Part 9.
As they arrived at the capital, they parted from the Eastern Great Lord’s party. Luisen and Carlton were left alone together to head to the mansion owned by the Anies duchy.
The early winter sky was clear and bright; the cool air had dispersed his tension slightly, making the young lord feel a bit better.
The duke’s mansion was not too far from the royal palace, and they arrived quickly. Passing through the gated entrance, they walked straight down the beautiful garden road with trees planted on either side; they saw the main building of the mansion in the near distance. In front of the mansion, all the employees had exited to greet Luisen–from maids to even the duke’s bodyguards that were stationed in the capital.
‘I didn’t expect to be able to come here again.’
With both delight and longing jumbled up inside, Luisen hurriedly dismounted his horse. Since Carlton had the horse’s reins and guided its movements, the young lord ended up looking quite cool and graceful. Luisen strode towards the attendant he kept at the capital.
A man stood in the middle of the welcoming party. He was in charge of the capital property and held the position of deputy chancellor. Due to fatigue, he looked older than his thirty or so years.
Before regression, he was the only one who Luisen knew about after his runaway escapade. The young lord had heard the man had protected the mansion until the very end before being given to Carlton as a slave; later on, when Carlton had fallen, the man had returned to his hometown.
Perhaps because he guarded the mansion until the very end, the deputy chancellor was special to Luisen’s heart. He tried to embrace the deputy with those emotions in mind but missed due to the man’s deep bow.
“My duke, congratulations on your safe return following your long journey.”
Following the deputy chancellor’s words, the people in front of the mansion bowed. Luisen accepted the greeting, awkwardly lowering his arms. “Yes–Thank you all for coming out like this.”
His overflowing vigor was dampened; this wasn’t an atmosphere that welcomed exuberant hugs. There was a subdued, mournful atmosphere among the people at the capital mansion. Everyone looked down with a cold, expressionless face; not a single person escaped this infinitely gloomy mood. Their demeanor was very polite, but it didn’t feel like a heartfelt welcome.
“Was the…mansion’s atmosphere always like this? Did something happen?” Luisen asked the deputy chancellor.
The deputy chancellor looked as if he couldn’t believe the young lord had even asked that question. “Did something happen…? Much has happened. My duke probably knows this quite well.”
He looked quite exhausted; ten years had been added onto his appearance. The mental and physical hardships he had suffered thus far had clearly lined his face.
In the last few months, after Luisen had fled to the duchy after the civil war had concluded, the people in the capital mansion lived as if they were walking on thin ice. Since the capital had fallen into the hands of the first prince, they, as part of the Anies faction who had pushed for the second prince, were surrounded on all sides by the enemy.
The culprit was, of course, Luisen. He had ignored his retainers and had clung to the second prince, leading to this fallout. It was natural for the people in the capital mansion to have resentment against Luisen, who had irresponsibly left the mansion and fled to the dukedom after causing this mess.
Of course, they had never wished any misfortune upon the duke. The sky seemed to fall on the day they had heard Luisen went missing. And, when the duke reappeared, they cheered. But that was it. When Luisen appeared before them again, their discomfort revived.
Therefore, they could not sincerely welcome the young lord’s return. The deputy chancellor and the other servants hid these feelings under placid expressions so that their inner thoughts would not be revealed to Luisen.
Luisen looked at the gathered people awkwardly. Now that he had become more aware of others’ discomfort, he had no idea what he should do.
He then made eye contact with a young maid; she was surprised to see the young lord’s face and couldn’t lower her eyes. When Luisen didn’t say anything, she hurriedly knelt down. “I-I apologize, my duke.”
“W-What? Why?” Luisen was flustered–what was this all of a sudden? What was going on? He approached the maid and tried to ask her that, but the deputy chancellor slipped between the two.
He said, “My Duke. She’s still a young, green maid, and she lacks manners. I’ll teach her well, so please don’t get angry at her.”
At the deputy chancellor’s words, Luisen finally realized that this all happened because he made eye contact with the maid.
‘Ah, that’s right. I was utter trash…’
There was so much that happened between now and his regression that he forgot, for a moment, about his previous reputation as an irredeemable lout.
After experiencing so much, he improved his character; after regression, his hard work and change was recognized by the denizens of the duchy. However, the people in the capital mansion had never seen this changed version of Luisen. In their eyes, Luisen was still a scoundrel who ran wild without knowing the hardships of the world.
Luisen was briefly dazed at the long-awaited consequences of his actions–his karma.
What kind of person was he back then? Of course, Luisen couldn’t remember properly–he wasn’t sober for most of that time. Though the young lord was usually indifferent with those around him, he had his irrationally angry moments.
‘Nevertheless, I don’t think I’ve ever personally punished or harassed my servants.’
