Count’s Youngest Son is a Warlock

Hume glanced at Kran.

“Should I just hold him back? Or should I subdue him?”

[Just make sure Kran doesn’t kill Chayton.]

Understanding Hume’s implication of ‘subdue,’ Bethel quickly clarified that merely stopping Kran would suffice.

Hume nodded.

“Kran, can you hold yourself together?”

Lucion didn’t like this situation at all.

The mere act of asking that question felt wrong.

There was an enemy right in front of him; it didn’t make sense to hold back.

But it would be troublesome if Chayton died now.

“Is that him?”

Kran took a deep breath and finally managed to speak.

“Yeah.”

“Is that… Chayton?”

“That’s right.”

“Is he… is he the one who enslaved me for over a decade?”

Kran shouted in hatred, his veins bulging in his neck.

“Yeah. That’s him.”

“Ha…”

Kran’s face flushed red.

A long breath escaped his lips as if he was struggling to breathe.

“Why… why would he do that?”

“Keortia had to vanish discreetly, and you, a potential focal point, were at risk.”

“Then! Why spare me? Why… Why keep me alive?!”

Kran, unable to get any closer due to Hume’s restraint, grasped at his clothing tightly, his voice filled with anxiety and frustration.

“Do you really want me to answer that? Then I’ll tell you.”

At Lucion’s calm voice, Kran slowly shook his head.

His mind was blazing.

He wanted to kill the man who was tied up like a rope, shrouded in darkness, right now.

Would this anger be relieved if he shot thousands of arrows into his head until his corpse rotted?

Again, Kran shook his head.

Lucion was giving him a chance now.

A chance to hear the reason from that guy’s mouth.

“What… What were you planning to do with Chayton?”

Kran’s voice was still sharp, but Lucion didn’t mind.

“The imperial family still doesn’t know that I caught Chayton. I have to go ask them about it.”

[Isn’t it almost evening?]

Even if Russell wanted to stop Lucion, he knew that there wouldn’t be another opportunity if it wasn’t today, so he could only mumble awkwardly.

Relying on the Chefran family as an excuse could only be viable once or twice; frequent use would inevitably arouse suspicion.

“So what do you want to do?”

Lucion asked.

“What… What do I want?”

“Ending his life with your own hands would be the best, but ironically, if that happens, Keortia’s disappearance and the reasons for it will be buried forever. Forever.”

As Lucion verbalized this, he couldn’t help but feel the injustice of it all, realizing how much more unfair it was for Kran.

“However, if we hand him over to the empire, even though you won’t be able to kill him with your own hands, we can uncover many things.”

[Furthermore, you could also bring down Nevast, Kran.]

Bethel knew Kran couldn’t hear her, but the words came out of her mouth involuntarily.

She felt so sorry for Kran.

“What is your decision, Kran?” 

Lucion asked again.

In that question, Kraon felt Lucion’s respect for him.

“I…”

Kran choked on his words, struggling to continue.

Even if he just cut the guy’s throat with a dagger, he would die.

So easily?

He couldn’t accept it.

“Well, I’ll go wash up and come back, so beating him to the point where he won’t die seems okay.”

Seeing from Kran’s eyes what decision he had made, Lucion put his mask back on and left.

Kran wouldn’t kill Chayton.

Because the Kran he had glimpsed for a moment was not just a simple avenger, but a prince of a nation.

* * *

“This is too much.”

Veronia crouched down, staring at the lingering violet darkness that clung to his body like a stubborn shadow.

The warmth he felt after a long time now was nothing but pain to him.

“The pain is unbearable.”

Leaning his head against his knees, Veronia extinguished the violet darkness, leaving it only on his fingertips.

The flame was painful, but the more he looked at it, the clearer his hazy consciousness became, a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

That feeling was unsettling.

Regret had long been discarded, a relic of the past.

He had lived in a different time for so long that he had lost track of how much time had passed.

“You’ve shown up late. Too late, in fact.”

He missed it.

“So I won.”

No, he had missed it.

“Soon, everything will come to an end. Just wait and see.”

Whoosh.

