PHYSIENTS WILL ALWAYS OFFER BEST STORIES AND LIVE STREAMING ALL TIME
Lucia Chapter 101
LUCIA
C101
< — The founding party — > (1)
All the carriages entering the palace for the founding party briefly stopped at the palace entrance to sign in the guest book. Of course, even the carriage of the Taran ducal house could not be exempted from that formal process.
After confirming the identities of the personnel in the carriage, the palace guard told Roy that he had to leave his sword behind.
“You’re telling a knight to surrender his sword?”
Roy looked at the palace guard and frowned menacingly. Well aware of Roy’s notoriety, the palace guard flinched and hesitantly replied.
“You cannot carry a sword into a party held in the palace.”
The palace guard was merely carrying out his duty faithfully and had done nothing wrong. While grumbling, Roy released his sword and handed it over. In any case, weapons didn’t mean much to Roy. An expert didn’t distinguish between tools. If he wanted to, he could use a fork to kill someone in the party hall. He didn’t even need a fork. If he snapped their neck, that would be the end of it.
After receiving the sword, the palace guard quickly sent the carriage in. He didn’t want to get involved with the Mad Dog. As so, the walking murder weapon confidently entered the palace.
As soon the Duchess of Taran appeared, the surrounding noblewomen flocked to her. Seeing Lucia surrounded by layers of women, Roy wondered to himself.
‘The Madam is pretty popular. Does she remember the faces of all these women? I definitely have to ask later.’
Roy continued to watch over Lucia from a distance. Being a noblewoman’s escort was more complicated than guarding at the side of the Crown Prince. The escort must be considerate so that the target being guarded can enjoy the party, in addition, the escort must not stick too close.
When people saw Roy standing at the side, their eyes would widen, then they would spin around and walk away. Thanks to that, Roy was able to occupy an extensive area without bumping into anyone. Roy did not neglect to look over the vast party scene from time to time.
‘That woman.’
Roy spotted a familiar woman. There weren’t many cases where Roy remembered someone. They either gave him a good feeling or the exact opposite, a very unpleasant aura. The woman he spotted was definitely the same one he saw at the coronation party with bad smell that gave him a bad feeling.
As he watched over the Madam, Roy stealthily monitored the woman that gave him a bad feeling. The woman wandered around the party hall without interacting with anyone, then she stood in the corner and fixed her gaze on one location. There were a lot of noblewomen gathered where the woman was staring at, and at the center of the crowd was the Madam and Princess Katherine.
‘It’s strangely irritating.’
Roy pondered about what he should do to woman if she showed up next to the Madam. However, the woman swiftly turned around and left the party hall. When the woman was finally out of sight, Roy felt refreshed like he had finally gotten rid of the sand that was in his shoes.
‘Oh, that bastard came too. Well, he’s not the kind of guy that would miss stuff like this.’
David was also one of the few people that Roy could remember. When Roy was guarding the Crown Prince, he saw David almost every day. Every time David saw Roy, he looked as if he was seeing something insignificant. But whether he did that or not, Roy also faced him with an insignificant gaze. If only he wasn’t the younger brother of the Queen, Roy would have beaten him up a few times already.
‘Why is he like that?’
David was practically hiding himself in an inconspicuous corner of the party hall. Even when someone occasionally acted like they knew him, he put on an expression of I-don’t-want-to-talk and shook them off.
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Because Roy was not interested in news of the high society, he had no idea that David had gone down to the Ramis fiefdom. The guy who was usually pretentious and surrounded by people was now having an attitude like a guilty person. It was suspicious. And Roy’s eyes shone with a strange light.
The unpleasant woman appeared again, approached David and the two of them had a brief conversation. Even though they weren’t very secretive, they were being somewhat careful of their surroundings. And then, the woman left the party hall. After a while, David also left the party hall.
‘Are they lovers?’
The bad ones went well together.
‘Weirdly, something feels off.’
Roy turned his focus back to watching the Madam.
* * *
Anita hid in an inconspicuous place and nibbled on her lips as she looked at the Duchess, then at Roy who was a little distance away with his eyes never leaving the Duchess. She couldn’t think of a way to separate the Mad Dog from the Duchess. There wasn’t much time. The Duchess would be returning when it gets moderately late, she wouldn’t stay in the party till dawn.
‘I never thought she’d bring a knight with her to a party in the palace.’
There weren’t many cases of noblewomen bringing knights with them to the inside of a party. There was no established rule, but if an unknown daughter of a baron decides to bring a knight around everyone, it would be unusual and they would become the subject of ridicule.
At the Duchess’ level, even though they couldn’t say anything to her face, there were people who would tilt their head and wonder if there was a need to bring a knight to the party held in the palace, after all, there were strict identity checks performed at the entrance of the palace.
Actually, Roy was very conspicuous. Among the numerous people dressed formally, he was the only one dressed in light armor.
‘There is no other chance but today.’
The Duchess rarely attended balls. It was impossible to know when a day like today, a day where the Duchess attends a ball alone, would come again.
‘Let’s think of a place where the guard cannot follow. Restroom…right. The break room!’
Anita had once seen the Duchess use Princess Katherine’s break room. Most noblewomen knew that Princess Katherine had a private break room for herself.
They couldn’t step out first and ask the princess to show them her private space, but the noblewomen gossiped among themselves that if they had the chance, they wanted to see the Princess’ break room.
Anita decided to make up a situation. After confirming that Katherine was in the party hall, she went to the princess’ break room. In order to escape the boisterousness of the party, the break room was located a little further away from the party hall. Which meant that there were very few people walking by.
‘This location is very good.’
Two royal knights stood guard in front of the break room. When she pretended not to notice them and tried to get inside, the knights blocked her.
“What is your business here?”
“The princess gave me permission to use this place.”
“The princess has never given me such instructions.”
“Then, can you call the maid in there for me? The princess asked me to pass on a message.”
The knight went inside and after a while, a handmaid came out. Anita quickly measured the height and physique of the maid. Once she realized that the handmaid was very similar to herself, a plan began to quickly form in her head.
“That’s strange. This isn’t the handmaid. Are there any other handmaids?”
“There are no other handmaids inside.”
“Oh. Then I think I misunderstood something,” Anita said and turned around.
‘Two knights guarding the entrance. One handmaid inside. First, I have to remove the knights… I have to get young master Ramis’ help.’
Translator’s Corner:
* Another word for break room is lounge. I wanted to change it a while ago but I’ve already come so far with it so I’m just gonna leave it. Restroom and breakroom are different things (Obv)
* A handmaid is a maid that works in the palace, in case this isn’t clear.
< — The founding party — > (1)
David walked by Princess Katherine’s break room and beckoned to the two knights in front.
“You two. Come over here.”
The two knights exchanged glances with each other for a moment before they approached David. If it were an ordinary noble, there was no need to listen to them, but David was the son of Duke Ramis and the younger brother of the Queen. His status was one that couldn’t be ignored.
“What is the matter, sir?”
“Come with me for a moment.”
“But we have to guard here…”
“Jeez. It will only take a minute.”
“Alright then, one of us will stay behind.”
“I need help from two people. It is only just a moment. You mean you can’t even give me a minute of help? I’m disappointed.”
It was right for them to refuse for the sake of their duty, but they were only powerless palace knights. If a high-ranking noble held a grudge against them, they would lose their jobs without having any chance to defend themselves. The two knights looked at each other. A minute would be fine. In any case, there was also a maid in the break room.
As David turned around the corner of the corridor, bringing the knights with him, Anita, who was watching the situation, quickly entered the break room.
In the break room, there was a short passage of about ten steps, so that the inside of the break room could not be seen upon entering through the door. Turning around the corner, along the wall at the end of the hall, there was a door in the middle that led to the inside of the break room. When Anita came in, the handmaid stood up.
“You are the person I met earlier. How did you get in here?”
“The princess gave me permission to use this place.”
“Ah? But I have never received such instructions.”
“Then how did I get in here when there are knights guarding outside? Are you saying I am lying?”
When Anita cornered her as if she was angry, the handmaid hesitated.
“If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you the evidence. Come and see.”
The handmaid drew close to Anita. Anita turned the ring she was wearing, pointed it to her palm and opened the lid of the ring. Inside the ring was a tiny needle.
