Chapter 30: The Spring Journey (5)
One of Ethelred’s knights entered the parlor, fully adorned in his attire.
He addressed Baron Moliot, who sat with a slightly tense face.
“Follow me.”
Baron Moliot, one of the nobles under Count Lamaring.
━I need someone to check on Ethelred. Since my father’s man hasn’t returned, I’ll have to send ‘my man’ this time.
‘Young Master Brediol…….’
He bit his lower lip.
Ethelred’s territory was known for being soft, so he thought it wouldn’t be difficult until he arrived.
But once he arrived, the atmosphere was completely different.
It had been a year since Count Edmund had entered the dungeon and not come out, and it had been quite a while since Marquis Ross had made his move, so he naturally expected them to be half-ruined.
However, it was different.
The knights were as sharp and poised as honed swords, and the servants working in the Count’s castle were disciplined.
As if someone were holding a knife to their throats.
Baron Moliot, who supported Count Lamaring’s first son, Brediol, realized that he had been sent into the lion’s den.
He cleared his trembling throat and asked,
“W, Where are we going?”
Ethelred’s knight glanced at him with indifferent eyes and replied,
“Young Master Cain wishes to see you.”
“Ah! The eldest……”
The knight’s eyes narrowed for a moment.
Although he didn’t feel any murderous intent, Baron Moliot felt that his lifespan would be shortened if he made a mistake, so he hurriedly added,
“……Young Master, I mean. I will follow.”
The knight nodded as if to tolerate that much.
Then, he turned around with a disciplined posture and led the way.
Moliot followed him, trying to erase the pressure he felt unknowingly.
A long corridor.
He turned his gaze out the long window to the left.
“Gasp━.”
He couldn’t help but hold his breath for a moment at the sight outside.
The knight turned around when he heard the strange sound.
Then, seeing him looking outside, he smiled slightly.
“It’s nothing. I think it’s because it’s been so long since we’ve had a new guest.”
Moliot wanted to shout that it was ridiculous.
Outside the window, Ethelred’s knights were standing in a row, all looking up at Moliot.
It wasn’t out of respect.
Dozens of eyes were there with a momentum that seemed to pierce him if they saw a gap.
One step, two steps.
Every time he took a step forward, their sharp gazes stabbed Moliot.
“I, Is that so.”
But all he could do was nod.
He barely lifted and lowered his weakening knees, repeating the process until he reached a small door.
It was the entrance to Edmund’s office, where Cain spent most of his time.
The knight bowed and gestured towards the door.
“Please come in.”
Moliot’s fingertips trembled.
He carefully grabbed the doorknob and opened it, and the first thing he saw was Cain, the black-haired man sitting on the ornate chair.
He looked young enough to be called a boy.
But━.
“Sit.”
As Cain pointed his chin at the opposite chair, Baron Moliot obediently followed his words.
Because for some reason, he felt like he had to obey.
Moliot cautiously looked ahead.
In the center was Cain.
He didn’t know who the woman with gray hair was on the left.
‘She couldn’t be Princess Oleciren, could she?’
He thought so because her face and hair color were somehow familiar, but he quickly dismissed the possibility as impossible.
On the right stood an elderly knight like a pillar supporting the sky.
“Knight, I’ve heard a lot about Vanderbilt Arzweber.”
Moliot felt a little more at ease when he saw someone he knew.
He had heard quite a bit about him since he was once affiliated with Count Lamaring, and luckily, Moliot remembered a few things.
However, as Vanderbilt was next to Cain, he only nodded once, and Baron Moliot felt his mouth go dry.
Cain looked back at Vanderbilt and said,
“Why don’t you acknowledge him?”
“I don’t know him.”
It had been years since he left Lamaring, so of course Vanderbilt wouldn’t know someone like this.
Cain smiled wryly and looked back at Moliot.
“That’s what knights are like. You understand, don’t you, Lord Baron Moliot?”
“That’s…… Do you know me?”
He was belatedly surprised that Cain knew who he was, responding to his playful words.
“I need to identify who comes to see me, so that I can judge whether or not they will disappear.”
Cain’s lips curled up.
Cold sweat began to form on Moliot’s forehead.
He had heard that the 〈Los de Kaerot〉 of Marquis Ross had gone missing.
And he had heard that the envoy from Lamaring who had come before him had also gone missing.
And the words he just heard from Cain.
Gulp━.
Moliot swallowed unconsciously.
Because he realized that the ‘disappearance’ Cain mentioned wasn’t a coincidence.
“Well, you don’t have to be so scared.”
“……Yes.”
“As far as I know, you follow Brediol Lamaring, the first son. Does he have a message for me?”
Cain’s gaze turned slightly towards Oleciren.
Of course, there was no way he would know this information, and it was all information that Oleciren had given him.
“Young Master Brediol……”
Moliot was momentarily confused about whether to deliver the message or not.
His life was on the line, and after seeing Count Ethelred’s territory, it seemed unnecessary.
Slide━.