Veronia finally extinguished the violet darkness that burned at his fingertips.

If this attempt was still insufficient, he would simply move on to the next.

He knew who the vessel was.

Next time, he could kill faster, more decisively.

But why was this time different?

Why, after so many repetitions, was this time that one standing out?

“Is it because of that mediocre warlock?”

What was his name again?

There was a warlock who first became aware of his existence.

But what significance lay in whether he was aware or not?

In the end, the world had begun once again.

“This time, I will kill him properly… so that he can never become a hope for anyone under the name of ‘vessel’ again. He won’t even be able to use that name.”

Veronia slowly fell backward, gazing up at a sky devoid of stars and moon.

Today was so quiet that even the darkness, which used to noisily claim to hate him, was absent, causing Veronia’s eyes to dart around rapidly.

―How pitiful it is for you to be abandoned by a presence you can neither see nor touch—the world itself.

As a familiar voice reverberated in his ears, Veronia grimaced in agony, covering them to block out the sound.

Once more, the voice resounded.

That damned voice.

“Get lost! I said, get lost! Please, just disappear…!”

“Aaaah!”

Veronia continued to scream until the voice finally faded.

* * *

Lucion braced against the wall briefly, quivering.

‘I can’t even handle this.’

As the darkness vanished in an instant with the shadow movement, a throbbing pain surged through his head.

[See? I told you to take a break before moving, didn’t I?]

Russell scolded Lucion.

―What do we do? Lucion’s darkness disappeared in an instant!

Ratta kicked her feet in the shadows.

[Or at least make a stop in the middle!]

“I thought I could do it.”

When using shadow movement, the more people there were traveling together, the greater the consumption of darkness.

Due to the contract, the teacher and himself couldn’t stray too far, so instead of Hume, it was Chayton.

Bethel had said she would wait at the Chefran mansion to reduce his consumption of darkness.

[You’re capable of it. It’s just particularly challenging for you at the moment.]

“The darkness will recharge after a while. And since we won’t have that guy with us when we go back, it should be a bit easier.”

Lucion kicked Chayton, who had been beaten up by Kran, in annoyance.

Thud!

Ugh!

Even though the darkness had been released from his mouth, Chayton trembled and was busy covering his mouth with his hands.

“Ha…mel?”

Just as Lucion was not satisfied with just one kick and was about to go for another, he heard Heint’s voice.

—Hop! It’s Heint!

Ratta wagged her tail as she saw Heint from the shadows.

Thud!

Disregarding everything, Lucion kicked Chayton once more before turning to Heint.

“Yeah.”

“…You knew where my house was?”

“Isn’t it more strange if I didn’t know your house?”

“Even the passcode… Well, I suppose so.”

Heint laughed lightly.

Given information that even the Empire hadn’t caught wind of, provided by none other than Hamel.

“Is that all you came for today?”

Heint pointed at the man that Lucion was stepping on.

“Yeah. If it wasn’t for him, I would have used a communication device.”

“You look really worn out; want to grab a glass of water before we continue?”

Heint asked politely, expecting a refusal.

“Sure. I’ll step inside for a moment. It’s not something to talk about outside.”

“…!”

Uncharacteristically less abrasive than usual, Heint was taken aback by Hamel’s demeanor.

He must be really exhausted.

Raising an eyebrow in astonishment, Heint opened the door.

“Come in.”

“Carry him. He’s heavy.”

When Lucion pointed at Chayton, Heint snorted as if he had expected it and carried the man into the house.

* * *

Ttak.

Heint set down a glass of water and asked, “So, who is this?”

“Chayton.”

Upon hearing Lucion’s answer, Heint immediately stood up, pointing his trembling finger at the tied-up figure.

“C-C-Chayton, you say?”Nôv(el)B\\jnn

“Yep.”

While Heint fixed his gaze on Chayton, Lucion hastily took a sip of water and placed the glass back down.

Noting Heint’s oddly disappointed expression, Lucion ignored it and briefly summarized who Chayton was.

Meanwhile, Heint drank water swiftly to compose himself.

Hamel had once again brought back a crucial piece of the puzzle.

