Side Story: Prince Edgar's Sin

Later that morning, after seeing Lina and Skayla off at the Kingdom’s Great Gate, Leonora joined several members of the disbanded Order of Scarlet as they continued their usual patrol through the Slum District.

During the patrol, Leonora spotted a familiar round, blond man in the distance. His golden mantle stood out against the eerie, dark surroundings.

“Fancy seeing you here, Edgar,” Leonora said with a smug grin.

Edgar immediately ran in the opposite direction, but his pace began to slow after only a few minutes.

“Why are you slowing down?” Leonora teased as her little brother gasped for breath.

“H-H-How are you able to keep up with me?” Edgar asked, panting heavily. “More importantly... what is that smell?”

The stench of rotting food hung in the damp morning air.

Leonora sighed. “Ahh... looks like people are starting to dump their trash in the streets again.”

Leonora scanned the area before spotting a large pile of garbage in the distance. She pointed it out to the knights, who rushed over and began cleaning it without hesitation.

“This is what happens when you don’t patrol down here regularly,” Leonora told Edgar. “People become lazy and start dumping garbage wherever they can, especially those bastards from the Noble Faction.”

“I see... I guess that’s something positive that came from Lina’s presence,” Edgar muttered, still frustrated with himself.

“Hmm... I haven’t seen you make that kind of face in a long time,” Leonora said with a chuckle. “The last time must have been when Lina beat you to a pulp during one of your childhood sword matches.”

“What?” Edgar asked, noticing Leonora’s strange smile.

“Nothing~” Leonora said with a grin. “I never thought I’d see the day you would patrol down here—especially alone. Where is everyone?”

“My Order refused to come with me,” he revealed. “They said this punishment was given because of a mess I created, so I should be the only one completing it. Those bastards went right back to drinking and playing cards while laughing at me... their CAPTAIN!”

“What do you expect from knights belonging to the high nobility?” Leonora sighed. “Most of them only joined the service to fulfill their required five years. Once that’s over, they’re gone. They certainly aren’t going to risk their lives for commoners. That’s why they joined your Order.”

“My Order?” Edgar questioned. 

Leonora sighed.

“Yeah, the Order of the Golden Pig. That’s what the high nobility calls your Order. Out of the five—sorry, four—Orders that currently exist, yours is the most laid-back. Everyone knows it wasn’t created to protect the people. It’s practically a vacation home for nobles who want to fulfill their required service without doing any real work.”

Edgar stared silently at the ground.

He finally realized that while he had proudly called himself a Captain all these years, everyone else had known the truth about his Order. They had allowed him to keep pretending while laughing behind his back.

Edgar tore off his golden mantle and threw it onto the ground. He stomped on it until it became filthy.

“Torch!” he shouted, setting the mantle ablaze as Leonora watched with amusement.

“Careful. Don’t go burning any more buildings down,” Leonora joked.

“Don’t worry. I won’t make another stupid mistake like that,” Edgar replied.

“Create Water!” he chanted, extinguishing the flames.

Leonora knew she needed to calm Edgar down before he did something reckless, such as picking a fight with his own knights. While considering what she could say, she remembered receiving a Royal Lecture of her own.

“It looks like that famous ‘Royal Lecture’ hit you harder than I expected,” Leonora said. “I received one myself when I was twenty-two, shortly after founding my Order.”

Edgar stared at his seemingly perfect older sister in disbelief.

Leonora explained that her Order had been sent to subdue an S-Rank Direwolf. Before they entered the forest, a sixteen-year-old commoner knight warned her that a sudden storm was approaching. The noble knights mocked him, and rather than stopping them, Leonora arrogantly dismissed his warning and joined in.

The storm arrived while they were beneath a cliff. Heavy rain ruined their footing and visibility, allowing the Direwolf to ambush them. By the time Lina and the Order of Scarlet arrived, dozens of Leonora’s knights had been injured, three had been killed, and the young knight who warned her had lost his left leg.

