Chapter 22
Asili isn’t scared at all. Asili is a black dragon who can do anything!
She steadied her pounding heart and widened her eyes.
It was then that someone jumped down from the tree.
“Argh!”
One assassin fell to the sword he swung. Then another, followed by yet another.
It all happened so quickly that there was no time to be surprised.
Asili stared blankly at the back of the human who had repelled all the assassins.
Radiant golden hair and a back as large and broad as a mountain. It was a young human man with a scent similar to her husband’s.
He glanced back at Asili. They were violet eyes just like her husband’s.
“Don’t tell anyone you saw me.”
It was a low voice like a gentle breeze, yet full of power.
The authoritative command felt familiar, as if he was used to giving orders to others.
After making the assassins’ bodies invisible, he vanished into thin air just as suddenly as he had appeared.
In an instant, only Asili, the rabbit, and the three vassals’ wives remained in the grass.
Asili stared blankly at the spot where he had disappeared.
Similar appearance to her husband, similar scent. And on top of that, an appearance that looked younger than Grandfather.
There was only one person who satisfied all these conditions.
‘……The maid humans said they were locked in that tower, so how did he get out?’
Asili tilted her head and blinked.
But soon, while dragging the vassal’s wives along with grunts, she completely forgot about Father.
* * *
Not long after that.
Viante returned from a large-scale hunt with the vassals.
His expression was very bright, with the hunt’s prey piled high on the horses, as if showing off.
It was because he didn’t know that Elcai had awakened thanks to the advisor’s nighttime flight, or that the person who poisoned the alcohol had been caught.
“Today’s hunt was the best, Lord Viante. Ah, I suppose I should call you Duke now!”
One of the vassals who went along flattered him.
It was said with the calculation that if even Elcai died, Edenber wouldn’t hold out any longer.
At that, flattery erupted from here and there as if they had been waiting.
“The discipline of the wavering family finally seems like it will be restored.”
“How stifled we’ve been under the young duke all this time. Whew, now we can finally breathe a bit.”
“Hahaha, you’ve all had it rough too.”
Viante, in high spirits, burst into hearty laughter.
It was the moment when he felt pathetic for himself, wondering why he had suffered so much mentally when he could have just dealt with his father sooner.
“How about it? The weather’s nice, so shall we all have a drink together?”
“That sounds good. If it’s alcohol from the Duke, we must gladly accept anytime.”
“It’s an honor, Your Grace!
“Now even if I die, I have no regrets……”
“Hahaha! You lot, your flattery is top-notch. Alright, I’ll treat you all big-time!”
Viante laughed heartily and spurred his horse toward the ducal castle.
However, his eyes caught sight of the knight order at the castle gate, exuding a threatening aura.
At the forefront of the knight order was Edenber.
Judging by his unpleasant expression, it seemed as if his father had passed away. Mistaking it for that, Viante said mockingly.
“Oh, nephew. What brings you to wait for me?”
“Viante Munlepe.”
Edenber, drawing his sword, spoke in a voice dripping with coldness.
“For the crime of attempting to poison Lord Elcai, I will confiscate the Munlepe castle and punish you severely.”
Clang! The knights behind him drew their swords.
Poison? The vassals, unaware of the circumstances, lost color from their faces.
Viante widened his eyes.
“What nonsense is that, poison! Me, to my father? Ha, are there sons in this world who try to kill their fathers?”
“Indeed. I never dreamed that a perpetrator of such unfilial conduct would bear the name of Munlepe.”
There were no more honorifics. Edenber used a completely informal tone.
At that, Viante ground his teeth, sparks flying from his eyes.
“You need to say something that makes sense for me to even retort. It seems like you can’t think straight since Father passed, but there’s a limit to how much I can tolerate.”
“Lord Elcai is alive.”
At the unexpected words, Viante flinched.
To him, Edenber, pointing his sword, spat out each word as if chewing them.
