Selbek's Miscalculation

The local magistrate, Selbek, stared at his own face in the mirror in his private room.

Veins stood out on his face, his eyes burned with anger, and his features were twisted with hatred.

Everything was that little wench's fault—the one who had arrived about a month ago.

I didn't know whether she was a count's daughter or whatever, but she had suddenly arrived, done whatever she pleased, threatened me, and taken my soldiers and food.

Even tearing her limb from limb would not have satisfied me. I wanted to torture her to death, but somehow I managed to suppress the urge through sheer reason.

Killing that woman would be easy.

This fortress, which I had painstakingly built over many years, was practically my kingdom. The soldiers had sworn absolute loyalty to me, and every resident was my servant.

Even if she was a count's daughter, I could do whatever I pleased with her. In the first place, her parents had abandoned her and cast her out to this remote land. Her relatives would never come to visit, and she would never return to the capital.

After killing her, I could simply claim that she had died of illness, or find a replacement and keep her confined.

But the original evidence in that woman's possession was a problem. Until I took it from her, I could not kill her.

As for that troublesome original, I had already devised a way to seize it.

In exchange for lending her soldiers, I had made that woman agree to write a letter ensuring that the original would not be made public. Of course, I had checked the letter's contents.

Because it was written in code, I had no choice but to send it as it was. But the letter was being delivered by one of my handpicked soldiers, a highly skilled operative. He would track the letter, find whoever possessed the original, and surely take it from them.

Once I secured the original, everything else would take care of itself. The only problem was ensuring that no one realized I was trying to seize it before then.

"Calm down. Calm down, Selbek."

I spoke to my reflection. With such a murderous expression, I might as well have been telling my opponent that I intended to kill her.

"Smile, Selbek. Smile."

I had to hide the anger in my heart and put on an obsequious smile.

The face in the mirror gradually softened and became rounder.

"That's right. That's better, Selbek. There's nothing shameful about fawning and flattering. As long as I don't forget the anger in my heart and my resolve for revenge, that's all that matters. They may look down on me, but I only need to keep them laughing. While they're laughing, I'll devise my plans, make my preparations, and wait for the right opportunity."

As the son of a minor official, I spent my childhood watching my father constantly bow his head.

My father was a spineless coward who could do nothing but bow. In the end, he was falsely accused of corruption and executed.

After my father's death, I suffered terribly as the family of a corrupt official. My mother and siblings were treated like garbage and died as if someone had killed them.

To survive, I did absolutely anything. I was treated like livestock and subjected to every form of violence and humiliation this world had to offer. Even so, I continued to wear an obsequious smile and survived on scraps of food handed down to me. To take revenge, I first had to stay alive.

I had carefully pretended to be completely harmless, lulling those who trampled on me and looked down on me into complacency. Then I deceived them, ensnared them in traps, and slit their throats in their sleep. I eliminated obstacles, ruined rivals, and climbed all the way to this position.

But this is not the end of the road. I am not the sort of man who will end up a magistrate in some backwater.

I will rise higher. I will gather wealth here, lobby the central government, worm my way into the heart of this country, and take revenge on all those who have looked down on me.

"That's right. I still have a long way to go. I have a future. This is not the end. This is merely a trial. Come on, smile. Smile, Selbek."

I succeeded in hiding my true feelings and producing a perfect obsequious smile.

It was a smile that made me seem pathetic, one I had perfected over years of practice to give anyone who saw it a sense of superiority.

If I showed them this smile, anyone would look down on me and lower their guard.

Then, once they began to ignore me, I would sink my teeth into their throats.

Besides, I had heard that the woman had gone out to subjugate monsters and suffered heavy losses.

There had been no fatalities, but half the soldiers had been wounded, and apparently she herself had suffered a serious injury.

As expected—a woman. She was incapable of conducting a military operation, and had suffered casualties struggling to subjugate mere monsters.

She had insisted on doing it herself, and this was the result. How laughable.

The soldiers must have been thoroughly inconvenienced by being dragged along with the woman's selfishness.

But this situation could be useful.

Instead, I would comfort those who had returned after failing. If I exaggerated their meager achievements and praised their bravery, the dispirited woman would cheer up, and the soldiers would swear loyalty to me. When the time came to kill that woman, I might even have the soldiers do it for me.

If everything came to light, I could put the blame on them.

My reflection curled its lips in a sly grin, just as a messenger outside the door announced that the count's daughter and the soldiers were returning.

It couldn't be helped. I should go as far as the fortress gate and welcome them.

Assuming defeat had slowed them and that I had plenty of time, I strolled leisurely through the fortress. Then I heard the sound of the gate opening, followed by the footsteps of the returning soldiers.

