“… …Black King?”
“huh?”
“Why are you doing this, Arno?”
“Oh, no. Nothing….”
“??”
“… … .”
Arno, who was dealing with the annoying guard dogs guarding the illegal gambling den, blinked with a blank expression at Kunta’s question.
Because for a moment, a black lion seemed to appear behind the black-haired boy.
‘The Black King of the North? … According to what my grandmother said, I thought that the Black King could not be succeeded unless the heir died… Am I mistaken?’
His grandmother, Felicia, used to sit on his lap as a child and tell him countless old stories.
Among them, the old story that left an impression was none other than the mystery of Lionel, [The Black King].
It is one of the greatest mysteries that only Lionel can possess, and its power is said to be on par with that of an Auror user.
However, Arno knew that the only way to inherit the mystery was for the current successor to die or be usurped, and so he considered it to be an illusion.
Or maybe it was something special that Prince Roen had, like the swordsman he had shown the day before, Arno tried to suppress his idle thoughts while cautiously guessing.
The Black King asked, “How can there be two mysteries that should be unique at the same time?”
* * *
… … Roen, contrary to appearances, it was not because he followed his parental duty like a good knight that he reached the ‘answer’.
The process by which he arrived at the answer was close to what he had figured out thanks to the information passed on by his excellent subordinates and the ‘repetition of memories’ from the past, that is, the first time in his life.
Marquis Tristan.
When all the nobles sided with the temple and oppressed the people, a great nobleman stood on the side of the people.
You have no idea how much strength the revolutionary army gained thanks to his joining.
And it was natural that Roen, one of the leaders and representative of the revolutionary army, would become friendly with the Marquis.
After all, he was Lionel, and the Marquis was Tristan.
Because we had a long-standing relationship, we were able to communicate well and it was not strange that we ended up talking to each other often.
That’s how I found out.
– Princess Jenimia. Please, I beg you, stop seducing the women of the Revolutionary Army.
– Heh heh, you misunderstood, Your Highness. I just don’t stop women from coming, and I don’t stop women from leaving. I just live freely.
– …ha!
It was true that he was a respectable yet disrespectful adult.
Unfortunately, as Marquis Jenimia had said, he never really tried to seduce women first.
…only women approach him first.
Despite being in his fifties, he looked like he was in his early to mid-thirties, and with his androgynous appearance, he was a man who made women’s hearts flutter just by standing still.
So, unexpectedly, women often approached the Marquis first to seduce him, and this caused a headache for Roen.
What do you mean by a political fight in the revolutionary army?
– Now I know why you were called a hooligan.
– Strangely, such a misunderstanding arose.
The reason Marquis Jenimia was called a debaucher was not a nickname he had given himself.
It was a nickname given to him because of his personality of not stopping a woman from coming or leaving, as he said.
Of course, to a third party, he looked like a womanizer or a delinquent.
– Why do you live like this instead of getting married? Is it because you will become incapable of having children, as rumored?
Roen asked, even though he knew it was rude.
Is the reason he doesn’t date a single woman and lives so debaucherously, perhaps because of the rumor that he is truly impotent?
However.
– Oh, that rumor? That’s just a rumor.
– ?
– Of course, that’s just a rumor. If you give birth, you become infertile… Then how can a collateral line like Lord Veil be born? Even rumors have to be consistent, huh?
– Well, then… .
– That rumor was just a rumor spread by nobles who wanted to harm me. They spread it to the guild as well, so it became completely solidified as truth. That’s why I didn’t correct it, but I didn’t know there would be so many people who believed it, hehe.
– … … .
– And the reason I haven’t dated someone seriously or had children is not special. As the Grand Duke probably knows, when you become a knight of high rank, most women can’t withstand the aura of a knight. In other words, it means that women can’t have children because they can’t withstand my aura.
– Well, then when you were young… .
– It may sound like an excuse, but when I was young, I really didn’t have time to meet women. I was always on the battlefield with the former king, so where would I have time to meet women? Well, even after the war ended, I was busy ruling the family for a while. I’m not joking, because of the nobles, Tristan was split in half, hehe.
– … … .
– Well, it’s a shame anyway. I feel sorry for those who thought of marrying me. But I’m ready to take responsibility for any woman. Even if she couldn’t have children, if she wanted to spend a hundred years with me, I would have done so without hesitation… But any woman would leave as soon as she found out she couldn’t have an heir. In the end, it’s not that they wanted me or loved me, but they wanted to become the true mistress of the Marquis, hehe.
– … … .
Roen listened to his story and nodded, but couldn’t bring himself to accept it.
Should I say that it’s sad, but at the same time, it’s not sad?
– So don’t be like me. Get married and have children while you’re young.
– … Ha, don’t worry. The Grand Duke’s bloodline is already abundant.
– I didn’t mean it like that… . Oh, but I can give you one piece of advice. If you’re going to get married, make sure the other person doesn’t cheat on you.