Anita suddenly grabbed the hand of the approaching maid. The startled handmaid took her hand away, but after a while, her eyes spun, and she collapsed to the floor with a thud. It was a poison that would make you pass out and gradually paralyzed you to death. If she wasn’t given the antidote within three to four hours, the handmaid would die.
Anita didn’t even care about the handmaid’s life. Rather, after doing something irreversible, she felt a subtle sense of pleasure, like all the bars that had been suffocating her were released.
Anita dragged the maid to the restroom next to the break room and laid her down. She quickly changed into the clothes of the now stripped maid. And then, she pulled out the bracelet, the magical tool, that David had given to her.
The magical tool she’d only heard about through rumors, was a crude silver bracelet. Most of aristocratic families’ magical tools were kept as a secret but there were a few things that were secretly known. The magical tool owned by the Duke Ramis family was one of such open secrets.
Anita put the bracelet on her wrist. The bracelet glowed faintly and tightened to fit her wrist. And Anita’s appearance in the mirror slowly began to change.
Her hair color changed to a very pale brown, and her pupils changed to color closer to black. She couldn’t completely change her structure into a completely different person. But, her overall impression had somewhat changed. The appearance and atmosphere around her had changed into such that it would be difficult to think this appearance and Anita were the same person.
The effect of the magical tool would last for one hour. David said that once used, it would take about a year before it could be reuse. But that didn’t matter. To Anita, one hour was enough.
* * *
Fabian lamented his position where he had to work late into the night of the founding day. Seeing his income increase in proportion to his dwindling time for rest, Fabian and his wife, Alice, had mixed emotions.
Without the eyes of his master watching him, Fabian was even busier. If something happened in his master’s absence, it would be a serious issue, so he couldn’t relax his mind.
‘It didn’t show up today too.’
His subordinate’s report had been delayed for a few days and it was grating on his nerves. A secret mission had a lot of unforeseen situations, so a plan was of no use. The date of a report being a few days off was something that happened often.
However, the fact that David was the subject of surveillance kept bothering him. When compared to his master, David seemed ridiculous, but on his own, David was a tycoon-level aristocrat. Moreover, unlike the capital, the Ramis territory was David’s domain.
‘Should I have sent two people to follow him? But this side shows nothing out of sort…’
The conclusion of the surveillance report on the Countess of Falcon was ‘nothing significant to report’. These days, they were only taking note of the Countess of Falcon’s movement. If she didn’t stray from her daily repeated schedule, they didn’t look carefully into it. The Countess poured her attention into the management of the bar and went around the bar every day.
‘Does she plan to completely become a bar hostess? But if she goes too far, her reputation in the social circle will hit the bottom.’
Whatever happens to the Countess’ reputation was none of his business. But putting aside his dislike of the Countess, Fabian had never thought that the woman was stupid. When he looked at her recent trajectory, he wondered what exactly was she thinking.
Fabian still did not stop trying to find out why David went to the Countess’ bar. Once he grabbed the tail, he never let go until the main body was revealed. That was the way Fabian worked.
Fabian didn’t know what David had talked about when alone with the Countess in the private room. He bought off a few employees and gathered up the words David had said, piece by piece.
When he heard that David had drunkenly praised the Duchess of Taran’s beauty a couple of times, he smelled something strange. And when he looked into it, he found that David gave the Madam a love letter but was refused.
‘This nutcase. He dares to covet who?’
If the man talked nonsense with the Madam and a strange rumor were to arise from that, the anger of his lord would explode. The ones below were always greatly affected by the mental state of their masters.
Fabian shivered. Such a thing should never happen.
A subordinate knocked on the door, came in and gave a brief report. He was in charge of monitoring Harry, the person who was now leading the youth’s association that David started. The subordinate came to report that David met Harry in the evening for a while and then left.
“What? That guy came to see the target?”
“They didn’t talk about anything important. He just briefly asked about the recent news…”
“Whatever those bastards talked about isn’t the problem. Right now-!”
‘David is in the capital right now? This fool!’
Fabian immediately sensed that something had happened to his subordinate that was attached to David. When dealing with many subordinates, sometimes, a ridiculous accident would occur.
Fabian summoned his subordinates immediately. He had to find information about the guy who was captured and figure out a way to bring him out.
‘There’s no way Duke Ramis has called him back to the capital already, so why the hell did he come to the capital? To attend the founding party? Just for that?’
Fabian put together all the information he had and created a variety of possibilities.
‘The founding party can be an opportunity for David and the Countess to meet naturally. But for a secret meeting, the bar is better. Do they really have a need to meet at the founding party?’
Fabian suddenly felt a chill on his back.
‘The Madam also went to the party.’
He had a bad feeling about this. Since Roy was guarding her, there wasn’t much to worry about. But he would only be relieved after sending someone to bring this to Roy’s attention. Fabian hurriedly ordered someone to infiltrate the palace.
___________
Lucia Chapter 102 - < — The founding party — > (2)
LUCIA
C102 - < — The founding party — > (2)
< — The founding party — > (2)
After changing her appearance, Anita came out of the break room, wearing the handmaid’s clothing. The knights who were called away by David, had returned to guarding the door, and when they saw the familiar handmaid coming out, their eyes widened. Seizing the initiative, Anita lowered her voice and spoke to the knights with a grave look on her face.
“Why in the world did you two leave your posts? The princess is inside right now. She asked where the knights went and was very angry to find you gone.”
The complexion of the knights turned ashen. Where was their luck and fortune? They didn’t expect that the princess would come in during the short while that they were gone.
They didn’t know what the Count of Ramis had against them to do what he did. He said he needed help, but he only took them along while talking about strange nonsense, then he told them to leave. If they were to use the Count of Ramis as an explanation and Count Ramis feigned innocence, they would be accused of making up an excuse and would be punished more.
The knights felt mortified. They were well aware of Princess Katherine’s difficult personality when she was angry. She would definitely call the Captain of the Royal Guards and explode at him, after which, the Captain would call on them and vent out his anger on them. Their future looked bleak.
“And that’s why I roughly made up something.”
“What do you mean by that?”
The knights who looked like they had fallen into hell were instantly revived.
“She might hear us from the inside, so let’s go this way.”
The knights followed Anita without hesitation. As the knights stepped away from the door and looked away, David, who was hiding, took that chance and quickly entered the break room.
“I told the Princess that you seem to have been called by the Captain of the Royal Guard.”
“Did the princess understand?”
“She was a little less angry. I don’t think she will call the Captain of the Guard to verify the authenticity of what I said. Later, you must apologize to the princess and ask for forgiveness.”
“Phew. We’re really thankful. I’m just seeing you for the first time, when did you start working here?”
“It hasn’t been long since I started serving the princess. Please look after me in the future.”
They happily exchanged pleasantries with each other. After overcoming a crisis, the knights’ eyes were drawn to the beauty of the handmaid. Even though they were utter strangers, not only did she help them, she was also pretty. The knights held a considerable amount of goodwill towards Anita.
Anita adequately responded to the knight making a pass at her and fluttered her eyes. Then she went back into the break room and chuckled insipidly with a frosty look in her eyes. The beings known as men are just…
David was walking around the break room and upon seeing the Anita that came in, he flinched.
“Are you…really the Countess?”
“Yes. It is me.”
“Huh. You really look like a different person. It might be my family’s magical tool, but this is my first time seeing it in action.”
“I am also amazed by the mysterious power of the Ramis family’s magical tool.”
“So, what do you plan to do now?”
“I will act as a handmaid and bring the Duchess here.”
“What if someone else comes here in that interval? If the princess comes…”
“I’ll take care of everything. Don’t worry and please wait. It will not take long.”
Anita asked David to never leave the break room. Then she packed up her clothes that she had taken off and left the break room. She spoke to the knights standing in front of the door.
“I’m going to escort the Duchess here on orders of the princess. The princess told me to tell you that she’ll be having an important discussion with the Duchess, and so no one should come inside.”
“Understood.”
There was no one that saw the handmaid and thought it was weird for her to be carrying a dress under her arm. Sometimes, a noblewoman’s dress would be dirtied with food and couldn’t be worn as it was, so the dress would be urgently transported.
Anita walked along the hallway, looking around and avoiding people’s eyes, then she threw the dress in a room that was used as a storage.
* * *
Anita approached Princess Katherine’s handmaid.
