Chapter 62
Chapter 62
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: The Cuckoo's Secret
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Katrina Bello was the daughter of the lord of the largest village near Shionia.
Her great-grandfather, Knight John Bello, had come with the first Duke, Jang Sion, and been appointed Hundred Household Captain, tasked with governing a village of around sixty households—neither too large nor too small.
And her great-grandfather, leveraging the Duke's family's support and his own exceptional abilities, had more than doubled the village's population and size in just ten years.
The family business had been passed down to his son and grandson, and by the time Katrina was born, the village her great-grandfather had pioneered had become a county with over three hundred households and thousands of residents.
With the changing times, the position of Hundred Household Captain had officially vanished.
So Katrina's father remained a major landowner, while her older brother was formally appointed county governor to rule the area.
Even the county guard, well-equipped and under her brother's command (though ultimate authority rested with the Duke's family), numbered over fifty.
In the old days, her father would boast whenever he had the chance that they could have been a proud minor lord's household somewhere.
And that was somewhat true.
In fact, there was no need to go back to ancient times.
Beyond the Sion Dukedom, nobles similar to or even lesser than Katrina's family strutted around as lords—that was the reality.
In any case, as the daughter of the "ruler" of one of the Dukedom's largest villages outside the cities, Katrina had grown arrogant from childhood, her striking looks only adding to it.
She wouldn't even consider marrying anyone less than a direct heir from a family even greater than her father's.
And that ambition meshed perfectly with her father's own aspirations to aim even higher, leading her to successfully become one of the heir to the Duke's household's concubines.
Though only a baroness in title, Katrina seemed to have achieved her goal.
She was content with her accomplishment for a few years. Gaining a son in the meantime left her with nothing more to desire.
But when her son turned around ten, her already frail husband's health worsened further, filling her with anxiety.
Even after her father-in-law died and her husband finally ascended to Duke, her unease only grew.
The Duke's principal wife, the legitimate Duchess Eleanor, openly treated her as an enemy.
Eleanor had borne seven children with her husband.
But like the Duke, four of them died before reaching eight, and the remaining two sons and daughter weren't particularly healthy either.
The legitimate wife Eleanor grew anxious.
-What if my husband dies young and my two sons follow the same path?
It was only natural for Eleanor's anxiety to turn into checks against the concubine Katrina, who had borne a healthy son.
The checks became hatred, and the hatred quickly escalated into outright torment.
Thus, Katrina, subjected to hatred and torment, came to loathe Eleanor as well—it was inevitable.
Eleanor and Katrina, both women starting from anxiety, had come to despise each other through mutual suppression.
And while the weight of their hatred was similar, in terms of innate ambition and desperation, Katrina—from a slightly lesser noble background—edged out Eleanor, who had been born the true daughter of a noble house.
The moment she realized her beloved husband's remaining days were few, Katrina acted first.
She made a choice she absolutely should not have.
She mixed several secret medicines obtained from "someone," creating a substance that was medicine in the short term but poison over the long haul, and fed it to her husband and Eleanor's children.
Why Eleanor's two sons grew even frailer.
Why the eldest died after a mild cold turned into pneumonia, or why the second son's stomach pains lasted over a month before he vomited and defecated blood until death—no one knows anymore.
For all who knew the truth were already dead.
Thus, her son Blint's path ahead was paved smooth.
Her husband's sudden death was tragic, but with her son to inherit, she had no more worries.
Until Gede Sion learned her secret and began blackmailing her.
That was why no new Duke had been decided after the previous one's death.
Gede had threatened that if they proceeded to crown Blint and hold the investiture ceremony, he would reveal the truth about Eleanor's two sons' deaths.
So even when Gede proposed reevaluating the next Duke issue from the ground up, she couldn't oppose him.
In the meantime, Katrina focused on winning over key figures in Three-Headed Eagle Castle and Shionia.
She believed that if she gathered the capital's power holders in one place, she could manage somehow.
The plan seemed quite successful.
But then an utterly ridiculous mishap occurred, and Three-Headed Eagle Castle surrendered, plunging her into despair.
After all her efforts, the ducal castle had fallen to Gede Sion's faction!
But what was this?
It turned out all of this had been planned by "Sailun," a member of the royal family and descendant of the princess who had been the wife of the Sion Duke's household founder, Duke Jang Sion.
Piot Sion Kilburn, grandson of Duke Jang Sion's daughter, had said it himself—it couldn't be false.
At this, Katrina saw hope again.
