Grasping and Shaking Weaknesses (2)

The door opened, revealing a familiar face.

“Philip.”

His hair was streaked with gray, but his face was taut and wrinkle-free. His upright gait exuded an air of dignity.

He worked solely for the Ovest territory and was loyal only to the lord.

…Or so Diego would think.

“I’m sorry, young master.”

Philip wore a deeply apologetic expression.

“Please forgive me for failing to supervise my subordinates.”

He had long since become one of Abel's henchmen. He cooperated with Abel's misdeeds and personally handled the dirty work from behind the scenes.

Abel had perfectly seized control of the castle's servants, taking advantage of his father's frequent absences. He was an absolute power who violated and committed violence and murder against those terrified of him.

That was Abel's current state.

“This way.”

As Philip gestured to the side, two waiting servants approached. A young servant they were holding was thrown into the room.

“Ugh!”

The servant, who had fallen to the floor, slowly lifted his head. His face was drenched in fear.

“Ugh, ah…”

“We caught him trying to escape the castle.”

Philip spoke to me and glared at the young servant.

“How dare you interfere with the young master’s affairs.”

His voice was as cold as ice.

“Please, young master, I beg you to decide his fate.”

Philip bowed his head to me. The standing servants and the one on the floor also lowered their heads.

‘This scene is…’

A sense of déjà vu washed over me, and I frowned. No, I tried to convince myself it wasn’t true.

The father who slapped Abel's cheek and left, and the butler who personally brought in and made the servant kneel.

This was one of the episodes that had left a strong impression on my mind. It was impossible to confuse it.

‘Today is that day.’

I finally realized at which point in the original story I had been possessed.

“Shit.”

Curses spilled out for what felt like the umpteenth time.

“……!”

Philip flinched and straightened his posture, while the servants’ eyes flickered with intense agitation.

“Ha.”

I had no time to care about their reactions. I pressed my throbbing forehead with my hand.

‘I didn’t expect it to be this urgent.’

Requiem, true to its name, would appear right in the middle of autumn, specifically on October 15th.

And that day, based on today,

‘There are only 10 days left!’

It was an incredibly tight deadline.

“Ha…”

I sighed repeatedly to calm the rising anger. The more I thought about it, the more my insides boiled, but there was nothing I could do.

“Phew.”

As I lifted my heavy eyelids,

“Y-young master…”

I saw the trembling servant.

‘What did Abel do at this time?’

He would beat this servant until he could no longer stand. The servant, with broken limbs, would end up unable to walk.

If I were to follow the original story, I would have to raise my fist here.

‘How troublesome.’

Moreover, I didn’t have time for such antics. There were urgent matters that needed my attention.

‘Above all,’

After carefully examining the servant's face and physique, I reached a conclusion.

‘If this guy is who I think he is…’

It would not be a good choice to punish him now.

“Hmm.”

I straightened my posture from where I had been leaning on the armrest of the chair.

In the meantime, I felt the cold air filling the room. Everyone was watching me, terrified, as I suppressed my anger.

‘It’s not this guy that’s making me angry.’

Instead of standing up and swinging my fist, I waved my hand dismissively.

“Let him go.”

“Pardon?”

Philip’s eyes twitched.

“-!”

“……!”

The servants behind him widened their eyes. Their faces were a mix of fear and confusion as they exchanged glances.

I was taken aback by their unexpected reaction.

‘What’s with those expressions?’

I thought they would be relieved, but it was quite the opposite.

“Y-young master!”

The kneeling servant grabbed my pant leg.

“I’m sorry! The lord noticed too quickly and…”

Then he began banging his head against the floor.

“I told them you went out to play in the village, but they didn’t believe me!”

His desperate cry was mixed with tears.

“I won’t make the same mistake again! So please, please don’t send me to ‘that place’…!”

‘That place?’

‘Ah, I see.’

It was the place that the castle's servants feared the most, accessible only to Philip and Abel.

In the castle's basement, there was originally a storage room for old books and items. However, that place was now filled with various torture devices, and the air was thick with the sounds of people’s moans and the stench of blood.

Abel was a pleasure killer who enjoyed "games" with humans there. I understood why they were even more terrified. I looked down at the servant who was crying beneath me with a blank expression. I had no intention of comforting him, but he was being too loud.

“When did I say I would send you there?”

At my low remark, the servant hurriedly backed away. His body trembled like a leaf.

“Y-young master, I….”

An icy cold reprimand can frighten a person more than a furious shout.

I placed a finger to my lips.

“Quiet.”

The servant quickly covered his mouth. His shoulders shook as silent tears began to flow down his face.

Philip and the other servants turned pale. They averted their eyes, unable to bear the sight of the tragedy unfolding before them.

Seeing this made me chuckle softly.

‘This really feels like being a villain.’

