Chapter 38: Honorary Count Deon Hart

As the Honorable Count Deon Hart left the banquet hall, the event was drawing to a close.

Starbe Illuster and Cruel Hart slipped out among the nobles who were starting to depart, strolling quietly through the Imperial Palace’s open gardens.

Duke Starbe walked ahead with Cruel following behind. After a while of this silent procession, Starbe stopped in a secluded spot.

“When you asked me to be your patron, to pledge your allegiance to my cause—”

He turned to face Cruel Hart.

Staring into the unfathomable depths of those solid green eyes, Starbe mirrored the inscrutable smile.

“I asked you for your reasons.”

“…”

“—It was ‘to protect,’ wasn’t it?”

The two remaining survivors of a destroyed family.

Aside from Deon Hart, who was the likely culprit, Cruel Hart was practically the sole survivor.

When he came to Starbe, having lost everything, and asked for patronage, Starbe didn’t immediately turn him away or agree. Instead, he asked why.

The blunt reply was impolite.

Just ‘to protect’.

“What?”

It was a short, incomplete sentence, lacking both subject and object, but Starbe didn’t press further.

A person with something to protect becomes more loyal than anyone. He wasn’t foolish enough to kick away a loyal dog that came willingly.

He had a rough idea of the missing object. Even if he didn’t, he’d find out eventually. There was no need to pry and create animosity.

And today, seeing the murderous intent in Deon Hart’s eyes, he was certain about the ‘object’.

“Me.”

“To protect me.”

The instinctive cry that something was wrong, that there was more to it, was suppressed by reason.

“Was it to protect yourself from Deon Hart, Cruel Hart?”

“…”

Only silence answered.

Duke Starbe chuckled as if that was enough. Cruel stared at him, then closed his eyes as if chasing away fatigue.

Faintly, the Duke’s gentle voice reached him.

“It’s not my place to say, as I don’t know your circumstances… but it’s a foolish choice.”

If the sole purpose was to survive, there would have been countless other ways.

‘Still, from my perspective, it was a welcome choice.’

Starbe smiled.

He was a Duke and the leader of the noble faction. He had the power to smooth over most things, and there was ample reason to eliminate Deon Hart, the ‘Emperor’s dog’.

No, calling him the ‘Emperor’s dog’ was just an additional reason. Even without that—

‘Deon Hart… is a man who must be killed.’

A cancerous presence on this land.

He touched the area around his heart and smiled faintly.

“……”

Cruel didn’t bother to answer.

The scene from that time was replaying in his mind, behind his darkened eyelids.

The entrance of the deserted mansion. The hallway filled with blood. And in the room, his father’s chest pierced by a dagger, Deon turning to look at him—

[Brother.]

…Deon.

My own younger brother.

Cruel glanced at his mother and father’s bodies, relatively intact compared to the others, before raising his gaze again.

Blood, matting his red hair, trickled down his forehead, pooled briefly at the corner of his eye, and then streamed down his cheek.

Unlike those tear-like streaks, Deon was smiling.

Blood dripped from the daggers in his hands.

[…You.]

As Cruel tried to speak, watching him, Deon threw the dagger he was holding.

***

As soon as I left the Imperial Palace, I refused Sir Lien’s offer to escort me all the way and insisted on returning to my mansion on my own two feet. But the moment I arrived, I forgot all about appearances and rubbed my eyes in disbelief.

There were men milling about my property who shouldn’t be there. Am I seeing things?

They were even wearing pristine white knight uniforms, not just regular clothes.

Never mind that the attire looked familiar.

‘Why is my front yard, which was perfectly fine when I left, ablaze?’

Surely, it’s a hallucination? It has to be. I must have been under too much stress lately. Or maybe I’m just getting old.

“…No way that’s it. What the hell?!”

The heat on my skin couldn’t be a hallucination.

My shout made the group huddled around something in the burning yard turn toward me.

Their faces lit up as they recognized me, oblivious to the situation, and I almost clutched the back of my neck.

“Boss!”

Oh yeah, you little bastards.

“Bosss— urk!”

“It’s not Boss, it’s Count!”

“Count!”

“Counttttt!”

Ha.

My head throbbed. I pinched my temples and scanned their faces with weary eyes.

Why are there rabid dogs on my property? Since when did my mansion become a kennel?

The Lofty Knights. No, the Killer Knights.

All of their members were occupying my front yard as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

The gatekeepers were watching, sweating profusely.

‘What the hell are they doing without stopping them…?’

There’s no point in having gatekeepers if this is how they act.

This absurd situation felt like a dream, but the events of today were too real, and the heat from the fire and Sir Lien’s presence behind me were too vivid.

She was even yelling at the rampaging men.

“Fall in!”

!

Wow, they lined up instantly.

It was a shame she had the dishonorable reputation of being a ‘parachute hire,’ because Sir Lien clearly had them under her thumb.

Her neatly tied hair whipped around as she barked.

Ah, she didn’t just yell. I distinctly said her hair whipped around.

Thwack!

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Ugh, C-Captain…”

“It’s Captain, not Captain without the honorific! And when you see your lord, you greet him properly! What’s with this shouting like you’re looking for a lost wife! And why is the Count’s yard on fire?!”

Thwack, whack.

The members yelped and belatedly bowed to me as she mercilessly struck them.

I alternated between looking at the burning yard and the members, then called out to Sir Lien with a sigh.

“Sir Lien.”

“Yes, Count.”

“Hit them more.”

“Understood.”

“Huh? Ah, no, wait! Count! Just a moment!! Ack!”

What story?

If I could, I’d step in and beat them myself. But I held back, fearing for my wrists.

But what in the world was going on?

I stared at the men as they started collapsing one by one under Sir Lien’s merciless assault.

