Shhk.

Princess Lilisain moved closer to Eugene and stared at Count Hatres with a cold gaze as the latter approached. Her hand was already on the pommel of her sword.

“You don’t have to be so vigilant. What could I possibly do to His Majesty when I lost to you?” Count Hatres said with a bitter smile. Princess Lilisain took a step back. However, her hand remained on the handle of her sword, ready to draw the blade at a moment’s notice.

“Your Majesty,” Count Hatres called out.

“Lord Hatres,” Eugene accepted the count’s greeting. Not only was the count no match for him, but Eugene could also not feel any hostility coming from the man. Count Hatres shared a gaze with Eugene before taking off his gloves. Eugene was slightly puzzled, but he simply watched.

‘Hmm?’

Eugene’s eyebrows wiggled. It was because of the rings that Count Hatres had on the index fingers of both his hands. Soon, the count took off the rings one by one.

‘That’s…’

Eugene immediately recognized that the rings were extraordinary, although their appearance wasn’t anything special.

“Your Majesty, do you know what these signet rings are?” Count Hatres asked.

Eugene answered, “No, it’s my first time seeing them. But I can feel an unusual mystery coming from them.”

“As expected…” Count Hatres gave a light sigh before looking down at the pair of Holy Light Seals with a complicated expression. Then, he held them out toward Eugene.

“Take them.”

“…?” Eugene was slightly taken aback by the count’s sudden gesture.

The count continued, “In the first place, I received them from someone else as well. I never got the chance to use them, so it appears I never had the right to own them in the first place”

“Use them?” Eugene asked. It was an unbefitting word to describe some rings.

“The person who gave them to me described them as being magical tools that will allow one to destroy all magic and mystery just once. The ring is called the Holy Light Seal,” Count Hatres explained.

“The Holy Light Seal…” Eugene frowned. Indeed, he had noticed how unusual the rings were at first glance, and they turned out to be magical objects. On one hand, he wondered. Although he had spoken to Count Hatres for the first time today, Eugene knew a little bit about the count. He had heard many stories during his time at the royal castle of Caylor, and the delegation of the royal nobles of the Caylor Kingdom had willingly volunteered information regarding the count when they arrived at the dukedom. It was a blatant attempt by the nobles to undermine their competition, but Eugene had obtained sufficient information from them to come to a conclusion regarding Count Hatres.

Count Hatres was extremely inflexible, and he was a traditional knight who pursued integrity above all else. Eugene was convinced that the count was unlike any other nobles. The fact that Count Hatres would leave the territory to his successor and personally take command of the capital’s defense forces proved his peculiarity.

‘Someone like him would rely on the mystery of a magical object?’

Every knight dreamed of possessing magical armaments, but it was literally a desire limited to ‘armaments,’ such as swords, spears, and armor. As such, it felt quite odd that a man recognized as a traditional knight by all was in possession of two such rings.

‘Ah… So that’s what it was.’

Count Hatres started to speak, “The one who gave me these rings was…”

Eugene interrupted him, “That yellow[1] bastard. No, the Crown Prince of the Roman Empire, right?”

“…!” Count Hatres couldn’t conceal his shock when he heard Eugene referring to the crown prince as such.

“Just because that bastard’s eyes are so yellow. Anyway,” Eugene explained with a grin. He turned his eyes to the group of Assir nobles in the distance before speaking. He could see that the Assir nobles appeared quite lost and flustered to be surrounded by elven knights.

“Since there are two, those idiots over there must have handed one over to you.”

“…” Count Hatres was at a loss for words. He couldn’t see Eugene as a simple human being. It felt impossible for Eugene to know everything even though they had met only a while ago.

Obviously, and in fact, Eugene was a vampire. Count Hatres happened to glance over Eugene’s shoulder. He noticed Princess Lilisain and how she never took her eyes off Eugene’s back.

‘Ah! Could it be?’

His expression stiffened at a sudden thought. He looked alternatingly between Princess Lilisain, who was maintaining an ideal posture for drawing her blade at any moment, and Eugene. He then sighed.

“Your Majesty. Did you know?” Count Hatres said.

“About what?” Eugene asked with a puzzled expression.

Count Hatres explained with a complex but relieved expression, “When I first heard about Your Majesty from Sir Winslon, I didn’t believe the stories. Even if it were true that Your Majesty was a great, unrivaled knight, I thought it was nonsense that you were also as brilliant in mind as Sir Winslon. I simply thought that Sir Winslon was trying to confuse me.”

