24-Hour Revolving Consultation Office, Episode 29
*Mmm.* Rora let out a deep hum.
“The conclusion was that the Empress Dowager and House Count Kiona had conspired together.”
House Count Kiona was a family of meritorious retainers who dealt in spirit arts, and it was also the birthplace of the Empress Dowager.
“The court was in turmoil, and the Second Prince immediately ascended the throne.”
Rora could imagine just how chaotic the empire must have been. It was all the more so because it was the Empress Dowager who had nursed the Emperor more devotedly than anyone else.
“Everyone connected to the culprits was executed, and House Kiona disappeared without a trace.”
Sorinte scratched his forehead lightly with a finger in the middle of his explanation.
“But I was a delinquent back then, so I barely know anything about the exact process.”
He sneaked a glance at Rora’s reaction.
“It’s alright. You only need to tell me what you know.”
A plain answer reached his ears.
‘…She doesn’t think I’m incompetent.’
Even when he, the eldest son of a ducal house, said he didn’t properly know about the Emperor’s death, the counselor neither blamed Sorinte nor looked down on him.
Feeling awkward for no reason because of that, Sorinte cleared his throat and continued.
“After the Second Prince became Emperor, nothing much happened for five years. Of course, my house fell to ruin.”
In the meantime, the ducal House Cheoseu collapsed.
Sorinte’s gaze turned to the teacup.
The red tea inside it.
It seemed to be a tea made with red berries.
Red.
It was red.
‘……Blood.’
Blood sprang to mind in an instant.
Like blood diffusing in water, a pale red.
Sorinte saw his own eyes reflected in that tea.
Redder than the tea.
Like blood that had just burst forth from a wound.
*Thump. Thump.*
Suddenly, his heartbeat sounded loud.
“And then—”
He opened his mouth again. Ignoring the vibration of his heart.
“And then, the reason the civil war broke out was—”
Sorinte had only learned the reason for the civil war after the fact.
Because he had been mad with revenge.
The foolish delinquent knew no other way to live than to obsess over one thing.
“Customer.”
He realized at Rora’s low voice that he had been digging quite deep into memories of the past.
“M— my lord, if it’s hard—”
“No, it’s not hard.”
Sorinte cut Rora off before she could finish.
*That’s right, it’s not hard.*
It didn’t bother him at all.
Now, feeling the comfort of this sofa, the past felt as distant as a faraway dream.
However, he could not take his eyes off the red tea.
“The civil war began when House Count Owen appeared with another member of the imperial family, claiming the child was the Emperor’s hidden son.”
House Count Owen was one of the meritorious retainer families and mainly dealt in magic.
Naturally, Rora also knew House Owen well.
‘Above all, it’s the family that covets our estate.’
Her thoughts on House Owen were brief, and she soon looked at Sorinte.
‘……You’re sure you’re okay?’
Sorinte continued speaking while quietly staring at the teacup.
His eyes were calm, and the tone of his voice was steady. No emotional change could be felt.
*By the way, another son of the Emperor?*
From Rora’s perspective, the more she heard, the more it seemed the empire’s future was a mess.
“In addition, House Owen denied the Second Prince who had become Emperor.”
Sorinte let out a scoff.
The empire had been in chaos at the time.
“And they accused the Second Prince and House Duke Hiel of being the culprits who killed the Crown Prince and the Emperor. They had evidence.”
Hah.
Rora swallowed the sigh that threatened to escape.
“House Owen and House Duke Hiel. The two forces clashed fiercely.”
And.
“That clash escalated into a civil war.”
Magic-wielding House Owen.
Tactics and strategy-wielding House Hiel.
“It must have been an enormous civil war.”
“Yes. The civil war dragged on endlessly.”
Because it was a matter of survival for each house, the conflict between the two families gradually reached extremes.
Sorinte looked at Rora for a moment. She appeared to be organizing her thoughts with her eyes lowered.
Her green irises were hidden behind her eyelids and eyelashes.
“The empire was devastated.”
He turned his gaze back to the teacup. The red tea filled his vision once more. And the tea reflected his red pupils.
*That’s right, everything was blood.*
The civil war led by the two families gradually ruined the empire.
Countless wars and pillaging broke out across the empire, where it had become difficult to survive.
*I, too—*
I was in the midst of it, too.
Sorinte’s hand itched. He clenched his fist tightly.
He had held a sword in this hand and killed countless people.
*At first—*
The first few had been killed for revenge.
But as time went on, the situation changed.