It was unbelievable that the Nevast Kingdom teamed up with some warlocks to sacrifice the people of the Myronist Kingdom for black magic.

It felt like a story unfolding in a dream, no matter how many times he pinched himself.

“…So, I hope you tell His Majesty properly. I had no choice but to use His Majesty’s name.”

“His Majesty will understand that much. It’s not just a matter of the Myronist Kingdom collapsing.”

“Anyway, I came in a hurry today, but my organization members will be visiting you next time.”

If they carefully organized the collected materials and handed them over, the Empire would be more likely to move swiftly on the next steps.

“I was just about to brief Mr. Kran, but this turns out well. Why not stay a while longer?”

“Good timing.”

As Lucion was about to stand up, he sat back down at Heint’s words.

As Lucion nodded subtly, Heint relayed the information he had received from the Fourth Prince, Cetyl.

“It seems that the Neubra Kingdom has abandoned the Hand of the Void.”

“What do you mean? The Neubra Kingdom abandoned the Hand of the Void?”

[It looks like a typical case of scapegoating. What difference does it make to abandon them now?]

Russell snorted.

Even if they abandoned the Hand of the Void, it doesn’t mean they’re clean.

“Well, that’s the situation for now. Neubra sent an official letter to Nevast, saying they can investigate their country as much as they want.”

While it was confirmed through Chayton just moments ago that Neubra and Nevast were not on the same side, it was still too early to take that at face value.

After all, Chayton was merely a minion.

“They could be scheming together. What do you think?”

Lucion asked.

“Neubra had been grappling with issues arising from the warlock. It’s hard to imagine them collaborating, especially since Nevast exposed the truth just as rumors were subsiding,” Heint remarked, shaking his head.

“Furthermore, Neubra hasn’t fully recovered from past defeats, and their provocations along the Empire’s borders have sparked internal dissent. It appears things have finally come to a head.”

[No. This didn’t just happen spontaneously. You agree, Lucion, don’t you?]

At Russell’s words, Lucion nodded slightly, amused.

Someone orchestrated this.

The culprit was evident.

“So, I guess the Empire handed over evidence to the anti-monarchists in Neubra that the Hand of the Void was colluding with the king of Neubra?”

As Lucion hit the nail on the head, Heint took a slight sharp breath.

He didn’t expect him to reach that conclusion so quickly.

“Exactly. His Majesty deemed it the opportune moment to leak the information. It would suit us well if the Neubra king’s nephew were to ascend the throne, wouldn’t it?”

“And he’s more compliant.”

“Even if it’s not an alliance, we could end this tiresome war under the guise of reconciliation.”

“Is His Majesty planning to support the anti-monarchists?”

“No, not to that extent. He’s just making sure the information spreads quickly,” Heint replied.

[Right. That’s as far as it should go. If we intervene too much, they might take the Empire’s support for granted and start getting bold.]

“As for the whereabouts of the Hand of the Void… no, that’s a matter I must address personally,” Lucion stated resolutely as he rose from his seat.

He had given Heroan enough time, so he should have gathered some information by now.

“Well, then. Thanks for the water.”

“Hamel.”

“Why? Is there something else you need to discuss?”

What could it be? Perhaps news regarding the Fourth Prince, Owen. Lucion’s heart swelled with anticipation.

Novio might not know, but Heint had to tell him. It was related to the Neubra Kingdom.

“The Fourth Prince, Owen Tesla, was arrested not long ago.”

“The prince was arrested?”

Lucion nearly burst into laughter, knowing that his curse on Owen had been effective.

“He poisoned his aide.”

[So his aide was one of the Neubra people, huh?]

Russell just laughed it off.

“My goodness. It seems he held quite a few grudges.”

However, Lucion kept a straight face, suppressing his smile as if he knew nothing.

“Was it you? Are you behind this, Hamel?”

Author's Thoughts

Good day, NazarSerendeko. I sincerely appreciate your support. Since I'm not sure which series you've read, I'll just put it here. I hope my message reaches you. Again, thank you so much. I hope you and everyone else have an amazing day. 🥰