“By a stroke of luck, the poison was detoxified.”
“……”
“We’ve also secured the one who poisoned the alcohol on your orders, so you’d better not entertain any foolish thoughts.”
Finally realizing that the situation had completely turned against him, the expression vanished from Viante’s face.
“If you surrender, I’ll spare your life.”
Edenber, throwing the final warning, slowly approached.
While the vassals looked at each other with confused expressions in the sudden situation, Viante, with a dazed face, gripped the horse’s reins.
Then, suddenly, he bellowed.
“What are you all doing!”
All the vassals flinched.
Viante, eyes bloodshot and wide open, attempted his final struggle.
“Edenber has declared he’ll kill me, using Father—who is not in sound health due to the poison—as a front!”
“……What? What do you mean!”
“It’s regrettable that Father has collapsed, but in this world, there are things you can do and things you can’t. To threaten an uncle under the pretext of stabilizing power—how can such a one be called the head of the family who leads it!”
Clang!
Viante, drawing his sword, glared at the vassals behind him. It was a signal to fight together.
However, the vassals only watched the situation, not hastily taking up arms.
At that, Viante, even more enraged, spat curses.
“Do you think you’ll be safe if I’m dragged away like this?!”
The vassals who had been about to sneak away depending on the situation flinched.
It was true.
Since they had been in cahoots with Viante until now, if he became a traitor, there was no way they could survive.
Viante shouted.
“If you don’t want to die like this, draw your swords! Let’s pull down that mad nephew together! The one causing internal division by using Father as an excuse has no qualification to be head!”
“Viante!”
“I’m your uncle! Don’t call my name so casually!”
Viante, shouting at the top of his lungs, turned to the vassals.
“Everyone, draw your swords! And join in the glorious birth of the new Monrephe Duke!”
In the end, the vassals, cornered together after one wrong hunt, began to draw their swords one by one.
Though the opponents were elite knights, due to the large-scale hunt, they had the numerical advantage if counting heads alone.
Moreover, didn’t they have well-trained sacred beasts on this side? They also had drugs to draw out the sacred beasts’ aggression for smooth hunting.
The vassals thought this was a fight worth trying.
Viante shouted at the top of his voice.
“Kill them!”
“From this moment, I designate those men as rebels and order them all executed!”
Edenber, with a hardened expression, issued the attack order in the same way.
Thud thud thud thud—
Under the rough sound of horse hooves, finally, the two groups with drawn swords clashed greatly.
* * *
The early phase of the battle favored Edenber’s side.
No matter how fewer in number, this side consisted of knights. It was only natural that ordinary nobles and soldiers couldn’t withstand them.
However, that situation reversed in an instant when Viante released the sacred beasts that had been caged.
“Aaaahhh!”
“Spare me!”
The sacred beasts, having ingested the berserking drug, charged ferociously. Most were beast types like eagles, lions, leopards, and such.
Viante’s vassals had been wearing yellow cloths for friend-or-foe identification since the hunting grounds, so the sacred beasts targeted and attacked only Edenber’s knights.
“To bring in sacred beasts, of all things.”
Edenber’s indignant knights gritted their teeth.
Sacred beasts weren’t often used except when fighting monsters or in wars with other countries.
Dillon, barely blocking a lion sacred beast’s sharp claws alongside a comrade, clenched his teeth.
‘At this rate, we’ll lose.’
Even if they won, it would be with severe damage.
The family was already precarious; it wouldn’t do for the knight order to weaken.
In that moment of life and death, the one figure that came to his mind was singular.
‘Lady Asili.’
With one punch from those slender fists, this damned lion would fly off like a punching bag.
He terribly missed the bald baby lizard who always chose the most unexpected actions.
Who would have thought the day would come when he missed a reptile this much.
Dylan, mustering all his strength to barely block the lion’s attack, clenched his teeth and shouted.
“Lady Asili!”
“Peep-ya!”
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By Anna 💓
