Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 516

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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 113. Too Late.

“…Good heavens.”

Rosalind regarded Duke Fredo with an expression that screamed ‘what nonsense is this?’ without a trace of awkwardness despite their long separation.
Yet her concern turned toward Kale Heniatus as she posed her question.

“It’s remarkable that the young master’s blood is apparently delicious to vampires. Why would that be?”
“…I wonder?”

Kale Heniatus evaded the question with vague uncertainty, though I had my suspicions.

‘Could it be the vitality of my heart?’

There seemed to be no other explanation.
Kale Heniatus quietly shifted his gaze from Rosalind to Duke Fredo.
Rosalind, too, turned her attention toward the vampire.
Duke Fredo gazed at them both with a subtle smile playing at his lips.
He spoke in a languid whisper.

“How adorable your conversation is.”

Both Rosalind and Kale Heniatus’s expressions twisted as though they’d bitten into an unripe fruit.
Yet neither had time for any other reaction.

Boom. Boom. Boom.
The sound of the earth trembling reached their ears.
The ground’s vibrations seemed to emanate from much closer than before, far more immediate than moments ago.

‘We must go!’

It was time to move.
Kale Heniatus opened his mouth.

“You said you wanted to make a contract with me?”
“That’s right.”
“Truly?”

When Kale Heniatus asked once more, Pae, the rat-tribe member, furrowed his brow and looked at him.

‘Is he truly intending to cooperate with that bastard right now?’

…The very leader of those who slew our comrades?
Anger flared within Pae’s heart. Yet that fury soon sank beneath the surface.

In war, there are no allies or enemies—only circumstances.
Those who once slew one another could become comrades the moment their interests aligned.

Still, Pae found it difficult to comprehend Kale Heniatus’s actions now.

‘Enemies are pressing in from behind! Is there truly time for this?’

As his lips unconsciously puckered and his mouth itched to speak, Duke Fredo addressed Kale Heniatus plainly.
Duke Fredo looked at Kale and spoke plainly.

“I cannot trust you.”
I can’t believe it.

Many among them made no effort to hide their impatience at his wasting time with such conversation.
Then Kale Heniatus gestured behind him.
At that moment, Kale Heniatus pointed behind him.

“Show me proof of whether you’re being sincere or not.”

Fredo’s lips curved upward.

“That is for you to decide. But if you show me ‘proof’ I can trust, I shall consider extending an invitation later.”
“That’s something for you to figure out on your own. If you show me ‘evidence’ I can trust, then I’ll consider accepting an invitation later.”

Duke Fredo asked with a shallow laugh at Kale’s leisurely demeanor.

“We’re not signing a contract, just accepting an invitation?”

Kale Heniatus’s lips twisted upward into a smile.

“Why are you asking the obvious? Isn’t it more than enough just to listen to the conversation of the guy who killed our comrade?”

A flicker of surprise crossed the eyes of Pae, the rat-tribe member who had been listening.
Duke Fredo, meanwhile, paused in thought before nodding his head.

“Hmm. I suppose that’s true. But I can’t very well fight our own allies right now.”

He continued, looking toward Kale as if seeking understanding.

“I find myself in a position where I must be mindful of others’ opinions.”

Mindful of others’ opinions?
Kale committed those words carefully to memory.

‘A Duke—the highest rank among the nobility—yet he must be mindful of others.’

Was he lacking in power?

‘No. He’s stronger than the others.’

Combat experience had honed my eye for reading people. The vampire before me was far more terrifying than the Knights Order rushing toward us from behind.

‘That’s why Bud hasn’t suggested we let that creature handle the Knights Order and escape.’

Bud had kept his mouth firmly shut since earlier, quietly monitoring the movements of the approaching enemy from behind.
Kale kept all these observations in mind while maintaining his gaze fixed on the vampire. As if in response, Fredo opened his mouth.

“Liena.”

…Who was that?
The moment Kale hesitated at the unfamiliar name, he saw Choi Han’s sword extend in another direction.

“Yes, my lord.”

Rustle.
A figure dropped from the tree directly behind where the group stood.
The pale-complexioned woman was unmistakably a vampire.

