Hero of the Dark Ending (3)
Tick. Tock.
The sound of the clock filled the study.
In the heavy silence, Count Lowell regarded the man seated neatly before him.
The sheer presence of the visitor filled the spacious office.
Ares Everhart, head of House Everhart, fixed Count Lowell with a merciless stare.
“Coming unannounced like this… you startled me.”
“You already knew, yet you still pretend otherwise.”
Count Lowell’s expression soured. Even faced with that insolent tone, Ares Everhart did not rise to anger. He simply continued to stare the count down in silence.
“What do you mean, I already knew?”
“The list. You’ve already drawn it up, haven’t you?”
At those words the Duke of Everhart drew a document from a drawer and dangled it before the count’s face.
“This, you mean.”
“……As I thought.”
Even though Ares Everhart offered the papers with easy confidence, the count did not dare reach for them.
“You won’t check? Lowell’s name might be on it.”
“I am not so far gone as to examine a list compiled by His Majesty’s own command.”
“Your mind still turns sharply, I see.”
The list in the duke’s hand bore the names of nobles. Its purpose was purge.
The emperor, whose remaining days were few, had decided to use his sharpest blade—Everhart—to transfer power cleanly to the next generation. With the central nobles’ arrogance now piercing the heavens, the moment was perfect to cut those high noses down and remind the empire who its true master was.
“Is Lowell the only house that sensed the coming purge?”
“It is. That is why I came so quietly.”
Count Lowell was one of the real powers of the Central Nobles’ Council—which also meant he stood closest to the edge of the purge’s blade.
“You won’t even ask me? I could tell you, if you wished.”
“There is no need.”
With a soft rustle, Count Lowell slid a contract across the desk. As the Duke of Everhart read its contents, a strange light entered his eyes.
“Mines and land… and even the family’s enterprises… You’re offering me a bribe to spare your life?”
“If you read the contract carefully, you will see this is no bribe. It is a bridal gift. A token of my request that you look after my daughter well.”
“Rather valuable for a bridal gift.”
“Everyone does it these days. House Everhart keeps its distance from high society, so you may not know.”
Count Lowell pushed his shameless face forward.
“So please—accept this token of my sincerity.”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The Duke of Everhart struck the desk with the fountain pen in his hand. The regular sound drew the count’s eyes involuntarily. Only then did the duke speak.
“Count. How long have we known each other?”
“……Since the Academy, so roughly thirty years. Why do you ask?”
“We have watched each other all this time, and still you do not know me.”
Tap.
The pen went still. Ares Everhart looked at Count Lowell with eyes of ice.
“Do you truly believe I would be swayed by the private sentiment of having once been classmates at the Academy?”
A cold chill flooded the study. Cold sweat slid down Count Lowell’s brow.
“…A misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding, is it. Very well—let us call it that.”
The duke’s pen moved across the contract. Looking down at the count, he said,
“Remember this. I am not sparing you out of old affection. I am sparing you because it benefits my house. The moment I judge you a threat, Everhart’s blade will turn on Lowell.”
“…I understand perfectly.”
Count Lowell bowed his head. The Duke of Everhart accepted the submission as though it were the natural order of things. The gulf between Lowell and Everhart was simply that vast.
“You may leave.”
Even faced with the duke’s rude dismissal, the count could only nod in silence. Not all nobles were equal, after all.
House Lowell was a respected family in its own right, yet Everhart was no ordinary noble house. They were the nobles’ nobles—the loyal sword that obeyed only the emperor’s command. A house whose head alone could decide the rise or fall of a family like Lowell.
Count Lowell could only look up at him.
“…I will take my leave.”
But Count Lowell—Benjamin Lowell—was not a man who simply swallowed humiliation. Gripping the study’s door handle, he ground his teeth.
I will not forget this.
He stepped outside vowing that he would one day bring House Everhart to ruin.
Outside the head of the family’s study, I stood waiting for the door to open…
Ziii—
The butler’s burdensome gaze showed no sign of ending.
“Stop staring.”
I finally spoke up, unable to endure it any longer.
“My apologies. Young Master’s growth simply fills me with such joy. Forgive me just this once.”
Breaking the butler’s stubbornness while he dabbed at moist eyes with a handkerchief was no easy task. Yet it did not last long. Moments later the study door I had been waiting for swung open and a man burst out.
I knew him.
Benjamin Lowell.
Head of House Lowell. Father of my fiancée, Olivia Lowell.
Thump.
With an irritated face he slammed his shoulder into mine as he passed.
“As expected—insolent. How dare someone of Lowell’s station treat the Young Master so….”
“Quiet. I will handle it myself. Withdraw.”
“Yes. I shall wait by the door. Please speak with the head of the family.”
The butler bowed slightly and stepped back. I walked through the open doorway.
Inside sat the head of House Everhart—Ares Everhart—watching me enter with cool eyes.
“Sirius.”
“I trust you have been well.”
“I heard you were thrown in prison.”
He regarded me steadily, as if demanding an explanation. I met that gaze without flinching and spoke as though it had been nothing.
“I broke out.”
When he looked at me as if to ask how, I continued,
“It seems there is no prison sturdy enough to hold an Everhart.”
The head of the family huffed a short laugh and nodded.
“True enough. No prison in this world can hold an Everhart.”
