Chapter – 72
Victory Memorial Day was a day to commemorate the battle that reclaimed Decaron from the savages and regained the North. At that time, Decaron had been occupied by savages for about 100 years, and the Northerners had been reduced to slavery.
Then, a hero suddenly appeared, defeated the savages, and rallied the Northerners. He was the first Sigmund and the founding patriarch of the Sigmund family: [Ciron van Sigmund].
Ciron van Sigmund, known to possess the bloodline of the Ancients, achieved consecutive victories in battle, liberating the Northerners. He later allied with the King of the United Kingdom at the time to recapture Decaron, an event referred to as the [War of Liberation].
Afterwards, Ciron van Sigmund became the ruler of the North as the Lord of Decaron, naturally leading to the establishment of the Sigmund family.
Therefore, it was only natural that Victory Memorial Day, celebrating the triumph of the [War of Liberation], was the biggest event in Decaron. It was also a natural course of action for dignitaries from the other 12 families supporting the United Kingdom of Nyurburg to visit.
“They’re all going to swarm in, aren’t they?”
Carlyle frowned as if the mere thought was exhausting.
“It doesn’t seem so.”
“Really…?”
Carlyle tried to recall his memories.
However, the good-for-nothing of the North had ‘almost’ no memories of the Victory Memorial.
In his childhood, it seemed he often attended banquets and interacted with the patriarchs and their children from other families.
But after he went off the rails, not only did the family not call for him, but he also didn’t participate in the events himself.
He just took advantage of the festival being held to indulge even more heavily in drinking and pleasure…
“Traditionally, out of the 12 families of the United Kingdom excluding the main house, seven families almost always attend, while the remaining five families varied each time.”
“Ah, is that so.”
“You probably don’t remember well.”
Maranello gave a wry smile.
“Hmm.”
Carlyle pondered for a moment before speaking.
“Then, doesn’t that mean I don’t have to attend this time either?”
“That might be difficult, sir.”
“Why?”
“You passed the Test of Highness and are scheduled to be promoted to officer. Do you think the Family Head will just leave you alone?”
“If he doesn’t leave me alone, then wha… Ah.”
Carlyle’s expression suddenly hardened.
“Then, is he going to stick me in an even more troublesome place?”
“Wouldn’t he likely do just that?”
“Ugh.”
Carlyle furrowed his brows.
In his past life, he had never engaged in noble social activities, and by nature, he didn’t like such things.
“Have I been too quiet lately? Well, I should cause some appropriate trouble to be treated as a half-wit.”
“Young Master, what are you saying now…?”
Maranello’s face turned pale as he spoke, but it seemed Carlyle wasn’t listening.
“Where can I cause some suitable trouble… But if I make too big of a scene, I’ll be the one having a harder time… Something that would warrant a suitable disciplinary confinement…”
“Kheuk.”
Maranello covered his face as if terrified just by the thought.
“Um, Head Butler.”
Evangelin opened her mouth, her eyes slightly curious.
“I have something I’m curious about.”
“Something curious?”
“I heard that the young master of the Belvedere family is so, so handsome… is that true?”
“Hehe.”
Maranello laughed.
“Are you that curious about it?”
“Th-that’s not it.”
Evangelin blushed.
“People are talking a lot about who is more handsome between the young master of the Belvedere family and our young master.”
“Well.”
Maranello nodded as if it was understandable.
“The eldest son of the Belvedere family is indeed a handsome man to the point that no one can deny it. He’s known as the continent’s number one handsome man.”
“I-I see.”
Evangelin seemed unable to bring herself to ask more.
As a future vassal and as Carlyle’s maid, directly comparing the Young Master to a third party was a great disrespect…
“But there’s no need to doubt it.”
“Huh?”
“Although the eldest son of the Belvedere family is called the continent’s most handsome man, he is no match for Young Master Carlyle.”
“…!”
“Purely in terms of looks, our Young Master is the continent’s number one handsome man.”
“As expected!”
Evangelin clenched her fists as if she had believed it all along.
