Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Does the Sheep Dream of Freedom? #3
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“Did you hear, Theo? You got on Aira’s bad side? What the hell do you have to do to end up in prison?”
Clatter, clatter.
Inside the carriage, Elga, who had been quiet for quite a while, finally spoke to me.
It had taken about thirty minutes since she started fidgeting, her lips twitching like she was dying to say something.
For Elga, that was holding back a lot.
“What the hell did you do? Huh? Tell me.”
Elga looked just like a pubescent girl who couldn’t contain her curiosity. She probably was, in a way. But could I really tell her the truth?
I decided to just brush it off vaguely.
“I spoke informally to Her Majesty the Queen. I was locked up for half a day as punishment. For a lack of respect toward the royal family…”
Telling Aira, “Let’s go together,” had been the excuse that got me thrown into the underground dungeon for half a day. Of course, it was probably just a pretext for her to keep me in one place.
Her real intention must have been this:
‘Cool your head there for a bit.’
And so, the moment I was released from prison, I was granted an unprecedented week-long vacation.
Though, as always, I could be summoned by Aira in the middle of it.
“No matter what it was, Aira said she doesn’t even want to see your face and not to mention your name?”
This time, Aira seemed genuinely pissed.
This was a first for me too.
At least she hadn’t sentenced me to death, so it felt somewhat positive.
If it were the Aira I first met—the Witch Queen Aira from the novel—she would have crushed my skull with telekinesis without mercy.
At this point, could I consider that Aira was being purified in the positive direction I’d intended? Could I let myself run that happy little circuit in my head?
“What the hell happened? Tell me. Just to your big sis. I won’t tell anyone.”
By the way, Elga kept nagging at me from the side, and it was getting annoying.
So I put on a shadowed expression and tried to act serious.
“Do you really want to know? What Her Majesty and I talked about that night, just the two of us?”
“…Just the two of you, at night…?”
Elga’s mouth snapped shut.
Her face twisted in all directions as she stared out the window, then at my face, unable to settle her gaze. Finally, she furrowed her brow like she was angry and shouted.
“Fine. I’m not even that curious anyway? I just wondered what situation would make you talk informally to Aira.”
Then she whipped her head away.
And with that, Elga completely clammed up.
Now she’d be quiet for a while.
“…So, what did you two talk about, just the two of you…?”
No, you said you weren’t curious.
Elga seemed torn between not wanting to hear and her curiosity, ultimately choosing curiosity.
That’s how everyone ends up swallowing their regrets.
Like hearing about your girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend. You don’t want to listen, but you can’t move on without knowing.
Of course, this story wasn’t all that serious, so I just told her what I could say, smoothly.
“I just said I wanted to quit. Quit being the palace gardener after about a year. That’s all it was, and we ended up arguing a bit.”
“Reaaally?”
As I spoke, Elga’s expression, which had been fixed on the window, softened a little, reflected in the clear glass.
Not only that, but her voice, which had been timid just moments ago, now fired off questions one after another like it was a lie.
“Quit that job? Why? Planning to go back to the Lioness family?”
“No, not that. It’s a bit hard to explain. It’s tied to some policy stuff.”
“Yeah, figures. Great gardener sir. Still, you’re spending this week at our Lioness estate, right?”
“Just two days out of the week.”
Two days.
Out of my vacation, I planned to spend two days at the Lioness family’s estate, the ‘Lion’s Repose.’
The reason I wanted to stay there was partly to avoid any scorpion assassins who might target me while I was vacationing alone.
But also because there was someone I had to meet there.
The person I most wanted to avoid—someone even harder and trickier to deal with than Aira.
But for my plan, I had no choice but to meet them.
“Fufu.”
“Did you just laugh?”
“No. Not at all.”
Elga cleared her throat with a hem-hem, but she didn’t seem to notice her expression reflecting slyly from the window toward where I sat.
Swoosh.
Elga lifted the corner of her mouth loosely, like a scheming villain.
What scheme was she plotting now?
In truth, Elga was a villain. That’s how she appeared in the novel. Like a black-hearted character from some old tale.
Such an Elga said,
“Ahem. So, Theo, you little shit. You dared to speak informally to Her Majesty the Queen. As the lady of the Lioness family, the sword of the royals, I can’t let that slide without punishment.”
