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“What the hell is that!? That little brat…… What the hell is he?”
In a room in the lord's residence overlooking the knight's training grounds, the young man who had been on the verge of leaping out the window in rage just moments ago turned around with a bewildered look in his eyes. The knight immediately bowed his head upon seeing the youth's golden eyes shaking with genuine shock.
“……Yes. I saw it with my own eyes, yet I can hardly believe it. That fainted knight looks like at least an Expert.”
“That kid?”
“No, the one who fainted.”
“……An Expert went down in one hit to a brat? Does that even make sense?”
“It doesn't.”
“Then what the hell is he?”
“A genius straight out of legend…… No, a monster.”
At those words, the platinum-blond youth's eyes widened even more than before. Though not widely known, the middle-aged knight by his side was one of the top powerhouses even among Challenger-grade knights. The impact was all the greater coming from such a man.
“A monster, huh. Ha…… hahaha, so the Valentia Duke has been hiding a monster!”
The youth casually disrespected the Duke of Valentia himself within the heart of the Valentia Ducal House. Yet the knight responded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“What will you do, Your Highness? Shall we go down now?”
“……Leave it be. I'm still pissed at the bastard for laying hands on my woman, but that's punishment enough to cool my head. The rest is for the Valentia Ducal House to handle. I'll meet that little monster later. Sneakily.”
The youth clicked his tongue with a laugh, his eyes twinkling mischievously, but the knight subtly shook his head and interjected.
“Considering the relationship between Rohiter and Valentia, they might not pursue further accountability.”
“It's been years since the current Duke of Valentia became an Aura User, and Rohiter still thinks he can stand toe-to-toe?”
The youth asked in bewilderment, but……
“……His Majesty doesn't wish for Valentia to dominate unchecked.”
“……Ah.”
He could only grimace at the knight's reply. A sigh escaped as he recalled a fact he'd momentarily forgotten.
“Alon von Rohiter Duke…… That old snake really plans to make an enemy of me?”
“He wouldn't have expected Your Highness to be in Valentia right now.”
“Pulling a stunt like this is an insult to the Imperial Family to begin with.”
“He merely hoped to prevent ties between the Imperial Family and Valentia.”
“……Fair point.”
The youth nodded calmly at the knight's measured words. For Rohiter, who needed the Emperor's protection to balance against Valentia, overreaching would be suicidal. He couldn't help his anger, but letting emotions lead to rash decisions was unworthy of a ruler.
However.
“……If I hadn't seen it, I'd let it slide, but having witnessed it firsthand, I can't just leave that scum be. If Valentia won't touch Rohiter, then I will. Well, my covert trip's wasted now.”
“I don't believe Your Highness needs to step in personally.”
“Hm?”
“Word is, Valentia's three young masters dote on their little sister. And they're all back at the estate right now. All three are infamous for their hot-blooded tempers, too.”
Hot-blooded tempers. Put less kindly, they lacked patience.
“……I see.”
“The fool who dared sully Your Highness's fiancée will be buried soon enough.”
For the first time that day, the youth found the knight's words utterly satisfying.
* * *
A minor uproar rippled through the bustling Valentia Ducal House, busy with preparations for the coming-of-age ceremony. The third son of the Rohiter Ducal House—there as an envoy for the ceremony—along with his escort knight, had been knocked out cold by a mere “commoner boy.”
Word was, the young master's jaw was shattered, and even a high priest's healing wasn't enough for him to rise anytime soon.
Questions abounded: Why was a commoner boy on the Blue Wing Knights' training grounds? How had he gotten involved with Lady Cloi and Tibron? But such mysteries were buried under the far bigger shock of the boy's age.
– He got taken down by a kid barely thirteen!
Those who hadn't witnessed it or knew nothing of Tiny could only reach one conclusion.
– How much of an idiot do you have to be, that Tibron kid and his knight?
Such mocking whispers of the Rohiter Ducal House spread throughout Valentino. Meanwhile, Tibron—fresh from a nightmare—wailed in agony.
“Catch that bastard and kill him! Ngh, how dare he mess with the great Rohiter Ducal House! Kgh.”
