🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter : 3
Someone had been watching their commotion. After the group left the hall, Duke Kisling spoke in a low voice.
“Bart.”
Bart, the captain of the Kisling domain’s knights, answered at once.
“Yes, my lord.”
“Go and see what’s going on.”
Bart immediately turned and strode away. Each time he walked, the cape with the lion emblem fluttered. The movement was hard to miss—so much so that Duke Aik noticed it as well.
The moment he saw it, he had a feeling. The Kisling knight commander was moving. That meant Tuke had clashed seriously with someone. And he had a good idea who the opponent was.
“Roke.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Find out where Tris is.”
“Understood.”
Duke Aik muttered as he raised his goblet to his lips.
“I’ll never forgive losing.”
He took a sip, but it tasted unbearably bitter. It was all because of Tris. He had almost forgotten while Tris was out of sight, but the thought came back again. Before leaving for the capital, Tris had dared to challenge his father’s authority.
The ungrateful wretch. How happy he had been when the boy was born—nothing had seemed too precious to give him. Tris resembled him and had shown outstanding talent with the sword from a young age. Not only that—Latin, architecture, administration—there was nothing he couldn’t do. Truly God-given talent. His personality had a few rough edges, but he had raised him with great care. And yet the boy turned against him, stabbing at him with those very rough edges.
Duke Aik had four legitimate children and three bastards. Most nobles kept mistresses and had illegitimate children—why, even King Accus was no different. Bastards were no blemish. He had given them life; how they made their living was their own problem.
Tris knew that well. Then one day, one of the bastards, working in the stables, stupidly took a horse’s hoof to the chest. His ribs broke. Naturally he couldn’t work, and if he couldn’t work, he wouldn’t get paid. That was the common rule.
But he hadn’t expected Tris to flare up and rush in.
“Even bastards are Father’s children! Shouldn’t you at least make sure he can eat while he’s being treated?!”
Nineteen years old. Knew nothing of the world, yet forgot who he owed his very birth to. He dared to defy his father’s authority and drag it through the mud.
By rights, he should have beaten Tris harshly to make an example of him, but the timing was wrong. If he didn’t bring his eldest son to the capital festival, rumors would spread. And then what would become of House Aik’s honor?
On the way to the capital, he had warned Tris:
“Stay out of my sight.”
And so he hadn’t seen him for the past three days. But something must have happened. If he really was crossing swords with Tuke… then he would decide the severity of the punishment based on the outcome.
Duke Aik looked hearty and benevolent on the outside, but in truth he wasn’t. He was bound tightly by pride in nobility and a fierce competitive spirit. Those who weren’t nobles weren’t even human in his eyes, and losing was something he could never imagine.
There was one thing that always grated on him whenever he came to the capital. That was Maser. He couldn’t stand the king reigning over lords, and he found it utterly intolerable that a bastard was acting as crown prince. If Maser were to ascend the throne…
A cold sneer formed on Duke Aik’s lips. Impossible. No matter if Accus V formally married Yohas, a bastard was still a bastard. A title, a throne—nothing of the sort should ever be permitted to one.
That was why he had a plan. Idella’s marriage. He even had a candidate: Count Lorem, Yohas’s father. At fifty, Count Lorem had only one child, Yohas. When he died, his grandson Maser would inherit the count’s title. He would block that first.
Count Lorem wouldn’t refuse. No man in the world disliked a young wife.
After that, it would be the turn of his three sons—Tris, Aden, and Tomy. Political marriages with powerful nobles would both strengthen House Aik and tighten bonds among the nobility. With that solidified unity, he would stop Maser from ever taking the throne.
A triumphant smile spread across Duke Aik’s lips.
Just then, he saw Idella running over, holding her nurse’s hand. Perfect timing—an opportunity to show Count Lorem how lovely she was.
“Come here, Idella.”
He greeted her with a gentle smile. But her face looked strange. Her eyes were swollen as if she’d had a good cry. Like a caring father, Duke Aik asked,
“What happened?”
“Earlier, Tuke…”
His gaze stayed fixed on her puffy eyes. Why had she cried so much? It would be better not to let Count Lorem see her until the swelling went down.