After Lina subdued the Direwolf and learned what had happened, she beat Leonora in front of both Orders. Then she raised her bloodied fist and addressed every knight still conscious.

“On the battlefield, every knight bleeds the same color. It doesn’t matter whether you were born into royalty, nobility, or among the commoners. Monsters and bandits don’t care about your titles when they’re taking your life—or the lives of the people you’re supposed to protect.”

No one dared report Lina’s assault. Leonora attempted to blame her swollen face on the Direwolf, but Queen Seraphine immediately uncovered the truth. Her mother delivered a Royal Lecture before ordering her to apologize personally to the dead knights’ families and the young man whose future her arrogance had destroyed.

“And I’m still paying restitution to all of them,” Leonora added.

Edgar fell silent. For the first time, he understood that the Royal Lecture had not merely been intended to punish him. His parents had been trying to force him onto the right path, just as they had once done for Leonora.

Leonora saw determination beginning to replace the anger on her brother’s face. Naturally, she decided this was the perfect moment to torment him about Lina.

“Ahhh... it’s such a shame that you lost your chance to confess your love for Lina,” Leonora teased.

Edgar’s face began to turn red.

“If only you’d acted like a proper adult instead of a little boy who teases, harasses, and shows off to the girl he likes,” she said with a wink.

“L-L-L-Love?!” Edgar stammered. “I-I-I-I d-d-don’t l-love Lina!”

Edgar’s face turned even redder as he began to sweat profusely. 

“You don’t have to hide it,” Leonora said. “Everyone in the Royal Family knows. Even the maids and Skayla know that you’ve had a crush on Lina since we were children.”

“R-R-Really?” Edgar stuttered.

“You were always trying to show off your strength to her when we were children,” Leonora said with a laugh, remembering how easily Lina had overpowered Edgar when they were ten. “Unfortunately for you, she eventually became much stronger.”

Leonora poked his round stomach.

“Then you tried showing off your wealth and status as a prince, hoping they would impress her as easily as they impressed those snobby women you constantly surround yourself with.”

Edgar lowered his head in embarrassment.

“When that failed, you started acting like a child again—picking on her, harassing her, and doing anything you could to get a little attention from her, just like when you were children,” Leonora said with a laugh.

“W-W-What does L-L-Lina look for in a man?” Edgar asked hesitantly.

“I can’t tell you that,” Leonora said with a smile. “That is something you need to discover on your own.”

Edgar looked disappointed. 

“But I can give you one piece of advice,” Leonora continued. “The man you are right now will never catch Lina’s eye.”

“What does that mean?” Edgar asked. 

Before Leonora could answer, a familiar scent of herbs and ash drifted through the morning air.

Edgar and Leonora found themselves standing before the charred remains of the apothecary. Only a few blackened wooden beams remained standing among the rubble.

Each gentle breeze stirred the lingering scent of burned herbs.

Edgar slowly stepped through the place where the entrance had once stood.

JINGLE!

He looked down and spotted a small, tarnished bell partially buried beside his right foot.

“I really did all this,” Edgar whispered before falling to his knees. “What should I do?”

“It isn’t my place to tell you what you should do. What matters is what you can do to make things right,” Leonora advised. “Lina and Skayla are gone and may never return. That means you are now responsible for the well-being of everyone in the Slum District.”

Edgar remained silent while he continued to stare at the charred rubble. 

Leonora stepped away, understanding that Edgar needed to choose his own path forward.

For several minutes, Edgar remained kneeling among the rubble before finding the courage to stand.

At that moment, a harsh breeze swept through the ruins, sending ash and scraps of paper swirling through the air. One struck Edgar directly in the face.

Edgar pulled the burned page from his face and burst into laughter when he read its title.

It was the cover page of a handwritten children’s book titled How to Become an Apothecary 101, which Asclepius had made for Skayla’s tenth birthday.

“I finally know what I need to do,” Edgar said with a smile.

He carefully folded the burned page and tucked it into his chest pocket.

Edgar stepped out of the ruined apothecary and continued down the street as a plan began forming in his mind.