Side Story:
King Laurence — I Would Choose You Over the World
IN EXCHANGE FOR THE POWER they wield, a king must know restraint.
I was fine with that.
So long as I had you by my side.
I would have given up everything for you in a heartbeat, Colette.
You were all I ever needed.
This is a story from before I became a jester, back when I was still called Laurence.
“Master Laureeeence! I’ve brought some refreshments! It’s a meat soup, so I figured a manly man would like it!”
“Thank you, Colette. I think I’ll have it right away. …That’s quite an aroma. Is this really a soup? It looks like a mountain of meat.”
“That’s because it is a mountain of meat! The meat sucked up all the soup, leaving nothing behind!”
“I see. This meat is quite a novel color as well. Green meat, purple meat…just what kind of meat is this?”
“It’s the basilisk and hell viper the knights hunted.”
“Ah. So lizard and snake. Meat is meat, but I think I’d rather eat meat from ordinary animals. Oh, sorry. It’s rude of me to complain when you went through the effort of making this for me. I was just a bit intimidated by the toxic-looking color… Did you know hell viper are venomous? Perhaps it’d be wise to prepare some stomach medicine before I partake.”
Upon eating the soup, I was bedridden for two full days, but as a result I developed a decent resistance to poison.
“Well done, Colette. We royalty are always at risk of being poisoned. It was very forward-thinking of you to help me build up some resistance. Look at me, I’m fine. To tell the truth, I thought you might have forgotten to remove the poison from the hell viper meat, so I made sure not to eat a lethal amount. …C’mon, I said I’m fine.”
I reassured her over and over, but her tears kept flowing as she cried at my bedside. Small cuts covered her fingers. She’d worn gloves two days ago when she brought me the “soup,” so I hadn’t noticed then, but preparing that meal must have taken a heavy toll on her.
“Ha ha, oh Colette. Work with the chefs next time, okay? They’ll step in if it looks like you’re adding anything harmful.” More importantly, the chefs would keep her from cutting up her hands.
Apparently Lloyd had scolded her over all this. Afterward, she felt so guilty she stayed by my side for two days without eating.
“I think it’s better if I don’t cook at all anymore, Master Laurence…”
I grabbed her hands, which had grown thinner over the past two days, and looked into her eyes. “Colette, your food is the only thing I genuinely find myself wanting to eat. I may have gotten sick from your last meal, but I still thought the meat was delicious. Please don’t take this joy from me.”
She lifted her teary face to meet my gaze. I smiled and patted her head as affection welled up in me. She was the only one I adored like this.
Colette Alcott was my childhood friend Lloyd’s younger sister, so I’d known her since birth. I used to sneak out of the royal castle and go to the Alcott manor back then. Every time I heard her infant cries, I’d rush to her room. She would always stop crying the instant she saw me, even though her wet nurse could never manage to settle her down. Then she’d reach for me with a smile, a smile that contained none of the scheming or ulterior motives I’d become accustomed to in the royal castle. She would follow me everywhere, calling my name with a lisp and smelling oh-so sweet. She never hid how she felt, her affection on display for all to see. And so she became the one person in the world I believed would never betray me.
When she turned ten, we learned she was a saint. They hadn’t discovered her power or examined her at three, as was customary, so she probably wasn’t a particularly powerful saint, but that didn’t matter. She was a saint, and that changed everything.
Royal family members could not marry just anybody—their partners had to be saints. In fact, being a saint was the only restriction.
“Master Laureeence! Are you hurt anywhere? Huh? Why am I asking? Because I’m a saint, of course! I’ll be able to heal you now!”
She was probably the only person who would ever reveal they were a saint so nonchalantly. Although people worshipped saints, Colette simply wanted to help me. One could search the whole world and not find another saint like her.
I took her hands and knelt on the ground. “Lady Colette Alcott, will you be my queen?”
“Huh?” Her eyes went wide, but then she exclaimed, “Yes! I’ll do it! Let me do it! I’ll definitely make you happy!”
Her enthusiasm amused me. “Heh, shouldn’t that be my line? But yes, I’m sure you would. Just having you promise to be by my side is all I need to be happy for the rest of time. I’ll definitely make you happy as well, Colette. I can be brave for your sake. I swear to always do my best to give you happiness.”
From down on one knee, I watched her smile bloom. A breeze kicked up, sending the colorful flowers of the duke’s garden whirling around her as though they too sought to celebrate this occasion.
I will probably never forget that moment for as long as I live. The emotions that flooded through me remain vivid even now, just as vibrant as they were that day. I knew I could only find happiness at her side.
“Colette, I swear I will make you happy.”
I repeated that promise once more, then stood up and embraced her.
My love only grew over the next six years, but eventually Colette fell into a deep sleep, and our dazzling, laughter-filled days came to an end.
Faced with a choice, I immediately chose Colette. If it was her or the world, I would choose her every time. I did not care about becoming king. I spent my days thinking of nothing but waking her. My only thing I regret is the burden I placed on Saviz, but he did not run from it.
“I will look after the kingdom in your stead, Brother,” he said. My little brother was the embodiment of nobility, but I pitied him regardless. He never learned of love, nor of the joy that came from being chosen by another. He showed no interest in such things, but someone who cared so much for his knights and his kingdom clearly harbored abundant affection in his heart. To sit on the throne brought great solitude; he would not manage it alone forever.
“I pray someone appears before you who is what Colette was to me.”
Saviz shrugged at my heartfelt words. “I doubt that’ll be an issue. The church will pick a suitable saint for me to wed.”
“No! I’m not talking about someone you can wed but a partner you can entrust your heart to!”
“I have no need for such a person,” he said.
I couldn’t find the words to argue further, so I fell silent. As royalty, Saviz could only ever marry a saint, but I doubted he would open his heart to anyone. However, I had no right to tell him to feel otherwise, as I had abandoned my duties and forced the throne on him.
“…I’ll be praying for your future happiness.”
I wanted him to be happy despite the burdens he bore.
Ten years passed. Our search for a way to awaken Colette proved fruitless until the day a peculiar female knight appeared. Our meeting with her changed our fates, and though Colette remained at the forefront of my mind, part of me prayed someone would come along to change Saviz’s fate as well.
Please, let Saviz find someone he can entrust with his heart.
I prayed fervently for my brother, so he would not have to endure the solitude of the throne.