Ruger was good at that–he often scolded the servants in the name of his lord.
‘Ruger again… No, I was in the wrong for leaving him unattended.’
At that time, Luisen also knew that Ruger was being a little bit too much, but the young lord was lazy and left the attendant be. From an outsider’s perspective, then, Luisen and Ruger may as well have been the same person.
In the end, this recrimination was self-inflicted. A corner of Luisen’s chest became heavy with guilt, but he tried to hide that as he spoke to the deputy chancellor, “Don’t worry about that. I won’t get mad for making eye contact. Now, I’ll never punish servants for no reason, unlike before.”
“Yes?”
“I’m saying that I’m different from before.”
The deputy chancellor didn’t seem to believe those words. However, he was a bit bewildered–after all, Luisen wasn’t the type of person to explain himself to his retainers.
The deputy chancellor’s eyes shook. Carlton cut in before the man could say anything, “Let’s speak inside. The duke must be very tired from the long journey.”
The deputy chancellor looked at Carlton, only realizing the man existed after he spoke. “By the way, you are…”
“It’s Carlton.”
The deputy chancellor’s eyebrows rose when Carlton introduced himself; it felt as if his pupils were about to explode. He tried to maintain his expressionless demeanor, but his cheeks trembled slightly.
A sudden thought struck the young lord’s head. He had become so close to Carlton that he forgot that less than a year had passed since they waited with bated breaths as they received tense news of the mercenary happily demolishing the second prince’s side during the civil war. Carlton was still an object of fear…His retainers acted just like Luisen did when he had first met the mercenary.
Luisen quickly intervened before the deputy chancellor could make a verbal gaffe right in front of his companion, “Sir Carlton is my guest. He’s a benefactor who has saved my life time and time again on our journey to the capital. Please treat him kindly.”
He grabbed Carlton’s arm and tried to convey to him, with his eyes, to act nicely. Carlton laughed and smiled on command. Though the mercenary didn’t look particularly friendly, the deputy chancellor nodded without another word.
The path through the hallways and to their room was a bit difficult–the servants’ gazes made the backs of their heads sting. Luisen kept his head firmly forward because he was worried that, if he were to randomly make eye contact, someone else would kneel down as if they had committed some heinous crime that deserved the death sentence.
He did wonder, though, why his deputy chancellor was staring so intensely at him.
Luisen’s dark history was revealed with each suspicious look and reaction from the people around him.
Upon arriving in the room, Luisen sent the deputy chancellor away on the pretext that he needed to converse alone with Carlton. It wasn’t until he was left alone with the mercenary that Luisen released a deep sigh; he sank down onto the sofa with all his strength seeping out through his pores.
“Why does a corridor need to be that long.” Luisen grumbled, blaming the guileless hallway. Carlton sat on the sofa table across from the young lord.They were close enough for their knees to touch. At some point, the two had become used to this lack of space and intimate distance.
“The people here are too much. My duke had suffered to return, and their reactions were…” Carlton was unhappy at the unwelcome atmosphere. After all, if Luisen could notice the unfriendly aura, of course the mercenary had noticed it as well.
Luisen’s face heated up from guilt, “That’s… It’s all my fault…”
“My Duke isn’t that bad. Additionally, hasn’t my duke done much work on himself? They should know that you are different from before.”
“…I don’t know if you know this, but it’s harder than you think to be labeled as a scoundrel in the capital.”
The capital had no shortage of thoughtless young folk from good families and a moneyed background. They enjoyed the nightlife, wielding the power their name and household brought them while scattering their money about. Because of that atmosphere and reputation, even the young folk who may be famous as scoundrels back in their hometown are simply considered ‘spirited’ in the capital.
To drink, gather with friends, and cause disturbances was not enough to be recognized as a scoundrel as everyone was surrounded by those types of folks. The person needed to cause a huge incident and yet have enough power and money to not be punished for the incident. They needed enough connections to keep playing about while being insulated from the consequences.
Not anyone can make a name for themselves–be branded as trash–in the capital. But, Luisen managed to do that. He couldn’t be proud of that past.
“The people of this mansion watched me do it all–would they believe in a rumor? There’s no way their perception of me would change now.” Luisen made a distressed noise as he fell into Carlton’s embrace. “I wanted to show you all my mansion and be cool as I did so. Now, all I’ve done is show how pathetic I can be.”
He’s shown so many ugly things to Carlton, so he had promised himself to show greatness in the capital…But, Luisen had failed from the very start. His karma from his days as a scoundrel had followed him into this life–past death. Luisen felt genuinely depressed, but Carlton burst into laughter.
TL: Karma strikes again! But you know what? I’m blaming Ruger–the dude kept Luisen drunk constantly for his own twisted desires. I bet blaming the maids etc was for his own possessiveness.