Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Smiling While Hiding a Dagger (3)
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At those words, Cain looked at him again.
"Abel Ovest Kindriel?"
The only son of Diego Kindriel, called the empire's strongest.
He had long known the name. He was just slightly surprised by the completely unexpected appearance.
"Indeed, so it is."
Carlo slowly nodded.
"When I first saw you, I thought you were Diego. You look just like your father in his younger days."
"I hear that a lot."
"But your eyes are different. They must take after your mother, I suppose?"
Carlo's red eyes darkened like dried bloodstains. Cain failed to notice the unfamiliar glint that surfaced there.
"You're right. You seem to know a great deal about me."
Abel said with a smiling face.
"Lord Carlo Sud Ardante."
He extended his hand toward Carlo.
"I've heard all about you."
Carlo couldn't hide his expression of having been caught off guard. He hadn't expected the other to request a handshake so boldly and first.
Staring blankly at the firm hand directed toward him for a moment,
". . . Pleased to meet you."
Carlo extended his hand and grasped Abel's. He couldn't afford to back down here.
". . . ."
Abel's eyes curved round.
In that instant, Carlo felt a strange sensation. It was as if Abel were saying, "You're that Carlo?"
It was utterly different from the attitudes of those who had stood before him until now.
As if he had known him for a very long time, and knew him all too well.
It felt like being "seen through."
"Pleased to meet you as well."
Finally, Abel pulled his hand away and smoothly turned his body.
"And this is?"
Cain's appearance clearly marked him as Carlo's son, to anyone who saw.
Yet Abel shamelessly demanded an introduction. While gazing steadily at Cain.
Abel's blue-violet eyes met Cain's crimson ones.
". . . What is this?"
In that moment, like Carlo, Cain felt a strange sensation. But it was slightly different from what Carlo had felt.
An inexplicable pressure. The feeling of a massive, unknown misfortune approaching him one step at a time.
"Why?"
The Abel before him showed no overt hostility. He merely cast a gaze of profound inscrutability.
"Is it just my imagination?"
While Cain tilted his head, Carlo let out a hollow chuckle and opened his mouth.
"This is my—"
"Cain Sud Ardante, I hear."
It was Cain who stepped forward first. He extended his hand toward Abel.
"My first impression isn't great."
Separate from his personal feelings, Cain knew well the etiquette to observe in official settings.
"Pleased to meet you."
A bright smile, the same as always, spread across Cain's smooth features. The smile that always won favor from others.
"Aha."
Abel showed no surprise at Cain's sudden intervention. He calmly extended his hand and grasped Cain's.
"Pleased to meet you."
The moment Abel's hand touched his, Cain instinctively knew.
"He wields a sword."
A slight competitive spirit arose. It was a natural feeling for a swordsman, given he was the son of the one called the empire's greatest swordsman.
But that lasted only a moment.
". . . ."
A faint crack appeared in Cain's smile.
Because the callused, firm palm pressed against his hand with an grip strength that could not be ignored.
". . . This bastard?"
Forgetting he had already cursed once, Cain poured strength into his hand to not yield.
Most noble heirs bowed and yielded the moment they met him. That was how formidable the power of Sud Territory and the influence of the Ardante family were.
"What the hell?"
This Abel was different from the other heirs. Even knowing who he was, he showed no regard and treated him roughly.
Moreover, he was now blatantly challenging him to a contest of strength. He couldn't back down here.
". . . ."
Cain gritted his teeth without showing it.
"This bastard for real . . . ."
His face was calm, but inwardly he was squeezing out every ounce of strength since infancy. His hand had already turned white.
"What kind of monstrous strength is this?"
Those who acted like this fell into two categories. Either they were too foolish to understand the logic of power, or . . . .
"They had something to rely on."
It was too soon to tell which. And based on Cain's current information, the former seemed far more likely.
"Haha, you youngsters."
Carlo's hearty laughter broke Cain's train of thought.
"Enough with the show of strength. As expected of vigorous young men in their prime."
At those words, Cain and Abel released their hands.
Cain hid his hand behind his back and shot Abel a glare. Abel smirked obnoxiously with a perfectly composed face.
"That bastard!"
He truly couldn't see anything good in him no matter how hard he tried. In just a few minutes, Cain had fully concluded his assessment of Abel.
"An obnoxious bastard."
Regardless of their feelings, Carlo asked with an intrigued expression.
"So, is your father running late? He'll be here soon, I assume?"
He had been glancing toward the entrance of the grand hall from earlier.
"He must have finally lifted that heavy rear of his for once."
Sending his son first like this was clearly a declaration that he himself would arrive.
However.
"No, he won't be coming."
"Then . . . ?"
