Chapter 221 – Count London (6)

Why was the debt paid off? It wasn’t because of kindness. Roman Dmitry made it clear what he wanted to achieve from this.

“When the people stormed at the mansion and when the carriage with the gold left, I clearly warned the Count. A flimsy tolerance to their actions will remove the fear the people have, and from then on, anything can happen. But you trusted the people. You didn’t think they would corner a carriage in the middle of the capital.”

It was a mistake. It was said that the instigators led the situation, but the people’s dissatisfaction had created it.

Count London was a good person. He said that he wasn’t a patriot at first, but the fundamentals of inheriting his father’s blood didn’t change. So he had no choice but to make mistakes. Because the world he lived in was beautiful, he didn’t think that the people outside would think otherwise.

“The Count’s choice was reckless. At least, if you borrow money from others to solve something important, you shouldn’t trust anyone else but yourself. As a result, you broke your promise to the Dmitry family. If the 100,000 gold problem wasn’t solved, and if the Golden Bank hadn’t been repaid, the Redford Kingdom would have been caught up in a war. What do you plan on doing then? Are you going to regret what has already happened, come back to me, and borrow money again? We know very well that the lands of your ancestors and the London family that you pledged will not mean much. If we are going to rank your debts, the Golden Bank would even pull down the pillars of the London family before Dmitry could exercise our rights.”

The collateral’s existence. He knew from the start that it was pointless. If the Golden Bank began to lead a war, the fortunes of the London family couldn’t do much.

War was always like that. A war was waged to take everything from the losers, and what would the meaning of the documents signed by the owner of the land be?

Despite knowing that fact, Roman still accepted the offer, and even despite the possibility of never getting the 100,000 gold back, this job was worth accepting.

The attack on the carriage—he was watching it from the sidelines. If Count London died, his duty would end there.

Just like the death of Yu Hyun, he would be paying the price for what he chose to do. At that time, he would have given up on the card called London and found another person suitable to guide Redford.

“… I apologize.”

Drop. Drop.

Blood dripped from Count London’s head. He was dizzy from the wounds not being treated properly, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Roman Dmitry.

“I know words won’t work now. Redford and Dmitry. In our relationship, contrary to what I said, I really didn’t take responsibility for my words. I lost the money and made the wrong choice. So please tell me the answer. I think the fact that you didn’t abandon Redford and paid the debt is because of what you want from me.”

His red eyes were stained with realization. A good eye could see the reality, and he realized the problem could not be solved like this. But London still managed to live. Then it was time to execute the plan.

Roman Dmitry said,

“Dmitry and Redford’s promise is valid. The 210,000 gold has no deadline, but the price will double later, and what Count London has to do now is clear. I want you to reveal the truth to the people and tell them what you have done, not to be treated as a traitor but to be called a patriot. So…”

From the moment they first met, Roman Dmitry drew a picture in his head. Seeing Count London, who was treating himself foolishly and being judged as something else, he thought his foolish nature could be used.

The Kronos Empire. Those who compromised with reality were absolutely incapable of being hostile.

“Count London, raise a rebellion, and take the throne.”

At a bar in Redford, the atmosphere was nice. Those who had a blast at work ate and drank in happiness.

“Drink!”

“For Redford!”

Bang!

The glasses clinked. Jacqueline gulped the drink down his throat and looked drunk.

It was nice. As he was distributing the gold coins, people tightly held Jacqueline’s hand and shed tears, saying he was a hero.

A few days ago, he was just a servant, and when he was worried about how to make a living, he leaped as the hero that Redford needed.

The hand holding the beer mug was stained with blood. Even though he had seen blood in the course of attacking the Count and his men, he didn’t regret it.

‘I was doing it for Redford.’

He was confident in it. Count London, who fell bleeding, had to pay the price for the mistakes he had made. He was a traitor to the people. If left alone, the trash that coveted things while destroying people would sell off the entire nation.

He drank the beer. People were looking at him and praising him as a hero.

“But where did the owner of the bar go?”

“What does it matter knowing? He told us to drink all the beer in the bar, so let us enjoy this moment to the fullest!”

Things had been sorted out, and the owner of the bar disappeared. But with Jacqueline there, people didn’t seem to care.

Attacking the nobles was treason. There was a chance that the people would be arrested by the guards of the capital, but Jacqueline and the people didn’t worry about that.

Jacqueline was now Redford’s hero. What would happen if the owner of the money came for him when the people would stand behind Jacqueline and be ready to give up their lives for him?

There would be a mess. From the moment Count London was attacked, the people decided not to stand by any longer.