“If it’s punishment, I already got it with house arrest in prison, didn’t I?”
“Come on. That’s not punishment. Aira’s too soft. A king can’t handle people like that. If it were me, I’d have whipped you at least ten times.”
Aira’s soft?
That was a new one.
Of course, Elga probably wasn’t serious.
She was just using it as an excuse to babble. The real point of what Elga wanted to say was always at the end.
“Hey, so, I’ll give you your punishment. Close your eyes.”
“…….”
Here we go again.
I closed my eyes.
No point protesting anyway—this was Elga’s personal Lioness family carriage, and I had no allies here.
Better to obey than resist and get flicked on the forehead.
As I closed my eyes, a warm human presence whooshed toward me. Elga’s signature apple scent.
Now, surely her soft lips would press against mine.
The good smell and her close breath had blood rushing to my lower half almost reflexively. Was this what Pavlov’s dogs felt?
Crack.
But what touched my face was someone’s finger.
“Ow!”
When I opened my eyes, Elga was twisting my nose. It hurt so much tears welled up.
“Wh-what are you d-doing!?”
“What do you mean? Punishing you! What, were you thinking of something else? What were you thinking? And who said you could open your eyes?”
Then she made a bratty grimace, and with her red dress, she looked exactly like a villainess from a novel.
“Did you think the firstborn daughter of the Lioness family would do something with a royal blasphemer like you? Huh? You naughty boy.”
“Ow ow.”
“What were you thinking?”
Only when my nose felt like it would fall off did Elga finally let go, bursting into laughter. “You’re just like Rudolph—!”
Naughty girl.
My nose throbbed.
Come to think of it, the original Elga von Lioness was exactly this kind of girl.
A damn stubborn brat who wouldn’t follow my lead.
My long palace life must have dulled my instincts.
* * *
The Lion’s Repose was the Lioness family’s villa-like estate in the central city of Monarch City.
Even calling it a villa, it was luxurious enough to rival the main estates of most high nobles.
Not to mention the grand Lion’s Den mansion in the western city of Borza, said to be as magnificent and beautiful as the central palace itself.
It showed just how towering the Lioness family’s influence was in the Angmar Kingdom.
“Miss, you’re back. I’ll take your luggage. And, Gasfel…”
The old, seasoned butler of the Lioness family took my bags.
He looked at me with eyes full of complex emotions, then smiled.
“Sir Gasfel. I’ll take your luggage to the guest quarters.”
Impressive.
To treat a former slave of this house like this. It was amazing that someone could set aside personal feelings like that.
What was there to hide?
I had spent about three months as a slave in the Lioness family.
A tea-serving slave.
In other words, high-end luxury for nobles.
Slaves in this world were expensive enough that you couldn’t handle them carelessly.
That experience had helped me adapt to this world quite a bit. Who would’ve thought I’d return here in some form.
After discharge, I had sworn never to even pee in the direction of my old battalion, yet here I was, back through these doors.
“Oh, and Sir Gasfel. The master calls for you.”
“…….”
Here it comes.
I had expected someone would approach me first, but when the moment arrived, my heart pounded anyway.
The Lioness family, a great house rivaling the royals.
Elga von Lioness could be called the star, but she was just the family’s tomboy troublemaker miss.
The one truly upholding the massive pillar of Lioness was someone else.
“Where to?”
“This way.”
I followed the seasoned butler’s guidance.
It had been a long time walking these halls, but step, step—the red carpet brought back memories of the life I’d led here.
And who sat beyond this corridor in the family head’s study.
Knock, knock.
The butler neatly rapped on the firmly closed door.
“Family head. The guest has arrived.”
━Come in.
Without a moment’s delay, a thick voice spread from inside to the door. My tension peaked along with it.
Creak, click—the door opened under the butler’s hand, and I entered the sunlit study, bowing my head toward the man imposingly seated at the vast table.
“I, Theo Gasfel, pay respects to Reinhardt, lord of the Lioness family and master of Borza, marquis of Angmar, supreme commander of the Red Banner Knights, and the royal family’s greatest patron.”
Then came a swish, swish of waving hands. Meaning, lift your head.
As I raised my face, the man’s silhouette, backlit by the sun, slowly revealed itself.
