Ch.146Chapter 146

Dario frowned as he looked at Dencan. It was a blatant stare that a hostage whose neck could fly off at any moment shouldn’t make, but…

Dencan spoke to Dario with a warm smile that made it hard to believe he had just been tearing human flesh.

“Oh my. I’ve shown an unseemly side to my dear friend. But as you well know, persuading people is more troublesome than one might think.”

“…If you truly consider me a friend, perhaps untie my wrists before we talk, Lord Dencan of House Falhelm.”

Dario challenged Dencan, raising his bound wrists. Was this how one treated a dear friend after a long separation?

At his request, Dencan shook his head with a bitter smile.

“If only you had taken my hand from the beginning. Father Dencan would have gladly permitted us to mix blood. Or perhaps you’d like to become a member of our clan even now?”

Dencan arrogantly extended his hand toward the women standing behind him. The women stepped forward with measured steps, removed their cloaks, and flaunted their figures and beauty.

However, Dario showed his disgust and revulsion. Though the women were beautiful, they were all expressionless, as if their emotions had been stripped away.

He might have felt pity if magic were controlling their minds, but what made his skin crawl was that they were following Dencan’s orders with perfectly sound minds.

“I’d rather carve a lover from marble. At least with a statue, I wouldn’t have to worry about being stabbed in the back.”

“How cold of you. These women consider their husband’s word as law, so you needn’t worry about what concerns you. Besides, they’re intelligent and will be good soil for bearing heirs.”

Even as Dencan spoke of them as mere tools for childbearing, the women didn’t bat an eye. Some even smiled slightly, seemingly proud of his assessment.

They truly believed they were dedicating their lives to a noble purpose.

“Could it be because of your mother? But these women would be happy to carry your seed.”

“…I must have been crazy to come here thinking I could save the life of my only friend. Are you saying this in your right mind?”

Unable to contain his astonishment any longer, Dario glared at Dencan with a sneer.

In truth, his claim about coming to negotiate because of the Kaffustin family was just an excuse.

From the beginning, when the king asked if he had participated in the rebellion, he could have simply denied it to clear his name—what need was there for this?

The real reason was that he had been shocked to hear that this madman was uniting the nobles under his name, and he had come to save his life.

House Falhelm had historically formed blood ties with surrounding houses and served as mediators, so Dario had thought his naive friend had been pushed into taking the blame.

But when he realized that his friend had not only united the nobles himself but was also the leader of a strange secret society and a madman who believed in blood supremacy, he could only laugh bitterly.

“I’ve risked my father’s and family’s necks on a whim, but never yours. You were the most trustworthy person in this neighborhood.”

“Hmm. I didn’t know you were the type to commit such unfilial acts… Well, your family wasn’t as harmonious as ours.”

“Harmonious my a— Do the relatives around you actually see you as family?”

Dario gestured toward Dencan’s subordinates in disbelief.

They might be called blood relatives, but their eyes gleamed with a twisted loyalty comparable to religious fanaticism.

They were truly madmen who could throw away their lives like straw for the glory of their clan.

But Dencan looked at Dario as if asking what the problem was.

“The children of Dencan are descendants of the great ancestor, the first Dencan, who wished for humans to become masters of the world themselves. It’s natural for them to show loyalty beyond affection since they have such pride.”

“That’s complete nonsense. If your pride was so strong, you should have raised an army before His Majesty declared the founding of the kingdom…”

“You speak without knowing your place because Lord Dencan is too lenient!”

Thwack!

Unable to bear Dario’s mockery any longer, the knight rushed past Dencan and kicked Dario in the stomach. Dario groaned and rolled on the floor.

Not satisfied with just one kick, the knight continued to kick Dario while shouting in rage.

“We, who have prepared for nine generations, were about to enlighten the fools of the north and establish a kingdom of humans, by humans. And you ruined it all!”

The children of Dencan had waited patiently for the time to build their kingdom.

They had accumulated wealth by bowing to the Empire, built military strength by providing northern mercenaries to nobles, and increased their “clan” by placing wise leaders in surrounding tribes and houses.

It was a duty that only the clan of Dencan could bear, having foreseen that the gods would one day return and ruin the earth!

“How dare a traitor who wags his tail to Djin mock us when he doesn’t even understand such an important mission!”

Crack!

The knight’s kick landed squarely on Dario’s jaw. As Dario, bloodied, trembled with his face planted on the ground, quiet laughter echoed around the room.

But then…

“……”

Dencan, who hadn’t lost his smile even while spouting nonsense, finally dropped his smile and looked down at the battered Dario with a cold expression.

Dario spat out a handful of blood and barely managed to breathe. Having taken a direct hit to the jaw, breathing was extremely uncomfortable.

The knight, who naturally thought Dario would die, clicked his tongue and reached for the sword at his waist…

“…Raise your head.”

“!”

Dencan commanded as he drew the sword from his waist. His voice was very quiet, but everyone in the room held their breath and watched Dencan’s reaction.

The bloodlust that filled the room was palpable.

The knight, meeting Dencan’s eyes, hurriedly grabbed Dario’s hair in fear. He judged that Dencan’s anger would subside once the head of this insolent man fell.

Dencan swung his sword indifferently.

Slash!

The knight’s head flew through the air toward the wall, and his body, having lost its master, lost strength and released Dario’s hair.

Dario, his face planted on the floor, groaned as he was drenched in the knight’s blood. However, more than the discomfort of being covered in someone else’s blood, a question arose in his mind.