“…”

“But now, I know. Sir Winslon was mistaken. No, perhaps he didn’t want to lose. And the same was true for me as well,” Count Hatres continued.

“What does that mean?” Eugene asked in an indifferent voice.

Count Hatres answered bitterly, “When I first arrived at the royal castle, the nobles of the castle and the holy knights of the central church were arguing. That was Your Majesty’s work, wasn’t it?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Eugene responded calmly, though he felt slightly guilty.

Count Hatres turned his gaze toward Princess LIlisain with a faint, understanding smile, “The same with how Eland’s Princess was assigned to be my opponent. I was the only one of the Caylor Kingdom’s powers whom you couldn’t do anything about, so you had the princess subdue me. Haha…”

Count Hatres was incredibly perceptive. He was supposed to have kept his distance from the politics of the royal castle, so how did he notice? No, rather, had he made a tactical judgment as a strategically outstanding captain of the capital’s guards?

“You have quite the imagination,” However, Eugene still feigned ignorance.

“It was truly an outstanding plan. However… I’m thankful to you as well. I have been enlightened thanks to Your Highness and the Princess. This is the truth,” Count Hatres said before politely bowing to the two. Eugene was quite surprised and convinced by the unexpected behavior of the strongest sword of the Caylor Kingdom.

Eugene came to realize that Count Hatres was truly an ‘honorable knight’.

‘Hmm. Many things could have changed if I met this man first.’

Eugene had purposefully created conflict between the holy knights and the nobles of the Caylor Kingdom in hopes that they would fail to unite and be engulfed in chaos for as long as possible. Simultaneously, Eugene had hoped that Count Winslon would stand at the center of the kingdom if it ever became whole once again. After all, Count Winslon was a reasonable, well-spoken noble who had helped him in many ways. Regardless of who ascended the throne, if Count Winslon took power, Eugene believed that the Kingdom of Caylor would choose coexistence rather than conflict with Maren.

However, after getting to meet Count Hatres, Eugene was convinced that the count was a reasonable, viable candidate as well. Although Eugene was an insidious demon king who stopped at nothing to get what he wanted, he rather liked knights as brave and honorable as Count Hatres.

“Although I am unsure what you are talking about, I am glad that you obtained something. Anyway, are you saying that you will give me the rings?” Eugene asked.

“That’s right. I can’t explain exactly why, but I have a feeling that Your Majesty is better suited to be the owner of these magical tools than I am. Plus—”

Count Hatres paused, then continued with a cold gaze, “Your Majesty has treated me with honor as a knight, but the Crown Prince, no, the yellow bastard regarded me as nothing more than a pawn of his chessboard.”

Count Hatres was convinced. He finally knew that the possibility of him ever defeating Eugene was nonexistent, and he also realized that Crown Prince Voltaire would have never kept his promise even if he had managed to defeat Eugene. Rather, Crown Prince Voltaire would have milked him all for his worth for the former’s scheme to expand the Roman Empire’s influence in the Caylor Kingdom. He had only realized this when he was freed from his delusion after his defeat against Princess Lilisain.

“Your Majesty, I am ashamed to say this as a loser, but could I ask you for a favor?” Count Hatres said.

“Go ahead.” Eugene nodded.

Count Hatres held out the two rings before continuing, “Please destroy that honorless, yellow bastard.”

***

“Hmm.” Voltaire frowned. He was sprawled out on his soft bed located inside his carriage under the care of his slaves.

“What’s wrong, Your Highness?” Count Maruk asked.

Crown Prince Voltaire shook his head. “It’s nothing. My ears are just a little itchy, that’s all.”

As soon as he spoke, a beautiful half-naked slave carefully started cleaning his ears with a cotton earpick slightly dampened in the melted liquid of a superior-grade refined mana stone.

“Anyhow, where are we now?” Voltaire asked.

“We are currently passing through a territory ruled by a high lord of Caylor known as Winslon. By the way, with all due respect, Your Highness, wouldn’t it be better to reroute and travel through the sea?” Maruk responded. Though there were dozens of heavily armed imperial knights and secret escorts protecting the delegation, Count Maruk was still concerned about the crown prince’s safety. He could not understand why Voltaire had insisted on traveling through land, even though it was much faster and safer to travel by ship.

Crown Prince Voltaire answered, “No. We will continue like this. It will be nice to meet some foreign nobles, right?”

“However…”

“Tsk, tsk. Sir, I am set to take the throne, so don’t you think it’s just right for someone like me to visit another nation with a delegation of the empire?” Voltaire asked.

“…Ah!”