The atmosphere eased a fraction. I approached slowly and stood before him.
“So what brings you here?”
“Nothing of great importance.”
He never once mentioned Azehar. Knowing his nature as I did, that hardly surprised me—and I had not come to speak of that, either.
“Count Lowell paid a visit.”
I paused, blinked a few times, then dropped a remark that seemed to come from nowhere.
“Rather insolent of him, don’t you think?”
Even I did not know what exactly was insolent about it. Yet the head of the family would nod. That was Everhart sensibility.
“Indeed.”
Just as I expected, he nodded without hesitation. Had Count Lowell—who had simply come quietly, spoken, bowed, and left—been present to hear it, he would have felt deeply wronged. But he was not here. Only two Everharts occupied the room.
“Did you come all this way for something so trivial?”
“The butler seemed to hope I would take the count’s head.”
“And so you plan to swing your sword again?”
An indifferent gaze settled on me. Here I offered the words I knew he would favor.
“I do not swing my sword simply because the butler asks me to.”
As though my answer had been the correct one, the head of the family smiled with satisfaction.
“Excellent.”
Then, as if testing me further, he asked,
“Then what do you intend to do? How will you punish that insolent Lowell?”
“Nothing.”
He stroked his chin and questioned me.
“Reason?”
“I know there is no need to move first and recklessly.”
I indicated with a glance the file of documents resting on the desk.
“Lowell is on that list as well, is he not?”
At my words the head of the family tapped his fountain pen against the desk and asked,
“…Did the butler tell you?”
I did not bother answering. His own misunderstanding was enough.
“Hmm… is that so. Enough to earn the butler’s recognition. Interesting.”
After muttering to himself he looked at me again and said,
“Even so, I intend to strike Lowell’s name from the list. The man is still useful.”
Tap-tap. He rapped the desk while studying the documents. I had already anticipated the words. In the original story, House Lowell survived the great purge and grew into an even greater family afterward. But that future would never arrive. I would persuade the head of the family and see Lowell purged.
Quietly regarding the papers, I spoke in a low voice.
“No. That is not so. I fail to see what use there is for a worm that crawls above its station.”
In the original work, House Lowell survived this purge and then used Olivia’s modern inventions to swell its power. With those modern cheats they grew at terrifying speed until even Everhart could no longer touch them. Therefore they had to be crushed while it was still possible.
“Associating with vermin only lowers one’s dignity.”
“To speak so freely before me… you have grown quite insolent.”
I was essentially telling him to his face that his judgment was wrong; of course he would be angry. Even so I did not flinch and continued.
“House Everhart is not so destitute that we must make use of those who do not know their place. It would be far better to erase their name from the empire while we have the chance.”
“You mean to make an example of them.”
“Yes. To solidify Everhart’s prestige.”
Yet even after my words the head of the family wore an unsettled look, as though something still troubled him. Silence settled over the room for a moment.
Tap. Tap.
After the sound of the pen against the desk faded, he looked at me and spoke.
“The decision is already made. Lowell will survive this purge.”
“…….”
I did not ask why. I already knew the reason. Looking down at him as he sat, I spoke coldly.
“Are you afraid? Afraid of earning the emperor’s hatred through indiscriminate purging?”
In that instant the head of the family’ s eyes flew wide and he glared at me. Thick killing intent flooded the study.
“Insolent.”
This was his reverse scale. He feared the emperor—and at the same time found that fear shameful.
“To dare utter such words before me.”
The purge itself had been ordered by the emperor, yet the list of noble houses was three times longer than His Majesty had desired. If the central pillar that was Lowell were purged as well, it might be seen as overstepping—and draw the emperor’s ire.
“Have you gone mad, or do you have something else to rely on?”
A sharp gaze demanded I speak at once. As if in agreement, the killing intent filling the room closed around my throat.
“Let us hear your excuse.”
It was a situation in which my head could be crushed at any moment. Even so I faced him calmly.
“No. Excuses are unnecessary.”
I offered no apology for the slip of the tongue. I simply forced him to confront cold reality.
“Look at yourself, my lord. If that is not fear, then what is it?”
I looked down coldly upon the man still radiating killing intent.
“Do not fear the emperor. Everhart is the imperial sword—not a dog raised for their pleasure. Even if we are the blade they wield, we are not beasts who watch their faces for favor.”
The words I spoke were orthodoxy—the family precept every Everhart was meant to know and take pride in.
“When one swings a sharp sword, one must be careful and deliberate. All the more so when one knows how much it can cut.”
The killing intent that had filled the room began to recede. Surprise slowly filled the head of the family’s eyes.
“That is why Everhart must show them. How sharp our edge truly is—so sharp that even the master of the sword hesitates to draw it.”
To the man staring blankly at me, I spoke one final time.
“Are you still afraid?”
The reflection of me in his eyes was chillingly cold and merciless. It was the perfect embodiment of Everhart—the ideal the family had longed for and envisioned across long years.
“Hah.”
The head of the family let out a small laugh and covered his eyes with one hand. Silence returned. Yet unlike before, the wait was not long.
“Have you eaten?”
He rose from his seat.
“It is dinnertime. Come with me.”
He gave me no explicit answer. Even so I knew my persuasion had succeeded. An unmistakable smile of relief had spread across the head of the family’s face.