Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: The Viscount's Gambit
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047
"This damn city."
A woman with a face full of dissatisfaction walked down the corridor.
The young-looking woman possessed a striking beauty that shone even through her deep fatigue.
"How long do I have to rot in this backwater hellhole?"
Viscount Borfeo Territory.
That was the city's name.
But ever since the fall of the old empire, the title was just a hollow name with no real power, and the status they once held above all others had become nothing but a facade.
"Slaves or us—what's the difference?"
Lives that were used where needed and could be replaced at any moment.
That alone was grueling enough.
"You bastards!"
She was also tired of listening every day to the whining of those things who came crawling to her.
"Wine! Bring me wine!"
At the woman's shout, one of the maids hurried over and handed her a glass of wine.
Gulp, gulp.
She downed the wine in a manner that showed no trace of etiquette.
Finally, she reached her destination—her own room.
"Someday, this dogshit city..."
She trailed off mid-muttering.
Flutter.
The curtains she had bought at a premium from the upper district hung limply, swaying.
It was one of her treasures, something even the knights couldn't touch without her permission.
Gray moonlight poured in through the open window.
"What are you doing?"
A voice that shouldn't have been coming from there echoed out.
"Sit."
The woman thought.
Should she scream that it was insolence?
Call the knights?
"I knew it would come to this."
But instead, she casually made her way to the sofa and lay down.
"I knew it from the moment those merchant bastards started whining."
If she thought about where it all went wrong, it had been wrong from the start.
From the moment she tore her way out of her mother's womb.
From the moment she was born as Remy Borfeo, heir to Viscount Borfeo Territory.
"Wow. I heard the story, but you're even more straightforward than I imagined."
"That must make you Sein."
Remy spoke to the man slowly emerging from the shadows.
"You're Demorus? No, they wouldn't bother with a backwater like this. You must be here because of your turf."
"Those guys..."
He was the first to refer to Demorus in such a dismissive way.
"What's there to fear?"
There was still a bit of wine left.
Remy tossed it back without hesitation.
"Anyway, ever since that witch came to Borfeo, I knew something was off."
Arin's visit to Borfeo.
And then the back alleys' order—and everything in Borfeo—had been turned upside down.
"Demorus direct territory? Who in their right mind could live with that?"
A place directly claimed as territory by Demorus blood.
That place was Borfeo.
"Then you should've been more careful."
Sein sat down across from Remy.
"If you hadn't listened to all that garbage whining, I wouldn't have had to come here myself."
"True enough."
Smirk.
Remy grinned.
"But what can you do? The iron mines stopped producing ages ago, and ever since Sein Demorus, the great ruler of the back alleys, showed up, tax revenue's been in the toilet."
Sometime during that, wine appeared in Sein's hand.
Sein poured it into Remy's glass.
"Thanks. Anyway, I've got to survive somehow. My mistake was in the calculations. I figured even if you died in the candidate competition or came to Borfeo, it'd take a lot longer. Ugh. This stuff tastes like crap."
Remy pushed her glass forward as if asking for another.
"Before you showed up, I was planning to pocket some cash and bolt to the upper district, or tidy up the lordship. My bad."
Another glass.
And that was the end.
Clink.
The set-down wine glass held blood-red wine that sloshed gently.
"What a shame."
At Sein's words, Remy looked up at him.
"Yeah, it really is."
"......?"
"I'll give you a chance."
Sein said.
"Lately, I've been chopping off a few lords' heads, and it's getting headache-inducing. Even if it's a backwater, adding one more would give my enemies something to latch onto."
"......"
Remy shut her mouth, which had been spewing words without restraint.
This was the turning point.
"Do you want to go up?"
The fork in the road for her life.
"Or end your pathetic life right here?"
The fork where her long-cherished dream would either come true or not.
Remy.
Smirk.
Her mouth split into a wide grin.
"What should I call you?"
"Sein."
Flutter.
"Sein Demorus."
By then, Sein had vanished, leaving only his voice echoing in the room.
Crash.
The wine glass she had barely been holding slipped and shattered.
"Haa... haa..."
She'd acted nonchalant, but it had been hard to hold out.
"I thought I was done for."
But on Remy's lips spread a deep smile.
A mistake?
No.
This position was the culmination of all her calculations.
She wouldn't rot here and get trampled like a bug.
'Sein Demorus.'
That was the lifeline she had devised.
The bribes she took from the merchants weren't for trash like those curtains—they were for information on Sein Demorus's movements.
And this was the result: she had secured the line.
In front of Remy lay a small piece of paper.