Sorinte kept killing those who came to kill him.
He didn’t even listen to their reasons.
Those who pointed their swords at him, he killed on the spot.
Conversation was a luxury.
Because he was simply grateful for any time he could close his eyes, even for a moment, after cutting down those who endlessly pursued him.
*It itches.*
His hand itched.
At that moment, Sorinte thought he understood why he kept his gaze on that red tea.
The first day he had killed a person.
He had run away.
As far as possible, running and running again.
Even though he had become a Sword Master, killing a person was a reality beyond imagination.
“Hah, hahk—”
Sorinte recalled himself gasping for breath.
He had stopped in front of a riverside.
And looked down at his hand.
His hand, his sleeve was red. His clothes were stained with blood here and there.
He knelt and dipped his hand into the river water.
He wanted to wash his hands.
The blood on his hands washed away.
Then the river water turned a pale red.
Like this tea.
*Thump. Thump.*
Sorinte felt his heart beating louder and louder.
Yes, it had been like that back then, too.
The blood dissolved in the river. Looking at the pale red color, he had faced his own eyes.
Eyes redder than the pale red river.
Eyes red like blood.
*Thump!*
The moment his heart beat loudly.
Red.
The world turned red.
He couldn’t feel the comfort of the sofa.
*It itches.*
His hand itched.
No.
*It’s empty.*
His hand felt empty.
What did he have to do to erase this emptiness?
*A sword.*
He had to hold a sword in his hand.
And again—
Once more.
A battlefield where they had killed and killed each other rose in Sorinte’s eyes.
A place that must have once been an ordinary village. The houses there had become ruins, and children’s laughter had vanished.
All that could be heard from every direction were explosions, someone’s screams, and the clashing of weapons.
In a place like that, he had often stood blankly.
A life with no home to return to, no one to meet, nothing at all.
A life where only purposeless revenge and madness remained.
*That’s right. That was the life I lived.*
That is the essence of who I am—
“Customer.”
At that moment, Sorinte felt a touch on his shoulder.
*Smack!*
He tried to swat that hand away while simultaneously moving like a snake to snatch that wrist.
The world was still red in his eyes.
*Don’t touch me.*
He tried to grab the wrist of the one who had touched him, the one trying to kill him.
The movement was fast and agile.
Like an eagle trying to snatch its prey.
*Smack!*
But the eagle’s talons were easily brushed aside.
When the prey deflected his attack, flames blazed in Sorinte’s eyes.
*Thump, thump!*
Feeling his heartbeat, he rose from his seat and moved his hand toward the prey once more.
Even without a sword, he could break that slender neck.
His hand, his body moved toward a single purpose.
*Thud!*
And Sorinte was subdued.
It was a gentle subdual.
His body was thrown face-down onto the table.
“Ngh!”
His two hands were restrained behind his back. The grip that held him was gentle yet firm.
The voice was the same.
“Customer.”
Sorinte pressed his forehead against the table.
Coldness enveloped his forehead. He closed his eyes.
Darkness.
There was nothing red.
His heart no longer beat violently.
“Ha.”
A short sigh burst from his lips.
Rora looked at him like that while restraining Sorinte’s two hands.
*Heavens!*
Her heart was pounding violently.
*……That was a close call. I was startled.*
Just now, she had felt something strange about the way Sorinte kept staring at the teacup.
Then, suddenly, he had gone silent.
No matter how many times she called, he didn’t respond.
*So thinking that something was wrong, she grabbed his shoulder and called to him, but—*
At that moment.
*He tried to kill me.*
Rora had hurriedly blocked the attack.
*Sir Sorinte was definitely aiming for my neck.*
Rora got chills recalling that moment.
*There was no emotion.*
She couldn’t feel any emotion from Sorinte.
Killing intent, rage, any turbulent emotion—none existed in him at that moment.
*……That was dangerous.*
Merely like a daily routine, like a habit.
He had stared at Rora’s neck with indifferent eyes.
But Rora read madness in those eyes.
Rora had barely managed to subdue Sorinte.
*If I hadn’t trained in martial arts, I wouldn’t have been able to swat that hand away.*
Thanks to having trained in hand-to-hand combat focused on subdual all this time, she had been able to stop Sorinte’s madness.
“My lord.”
Rora called out to Sorinte cautiously.
“……Yeah.”
At his voice, somewhat calmer but composed, she released the two hands that had been subduing Sorinte.
“……Customer?”
Even though Rora had let go, Sorinte remained with his forehead pressed against the table.