Chapter 46
#46화 하인 세드릭(Cedric) (12) - 초조함과 악수
The lord's manor was in an uproar.
It was only natural that it would be, since assassins had actually reached the lord's bedroom.
“...It seems some of the guards who were dissatisfied with the acting lord being driven out cooperated with the assassins. Once we realized the plan had failed, we caught them all and locked them in the dungeon.”
The head butler, Bestian, reported with a stiff face.
“Young lady—no, my lord. This is not something that can be brushed off lightly. We must hold the guard unit accountable and tighten discipline so this never happens again.”
Bestian's words made the guard captain's face darken at once.
Even so, he did not offer any rebuttal.
In truth, he could not.
The fact that security had been breached and the lord's safety threatened was serious enough, but the cause was betrayal from within the guard unit itself, leaving him with no defense, even if he had ten mouths.
Claudia looked at the guard captain, who had his head bowed like a criminal awaiting judgment, and soon made her declaration.
“Everyone on duty today will have a month's pay docked. The guard captain will go three months without pay, so make sure that's clear.”
The guard captain's eyes flew wide open, and the other retainers also looked startled.
The punishment was far too light compared to the severity of the incident.
In a world where some nobles would behead every escort because the protected target got even a tiny scratch, this was a ruling too merciful to call merciful.
“My lord, but—”
“I've already decided. I won't accept any objections. And don't misunderstand this as me letting it slide. The people who cooperated in the assassination will receive no mercy.”
The guard captain, looking emotional, dropped to his knees before Claudia, and the guards trembling behind him also bowed their heads.
“Thank you, my lord! From now on, I will devote my life to loyal service!!”
“““We will devote ourselves to loyal service!!”””
“Yes. I'll be counting on you from now on.”
Claudia answered in a disinterested tone, but that was only on the surface; inwardly, she was quite surprised.
'...Honestly, I was planning to smash them all to pieces.'
Though she had been trying her best to cultivate some dignity and mercy lately, the essence of who she was did not change so easily.
Besides, this time she even had a solid justification, didn't she?
And yet the reason she reached this conclusion was Cedric's advice.
Claudia had thought incidents like this had to be dealt with firmly, or the subordinates might start taking their lord's life too lightly.
So Cedric's method of winning loyalty through mercy instead of harsh punishment felt very fresh to her.
The guard unit, moved by their lord's mercy(?), interrogated the traitors and assassins with bloodshot eyes and all their force, but unfortunately the results were underwhelming.
It wasn't as though the traitors and assassins had nerves of steel and refused to talk, nor had they committed suicide with some deadly poison to keep their information hidden.
In fact, their mouths opened rather easily.
The problem was that the information they extracted was utterly useless.
“The request was to scare them as much as possible without killing them. The client was a criminal organization different from the one these guys belonged to. If you go ask that criminal organization, they'll probably name another organization. A subcontract of a subcontract of a subcontract, I suppose.”
At Cedric's shrugging words, Claudia frowned.
“Anyway, we did get information, didn't we? If we raid the organization that hired these bastards and then raid the one that hired them, tracing it back step by step, won't we eventually find the real culprit?”
“If they're willing to use such a troublesome method, it's quite likely that several of the middle links don't even exist and are just fabrications. The trail would probably fizzle out as you traced it back.”
“Tch.”
Claudia clicked her tongue, clearly dissatisfied.
Cedric spoke to her.
“Besides, young lady, I believe you already have a rough idea of who the culprit is, do you not?”
“It was probably my older siblings. They're the type who shudder whenever they see something of mine start going well.”
Even while calling them her older siblings, Claudia's voice carried no trace of family affection.
It wasn't even the complicated mix of love and hate of ordinary siblings; it was simply pure, unadulterated dislike.
By this point, they were only family on paper, while in reality their relationship was worse than that of strangers.
Claudia let out a long sigh.
“I wasn't completely unable to see this coming, but it's still too fast. And this doesn't look like it'll end with just one incident either. Should I recover some blood beasts and keep them as my escorts?”
Cedric shook his head.