“His Majesty is looking for the princess and wishes to speak with her privately. I was told it is very urgent. I have to quickly meet with Her Highness the Queen, so I will take my leave.”
“I got it. But you, where are you from…”
The handmaid tried to identify the maid she had never seen before, but right after speaking, the maid turned away and disappeared with quick steps. Katherine’s handmaid was offended by the attitude of the unfamiliar maid who only said what she wanted to say before leaving. But she couldn’t ignore the message that the king was looking for Princess Katherine and urgently at that.
Anita hid in an inconspicuous place and watched Katherine. She confirmed the handmaid approaching Katherine to whisper the message, and Katherine leaving the hall afterwards.
She followed behind from a distance and watched until Katherine’s carriage left for the Inner Palace, then she returned to the party hall.
This time, she approached the Duchess’ maidservant.
“The princess says she has something to talk about with the Duchess in private. Please inform the Duchess that the princess is waiting for her in the break room.”
Hearing what the maid whispered into her ear, Lucia broke away from the crowd of noblewomen. As she stepped out into the hallway leading to the princess’ break room, a handmaid stood there, waiting for her.
Anita glanced at Roy, who was following behind the Duchess, and bowed her head.
“The princess stepped out for a moment due to an urgent matter. Is the order you were given correct?”
“Before the princess left to see His Majesty, she said that there was something she had to urgently tell the Duchess. She said it is related to the reason why His Majesty is looking for her.”
Before Katherine left for the Inner Palace, she slightly hinted to Lucia that she was going to see the King. Seeing as the maid knew about that, Lucia believed the handmaid’s words. Rather than growing suspicious, she grew worried and urgent. All sorts of thoughts filled her head, like the idea that maybe the King was calling the princess, because of news of her husband who was currently on the battlefield.
“Let’s go.”
Anita began to walk ahead of them. They walked along the desolate hallway, scarce with people. They were already quite a distance away from the boisterous clamoring of the party hall.
< — The founding party — > (2)
When they arrived at the break room, Anita looked at the knights with a smile in her eyes. They tried to make a solemn expression, but the corner of their lips twitched up and down in an attempt not to smile.
The knights did not deter Anita from going in nor did they stop the Duchess whom the princess had instructed to be allowed access at any time.
Anita went inside the break room and as if acting to close the door, she naturally moved to the rear of the group. After passing through the short hallway, the maidservant opened the middle door. As soon as the Duchess passed through the door, Anita quickly grabbed the maid’s hand and pricked it with a poisoned needle.
The maidservant turned around to look at Anita quizzically, but she quickly fell unconscious and collapsed to the floor. Anita deliberately let out a short scream.
“Oh my god!”
Lucia hurriedly approached to help the fallen maid. Anita acted like she was helping the maid but secretly relaxed her hand. She took a step back and pulled out a perfume bottle from her bosom.
“Duchess.”
Anita sprayed perfume in the direction of Lucia, who had lifted her head in response. The contents of the perfume bottle was an anesthetic that quickly made one fall unconscious. Lucia didn’t even have time to grasp the situation or let out a scream. Still holding onto her maid, she sank to her knees and fell unconscious.
Everything took place in a very short moment. Anita’s face was flushed red. She was so excited that she was short of breath.
“W-W-What…in the world. Why did you…”
David emerged, looking extremely flustered.
“What is this?”
David had taken this task lightly. He thought he just had to wait in the break room, meet the Duchess and that was it. He didn’t know he would bring substantial harm to the Duchess in this manner.
“Furthermore, what’s with the fainted woman in the bathroom?”
For David, the time he had to wait for Anita felt too long. He couldn’t stay still at all, so he looked around the break room and found a woman lying on the floor of the bathroom in her underwear.
“I momentarily put her to sleep so I could borrow her clothes. The Duchess is also only unconscious for a while. Please help me. Before the Duchess wakes up, she needs to be moved to the sofa and the maid has to be cleared away.
A conflict arose in David’s mind.
‘Isn’t this getting too big?’
He had no intention of taking any damage to himself due to this incident. Rumor with the Duchess. He didn’t think of anything more than that.
Anita read the cowardice from David’s hesitant expression. Because she already knew that David’s delivery was only to this extent, she wasn’t disappointed.
Plus, it wasn’t just David. Males, the lot of them were like that. They only cared for their profit and if they were slightly disadvantaged, they would pulled out their feet, but on the outside, they bragged as if they were magnanimous.
‘That man wasn’t like that.’
Sadness momentarily flitted across Anita’s eyes. The Duke of Taran. She had not met a man like him whose inside and outside were the same.
He did not whisper affectionate lies to get a woman’s body. He directly said he only needed her body. She didn’t even expect that man’s affection. She was even satisfied with only his body but.
Anita’s eyes fell on the Duchess and her gaze turned chilly. It was because of this woman.
‘You can’t withdraw like this.’
It was possible that she couldn’t completely escape from this incident. She didn’t expect David to loyally keep the secret till the end.
But if David were to withdraw here, she wouldn’t even be able to finish what she had started and would be the only one that got swindled. David had to be involved, even if it was only a little bit, for there to be a chance to get away.
“It’s just the beginning, are you going to stop here? I will follow Your Excellency’s will. It’s only too bad that such an opportunity will not come again.”
Knowing David’s personality, pushing him would backfire instead. Anita stepped back as if she was giving David all the right to make the decision.
‘You want to retreat alone? I’m sorry but you can’t do that.’
Anita fiddled with the ring in her palm. It wasn’t a completely bad idea to just kill everyone. Kill David and kill the Duchess too. Then finish it off by ending her life herself.
From the moment she stabbed the handmaid with the poisoned needle, she threw away all the taboos in the world that were obstructing her. It gave her an enormous sense of freedom. The darkness that had been piling up in her heart as she lived, burst out all at once and swallowed her whole.
“Well. We’ve come all the way here, I won’t cowardly run away.”
David made a resolute expression as if he had made a grave decision. He did not see the weird smile that Anita gave. Perhaps if he had seen it, he would have felt terrified enough to want to run away from the break room immediately.
“Are they really only temporarily unconscious?”
“Yes.”
“It won’t harm the Duchess, right?”
That harm to the Duchess may come back to bite him in the future, that sort of worry was David’s sincerity.
“Of course. There is absolutely no harm to the Duchess.”
The lingering bloodthirst in Anita’s eyes disappeared without a trace. She did not lie. The thing she sprayed on the Duchess was really just an anesthetic that cause one to temporarily lose consciousness. The Duchess’ maid and the handmaid lying in the bathroom would probably die, but she didn’t go out of her way to say that.
_________________
Lucia Chapter 103 [part 1] - < — The founding party — > (3)
LUCIA
C103 [part 1] - < — The founding party — > (3)
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< — The founding party — > (3)
Translated by: Miss Ruby
Edited by: ShadowDog
Roy leaned against the wall adjacent to the break room. He had confirmed with the knights guarding the break room door that there were no other entrances to the room.
‘It’s taking a long time.’
Being unable to see the target he was guarding right away made him uncomfortable.
‘Let’s wait for just 30 minutes. Then I have to make sure the Madam is alright.’
A servant approached from a distance and just as he passed by in front of Roy, he made a gesture that signaled their familiarity with each other. Roy naturally shifted his position and moved slightly away from the break room.
“Hey. You. Come here.” (Roy)
The servant, who had walked some distance away, heard the call and approached Roy with reluctant steps. And turning his back to the knights guarding the break room entrance, he stood and said in a quiet voice.
“There are characters that need to be watched cautiously.” (Servant(?))
Roy increased his voice as if wanting the knights to hear.
“Go bring me something to drink.” (Roy)
“Count Ramis and Countess Falcon. The message is to inform you that you should watch carefully if either of them approach the Madam.” (Servant(?))
The break room door opened, and a handmaid came out. The handmaid shared a knowing glance with the knights, then walked in Roy’s direction.
“I asked you to bring it, why do you have so much to say?” (Roy)
“You cannot drink alcohol here.” (Servant(?))
It was the scene of a servant who was pressed to follow a difficult demand, and a knight who was forcing him to bring alcohol. Because it was an action reasonable enough for someone as notorious as Roy, Anita held no suspicion and simply passed them.
The moment the woman passed in front of him, Roy’s head turned sharply in her direction.
