novelraw Chapter 119 : Chapter 119
Chapter 119 : Chapter 119
Chapter 119
Viscount Haitry, wearing an anxious face, repeatedly looked around and bit his nails.
‘Hoo…….’
Every time he saw the brilliant chandelier and the magnificent statue, he felt like his heart was shrinking.
‘Thin and long.’
The Viscount's wish, having made this proud family motto his life's goal, was simple.
To not leave his small and precious domain until he died.
— Father and Grandfather were like that, too.
That all problems start from greed, and if you just discard greed, you can obtain happiness.
The Viscount engraved that teaching deep into his bones.
Because every time he saw the young lords and ladies who occasionally came to the domain, they were full of complaints.
Even the children of families incomparably wealthier than the Viscount's fell into a swamp of unhappiness the moment they set foot in high society and politics.
Whenever he heard such news, the young Viscount would clench his two fists and make a vow.
— I will never, ever, leave the domain.
The Viscount's resolve had never wavered until now.
That is, until he received the ridiculous letter stating, ‘The Second Prince and the House of Moner are preparing a treason.’
‘Huu…….’
A crystal chandelier was reflected in his eyes as he took a deep breath to shake off even a little of the anxiety.
A beautiful luxury item unimaginable in the Viscount’s household, where belts were always tightened.
As if to reveal that it was the wealthiest family among the three Count families of the North, such luxury goods were scattered with every step in Obsol.
‘How did I end up here…….’
“My Lord.”
Startled by the sharp voice coming from his side, he carefully lowered the hand he had been chewing on.
“Uh, huh……?”
“You don't need to be nervous. There are many other nobles over there.”
The Viscount, who had momentarily glanced down below the chandelier, quickly turned his gaze upward.
“…My Lord?”
“…….”
“Do you like the chandelier that much?”
“No!”
“Then why are you looking at the chandelier so…….”
Since entering the banquet hall, his eyes stung, and the back of his neck felt stiff from looking at the chandelier.
But he had no choice.
“Sara said so…….”
Because Sara, the wisest and kindest person in the domain, had spoken firmly.
“That if I kept looking at the floor, I’d run away from the domain or whatever…….”
Sara looked at the Viscount with a coldly cooled expression.
She had only said a word because he had been walking around with his waist half-bent since entering the Count's estate.
“I didn't mean for you to look at the ceiling.”
“But…….”
At the sight of the Viscount still looking ridiculously at the ceiling, Sara clenched her small fist and spoke.
“Now, my Lord. Look at me.”
“Uh, okay.”
Seeing his pupils trembling as if an earthquake had occurred, Sara swallowed a chuckle even as she was about to get angry.
Viscount Haitry was by no means an incompetent person. If anything, he was closer to the side overflowing with talent.
Over the past five years, he had been outstanding enough to grow his domain more than twofold while implementing benevolent rule for the people of the domain.
If there were very minor flaws, it was that he shrank like a scared turtle the moment he left the domain, and his ears were thin.
“Viscount, don't your eyes hurt if you only look at the ceiling?”
“N-No, it's fine. The other nobles are flashier than the chandelier.”
At the stupid remark, she momentarily clenched her two fists and quickly repeated to herself.
‘…It’s trivial, trivial. He’s our Lord, after all.’
It was practically her fault that they ended up here in the first place. Giving up troops at the Second Prince's demand was her choice.
If she had adamantly opposed it, the Viscount wouldn't have given the troops, even if it meant making an enemy of a royal descendant.
‘Then that madman would still be in the domain.’
* * *
Sara recalled that day.
The day the Prince visited the domain and the Viscount came looking for her with his thin ears flapping.
— Sara! Sara! It's a disaster!
The moment she heard that voice, she realized.
That someone had scammed the Viscount again.
— No.
Even while saying that, Sara narrowed her brow.
Because the only guest in the Lord's Castle that day was the Prince.
— Sara! Just listen to me this once, I'm telling you it's a huge deal!
Seeing his agitated face, anxiety wriggled within her.
The Viscount knows he is easily deceived, and he trusts Sara more than his own thoughts.
To the extent that he fired the head maid who took bribes and the butler who tried to manipulate the domain at will after the previous Lord's passing, trusting her words like iron.
It was the first time the Viscount had become so heated about something she opposed.
— The Prince came, and well, what he said was…….
To protect the people of the domain.
That the forces of the domain alone could never stop a monster that creates the sound of metal and fire of sulfur just by breathing, and takes women to breed offspring.
‘He believes that……?’
She checked the document in her hand.
[Plan for Subjugation of Orcs in the Southeastern Domain]
There was no way the Viscount wouldn't know about the Orcs that were also in the domain.
The Viscount was gullible, not stupid.
‘The Prince said that?’
If it was the word of royalty, and a Prince at that, he would have had no choice but to believe it.
Because if it were revealed that royalty had committed fraud, the honor of the Royal Family would be shaken.
Above all, there is no reason for royalty to lie to a mere Viscount.
‘Is it really true?’
Even if that ridiculous monster was targeting Moner, the Second Prince's attitude was incomprehensible.
If the Royal Family was in a situation where they couldn't move troops due to checking the Empire, he could have just brought an order stamped with the King's seal.
‘He doesn’t even need a written order.’
Because there was no way the Viscount Haitry family, with no connections to the outside, could refuse the Prince's demand.
‘And yet, wishing for the Viscount to give up troops directly means...’
At first, she thought it was the Prince's prank.
If rumors spread that he believed Orcs were such monsters, he would become the laughingstock of the surroundings.
The problem was that the target was Viscount Haitry.
‘My Lord doesn’t even go outside the castle often?’
Even if one wanted to tease him, they couldn't.
Even if he became a laughingstock, the Viscount was a human who wouldn't budge.
