Chapter 103 - Power and Love (9)
Power and Love (9)
Translator: XZY
Chapter 103: Power and Love (9)
***
— ‘A witch, a witch is passing by!’
— ‘To think she acted so noble while receiving the protection of Belmeade…’
— ‘Shh! She’ll hear you!’
Elente walked gracefully down the corridor.
After the meeting in the main hall had ended, she climbed the central staircase of the Belmeade mansion to head to the Head of the House’s office to receive her final death sentence.
The high-ranking retainers, servants, and squires she passed all began to whisper.
A few high-ranking retainers began to regret their past years as her loyal followers and started to redraw their future plans, the head maid closed her eyes gently and avoided her gaze, and the collateral relatives visiting the mansion also looked at her with contemptuous eyes.
If she had just quietly walked the well-paved road, she could have walked the path of a powerful figure whom no one would envy, but the life of the girl who had chosen the wrong path was filled with voices of criticism.
The girl walking through the midst of it was, as always, elegant.
Accepting even the thick malice and criticism, she walked, and walked, and walked.
When she came to her senses, she had arrived at the entrance of the magnificent office.
As the squire escorting the girl opened the door, the figure of the Margrave of Belmeade, sitting inside with a complicated expression, came into view.
Clutching the hem of her lace-trimmed dress, she stepped into the office, and the Margrave of Belmeade spoke.
“There are over thirty retainers who came into the Belmeade mansion for you alone and took on the thankless tasks. There were nine squires I intended to assign as your escort knights, and the servants attached to your side of the mansion exceeded twenty. Did you see them on your way here?”
The tone of the Margrave of Belmeade, who always spoke in a voice dripping with honey whenever he faced his beloved daughter Elente, was chillingly cold today.
Elente pondered for a moment, then nodded her head.
The retainers had glared, narrowed their brows, and swallowed curses the moment their eyes met hers, and the escort knights had eyes full of contempt.
The servants who had followed her to the mansion were just wiping their faces, unable to overcome their sense of betrayal.
They had already defined Elente as a witch.
“There were those who devoted more than ten years.”
“…”
“However, now, there is no one left by your side.”
Elente looked up at the Margrave of Belmeade once more.
Sadness was etched on his expression, which had grown as heavy as the weight of his responsibility.
The Margrave of Belmeade was a lord who had loved Elente more than anyone.
When Linus left the main family, and Leonard also vacated his position, it was Elente who had endured that weight to the end as the heir by his side.
Elente understood the weight of that sadness and quietly held her breath.
“There are letters brought by Baron Derek Ridolf Ravencrow. There are two of them.”
“…What?”
In the office, devoid of any retainers, Elente quietly took out two letters from her bosom and placed them on the table.
“What are these…?”
“They are from the Duplein family. It is a letter claiming that Lord Valerian did not research necromancy. And the other one is a letter from the Renuel Viscounty, informing us that they are coming to our Belmeade mansion to catch the tail of the necromancy.”
As Elente said so, the Margrave of Belmeade’s eyes widened, and he unfolded the letters.
The contents were not very long. He quickly read through them all, but the light of suspicion began to circle in his intelligent eyes once more.
“…”
“Have you finished reading them?”
At a glance, they seemed like letters that proved Elente’s innocence. If Valerian had not researched necromancy, it could serve as circumstantial evidence that the letter found in Elente’s room was itself a forgery.
However, the letter from the Renuel Viscounty was different.
It was elaborately and well-crafted, but the Margrave of Belmeade, who had already confirmed the seal of the Renuel Viscounty several times on various official documents, was able to see through it quickly.
“This is a forged letter.”
Such a clumsy letter could not deceive him.
Even more so, a chill began to circulate in his gaze.
<><><>
“Young Master Leonard, what brings you to a basement like this?”
“Lady Elente-noonim has admitted to all the suspicions. Now, Lady Elente-noonim will be stripped of her power, and this basement will also return to its original state.”
