Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 627

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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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But whether Alberu sighed or not, the three unexpected visitors strode into the bedroom without hesitation.

-Crown Prince! I’m here too! Got any cookies? I’ll buy them with money! The human gave me a ton of allowance recently! All the back pay!

Of course, all three had entered through the window.

“…Good grief, my head.”

Alberu clutched his head in his hands.
Click. Choi Han shut the window, and Raon revealed himself.

“Crown Prince, why does your head hurt? You shouldn’t be hurting! But is that why you look a bit disheveled today?”

Alberu’s lips twitched.
Kale Heniatus settled onto the sofa with perfect composure, as if he owned the place.

“Raon. Everyone looks like that when they wake up. And considering how busy Your Highness must be as the sun of Rowan, surely you can understand that he merely carved out a brief moment for sleep from his demanding schedule. It’s only natural that his appearance is somewhat disheveled.”

Then he flashed Alberu a radiant smile.

“Of course, even your disheveled appearance is quite resplendent, wouldn’t you agree, Choi Han?”

But instead of answering, Choi Han quietly averted his gaze from Alberu.
Alberu’s eyes were speaking volumes to Choi Han.
‘Choi Han. You’ll give me a normal answer, won’t you?’ they seemed to say.
Alberu sighed at Choi Han’s evasion, then rose from the bed and headed toward the sofa.

“I prepared some just in case, and sure enough, this is exactly what happens.”

A box of cookies was placed on the table.

“Truly, bursting into my bedroom like this.”
“How surprising of you to say that now.”
“Crown Prince, this is 1 silver! This is mine! Hehe!”

Crunch, crunch.
The sound of Raon munching on cookies filled the bedroom.
I crossed my legs and spoke with composure.

“According to Raon, the Royal Palace’s protective barrier is quite formidable.”
“Given the White Star, it has to be.”

Alberu swept back his disheveled hair carelessly.

“…Of course, I made sure the barrier wouldn’t activate for certain individuals.”

That naturally included trustworthy allies like me.
It would be problematic if our allies couldn’t approach the Royal Court during urgent situations because of the barrier.

“Right. Why did you come? What happened?”

Alberu’s expression had turned grave.

“I thought you said you were coming to the Capital tomorrow morning.”

Yet here I was, bursting in the middle of the night.
It couldn’t be anything trivial.

“Your Highness. Duke Fredo arrived at my territory in a critically wounded state.”
“Mm.”

Alberu swallowed hard.
My face had already grown tense.

“According to Duke Fredo, the White Star intends to conduct two summoning rituals.”
“Two?”

Alberu soon arrived at the answer.

“Eight statues. The first summoning ritual seems to be calling forth an unranked monster. And the remaining one…”

He grimaced as if reluctant to even mention it.

“…It must be the Sealed God.”
“Yes. They say they will break the seal.”

Alberu rubbed his head as if it were giving him a headache.

The Sealed God.
That deity was said to be an evil god or the god of despair.
The god’s nature itself was not particularly problematic.
Where there is good, there is evil. Just as the Sun God Cult had driven out the dark-natured races, a god with benevolent attributes was not necessarily virtuous.

‘The issue is that this entity was sealed for breaking the rules. Moreover, it has deep connections to the White Star.’

Judging by the trials the Sealed God had put Kale Heniatus through, it was not a god I found favorable.
I disliked anything—god or otherwise—that could harm Roun.

“Are both summonings to take place in Pursulsi?”

And the fact that all of this was happening on Roun’s land was quite irritating.

“Duke Fredo was unable to uncover that either. He only managed to obtain information that the White Star faction intends to move to Pursulsi.”

Suddenly, a question formed on Alberu’s face.

“Kale.”
“Yes.”
“Why did Duke Fredo arrive in a mortally wounded state?”

In that instant, I saw Choi Han’s expression harden.
A gulp.
Raon stopped munching on his cookie.
Then Kale’s mouth opened.

“Your Highness. You said the Wolf Tribe Children were sacrifices, correct?”
“That’s right.”

Why did the Wolf Tribe suddenly come up?
The Wolf Tribe, known to have been abandoned by the gods.
And the Wolf Tribe Children who were meant to be used as sacrifices in the ritual to summon eight statues.

‘Surely not!’

Alberu’s eyes widened in shock at the thought that had suddenly crossed his mind, and he stared at me.
A bitter smile played at the corners of my lips.

“Your Majesty. Did the White Star truly have affection for the Endable Kingdom?”

If this creature had affection for anything, he bore a curse that would strip him of everything.
Everyone present knew this truth.

“…Of course he wouldn’t have had any affection.”

