WPVMVA Chapter 60

‘According to the reports from the assassin’s guild, they lost a few men to some swordsman woman, but they said they dealt with the Grand Duchess without any problems…’

That would mean Ashid Alberich believed the false report and came to Chambres Fortress. But he couldn’t understand why there was no news from the mercenaries disguised as Akila’s elite soldiers who had invaded Chambres Fortress. There should have been some kind of report at least three hours ago.

‘Did those idiots get wiped out and couldn’t contact me? No. If that were the case, a raven should have returned. The scouts hiding and watching those guys couldn’t have died too!’

Cyril kicked the wall, furious with frustration. He had waited long enough. He couldn’t stand waiting any longer. Cyril, who had come to this conclusion, looked at the closed office door and shouted, “Hey! Is anyone there?”

“Y-you called, my lord?”

The butler answered immediately. He seemed to have been waiting outside the door. Cyril yelled harshly and commanded, “Send a letter to Grand Duke Alberich right now! Find out if he has retreated all of Akila’s elite soldiers and where he is right now!”

At that moment, the closed door silently opened.

“You’re looking for me?”

Then Grand Duke Ashid Alberich entered the office, his hand tightly gripping the butler’s collar.

Ashid laughed out loud at the sight of Cyril Olven’s face turning deathly pale. Then, he let go of the butler’s collar as if he were throwing him away. The butler’s body fell to the floor powerlessly. Dozens of knights, wearing the same uniform as Ashid, entered the office through the wide-open door.

Ashid, with one hand on the hilt of his sword, spoke to Cyril, who was standing plastered against the window.

“I asked, Count Cyril Olven. Are you looking for me?”

“M-my… lord!”

Cyril’s voice trembled with fear. The chilling sneer on Ashid’s handsome face deepened.

“My lord? Did you just call me ‘my lord’?”

“Y-yes, my lord…!”

At that moment, Ashid kicked the desk in front of Cyril. The heavy desk was pushed back, pinning Cyril between the window and the desk. Ashid pressed the desk with one foot to hold Cyril down. He pointed his sword at Cyril’s neck and spoke in an icy voice.

“Right. I am your lord and you are my vassal. How dare you do such a thing to me?”

“W-what… what are you talking about…?! What did I… do…!”

“You sent me a false report to tie me and my knights down at Chambres Fortress, and in the meantime, you sent assassins to kill my wife.”

“…!”

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”

Ashid put more pressure on the leg that was pressing down on the desk. Cyril choked from the excruciating pain of his internal organs being crushed, but he managed to open his mouth and make an excuse.

“No…! I didn’t…! How could I…! Cough! D-do such a thing…!”

“Are you going to keep making excuses to the very end? You’re a fool to lie when your life is on the line.”

Ashid slightly lifted his leg and then kicked the desk again. The heavy desk made a crack and broke. He then grabbed Cyril by the collar, who was struggling to breathe after being freed from the crushing weight, and lifted him up over his head.

Ashid then left the office and went up the stairs leading to the maid’s room, which was on the highest floor of the mansion. Ashid’s knights immediately followed him.

Cyril clutched his collar with both hands and desperately struggled, pleading with Ashid.

“T-there must have been a misunderstanding! I-I absolutely didn’t do it, my lord!”

Then Lowell, who was following right behind Ashid, glared at him with contempt and said, “Do you think my lord would do this without any evidence? To you, of all people, the son of Sir Leopold?”

“We found a letter in which you asked a maid who works at the Grand Duchess’s townhouse for cooperation and offered her money. You’re not going to say that letter is a fake, are you?” Wellard also sneered.

‘I told them to burn the letter as soon as they confirmed the contents…!’

At that moment, the blood drained from Cyril’s face. It was over. Ashid Alberich would never let him live. Cyril’s arms and legs went limp with despair as he came to this realization.

Meanwhile, they arrived in front of the maid’s room. The room was empty, with a window larger than a normal person on one wall. Ashid opened the window without hesitation and threw Cyril down in front of it. While Cyril coughed dryly, he quickly drew his sword and pointed it at his neck.

Cyril raised both hands as if surrendering and trembled all over. If he took a single step forward, Ashid’s sword would pierce his neck. If he took a step back, he would fall out of the window and die. He was in a situation where he couldn’t move.

Ashid sneered, twisting one side of his mouth into a cold grin, and said in an icy voice, “Considering our past, I’ll give you one last chance.”

“P-please, just spare my life, my lord! I did everything wrong! T-this is all Duke Lodion and Marquis Cadogan’s fault! I was just doing what they told me to!”

“Choose. Will you jump out of that window with your own two feet, or will you be beheaded by my sword?”

“…!”

“If you jump out with your own two feet, I will give you a proper funeral as my knight.”

At his words, Cyril’s face, which had been begging for mercy in a cowardly manner, twisted in anger and humiliation. How could Ashid do this to him? Who’s son was he? What kind of loyalty had his family shown him until now?

He felt a sense of betrayal at Ashid’s attitude, who was trying to take his life just for sending a false letter and endangering his wife, completely forgetting about his family’s contributions.

Unable to suppress his rising emotions, Cyril finally yelled in a fit of rage, “Ashid Carlyle Alberich! You ungrateful murderer! What did my father do for you and the Empress?! And what about me?! I dedicated my life to you, and you repay me with betrayal?!”

“Say it correctly, Cyril. You were the one who betrayed me first, not the other way around.”

“No! You were the one who first broke the trust with my family! My father was practically exiled from the Empire’s social circles and lost his life trying to protect your mother and you, and you just gave me a few measly coins and a few useless fortresses! You were the one who betrayed my father and me first!”

“Count Olven, are you insane? ‘A few measly coins’?! That was a fortune equal to a small kingdom’s three years’ worth of budget!”

Lowell shouted roughly at Cyril, who was making an absurd argument.

Ashid gestured for him to stop and then asked Cyril, “Then what should I have given you to be satisfied?”

“You should have at least given me the title of Marquis! And granted me a fortress as big as Tarind Fortress!”

Tarind Fortress was the largest fortress in the North and generated the most tax revenue. Ashid let out a short, hollow laugh and said, “How could I, who am not the Emperor, give you a title? And Tarind Fortress? Why don’t you just ask for the entire North?”

“You act like a Grand Monarch who rules the North! You could have easily given me that if you wanted to! …Damn it! It’s the same with the war reparations from the Kingdom of Lesinia! How could you give so much money to commoners over me, your own vassal?!”

“Was that what you were so upset about?”

“Yes! If you had just given me a proper reward, I wouldn’t have done this! Your woman wouldn’t have gotten hurt, and I wouldn’t have taken their money and opened the Roders Gate for them!”

As Cyril ranted and tried to rationalize his evil deeds, Ashid’s eyes widened in surprise. At the same time, Lowell, Wellard, and the other knights gasped in shock.

The ‘Roders Gate’ was the name of one of the secret passages in the main Northern Fortress, and it was the very place where Sir Leopold Cyril had lost his life a few years ago after its location was leaked to the enemy.

Ashid, who quickly regained his composure, his face hardened. He brought the sword even closer to Cyril’s neck and sneered.