A basement filled with a chilling cold.
The two men standing there were looking at each other.
Leonard felt a strange sense of unease seeing Derek, who had a chilling look in his eyes.
He had surely thought that Derek had been won over by him, but now, he felt it was difficult to trust him easily.
However, that might just be Leonard himself being sensitive.
Because the entire situation had come to an end. Since Elente had admitted to her own crime, it would not be easy for anything to be overturned from here.
But that sense of unease did not disappear.
“So I came to check one last time. Just in case Lady Elente-noonim might have left some kind of seditious trace.”
“I see. You are thorough.”
“Sir Derek, what were you doing here?”
“The same for me. I was just taking a look one last time before this basement is cleared out.”
Saying so, Derek sheathed his sword and stood up from his seat.
A single stream of cold sweat flowed down the back of Leonard’s ear. He had a gut feeling that he had to uncover the identity of this unknown sense of crisis.
— ‘Young Master Leonard, you are a messenger sent by God to save me. It is truly a fortunate thing.’
He still hadn't forgotten the image of him smiling brightly and shaking hands with Leonard.
He had truly expressed his gratitude purely and had just smiled affably, asking for help for the Ravencrow Barony in the future.
The image of that Derek, a devout believer like himself, who believed in Leonard.
And the image of Derek, who had the eyes of a beast in the corner of this basement.
They were so different that it made him wonder if these two were really the same person, and Leonard forced himself to hold back his trembling voice as he spoke.
“Sir Derek. There will be nothing more to worry about. The matter has been resolved well, so light will shine on the Ravencrow Barony in the future as well.”
“…”
“Sir Derek, shouldn’t we both become people in this noble world who are as wise as serpents and as pure as doves? I truly hope we can become a relationship that is a good nourishment to each other.”
“Serpents and doves. An interesting metaphor. I understand.”
It was when Derek had answered so perfunctorily and was about to pass by Leonard towards the stairs leading to the ground floor.
Leonard, who had been about to let Derek go, snapped his head around and looked at him.
Derek, who was about to go up the stairs, paused for a moment at his strange reaction.
“Is something the matter?”
“Is this the first time you have heard this metaphor?”
“…?”
“The Gospel of Lord Ruelon, Chapter 7. ‘Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves’.”
“…”
“It is the first verse of Chapter 7 of the Gospel, which followers of Ruelon learn first.”
Leonard said, taking a step back.
— ‘Are you not a lamb of the Lord Ruelon? I too am a devout believer.’
It was what Derek had said with a bright smile to win Leonard’s trust.
But Derek was tilting his head even after hearing the most famous verse of the scripture.
“──You are not a follower of Ruelon in the first place.”
Creeak—
BAM!!
Derek, who was about to exit the basement, pulled the massive wooden door shut.
Derek, who turned around like that, his piercing eyes were directed at Leonard.
“Certainly, you are quick on the uptake.”
Soon, Leonard quickly leaped to run out of the basement.
But Derek kicked Leonard right in the solar plexus with his booted foot.
Thud! CRASH!
“Kuaaak!”
Leonard, who was sent flying into a corner of the research lab, screamed.
The bookshelf where he had been thrown collapsed, and dust began to rise in the dark basement.
<><><>
— ‘Derek. Tomorrow, when my father comes to question me about my crimes, I plan to first admit everything in front of everyone.’
— ‘…’
— ‘You’re not asking why?’
After Derek had explained the whole story, before he left the room…
Sitting side by side in the dark room of the rain-soaked Belmeade mansion, Elente spoke in a whispering tone to Derek.
The darkness of the night, felt while sitting side by side on the bed, was not so frightening.
Just by having someone sitting next to her, it was simply amazing how that darkness, which had felt like an endless void, became so familiar.
— ‘That way, Leonard will think the situation is strange and become anxious, as if his feet are on fire. Then it will be easier for you, Derek, to catch that cunning snake’s tail.’