*
*
*
The day after Sein visited Borfeo's lord, Viscount Remy Borfeo.
Murmur, murmur.
Borfeo streets were in an uproar for the first time in ages.
Stomp, stomp.
The guards who should have been manning Borfeo's gates.
Neigh-!
And the handful of knights guarding the lord's castle—all were marching into the streets.
It looked less like a parade and more like soldiers heading to face an enemy.
And at the very front.
"......!"
Stood Borfeo's lord, Viscount Remy.
The woman who, after inheriting her title and territory, had holed up in the castle and never come out.
"I-it's the lord!"
Noble status may have fallen to the dirt, but they were still nobles.
To the unremarkable commoners, they remained the heavens, the faith to be served.
Remy passed them by with her soldiers.
"What the hell is going on?"
"Where are they...?"
Then, they realized where Remy was heading.
"......!"
The onlookers couldn't hide their shock.
"It's the Derren Family!"
Because their destination was the Derren Family house.
Come to think of it, rumors had spread yesterday that the Derren Family's true boss, Sein, had visited the territory.
There were even witnesses who saw Derren himself come out to greet him in the streets.
"Are they insane?"
They could roughly imagine what was happening.
The Derren Family had grown too big and clashed with the lord.
If Viscount Remy Borfeo had gone completely mad and turned on Sein?
Borfeo would become a battlefield again.
Stomp! Stomp!
The soldiers advanced without hesitation.
Neigh!
Finally, Remy and her soldiers arrived at the Derren Family house.
"What is this about?"
Derren came out of the house with a few underlings to meet Remy.
Those who didn't carry Demorus blood or bear their name were due respect as lords.
"Last night, I heard a criminal entered Borfeo Territory."
"A criminal?"
"Word is, he beheaded Viscount Sur of Tanba."
"No way..."
Derren said with eyes blazing.
"You're talking about Sein, aren't you?"
"Yes."
Remy smiled.
"Sein Demorus—!"
Her voice rang out as if to shake the heavens.
The citizens who heard the lord's voice directly and saw her with their own eyes thought for a moment she had become a hero.
"By the Black-and-White Accord! I hereby arrest you for violating the treaty! Come out and submit to restraint!"
Before long.
Rustle.
Members of the Derren Family began emerging from the house.
Not just them—the ones behind as well.
Cyclops.
Fox.
Armed with gear that looked better than the soldiers', they surrounded Remy and her troops.
The soldiers were already terrified, and even the knights swallowed hard in tension.
And then.
"What's all the commotion?"
White hair, crimson eyes.
A young man who looked like the epitome of a beautiful delinquent stepped out of the house.
"Are you Sein Demorus?"
"...? You don't know me?"
"Shut your mouth—!"
Remy cut off Sein's words and shouted.
"You heard it from inside. I've obtained intelligence that you beheaded Viscount Sur of Tanba."
"......"
"By the Black-and-White Accord, you've committed an unforgivable crime."
Remy glanced at the knights.
They hesitated for a moment.
"I'll throw you in prison and investigate personally! What are you waiting for? Arrest him now—!"
One wrong move.
The moment the knights moved, the Derren Family would strike.
And what followed would be war.
Knowing that, the knights didn't budge easily.
"You lot!"
They served the lord, but they feared those people.
They knew how the underworld operated.
They knew what happened when you opposed them, so they'd turned a blind eye until now.
"Are you defying my orders?!"
"You've got some impressive subordinates."
Remy fumed in rage.
But then Sein stepped forward and spoke.
Rustle.
At his gesture, his raised hand alone, all the gang members released their weapons and fell back.
The opposite of Remy, who held the plausible name and territory of Viscount Borfeo.
They looked ready to accept even death calmly if Sein wished it.
"......"
At that sight, the knights grew even more frightened, and even Remy swallowed and shut her mouth.
"You idiots. When your boss gives an order, you at least pretend to follow it. No matter the consequences."
"......"
"Anyway, you're going to investigate me under the Black-and-White Accord?"
Sein stood before Remy and said.
"Yes."
"And you're ready to deal with the fallout?"
"...We'll see."
"Impressive."
Sein.
Stomp.
He extended both arms.
The flinching knights glared with wide eyes.
"What are you waiting for? Arrest me."
Sein offered his arms willingly.
"Dragging out the Black-and-White Accord—even a powerless punk like me can't do shit about that."
Smirk.
"What are you standing around for? I said arrest me."
"W-we'll escort you carefully."
The approaching knights glanced at Sein's face as they slowly cuffed him.
"Don't worry, everyone."
Sein said to Derren.
"I'll be back after some vacation time."