Chapter 191

Chapter 191
## Chapter 191

Drenched in Blood?

Hadn’t the message sent by Viscount Oleg indicated that the fortress was effectively under their control?

What could possibly have occurred to cause them to arrive covered in gore, even after the conclusion of the conflict had been settled?

‘It can’t be.’

A horrifying suspicion took root in the mind of Viscount Karayan.

War was undeniably the primary cause of massive bloodshed. However, the field of battle was not the sole location where lives were extinguished. It was a common enough atrocity for conquerors to turn their blades upon the defeated inhabitants of the lands they had seized.

Perhaps this crimson coating was not the result of a fair fight, but the remnant of a heartless slaughter.

‘Curse it all, only seven days have passed since I read Viscount Oleg’s dispatch. What could have changed in such a short window…!’

Viscount Karayan gripped his hair, consumed by a wave of frantic distress and dark premonitions.

If the opposition had lost all reason, he could forget about playing the gracious host—what if they launched an execution the moment they arrived? Would it be wiser to bar the entrance and act like a madman while defending the walls?

No, he was facing a battalion of five thousand. Even if he attempted to hold out, it was painfully clear they would be crushed in an instant. As Viscount Oleg had suggested, feigning ignorance and providing a lavish reception was likely the only viable path.

But what if the foe had truly descended into madness and intended to leave no survivors regardless of his actions?

“My Lord! The Duke’s legion is in sight!”

“…!”

Before Viscount Karayan could finalize a plan, the troops led by Lucian appeared on the horizon.

The distance was too great to distinguish individual features, but the dark red stains covering their plate and steel were unmistakably visible. The advisors, paralyzed by the sight of five thousand men caked in dried blood, cried out to the Viscount in panic.

“L-Lord! What is our move?!”

“Do we seal the gates?! Or do we greet them as they are?!”

To leave five thousand soldiers so heavily stained, the deaths of a few hundred guards would not have sufficed. It was a safe assumption that they had butchered not just the military, but the defenseless peasantry as well. If they had turned on the common folk for any reason, it implied the entire regiment was in a state of volatile frenzy.

“They are a force that has already indulged in carnage! We must bolt the doors and prepare for a siege this second!”

“Have you lost your senses?! Would you provoke a beast that is already agitated?!”

“If we simply cower, we might all perish without even lifting a finger to defend ourselves!”

“If we act on paranoia and ruin a chance for a peaceful resolution, we are dead men regardless!”

“Silence! I said silence!”

Viscount Karayan bellowed at his squabbling council.

The noise of fearful debate vanished, but the core dilemma remained. In ten minutes, those five thousand men would be at his doorstep. Once they arrived, flight would no longer be an option.

He had to commit to a path immediately.

Should he risk a confrontation by retreating behind the walls and locking the gates? Or should he submit as humbly as possible to prevent a bloodbath?

“…We shall receive the Duke as we intended.”

“My Lord!”

As the strained words left Viscount Karayan’s throat, several subordinates gasped in terror. However, the Viscount fixed a sharp look on those who had pushed for a defense and snapped at them.

“Observe that army! If we hide within this castle, do you honestly believe we could hold out for even a single day?!”

“…”

The retainers were silenced by the Viscount’s grim logic.

It was a hard truth. Even if Viscount Karayan utilized every scrap of food and every able-bodied man, they could barely survive twenty-four hours against five thousand soldiers. Their numbers were so vast they could likely scale the ramparts with their hands if they lacked ladders.

Furthermore, these weren’t merely disorganized conscripts. They were the cream of the crop, led by the reigning Sword Saint and a Court Mage. If the situation soured, the fortress could fall before the sun touched the horizon, let alone lasting a full day.

“There is no sense in locking the gates just to buy ourselves a few miserable hours of life! Cease this cowardly babbling!”

The council members lowered their gazes, unable to offer a rebuttal to the Viscount’s scolding.

In reality, the Viscount himself was far from certain. Who could say if those few hours might have been the window needed to save the region? But a leader had to project strength before his followers.

Viscount Karayan masked his inner turmoil and issued his orders.

“Stop this hysteria and get ready to host our visitors! Remember that a solitary blunder could leave this entire land soaked in red!”

“Yes, My Lord!”

Recovering their focus at their master’s firm command, the retainers moved with haste.

It wasn’t long before Lucian’s battalion reached the gates. As Lucian approached the entrance, Viscount Karayan performed a low bow and projected his voice.

“Karayan Valz offers greetings to Your Highness, the Conqueror of the North!”

“…”

Lucian offered no reply to the greeting and kept moving forward. Viscount Karayan felt his throat tighten with anxiety, but he remained rooted to the spot.

Eventually, Lucian came to a halt close enough to decapitate him with a single stroke.

“‘Your Highness.’ A curious choice of words.”

“…?”

“I am unsure if you imply King or Duke. Viscount Oleg irritated me with that same linguistic trick. Did the leaders of the West coordinate their rhetoric?”

Viscount Karayan shuddered at the freezing tone.

They had indeed planned it, but he hadn’t anticipated the Duke would focus so heavily on such a minor detail. The man surely knew they couldn’t officially acknowledge his kingship, so why the sudden hostility?

‘Odd. Based on the reports, he wasn’t a man ruled by his temper. Is there a strategic reason to be this aggressive even at the risk of political fallout? Or has his pride swelled beyond measure since taking the throne…?’

“Viscount Karayan.”

Lucian’s voice pulled the Viscount from his internal dialogue. He broke out in a cold sweat, realizing the gravity of his lapse in focus. To be daydreaming while a man with his hand on a blade stood inches away!