He grimaced repeatedly from the pain in his jaw, but his tantrum didn't stop. Even the silently treating priest could only click his tongue.
“Young master, lower your voice. The wound will reopen.”
“You, what the hell are you!? Didn't you hear me!? Where's Griem!?”
The priest's face hardened at the outburst. Imperial duke or not, this rudeness to a high priest? And from a mere third son, no less?
As the priest's face reddened, on the verge of retorting—bang! The door flew open as if about to shatter, and a burly blond youth strode in.
“……So it's you.”
“Wh-what!? Who the hell are—gah!?”
Tibron yelped defensively at the savage aura, but it only darkened the approaching youth's scowl.
“Who the hell? 'Gah'? Ha, you crazy bastard's got some guts! Do you even know where you are!?”
Tibron shrank involuntarily at the booming voice.
“……Father Luxen of the Valentia Diocese greets Valentia's heir.”
“Ah, thanks for your trouble. Treating trash like this.”
The treating priest shot up and bowed politely to the youth. Tibron's face drained of color. Those sky-blue eyes contrasting the blond hair—he finally recalled what they symbolized.
“……V-Valentia?”
He opened his mouth pitifully, cautiously, but……
“Valentia? Don't you dare utter that name, you scum!”
Crack!
“G-gahk!?”
He got a curse and a sudden punch in return.
“You piece of shit dared eye our Cloi? Ha, you're dying by my hand today. Got it, scum?”
Grabbing Tibron by the collar and yanking him up, the youth pummeled his face mercilessly.
Crack. Thud. Smack!
“G-gahk. Sp-spare me. I'm R-Rohi—.”
His desperate plea amid the barrage only fueled the youth's rage.
“Rohiter my ass!?”
Crack!
“Daring to smear shit on a lady in Valentia's domain? Even if you were imperial blood, no dice, asshole!”
Crack. Thud. Smack!
The blows grew fiercer, but no one intervened. Amid fading consciousness, Tibron felt wronged.
I…… I didn't do anything……
Precisely, he hadn't. His plans had fallen apart before execution. And those plans? Just the usual games between young men and women who hit it off.
So why was he suffering like this? That budding injustice erupted in a scream amid the terror of overwhelming violence.
“What the hell did I even do wrong!!!”
The youth paused for a split second, then wore an incredulous look.
“……Don't know? Then just die, asshole!”
His refined looks belied his crude words.
“What do you—!”
Crunch!
“G-gurgle.”
A direct hit to the groin sent Tibron rolling his eyes back in a faint.
“……Aaren, sir, surely you're not actually going to kill him.”
Luxen, watching with a grimace, cautiously reined in the flushed youth. Aaren's heated expression cooled somewhat.
“Hm, whether he dies depends on what intel my brothers bring. Priest, you're dismissed.”
But his response made Luxen shudder. Those now-calm blue eyes felt even more terrifying, laced with viscous killing intent.
He means to kill him. Definitely…… Aaren's lost it? Starting a war with Rohiter?
As Luxen bolted from the room with a stiff face, two more youths came dashing from the corridor's end. Smaller than Aaren but with similar sharp, angular features. Their faces, racing neck-and-neck, were strikingly alike.
Valentia's second and third sons—the twins, Tren von Valentia and Glen von Valentia.
“Damn, the screams stopped already!”
“Uwaaah! No way!? You didn't kill him yet, right!?”
“Damn it, big bro……!”
Only then could Luxen breathe a sigh of relief at their frantic exchange.
Yeah, they'll stop him.
One lunatic among the three young masters was enough. At least things wouldn't escalate further……
“……We can't let big bro kill him!”
“Obviously! I'll kill him!”
“Says who! Me, you idiots……!”
……Nope.
All three are insane. War…… This is bad.
Luxen collapsed in dread, but the twins blew past him like the wind.
* * *
“Big bro!?”
“Ah, ngh, shit…… Good, you haven't killed him yet.”
Aaren turned at the familiar voices from behind.
“……Cloi?”
“She's fine, luckily. Playing happily with some puppy?”
“Still, this scum's getting thrashed for sure. You've hit him enough, hand him over, bro.”
“Puppy?”