After finishing her story, Idella added proudly,
“Big brother is furious—right to the top of his head!”
“I see. So that’s it.”
Duke Aik could almost see through Tuke’s intentions. He’d picked a fight on purpose. Tuke was a renowned knight himself, so he must have been curious about Tris’s skill. But he chose the wrong target—of all people, he touched Idella. Tris was the madman who had rushed at his own father over a bastard. How would he react over his sister?
Heh. A cold smile crossed his lips.
Meanwhile, Tris entered the training ground, pulling on steel scale gauntlets.
“Let’s set the rules.”
Tuke sneered.
“Trying to back out now?”
“Does that mean you don’t mind dying?”
“Like you’re one to talk. Quit spouting nonsense and come at me!”
Tris glared at him with a humorless face. For a moment, it felt as if the air froze. The chilling silence wiped the smiles off even the spectators’ faces. Tris’s expression changed—blank, yet with eyes gleaming coldly.
Shrring.
As he drew his sword, people swallowed dryly without realizing it.
Tuke’s expression also changed. Oh? Maybe the rumors were somewhat true. Then this was the chance to sever his arm muscles so he’d never dare challenge him again. He drew his sword as well.
Shrring.
Both men had drawn real blades, without any protective gear. Peta, who had rushed over after hearing the news, panted as he muttered,
“This is bad. They’re that enraged, and with live steel…”
Peta had come to the training ground as soon as he heard Idella was crying and making a fuss.
Peta Melton. He was the second son of Baron Melton. The baron was notorious for being stingy and for lavishing all his affection on his eldest son. To him, the second son was nothing but a mouth to feed. So under the pretext of knightly training, he sent ten-year-old Peta out of the domain.
At that time, ten wasn’t considered young. Girls married and bore children once they had their first period, and boys were treated as adults who had to pull their weight once they passed fifteen. They were forced to grow up early. Though things were calmer now, Slorland had been rife with territorial disputes. If a lord died, his son had to succeed immediately, so they were pushed to become adults quickly.
But since no tuition was provided, no one wanted to take Peta in. Even as a baron’s son, he suddenly became a wanderer with nowhere to go. In the end, he followed a roaming knight as a squire and eventually made his way to House Aik.
Duke Aik took him in. The duke never did anything that didn’t benefit him, and this time was no different. He intended to watch and control Tris’s behavior through Peta. From then on, Peta grew up alongside Tris in the Aik domain.
While Peta scratched his head, wondering how to stop them, Tris and Tuke clashed. After a brief breath, they kicked off the ground and rushed at each other in an instant.
“Hyaah!”
With quick steps and no wasted movement, they exchanged fierce blows in a blink of an eye.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
True to their reputations, their footwork was tight and their speed incredible.
Clang! Clang!
Peta slowly placed one hand on his sword hilt, ready to jump in at any moment. But he was so tense that his palm was already slick with sweat.
He muttered to himself,
“Damn it. I don’t even know if I can stop this.”
He glanced around. No one was laughing anymore. The tension hung thick in the air. Everyone looked on, hearts in their throats.
Tuke’s skill was well known. He always strutted around and caused trouble—no one could fail to know him. But Tris was different. He almost never fought. Even in the famed knight training, he had never shown his true ability. In fact, even Peta had never once seen the full extent of his skill.
Then, Tuke’s offense slowly began to turn into defense. Instead of pressing forward, he started stepping back. In sheer size, Tuke was overwhelming—yet he was being pushed back in strength. Tris drove him without a single hitch in his breathing. It was as if frost had settled over his face.
Heh. Peta muttered,
“About time you learned that running your mouth can get you killed.”
Idella was like a little sister to Peta too. She was sharp-tongued and a crybaby, but truly adorable. From a young age, she had followed Tris around like his shadow. Even when Tris grumbled and pushed her away, there was a reason she kept at it.
Idella, clever as she was, knew well how much Tris cherished her. Compared to her two older brothers, he was rough and easily annoyed, but in truth he always did everything she wanted. By Peta’s standards, Idella was truly shrewd.
