TOPWL 233
“What are you doing? Go sit.”
“My my pain is bad…”
The lord tried to stand but he stumbled and fell again. Blood had soaked his groin.
“Gi-give me more medicine…”
He only managed this much because they had used medicine. Without it, he wouldn’t even stand no matter how many times someone slapped him. Even so, Billian didn’t blink at the lord’s groans.
“Really? Should I send you to the House of Death?”
The lord shook his head, terrified. Billian snorted at him.
“Why? You sent every person who got injured while working for you to that place, but you don’t want to go there yourself? You figured out what you did in that place? Of course you did.”
“Please, forgive me…”
The lord grabbed Billian’s trouser leg and begged. Darham grabbed Billian’s sleeve to stop her.
“Fine.”
Billian grabbed the lord’s hair and forced him into the chair in front of the desk. She didn’t give him any more medicine.
“Write exactly what I say. I, Barkla, lord of Calmor… are you not writing it properly?”
Billian frowned at the shaky handwriting. The lord glared at her for a moment, then looked at Darham and Khalid and lowered his head again.
“It hurts too much…”
“If you don’t write it properly, I can make you hurt more.”
Khalid said one sentence and the lord’s face turned pale. Billian silently gave him a new sheet of paper. The lord used all his strength to start writing again.
“I fully acknowledge my crimes and I immediately transfer all my property and authority to the territory’s people.”
“I fully acknowledge my crimes, and I, my entire… property and… authority… immediately transfer… to the territory’s… people.”
While the lord wrote, Yudit glanced at Khalid. He looked a little more gaunt than the last time he saw him. He was probably the same. Yudit looked at the back of his hand. His skin was cracked and rough everywhere, and for the first time he felt ashamed of it.
He fiddled with his hands for no reason and then met Khalid’s eyes. His heart thumped. He felt the blood rush to his head so he turned away and took a deep breath. But soon he lifted his head again. Khalid was still looking at him.
How could he look so impressive? He looked a little thinner and worn down, but he was still Khalid. His natural frame and the cold atmosphere around him made him feel wild. Compared to that, he had lost too much weight except for his belly, so he felt ugly even to himself. Yudit rubbed his belly again and looked away.
“Th-then, can I go now?”
The lord had finished writing and watched their reactions as he spoke. Billian frowned and answered him.
“Of course not. You have to say this oath out loud in front of everyone.”
“Must… you really go that far?”
The lord failed to hide one moment of complaint. Darham slammed his fist on the desk. Maybe he misjudged his strength or maybe he was just that strong, because a long crack split across the desk.
“You must. You have to do that.”
“….”
Billian looked at the lord with contempt and stacked the papers. There were two copies of the same statement. Billian handed one to Darham.
“You said the Waterdrops are waiting outside. Tell one of them to take this to a newspaper. They’ll handle it.”
“You’re going to publish it?”
“Yes. And in two hours there’ll be a speech, so tell everyone to stop working and gather.”
“Two hours? Can everyone really gather?”
“If it’s in the lord’s name, they’ll come. Fear rule is useful sometimes.”
Billian glared at the lord and he looked away. Then he suddenly lifted his head like something just occurred to him.
“But isn’t the outside already full of revolutionary forces? How can ordinary citizens gather…”
Billian didn’t answer. The lord’s face turned red and pale.
“You… tricked me?”
“….”
“You dare… to fool me…!”
The lord’s neck swelled with veins. He’d finally realized he’d been tricked. He couldn’t hold back his rage and rushed at Billian. At that moment, Darham struck the back of the lord’s neck and knocked him out. The lord’s eyes, bloodshot and bright red, closed weakly.
“He’ll end up like that in two hours anyway. Let him sleep until then.”
Darham spoke casually and shrugged. The lord collapsed onto the carpet.
“Tie him up and lock him in another room.”
***
Two hours passed quickly. During that time, the oath had been safely delivered to the newspaper, and they were printing papers like mad with distribution coming soon. While that happened, Billian spent the lord’s wealth to provide food and medical care to the House of Death patients whose lives were in danger.
She also emptied out all the rice and ingredients from the lord’s estate, cooked stew, and handed it out to people in front of the mansion. Because of that, the area in front of the mansion was already crowded.
The prostitutes the lord had called in, and the steward of the estate who used to be a revolutionary soldier, made enormous contributions in releasing the lord’s money and jewels. The steward in particular knew everything, from the passwords to the locations of the keys, which helped greatly.
After handling the major work in about an hour, Billian returned to the room where Yudit was.
“Haa…”
Billian already looked exhausted. Yudit had said he would help with whatever he could, but Billian refused everything and carried all of it alone. After learning that Yudit’s group were imperial citizens, and even a prince and a duke, it was natural. Darham also stayed by Yudit’s group as if he had been assigned to watch them, restless but unable to leave their side.
“Billian, are you alright? Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”
Darham walked up and supported her. Billian had eaten little, drank little, and had been thrown straight into work right after getting out of prison. Her body was bound to be exhausted.
“I’m fine, I just felt dizzy for a moment.”
Darham poured water from the bottle, took a sip first, then handed it to Billian. Billian drank gulped it down and looked at Yudit and the others. Her gaze went from Yudit to Bagon and finally settled on Khalid.
“Now we should talk about our side too.”
“Alright.”
“What contract did you make with Darham?”
Even knowing that Khalid was a duke of the empire, Billian spoke without hesitation. Darham, on the other hand, grew restless watching Billian act like that. Khalid glanced at Darham.
“Should I explain?”
“No, I’ll talk.”
Darham remained silent for a moment, then started speaking.
“In exchange for saving you, and in exchange for me becoming king… I agreed to hand the Gotha Kingdom over as a tributary state to Prince Yudit for thirty years.”
Billian’s face turned pale at that. She bit his lip for a moment, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Yudit was just as shocked. War was always sacrifice. No matter how small the war, dozens always died. Khalid’s battles would never have been easy. Yudit couldn’t even guess what it meant emotionally to hand over all of that to him.
“Right. You chose the method that was best for you.”
Billian had already calmed herself and looked at Darham as she said it. Darham’s nose scrunched up as he tried hard to hide his shame.
“…Yes.”
Billian asked a few more questions. Most were normal questions anyone could ask, but sometimes she asked something so keen it was impressive. Yudit wondered how an ordinary woman could know such things, but Darham explained that when he lived in Calmor, the king had assigned a tutor to him, and she grew up learning alongside him.
“…So you’ll guarantee freedom of religion?”
“Yes. Any other questions?”
“No. That’s it.”
After answering for about thirty minutes, Yudit suddenly felt drained. Khalid looked somewhat tired as well. However, Billian’s wariness had softened a little compared to before the talk.
She turned toward Darham, who had been hesitating the entire time. Darham hunched his shoulders. Then Billian slowly opened her mouth.
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