She thought that if she could just persuade Sir Sailun well, she could eliminate Gede and elevate her son Blint as Sion Duke once more.
That was why she had dressed so extravagantly, unsuited to a welcoming party.
Even as the detestable Yonas Sion seated Sailun at the head and Sailun naturally moved to sit, Katrina pondered only how to ingratiate herself with him.
She was prepared to offer money, women, and even some business rights in the Dukedom if needed.
After all, once her son became the current Sion Duke, such gestures would be mere pleasantries.
'Everything will work out fine.'
Katrina truly believed that.
Until that Sir Sailun said,
"I hereby declare myself master of this place."
* * *
Blaho found the long-awaited Sir Sailun truly fascinating.
Of course, he was puzzled and suspicious that the royal family still cared about the Sion Duke's household, which had half-operated as an independent state for ages.
But regardless, the royals—a kin to the Obla royal house and staunch supporters—intervening to mediate the Sion Duke's internal strife was impeccable in terms of justification.
Moreover, in Blaho's view, while Sir Sailun's plan wasn't perfect, it was the best possible, and with a stroke of absurd luck, it had yielded the finest results.
Thus, Blaho was immensely curious about this Sir Sailun, who possessed the skill to devise and execute brilliant plans, and even fortune on his side.
And the Sir Sailun he saw in person appeared remarkably young.
For some reason, he evoked a sense of familiarity while also giving an eerie chill—making him an utterly intriguing figure.
So when Sir Sailun said,
"First, lock the door."
"I hereby declare myself master of this place. Everyone shut your mouths."
Blaho nearly burst into laughter instead of reacting with the shock of Three-Headed Eagle Castle's high officials.
Had no strange messages appeared in his vision seconds after Sir Sailun's shout, he wouldn't have held back a chuckle.
[You have joined the clan of User 01 Jang Sion.]
[You have been registered as a retainer of User 01 Jang Sion's base, Three-Headed Eagle Castle.]
[User 01 Jang Sion has forbidden you from leaving the clan without permission.]
[You have…]
Strange, translucent text made of characters he'd never seen before kept popping up before his eyes and scrolling upward relentlessly.
Blaho could only stare wide-eyed and freeze in place.
"Wha…? What?"
"Eek!?"
Piot and Sirban, standing near Blaho, also experienced it and let out cries of alarm.
Even the castle officials milling awkwardly before the conference table couldn't hide their panic.
"What is this!? Wh-what the hell is this?"
"M-magic!?"
"Disappear! Go away!"
Some flailed their hands wildly before their faces like madmen, while others, faces pale with terror, backed away and collapsed on the spot.
Of the over ten high officials, two-thirds fled in utter chaos from the confusion and fear.
"Lord Neto? What's wrong with you all of a sudden?"
"Garilleno, have you lost your mind?"
"Why is everyone acting like this?"
But the minority of high officials watched their colleagues with bewildered or incredulous expressions.
Tang!
"You, you, you, you four."
Sion lightly rapped the stone table, pointed at four nobles, and nodded to Stellman and Piot.
Like the others, momentarily startled by the sudden messages, but quickly regaining composure, Stellman caught Sion's intent and subdued the four nobles.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Urk! Do you know who I am, you dare!"
"The lords won't just stand by!"
The nobles, high in status but average in physical prowess, were swiftly bound hand and foot, forced to their knees.
Sion regarded the four struggling and shouting men with cold eyes.
"Four is fortunate, I suppose…"
The four writhed and screamed at his cryptic words, but froze at his next statement.
"Did Gede promise to preserve your positions? Since you didn't get the message, it seems you've been in his pocket for quite some time."
"……!"
"Gasp!"
Sion glanced at them, now ashen and breathless, then turned away.
Blint stood there dumbly, while Katrina—her initial haughtiness gone, mouth agape in shock.
Sion was furious.
More furious that Blint, his own blood, and Katrina, the current lady of the Duke's house however nominally, hadn't received the join message—than the four high nobles who had defected to Gede and missed the Sion Clan invitation.
At least those four traitors had once been members of the Sion Clan.
But to be born into the Sion Duke's house and not receive the message…
"You… were never my blood to begin with."
"……!?"
Blint, standing stupefied, flinched.
But he still didn't grasp what Sion meant.
Katrina, far smarter than her son and bearer of a secret known only to herself, was horrified.
"And you're a cuckoo bitch."
"Eek…"
From Katrina's thin red lips, so unlike a noblewoman, a vulgar whimper escaped as yet another secret was exposed.
(To be continued)