“That would only be playing into their hands. It would just sap Eched Territory's growth momentum.”
“...Is that so? That makes sense. Then instead, you can stay glued to my side and serve as my guard. How about moving your room next to mine?”
Even though this was a serious topic about her own assassination countermeasures, Claudia's voice carried a hint of excitement.
She had found a good excuse to keep Cedric right next to her.
“As a servant, I have no objection to protecting the young lady's body. However, if I were to move rooms and devote myself entirely to guarding the young lady, the guards would feel comparatively deprived. They would think that although the lord speaks of forgiveness, in truth she does not trust them.”
Cedric rejected her suggestion, saying there was no need to throw away the trust and respect he'd finally earned by showing unexpected boldness.
“Hmph.”
Claudia puffed out her cheeks.
She wanted to say that it didn't matter if the failures were disappointed, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.
She had the feeling that if she showed such childishness, Cedric might be disappointed in her.
“Then you're saying you won't worry about the escort at all?”
“Of course I will worry about it. And as for incidents that happen inside the manor, honestly, whether I'm beside you or not makes no difference. If you call for me, I'll run to your side at once.”
“R-really?”
What had just been dissatisfaction vanished as Claudia's face lit up again.
His words about coming at once when she called sounded rather sweet.
They even felt somewhat similar to a line from [Rose and Pocket Watch].
Surely the next development would be the two of them trapped in a villa on a rainy day, clinging to each other and...
“Young lady? Claudia, young lady?”
“...Huh? Yeah? Why?”
“No, it's just that you suddenly went quiet and spaced out. I must not have been considerate enough. You went through something like that in the middle of the night and immediately started handling the aftermath, so it would be strange if you weren't tired.”
“No, I'm fine. Really, I'm fine.”
Claudia repeatedly cleared her throat for no reason to shake off her embarrassment, then quickly changed the subject.
“Anyway, let's say the escort arrangements are settled. Is there anything else you'd have me do? Should I just hire some assassins and send them out?”
“You don't even know exactly which of the siblings is the culprit, do you? And if you make a reckless move while your power base is still weak, there's a high chance they'll turn that against you.”
“Tch, so you're saying I should just do nothing and sit still?”
“Not sit still, no. You'll need to increase the number of blood beasts and govern the territory properly.”
“That's too ordinary.”
“Ordinary is what makes it good.”
Cedric grinned.
“If you keep repeating that, it'll be your opponent who starts burning up inside.”
***
Even after hearing that the criminal organizations dispatched toward Eched Territory had gone silent, the second son, Erwin, and the third daughter, Mira, remained relaxed.
After all, the culprits moving on the ground did not know who their real employer at the top was.
Even if they were captured alive, that meant there would be no evidence Claudia could uncover.
A one-sided attack: good if it succeeded, no risk even if it failed.
Thus, the conversation between the two siblings in conference was almost friendly at first glance.
“How's Claudia reacting?”
“Quietly. She isn't making any moves to recover the blood beasts, and she isn't rampaging around saying she'll get revenge.”
“Hmm, strange. With that temper of hers, there's no way she'd stay quiet even after being hit with a preemptive strike.”
“Isn't she just being stubborn? Wait a little longer. I'm already preparing new ones.”
“This time I'll send mine separately too. If we keep bleeding that woman dry day and night, even that stubborn bitch will eventually break.”
With sly smiles, they sent out new assassins, and
before long, as a matter of course, they failed.
“Hah, this is blocked? The escort must be fairly capable.”
“Honestly. They took the money and still couldn't even manage a single proper threat. This is why I don't want to associate with trash.”
“Next time, we'll have to choose only Rank 3 or higher. No matter how well trained ordinary soldiers are, there are limits.”
“We should probably provide scrolls as well.”
The third assassination attempt, made with equipment and carefully selected talent.
The result was, as expected, failure.
“...Does she have a fairly powerful knight with her?”
“Does that mean she's got someone with at least Rank 4 attached to her? What on earth are they seeing in that foul-tempered bitch?”
