Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 206

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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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Chapter 45. Behind Your Back

Red ships encircled the Golden Line.

Choi Han and the commander of the Royal 1st Knight Order boarded the Golden Line and came to a stop behind Kale Heniatus. Dark Elf Tasha and Amir also positioned themselves behind Kale.

“Lord Kale.”

Choi Han called out to Kale on behalf of the group. He followed Kale’s gaze toward the sea, where corpses floated above the wreckage of shattered ships.

Choi Han slowly approached Kale. That was when he saw Kale’s expression twisted in a grimace.

‘…As expected, he has a soft heart.’

Kale’s lips parted.

“Peaceful.”

His voice was weary.
A voice laden with exhaustion and fatigue. Upon hearing that tone, the jubilant atmosphere that had filled the deck moments before fell silent. Though he had uttered a positive word, the weight and anguish carried in his voice caused everyone to close their mouths.

One of the nobles recalled something upon hearing the word “peaceful”—a passage he had been contemplating throughout the battle, one connected to House Heniatus.
Without thinking, he spoke the passage aloud.

“…There is no need to be recorded in history. Instead, live for happiness and peace.”

The sudden words drew the attention of everyone on the quiet deck toward that noble. The other nobles tilted their heads slightly, sensing something familiar in the passage.
It sounded like something they had heard before, yet they could not recall it clearly.
Then Kale’s voice reached the people’s ears.

“So you know our family’s motto.”

The motto of House Heniatus.

The nobles’ expressions shifted subtly. Upon learning the source of the passage they seemed to have heard before, indescribable expressions crossed their faces.
They could see Kale’s bitter smile, as though he were forcing himself to grin.

The people on the deck came to deeply understand the weight that “happiness and peace” carried for House Heniatus.

“…Sigh.”

A brief exhale escaped the nobleman’s lips.
Just moments ago, he had envied those who would become the protagonists of a battle recorded in history. Yet the man who led them desired happiness and peace over historical glory.

The nobleman who had sighed came to a realization.

‘That is precisely why they can do such things.’

I heard that the Heniatus Territory had distributed the wealth accumulated over the years to its people in the form of provisions and farming tools. Moreover, they had poured resources into both the Naval Base and the City Wall.

The mindset of House Heniatus.
The reason they had remained withdrawn from the struggle for power until now, only to step forward at last. They moved solely for the happiness and peace of the Roan Kingdom.

Silence descended upon the deck once more.

At that very moment, I too was contemplating my family’s ancestral motto, just as the others were.

There is no need to be recorded in history. Instead, live for happiness and peace.

‘Truly, the wisdom of the ancients is remarkable.’

I marveled a hundred times, a thousand times, at the family motto my ancestors had created.

History could freeze to death for all I cared; being full and warm was the greatest blessing. In that sense, I felt as though I had left home only to suffer hardship.

My brow furrowed deeper.

Now it was not merely hunger—my stomach was turning.
What kind of suffering was this?

I opened my mouth for the sake of myself, enduring hardship for fifty years of future peace.
My sincere desire to return home and collapse in comfort passed from the deck through the red ships surrounding the Golden Line.

“Let us return.”

My voice reached all of them.

“To our land.”

Let’s return home, to our land.
The people of the Roan Kingdom, standing upon the sea with nothing to rely on, bit their lips tightly instead of cheering at these words.

There is a place to return to, and we can return.

More than an overwhelming victory, the fact that they had survived, that they could find peace—hearts stirred once more.
Unlike the roughly three hundred ships of the Indomitable Alliance fleet, which moved like migrating birds, the red ships led by the Golden Line sailed back toward home.

Of course, not all ships departed. Following Kale Heniatus’s orders, several remaining vessels stayed upon the devastated sea, searching for the bodies of fallen enemies, whether floating or sinking.

Kale Heniatus understood that while one must lead war with cold precision and cruelty for one’s own people, many had died innocently—soldiers who had simply sought to live, who had become soldiers through circumstance alone.

Only after confirming that the remaining ships were also conducting reconnaissance and maintaining communication magic did Kale Heniatus turn back. The Golden Line pressed forward without hesitation toward the Ubar Coastline.
Kale Heniatus touched the golden turtle sculpture thoughtfully.

‘I’m starving. I should go eat something first.’

As it turned out, that thought of Kale Heniatus’s came to nothing.

* * *

There was far too much to do.
Kale Heniatus let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.