“There’s no way a man as handsome as our Young Master exists in this world!”
“Absolutely, of course.”
Maranello also nodded repeatedly, as if he had no doubt.
“In all my life, I’ve never seen a man as handsome as our Young Master. Hehehe.”
“As expected of the Young Master.”
However, the person in question, Carlyle, was ‘not at all’ interested in their conversation.
‘How can I avoid this bothersome matter… How can I…’
Right now, that was the only thought in Carlyle’s head.
* * *
Carlyle’s group, that is, the troops of Bowden Fortress, arrived in Decaron via the 2nd Army Headquarters.
“Everyone, enjoy your leave well, and make sure to return safely on time.”
“Yes!”
The soldiers scattered in all directions.
“Then, I’ll see you when we return.”
Carlyle gave a short farewell to the scout squad members and turned away.
“Yeah, take a good rest and come back. It’s your first leave, eat lots of delicious food.”
Begman offered well-wishes to Carlyle.
“Captain.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you sure it’s okay to keep using informal speech with Lieutenant Carlyle?”
“What, man? He’s not one yet!”
“Even so, to use such informal speech with someone who will soon be an officer…”
“Is, is that so?”
At Russell’s point, Begman glanced subtly at Carlyle’s reaction.
“If only you were all respectful like me normally, right?”
Kudo said with a sly grin.
“He hasn’t been promoted yet, so everyone can feel free to address me casually, feel free.”
“Is, is it really okay?”
“Yes.”
“But no taking it back later.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Alright.”
As Begman nodded, the other scout squad members also each said a word to Carlyle.
“Enjoy your leave.”
“See you in a month. Well, if I’m still alive by then, that is. Kekeke.”
As the greetings showed signs of gradually ending, a carriage drawn by a whopping six horses appeared and stopped in front of Carlyle.
“Young Master, the carriage is ready. Please board.”
“Thanks.”
Carlyle quickly climbed into the carriage.
*Clip-clop, clip-clop…*
Soon after the carriage departed, the remaining scout squad members wore slightly dazed expressions.
Some were just trudging wordlessly towards their hometowns on foot, while those whose hometowns were far away were pooling money to hire a coachman to move together… From the scout squad members’ perspective, it was a moment where the status gap between them and Carlyle felt newly apparent.
“Guess worrying about a rich kid’s problems is pointless after all.”
“Worrying about Sigmund is pointless, isn’t it?”
“You bastard, really!”
“Argh!”
Russell, who had pointlessly pointed things out, got a knuckle sandwich on the head and writhed in pain.
“Alright everyone, have fun. I’m off then.”
“Then, I’ll be going too.”
Wilson and Kudo headed towards the center of Decaron.
“Ugh. My hometown is so far, I guess I need to catch a carriage too. Phew. Just thinking about how many people there will be is already suffocating.”
Russell grumbled as he headed towards the relay station.
The scout squad members also each said their piece and scattered towards their respective destinations.
“Sir Helen…”
Begman, now left alone, asked Helen.
“I…”
Helen looked around to see if anyone was there, then carefully opened her mouth.
“I plan to stay in Decaron for the Victory Memorial Day events and then go to my hometown, Uncle.”
“Ah, I see.”
Begman also carefully looked around and dropped the formal speech.
The two had a connection dating back to when Helen enlisted as a lowly private, so when they were alone, they often talked comfortably like this.
“What about you, Uncle?”
“Gotta go home.”
“But…”
“Home is home. Where else would a soldier on leave go but home?”
“……”
“Alright, I’ll go first. Enjoy your leave. Give my regards to the siblings back home too.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
“I’m off.”
Begman gave a faint smile and started walking.
“Uncle, that place…”
Helen suddenly thought that Begman’s destination might not be his hometown.
The direction Begman was heading… was the road leading to Helen’s hometown.
* * *
The inner castle of Decaron was seized with shock and fear, trembling uncontrollably.