To feel shame, one needs the pride and self-esteem of a noble, but the Viscount had neither.
His pride lay in ‘I am the best in the domain,’ and his self-esteem lay in ‘I made the people of the domain happy.’
‘Then what is it? Is the Royal Family trying to pressure the Viscount's family?’
It is too complex a method to say that.
They would have rather sent a high-ranking noble of the King's faction, like a Marquess or Count.
The decision she made after pondering for a long time was simple.
‘It doesn't matter what it is.’
No matter how many times she looked at it, the picture was strange.
Then instead of fixing the picture, turning one's gaze away would suffice.
‘Let’s refuse.’
Just in case they punished the Viscount's family using that as an excuse, she went to find the Prince herself.
‘Even if by any chance I die, the Lord will never help the Prince.’
When she went to Trimia's room with a hardened face.
His door opened, and the moment their eyes met, he spoke.
“Ah, I refuse your refusal.”
The Prince, grabbing the shoulder of her who was about to kneel with a wretched feeling, smiled showing pure white teeth.
“No matter what you do, I won't move until you give me the troops.”
Sara, having read the madness in that smile and eyes, barely opened her mouth.
“For the well-being of the Kingdom, we will give you the troops.”
That was the only thing she could say.
The Prince before her eyes had never sought permission from the start.
He had merely permitted the expression of permission.
‘Madman.’
That was the day she first met Trimia.
* * *
“Uh, uh……?!”
At the Viscount's voice, she broke out of her thoughts and turned her head to follow the Viscount's gaze, seeing a noble surrounded by people.
‘Who is that?’
The old man with neatly swept-back white hair could be recognized as a high-ranking noble just by looking, but that was all.
The moment she tilted her head, the Viscount, looking at the old man, recited like a scream.
“M-Marquess?”
‘Marquess?’
Sara's eyes shone for a moment.
‘Don’t tell me the Marquess also supported troops?’
She wanted to go closer and at least eavesdrop, but as long as the Viscount was there, it was impossible.
Because the Viscount was on the verge of fainting just from seeing the Marquess.
“S-Sara, what do we do? For the M-Marquess to come all the way here…….”
“Shh.”
Sara, silencing the Viscount, pricked up her ears.
“The Marquess... even Moner... won't be able to help it…….”
It was hard to hear buried under the music and laughter, but it seemed correct that the Marquess had come to pressure Moner.
“Viscount.”
“Uh, huh?”
“Did the Marquess happen to have troops he supported to the Prince as well?”
“Um... well……?”
The Viscount's family, lacking both a Gate and a Magic Tower, had to use letters and messengers to communicate with the outside.
“I haven't received a letter yet…….”
“That's why I told you to ask other people so many times……!”
The moment Sara narrowed her eyes and glared at the Viscount, she saw a handsome man behind him reflected in her pupils.
‘Huh?’
A human being who is even more in the corner than the Viscount crouching in the corner of the banquet hall.
‘Perfect!’
Although the level of his face was different, he was qualified enough to be the Viscount's friend.
“Viscount, do you see that person back there?”
“Um……?”
“If you keep looking only at the ceiling, I will really pluck your eyes out, Haitry.”
“I see him, I see him. I see him well, Sara.”
As the Viscount answered with a hiccup, Sara smiled alluringly.
“Go to him.”
“……?”
When the Viscount silently pointed at himself with his finger, she nodded.
‘Me……?’
‘Yes, you.’
‘How can I……?’
Seeing his desperate eyes, she let out a deep sigh and soothed the Viscount.
“Here, look. That person is also swallowed by the darkness there, right? You can see at a glance that he's the same type, right? That person is also probably being misunderstood unfairly, right? And yet, you can see him grieving without being able to exchange a single word with anyone else, right? Just looking at him makes you feel frustrated to death, right? Looking at it, I'm telling you he's a brother suffering from the same illness?”
The Viscount nodded with a blank face and thought.
‘Was I that frustrating……?’
The current Sara was too different from the Sara who usually only praised him.
She had said if he looked at the floor, he’d leave the domain, and if he looked at the ceiling, she’d pluck his eyes out.
“Now, now. Go! Go and find out how much he supported, how many other noble families supported, and if the Marquess also supported. Whatever it is, find out at least one thing!”
The Viscount, pushed out as if being shoved, barely composed his mind that was about to go faint at the thought of meeting a stranger noble, and thought.
‘That person seems to hate nobles like I do…….’
Then wouldn't that person also not know about other nobles?
* * *
Ian’s corners of the mouth went up as he watched the noble being pushed over with a face that looked like he lost his country.
“He really saw me.”
I raised the 『Dark Emperor 』 to the extreme and completely erased my mana and presence.
— Human! You're busted! You're busted!
Unlike Calua, who was stomping her feet beside me, I didn't use magic, but no one had discovered me.
Only nobles could enter, and there was no one in this banquet hall capable enough to sense me hiding in the darkness.
— Human! Hide even now! Should I hide you?!
At the urgent shout of Calua, who had heard my plan, I smiled leisurely.
“It's fine. I was here thinking that maybe they could see me.”
The noble approaching sluggishly was definitely the dark wizard ‘Haitry’.
The villain who stood on the side of monsters for revenge after losing everything he loved.
‘Then that woman behind him must be…….’
The only undead that Haitry commanded, ‘Sara’.
It was definitely Sara.
“H-H-Hello.”
Laughter leaked out at the clumsy voice, completely different from the Haitry who always raised veins in his neck and shouted.
“Hi.”
Haitry's face was dyed with confusion at the sudden informal speech.
‘The viewers would have liked it if they saw this.’
“H-H-Hi…….”
What flowed out of the Viscount's mouth, who was contemplating whether to get angry or annoyed, was a shortened greeting.