Aaren tilted his head at his brothers' replies. After their mother, Duchess April—the lady of the house—passed, little Cloi had given away all her beloved small animals to the servants and never kept pets again.
Yeah, back then was probably……
The day he'd last scolded his sister. Those animals had been like her mother's legacy.
But when he'd confronted young Cloi……
– Cloi! What the hell? Why!?
– D-Dad…… Every time I'm with them, he looks so sad…… Sorry, bro. Sob.
– ……!!
He'd been shocked by her unforeseen reply. A girl with such depth even as a child. And now, on the cusp of adulthood……
Healing old wounds, huh.
It gladdened him, but separate from Cloi's safety, he'd hold them accountable. If Rohiter had openly picked a fight……
……They definitely schemed behind the scenes.
He needed to uncover that first. To punish a wastrel without dragging the family down—or start a war.
Valentia's heir eyed his brother Glen coldly. The sharper-featured twin. Unlike Tren, Glen could think strategically and even ran a private intel network.
“What's Rohiter up to?”
“No signs of overt schemes. Their envoy party's smaller than expected, too. And intel says they've excommunicated him—unconfirmed, but.”
“Excommunicated?”
“Yes. If true, this idiot acted alone.”
……Why? Just a wastrel's folly?
“So no official fallout if we kill him? Nice……”
“They might strike from the shadows. He's still their blood.”
“Like they haven't before.”
Tren brushed off Glen's concern with a scoff and stepped forward, meeting Aaren's gaze.
“I met the kid. Shockingly, he's really Expert-grade.”
That stunned Aaren.
“What!?”
“And seems to have mastered gravity arts. We clashed lightly—I got pushed back. Absurd.”
“You got pushed?”
Tren, twenty-three and three years Aaren's junior, was already a peer Expert. His combat judgment was reliable. Pushed back?
“He's really thirteen? Half-long-lived race? Dwarf mix or something?”
“Nah. Didn't seem the type to lie about that. And Father wouldn't fall for it.”
“……Expert at thirteen. Unbelievable if true. Hm……”
A smile crept onto Aaren's lips after a moment's thought.
“Makes sense they'd pass down family secrets to that talent. A solid asset for the house. Might even become a transcendent.”
Thrilling for Valentia's heir that such a prodigy had learned their arts. But Tren added sour news.
“He won't join Blue Wing, though. Said Father approved.”
“……What?”
Even Aaren faltered.
Teaches family secrets to a thirteen-year-old Expert…… and doesn't bind him? What's Father thinking?
Perplexed, he soon shrugged it off.
“Father's wise; there's a reason. So we just deal with this idiot?”
Aaren eyed the fainted fool.
At least the kid stopped shit splashing on Cloi.
Rohiter's third son and knight, downed by a thirteen-year-old. Without that rumor, gossips would've spun scandals. His fiancée's announcement at the ceremony could've been tainted. If Rohiter truly aimed to smear them, they'd have fabricated rumors regardless.
Assuming it wasn't mere coincidence.
Wastrel causes trouble here, and conveniently excommunicated…… Funny.
They'd deny involvement if it succeeded. But who'd buy that now? Even success would've left endless backlash. A reckless gamble.
So why……?
Who'd object first to scandal on Cloi pre-ceremony?
……Her fiancé's house. If Rohiter risked it to splash shit, targeting ties with them and us…… No way?
As Aaren's thoughts deepened toward truth—
Knock knock.
“Phew, made it in time. Aaren, sir.”
He turned at the knock on the wrecked door. Silver hair, crisp uniform.
“Sir Jenas?”
Just six years older, a Challenger-grade knight and Blue Wing captain, smiling.
“His Grace's orders. Call you in before the young masters cause trouble.”
“……Trouble's already done.”
Aaren and the twins nodded at Tibron. Jenas just shrugged.
“You didn't kill him. Within expectations.”
“Not stopping here.”
“Right, even if Sir Jenas tries……”
“……We won't let live the one who tried to smear our Cloi.”
The twins chimed in. Even Glen, usually reining Tren, whipped the fire here. The brothers' aura was murderous.
But Jenas's smile held firm.
“Enough, young masters. His Grace says there's a 'better' way to use him.”
That piqued even the Valentia brothers' interest.