With the news that Carlyle van Sigmund – the good-for-nothing who had been thrown into a deathtrap (enlisted) according to family tradition – was on a reward leave, everyone from servants and maids to knights trembled with anxiety and unease.
*Whisper, whisper!*
Everyone had a lot to say.
“How on earth did that good-for-nothing survive?”
“He must have been hiding like a coward in the back.”
“I’m already scared thinking about how much he’ll act up.”
Given that Carlyle van Sigmund was a figure with such a brilliant track record (?), it was extremely natural for everyone working in the inner castle to enter a state of high tension.
However, in reality, Carlyle just quietly returned, holed up in his room, and showed no particular movement.
Of course, precisely because of that, the anxiety of the servants, maids, and knights only grew…
*Flump*, Carlyle buried himself in the generously sized bed.
“Ah, now I feel like I can live.”
“Is it that pleasing, Young Master?”
“After sleeping on a camp cot for two months, lying here feels like heaven.”
“Hehe.”
Maranello let out a hollow laugh.
“After just two months, you say that? This old man, in his youth, lived solely on a camp cot for three whole years and was just fine.”
“Not me.”
Carlyle said bluntly.
“I’m going to sleep a bit.”
“Yes, Young Master. Rest comfortably.”
Maranello smiled and stepped aside.
Fortunately, Grand Duke Guntram was absent, so Carlyle could sleep in the large, soft bed without any disturbance.
“Butler! Is this really the butler’s house? Amazing!”
The baby dragon, who had stealthily slipped out of Carlyle’s embrace, fluttered around, flying here and there in the room.
“It’s not my house. It’s the Grand Duke’s house. I’m just living here.”
“Grand Duke?”
“The lord of this territory.”
“That’s the butler’s dad, right?”
“It could be, or it couldn’t be.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“It’s not important, so don’t meddle in other people’s family matters.”
“So, is the butler’s dad the Grand Duke or not?”
“Why is that important?”
“Why wouldn’t it be important? From my perspective, whether the butler is a rich man’s son or not is obviously important. If the butler isn’t the Grand Duke’s son, isn’t that fraudulent hatching?”
“Frau… what?”
“Fraudulent hatching!”
“……”
“If the butler wasn’t a rich man’s son, I would have been tricked into hatㅎ…”
“Ah, that’s enough.”
Carlyle pulled the covers over his head.
“Let me sleep, stop bothering me. If you’re hungry, ask Evangelin for some feed. You know who the lady who came with us from the fortress is, right?”
“Whaaat? FeEeEed? HaaAak!”
The baby dragon growled, but Carlyle gritted his teeth and pretended not to know.
*Poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke poke…*
“Just you wait! Hmph!”
The baby dragon threw cotton-ball punches at Carlyle for a while, then, perhaps because it got hungry, flew off to find Evangelin.
‘It’s already flying around. How long has it been since it was born?’
Not that it was strange.
The baby dragon wasn’t a naturally occurring entity but a test subject created by the mage Antiros.
‘Let’s sleep for now.’
Carlyle closed his eyes.
However, sleep didn’t come easily.
One hour, two hours…
‘Why can’t I sleep?’
For several hours, Carlyle tossed and turned, unable to sleep, eyes wide open.
Strangely, the soft, plush bed felt uncomfortable, an inexplicable anxiety made him feel on edge, and the sound of his *thump-thump* heartbeat echoed in his ears.
‘Driving me crazy.’
Carlyle sat up abruptly and looked at the clock on the wall.
Even though five hours had passed since he lay down, strangely, sleep wouldn’t come.
‘Is it because my body isn’t tired enough? Maybe moving around will help.’
As it was late at night, Carlyle stealthily left his bed and headed to his private training ground.
“Kool, kooool…”
The baby dragon was curled up in a ball next to Carlyle’s pillow, fast asleep, oblivious to the world.
“Huh?”
When Carlyle arrived at the old castle site located outside the outer walls, he realized someone was waiting for him.
“You’ve come, Young Master.”
Maranello, holding a duster, was waiting for Carlyle.
