Chapter 72: The Story of Raines Noel Delpheman
“You already drove the Lopetrefer’s daughter to the brink of death once, and now you’ve crawled out of hell to try to kill her again?!”
Delthel slammed his fist on the table and roared.
“Drove her to the brink of death…?”
Damon, provoked by Delthel’s words, jumped to his feet and started screaming. He kicked an empty chair beside him, his face contorted with rage.
As the chair crashed against the wall, Damon insisted that he had never tried to kill Enzhe. Delthel clicked his tongue at his unreasonable outburst, and Raines, flustered, grabbed his shoulder and pushed him down.
“Calm down. What are you talking about? You were sent to the Wastelands for attempted murder of Lady Enzhe Lopetrefer. And you said something about a scheme…”
“I told you, didn’t I?! That bitch orchestrated it! You’re all being fooled! Why do you all believe and worship Enzhe Lopetrefer so much? You’ve never even spoken to her, living in the same capital!”
“Then tell us why you were convicted of attempted murder. We don’t know. That’s why we’re asking.”
“Sigh… Sigh…”
Damon Keron finally relented and recounted his encounter with Enzhe Lopetrefer.
He claimed that Enzhe Lopetrefer was a vicious murderer who would smile while casting explosion spells on people’s heads, and that she had dragged him to the basement of the glass garden and tortured him for no reason.
Of course, neither Delthel nor Raines believed him. But to calm him down, Raines spoke up, instead of Delthel, who was clearly skeptical.
“So… you’re asking us to kill Enzhe Lopetrefer for you?”
“Yes.”
Raines sighed. His head was spinning. Damon was clearly delusional. It was like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum and demanding what he wanted.
The negotiation, which was more like trying to appease Damon, went nowhere. There was no compromise between Delthel and Raines’s refusal and Damon’s threat to kill them if they didn’t cooperate.
And in the end, it was Delthel Noel, surprisingly, who surrendered.
“Do whatever you want, Damon Keron. I’m going to report you to the Imperial Family. Kill us if you want, I don’t care.”
Delthel muttered, his voice weak, and stood up.
“Father…?”
Kill us if you want?
Raines looked up at his father, wondering if he had misheard. But the Delthel he saw was no longer the Delthel he knew. His face was haggard, his eyes vacant, his shoulders slumped.
He’s broken. His family is broken.
“Hahaha, you know what? Of course, I can kill you right now, but I can also screw you over even after I’m caught by the Imperial Family, just like you want. I can expose your aunt’s existence, or I can falsely accuse you of trying to cooperate with me.”
Raines retorted angrily,
“Do you really think that would work…?”
Damon chuckled.
“Raines, you’re so naive. Those damn Imperial investigators don’t care about the truth. They just eliminate what they consider impurities. You would know, wouldn’t you, Delthel Noel?”
“……”
Damon smirked as Delthel glared at him silently. And finally, Delthel, overwhelmed by a sense of defeat, exploded. He pointed a finger at Damon, his face red with rage, and shouted,
“Do whatever you want! Do it! Listen, Damon Keron Brell! I will not cooperate with you. I will not help you! Kill Lady Enzhe Lopetrefer? Get revenge? Don’t be ridiculous! Do you think I would be played by you?! Do you think I would lose to you?! I will not lose to someone like you!”
Only then did Raines understand his father’s true feelings.
Delthel Noel Delpheman had, for the first time, experienced a crushing defeat at the hands of someone he couldn’t control. And in that moment, justice and family meant nothing to him. He was consumed by the despair of losing to that monster.
He was broken.
Delthel Noel had broken too.
He might have looked fine on the outside, but he was no different from Haina on the inside.
Delthel, no longer wanting to see Damon, left the basement. And his son was left alone with the criminal.
His petty pride, his refusal to lose to a worthless criminal like Damon Keron, had made him forget about his own son.
The end of a man who had lived his entire life pursuing rationality and responsibility was nothing but irresponsibility and irrationality.
“That’s the man they call Löhn’s greatest strategist? What a farce. Hahaha!”
Damon laughed, his hand on his stomach, as he looked at the stunned Raines.