‘What the— this smell is…’
It was a familiar but unpleasant smell. Roy knew a woman with the exact same smell. But that woman’s face was not like this. Roy persistently followed the woman with his eyes until she turned around the corner and disappeared.
“…Who? David and who?”
“The Countess of Falcon.”
“Don’t know who that is but anyway, it’s a woman.”
He straightened up and quickly approached the knights standing guard in front of the break room. Seeing Roy suddenly approaching them, the knights raised their guard.
There was no time to tussle. After making this judgement, Roy gathered power in his fists and unhesitatingly slammed them into the abdomen of the two knights.
“Kh!”
Not expecting him to attack without notice, the knights were unable to react at all and toppled over. Roy hit the back of their neck and knocked them out. He grabbed the unconscious knights by the scruff of their neck and using his chin, he gestured to the man who was dressed as a servant.
“Open the door.”
The man’s mouth opened a crack before he quickly opened the door. As Roy entered the room, the man checked to make sure that there was no one around to see them, then he followed inside and shut the door behind them.
Roy abandoned the two knights at the entrance, kicked opened the middle door and entered inside. Seeing the scene unfolding before his eyes, Roy’s eyes widened menacingly. The Madam was lying on the couch with her eyes closed, and beside her, stood David in a hovering manner.
His actions moved faster than his thoughts. Roy sprang at David in the blink of an eye and grabbed him by the collar.
“What did you do to the Madam!”
“Kuk!”
With the pressure on his throat, David couldn’t reply properly so Roy relaxed his grip slightly. David complexion had turned crimson as he frowned and struggled with both hands to remove Roy’s grip on his throat.
“You heinous bastard! Let me go this instant!”
Rather than obeying, Roy shook him with the hand that was grabbing his neck and threatened fiercely.
“If the Madam is hurt in the slightest, you will die in my hands.”
“The Duchess is saf…kuk.”
“Is this your handiwork?”
“N…No…she passed out for a mome…th-this…let go of this…”
“This fucker! Why would the Madam pass out?!”
As Roy held him by the neck and shook him, David continued to keep his mouth shut. Roy was breathing roughly as he fumed and deciding to listen to the bastard’s words, he relaxed the strength in his hand. But when David continued to look at him with his mouth tightly shut as if showing off, Roy released his neck in annoyance.
David arranged his crumpled collar with a very angry look on his face.
“Will you start talking about what the hell you’re doing here?!” (Roy)
“You insolent—! Do you know who I am?!” (David)
“I don’t care who you are. Explain.”
“And who are you?”
David snorted.
“Me? I’m the Madam’s guard, of course. And whoever harms the Madam will unconditionally die by my hands.”
Seeing Roy’s expression full of murderous intent, David flinched. Since it was this ignorant bastard, he wouldn’t care about the aftermath, he would just commit the act. David had often heard of the man’s notoriety in the high society.
“I simply came to meet the Duchess.” (David)
“Why would you?” (Roy)
David smiled mockingly.
“Well, because the Duchess invited me to meet her.” (David)
This dude is crazy. Roy thought.
“This isn’t a place that anyone can come in. I didn’t hear you were in here.” (Roy)
“But you…the way you’re talking to me…” (David)
David ground his teeth at Roy’s tone.
While David and Roy were having a standoff, the man who had followed Roy inside, felt the pulse of the Duchess who was lying down on the sofa. The man gave a sigh of relief and nodded to Roy when their eyes met.
“Duchess.”
The man shook her lightly by the arm and woke her up.
Lucia pressed her temples, frowned and slowly opened her eyes. Her head was heavy as if someone had placed a bunch of stones on it. She felt a headache different from her usual headaches; her head was just blank.
“Madam!”
“Sir…Krotin?”
“Can you stand?”
Lucia couldn’t think of anything at all. She just held the couch and mumbled that she had to get up as if she were perform a given task then she lifted her body. The man at the side helped by supporting her.
“Hurry and escort the Madam out of here. Make sure to keep out of sight. Something is strange.” (Roy)
“Understood. Please hurry, Duchess.”
Lucia wanted to know what in the world was going on. But she judged that now wasn’t the right time for such a thing.
Sir. Krotin was a guard that her husband had placed at her side out of worry for her safety. There was trust in her husband’s words when he said that Sir. Krotin was trustworthy as he was skilled. So Lucia decided to unconditionally believe in Sir. Krotin.
She felt a little dizzy but after a few steps, she was able to move with ease. As she followed the man who appeared to be a servant, Lucia was startled to see the knights collapsed at the entrance. Thanks to that, her vacant head seemed to awaken a bit.
The servant opened the door first and stepped out for a bit, then he came back inside.
“There is no one around. You may come out.”
The hallway was usually vacant of people. As they walked along the hallway, the servant continued to be on full alert as he checked the surroundings.
“Wait. Someone is coming. It would be better to avoid them.”
Since they weren’t very far from the break room yet, it was better to not be seen by anyone right now.
Lucia turned in the direction of the dead-end corridor with a bunch of armor set up as ornaments, and hid next to a set of armor. The man in servant’s attire walked forward, calm and composed.
A group of people appeared around the corner, consisting of about ten or so noblewomen and following them was Anita, who was dressed as a handmaid.
The servant passed by them naturally and acted as if he was turning the corner but carefully glanced at them. From the looks of it, the direction they were heading towards, was the princess’ break room.
‘Will Sir Krotin be fine?’
Although he was worried, there was nothing he could do right now. His most important task was to protect the Duchess.
The servant escorted the Duchess and walked towards the party venue.
Lucia was feeling quite better; the heavy feeling that had put her in a bad mood had improved. She straightened her waist naturally, like a noblewoman bring her servant along.
“Slow down. Otherwise it will seems like we’re in a hurry.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The servant slowed down his steps which he had unknowingly increased. And he slightly glanced at the Duchess.
‘She’s a really composed person.’
She didn’t ask anything nor did she get flustered and run around in confusion. The Duchess was merely following Sir Krotin’s instructions, but it was a great deal of coping ability for a noblewoman who had never experience anything rough and was used to giving orders rather than receiving them.
As they got out of the desolate hallway, people were buzzing around left and right. There were busy handmaids and manservants going somewhere with hurried steps, and also guests in formal wear that had come out in order to avoid the buzz of the party.
The servant called a passing handmaid, stopping her.
“Escort the Duchess to the party hall. And call the Imperial doctor. The Duchess says she had a headache.”
“Yes.”
The man naturally handed the Duchess to the handmaid and asked the handmaid to call the Imperial doctor to check if there was anything wrong with the Duchess.
Lucia briefly met eyes with the man. Then she left for the party hall with the handmaid. Her heart pounded as if it would burst, but she kept on taking quick breaths so that she wouldn’t reveal it.
The servant watched from a little distance away as the Duchess walked together with the handmaid, then he slowly followed behind. He walked as if he was coincidentally moving in the same direction. As of now, he decided that he must not take his eyes off the Duchess.
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Lucia Chapter 103 [part 2] - < — The founding party — > (3)
LUCIA
C103 [part 2] - < — The founding party — > (3)
< — The founding party — > (3)
After confirming that the Madam had completely left the break room, Roy spoke icily to David.
“You have not seen the Madam here today. Do you understand?”
David gnashed his teeth furiously. He was definitely going to make this bastard live a life worse than death. He wasn’t just rude. A mere vulgar commoner-born knight was insulting a Count heir to a Duke.
When David angrily tried to go past Roy in a huff, Roy blocked his path.
“What!”
“Answer before you go. My Madam was never here.”
David snorted.
“Didn’t you hear me? I came here after being invited by the Duchess.”
“This son of a—”
Roy growled. David flinched, then he was filled with indignation at the fact that he was overwhelmed by an ignorant knight’s attitude.
“And if I keep my mouth shut? Do you think you can hide the fact that the Duchess was here? What will you do about the knights guarding outside?”
“I just need to tell them to never speak of it.”
“How do you know that no one beside the knights and I know?”
Roy’s eyes took on a gleam. David wanted to upset Roy’s mood even more, so he kept mouthing off.
“Soon, people will come here. I am in the princess’ break room and the Duchess’ guard knight is together with me. Look forward to how I will explain this situation.”
“…Someone will come?”
“The Duchess’ guard knight left the Duchess and fought with the Count over a love affair. It’ll be very interesting.”