He was merely a tool—whether for power, for strength, or for his own ambitions to become a king or a god, it mattered not.
This was something Alberu had already surmised.
Yet that assumption seemed to have underestimated the White Star.
Alberu’s expression grew increasingly twisted.

“Your Majesty. Duke Fredo said something.”

The words that had come from Duke Fredo’s lips flowed directly from mine.

“We were substitutes prepared for contingencies.”

Alberu closed his eyes and opened his mouth.

“Substitutes to replace the Wolf Tribe, you mean?”

Beings accepted by nature, yet abandoned by the gods.
And it was not only the Wolf Tribe that fell into this category.

“That is my assessment.”
“Assessment? You didn’t hear everything?”
“Duke Fredo spoke only a few things before losing consciousness again.”

After fainting, Duke Fredo had been plagued by high fever and remained unconscious. Though Merry and Erhafen were tending to him together, there was no way to know when he would regain his senses.
That was why I had rushed to the Capital without waiting idly for him to awaken.

I shrugged my shoulders, and Alberu’s grip tightened on the sofa’s armrest.
Tap, tap, tap.
His index finger drummed against the armrest.
Alberu’s mind grew complicated.

Endable.
The freedom and sense of liberation he had felt there—Alberu could still vividly recall it even now.

“What happened to the other Vampires? And the Dark Elves? You didn’t hear about them either?”

Vampires and Dark Elves.
Unlike the Wolf Tribe, they absorbed dead mana, yet they too had been accepted by nature and rejected by the gods, unable to use potions from ordinary temples.
They would be the sacrifices—these two races.
The ordinary residents who had lived peacefully in Endable.
My lips parted as I met Alberu’s gaze.

“They did not die, according to reports.”
“That makes sense. The summoning ritual never unfolded.”

I withdrew several documents from my possession and placed them on the table.

“I have recorded everything else I heard from Duke Fredo as well.”
“…I’ll need to use this to determine the direction of tomorrow’s meeting.”

My tasks continued to multiply.
Yet Alberu could not resent it.
Only thorough preparation could guarantee peace.

“Yes. That is why I came now. It seemed urgent to inform you as soon as possible.”
“Good. You came at the right time. If you had arrived this morning, the information wouldn’t have been properly conveyed.”
“…Pardon?”

Alberu looked up from the documents at my bewildered tone.

“What is it?”
“…Is there a meeting tomorrow?”
“There is.”

His expression asked what the problem was.

“A conference of representatives from each nation for the peace of the East-West Continent. We’re scheduled to begin proceedings at noon tomorrow.”

A conference with quite the grandiose name.

“…Your Highness. Surely you said ‘soon’ during the video communication, did you not?”
“Yes. Soon. Tomorrow at noon. Ah, midnight has passed. So today at noon, then.”
“…Is that what you call soon?”

Alberu shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s an urgent matter anyway, and everyone is busy, are they not? Since you said you’d arrive tomorrow morning, everyone agreed to noon.”

Raon lifted his front paw high into the air.
It was a gesture indicating he had a question.

“Crown Prince! If it’s noon, won’t the human skip meals and just attend the meeting? Vicross, being the kind one, told me to make sure the human eats properly!”
“Do not worry. I will have Kale Heniatus’s meal prepared around eleven o’clock.”
“Oh! Understood! Then I’ll bring the human by eleven!”

Choi Han listened to their conversation with a satisfied smile.
Only Kale’s expression was not pleased.

“Your Highness. Or rather, brother.”
“Yes?”
“I feel I should go to the Eastern Continent and assess the situation. Could I possibly be excused?”
“Ah, do not worry. I’ll have the Mercenary King informed of the news Duke Fredo brought. And if you ask the Molan Patriarch, he’ll gather practically all the information we need. You have a tendency to escalate matters when you go, so it would be better to entrust the information gathering to these two instead.”
“No, when have I ever escalated—”

Kale opened his mouth as if to protest such a claim, but his voice was drowned out by Raon and Choi Han’s voices that followed.
Raon and Choi Han nodded in admiration.

“The Crown Prince is right! The human would drill a hole through a cliff, but instead causes the entire cliff to collapse!”
“Indeed, Your Highness the Crown Prince possesses excellent judgment.”

Alberu nodded at their response as if it were obvious, then looked at Kale and immediately furrowed his brow.

“Why do you have such a disagreeable expression on your face?”
“…It’s nothing, sir.”
“In any case, this will be a quiet meeting, so you needn’t worry about drawing unwanted attention. Given the sensitive nature of the matter, we’ve eliminated all unnecessary procedures.”
“Understood.”

I rose from my seat.

