Chapter Ten
"You're fired."
The frost on the windowpane didn't just look like ice, it looked like a closing contract.
Am I doing this right?
Outside, the Northern blizzard howled, a reminder that the Halcrest Duchy was a barren, dying land held together by little more than the stubbornness of those too poor to leave.
Can I even fix this? Wouldn't it be better to just abandon it all and start a business somewhere while hiding my identity?
[Ping!]
[But, then you wouldn't have the chance to be very, very rich.]
Pfft. It sure does know how to act like a girlfriend.
[Ping!]
[Focus on becoming rich, idiot!]
For the second time today, a ray of warmth seeped into my cold heart and I wasn't cussing out the system.
It's right. When again will I get a chance to monopolize magic? Focus, Yeun! Why are you becoming so indecisive?
"Your Grace?" Kaelen's voice was a low rasp, cutting through the rhythmic tick-tick of the melting ice as he pulled me out of my thoughts.
"Did you not hear me the first time, Kaelen? I said you're fired." I didn't look at him. I was busy staring at my hands.
Chubby, soft hands that had never known the calluses of a sword or the ink-stains of a ledger.
Well, now they will. I need to start from scratch again. But, at least in this life I have some power unlike my previous one where no matter how hard I tried to rise, my social status kicked me down.
If there's a god, just wait and watch. I'll show you what I could have achieved in past life if only you gave me a loving home.
"I did hear, Your Grace," Kaelen stepped forward, the polished metal of his greaves clinking, as I snapped out of my thoughts. "I simply do not understand. Is this about the jogging? Or the celibacy? If I have overstepped—"
Ugh... Why does he keep bringing up the fact about me being a virgin?
"Do you understand what a knight is, Kaelen?" I cut him off. Despite being irritated to my core, I tried to keep my voice was level, devoid of the petty tantrums I earlier had.
It was going to be more dangerous from here on. I need to clear Kaelen's head. I don't care if he thinks Veryon is possessed or not. But, his blade should never falter in protecting me.
And, with his loyalty at 1. It's even more necessary to give him shock treatment.
Kaelen paused, his ruby-red eyes narrowing. "I'm sorry. I don't understand the question, Your Grace."
"I see. Let me rephrase it. Who are you, Kaelen?"
He straightened his posture by reflex. Even in a territory where the Duke sold the carriage wheels for wine money, Kaelen somehow managed to maintain the dignity of a high-class warrior through stubbornness. "I am the Knight Head of the Halcrest Duchy."
"That is a title," I said, finally turning to face him. My shadow, enlarged by the flickering candlelight and my own frame, stretched across the peeling wallpaper. "It is not the answer to my question."
"Then why don't you tell me, what am I, Your Grace?"
"A knight who has sworn loyalty to me."
Kaelen stiffened. The air in the room dropped a degree. Looks like his 5th Circle Ice Mana was reacting to his agitation.
"And, a knight," I continued, my irritation bleeding through like pressure behind a dam, "is a sword with a sheath called loyalty. You, however, seem to believe you are the blade and the hand that wields it. There is no sheath."
"It's not like that, Your Grace. My duty is to protect the duchy," Kaelen's jaw tightened. "If I follow blindly—"
"No," I snapped, the authority of an Archmage who once ruled an empire of capital leaked my body momentarily, silencing the winds raging outside. "Your duty is to obey. A knight who doubts his lord does not protect the fief. He evaluates it. He judges it. And the moment you judge your lord, you stop being a weapon who existed to protect and become a political variable. A variable that can betray me any moment!"
"It's really not like that, Your Grace. How dare I betray you when you gave the refugees of the war a home, when everyone else refused to? It's just that, who will protect the fief and the people, Your Grace!?"
[Ping!]
[Kaelen is feeling desperate.]
Disable notifications.
[Ping!]
[That feature is not available in v01. Please try again later after system update.]
This damned... Ugh! Forget it. Let's focus on the matters at hand.
"The lord of the fief, Kaelen," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous level. "Don't tell me you've begun to think you are the Duke of Halcrest?"
I rose from the bed slowly. My legs protested, but irritation has always been a better fuel than mana ever was. I stepped into his personal space, ignoring the suffocating pressure of the SSS-Class potential radiating off him.
Up close, the height difference was clear, but the power dynamic was clearer.
"N-No. I wouldn't dare. When did I ever-"
"Do you think just because I didn't glance at you that I wouldn't know? You doubted me when I negotiated with Hans. You doubted me when I spoke of mana. And," I tapped my temple, "you doubted whether I was even sane. You look at me and you see 'Human Trash' trying to play Duke. That doubt is a crack in the blade, Kaelen. I cannot weild a cracked blade in the long war that's about to start."
"That was concern," he said tightly. "Your Grace has been completely unreliable up till now. What am I supposed to do? My heart just can't seem to accept His Grace has changed overnight."
"Concern is a luxury of equals. You are not my equal, Kaelen." The words hit him harder than a physical blow. "I do not require belief. Belief is for priests. I require function. A blade that questions its master shatters mid-swing."
Kaelen's throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. His hands, usually so steady on a sword hilt, twitched at his sides. "I—"
"Kaelen, let me make it simpler for you to understand. When I am lenient with you, it is my benevolence," I said, my expression turning to stone. "When you are lenient with me, it is a blatant disregard for my authority. Do not confuse the two ever again."
"I apologize, Your Grace," Kaelen said. His voice was strained. He forced his head up, a spark of defiance finally lighting his eyes. "But... don't you think respect should be earned?"
I tilted my head slightly, watching the way his pulse thrummed in his neck. "It is true. Respect should be earned."
"Then why," he gritted out, his voice trembling with the weight of his suppressed mana, "is Your Grace asking me to serve mine on a silver platter?"
Hah... Wouldn't it be easier to just kill him after getting my first Mana Circle? Why are humans so drowned in their arrogance?
[Ping!]
[Host can't do that! You absolutely can't!]
How irritating...
"You are confused. I am not asking for your respect. I am telling you to stop challenging my authority. We are not friends, Kaelen." I stepped closer, closing the distance until I could see the flecks of gold in his agitated ruby-red eyes. "I am your master. You swore an oath to me, one I did not force upon you. No matter how many times I 'change,' it is your duty to protect me to the end. Whether you do that with respect or hatred is none of my concern."
Kaelen's gaze dropped to the floor, his shoulders slumping as the fight drained out of him, replaced by silence. "I see, Your Grace."
[Ping!]
[Likability: - 60]
Hah... I really don't care anymore. How easy it is to dislike someone if they don't follow your beliefs.
Humans truly are shallow. With a lifespan so short, I wonder what gives them the authority to judge others.
"Stop judging me." I leaned in, my voice dropping as my gaze turned cold.
"You didn't know my circumstances then, and you don't know them now. Tell me..." I let my gaze rake over him, making him feel the full weight of his station. "What exactly gives a servant the right to decide if his master is a good man or a monster?"
"I..."
"There's no need for you to follow me back to the estate. Go find the righteous master you so much desire. And, drop Lily at the orphanage."
Yeah... That's how it's supposed to be. There is no younger brother. There is no family.
Whether it was the past life or this one or the next hundred that would follow, one fact remained unchanged.
I, Kion Yeun, am destined to be alone.