Chapter 51
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 51
In her dreams, her older brother’s tongue always hung unnaturally long, stretching down to his collarbone. A sticky voice slithered along its length.
She must live.
Yes, Lara Cinebier Etarque had to live.
She could not die in a place like this.
“My Lady.”
Two maids, arriving with a new dress, shook Lara from her deep thoughts.
When they suggested she bathe before dressing, Lara shook her head.
There was nothing more unpleasant than the lingering, sticky feeling that remained even after washing. At the very least, she was in no mood to bathe right now.
“Then, excuse us.”
As the two maids bowed, Lara spread her arms.
The girl flinched slightly as they slipped off the thin garment she was wearing.
Her flawless skin, so pristine it seemed almost unreal, was laid bare. Raised like a flower in a greenhouse, the girl was undeniably beautiful.
Beads of sweat clung like dew to her perfectly curved body. Soon, the maids helped her dress. Soft, silky fabric brushed against her tender skin. Only after neatly fastening her collar did they take a few steps back.
Lara ran a hand through her golden hair and sighed.
Then, she glanced up, her gaze drifting toward the entrance of her bedchamber.
There stood a man, watching the young Lord of Hastin from a distance.
The man was observing her.
There was not a shred of lust in his eyes. His gaze upon Lara's bare skin was no different from that of someone staring at an insect on a blade of grass.
Lara, for her part, seemed to feel no shame, merely furrowing her brow slightly in response.
“My Lady, did you sleep well?”
“……”
It was a greeting that sounded like a mockery, aimed at a girl who had just clawed her way out of a nightmare.
Lara kept her mouth shut and flicked her finger. The man bowed his head and walked toward her.
He looked haggard. Dark circles stained the skin around his eyes, and his countenance was deeply unpleasant, like that of a dead man.
As he approached, the maids who had been helping Lara dress turned their heads away as if to avoid him.
The man smirked.
Lara pointed abruptly out the window, demanding he look.
“You promised salvation.”
After glancing out the window, the man replied.
“I did.”
“You said you would protect me. And you said you would protect my territory.”
“That is also true.”
“Look out that window. Is this what you call salvation?”
Lara trembled, but not from the cold; the clothes she wore were warm enough.
What made her tremble was the heavy silence that had settled over the territory.
Lara Cinebier Etarque had not originally been the heir.
Her older brother, the former Count Etarque, had a son. Everyone in the family had doted on the boy.
He was the one destined to inherit the title and the territory—the true Count Etarque.
At least, that had been the case until a month ago.
After Lara's older brother took his own life, the Imperial Family was furious. Their wrath fell upon the Etarque family, and it would not have been surprising if they had all been purged.
The family elders desperately racked their brains for a clever scheme to survive.
They decided to take advantage of the Empire's circumstances. Realizing that someone had to manage Hastin—a land no other noble wanted—they begged for a chance to be forgiven, promising they would somehow revive it.
Thus, the one who inherited the title instead of her nephew was Lara. The current Count Etarque.
A sacrificial lamb abandoned by her family.
The relatives she once considered family had already divided the assets among themselves and scattered, taking advantage of the chaos while all eyes were on her.
Her brother had been no different. By writing Lara's name in his will, he had to have known this would be her fate. Yet he still chose suicide, making him just as bad as the rest of them.
Even in this bleak situation…
Lara had to live.
She wanted to survive.
And to survive, she had to revive Hastin.
But she was incompetent and ignorant. Having never been raised as the heir, she knew nothing of governing a territory. A sheltered sixteen-year-old girl could hardly be expected to possess broad insight, let alone mature words and actions.
For such an incompetent lord, only two choices remained: be captured and beaten to death by the infuriated residents, or be brutally executed by order of the Imperial Family.
It was this dark-faced man who had extended a hand of salvation in the face of such a bleak future.
“Just how much longer must I wait? Hastin is falling. If the people starve any further, it will be impossible to salvage.”
Yet, three weeks after the man had spoken of salvation, the town had not improved in the slightest. The residents were still wasting away.
“I do not break my promises. I will put an end to all the problems the residents of Hastin are facing. You need not worry.”
The man’s tone was flat. He refused to share any concrete plans, but Lara could not bring herself to press him.
It was too late to seek other methods.
If this man left, it would truly be the end.
All the girl could do was trust him.
Lara's voice, rising a pitch higher, filled the castle.
“S-Shouldn’t we request aid from other territories? They say corpses are appearing in the streets… The stench of rot is rising all the way up here! How on earth…!”
If the territory fell, the spears of the Imperial Family would surely be pointed at her.
They would come to hold her accountable.
She bit her lip tightly. She tried to put on a brave face, but her anxiety was plain to see.
Observing her expression, the man called over a nearby maid.
“Light some incense in the Lord's bedchamber. Did you not hear her say an unpleasant odor is drifting up here?”
Then, he continued in a low voice, “Do not trouble yourself. Everything is proceeding smoothly. You, My Lady, need only live your life in comfort.”
The same answer, again.
Lara fell silent. She desperately wanted to go outside and check on the town herself, but she had not set foot outside the castle in weeks.
She was too terrified to even imagine what had become of the territory after weeks of neglect.
“Soon, all your worries will disappear,” the man said in a low, quiet tone, reading her expression.
