even lower to Sigurd and, beyond him, to Helgi. He has taken the last remaining legitimacy.’
That was also why he had condoned it. When Sigurd was running around trying to win the woman’s heart, he had told Jarl Uhtred, who had slyly leaked Sigurd’s movements to him, not to do anything.
‘East Anglia is being successfully united by Guthrum and Sigtryggr, and the people of eastern Mercia and the marshlands are greatly agitated.
Because what Konungr Helgi of Northumbria and East Anglia gives is more than what Cyning Burgred of Mercia gives.’
An incomprehensible situation where Northumbria was more prosperous despite having fought a great war.
The royalty may argue about various justifications and gods, but for the common people below them, the food to eat and the clothes to wear right now were more important.
‘I also asked Ivarr to be sure to attend this wedding, and with this, our brothers will be moving as one.’
Though capable subordinates and excellent warriors still remained on the lands of Britain, the enemies would surely react to this unprecedented, large-scale movement of the Northmen.
‘Under Helgi’s rule anyway, it’s a fight we must face at least once. If possible, we will set the time.’
The thought of making such a blood-soaked plan even at his brothers’ feast weighed on his mind, but Ubba held his head high. Like his king, who was striding powerfully ahead.
He himself could not split rocks, nor could he fight as well as his other brothers, but his mind was better than anyone else’s.
‘This is bait. Burgred of Mercia. Constantine of Alba. Aethelred of Wessex. If you do not bite, you will have peace, but if you bite this bait…’
He would reel them in at once.
Perhaps the first battlefield would be East Anglia. The patience of the Cyning of East Anglia, Edmund, who was crouched in the marshlands, was constantly wearing thin.
Like a slowly melting candle.
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“Welcome, Aethelthryth. To come all this long way with a child in your belly. I know well the hardship. You’ve done well to come.”
At the door of the longhouse, which served as a residence and was set to become my old home on a low hill, our two mothers were already out to greet us.
With a voice and gesture as gentle as the spring breeze, my stepmother Aslaug, overflowing with elegant grace, hugged Aethelthryth as if to soothe her.
It was truly a loving and benevolent gaze and gesture.
Sigurd, who had gained a little confidence from seeing that, seized the moment again and quickly opened his mouth.
“Oh-! The two most beautiful mothers in this world…! I-”
But his words did not last long.
The gaze of Aslaug, who had embraced her prospective daughter-in-law with a lovely expression second to none, instantly transformed into a frosty look the moment she saw her colt-like son.
At the expression that seemed to be spewing flames from both eyes, even the great Sigurd had no choice but to cut his words short.
[We’ll talk in a bit.]
Above the hand that was still gently patting Aethelthryth’s back, the frost witch, with an expression as if she had frozen on the spot, slowly uttered each word.
Not only Sigurd, who had to face that sight head-on, but also Bjorn, Ubba, and the guards behind them all stood rigidly at attention.
Of course, I was no different.
“Now, Aethelthryth, shall we go inside? I’ve lit a small fire, so it should be warm. My goodness, look how cold your hands are.”
Zing-
“Now, let’s hurry inside. I’ve prepared some light refreshments…”
“Thank you, Drottning Aslaug, Drottning Asta.”
What was it I had just been rambling on about, about my feelings toward the daughter of my enemy?
How shameful those words were.
Look at my mother’s demeanor as she faces the daughter of the man who killed her husband.
There was not a shred of wavering, only resolve.
‘You still have a long way to go, Helgi Ragnarsson.’
Is it a difference in innate caliber? As I couldn’t help but give a bitter smile, I happened to turn my head at the unusually quiet atmosphere around me.
‘Is this the difference between a legitimate son and a stepson?’
I, at least, had some resistance to the enraged dragon’s petrification attack, but my half-brothers were all completely subdued.
I had no choice but to clap my hands loudly to wake them up.
But why had the guards frozen up along with them?
[Clap-!]
“..Uh, uh-”
“…Mother doesn’t seem to age.”
Ignoring Bjorn’s filial-son-from-hell comment, I grabbed the shoulders of Sigurd and Ubba, who looked like they were about to drool from their blankly open mouths, and pulled them along.
“Now, now, let’s go inside-”
“Wait…! Helgi, I heard you’re building a new house. Show that to me too…!”
“Let’s go see that tomorrow. Halfdan and his wife-to-be are waiting too. Now, I said let’s go inside. Ah- why are you resisting so much?”
“I suddenly have urgent business-! Let go of me! Ugh, I said let go! You monster…! I can’t go in right now…!”
“… Sigurd, if you talk like that, don’t you think I’d want to drag you in even more?”
“… My Konungr Helgi, whom I respect and admire with all my heart-!”
“Too late.”
“Please, no!”
“Yes.”
Lifting the belatedly struggling Sigurd with one hand, I proudly crossed the threshold of the longhouse.
The news that Ivarr, who had been in Dublin, had also arrived at ‘Helgi’s Proof’ in Uppsala came at a time during the warm family dinner gathering when Sigurd alone was petrified under the dragon’s gaze.
Smack-! Craaack-! Aaargh!
Waaaah-!
Of course, regarding the unidentified sounds that echoed through the night, no one dared to speak a word.
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