"Hm?"

The moment I heard those footsteps, I sensed that something was wrong.

I could hear only one set of marching footsteps, but the sound was loud. They were so regular, like the beat of a drum, that they sounded as though a single person were marching.

I hurried to the window and looked into the courtyard. The returning soldiers had already entered it.

The reports of injuries in battle had not been false. Many of the soldiers had bandages wrapped around their bodies, and signs of medical treatment were clearly visible.

Yet their two-file formation was perfectly orderly, their strides and movements measured and uniform. Even the spearheads they held aloft did not waver, as though all their bodies were connected.

I hurried out into the courtyard. The soldiers planted their feet and came to a halt.

Up close, the sound was like thunder.

At the front, the count's daughter dismounted from her horse.

"About-face."

At the woman's quiet command, the soldiers drew back one foot and turned in unison. Facing me, they stamped their feet and raised their spears.

"At ease."

At another quiet command, they spread their feet to shoulder width and shifted their grip on their spears.

Their movements were quick but perfectly orderly, and after completing the maneuver, they stood utterly still—even though some of them were injured.

Other veteran soldiers were in the courtyard, but they all stared wide-eyed at the returning troops.

Impossible. The only soldiers given to that little girl had been recruits who joined this year. They were supposed to have little training and no nerve.

But look at them now. Their marching discipline showed how well-trained the soldiers were. They looked like an elite unit.

Their faces, too, were taut and hardened like those of battle-tested veterans.

What on earth had happened? Had she transformed recruits into elite soldiers in less than a month?

I could not even imagine what she had done to achieve this. But there was one thing I could say for certain: I had misjudged my opponent.

This woman was not to be underestimated.

As I revised my assessment with a shudder, I noticed an unfamiliar face beside the woman.

It was a refined-looking young man in an official's uniform. Two soldiers who did not belong to the fortress stood at his sides.

I had no idea who he was, but for now, the woman in front of me was the priority. I would play the fool, obey her, flatter her, and lull her into complacency. Now that I knew she was no ordinary woman, I needed to devise my plans and make my preparations with the utmost care.

"Well, well, Romelia-sama."

As I approached the count's daughter with an obsequious smile, an unfamiliar soldier standing behind the man stepped forward.

"So you're Selbek."

The refined-looking man and his soldiers approached me, then suddenly twisted my arms behind my back and restrained me.

"What are you doing, you bastards?"

I struggled, but they wrenched my arms upward with vise-like strength, leaving me unable to move.

When they saw me captured, the soldiers stationed at the fortress tried to move, but the count's daughter raised a hand. The twenty soldiers moved in perfect unison and formed a square, creating an impregnable formation.

The fortress soldiers, lacking cohesion, could not even approach. They could only watch from a distance.

"Silence."

The man who had come with the count's daughter unrolled a document and raised his voice.

"Selbek Romes. You are under arrest for treason against the state and embezzlement. Anyone who resists will be deemed an accomplice and taken into custody. Stand back!"

The man thrust the document before me. The arrest warrant bore the king's seal.

I was immediately disarmed and bound. The fortress soldiers had given up even trying to resist, silently watching as their master was taken away.

"This is absurd! That wasn't the agreement!"

I glared at the count's daughter. She had promised not to make it public if I lent her troops.

But the count's daughter looked down at me with cold, emotionless eyes, as though I were an animal being led to the slaughterhouse.

"You are a shrewd and dangerous man. You would surely betray me eventually. So I will betray you first."

Those words—or rather, the sight of eyes that seemed to have peered into the bottom of an abyss—made me realize my own blunder. And then I laughed.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! It was certainly naive of me to think that my opponent would not betray me before I betrayed them. How could I, of all people, have been outplayed by such a little girl? I thought I had experienced every hardship this world had to offer, but what kind of hell have you seen? What kind of hell have you had to crawl through to become like this?"

I looked at the recruits who had become the woman's loyal hounds.

Every one of them had eyes shining with a sense of duty and loyalty, like knights protecting their princess.

"You'd better watch yourselves, too. This woman is a monster. There is nothing about her that you can trust. You may offer her your devotion and loyalty, but to her, friend and foe alike are meaningless. She creates people when she needs them, then casts them aside when she no longer does. The same thing will happen to you one day."

Even as they tightened the restraints and twisted my arms, I kept telling them this—and laughing at them.

Even if they threw me into prison, even if I stood at the execution block with my head about to be cut off, I would still laugh. I would still tell her.

That this woman, pretending to know nothing of filth, was pitch-black inside—so dark that nothing could be seen within.