Chapter 17: New Plot (4)

"You... you again."

Dean could see Helena's face under the hood of the robe. His day, which was originally good, had become bad because he met the same person many times a day.

In any legend or mythology in the world, beast people were often enemies of vampires. Dean did not bother too much about his race. However, the past events between him and Helena made him hate her even more, not her race.

Helena looked very stiff, she didn't try to look as seductive as usual. Dean then realized that it was still daytime, no wonder she looked weak.

"Hey, you're not doing anything weird during the day, are you?" Dean asked as he approached that woman.

Helena didn't answer at all, she hugged the basket she was carrying. Dean realized that it was the same basket he had bumped into this morning.

"Tsk... trouble."

Dean pulled the woman into the alley. He just held Helena's hand to walk while avoiding the skin-piercing sunlight. Dean wasn't wearing a hood anymore, it was obvious that he was sweating.

Mountain or forest-dwelling beast people were used to higher temperatures than other types. Therefore, it was easy for them to sweat in the sun.

Unlike vampires who were basically like the dead body, their bodies had a lower temperature than ordinary humans. Dean could feel Helena's body temperature just by holding her hand.

Several turns had been passed until they met a high wall. There was a small gate there to enter the forest. Dean encouraged Helena to enter the forest with him.

In the forest, there was very little sunlight. Dean said, "You can walk alone now. There's no danger here anymore."

That man then looked up, there was a crow perched on one of the trees. Immediately, he turned into beast mode and jumped high towards the crow.

Grab!

The crow couldn't escape once it was grabbed by Dean. That man brought the bird down. He handed it to Helena.

"You used to drink animal blood, right? Just drink this and get out of here."

As the crow changed hands, Dean turned around and was about to leave. However, Helena's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"With you helping me, I'll still hate you, Dean."

Dean continued walking and without looking back, said, "I'd hate you even if I helped you, you old hag."

That two said nothing more and left. Leaving the place for their own purposes.

***

"Marquis Zen Hemlock has loyal followers from his family, especially Viscount Noland, his nephew. Rei Noland is my coworker in the faction, so it would appear that she actually received a recommendation from the Marquis directly. However, that's none of my business."

Count Rubel with a scornful and annoyed expression, continued to teach Arthur. He started the lesson by discussing the correct greeting to other nobles when they became a duke. That day, Count Rubel immediately preceded him by using his faction's nobles as examples.

This was because during yesterday's schedule, Arthur was found to have overslept and missed Count Rubel's lesson. Daniel and Milly testified that Arthur was probably exhausted from studying swordsmanship all day. This made Count Rubel very upset.

The person who placed the bet on him turned out to be more incompetent than him, that's how Count Rubel thought. He just didn't know that Arthur had actually disappeared and had just arrived at noon.

The teleportation magic scroll that Arthur had gotten from Kalypt went straight to his room. No wonder the price was more expensive than before from fifty silver coins to three gold coins.

Now, Arthur had to put up with Count Rubel's arbitrary learning style. He wanted to speak sarcastically, but was repeatedly broken by Count Rubel. So, it was better to keep quiet and wait for the results of his work.

"Where was your asshole mouth before? Are you keeping quiet?" Because of that, Count Rubel repeatedly provoked fights.

"Shut up, I'm concentrating on my studies. You better teach properly so that I'm happy and you get a big bonus from the duke." Arthur stopped him.

"You must be struggling because half of your monthly money goes to buy food, then you give it to the slums for free, even though it doesn't help the development there."

Count Rubel's words made him stop taking notes. He asked, "What did you say?"

"You said you wanted to focus on studying? Write down what I said correctly!"

Arthur went back to taking notes, like he should ask Dean about his notes. He didn't want to be known as the original Arthur. He wanted to be the new Arthur, the one with experience as Kang Seongje.

"It's only been a few days, but you're already fierce like a lion." Arthur muttered and was of course heard by Count Rubel.