Disappointment and suspicion clouded Carlo's face. Abel gazed at him leisurely and replied.
"I am the representative of Ovest Territory this time."
A brief silence flowed between the three. Because the two men had frozen at Abel's single statement.
Breaking the silence soon after was
"The territory's representative?"
Carlo, barely concealing his bewilderment.
"Your father sent you? Why?"
"Is there a problem?"
At Abel's utterly nonchalant response, Carlo's lips twitched secretly.
"This thunderbolt bastard . . . . You think I don't know your reputation?"
He had already used the Mare Guild to gather information on the heirs of each territory.
Thus, he knew how infamous Abel was in Ovest Territory and what misdeeds he committed there.
He also knew that Diego would come himself rather than send such an Abel.
". . . ."
Cain felt suspicion as well.
Though not as detailed as Carlo's, he knew the general rumors about Abel.
Who the next heirs of each territory would be was a hot topic. Most eldest sons had only recently come of age.
But.
"This guy . . . wasn't even mentioned."
Ovest Territory wasn't a place that drew much attention in the empire. Naturally, neither did Abel.
Moreover, he stayed holed up in his territory without ever showing his face. There were ominous rumors, but he didn't know the details.
"A scythe whelp born from a tiger."
That was the public evaluation of Abel Kindriel.
"No, I just meant it's a rather difficult seat for a young man like you."
Carlo spoke in a gentle tone. It was advice disguised as explanation.
"That's why experienced and seasoned lords from each territory attend, isn't it?"
"Who doesn't know that?"
Abel smiled radiantly, as if utterly unaffected. His hand moved toward the inside of his coat.
"So Father sent me."
What he pulled out was the seal of the Ovest lord. Engraved with the wolf, symbol of the Kindriel family.
"Because he knows how important this conference is."
". . . Your father really sent you? He acknowledges you?"
"Who knows."
Abel's long fingers toyed with the seal.
"Doesn't this itself signify the lord's acknowledgment?"
". . . ."
"So I have every qualification to be here."
Abel added, tilting his head slightly.
"Unlike some."
His sly gaze landed on Cain.
"-!"
Cain flinched as if struck by an arrow.
He realized Abel was pointing out his own position, which he should soon ascend to the observer seats for.
". . . I was just about to go up anyway."
"Oh, of course you were."
Merely smiling gently, yet why did it grate so much?
Cain gazed at Abel, beginning to wonder if his current feelings were rational.
"Ahem, ahem."
Carlo inserted himself between them with a cough.
"Cain, go on up now. I'll head down as well. It seems His Majesty the Emperor will arrive soon."
". . . ."
For a moment, Cain felt a rebellious impulse he had never once sensed toward his father.
His darkly shadowed eyes turned toward Abel.
"That bastard gets to go down to the conference hall."
That one can, but I can't.
It was a sensation he had never felt once in his life until now.
". . . Let's not."
Soon, Cain shook his head inwardly.
"I'll attend later anyway."
He knew this situation was special. And that before long, he too could "boldly" attend that podium.
"Yes, Father."
Cain bowed his head in the obedient son's guise as always.
"I'll see you later."
"Yes, see you later."
He ascended the stairs toward the second-floor observer seats. Once his son's figure completely vanished, Carlo turned his gaze to Abel standing beside him.
". . . Good grief."
Abel leaned on the railing, surveying the entire conference hall.
His face rippled with interest and curiosity. No trace of tension or anxiety could be seen.
He was so relaxed and brimming with confidence.
"You're really attending for the first time today?"
The thought crossed his mind, to that extent.
Even the older, experienced lords felt tension upon attending the conference. Much less a twenty-year-old youth—he wouldn't be strange to tremble.
"Impossible to pin down."
It differed too much from the information Carlo had. Could a wastrel indulging in gambling and debauchery act like that?
"Diego Kindriel, I thought he was just a lofty wolf."
Thinking of the man who should have been here originally, he gave a wry smile.
"He has a sly, fox-like side after all."
It seemed there were gaps in the information he had gathered until now. Abel Kindriel's demeanor was far too different from the rumors he had heard.
"He was hiding a son like this."
Of course, his own son Cain was objectively outstanding. A son he could proudly present anywhere without shame or shortcoming.
But,
"There's something."
He sensed something indefinable from Abel. The experience gained from long years dealing with people as a noble warned him.
Beware the young man before you.
"I need to watch him carefully."
Having concluded his thoughts, Carlo approached Abel.
"Why are you standing there instead of going in?"
"Ah, I wanted to look around a bit. Isn't this the second largest place in the current imperial palace?"
"Yes, the largest after the banquet hall."
Abel smiled and detached himself from the railing. His subdued eyes turned toward the emperor's seat.
"It's the stage for me today, after all."