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Chapter 64
‘As expected, I shouldn’t have taken in this child.’
Aiden hurriedly approached and put out the fire in the fireplace. At that moment, the child who recognized Aiden’s appearance looked back at him with round eyes. Aiden took the child’s hand and turned it around, thinking to reprimand the child.
“Leon, don’t play with fire. I told you that, didn’t I?”
Leon was bewildered at Aiden’s rebuke, but he quickly grasped the situation seeing his hardened expression and shrugged. Then he murmured in a small voice.
“Leon wasn’t playing with fire…”
“What were you doing if not that?”
“If you sleep in the cold, you get sick. That’s why my mom was like that. So Leon was trying to make it warm…”
Aiden stared blankly at the child speaking like that. The child did not intend to play with fire, but to warm him up.
At that moment, what Elisha had said came to mind.
“It’s still a small flame. It can be a flame that burns life in the future or a flame that shares warmth with people.”
At the same time, he remembered a face he will miss all his life. The figure of the woman he would love for the rest of his life, who always worked hard for those who were weaker than her.
Maybe even Julia would have said so. This child is not guilty of anything. So, I beg you to take this child.
‘Raising you to be different from your grandfather seems to be my last duty.’
Aiden, who was staring blankly at Leon, gently held the small hand of the child who was watching him intensely. There was bark on the child’s small hand, that was holding firewood.
Aiden apologized, washing the child’s hands with his water ability.
“I’m sorry, Leon. I got angry at you because I didn’t know better. Thank you for setting the fire for me.”
At his apology, Leon giggled as if embarrassed. Aiden looked at such a child and smiled. Then he asked, adding new firewood.
“Then, shall we start a fire again?”
“Nngh!”
The child soon lit the fireplace. Aiden watched the small spark that jumped out of the child’s hand stick to the firewood and burn slowly.
It was small, but the most lovely flame in the world.
* * *
Returning to the Duke’s residence, Elisha felt troubled.
‘How can I find evidence that Rose sent someone to kill Leon?’
Since she couldn’t kill each child suspected of having inherited Royal blood by herself, she must have entrusted this task to someone.
However, if she moved her close net of connection, it would be too suspicious and attract the attention of the imperial family. The other nobles couldn’t do it either. No matter how much the nobles follow Rose, they would be reluctant to direct their intel and help kill the Imperial grandson.
If it was discovered by mistake, she would become a traitor who tried to kill an Imperial descendant.
‘And in the first place, they’re not really Rose’s people, they’re Raymore’s people.’
There’s no way she would have moved Raymore’s Intel group though. In the original story, it was said that for some reason, Raymore was indifferent to their young Lady and Crown Princess, Rose. Even though it was clear that if she gives birth to an Imperial grandson, it would further solidify their power and position.
For this reason, Rose didn’t think it through and tried to kill Leon, but her plan failed, she ended up helping to reveal that he was the Imperial grandson instead.
In the end, Rose was deposed from her position as the Crown Prince because of that, and the Raymore household turned their back on her.
‘Then all Rose can move is mercenaries.’
The guild of mercenaries don’t move out of loyalty but move at the sight of money.
‘If it is for money, it’s easy to get people to move in the opposite direction. You can convince them to go against their original deal with more money.’
Elisha smiled relaxedly. Things were going easier than expected.
However, there was one problem.
‘It’s too dangerous for me to go by myself.’
Among the numerous guilds, the fastest and most reliable way to find out which guild is colluding with Rose was to catch the mercenaries redhanded.
However, even if she sent Rubellin’s knights, the mercenaries would not fear them very much.
It had to be someone with more power and status.
‘What should I do?’
At that time, she thought of only one person suitable for this job. A person who was trustworthy enough to entrust this task, and who has the strength and power.
Elisha grinned.
The mercenary guild was in a back alley on the outskirts of the island. At first glance, it was a building that looked like a bar or inn, but all the guests who came and went were guild mercenaries. The inside of the inn was filled with the loud laughter of drunken mercenaries.
Then suddenly,
Bang!
With an abrupt crashing sound, the inn’s door shattered and the gatekeeper rolled over on the floor. The noisy inn suddenly became quiet.
“Wh- what–”
The mercenaries looked at the broken door with bewildered eyes. There, one of their colleagues, who had been ordered to kill all the children suspected of having Imperial blood, stood trembling with a frightened face.
And behind him, a tall man in a black robe entered with leisurely steps. The large hand of the man in black leather gloves slid over the hood of the robe revealing his face.
A handsome man with jet-black hair and blood-red eyes resembled a devil. Richard looked around the inn with his cool eyes and opened his moist lips.
“I want to meet the person in charge of this place.”