Platinum hair like a white lion’s mane, pale skin. Red eyes. Clean-shaven nose and jaw, giving a sharp, irritable impression.
Probably past sixty now.
“I wasn’t informed of a guest, so forgive my attire.”
The family head, Reinhardt, gestured lightly to his silk robe. It was quite disheveled, but the muscles and scars beneath told well who this man was.
He could probably snap my neck barehanded right now.
Of course, he wouldn’t.
He mustn’t.
Anyway, this was Reinhardt, head of the Lioness family.
In these times when young Queen Aira was rampant with tyranny in various ways, he was called the de facto ‘king’ of Angmar.
His bearing was majestic, truly like a roaring lion. If such a man wasn’t king, then who was?
He asked.
“Theo, Theo Gasfel. Let’s cut to the chase. What’s your game?”
“My game?”
“Otherwise, why would a rat that escaped once shove its head back into the lion’s maw? Did you bring poison at least?”
“…….”
“Better drop any petty schemes.”
Prickle, prickle.
My skin stung.
In short, why was a freed slave coming back now?
No one would return to where they’d been enslaved unless they had ulterior motives.
Indeed.
That’s why this man was so hard to deal with.
He was a different breed from those who crawled, gauging power.
My flimsy sycophant act might peel right off.
But I too had crossed countless brushes with death in the past year.
Ignoring the cold sweat down my back, I parted my lips.
“Who would dare lie before you? But, Duke Reinhardt, I do have something to say to you. Otherwise, why would I spend my precious vacation here?”
I lifted my head and straightened fully.
Now, he and I were equals, not master and slave.
Soon, I saw Reinhardt’s eyes narrow. No words, but it felt like, “Hoh, look at this little shit.”
In the past, I’d have pissed myself like a mouse before a lion.
But I’d spent every hour with the utterly ruthless Aira. If I could handle her uncontrollable self, what couldn’t I?
So I said boldly.
“Duke Reinhardt, you have been dismissed by Aira, Angmar’s sole ruler. You are no longer Inspector General.”
“Dismissed out of the blue? Ha, by what authority? Even a queen can’t think she can toy with me like that?”
Crackle, crackle. My skin prickled.
Now I knew this was ‘killing intent.’ He was furious at me and at Aira for this order.
It hit physically.
Swoosh.
The man rose, his muscles bulging more. If he swung a fist now, my skull would cave in.
I’d expected this reaction.
I struck first.
“And starting tomorrow, you will replace the retiring Sir Pargas as the head of the palace cabinet, the Prime Minister position.”
“What?”
Reinhardt furrowed his brow in disbelief.
The killing intent stinging my skin vanished.
That’s what the Prime Minister seat was.
It was what Reinhardt coveted endlessly but could never grasp. The novel described it ad nauseam, so I knew it well.
And now it was being offered to him.
Even a lion-like man had to be honest before desire.
“You bastard, what’s your game? Think you can come back after being a slave and humiliate me?”
Now he dropped formalities entirely. Of course.
He’d thought he was the lion with the rat’s head in its jaws.
But now, he was the one shoving his head into the massive beast’s maw.
He must be dying to know my intentions.
To such family head Reinhardt, I said.
“Her Majesty and I may have to leave the capital soon. Who else but you, Duke Reinhardt, and the Draco family could guard the capital and Angmar Kingdom then?”
Boom. Reinhardt slammed the table with his palm.
“The Dracos are absolutely out! Don’t even mention them!”
As expected, still mortal enemies with the Draco family. As I mentally noted the relations, the fuming Reinhardt asked.
“More importantly, leaving the capital? For what reason?”
“It’s a secret for now. But I’ll tell you specially, Duke Reinhardt. As the future Prime Minister, you ought to know.”
I deliberately hem-hemmed and paused.
“…….”
One beat.
This was always key. It took me a year to realize.
After the pause, I swelled his curiosity and revealed my intent.
“The reason Her Majesty must leave.”
This was my first plan.
My ace counter to twist a fate awaiting only the guillotine.
A massive middle finger to whoever wished for my death.
If this world was a dark hero tale harsh only on villains.
I’d twist it like this.
“Her Majesty will enroll in the Academy next month.”