It wasn’t exactly out of satisfaction. I was just curious about what they were surrounding.

I couldn’t get closer because of the heat, so I strained my eyes. Something I couldn’t see when they were huddled together came into view between them.

Specifically, clothing with a white bird on a blue background…

‘The Revolutionary Army?’

What’s the Revolutionary Army doing in my front yard? Did these maniacs subdue them?

Come to think of it, they were trying to explain something earlier, weren’t they?

“Sir Lien, hold on a moment.”

“Yes.”

I stopped her, intending to hear their side of the story.

Sir Lien, ever the knight, immediately ceased her actions. But because these annoying bastards were shamelessly pretending to cry, I had to endure a few more hits before I could hear the full story.

“This guy threw a bomb at my front yard?”

“Yes! Luckily, we saw it and caught him immediately!”

“Okay… I understand the basics. But…”

Their gazes, confident as if they had nothing to hide, were fixed on me.

I met each of their gazes, expressing my doubts frankly.

“Why were you here at that exact moment?”

“Uh…”

“Why did the Revolutionary Army attack my mansion while I was away? There’s nothing here that would attract them.”

“Well…”

The confident glares from moments ago vanished. They all looked away, avoiding eye contact.

One unlucky fellow who met my gaze directly was sweating bullets, his eyes darting around.

“I can practically hear your brains working overtime.”

!

Thanks to that, I could deduce the cause to some extent.

It was unfortunate for these guys, but I wasn’t that oblivious.

“You guys were here before the Revolutionary Army showed up, weren’t you?”

“…!”

“H-How did you know…!”

I knew it.

The Revolutionary Army didn’t come because of these guys; these guys were the reason the Revolutionary Army came.

The Revolutionary Army wants to inflict losses on the Emperor, and targeting me would be a relatively effective way to do that.

To harm me, targeting my most significant force, the knights, would be a good move. And since they were conveniently located at my mansion, they wouldn’t have hesitated.

I glared at the culprits behind this incident with cold eyes.

I wanted to smack them upside the head right then and ask them why they were here, but…

“…Let’s start with the cleanup.”

And put out that fire.

Even though I kept my distance, my eyes still stung a little.

I unconsciously raised my hand to rub my eyes, but I felt something in my hand that shouldn’t be there. At the same time, a desperate shout rang out.

“Count!!”

“…?”

Sir Lien only yelled like that when something serious was about to happen.

Acting on instinct, I froze.

It was then that I realized I was holding something I hadn’t been holding moments before.

“…What’s this?”

The familiar shape felt ominous. Where had I seen this before?

…Right, I remembered.

Almost instantly, I threw it away. Desperately, as if my only goal was to get rid of this terrifying object.

Instead of going up as I thought, it flew behind me and hit the ground, rolling until it bumped against someone’s feet.

BOOM!!

“C-Count!!”

“Are you alright?!”

Sir Lien and the members swarmed me, checking if I was okay.

Regardless, I blankly stared at the site of the explosion.

‘I almost died.’

For a bomb to fly right into my hand. I survived because I grabbed it, but honestly, I’m not happy about it.

Misinterpreting the meaning of my gaze, Sir Lien walked over and nudged the charred corpse with the sheath of her sword.

“You don’t need to feel guilty. This guy is Revolutionary Army.”

The way she looked at me… her eyes practically screamed, ‘You’re so kind-hearted!’

That’s not it.

“I didn’t expect him to have an accomplice. While that one caused a distraction with the bomb, the other was probably trying to rescue his captured comrade… but as you can see, that didn’t go well.”

I followed Sir Lien’s gaze.

And at the end of it, I saw the head butler effortlessly subduing a Revolutionary Army soldier who was trying to carry his comrade away.

…No way, Rememver?!

‘Is it okay for Grandpa to be doing that?!’

“I was impressed, though.”

“…Pardon?”

“I was sure you were in grave danger, Count. But you managed to catch the bomb.”

“Ah… that was…”

“You’re truly amazing.”

That was an accident.

Her sparkling eyes were a bit much.

Unable to meet her gaze, I ended up giving a few quick orders to wrap things up and fled the scene.

“I’ll escort you.”

…

Of course, she didn’t make that easy either.

I should probably find some stomach medicine as soon as I get to my room.

Damn it.

***

“Damn it, even if I was going to die, I should have killed the Emperor’s dog first…”

The completely subdued Revolutionary Army soldier muttered regretfully.

There are a few major obstacles on the path to overthrowing the Emperor. If you had to pick the top three:

Nemesius, the commander-in-chief during the eight-year war and the Emperor’s current personal guard.

Ardal, the Chancellor whose excellent policies and financial management, both during and after the war, have stabilized public sentiment towards the Emperor.

And Honorable Count Deon Hart, the vanguard commander during the eight-year war and the Emperor’s ‘dog,’ who obeys any order without question.

Among them, Deon Hart is the most troublesome.

The other two operate primarily in the open, making their movements somewhat predictable and easier to monitor. But Deon Hart’s main stage is the shadows.

Meaning it’s difficult to predict his next move and even harder to track him.

The fact that they don’t know where he’s been this time proves that.

‘It obviously wasn’t just a monster subjugation mission…’

It’s problematic if they keep losing track of his activities like this.

That’s why the Revolutionary Army was desperate to eliminate Deon Hart, a dangerous variable.

The Killer Knight members paused, noticing the regret but not a hint of remorse in his voice, and looked around.

“The Count and Captain have gone inside the mansion, and the butler is leading the efforts to put out the fire in the yard.”

In other words, no one would be eavesdropping on this conversation, and no one would stop us.

“Who are you calling the Emperor’s dogs?”

Immediately, the wild dogs bared their teeth.