“Jacqueline, no need to worry about the guards. We saw it too. When we attacked Count London, even the aura swordsmen fell. In fact, they’re nothing special. If those bastards try to come for you, they cannot capture you, even if they send the royal troops.”

Roman Dmitry was right. One step broke the wall. The moment the fear of the opponent that they had been looking up to vanished, they felt like they could do anything.

The people smiled and laughed. They didn’t care about the future, and like now, they wanted to enjoy the happiness that they had never experienced before. It was then…

Clack.

“Find Jacqueline and bring him to me.”

A group of troops came in through the door, and the moment of happiness broke.

The pub was a mess. People tossed the glasses in their hands and grabbed their weapons to block the path of the soldiers.

“Jacqueline cannot be touched!”

“Damned bastards. What have you ever done for us, for you to try and touch the hero of Redford?!”

Their anger exploded. The people were drunk and swung their weapons before the soldiers.

“Die!”

Wheik.

It was a steel sword. Since it was a weapon from Count London’s soldier who was killed, the weapon was wielded in the oddest way possible. Even so, the face of the running man overflowed with confidence. Having tasted victory once, they didn’t think the soldiers were a threat. At that moment…

Slash.

Blood splashed. At the same time as the man’s sword was cut down, his head floated in the air.

“Ack!”

“H-His head has been blown off!!”

The people screamed. It was a single hit. They couldn’t even see what had happened, and the man’s head flew away in an instant.

At that moment, the people realized that the situation was serious. The soldiers stormed in with the symbol of Dmitry, not Redford.

“Those who stand in the way will be executed.”

It was Chris. The people of Redford didn’t know the laws of Dmitry. No matter who the opponent was, if a decision was made, they couldn’t control it, and Chris, known as Roman Dmitry’s right-hand man, was known to be a walking disaster.

At first, there were people who didn’t care and rushed at them, but when everyone was taken down in the blink of an eye, the people stopped running.

They were terrified. The people who said they would protect Jacqueline backed out like they didn’t want to be around Chris.

The path opened up, and Chris walked towards a man.

“Are you Jacqueline?”

The line between life and death made Jacqueline gulp. He knew he could die, but he decided to speak proudly about being the hero. And then, with the courage to face death….

“Right, I am Jac…”

Clench!

“Kuak!”

Chris dragged him by the hair, and Jacqueline struggled and screamed in pain. And eventually, he was nothing but a normal person. As the pain took hold of his head, he couldn’t look proud anymore.

Pak.

He was thrown to the ground, and he trembled in fear. When he looked up, he looked at Roman Dmitry, who was looking down at him.

Jacqueline was dragged to the square. People saw him writhing in pain as his hair was being pulled.

“Jacqueline is being dragged away.”

“Aren’t we supposed to help?”

“These jerks. How dare you touch the hero of Redford!”

The people were angry. At first, people who didn’t know what had happened followed and headed to the square where Roman was. Their faces showed a hint of anger.

They wanted to attack Roman right away and save their hero, but when they looked at Dmitry’s soldiers, they lost all their courage. However, there were some bold people among them. They ran all over the city to let everyone know.

“Right now, Jacqueline, the hero of Redford, is being dragged away by Roman Dmitry! He is the one who saved the nation from being abandoned! Everyone, wake up and bring weapons! We need to show what happens if our hero is touched! Let us show them!”

“Everyone to the square! Jacqueline is there!”

They cried out at the top of their voices. Their cries, which ignored death, colored the frightened crowd.

Everyone carried weapons. If they didn’t have proper weapons, they used farm items, and they looked enraged while holding them. If Jacqueline died, they might have to give up the gold coins, but they couldn’t accept that, so they decided to risk their lives for him.

Jacqueline was just a servant, but the moment people accepted him as a hero…

“Jacqueline! Jacqueline!”

“Jacqueline! Jacqueline!”

“Jacqueline! Jacqueline!”

The people raised their voices. Groups formed at all corners of the streets, and everyone headed there.

And Roman Dmitry was at the end, making Jacqueline kneel down. The people rushed there.

As people gathered with no time to lose, Roman remembered what he had said to Count London.

“Keep in mind that compassion is a prejudice too. The moment you mistakenly believe that you can help someone, the other person will use your compassion to drag you down. The criteria for judging people. It must be based on the facts that the Count had seen or heard, not just on what you were told. Just because you are a good person, it is dangerous to believe that the people that the Count helped are good too.”

Perhaps… maybe that was what he wanted to say to Yu Hyun.

He looked ahead.

A crowd in anger, and it was the perfect stage to reveal the truth.