— ‘…Are you planning to take the blame for just that reason?’
— ‘Mm… strictly speaking, that’s just a pretext. In fact, taking the blame is the goal itself.’
Derek looked at Elente with a bewildered expression.
Elente was no longer wearing the haggard expression of being cornered.
— ‘They say that only when you are cornered and thrown to the bottom do your real people remain. I don’t think that’s wrong, but I don’t think it’s truly wise either.’
— ‘What do you mean by that?’
— ‘The fact that people are full by my side only when I have power and strength is, in a way, a natural thing. The very fact that such people are supporting me is what proves that my power and authority are real.’
With her eyes, which had finally regained their brilliant light, the girl speaks to Derek.
— ‘Yes, that’s right. How can I reign over people as one who wields power if I get pessimistic and struggle over something like this? The more the situation becomes like this, the more I will use my current solitude.’
She had lived half her life as the heir of Belmeade, and four years at the pinnacle of Ebelstein’s high society.
As if she had realized something in that process, an even more intelligent light returns to the girl’s eyes.
— ‘If I have to fall once and be thrown to the bottom, I will fall to the very bottom of that bottom with all my might.’
— ‘…’
— ‘Still, you will be by my side, right, Derek?’
Elente says with a gentle smile.
— ‘Like that, at the very bottom, I will receive criticism, be hit with trash, and buy ridicule and disillusionment. I will make people throw insulting words at me, resent me, and hate me. Since it has come to this, I must go down to that complete bottom.’
And the girl, clenching her fist tightly, held it out to Derek.
It was the very same gesture Aiseline had shown in front of Elfontaine Hall one day.
— ‘Because when you fall properly like that, the resurrection is all the more splendid.’
— ‘…’
— ‘Not only my direct retainers, but also the opposing factions and high-ranking retainers who usually looked at me unfavorably will all criticize and attack me with one heart and one mind. I will plant a sense of debt in their hearts. I will make them think they have slandered and criticized a flower in a boudoir who has no sin, and… I will forgive them.’
The girl who had returned from frustration and despair was beginning to have her head spin like the original her.
The way to handle people, to hold sway over them, and to make them her own.
The picture designed by the girl, who had instinctively learned that sense, was one step bigger than what Leonard had drawn.
Forgiveness speaks of bestowing.
By bestowing forgiveness upon all those who had criticized Elente herself, who was nothing less than the flower of Belmeade, and by embracing them, she intended to make all the internal retainers who were even slightly skeptical of Elente her own people.
It was to turn Leonard’s slander to her advantage and solidify her own position even more.
The other name for crisis was opportunity, and a new opportunity always came to those who did not despair.
— ‘Derek.’
She looks at Derek’s hand, which was dripping with blood from blocking the dagger Elente had been holding.
Now, it was well-bound with a cloth and the bleeding had stopped, but in any case, he had been greatly injured due to Elente’s own mistake.
Elente, as if her heart ached, caressed that wound, and then finally looked up at Derek and spoke.
— ‘If things go well, all the retainers and the people of Belmeade will try to get into my good graces as if in a competition. Even the closest retainers turned their backs on me once, so there will be many people who will struggle to fill that empty space. Power has the force to entice people.’
— ‘That is correct. And Lady Elente is a person who is like the very hotbed of power.’
— ‘Yes. If they can win the favor of me, Elente, the flower of Belmeade, it will in the long run be no different from holding Belmeade in their hands. But still, Derek. I can say this one thing for sure.’
Elente squeezed Derek’s hand, which was bound with the cloth, and managed to show a smile towards Derek.
— ‘My protection will soon become the protection of Belmeade. And if you ask who is the one most protected and trusted by that Belmeade, the answer will be set.’
— ‘…’
— ‘You may be proud. Since you believed in me when the whole world turned its back, I too will surely believe in you even if the whole world turns its back.’