Although he was alone with no backup, even the mercenaries, who were known for being wild and fierce, were not willing to approach him.
Mercenaries, who have been doing all kinds of rough things all their lives, noticed with their animal instincts that the man in front of them was someone they should not approach carelessly.
They felt intimidated as if they were in front of a wild beast.
The mercenaries, who were suppressed by that momentum, remained silent without saying anything.
However, a rookie who had just entered the guild came at him without noticing anything.
“Who the hell is this cheeky bastard who dares to come in making a fuss and demanding to meet the master?”
Holding his sword, Richard glanced indifferently at the rookie approaching him. His eyes were the same as if watching a bug crawling towards him.
“You assy bastard!”
The rookie, offended by those eyes, swung his sword and rushed towards Richard.
However, Richard lightly avoided the attack by turning his body slightly and kicking the rookie in his abdomen, making him lose balance and stagger.
“Kuhyk!”
The rookie slumped backward at the shock.
“Th- this crazy–!”
He tried to pick up the sword he had dropped, but Richard was faster. As he approached, he struck the mercenary’s sword with his foot and pressed it at the back of his hand.
“Aaaahhk!”
A scream erupted from the rookie’s mouth due to the pain from his crushed bones. Richard, who was looking down at the rookie struggling in pain, raised his eyes and looked at the mercenaries, and opened his mouth again.
“I won’t say it three times. Bring the person in charge, now.”
One of the mercenaries hurriedly turned around and entered the inside of the inn. Only then did Richard take his foot off of the rookie’s hand.
In fact, he didn’t want to get involved in this in the first place.
‘What does Christian’s son have to do with me anyway?’
To put it bluntly, the death of Christian’s son, who possessed the power of the imperial family, was beneficial to Rubellin.
However, he could not defy Elisha’s earnest plea.
“When I saw him, he reminded me of you, so I couldn’t turn a blind eye to him.”
He didn’t like that she cared for someone other than him, but he didn’t hate that she thought of him.
It meant that he was in her mind enough for her to think of him in any trivial situation of her daily life.
That was why he decided to do this arduous task so late at night.
At that time, a mercenary who had entered the inn returned.
“The master says to go inside… please.”
The mercenary, who started speaking informally, felt pressure from Richard’s gaze and ended up muttering his words at the end, spoke the last word politely. Richard went inside the inn under his guidance.
After walking for a while, there was a staircase leading to the second floor. He climbed the stairs and turned left to reveal a long hallway with a room at the end of it. It was an ordinary inn room.
There, a thin, sharp-looking man was sitting with a cigarette in his mouth. Four mercenaries who seemed to be his minions surrounded him.
Richard looked at the cigarette and frowned slightly, but as if he did not care about its presence, he sat down on the chair in front of him and looked at the man. The man asked, looking at Richard, who didn’t seem to mind the current situation, which would be considered dangerous to most people.
“I heard you wanted to meet me?”
“Are you the guild master?”
The guild master inhaled a puff of smoke from the cigarette, exhaled it, and responded a beat later.
“Yeah. What’s your purpose for coming here?”
“Refuse the offer of the Crown Princess and spread the news around all your guild members across the entire Empire.”
“What the hell–”
“If any of those children die, you all die.”
At Richard’s words, the guild master dropped the cigarette he was biting.
In general, guilds communicate with passwords and codes and never mention the client’s name or identity.
But to think that an intruder that came out of nowhere knew that the Crown Princess herself had commissioned the guild for a task. Besides, he knew exactly what the order was.
However, the guild master quickly captured his agitated expression. Then he handed a cigarette to his subordinate who was next to him and said,
“And order from the Crown Princess? I don’t know what you are talking about.”
As soon as he finished speaking, one of his left subordinates pulled out a dagger and threw it at Richard. But even when he saw the dagger flying towards his heart, Richard didn’t move.
At that time, as the guild master was puzzled by his attitude,
Crash!
A strong wind blew into the room when the window broke.
“Keuk!”
The wind was strong enough to push the guild master and his men into a corner. When they finally opened their eyes after the wind had stopped, all the furniture in the room was scattered about. The table that had been placed between them had fallen over, and the dagger thrown by his subordinate was struck on the table.
Among them, only Richard was seated in the same position as before, with his long legs crossed.
Only then did the guild master and his men realize who Richard was.
“Du- Duke of Rubellin…?”
Richard, who was looking at the guild master and his men with indifferent eyes, opened his mouth.
“I’m saying this because I think you’re mistaken about something.”
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A weak wind was still surrounding the guild master and his men. As if warning that he could overpower them at any time.
The guild master and his men shrunk back and swallowed their saliva with nervous faces.
Richard added, the wind swirling around him.
“This is not a proposal, but an order.”
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