“Are you deaf? You have not replied.”

“M-My deepest apologies! Your Majesty the King’s presence was so striking that I found myself momentarily lost for words…!”

“You continue to play with titles. I am beginning to suspect you are trying to bait me because you have a death wish. Did the Marquis instruct you to do him a service by getting yourself slain?”

“No, Mighty King! I was slow-witted and failed to find the right words! I beg of you, grant me your mercy!”

Viscount Karayan’s complexion turned ghostly as Lucian’s fingers shifted toward his sword’s crossguard. Overwhelmed by terror, the Viscount collapsed to his knees, even stooping to the transparent flattery of addressing Lucian as “Mighty King.”

Lucian looked down at the trembling man for a long moment before releasing the hilt of his weapon.

“I shall remain here for two days. Provide provisions.”

“At once!”

A heavy breath of relief escaped Viscount Karayan.

This was likely his final opportunity. He needed to provide the most flawless service possible for even a single day to somehow gain their trust. If Lucian made a successful return to the North, he would inevitably cross through this territory once more.

Driven by a desperate urge to preserve his lands, Viscount Karayan balled his fists.

—

To everyone’s shock, Lucian’s soldiers were perfectly disciplined.

They partook in the meals the Viscount provided, but that was the extent of it. They didn’t even wander outside their camp, and their total avoidance of alcohol was nearly monastic.

‘Is this truly the same legion that supposedly devastated a province?’

Confronted by a reality so at odds with their fears, Viscount Karayan and his staff shared looks of confusion. Typically, a group of soldiers who had just carried out a massacre would be uncontrollable until they reached their own borders. Even allowing for their elite status, wasn’t their behavior unnervingly perfect?

“I have enjoyed my rest over these two days. Your welcome was adequate. I shall look forward to it when I return.”

It wasn’t just the troops who were peculiar. Two days later, Lucian set out with a faint smile, as if his initial frostiness had been an illusion. The man had altered his demeanor so completely in forty-eight hours that Viscount Karayan could only watch in a daze.

The moment Lucian’s army cleared the borders, Viscount Karayan dispatched a scout to the lands of Viscount Oleg.

“Discover what transpired in Viscount Oleg’s domain! If the Viscount still lives, speak with him directly and get the full account!”

The scout galloped toward Oleg’s lands as instructed, but he returned far earlier than anticipated. He reported that the bridge, which had been fixed just recently, was once again in ruins.

However, the scout did bring one specific detail back with him.

“The bridge that was just mended is broken again, and you saw Viscount Oleg’s subjects working to fix it right now?”

“Correct. Since the repairs are already underway, it appears the Duke’s forces destroyed it the moment they finished crossing.”

“The Duke commanded his rearguard to wreck it after he passed?”

The logic behind the move escaped Viscount Karayan. Regardless of what the Duke had done to Viscount Oleg, wasn’t that the very bridge he needed for his return journey? He couldn’t grasp why the Duke would purposefully sabotage his own route back.

‘Nonetheless, the fact that they are mending it immediately suggests Viscount Oleg survived. A house that lost its master wouldn’t be functioning this efficiently.’

Viscount Karayan let out a quiet sigh of relief and waited for the bridge to be operational. Once it was functional, he sent a second messenger.

A few days later, while awaiting the report, Viscount Karayan was startled by an unannounced arrival.

“Viscount Oleg has arrived in person?”

—

“It has been some time.”

Viscount Oleg met Viscount Karayan with a tired, worn face. He appeared unharmed physically, but it was clear at a glance that his spirit had been pushed to the brink.

After escorting his visitor to a private room, Viscount Karayan couldn’t suppress his questions any longer.

“What in the world happened at your estate? The Duke’s men arrived here covered in blood. Was there a massacre?”

“A massacre? Yes, I suppose that is one way to describe it.”

Viscount Karayan scowled at Oleg’s cryptic response.

“Quit being vague; tell me the truth. It either was a slaughter or it wasn’t. What do you mean by ‘one way’?”

“The Duke did not harm a single human soul. Instead, he systematically slaughtered every single farm animal in my territory.”

“Pardon?”

“That blood belonged to the livestock of my lands. It was the blood drained from every bull, cow, and pig they butchered.”

Viscount Karayan’s jaw dropped.

Wait, so that crimson coating wasn’t from people, but from beasts? The idea was so preposterous he almost laughed, but that disbelief quickly morphed into irritation.

“What sort of childish game is this?! Did you and the Duke decide to use me as the butt of a joke?!”

“A joke? Were you not listening? Every living creature in my domain is dead! Does this look like a laughing matter to you?!”

Viscount Oleg flared up with even more intensity than the agitated Karayan. The sheer volume of his outburst made Karayan recoil, but Oleg was beyond caring.

“Do you have any concept of the ruin my territory faces?! I have been stripped of everything! Every grain silo and every herd has been taken or killed! I don’t even have the coins to pay my domestic staff, let alone the wages for my knights! Half my workers have already fled, and you call this a prank?!”

Viscount Karayan kept retreating from Oleg’s explosive rage. He saw that he had miscalculated his reaction, but Oleg wasn’t finished. Only after venting the full extent of his financial and social collapse did Oleg collapse into his seat, looking utterly drained.

“More importantly, you have no right to judge me.”

“…No right? What is that supposed to mean?”

“When you took my counsel, you involved the other lords as well, didn’t you? Even though you knew full well the consequences of doing so.”

“…!”

As Viscount Karayan stood frozen, Viscount Oleg gave him a chillingly knowing grin.

“I am very interested to see how the Marquis reacts when I inform him of exactly what you have done.”