Just like that, the girl whispered, tightly gripping the man’s injured arm.
— ‘Derek, you are the person I trust the most.’
<><><>
Thud! CRASH!
Leonard, who had gotten up again, glared from within the dust.
The kick of a veteran mercenary was excessively harsh for a rich young master who had been raised preciously. Just being kicked once in the solar plexus made it hard to breathe properly, and he had to gasp for breath.
“Huk, huk… Do you… think you can get away with this…?!”
He had long since thrown away any semblance of politeness.
Leonard ground his teeth and got up from the wreckage of the collapsed bookshelf. Just from being hit once, his body was already staggering, and it seemed his physical abilities were by no means good.
“Lady Elente-noonim has already fallen to ruin. Do you think you can handle the consequences of beating me up now? You are a minor baron in charge of a nominal territory in the frontier, and I am a person who will become the heir of the Belmeade family, before whom even the branch families of considerable power grovel…!”
“You talk big. If you have the shining authority of Belmeade on your back, I suppose you won’t die even if you’re stabbed with a sword?”
Derek took out his piercingly sharp blade and flicked it once.
Seeing the form of that blade, which shone even in the darkness, Leonard once again took a step back.
“Ha, haha… You’ll kill me? What a bluff.”
“…”
“You’ll kill the third son of Belmeade in the middle of the Belmeade family’s mansion? Even if I were a villain, you can’t handle the consequences of doing such a thing. You can’t kill me.”
Leonard, who was coughing and choking, propped himself up on a corner of the desk and let out a bitter smile.
“Right. Beat me up or do whatever you want. But don’t think that the people of the family will believe your words. You will just become an arrogant minor noble who beat up the virtuous third son of Belmeade.”
“…”
“Kekekek, kek… I thought the situation was a bit strange. Right… I was wondering where that letter Lady Elente-noonim brought early in the morning came from, and it was you who brought it.”
Leonard chuckled, supporting his staggering body.
It seemed that the servants assisting Elente had also sided with Leonard, as he was aware of the existence of the two letters Elente had brought early on.
In other words, he had seen through every move Elente could make. In fact, from Derek’s perspective, it was rather what he had hoped for.
“I’ve already been informed of the contents. Do you think the situation will be overturned with such crudely forged documents? What a joke. You underestimate my father too much.”
Derek, holding a sword, and Leonard, speaking with a bitter smile.
The tension between the two was rising even higher.
“He is a person who has reigned as the master of Belmeade for decades. His eye for official letters is more accurate and wise than mine. Those letters, he’ll notice they’re fake as soon as he sees them. The retainers might not recognize it right away, but at least my father can never be fooled.”
Derek flicked his sword again and put it back into its sheath.
Since he would already know well that he couldn't kill Leonard, the sword would no longer serve as a means of intimidation.
“Viscountess Rodeia is not coming. You just used that letter to make me anxious and try to make me run away from this mansion. Rodeia, who is more proficient in the necromancy of Rodentz Island than anyone else. The fact that I would run away as soon as I heard her name would mean that I am a necromancer, for all to see. Right?”
“…”
“You’ve been completely seen through. Unfortunately.”
The corner of Leonard’s mouth curled up again. In that chilling smile, the appearance of a virtuous man of faith was no longer there.
“The final bluff of your life has failed. It has all come to nothing. Truly a pity. Kuuuk, kekek.”
“…”
“Right. You can consider it a consolation, so beat me up as much as you want. But you can never kill me. You’ll just be venting your anger. How futile this is… Even the Lord Ruelon will shed tears. Ahaha. Ahahahahak!”
Leonard’s appearance, as he spread his arms and laughed excitedly, was full of confidence.
It was a sight of him mocking, provoking, and declaring victory over Derek. He looked so triumphant that it was enough to make an onlooker grind their teeth.
However, Derek was calm.
It was because he understood his psychology to some extent.