“Ha, haha—”

His laughter echoed through the Underground Prison.
After the hollow laugh, he wiped his face with both hands. It had been a long time since he felt this way.

‘I’m not even trusting these bastards.’

Kale Heniatus lowered his hands and, with his vision now clear, looked at the first person collapsed in the Underground Prison.

An elderly man wearing a robe marked with a single red star.
An Elderly Mage belonging to Dark.
Kale Heniatus offered a brief observation upon seeing that old man.

“…That was really close.”

What Raon had said.

‘He said to bring them back alive, but they’re barely hanging on. They’re at death’s door. They’re still breathing, though.’

The Elderly Mage was literally clinging to life, hovering at the brink of death. Not a single part of his body was intact. He had been struck by every conceivable spell and poisoned so thoroughly that his skin had turned a sickly blue. Moreover, his mana circle appeared shattered—the area around the Mage’s heart convulsed rhythmically, blackened and grotesque.

Since it was just his companions, Kale Heniatus watched Raon drop his invisibility and reveal himself. Raon quickly averted his gaze, and On and Hong also looked away before heading with Raon to the corner of the underground prison.

Raon spoke hesitantly.

“Our weaker humans bleed. Those things shouldn’t just bleed—they should hemorrhage. They shouldn’t just drop dead—they should be torn to shreds before their heads are severed.”
“That’s right!”
“The youngest did well this time. We all did well.”

When even the silver cat On nodded in agreement, Kale Heniatus decided to simply let it go.

Average age: nine years old.
What could he expect from these little ones?

For now, conversation with the Elderly Mage seemed impossible.
That was unfortunate.

So he turned his attention to the other two bearing a single red star. He could see Vicross among them, removing the white gloves he had been wearing.

Thud.
The gloves were thrown onto the table where torture instruments lay. The white had vanished, replaced by dried blood that had turned them a dark, grimy brown.

Vicross swept back his neatly pomaded hair with his hand as he reported.

“For now, they’re unconscious, but once they wake, conversation should be possible.”

Capable of conversation only.
Kale Heniatus turned away from the Fake Dragon Slayer and the Healer, both unconscious and hovering between life and death.
Then one of them came into view.

“…Gasp.”

As their eyes met, a strangled sound escaped.

Spear Master.
A warrior who wielded both magic and spear techniques, one I had frequently encountered while battling Dark.
The moment our eyes met, he inhaled sharply and tried to avert his gaze. But he couldn’t.

“It would be impolite to look away when our young master is watching, wouldn’t it?”

Ron, my servant, gripped the Spear Master’s hair and prevented him from turning his eyes away from me.
The Spear Master couldn’t even look at Ron, trembling at the sound of his voice.

I found it strange.

‘The Spear Master doesn’t have a single injury. Why is he the most terrified?’

Curious, my gaze shifted to Ron. He smiled benevolently, and I understood.

‘Of course. The most frightening old man is right beside him.’

It would be abnormal not to be afraid.
I looked at the trembling Spear Master again. Then I spoke bluntly.

“You didn’t see me in this battle before, did you?”

The Spear Master couldn’t say anything in response.
His eyes were filled with endless worry.

Seeing that, I smiled.

On and Hong’s fog of poison, Choi Han’s black aura, Ron’s concealment and assassination skills.
The Spear Master had definitely seen these abilities before.

At Ten Finger Mountain, in the gorge where the Elf Village stood, the Spear Master had witnessed these skilled warriors. Of course, what he had seen was them dressed in crude garments mimicking Dark.

Those who constantly interfered with Dark’s operations.
Those whom Dark gnashed his teeth over, yet whose identities remained unknown.

The Spear Master had encountered their power during this battle in the Roan Kingdom.

The Spear Master looked up at Kale Heniatus.
No—he looked up at the leader of the group that had interfered with Dark’s plans. Then that leader slowly crouched down and met his gaze.

“Do you know who I am?”

A gentle question. The Spear Master’s pupils trembled even more at the warmth in my voice. He eventually lowered his gaze.

Then, my voice reached his ears.

“You’re quite intelligent. You know when to speak and when to stay silent.”

At those words, the Spear Master felt a chill run down the back of his neck.
It was as if I was implying that if he had revealed my identity upon first seeing me, I would not have let him live—wasn’t that the implication?