– What does that mean?
– There was once a girl I almost got married to, but she was deceiving me along with my family! If only I had been deceived, it wouldn’t have mattered, but she was a despicable child who insulted Tristan itself!!
– What did you do… .
– I won’t mention that. That girl already paid the price for what I did when I was on the verge of death. … Phew, I shouldn’t insult that girl any longer.
– … ?
– Anyway, if you’re going to get married, do it with someone you truly love. That’s the path to happiness.
– … If someone else had given me that advice, I would have agreed with it, but when it was Princess Jenimia who gave me that advice, it didn’t resonate with me at all.
– What the heck? Look at this cheeky little brat, haha!
… … Not long after this conversation, Marquis Jenimia ‘died in battle.’
He was the one who single-handedly held off the sudden invasion of a large army of monsters and evacuated the revolutionary army, and he died after holding out alone for four days.
Not long after that, he met a woman who took over as the new leader of the mercenaries and filled the vacant position of the Marquis, but at the time, Roen was in a difficult mental state.
Because even though there were many rumors, he was clearly a trustworthy elder.
… So when Roen first heard about the relationship between Levi Fault and the Marquis, she doubted her ears, and as soon as she realized that Levi Fault was her former colleague, the ‘Mercenary Queen’, she felt as if the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place.
Link.
I realized that everything was connected.
And when Jack learned from the information he had gathered that ‘five years ago’ the Fault family had only one daughter, his mind began to spin a story like a playwright.
A girl who was sold to become a marquis, hiding everything about herself through the imprint of obedience.
But the Marquis would never be incompetent, and he would have known the girl’s personal information and Reynolds Fault’s sinister nature.
It is okay to kill Reynold Fault, but killing him openly is not the way of a noble.
Perhaps, slowly… . he would have corrupted and killed them, drying their blood.
But on the contrary, what happened to the girl?
This is the life of a poor girl who just obediently follows orders without even knowing that her identity has been revealed.
‘… … It must have been hell.’
Anxiety and fear that one’s identity might be revealed at any moment, but in the reality that one cannot disobey orders.
Bam!
Roen gritted his teeth.
But without even knowing Roen’s anger.
“Hey, don’t make me laugh! What on earth did I do so wrong! Even if I broke the law, I’m a noble! I’m a noble! What’s wrong with selling a mere slave girl!!!”
The disgusting man screamed.
As if he had done something so wrong.
Not knowing that my words were only making him even angrier.
like that.
“Did you ask me to tell you my sins-?”
Roen decided to personally inform the bastard of his crimes.
“… You have committed four sins. One is the crime of breaking the law and daring to buy a slave, making a mockery of a person’s life!”
Crunch!!
“Kuaaaah!!”
My arm is broken.
The bones were trampled to dust, and even divine power could not restore them.
“The second is the sin of daring to toy with a girl’s life without feeling any guilt, and then gambling again with the girl as the stake!”
Snip!
“…!!!?”
His tongue was cut out.
From now on, Reynolds will never be able to speak with that dirty mouth again.
“The third is the crime of daring to deceive the Marquis, and further, the noble nobles who are loyal to this country!”
Crunch!
… Raynor couldn’t even scream anymore.
With two ankles missing, he will never be able to stand on his own two feet again.
So, Raynor could not bear the pain that was engulfing his entire body and fainted.
“And the fourth… . I dared to lie! Did you say you wanted to become a knight? You said you dreamed of rising from a knightly family! But how can someone like you have such clean hands-!!”
[Crrrrr!]
Reynolds’ hands were beautiful.
Hands that have never been cleaned in their entire lives, as if they were just playing cards.
A person who wants to become a knight cannot do something like that.
How can we say that those hands, which don’t even have calluses, are the hands of someone who works hard?
at last.
“Your life and words are nothing but lies. There is no truth in them!”
Deceiving others.
Playing around.
A person who is like a leech or parasite who only thinks about living comfortably.
If you know your place and do not harm others, you should live wanting more than you have.
“… I want to kill you, but I won’t. That would be too merciful, and I’m not qualified to judge you.”
So.
“Let’s just end it here.”
Phew!
“Eeeeeep!!”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Reynolds’ body, which was on the verge of fainting, writhed in agony, writhing like crazy.
He was thrown into the fire and his whole body was burned.
The agony of fire that won’t even allow you to faint!
“!!?…!!!”
Reynolds struggled with his mind wide awake, his body not even allowing him to escape, but Roen was determined to leave him in the fire until he was absolutely certain he would not die.
That makes sense.
“Feel the pain of my comrades who have been writhing in the fire because of you.”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
What goes around comes around.
He’s just now paying the price for his crimes.
“Zan, I can finally send you off….”
It may seem like he’s gone back too far, but Roen is finally meeting his old colleague.
─I looked up at the sky, realizing that I was mourning a comrade I would never see again.
With guilt over mourning being so late.
Hurrruk!