“You seem anxious?”
Derek’s words struck a nerve in Leonard. Leonard’s laughter cut off abruptly.
In fact, he had noticed Leonard’s anxious demeanor from the start.
Seeing Elente admit to all the charges in the main hall just now, he had instinctively felt that there was a part he hadn't grasped.
What was it that Leonard didn't know?
It was the fact that Derek had a point of contact with the Renuel Viscounty in the first place.
The retainers of the family were reluctant to publicize this incident regarding necromancy. If Elente had really dabbled in necromancy, this matter would grow uncontrollably large.
Therefore, it was not easy to officially bring an outside force into this matter. There had to be a private point of contact.
Before all this began, Lady Trisha had personally visited the Ravencrow Barony and requested that he catch the necromancer. Derek had not gone to them first; they had come to him.
Therefore, if it was Derek of all people, he could directly exert influence on the Renuel Viscounty.
“I had already put in a private word with the Renuel Viscounty from the start. They trust my words.”
“What… did you say…?”
“The hero of Rodentz Island, Rodeia, is coming to the Belmeade mansion. Do my words sound like a lie?”
The letter was a fake, but the proposition itself was true.
Derek’s expression, which showed no agitation whatsoever. In contrast, Leonard’s expression was gradually hardening.
“Ha.. haha… what a joke you’re telling. If Rodeia were really coming, there would have been no need to forge a letter in the first place…! What an absurd thing to say…!”
“Why is there no need to forge it?”
“That’s because… the reason for forging the letter was… to confuse me… to make me run away or get agitated… for…”
“Oh dear… the reason I brought a forged letter was the opposite.”
This time, Derek smiles bitterly.
His smile, with the corners of his mouth raised in the darkness, was quite different from the virtuous smile he had shown at his first meeting with Leonard.
This was Derek’s true nature.
“Because I was afraid you would run away.”
<><><>
Like a surging wave, the board that had been drawn changes over and over again.
On the road to the Belmeade County,
A dozen or so horses are galloping across the Latman Gorge region, which is still full of moisture although the rain has stopped.
Standing at the forefront is the expert who has tracked necromancers for her entire life and a hero of the age, Viscountess Rodeia.
Behind her, Lady Trisha and the soldiers of the Renuel Viscounty are following on horseback.
The hero Rodeia.
Among the many factions of necromancy, she was a great person who had a more accurate insight into the necromancy of Rodentz Island than anyone else.
<><><>
A gambling den in a corner of Ebelstein’s commercial district.
A bearded man with a red ponytail chuckles.
To the gamblers who were playing a round with them, he speaks jokingly.
‘Hey, do you know the surest way to deceive a cunning snake like me?’
‘It’s to make the other person believe that they are deceiving me.’
The wastrel, who is baring his teeth while throwing a new stake onto the gambling table, is the former heir of Belmeade, Linus.
<><><>
The Margrave of Belmeade’s office.
With a confident face, Elente was speaking to the Margrave.
The expression of the Margrave of Belmeade, who is listening to Elente’s words after putting down the forged letter, is hardening even more.
The Margrave of Belmeade, who did not want to suspect his daughter, begins to listen to Elente’s words little by little.
<><><>
And, the underground research lab where everything began.
Leonard, whose expression had been gradually hardening, finally shot up from his seat.
The composure on his face had disappeared.
“G-g-get out of the way…”
Leonard speaks in a slightly trembling voice.
However, Derek flicked his hands a few times and looked down at him coldly, with his back to the exit of the basement.
“No.”
“Fuck… I said get lost!”
A dark red magic power began to erupt from Leonard’s body.
The lingering spirit energy in the research lab reacted to it and began to turn into magic.
It was the 1-Star necromancy spell, ‘Grudge Technique’.
Just before that spirit energy could gather in his body, Derek once again kicked him in the stomach.
Thud!
With a choking sound, Leonard was sent flying.