“Provide them with a map of the surrounding area.”
“…But we already have maps of the surrounding area?”

Kale objected to Duke Fredo’s words.

“Just take it first.”

But when the woman approached with silent footsteps and offered what she carried, Duke Fredo suggested he accept it, and Kale, who had been still, took it.

“…!”

He couldn’t hide his shock.
Rosalind, watching over Kale’s shoulder, found herself opening her mouth without thinking.

“The-”

But the moment she uttered a single syllable, she covered her own mouth.
Then she looked at Kale. The two of them swallowed hard, meeting each other’s gaze.
Especially Kale—his grip tightened involuntarily on the map in his hand.

‘…It’s a map of the Gate of the Demon Realm!’

The Gate of the Demon Realm—a colossal sinkhole, one of the three forbidden zones of the Eastern Continent.
This map contained information about the terrain within that massive sinkhole.
And the moment Kale grasped that information, he understood.

‘It’s a kingdom.’

The enormous sinkhole had formed a vast kingdom divided into dozens of levels.
It was no mere pit.
Within that colossal chasm—as large as several villages combined—an immense city had already taken root.

In that moment, Duke Fredo’s voice echoed in Kale’s mind.

-The Endable Kingdom.

Just as Kale had suspected, this was indeed a map depicting a kingdom.

-As you imagined, we’ve established a kingdom. That place begins in the Northern Region beyond this mountain, and its capital is the sinkhole where the Gate of the Demon Realm lies.

Kale Heniatus’s heart raced.
This was the key.
A four-way battle unfolding. And now enemies pressing in, seemingly intent on cornering Kale and his allies.
If he could merely endure all of this, then came the key to overturn the entire tide of war in a single stroke.

“…Do you understand what it means that you’re giving this to me?”

Kale Heniatus was an enemy of the White Star.
And now his allies, standing alongside Duke Fredo, were pursuing him from behind, attempting to capture him.

Yet this Duke Fredo before him had given Kale Heniatus crucial information about a stronghold.
And not merely any stronghold—the truth about a place that had been kept under the strictest secrecy.

‘Is this man insane?’

Kale Heniatus stared at Duke Fredo, and his master’s voice echoed in his mind.

-Of course. I understand well the value of what I have given.

No.
This man was not insane.
He desired something.

What could it be?

Kale Heniatus now knew the kingdom’s existence and name, and Duke Fredo’s position as well.
Yet there remained one thing he did not know.

‘The White Star.’

What position did he hold in that Endable Kingdom?
Kale Heniatus’s mind rapidly excavated information in that brief moment, gathering fragments of knowledge and beginning to construct multiple hypotheses.

And finally, Kale Heniatus’s lips parted.

“What is the White Star’s position?”

Once more, Kale Heniatus posed the question he had asked before.
And unlike before, this time Duke Fredo answered.

—White Star may be called the ‘sovereign’ of our faction, but he is not a true ‘king’. He becomes king only when he fulfills the mission given to him.

That was the moment.

“Ha, haha—”

Laughter spilled from Kale Heniatus’s lips.
The others in the group regarded him with puzzlement, but Kale moved forward slowly.
He approached Duke Fredo.

“Kale Heniatus.”

Choi Han attempted to stop him, but Kale waved him off and walked directly before Duke Fredo.
Then, drawing close, he pressed his face near the Duke’s ear and whispered.
In a voice so soft that only he could hear.

“You want to become king, don’t you?”

Kale’s eyes gleamed with certainty as he spoke in a voice brimming with amusement.

Duke Fredo had said it.

That White Star, who is king in name only, becomes a true ‘king’ when he completes the mission assigned to him.
But what if he fails to complete that mission?

And this man had been insisting to Kale all along that he speaks only the truth.
His words echoed through Kale’s mind.

‘I am a vampire who understands pride and dignity. As such, I do not place anyone above me.’
‘I shall speak only truth to you. I do not serve anyone with genuine devotion.’

Neither White Star nor the Demon Realm faction does he serve with true heart.
He places nothing above himself.
There is no one he truly serves.
What could that mean?