Crown Prince Voltaire continued, “Do you understand now? Do you understand why His Majesty the Emperor had allowed me to personally lead the delegation? It was my personal goal to see the King of Maren and Localope. His Majesty would not have sent me for such a reason. In fact, His Majesty doesn’t care even the tiniest bit about the Dukedom of Maren. It simply served as a great excuse.”

“Then the real reason why Your Highness was tasked with leading the delegation…” Count Maruk muttered.

"To distinguish the enemies and to establish control,” Voltaire responded.

“…!” Count Maruk’s eyes widened. The prince’s words were short, but the meaning contained within his words was significant.

“We will come in contact with prestigious nobles of each nation on our way back to the empire through land. The delegations to Maren? Do you think they would ever tell me about the true situation in their countries? Those people were madly searching for anything to take for themselves,” Voltaire said.

He waved away his servants as if his ears were no longer itchy, then continued in a cold voice, “It will be significantly better to meet with the nobles who are stuck in their territories rather than the sneaky raccoons who had planned everything even before coming to Maren. Moreover, their kings won’t be able to complain. Why? Because I’m simply returning home.”

“Ah!” Count Maruk could proudly say that he knew quite a bit about the crown prince after spending their childhood together. However, he was truly shocked by Voltaire’s plan. He felt even more awe and fear toward the emperor and the crown prince.

“Of course, there are other reasons as well,” Voltaire said.

He leaned back comfortably before giving a mysterious smile. “Those dispatched on the gate opening plan. We should be seeing results soon, right?”

“…!”

The gate opening plan. It was a top-secret plan, and even in the heart of the empire, less than five people were privy to it. Count Maruk took on a serious expression at the mention of the plan.

“Yes. It’s about time for the agents to return. The one sent to Maren should be the first to return,” Maruk answered.

“The one favored by Helmond, right? Their name… what was it?” Voltaire asked.

“Christian. It was Christian Helmond,” Maruk responded.

“Good. Hoho! It will be a sight worth seeing. An infestation of evil monsters in a land ruled by a vampire,” Voltaire spoke with a chuckle, not knowing that the person in question had already transformed into someone else’s loyal hound.

“No, let me correct myself. Even his beloved wizard should be a cripple by now, so this will become even more of a spectacle. How disappointing! How disappointing that I won’t get to see it in person. Hahahahaha…”

***

Uweeeeeh… Huweeeh…

Lord Markus took on a pitiful expression at the faint, strange, grotesque mixture of what sounded like screaming and crying. The sound originated from a side of the beach he stood on.

“It appears Miss Romari is still extremely prone to seasickness, sir,” Markus stated.

“She was completely fine even when she was kidnapped, but she’s crying out like that because of motion sickness. Hehe,” Galfredik answered while revealing a satisfied smile at the sight of Romari emptying the contents of her stomach.

Markus asked carefully, “By the way, how did you deal with the one who kidnapped Miss Romari?”

Kidnapping Eugene’s wizard was a serious crime. However, the identity of the kidnapper posed a problem. The kidnapper was a vampire high lord of the empire directly subordinate to the crown prince.

“I just roughed them up a little. Why? Was the master worried?” Galfredik asked.

“It’s not that, but…” Markus hesitated. Eugene had been far from worried about the perpetrator. Rather, Markus thought it possible that Eugene might take it upon himself to see the kidnapper ‘roughed’ up.

“That’s fine, then. Anyway, he’s just shoved up in the coffin, so just move the whole thing,” Galfredik said.

“Ah… Yes, understood,” Markus bowed. He felt a chill run down his back. A vampire high lord wouldn’t be greatly affected by the sea. Even if they were wounded, it was possible for them to move around on a ship after spending a few days in their coffin. So, why were they still in their coffin, even though they had already landed?

‘So he didn’t only rough them up after all.’

Markus had experienced Galfredik’s power before, so he quickly came to a realization.

“Anyway, Chri—what was it? That other fellow who was caught trying things in the dukedom?” Galfredik asked.

“Yes. A high lord of the empire. Now, he is absolutely obedient to His Majesty,” Markus answered.

“I see. The one lying in the coffin and that one too. They are just dead wood trying to stick to the master's side. I don’t like it,” Galfredik commented with a frown.

Markus gulped with anxiety. If vampire high lords were just pieces of dead wood, then what was he?

‘Let’s not think about it. Let’s just focus on how I can live for the great one, how I can survive as quietly and as long as possible.’

He was even less than dead wood, but Markus was quick to grasp reality.

1. Yes, yellow as in cowardly. ☜