“Then… I’ll be there by 11 o’clock.”
“Yes. You’re heading to the Heniatus Duchy Mansion in the Capital?”
“Yes. I’ve already sent word ahead, so I must go there.”
“Hmm.”

At Alberu’s response, I paused and looked at him.
It was an ominous reaction.

“…Is there a problem, Your Highness?”
“Mm.”

Alberu fell silent in thought for a moment, then broke into a radiant smile.

“Duke Derth certainly has impressive capabilities. Quite like you, actually.”
“Your Highness, doesn’t that mean Duke Derth is turning a task as delicate as drilling a hole in a cliff into something that shatters the entire cliff?”
“Hahahaha— Raon, you have quite the way with words.”

Alberu laughed.
But he didn’t deny what Raon had said.

‘What is this?’

A creeping sense of unease washed over me.
It was an intense foreboding—the same kind I’d felt when I saw the soldier at Heniatus Territory Castle drop Pen and the documents the moment he laid eyes on me.

“Go well. Rest thoroughly, and I’ll see you in the morning. Oh, and regarding information on other Dragons, the Dark Elves are actively searching, centered around Obante, so you should hear from them soon.”

The existence of other Dragons—potential powerful allies in the coming battle against the White Star.
Between the Dark Elves and Elves, combined with Erhafen’s intelligence, we were conducting a thorough search for other Dragons.

“Yes. Please let me know when you hear anything.”
“Of course. Travel safely.”

Alberu personally saw me off at the window.
That made me even more anxious, but I headed toward the Duchy Mansion regardless.

* * *

I arrived at the Duchy Mansion.
The mansion looked identical to the Count’s Mansion where I had stayed during my previous visit to the Capital.
Becoming a Duke hadn’t made it any more extravagant.

-We’re home at the Capital!

Raon, cloaked in invisibility, called out cheerfully.

-It’s exactly the same!

The mansion, unchanged in every detail, brought with it both familiarity and comfort.

“…Good heavens.”

Yet I stopped in my tracks, blinking.

-Human! Duke Derth came out to greet you!

In the dead of night.
Though the mansion’s structure remained unchanged, magical lanterns bloomed throughout, bathing the estate in considerable brightness.
It was as if daylight had arrived.
I could see Duke Derth approaching me with a radiant expression, his face suffused with emotion. With each surge of feeling, his pace quickened.
He eventually rushed toward me as if running.
But I remained frozen in place like a statue.
Then Raon’s voice reached me, filled with bewilderment.

-Human, is Duke Derth heading off to war or something? Is he going to topple a kingdom on the side?
“…Right?”

Behind Duke Derth, who was rushing forward.
I could see people lined up at the brightly lit mansion’s open main gate.
They were not soldiers.
That was the problem.
They all appeared to be swordsmen and mages with formidable presence.
While not exceptionally powerful individuals, they seemed to be above average at first glance.

‘Where did he bring such strong people from?’

Such individuals were densely positioned around the mansion in the middle of the night.
I looked around my surroundings.

This place where noble families had gathered.
The other mansions were not as brightly lit as House Heniatus, but their lights were on.

Click. Click.
As the windows of nearby mansions opened, everyone who poked their heads out stared at me.
The certainty that any quiet entry into the house was now impossible struck the back of my head forcefully.

“…Kale!”
“Father.”

Duke Derth stood before me.
Unable to even embrace me, he slowly took in my living form with trembling eyes.

“…Thank goodness, truly—”

Unlike Duke Derth, who couldn’t continue speaking, I had something to confirm first.
I pointed behind him.

“Father, who are those people?”

The moment I asked, I saw Duke Derth’s eyes change.
Considerable anger and firm resolve radiated from him.

“Kale. No one will ever lay a hand on House Heniatus or our territory’s people.”

Gulp.
For some reason, I asked again, gripped by tension.

“…So who exactly are they? They seem quite strong.”
“That’s right. They’re strong. Most of them are freelancers.”
“How did you manage to gather such individuals?”
“Ah! You were curious about how I gathered them.”

Derth erased the intense gleam from his eyes and painted a benevolent smile across his ordinary face.

“Of course I hired them! When I offered ten times their usual salary for a six-month contract, they all came running! Hahahaha!”
“…Ten times?”
“That’s right! Kale, trust only your father! I’ll scrape together every strong warrior on the Western Continent! Hahahaha!”

…Just how much money does he have?
I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t.
The reason was simple.

-Human! Human!

Raon urgently sought me out.

-There’s a Dragon in there!

What?

-Inside your mansion, human! Among those people gathered there!

Among the people Duke Derth had hired, there was a Dragon.

-A Dragon pretending to be weak!

What did you say?

-It’s grinning at us wickedly!

A Dragon had walked right into my mansion on its own.

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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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