To be sure, ever since she made a deal with him, no trouble had arisen within the castle walls.
Even though there was no food in the town, the residents of Hastin had not risen up with pitchforks, nor had they submitted any petitions. It was bizarre.
“……I suppose I don’t have to do anything today either?” Lara asked as she walked toward her chair.
The man nodded silently.
Every day was the same. The town was not functioning, yet strangely, there was no work for her to do as its lord.
—At this rate, I’m no different from domesticated livestock.
Just as the girl was about to mock herself, the butler approached, his voice unusually solemn.
“My Lady, I have a report regarding the security of the territory. There has been a monster attack near the north gate.”
“……A monster attack?” Lara’s response was filled with bewilderment.
“Yes. Approximately one hour ago, a flock of Harpies attacked a village near the north gate.”
Hearing this, Lara’s expression turned visibly uneasy. Even with her limited knowledge, she knew that Hastin was a place where monster attacks were rare.
“A flock of Harpies? Isn’t Hastin a territory where monster incursions almost never happen?”
The butler nodded in place of a reply.
“Were there any signs? Have they identified the cause? No, more importantly, what’s the current situation? Is there a force capable of stopping them? And how many mages do we have who can shoot them down?”
“Well, My Lady… about that,” the butler whispered in an even lower voice as Lara rambled on. “According to the report from the north gate guards, a knight single-handedly repelled the entire flock.”
The butler's report continued.
The details were so unbelievable that Lara unconsciously knit her brows, wondering if it was some kind of joke.
A flock of over twenty Harpies had suddenly attacked the outskirts of Hastin, near the north gate.
The creatures violently tore apart nearby houses as if searching for something. Deeming it impossible to stop them, the guards were about to circle around to request reinforcements from the castle.
Suddenly, a single knight appeared and charged into the flock.
And he struck them all down.
It was all over in less than five minutes.
“……Isn’t that far too suspicious?”
The situation practically screamed suspicion. A sudden monster incursion was strange enough, but the timely intervention of a knight who had entered the town without a sound felt far too contrived.
“……What should we do?” Lara whispered to the butler, her voice anxious. Judging by his reaction, he found it just as baffling.
“Normally, for nobles or subjugation squads who have achieved such a feat, it is proper for the Lord to personally commend their efforts and bestow an appropriate reward.”
“Then I suppose we must do the same?”
“……I merely wished to inform you of the standard precedent.”
“What of the knight's identity and affiliation? Surely we can find out which family he belongs to?”
“The north gate guards asked, but the knight reportedly ignored them. For now, he has been escorted to the reception room inside the castle.”
Having finished his report, the butler gave a slight nod.
As Lara pondered, the man exuding a gloomy aura from the corner chimed in.
“My Lady, be cautious. Granting an audience to anyone under the current circumstances is unwise. We cannot rule out the possibility of an assassin disguised as a knight.”
At his words, Lara, who had remained silent, finally spoke.
“Bring the knight in.”
The man, who she thought would be impossible to fluster, flinched slightly.
“Does your suspicion change the fact that he saved Hastin from a crisis? Or are you suggesting we ignore his achievement? The knight's deed is undeniable. As the lord, it is only right that I commend him.”
Her voice, sounding like that of a stubborn adolescent, echoed softly in the bedchamber. For Lara, this was a small act of rebellion.
Unable to counter, the man took a step back, the shadow on his face deepening.
The butler, who had been watching quietly, made a gentle suggestion. “How about meeting him in the audience chamber, accompanied by the castle guards?”
“……I will do so.”
Once permission was granted, it did not take long for the butler to fetch the knight.
Moving to the audience chamber, Lara adjusted her attire, cleared her throat with a loud ahem, and took her seat.
Before long, the knight appeared beyond the door.
At the sound of heavy footsteps on the red carpet, Lara looked up.
“My journey to Hastin was not smooth, leaving me quite exhausted. But standing before the beautiful Countess makes me feel as though all my hardships have been rewarded.”
The knight's voice, which greeted her first, carried a dignified charm. He was clad entirely in full plate armor. As if he had no intention of revealing his face, he had not even removed his helm.
Soon, the knight looked up at Lara and dropped to one knee.
“A wandering knight requests an audience with the Lord of Hastin.”
—Calling himself a ‘wandering knight,’ as if telling me not to bother asking about his identity.
“……I am Countess Lara Cinebier Etarque, the Lord of Hastin. I have heard that your courage protected my people. On behalf of all of Hastin, I express my gratitude.”
“It is my honor,” the knight replied briefly.
“To which family do you belong?”
Instead of answering, the knight silently bowed his head.
Frowning, Lara asked again, “……Then, what is your name?”
“I am afraid I am in a position where I cannot speak it.”
“You call this an honor, yet you conceal so much. If I were to command you to remove your helm, would you refuse that as well?”
A brief silence fell. The surface of the blue-black armor gleamed, catching the light from the window.
“If you command me to remove my helm, I shall obey. However, my face is heavily scarred from the battlefield. Half of it has been carved away, leaving a hideous sight. If you, Countess, can bear to look upon it, I will gladly follow your command.”
“……Never mind. If you were acting out of consideration for me, then it was my mistake to insist.”
A small sigh escaped her at the end of her words.