Ah, of course, I was indeed a villain.

I waved my hand dismissively, as if swatting away a fly.

“If you understand, take him away.”

The two servants rushed forward to grab the kneeling servant. He seemed to have lost all will to resist and stood still.

Once they disappeared, Philip spoke up.

“Young master, would it not be better to let me handle this?”

“To you?”

“There’s no need to waste time on such a fool.”

A serious light flickered in Philip’s eyes, filled with determination to dirty his hands.

“Just leave it to me. I will ensure he never makes such a mistake again.”

At first glance, he appeared to be a devoted butler.

However.

‘A slippery old man.’

I already knew of Philip’s duplicitous nature. He pretended to assist Abel in his "games," while secretly smuggling slaves away. Unable to stop Abel, he found another way to help the victims.

Even now, he spoke as if he would get his hands dirty, but in reality, he was likely plotting to sneak that servant away.

It was truly a pathetic effort. Moreover, it was a futile endeavor.

“I told you to just leave him be.”

I spoke firmly, as if there was no value in reconsidering. I conveyed a warning with my eyes that he should not touch him.

“……”

Philip’s gaze trembled slightly. It seemed he couldn’t even begin to guess what I was thinking.

“……Understood.”

He reluctantly replied.

“Take him away.”

I did not assist Philip with his meaningless worries. In fact, there was no need to.

“Yes.”

Even without me stating the destination, Philip skillfully took the lead.

We headed toward the lord’s office.

Thud.

I naturally sat down in front of the lord’s desk. Sitting there, I looked around the desk.

Documents, quills. The positions of various items, the height of the drawers, and the depth within reach.

Everything was familiar to Abel. Every item bore Abel’s fingerprints.

“Bring it here.”

With a slight gesture of my hand, Philip placed a stack of documents on the desk.

“These are the matters that the lord was handling before being interrupted.”

As I pulled the papers toward me, he stacked another set of documents beside it.

“These matters are of relatively low priority, so you can take your time reviewing them.”

I began to examine the documents with sharp eyes. They contained information about taxes and commerce within the territory.

Diego thought his son Abel was just a layabout who only ate and played…

“Young master, I request your approval.”

In reality, Abel had taken advantage of his absence to meddle in the management of the territory.

Diego spent most of his time at the border, handling urgent documents there and sending them back to the main estate. He would then slowly deal with the less urgent matters after returning to the main estate.

He believed that the butler was managing that gap well.

‘A territory’s affairs can’t run smoothly with just that.’

In reality, everything was carried out under Abel’s control.

Abel was cleverly involved in the work by approving documents without Diego noticing anything unusual.

Thus, Diego’s command for confinement meant nothing to Abel. Without his father in the castle, Abel wielded absolute power.

“Hmm…”

I quickly skimmed through the documents with a blank expression.

‘It’s not that difficult.’

The terminology might differ, but the documents themselves were familiar to me.

In fact, I needed to adapt to the simplicity of this world.

As I input the territory’s system into my mind, I began calculating how to utilize these documents.

‘First and foremost, I need to learn swordsmanship.’

Building stamina or strengthening muscles could be done on my own. However, swordsmanship required the teaching of others.

In the original story, Abel never had the opportunity to learn throughout his life. His father, Diego, forbade it.

Having recognized Abel’s temperament early on, Diego never taught his son how to wield a sword. He only had him study the usual heir lessons and desk work.

‘Aside from Diego, who could teach Abel swordsmanship…?’

There was no one in the castle.

Diego intentionally did not place guards within the castle.

If he, the strongest swordsman, and the Ovest Knights could not stop monsters, it would only be a matter of time before the Ovest territory fell.

‘Rather than begging for life in disgrace, he would rather suggest I take my own life.’

Regardless, thanks to Diego’s policy, Abel was able to roam freely within the castle. Therefore, I also planned to maintain Diego’s policy for the time being.

‘Then I need to find someone outside the castle.’

In that case, my options were narrowed down to the guards of the territory or the knights under Diego.

However, Abel could not exert authority over them. They also would not dare to go against the lord’s orders.

‘So what should I do?’

I reached for a piece of paper listing the knights affiliated with the territory. I scanned it, looking for someone useful.

“-!”

I spotted a name and my eyes sparkled.

‘This name…’

A sly smile spread across my lips.

‘Yes, I can use this guy.’

He would surely become my excellent swordsmanship instructor.

After making my decision, I slammed the stack of documents down. I pushed back my chair and stood up.

“Young master?”

Philip, who had been pouring tea beside me, looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“I’m getting ready to go out.”

“Oh, you’re going out.”

A complex expression crossed Philip’s face. He seemed worried about where this reckless troublemaker might run off to.

“Understood. Where are we headed?”

I smiled as I put on the clothes he handed me.

“Kader.”