All expression died away from Roy’s face. Lifeless eyes, void of emotion like that of a wild beast, met with David’s eyes.
“…I see. This is a plot of yours.”
Roy smiled. It was an immaculate, bright smile.
David broke out in goosebumps. It was an instinctive sensation of life, responding to the threat of death. David tried to say something, but it was already too late.
Roy’s two hands grabbed David’s head and twisted it. Crack, along with the sound, David’s consciousness was cut off. Roy placed the unbreathing David on the floor and stood up. He looked around the break room with a subdued coldness in his eyes. It was completely different from his usual frivolous and careless appearance. Just like a beast that held its breath as it crouched just before taking the leap, there was a calm but ferocious energy around Roy.
Roy had now returned to being a hunter. He revived the sensation of his time in the north, when he had hunted down and killed barbarians.
‘The Madam definitely came here with her maid.’
Roy checked every corner of the break room. And he discovered the two unconscious women on the floor of the restroom. The first woman he saw was only in her underwear, and the other woman was his Madam’ maid. The lips of both women were dark in color, displaying the typical symptoms of poisoning. Their chances of survival didn’t seem very high.
‘I can’t leave the maid behind.’
If he was alone, he could get out of here without leaving a trace, no matter what. But taking an unconscious woman along would make things difficult. However, leaving the maid behind with the corpse of the Duke’s successor, meant that the Madam would get caught up in the situation.
‘Moreover, there is an accomplice.’
David said people were coming. That meant that there was a promise or an agreement for that to happen.
‘The person that brought this bastard here. They will definitely come back here.’
Roy was reminded of the handmaid that had passed in front of him earlier and the unpleasant woman that kept grating on his nerves. The two different looking people had the same smell. There was some kind of relationship between the two.
‘Who are they aiming for? The Madam? Or the Lord?’
While escorting the Crown Prince for more than a year, Roy learnt a lot of things. He witnessed the battles of aristocrats, where they made rumors and spread them in order deal with their enemies.
At first, he thought ‘a man should pick up his sword and fight fair and square, what sort of crappy act is that’. But he came to the realization that sometimes, the effect of a rumor was much more fatal than that of a sword.
‘The Madam is a woman. A rumor is not good for a woman.’
Regardless of who they were aiming for, if they harmed the Madam, the result would lead to his lord being harmed as well.
‘The accomplice must be eliminated.’
Roy gave up on escaping. And he thought of cleaning up. He decided to get rid of all traces of the Madam ever being here. A true hunter should not leave any traces or any causes for future concern.
He had to start with getting rid of the witnesses. He broke the necks of the maid and the handmaid, killing them instantly. He felt a little sorry to the maid whom he was slightly acquainted with.
‘Sorry. I’ll beg for forgiveness in hell later.’[1]
He dragged in the knights who were strewn across the floor at the entrance. They were witnesses to the scene of the Madam entering the break room. As expected, he killed them too, and leaned them against the wall in an inconspicuous blind spot.
The whole process was over in the blink of an eye. Many lives were lost in an instant, but for Roy, it was a hunt. There was no fear or any feeling of guilt in him after murdering ordinary people.
Roy sat on the sofa, closed his eyes and waited patiently. His sensitive senses caught the sound of a group of people heading in his direction. The gradually approaching footsteps stopped in front of the door to the break room.
The moment the door was opened with a tiny click sound, Roy opened his eyes. The middle door opened. A dozen or so noblewomen piled into the break room, discovered Roy and stopped.
Roy’s eyes flashed. He saw the eyes of the handmaid quiver relentlessly as she stood, holding onto the door latch.
Anita thought something was strange from the moment she didn’t see the Duchess’ guard in the hallway, and when she saw that there were no knights in front of the break room, she felt something wasn’t right.
However, she couldn’t refuse the noblewomen who were following her and urging her to quickly open the door. If she ran away like that, it would be way too obvious. She thought that regardless of what had happened, after bringing the noblewomen inside, she would take the chance and naturally remove herself.
The noblewomen would never open a door with their own hand. Anita was annoyed even though she herself was such a noblewoman. As soon as she opened the middle door, Anita came face-to-face with Roy, who was staring straight at her. She couldn’t move an inch as if she had become a frog in front of a snake.
‘So it is you.’
Roy instinctually judged that this woman was at the center of all the things that had occurred. Following the temperament of a hunter, which relied more on the body’s senses than reasoning, he pulled out the hidden dagger that he always had on him, and immediately threw it at the woman’s neck.
Translator’s Corner:
[1] This is more like ‘I’ll beg for forgiveness when I go to hell later’.
E/N: Wow, didn’t expect such a bloodbath here heh, but gotta give it to Roy for his way of handling things. This dog approves of it, the dead cannot talk. XD
*Hope you don’t mind the editor’s comments. I’ve been leaving them in cause it’s the end of the chapter anyways and you can think of it as a comment.
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Lucia Chapter 104 [part 1]
LUCIA
C104 [part 1]
< — The founding party — > (4)
Lucia returned to the party hall and mixed in with the noblewomen. She didn’t have time to think properly and because of the sudden incomprehensible sequence of events, her heart was racing, and her palms were sweaty.
But even then, she was outwardly smiling at the noblewoman who was talking to her. Her experience in the dream of socializing while wearing a fake smile till she was sick of it, was very helpful to her.
Katherine returned to the noisy party hall filled with the sound of people’s voices and music. She quickly approached Lucia without concealing her cloudy expression.
As soon as Lucia saw Katherine, her mind which had been in a state of confusion, began to regain order. This whole situation began from the moment she went to the break room after hearing the maid say that Katherine was looking for her.
“Princess. Are you…coming back from the Inner Palace?”
“You know, I just ran a fool’s errand. His Majesty was never looking for me. I am going to find out who in the world passed on this nonsense and punish them severely for this.”
Katherine furiously expressed her displeasure.
Seeing this, Lucia realized that she had been conspired against. Someone lured Katherine first with lies, and then used that to lure her to the break room.
‘Why? Who would do this?’
If not for Sir. Krotin, it would have resulted in a huge problem. Lucia thought back to the situation in the break room earlier. The man whom Sir. Krotin was holding by the throat was definitely the Count of Ramis.
‘I don’t know how this situation came about. Did Count Ramis try to harm me?’
More than anything else, Lucia’s biggest worry was what would happen to Sir. Krotin.
“Duchess. The imperial doctor is waiting for you.”
A handmaid approached them and said.
“The imperial doctor? Duchess, are you not feeling well?”
“Yes. My head is a little…”
“Oh no. You should go home and rest. I don’t think Duchess is cut out for activities that are late at night.”
Suddenly, people began to stir. In the hallway connected to the spacious party hall, the royal knights made their way through, and the sound of banging armor echoed as they moved swiftly. Realizing that the knights were headed towards the princess’ private breakroom, Lucia’s expression paled as she stiffened.
A situation where there was a collective movement of knights that could ruin a party’s merry atmosphere was extremely rare. People began to grow noisy as they wondered what big incident had occurred.
“Go find out what’s going on.”
Katherine sent her handmaid. The sound of the knights’ banging armor grew farther away and Lucia went to the public break room to get a checkup from the imperial doctor. In the meantime, the atmosphere of the party slowly returned.
The noblewomen gathered around Katherine. A certain noblewoman spoke up.
“Please show us your break room sometime too, Princess.”
“I agree. I know not too many people can go together at once, but I feel sad that I didn’t have the honor of being invited to the first opening of the princess’ break room.”
“What do you mean by opening of my breakroom?”
“Earlier, didn’t the handmaid escort several ladies to the princess’ break room, under the princess’ instructions? We were told that Princess was holding an opening and had chosen the first visitors.”
“I never gave such instructions. So you mean to say that I now have people who I never gave permission to, inside my breakroom?”
When Katherine retorted sharply, the noblewomen were bewildered and looked at each other.
***
After being told by the imperial doctor that there was nothing wrong with her, Lucia returned to the party hall. And at the same time, the handmaid who Katherine had sent on an errand, came back to the party hall and whispered something to Katherine with a very stiff expression. After hearing what she said, Katherine’s expression also stiffened.
“Duchess, a minute please.”
Katherine took Lucia away from the crowd of people and went a remote area.