"What did you say?" That man said back.

"You said you wanted to teach? Hurry up and explain what I don't know!"

Count Rubel's previous words were reversed by Arthur. Of course, it made Count Rubel feel very upset. However, the victory was already in Count Rubel's hands from the start.

"Okay, then."

Count Rubel walked out of Arthur's study. That man went somewhere else. Meanwhile, Arthur continued to take notes despite feeling something strange.

Then Count Rubel returned to Arthur's study. This time he did not return empty-handed. His face was covered with a pile of books that he had brought with him.

When he reached Arthur's desk, he placed them there. Then he said, "Memorize the contents of these books until the next schedule. If you don't memorize, I will ask the duke to add more lessons to the schedule."

'Damn it, fuck, this dirty-brained bastard.'

Arthur stared at the books blankly. In his decades of life, he usually pranked others because he was used to living at the top. However, this was the first time he was pranked by someone.

"I'll explain everything you memorize later." Count Rubel smiled very widely like an asshole.

Count Rubel looked at the clock in his pocket, and just like that, the clock in the study room chimed. It signaled that the study schedule had finish.

"Oh, it seems that my teaching schedule has finish. See you at the next meeting, Young Duke."

Then with slow steps and shoulders that trembled slightly, Count Rubel walked away from the room. Arthur realized that Count Rubel's shaking shoulders were a sign that he was holding back laughter.

As he exited the room, Count Rubel's half-body reappeared, with a triumphant smile on his face. "See you again, my student."

Blam!

'You fucking, bastard, asshole piece of shit!'

***

Night had fallen, the clock struck seven in the evening. A humming young maid walked between the hallways of the castle. That girl was very excited.

"The monthly salary from Duke Rudolf is already huge, plus Young Duke-nim donates to me every day if I give him a headache. I'll be rich in no time, hehehe." The maid muttered to herself as she hummed.

In the hallway, she came across a tall man. Cautiously, she approached the man who looked as happy as she was.

"Good evening, Sir Daniel!"

The man, who turned out to be Daniel Wilfton, was surprised by the sudden greeting. He replied, "Good evening too, Milly."

Many of the maids there liked to gossip about Daniel. Because of an accident when he was young, many said Daniel had become a strange boy. There were many who denounced him as an idiot, a freak, a fool and so on as a result of the accident. Some maids even openly denounced him as a child.

Though according to Milly, Daniel was still good because he exerted a positive aura rather than the knights who were very stiff. Daniel is silly, but still very good as a human being.

Milly asked Daniel. "Where are you going, sir?"

That man grinned before answering, "I want to pick up the Young Duke. We have a dinner scheduled with the Duke."

Milly, who was assigned by Duke Rudolf to call Arthur, immediately replied, "Then let's walk together! I was assigned by His Grace to call the Young Duke."

"Okay, let's go together!"

The two walked side by side. Although Daniel was the son of a nobleman, he was very humble. Whereas other nobles might be very arrogant. It was that positive quirk that made him easy to humble.

When visiting Arthur's study, Daniel knocked on the door first. Milly accompanied him on the side.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Young Duke-nim, it's time for dinner. Don't forget your promise of having dinner together tonight, hehehe." Daniel was still grinning.

Not hearing an answer, Daniel felt that Arthur was asleep. So, he asked Milly to wait outside while he went inside.

Click!

"I'm coming in, Young Duke-nim."

Daniel looked inside. It was very quiet. However, he could see Arthur continuing to write at his desk.

"Young Duke, let's have dinner together—Gosh, what happened?"

Daniel shouted in surprise. The shout made Milly, who was outside, come inside. Then, she looked at Daniel's face as if she saw something strange.

When Milly looked at Arthur, she was surprised herself. "My God, Young Duke-nim, why is your face like that?"

There was already Arthur looking at them, with haggard eyes. A face that was pale and lips that mumbled like they were being chased by a deadline.