Ron tried to grab the Spear Master’s hair and force him to meet my gaze, but the Spear Master refused to look at me until the very end.
He kept his eyes lowered.

He knew the difference between those he should look at and those he shouldn’t.

“Truly intelligent.”

The moment my voice sounded, the Spear Master felt relief mixed with renewed tension. He could still feel my gaze upon him.

What was the true identity of these people?
He had heard they were merely a virtuous young master in need of recuperation, yet what was this cold demeanor?
The Spear Master harbored no such questions.
Questions would show on one’s face. He chose instead to hold his breath.

I observed the Spear Master quietly.
Fake Saint Hana. The man who had appeared like a brother to her, seeming as close as siblings. Of course, Hana had genuinely trusted him as a sibling, but his affection was merely an act.
Indeed, those skilled at stabbing others in the back were quick to read the situation.

I opened my mouth.

“I’ll need to keep you separate. Since you know who I am.”

The Spear Master squeezed his eyes shut. This was bad. He was trying to survive by working with ‘Dark’, and now this had happened!

Everything had gone wrong since losing Fake Saint Hana. The Spear Master hung his head low, and I commanded Ron.

“Keep him separate. But don’t torture him—just bind him so he can’t escape. And seal his mana and aura as well.”

No torture.
The Spear Master felt relief wash over him at those words.

A nobleman who had hidden his identity from Dark and thrown every obstacle in his path—I had survived the grasp of that terrifying aristocrat, at least for now.
But the Spear Master kept his head lowered, so he couldn’t see the gleam in Kale Heniatus’s eyes and his companions’ gazes.

Ron seized the Spear Master and moved him to another underground prison. Choi Han, watching the Spear Master’s retreating figure, spoke without thinking.

“He’ll have the hardest death.”
“That’s right. Hana will kill him.”

The Spear Master would be handed over gently into the hands of Fake Saint Hana, and he would die in agony—suffering so much that he’d wish torture from Ron or Vicross would have been better.

I entrusted Vicross and Choi Han with watching the three members of Dark. With their limb tendons severed, mana restraints applied, and poison administered, they would handle it themselves.

“Watch them properly.”

At my words, Vicross opened his mouth calmly.

“If we make a mistake, the only mistake will be accidentally killing them.”

Truly Ron’s son.
I gave Vicross a reluctant look, then saw Choi Han nodding as if in agreement, and simply turned away from both of them.
Those two would be more thorough than I would be.

‘The White Star. I need to hear what that bastard looks like.’

Among those who had properly seen the one Dark served, only three had fallen into my hands: the Fake Dragon Slayer, the Healer, and the Elderly Mage. To gather information, I would need to wake one of them up and have a conversation.
That process would be truly agonizing for them, but that wasn’t my concern.

Why should I care about the circumstances of those who tried to kill me?
What about the people in my territory who were injured because of those bastards?

I headed toward another underground prison.
The one I had secretly brought here.

“Hello?”

At Kale Heniatus’s greeting, the Guardian Knight Clophe Seka trembled all over, moving his shackled arms to bow before him.
It was a reverent posture, as if serving a deity.
He appeared to have recovered somewhat. Beside him, the person who had been treating the Guardian Knight opened their mouth.

“Young Master.”

A voice reminiscent of a navigation system. Kale addressed Necromancer Mary, whom he had excluded from the naval battle after she had overexerted herself in the previous combat.

“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”

Mary had been watching over the Guardian Knight.
Clatter, clatter. The bone fragments she had been assembling ceased their movement. Kale pointed to the Guardian Knight for Raon, who had become invisible and followed along.

“Pack him up.”

Pack him up—that was how Kale phrased it.
Kale Heniatus spoke in that manner.

The Whale Tribe went to attack the Paern Kingdom.

“Then what am I supposed to do now?”

The Whale Tribe had no intention of conquering the Paern Kingdom. This was merely a move to shake up the war and exact their revenge.
Watching them, I made my decision.
Watching them like that, Kale Heniatus made his resolve.

“Let’s stab them in the back.”

Let’s plant a spy in the Indomitable Alliance.

What would it feel like to place that kingdom beneath the Roan Kingdom’s feet and make it serve as a spy?
How does it feel to keep that kingdom under the Roan Kingdom’s heel and use it as a spy?

Kale Heniatus’s gaze slowly turned toward Clophe.

When the Indomitable Alliance’s movement southward reached its peak.

Let’s stab them in the back.

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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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