“Duchess. Don’t be alarmed and listen to me. I looked into what the knights were up to, and it seems like an accident has occurred. Actually, rather than calling it an accident…”
Katherine was unable to finish her sentence.
Lucia intentionally tried to make a calm expression, but her tightly clenched fists were trembling. She had an ominous foreboding. An eerie cold chill ran up her spine.
Please. Lucia muttered to herself. Her heart rattled with worry that something bad might have happened to Sir. Krotin.
“There was a murder. The culprit is Duchess’ guard escort. Knight Krotin.”
***
The lord has changed.
“For the time being, we’ll use this village as our camp.” (Hugo)
“Yes, my lord.”
As he watched Boris, who was looking at their lord with sparkling eyes and yelling with his loudest voice, Dean thought this. Boris was the youngest participant among the knights of the northern subjugation this time. And he did remarkably well in the battle with the barbarians.
Although Captain Elliot wasn’t big on emotional expression, he looked satisfied at his son’s growth. And Boris’ expression was full of pride that he was participating in an important mission as a knight of the family.
Dean predicted that it wouldn’t be easy for Boris to recover from the shock of the first battle, but Boris beat that prediction. The reason for that was because their lord had changed.
During the battle with the barbarians, the lord mainly commanded them. He didn’t take just the elite knights and slaughter the barbarians indiscriminately as before. The knights who guarded the border were inducted into the ranks and participated in the war as well.
He gathered the knights, made strategies and utilized various methods of operation. The knights fighting the barbarians under the direct command of the Duke, entered battle with firm resolves, and enjoyed their proud achievements.
‘If it’s not just a temporary change…’
Dean looked at Boris, who was busily running around here and there.
‘The darkness that only the elite knights were privy to, will now disappear. Boris will be the beginning of a new generation of elite.’
Hugo proceed with the barbarian subjugation differently from the way he had done it before. The purpose was not to adequately reduce the numbers by tens of thousands, but to scatter the tribes that were beginning to gather together, reduce their forces and alienate them. He mobilized as many knights as possible and carried out various strategies. He didn’t leave any room for later troubles and dealt with it quickly. He had made his goal of returning home, his top priority.
And unlike before, Hugo didn’t feel any inclination to kill barbarians, even when they were in sight. Compared to his desire to hold his wife, the desire for slaughter and spilling blood was merely annoying.
The villages near the border were always exposed to the threats of barbarian looting, so they were very cooperative. The reason why the villagers didn’t leave their villages despite the risk, was because of their stubborn attachment to their hometowns.
By the time all the elderly people were dead and gone, the ones who left the village when they were young grew old and came back home. Like that, they stubbornly maintained the village’s existence.
In a remote village, there was always an abandoned empty house. Among those, he picked a somewhat sturdy house, roughly cleaned it up and made it their headquarters. In the first place, Hugo wasn’t the type to care for showy displays, so it was only a matter of tidying up the dust and preparing a wide desk for meetings.
While Hugo was reading a detailed report that came from various quarters, a knight came in.
“My lord, the village doctor is asking to see you.”
“Why.”
“He said you would know the name ‘Philip’.”
Hugo lifted his head. And he gave a forced laugh. He had thought the man was wandering around from place to place but had no idea that he was coincidentally staying here. Philip wasn’t a face that he really wanted to see, so he considered whether he should see him or not, then decided that there was no reason to avoid him.
“Let him in.”
Sometime after, the knight brought Philip in. Hugo sent the knight out. He silently watched the shabbily dressed Philip as Philip respectfully bowed his waist.
“What do you want?”
“Knowing you were nearby, I couldn’t help but come to pay my respects.”
“No need for that. There’s nothing good in seeing each other’s face so just act like you don’t know me. If that’s all, get lost.”
Philip studied Hugo carefully.
Hugo knit his brows, showing his displeasure. The only person who stared at his face so openly and directly was this old man.
“Should I ask them to drag you out?”
“You’ve changed.”
“…What?”
“The way you look at me is different from before. Before, you exuded bloodthirst like you were about to go for the kill.”
Hugo had never once felt good listening to the old man’s bullshit. But this time, when he heard his words, he thought, ‘Is that so?’. It was true that when looking at the old man now, he didn’t feel as twisted inside and nauseated as before.
Philip was a trace of all of Hugo’s nightmares. He was a medium, a reminder that he was a disgusting and terrible monster. But now, he wasn’t that terrible.
“You mustn’t change. As the true owner of the north, you have to be calm and cold hearted. Young master is the true Taran bloodline…”
Hugo lowered his gaze to the report he was reading with a sigh. As expected, the old man only spoke nonsense whenever he opened his mouth.
“Get out.”
“…Is the Madam well?”
Hugo’s red eyes vividly deepened, turning blood red. His gaze turned murderous as he looked at Philip and fiercely bared his teeth.
“Don’t even put her in your dirty mouth. There’s no need for your concern.”
“It’s just my concern as a doctor about whether the Madam’s symptoms are still the same as before. If you still need the cure…”
“Don’t need it.”
Hugo called a knight and ordered him to drag Philip out. Holding onto the Knight’s hand, Philip continued to chatter.
“I’m planning on staying in this town for the time being. If by any chance, you need my help to treat the Madam, please call me.”
Hugo ignored him. Philip went out and left a last word.
“The day you look for me will come.”
Hugo snorted. Every time he met the old man, it never ended well. Next time, he definitely won’t see him.
“My lord. Urgent news!”
A knight entered in a haste. The small wooden container that the knight handed over, had a sign demarcating that it was news from the capital.[1]
As Hugo’s expression stiffened, he hurriedly took out the message and read it.
After reading the short message, Hugo slammed his fist on the desk and sprang to his feet. He immediately ordered the startled knight.
“Call Callis…Sir. Elliot. Right now!”[2]
Translator’s Corner:
[1] I have no clue what [나무통은] is. All I could find was wooden pail so I figured it’s a wood container…
[2] The knight he’s calling, his full name is Callis Elliot. I believe he’s the knight captain.
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Lucia Chapter 104 [part 2]
LUCIA
C104 [part 2]
Lucia Chapter 104 part2
< — The founding party — > (4)
Three days had passed by. The outrageous events committed by the Mad Dog Krotin had quickly spread throughout the high society. The nobles flocked towards news of the completely unexpected and rare incident. When people were alone, they all talked about the same topic. While calling it a terrible incident with a concerned look on their face, they all enjoyed watching someone else's house on fire.
Roy was arrested for the crime of murder. The dispatched royal knights were worried about what to do if Roy refused to be arrested and ran away, but unexpectedly, he was obedient and let himself get tied up with a rope.
Princess Katherine's private break room became a crime scene and access to the room was thoroughly prevented, except for the parties concerned, and the investigation team, who went through the room numerous times.
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Lucia had quickly returned home, without knowing the truth of the incident that day. The guards that were waiting for her outside the palace had gone into the party hall to request for her to return home first, and she couldn't refuse them. And after she returned home, she was once again examined by the doctor to check her physical condition, then she was stuck inside the ducal residence for the three whole days.
The ducal residence was under heavy emergency security measures that not even water could slip through. Before the Duke left the capital, the guard captain was entrusted with full authority during a state of emergency. The ducal residence was now in a state of thorough protection as if a war had taken place.
The palace had tried to call the Duchess in as a witness on multiple occasions, but the messenger didn’t even get to see the Duchess' face before returning.
"The Duchess cannot go alone to the palace over such an unsavory incident while the Duke is absent."
After receiving the firm refusal from the guard captain, the King was somewhat displeased. But he had no other choice. To bring in the Duchess, they would have to fight the knights protecting the ducal residence, and that would mean a war with the Duke of Taran. Kwiz had no intention of ever becoming enemies with the Taran family.
Once Fabian found out that an incident had occurred, he immediately sent an urgent message to the Duke. And afterwards, every time he got new information, he would sent additional messages. He made sure that by the time the Duke had arrived at the capital, he would be fully up to date with what Fabian had found out.
Currently, the Taran family Information Division was fiercely gathering information. They didn't hold back on spending money and made use of all the connections that they could mobilize.
And on the fourth day since the incident, Fabian came to the ducal residence. He came to give a report to the Madam on the situation that had developed in the meantime.