A long silence followed. Both Raines and Damon gradually regained their composure. Raines forced himself to clear his mind. He thought about the things he loved.
His mother, his father, the Noel mansion and its servants, the beautiful garden, his friends, the green scent.
“…Why do you want our help?”
Raines shoved his trembling hands under the table and imitated his mother’s tone. Haina Noel Delpheman, who had always been strong, cold-headed, and rational.
“You have incredible power. You can kill Enzhe Lopetrefer yourself with that power. Why did you come to us?”
He had been wondering about it. Why would he need the Noel family’s help when he had the power to burn down the entire area?
“……”
Damon seemed to be lost in thought, recalling something. Something from the past, a painful memory. After a while, he replied, clutching his head,
“I don’t have to tell you. I’m going to get the Noel count family’s help, no matter what.”
“But why…”
Raines stopped himself. This wasn’t what he needed to say. He imitated his father, the rational strategist of Atlantis, who always took responsibility for his actions.
“…Damon, you know that it’s impossible for me, for our family, to kill Enzhe Lopetrefer. And even more so to destroy the Lopetrefer family. I want you to understand that.”
If he messed this up, Damon would really blow up the entire mansion. Or he might be dragged to the Imperial Family and make false accusations. Raines couldn’t help but believe him, after seeing his power. He was afraid. Afraid of losing his family. So he had to keep the negotiation going, in his father’s stead. He had to achieve a good result.
Raines spoke slowly, trying to calm himself down, even though he couldn’t understand why he was negotiating with this man.
“You understand that it’s not a matter of will, right? We simply don’t have the power. Look, this is a family that’s been crippled by you alone. How could a family like this bring down a grand duke family?”
“…Hmm…”
Damon nodded in agreement. Raines continued,
“Like I said, you could do it yourself… But for some reason, you want our help. I’m just stating the facts.”
Silence fell over the basement. Raines focused his scattered thoughts and waited for Damon to speak. Damon finally chuckled and patted Raines’s shoulder.
“Haha, you’re a good talker. You’re just like Raines.”
“What?”
Damon ignored his bewilderment and said cheerfully,
“Then I’ll think about it. Do you have a place for me to stay? Ah, here’s fine too.”
***
“How about Sue Byron?”
A week later, Damon asked Raines casually as he visited the basement.
“Sue Byron?”
Raines frowned. Damon, who had been lying on a worn-out mattress with his legs crossed, suddenly sat up. He grinned, his eyes gleaming with interest.
“Yes, bring Sue Byron to me. You can do that, can’t you? Hmm?”
His unnaturally tanned skin twitched. His cloudy eyes flickered slightly. Raines, oblivious, repeated the name in his mind.
“The real Sue Byron, not Enzhe Lopetrefer?”
“Yes.”
Damon nodded.
“I’ll forgive you for that much. I’m a flexible guy. Even someone like you should be able to deliver a trashy bitch like Byron, right?”
“You’re… going to kill Sue Byron?”
“Of course. Ah, but first… I’m thinking of using her as a hostage to lure out Lopetrefer. I don’t get it, but Lopetrefer seems to be quite fond of Byron. Hahaha…”
“……”
Raines silently traced his finger through the dust on the desk. He had thought Damon was being well-behaved, staying quietly in the basement for a week, but he had been wrong.
The person he had chosen as a substitute for Enzhe Lopetrefer was Sue Byron, Enzhe Lopetrefer’s loyal lackey.
Sue Byron Chiqmefriar.
She wasn’t a girl with a good reputation. Hanjee, who was in the same class, especially hated her. One of Hanjee’s daily routines was to mock Byron, calling her ‘Clot’.
Raines hadn’t thought well of Byron either. They had been classmates in the Black Eagle Class for years, but the only interaction they had had was when she would glare at him and snap, “What?” whenever their eyes met.
A single phrase was enough to describe the Sue Byron he knew.
A mean, red-haired girl who loves Lopetrefer.
Probably every student at the academy thought the same way. Some, like Hanjee, would add phrases like “Lopetrefer’s dog” to their descriptions. No one wanted to be associated with her.
“So let’s kill Sue Byron. I’m going to kill her. And then, I’ll disappear from this house.”