They Say an Age Gap Like This Doesn’t Even Need Matching - Chapter 85

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Count, look at your face.”
Raern approached Count Brin with a pained expression.
He conjured a cold water pouch in the air and pressed it against the count’s face.
“Hold this against it and the swelling will go down soon. Get some fresh air and then come back inside.”
“…Thank you, Uncle.”
Count Brin offered his gratitude in a voice that was hopelessly hoarse, then stepped out into the garden through the terrace.
The water pouch floating against his face caught the sunlight and gleamed.
Raern watched the count’s retreating figure for a long time, his shoulders drooping as he walked without strength.
“Sigh….”
The corners of Raern’s eyes, usually so full of mischief, had turned red.
His lips also drooped slightly and trembled faintly from time to time.
‘I never knew Raern could look like this.’
Seeing this unfamiliar side of him for the first time made me feel strangely unsettled.
Fearing I might witness something I shouldn’t if I stayed, I hurriedly turned away.
Then I walked quietly down the corridor.
Elhart, who had finished his conversation with the count, still hadn’t left his room.
I knocked softly and entered, and his figure sitting in a chair came into view.
He had his face buried in his palms.
The sound of rough breathing flowed out in low tones.
“Elhart….”
I approached him.
“…If only.”
His voice came out wrung tight, locked with tension.
“If only I had been just a little stronger.”
“….”
It was less words spoken to me than an endless refrain he repeated to himself.
“If only I had ignored that absurd command and repelled the Imperial forces.”
Perhaps something he had repeated dozens, hundreds of times by now.
Deep regret.
Responsibility.
And… guilt.
“The count and the others… they wouldn’t have been driven to this point.”
He clenched his teeth.
“Because I was… pathetic….”
He finally couldn’t continue and lowered his head.
Blue veins bulged prominently across the back of his hand.
He was forcibly suppressing his emotions.
I took another step closer to him.
“Elhart.”
At my call, he held his breath.
Still, he could not lift his head.
“That’s not your fault.”
“….”
“Because you endured, they’ve managed to stand until now.”
I stood before him and gently stroked his broad back—the rampart that had sheltered them all.
“Since you didn’t crumble, they’ve all held on this long.”
He slowly lifted his head.
His eyes, always so resolute, trembled as though on the verge of breaking.
Witnessing that sight, my chest ached with a dull throb.
‘What could you possibly have done wrong? You’ve sacrificed more than anyone else.’
The image was vivid—him consuming that wretched gruel, beaten by one of his own subordinates.
I raised my hand and cradled his cheek.
“You know this, Elhart. It’s not over yet. Think about what you hold in your hands.”
I spoke in a softer voice.
“We can set things right again.”
“….”
“Let’s reclaim everything that was stolen.”
I met his gaze and lifted the corners of my mouth.
“I’ll be by your side.”
Light gradually returned to his eyes, which had grown dark and hollow.
Gazing into that beautiful radiance, I continued softly.
“We have the strength for it. So….”
Gently but firmly, I finished.
“Cast aside this meaningless guilt.”
In that moment.
Elhart’s arms moved.
He pulled me into a tight embrace.
“…Ser.”
His voice was entirely different from before—no longer consumed by sorrow and guilt.
I said nothing and slowly stroked his hair.
His breathing, which had been rough and trembling moments ago, gradually steadied.
“You’re right.”
He let out a small laugh.
“We just need to reclaim it all.”
His arms tightened around my waist.
As I watched him gradually calm, I thought to myself.
Marquis Morak.
And the traitors lurking behind him.
What they trampled was not land or wealth.
It was people.
It was a conviction, a time of holding on until the very end.
Merely recovering what was lost would not suffice.
I could not accept this reality—that those who should be repenting were lifting their heads and laughing.
Therefore, I would.
‘Stake my name on it.’
Destroy everything.
***
Days later.
Marquis Silva Morak paused mid-transfer of documents, his hand stilling.
“Say that again.”
The informant kneeling before him bowed deeply.
“Intelligence suggests that a high-ranking noble from the Cradion Empire has entered this region.”
Marquis Morak’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“A high-ranking noble? At this moment?”
The nobles in this vicinity were currently united in executing their plan to completely annihilate House of Brin.
“Did he come knowing?”
He murmured, tapping his fingertips against the desk.
Eastern Bardia was essentially a land without a master.
The capital was in chaos, and those above were accepting bribes and turning a blind eye to affairs here.
While they greedily plundered what they believed was their world, Raern appeared and kidnapped and imprisoned several household heads, disrupting the smooth progress of their plans.
During Raern’s absence, they had reclaimed the Lord’s Castle of Brin, but the situation remained unsettled.
A Cradion noble descended directly in that gap?
Had he sensed something?
Surely he wasn’t coveting this lord’s castle.
“His name?”
“That… has not been confirmed.”
Marquis Morak’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Unable to confirm his name means you couldn’t even approach him.”
The informant fell silent.
Marquis Morak sank into thought.
‘Information leaked from somewhere.’
Wasn’t it strange how obvious his purpose of visit appeared?
At this timing, in this region, and a ‘high-ranking noble’ moving personally?
“It could be a trap.”
The corners of his mouth slowly rose.
“Or perhaps, it really is someone sent down from above.”
The informant carefully opened his mouth.
“Could it be… related to recent events at the Imperial Palace?”
Tap.
Marquis Morak’s hand stilled.
The Imperial Palace.
That single word shifted the entire atmosphere.
His gaze sharpened, cutting toward the informant.
“What rumors have you heard?”
“The details are unclear, but there are whispers that the Emperor has suffered a calamity….”
“Enough.”
Marquis Morak cut off the informant’s words and painted the situation in his mind.
The turmoil within the Imperial Palace was already information that had reached him.
‘Rumors are spreading that neither the Crown Princess nor the Crown Prince are fit to inherit the throne.’
Marquis Morak’s eyes gleamed.
A time of chaos within the Imperial Palace.
If so, then this high-ranking noble who descended at such a moment must have arrived in Bardia with deliberate intent.
“This could be the perfect opportunity to establish a connection to the heart of the Empire.”
He murmured softly and rose from his seat.
“How close have they gotten?”
“They are currently confirmed to be staying at the outskirts of the domain.”
Marquis Morak deliberated for a moment.
Under normal circumstances, he would have summoned them first.
Verify their identity, assess the situation, then entertain them if necessary.
But this time was different.
“I should go see them myself.”
The informant’s eyes widened.
“Personally, my lord?”
“Yes.”
Marquis Morak spoke as he pulled on his gloves.
“If they’re genuine, I must show proper courtesy.”
His lips curved deeply into a smile.
“And if they’re a fraud, I can dispose of them right there.”
He moved without hesitation.
“Prepare the carriage.”
“Yes, sir!”
The door opened, and hurried footsteps echoed through the corridor.
As Marquis Morak strode through the corridors of the castle he had seized, he tilted his head slightly.
Something felt strangely amiss.
It was as though something invisible was quietly approaching him from the shadows.
“How amusing.”
Yet he laughed nonetheless.
For Marquis Morak did not know.
That this noble he was about to meet in person held his leash in their hands.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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