Fabian couldn't ignore the messages that Jerome kept sending about how the Madam couldn't eat properly or even sleep, and at this rate, it would become a huge problem. When he thought of it, it was huge blow to Roy, but when the lord returned, the Madam's health was more important than Roy's life.
Last night, Fabian got special consideration from the King and was able to meet Roy secretly, without anyone knowing.
In the dungeon, Roy looked relaxed as if the solitary prison cell was his vacation site. He lay stretched out on the floor, supporting his head with his arm, and as soon as he saw Fabian, he waved his hand.[1]
"Yo. You came?" (Roy)
Fabian's blood pressure suddenly shot up and he grit his teeth.
"You crazy fucker! 'You came?' Yes! I came! What makes you so peaceful when you're making other people run around day and night, huh?" (Fabian)
"Should I cry then?" (Roy)
"Ugh…I shouldn't even have asked. I knew you would cause this kind of trouble one day. But, if you were going to do it anyways, at least do something that can be handled, damn you." (Fabian)
Fabian cursed Roy out to his heart's content, but Roy merely cleaned his ears out with a bored expression from behind the bars. Seeing this sight, Fabian got even more upset and had to pat down his chest.
From the day he was arrested till now, Roy had not said a single word about the incident. The reason why the King had sent in Fabian, was because he wanted Fabian to persuade Roy to release information about the facts of the incident, even if it was just a little bit.
Formally, Roy was imprisoned in the dungeons as a vicious criminal, but apart from that, he didn't receive any other rough treatment. There was no full-scale investigation yet, he was in one piece, eating the food served in the dungeon on schedule, and basically doing well.
"Speak. I have confirmed that there isn't anyone around listening." (Fabian)
Roy relayed the situation at the time to Fabian, just as he had seen it. It was Fabian's job to listen to the information, infer, and piece things together.
"Why did you kill David? If you had let him live at least, this situation wouldn't be so dark, you know." (Fabian)
"If I had spared his life, there would be trouble later. Since if I spare him, trouble, if I kill him, also trouble, then killing him is better." (Roy)
"Cruel bastard. Beast. It's terrible that a guy like you has walked freely under the sun till now. Bloody fucker." (Fabian)
Fabian was overwhelmed with anger again and after fuming, he continued to speak.
"Why did you kill the Countess in a place with so many witnesses? You could have easily escaped by yourself. Because of that, you put yourself between a rock and a hard place, and you've become a criminal caught in the act."
"That's why I am saying…"
"What?"
"Show me evidence I killed her then I'll believe I did. It has to look like I acted crazy by myself so that there's no connection to the Madam and the lord, no?"[2]
The guy is a lunatic, but he's a bright lunatic, Fabian thought.
"There's no one with an intact sanity serving under my lord."
Fabian spat out, lamentingly.
"I thought I had to kill the woman before she opened her mouth. But wow. It's really amazing. That woman's face changed as soon as she died. How did that happen?"
Fabian groaned loudly then replied.
"A magical tool. A property of the Duke of Ramis House. Although now they claim that it was stolen from their ducal residence."
There were a lot of suspicious points about the late Countess of Falcon, so the royal family left Roy alone and concentrated on the Countess first.
She used a magical tool claimed to have been lost from the Duke of Ramis House, pretended to be a handmaid, used Katherine's breakroom unauthorized, and poisonous substances were discovered in the ring on her hand.
They couldn't get a confession since she was already dead, but they were unhesitatingly tearing through the Countess of Falcon's mansion and businesses.
"Do you know what your biggest sin is right now?" (Fabian)
"I killed someone."
"Right. I don't know about the others, but the problem of killing the Duke's heir is huge. Well, that's that. But why did you use your weapon when you killed the Countess? You secretly brought your weapon into the palace without getting permission. They can charge you with attempted assassination of the king."
Roy scratched his chin and said.
"…Just habitually…"[3]
"…Just die."
END OF BOOK 6.
Translator's Corner:
[1] Because this is a flash back, the author doesn't use " ", instead uses ' '. But I didn't want confusion with thoughts, so I used "". If you would prefer for me to italicize the conversation to show some difference, tell me.
[2] This might be confusing but the raw is exactly this. 'Show me evidence I killed her and i'll believe'. I think he's being snarky because I mean, technically he didn't kill her. He killed a handmaid.
[3] I would have translated this as 'I just habitually…' but the author used 그냥 to start both sentences. I think it shows Fabian's annoyance in picking the same word, so I wanted to keep that.
Note: Fabian curses…A TON in this chapter.
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Lucia Chapter 105 [part 1]
LUCIA
C105 [part 1]
Chapter 105 [part 1]
BOOK 7 BEGINS.
Hearing that Fabian had come to the residence, Lucia hurriedly came out of her bedroom. Her face was filled with worries and had become worn out in the span of a few days. Fabian and Lucia sat opposite to each other in the receiving room and Lucia urgently asked.
“Have you seen Sir. Krotin? Is he safe?”
‘Forget about safe, that guy is having such a blast. The punk has six lives, I’m telling you.’
“Yes. There is nothing wrong with him. The dungeon’s environment isn’t the best, but he is adapting decently.”
Lucia heaved a sigh of relief. When Princess Katherine named Roy as the murderer that day, Lucia was more relieved than surprised. Hearing that he was the assailant and not the victim, meant that Roy was safe, at least.
“What will happen to Sir. Krotin?”
Lucia didn’t know the specific details of the incident apart from the fact that Roy had killed David and the Countess of Falcon.
Later, she heard that the handmaid who had sprayed something strange on her face, was the Countess of Falcon who had changed her appearance with a magical tool. The maid whom she had gone into the break room with, did not come back with her. Lucia could only guess that something bad had happened to her.
There were six people’s death that were connected to Roy, but out of those, the death of the two women in the bathroom and the two knights, were only known to those involved in the investigation.
In particular, the two women were found poisoned, and the poison was discovered on the deceased Countess, so Roy had not yet been directly associated with the death of those two. The rumors spreading throughout the social circle was that Roy had killed both David and Anita.
“It is still being investigated.”
“If they conclude that Sir. Krotin committed murder, he will be sentenced to death. He killed none other than the eldest son of the Duke.”
“…That is correct, but-”
“I will go to the palace and bear witness. If I explain the situation at the time…”
“You cannot do that, Milady.”
Jerome and Fabian said at the same time.
“You have to understand why Sir. Krotin has kept his mouth shut this entire time without even pleading his case. If Milady steps forward, you will become an involved party in this incident.”
The death of the Duchess’ maid was not known publicly. Roy was the Duchess’ escort, but because he had been doing crazy things for a while now, people were surprised but they accepted it as possible.
Nobody linked the Duchess to this incident. In addition, Princess Katherine had testified that the Duchess was with her at the time of the incident. Thanks to that, Lucia was excluded from the case.
The Duchess staying inside the mansion, within the iron-clad security and not coming out at all, was in accordance with her nature as she didn’t like to socialize much, so there wasn’t anyone who thought it was weird.
Many of the noblewomen who had witnessed someone die in front of them that day, had fainted and had to be carried away. People understood that the vicious act of her own guard escort would have given the Duchess a huge shock.
Fabian judged that as long as Roy kept his mouth shut, no matter how thoroughly they investigated, it was impossible for them to implicate the Duchess because Roy had gotten rid of all the people involved.
‘He is a crazy dude, but the guy’s method really took care of everything neatly.’
In Fabian’s mind, Roy had gone to this extent, but if the Duchess had stepped forward and flipped everything over, the day that his lord returned, would be the day of his funeral.
‘I want to live long, Milady. I want to live very long.’
“Milady, I understand you’re frustrated, but please wait until the lord returns. I sent an urgent message and got a reply that he’s already on his way.”
“So I have to stay just like this? What do I do if Sir. Krotin is executed in the meantime? The Duke of Ramis will not stay still.”
“That sort of thing will never happen, so please relax your worries.”
The King held goodwill towards Roy. Roy had saved his life quite a few times when he was the Crown Prince. The King would definitely not start the investigation and would drag things out the time until the Duke of Taran returned.
Even for political benefit, the work planned for the future with the Duke of Taran, who was in the prime of his youth, was much longer than that of the Duke of Ramis, who was in his twilight years.
“To think a good man like Sir. Krotin was caught up in this kind of situation because he was trying to help me. There’s no way Sir. Krotin had planned to kill someone. Sir. Krotin must have judged that the Count of Ramis would hurt me and handled it excessively, causing this incident to happen.”