Why had he cut off the knight’s head instead of his own…?

After staring at the severed head for a moment, Dencan put on his usual gentle smile and looked down at Dario.

“I apologize. My knight was too zealous and behaved rudely toward you. What a thing to do to a high official of Manheimr, even if it is a kingdom soon to perish…”

“B-but Lord Dencan… Kuhak!?”

A startled woman tried to speak, but it wasn’t a good decision. Dencan, without even turning his face, moved only his hand to grab the woman’s neck.

True to his monstrous strength that could tear flesh, the woman in Dencan’s grip soon died of strangulation. He threw her away like a broken toy and ordered the servant standing in the room.

“Clean up this corpse properly… and treat my friend with the utmost care and confine him to a good room. I’ll give him one of my books, so put that in there too.”

The servants quietly bowed and followed his orders. They had no desire to join the two corpses in the ground by opening their mouths unnecessarily.

As the servants carried away the corpses, Dencan crouched down to meet Dario’s eye level. He examined his friend’s ruined face and smiled.

“You should have controlled your temper. Take this opportunity to read the book I’m giving you and organize your thoughts.”

“You son of a—”

Was it because he was dumbfounded, or because he had lost too much blood?

Dario fainted before finishing his words.

* * *

When Dario regained consciousness, he staggered out of bed and looked around. Apart from being furnished with luxurious items and having a pungent medicinal smell, the room was nothing special.

Even the ropes that had bound his arms were untied, so his movement wasn’t restricted…

“They decorate the room nicely but put iron bars on the door. What terrible taste.”

After confirming that the door had iron bars, Dario frowned and lay back on the bed. His entire body was screaming in pain from the beating he had received.

Even if he could pass through the door, it would be nearly impossible to escape past the guards patrolling the castle in his current condition.

As he lay quietly inhaling the medicinal smell, Dario recalled what Dencan had said just before he fainted.

He had definitely said something about giving him a book to read…

‘Is he asking me to read a book containing his ancestor’s family precepts or philosophy?’

Lying on the bed and turning his head, Dario reached for a book placed on the desk. Contrary to what he had expected, the book was ordinary.

It was a restored work by a philosopher renowned since ancient times, containing dull content contemplating the existence and ideals of the philosopher-king.

Dario let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

‘Don’t tell me he thinks he’s a philosopher-king? Even His Majesty, who is so selfless, doesn’t claim to be perfect, so who does he think he is…’

But humans tend to fiddle with things when bored. Dario unconsciously opened the book and began turning the pages. While reading, he recalled a memory.

Come to think of it, this book was what had brought him and Dencan together.

What had he said back then…?

“Huh?”

Perhaps thanks to his effort to recall the memory, Dario’s eyes fell on a strangely memorable subheading in the book.

‘What is True Love?’

The moment he read the subheading, lightning struck in Dario’s mind.

This was it.

The day his father had forcibly dragged Dario, the most presentable of his children, to a banquet.

Dencan, who had shown interest in Dario as he accumulated knowledge to overcome his mother’s sorrow and his own wounds, had pointed to this subheading and asked him something…

Shudder!

Startled by the chilling sensation down his spine, Dario closed the book. Come to think of it, this was the only part of the book unrelated to philosophy.

This philosopher, renowned for his high learning and wisdom, had criticized homosexuality as an abnormal depravity after seeing a colleague praise it as true love.

Strangely, while he couldn’t recall what Dencan had said when pointing to this subheading, why did he remember the content so clearly?

“…I need to escape.”

With a resolute expression, Dario threw the book aside and got up from the bed. He decided to follow his instinctual warning rather than make a rational judgment.

Instinct tends to intensify when life and reproduction are at stake.

And this involved both…

“Aaaaargh!!!”

As the abyss of fear began to consume his mind, Dario looked around in panic. He desperately wanted to escape this ominous place.

But there seemed to be no way to escape from the inside. After all, who in the world would prepare such a thing in a prison?

Clank.

“!”

Hearing someone approaching from outside, Dario quickly tidied up and lay down on the bed.

There was no benefit in causing a commotion and drawing attention. At the very least, he didn’t want word of his awakening to reach Dencan’s ears.

The quiet footsteps approaching stopped outside Dario’s room.

“Are you awake?”

“……”

When an unfamiliar man addressed him, Dario held his breath and pretended to be asleep. However, the man persisted in speaking to Dario.

“Aren’t you awake?”

“……”

“Your breathing is too regular. People don’t breathe that evenly when they’re asleep.”

“……”

“Sigh, as expected of someone who serves him, you’re quite suspicious.”

Dario calmly pretended to be asleep, but the man spoke as if he knew everything and took something out from his breast pocket.

Dario intended to remain quiet regardless of what the man did, but… when he felt a strangely familiar coldness, he involuntarily raised his head.

The man, who looked like a veteran mercenary with a scar over one eye, took something out of his pocket and held it out to Dario.

It was a necklace made of ice crystals containing the energy of the Wendigo. From the cold emanating from the necklace, Dario immediately recognized who had created the ice crystal.

“My name is Issac. I’m a humble Summoner who has received undeserved grace from the King of Manheimr and am diligently practicing my magic. To repay his kindness, however meager…”

“God—no, Your Majesty!”

Dario sprang up from the bed despite his pain and grabbed Issac’s hand as if a miracle had occurred.

It was a moment of hope that he could preserve his chastity(?) for Elhemina… no, his future wife.