“Still, she's Redbell after all. Seems there's at least one fool who got taken in by her empty reputation. We have no choice but to change our methods.”
“I held back because she might actually die, but not anymore. Poisoning, sniping, bribery. We'll have to use whatever we can.”
From then on, they approached assassination in a much more serious manner.
And, as always, this time too, they failed.
…….
…….
Even after changing methods, selecting talent, and supplying tools and money, not a single one of them reported success.
No, not only success reports—the reports of failure never even came back in the first place.
Whenever they checked Claudia's information through spies, the reports that came back were always the same.
The number of blood beasts roaming Eched Territory was not decreasing; Claudia was not avoiding public events with a high risk of assassination, but was instead actively taking part in them, and her fame and influence were rising day by day. Among the residents, there were plenty who didn't even know an assassination attempt had ever happened.
That's right.
The assassins they sent were not frightening Claudia or threatening her at all; they were being so thoroughly ignored that their very existence was being treated as fiction.
As though they weren't even worth dealing with.
“We can't rely on the others any longer.”
At Erwin's grim words, Mira flinched.
Erwin and Mira both.
They had separate 'true blades' who handled dirty work directly.
Not the outside hires they had used up until now after merely paying them.
But there was always a reason for having such people and never using them until now.
“B-but, isn't it too risky for us to act directly? If we were captured alive, then....”
For criminal organizations to act freely on the orders of an unknown client, and for the Redbell family's full strength to move directly, the meaning and weight were completely different.
If they failed, the aftermath would truly be hard to handle.
But even with his younger sister trying to stop him, the second son did not waver.
“Other territories adjacent to Eched Territory are reaching out to Claudia, asking her to dispatch those damned mutts to their own lands as well. If we leave this alone, a huge force will form around that bitch.”
“Hold on a second. If you lower each blood beast's individual strength, it's certainly easier to increase the numbers, but there are still limits, aren't there? Maybe for Eched Territory alone, but there's no way she can make enough to cover other territories too. If we leave her alone, she'll fail!”
“Eched Territory's security is already fairly stable anyway. If the blood beasts inside are moved to other territories, it can be done well enough as a show of force. At the very least, it will create a result worth bragging about to others.”
The two siblings never assumed that the number of blood beasts Claudia handled would truly increase.
More precisely, they deliberately turned away from that possibility.
They themselves were handling blood beasts as well, but managing such huge numbers like Claudia did was impossible for them.
It was something they could never admit, from pride, that they lagged behind that thieving mother-daughter pair in even one thing.
“We need to throw away this soft attitude of 'if they die, they die.' We have to move with the resolve of 'kill her no matter what' before the family head takes an interest in that bitch.”
Though Mira still looked thoroughly uneasy, she eventually nodded as if she had given up under Erwin's repeated resolve.
***
Though they had been careful in their own way, thinking they wouldn't be discovered, their movements were nevertheless conveyed in full to Redbell's true ruler.
And the marquis's assessment of it was.
“We're done for. It's practically decided that they'll fail.”
“...Is that so?”
The marquis's confidant looked puzzled.
It was true that Claudia had only recently begun, in earnest, to build her own faction, but those siblings had been doing similar work far earlier than Claudia.
Until now they had lost out again and again because they had fought passively out of fear of risk, but if they decided to use their full strength, that power would easily overwhelm Claudia.
Even so, the marquis said with a disinterested face that Claudia would win.
“It's not as though they thoroughly prepared, figured out the enemy's strength, and sent in more than that. It's not as though they used a beastlike instinct to strike at a weakness. They looked down on the opponent and slowly sent in their strength, and when that still didn't work, they rushed in in a panic. Utterly foolish. They'll be eaten alive.”
Confirming the incompetence of children he'd spent a fortune raising was not exactly a pleasant thing.
Yet, on the other hand, it was intriguing.
“I wonder how far they've predicted it. If they were played on the palm of her hand from start to finish, then she's a monster beyond imagination...”
The marquis felt curiosity.','And he was a ruler who didn't need to resist that curiosity.','“It wouldn't be bad to have some cozy family time for once.”