Lucia’s eyes reddened, and tears welled up in her eyes. She took the handkerchief that Jerome quickly handed to her from the side and dabbed her eyes.
Fabian smacked his lips with a weird expression. He was frustrated because he couldn’t say that that guy was actually nuts.
‘It seems that punk made a fairly good impression on the Madam.’
“The specific details will be released when my lord returns. Although Milady has roughly told me about the circumstances at the time, it is still difficult to judge the exact situation since Sir. Krotin has kept his mouth shut. I ask that you please wait in the meantime, even if it’s frustrating.”
“…Okay. It looks like there is nothing I can do.”
“The most important thing is for Milady to be alright.”
Fabian hurled curses upon curses at Roy, but a part of him thought that Roy did well. Imagining a situation where a group of those talkative noblewomen saw the Count of Ramis and the Duchess, together alone in an enclosed space, Fabian seriously broke out in cold sweat.
A scandal surrounding the Duchess would rock the high society, and it wouldn’t be a matter of merely dying once or twice in his lord’s hands when he returned. Roy had taken six lives and save another life.
* * *
Hugo entrusted Callis with full authority and immediately left for the capital. He changed horses at intervals and dashed at maximum speed without rest. It took him a whole five days to get to the gate because he was at initially the northernmost distant point from the gate.
Upon arriving at the capital’s gate, Hugo urged his horse again and raced to the mansion. Because of a horse galloping on the complex roads, carriages had to stop moving and streets became crowded. The knights following a distance behind the Duke had to sort things out so that it wouldn’t lead to a big accident.
The horse arrived just in front of the mansion and Hugo jumped down from the horse then quickly entered into the mansion. A servant ran to inform the butler that their master was back. By the time Jerome came out of his office in a haste, he was only able to see the back of his master, who was already on the second floor.
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LuciaChapter 105 [part 2]
LUCIA
C105 [part 2]
Chapter 105 [part 2]
< — Negotiation — > (1)
Lucia had no motivation at all. She sat absentmindedly on the sofa in her bedroom. Jerome had kept on encouraging her to eat something, but she didn’t know how her food had tasted. Her mind was constantly replaying the situation of that day repeatedly.
Her unconscious maid collapsed on the floor, the woman who sprayed something on her face and the hatred and triumph that filled her face in the short moment their eyes met, the dizziness that followed when she woke up from her momentary unconsciousness, the Count of Ramis, Sir. Krotin who was grappling with Count Ramis, and Sir. Krotin’s voice telling her to leave.
‘So that woman was the Countess of Falcon.’
One could only wonder what she was planning to do, even going to the extent of using a magical tool to change her appearance. Fabian said that it was probably an attempt to make a scandal around the Duchess, but Lucia couldn’t understand. What about this would be helpful to the Countess for her to do such a thing?
Lucia couldn’t empathize with the ugly twistedness inside the human heart. Even though she had suffered through a lot of hardship in her dream, she had never blamed others and harbored intense burning hatred for them.
‘…She’s probably dead, isn’t she.’
They seemed careful to discuss the specific details about what had happened to her maid. Seeing as there was no news up till now, her maid was most likely dead. Maybe something went wrong in the time she had collapsed. Lucia was more curious about why the Countess did not hurt her.
Lucia closed her eyes which were heating up.
‘The poor girl died innocently.’
Lucia’s heart ached at her maid’s death. She did not favor a particular maid on purpose, but she liked that maid because she was simple and sincere. It may be due to her experience of working as a maid in her dream, but she couldn’t think of it as the death of only a servant. Her death was unfair and in vain. Her family wouldn’t even be able to complain anywhere.
Even if they were a servant, as long as they were affiliated with the Duke, there were the Duke’s people. Lucia should have protected her. Herself who was unable to do that seemed incompetent, she felt sorry and she didn’t know how to comfort the heartbroken family who have now lost their daughter or sister.
Suddenly, Lucia heard the sound of the door opening and opened her eyes with a start. Seeing the person entering into the room, Lucia quickly rose to her feet.
Looking at him approaching her, she thought she was running to him, but her body did not move. Before she even took a few steps, he quickly approached her and pulled her into his arms.
“Hugh…?”
She heard a soft sigh coming from the top of her head. She was wrapped in his familiar broad embrace, his arms holding her firmly and as she inhaled his scent that she had missed, her heart felt like it was bubbling over. If this was a dream, she didn’t want to wake up.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
His vivid voice was not an illusion. Suddenly, Lucia’s legs went weak and he caught her as she staggered.
Hugo hugged his drained wife and sat down on the sofa. He leaned her against his body, wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. He stroked her forehead with his other hand and kissed her eyes that were beginning to grow wet.
“Hugh, Sir. Krotin is…”
“I know. What about you? I heard you fainted. Did you see the doctor?”
“They said it was an anesthetic type thing that makes you unconscious for a short while. I’m fine. I’m not hurt either. But because of me, Sir. Krotin is…”
Hugo buried his wife head in his chest as she had began to cry, and gently patted her back. His uncontrollable anxiety that had followed him all the way as he raced back home had disappeared the moment that he confirmed her safety.
As soon as he was caught wind of the news of Roy’s brief incident in the capital, Hugo’s head was filled with thoughts of his wife.
When he received information about where the incident had occurred and about the people who had died, he grew more and more worried. It was an incident that occurred while she was being guarded. He didn’t know what mindset he had as he ran to the capital, thinking about what might have happen to her, the subject being guarded.
His wife was not mentioned in the message he received, but he was still troubled by all sorts of ominous thoughts and imaginations. He was filled with rage and ready to kill every single person involved if even her fingertips were hurt.
“Stop. Vivian. Don’t cry.”
“What do I do? Krotin…”[1]
“I’ll take care of it.”
Hugo caught her chin and wiped her tears with his hands. He kissed her salty lips, wet with tears.
“Your face looks thinner. Did you eat properly?”
“I am okay. I only got protected inside the mansion.”
“That’s only natural. I told you not to worry about anything and just eat well and live well, didn’t I?”
“But that was before this happened.”
“It’s all the same whenever. You have nothing to worry about.”
Lucia burst into light laughter. Strangely enough, hearing his words, it made it seem like there was really nothing to worry about and everything was going well, just like he said. It was as if she had been tense and unable to sleep for the past few days for no reason.
For the first time since the incident occurred, Lucia smiled.
“Your hand is cold. Your face is cold too.”
“It’s because I ran back on the horse. Is it too cold?”
“It’s refreshing so I like it. It’s like it’s clearing my head.”
Hugo looked at his wife, who was smiling at him, for a moment, then he cupped her cheeks with his hands and began to randomly plant kisses on her lips, nose, and eyes.
“Hugh…Hugh! What is it?”
“I’m checking.”
“Checking what?”
“I’m checking that you’re really in front of me. In the entirety of those few days I was heading to the capital, when I closed my eyes, you were there, but when I opened them, you disappeared.”
Even though Lucia asked him to stop already several times, Hugo acted like he didn’t hear and only released her after he had kissed her dozens of times all over.
“What happened to the thing with your vassal? You said it was important.”
“I left the matter to their discretion and came back. Something bigger happened here.”
Lucia sullenly crumpled up.
“I don’t know what to do. I can’t think of a way to help Sir. Krotin.”
“I said I’ll take care of it. I did say you should cause a bigger trouble for me to settle, and you really did a big one.”[2]
Lucia tilted her head for a moment, then remembering what he had said before, she cried out and hit his chest.
“Are you making such a joke right now?”
He snickered and swiftly gave her a quick peck on the lips.
“I’m saying it’s not that big of a deal. Don’t stew on it.”
“Do you really have a way?”
“I do. That guy will be safe, don’t worry.”
“I know Sir. Krotin is special to you. If Sir. Krotin is hurt, you will also be distressed. I don’t want to see you saddened.”
Hugo looked at her silently for a moment, then he chuckled, spreading his arms wide and hugged Lucia.
It was strange. He personally liked Roy but it wasn’t to the extent of giving it meaning, but because she kept saying that Roy was special to him, he felt the guy was really such an existence to him.
“I’m happy to see you again. Hugh, I missed you.”
Again, Hugo kissed his wife, who chose to only say beautiful words to him.
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