“You want to claim the throne for yourself, don’t you?”

That’s why you’re betraying your allies now and trying to cooperate with me, your enemy.

“There’s nothing about demons or anything else in that head of yours. Becoming king is the most important thing to you, isn’t it? Isn’t that right?”

Kale Heniatus pulled his face away from the man’s ear.

‘His claim about wanting my blood is just wordplay. His true objective is to become king himself.’

The moment he looked at Duke Fredo’s face, Kale Heniatus was certain his suspicion was correct.
A thin smile spread across his lips.
Duke Fredo’s mouth curved into a picture-perfect smile.
He whispered slowly, his words meant for Kale Heniatus’s ears alone.

“That’s right. I want to become king.”

Kale Heniatus tucked the map into his bosom and opened his mouth.

“Then wait for the invitation.”
“I’ll send you an invitation soon.”

A soft hissing sound echoed through the air.
Duke Fredo’s body began to darken gradually from the edges, turning black.
The black skin scattered like ash, and his body began to fade away.

At that moment, Duke Fredo’s mouth opened once more.

“Let me give you one more gift.”

Kale Heniatus’s footsteps toward the Snowy Mountain came to a halt.
As Duke Fredo disappeared along with his subordinate Liena, he left behind one final word as the last of his ashes scattered into the sky.

“The White Star went to the Roan Kingdom just a moment ago.”

…The White Star went where?
Kale Heniatus’s eyes widened.
Even as this happened, Duke Fredo’s words continued.

Like his disappearing body, his voice grew progressively fainter.
But it reached Kale Heniatus’s ears clearly.

“You know the White Star well. When information is scarce, controlling the lifeline of the leader solves everything.”

With those words, Duke Fredo vanished.
I couldn’t discern how or where he disappeared to.
But that hardly mattered.
Rosalind cried out without thinking.

“…Marquis Taylor!”

The White Star would head to Northwestern Roan.
While Kale was elsewhere, the White Star would move swiftly to obtain the power he sought.

‘Then I need to rapidly gather intelligence about that region and secure the information I need!’

The easiest way to do that was to capture the leader, just as Duke Fredo had suggested, and extract information through him.
And the leader who possessed information about Northwestern Roan was Marquis Taylor Sten.

‘I must rescue Marquis Taylor!’

Then I heard Kale’s voice.

“Damn it!”

I turned my gaze.
I had to reach Northwestern Roan quickly.
Kale would understand that too.
But the words that spilled from Kale’s lips contradicted my thoughts.

“…It’s not Marquis Taylor.”

Taylor is not the leader.
The White Star would know that too.
There exists someone who is the true leader—the one through whom all information in Roan flows, the one to whom Kale himself must report.
Information ultimately passes through that person or converges upon them.

‘The Roan Kingdom already knows the White Star’s subordinates have arrived in the Northwest and has dispatched forces there!’

Then the military strength in the Capital would be depleted.
Would the White Star not know that?
Would he overlook such a fact?

Duke Fredo spoke.

‘The White Star went to the Roan Kingdom a moment ago.’

The discovery of the White Star’s subordinates in the Roan Kingdom had not occurred “a moment ago.”
It was information I had already heard from Albert Crown Prince when Kale Heniatus was fighting in the underground labyrinth of the Molden Royal Palace.

That statement meant the White Star’s subordinates discovered in Rowan and the White Star himself were currently moving separately.

“…I need to get to the Royal Palace quickly.”

Albert Crossman.
The White Star would target him.

“This is maddening.”

Kale Heniatus’s face twisted in anguish.
Albert Crossman—if that were the case!

“This bastard isn’t heading to the Royal Palace, but to the Northwestern Region?”

He requested video communication from Raon and immediately headed toward the Snowy Mountain.

* * *

Alberu commanded his servant.

“Bring me my armor.”

Creeeeak—
And a massive door swung open.

“Your Highness!”
Beep beep beep— Beep beep—

Beyond the door, the space was filled with a cacophony of subordinates calling out to Alberu and the urgent alarm signals of the video communication device.
Alberu stepped inside.

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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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