Duke, Please Let Go of My Ankle! - Chapter 3

“Ah, you startled me!” Hans glared at his friend reproachfully while clutching his heart. Seeing her panting and gripping the newspaper, insisting it couldn’t be true, it was clear his condition had flared up again.

2nd Place. Viscount Claude Emilton

: One wonders about the desire hidden behind his kind face! A man who stimulates women’s thrilling imagination.

“How dare they! How could Claude Oppa take 2nd place? Oppa is so perfect!”

“…”

Well, that’s typical.

Hans shook his head and quickly lost interest.

On the other hand, Audrey stared at the name engraved above with fire in her eyes.

1st Place. Duke Derek Frith

: A man like an untameable beast. Ladies, beware of this dangerous man!

“…..”

This is absurd!

Judging by the nuance alone, shouldn’t this survey be about choosing the ‘Prince of the Night’?

But the man who took 1st place was someone who could literally carve up a bed with his bare hands.

Perhaps even the person lying on it could be shattered into pieces…

‘Of course, one should be careful! He’s the devil of the battlefield who cuts people up like steaks!’

Audrey knew of Duke Frith. Wasn’t he the one who ended the half-century-long war in the New World?

Although she had never met him in person, she was familiar with him through the rumors circulating.

The Devil of the Battlefield, Butcher from Hell, Criant’s Sea of Blood, Duke of Blood, Minion of the Devil, and so on.

As his nicknames suggest, he was a man more famous for bizarre rumors than heroic tales.

‘Duke Frith originally had eyes as black as night, you know. But they turned red from all the enemy blood that splattered on them.’

‘What are you talking about? His eyes were originally red. That’s why they say he sees the world all in red. Once, he couldn’t distinguish between water and blood, so… he even bathed in blood, can you believe it?’

‘Well, I’d wager Duke Frith could kill a person faster than I could swat a fly.’

There were also stories about him eating children’s raw livers, or going mad and killing people indiscriminately when the full moon rises.

With the person in question never addressing these rumors, there was no way to verify their truthfulness.

However, anyone who had ever encountered him believed without a doubt that all those rumors must be true.

They considered the blood-red eyes, brimming with the peculiar killing intent of someone who had taken lives, as proof enough.

In fact, whenever some nobles met Audrey, they always carefully inquired about her well-being.

“Is the Count… doing well?”

“Yes, he is.”

“He’s not ill anywhere?”

“He’s very healthy.”

“That’s a relief! You must always be careful. Always.”

‘…’

This was because her father, Count Kevelson, his friend Count Emilton, and even Claude worked under that terrifying man.

But Audrey herself had never met him.

‘He must be a man with a ferocious appearance.’

Yes. That’s why even the journalists must have been scared and come up with such an absurd result.

Perhaps they even wrote it while already bound hand and foot.

“…Hmph.”

Audrey stubbornly pressed her lips together and threw the newspaper far away.

She wanted to flood the newspaper office with protest letters.

But even for her, who knew no retreat, Duke Frith was as scary as a ghost story on a summer night.

“What’s this, why are you so upset? It’s not like you’re a squirrel who lost its acorn.”

Hans, after observing his childhood friend who seemed somewhat annoyed, picked up the newspaper out of curiosity.

Then, as expected, he frowned.

“But why do you always read the Imperial Newspaper? If you dislike it so much, you should try something else…”

Suddenly, Hans’s voice cut off.

His gaze was fixed on a corner of the newspaper. To be precise, at the very end of the 15th place.

Blinking for a long time as if he couldn’t believe it, Hans followed his friend’s example and crumpled up the newspaper.

His face was also full of annoyance.

“How can there be such an absurd result?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“How can I be merely in 15th place? Me?”

“…”

“Hey, don’t you ever believe this. It’s not true, okay? I should easily be in the top five at the very least, wow!”

“…”

Audrey’s face soured.

Her sidelong glance at her friend was full of extreme disgust.

‘Of course, it figures.’

She thought they had agreed for once.

What kind of confidence is this? How dare Hans, of all people, try to compare himself to Claude Oppa?

She couldn’t understand his attempt to make excuses with such an aggrieved look on his face.

“Lies.”

“Hey! You don’t know anything!”

“Ugh, shut up! I don’t want to know either!”

“You’re so startled, aren’t you? I can’t even show you this… Anyway, I’m telling you it’s all lies!”

“I hope you’ll cherish it privately and not even think about showing it to anyone.”

“What? This is real!”

Hans acted as if he had hidden something truly extraordinary.

However, Audrey merely snorted, not giving even an acorn’s worth of attention to her friend’s unnecessary bravado.

Feeling even more insulted, Hans threw a fit for quite a while.

Bringing up his age superiority that only surfaces at times like these,

saying things like how could someone 3 years younger than him know anything,

accusing her of pretending to know when she knows nothing,

and how dare she comment when she’s never even held a man’s hand.

However, when Audrey retorted,

“You’ve never held a woman’s hand either.”

He was left speechless, even if he had ten mouths.

‘…How come she never lets me win even once? This ungrateful acorn.’

Hans could never beat Audrey, even if he died and came back to life.

***

Derek stared at the man before him with an expressionless face.

For someone looking at a person who had failed to kill him, he showed no resentment.

Then again, there’s little point in harboring resentment towards a man who’s already dead.

Aide Lucas sighed wearily as he looked down at the blood-soaked corpse.

“He suddenly coughed up blood and died as soon as we brought him to the torture chamber. But they say no poison typically used by assassins was found. Moreover, he had wood stuffed in his mouth.”

“…”

“Usually, they commit suicide right after being captured, but this one’s a bit peculiar.”

“Any other clues?”

“There was a strange symbol on his chest. But…”

Lucas lifted the corpse’s upper garment. However, there was no sign of the symbol that could have been considered a clue anywhere.

“It disappeared without a trace, they say.”

“So, the conclusion is, we know nothing?”

“…I apologize.”

Derek, unlike other times, gazed down at the familiar face, lost in thought.

“You said he was a servant working in the stables?”

“Yes. He had been working for over a month already. Who would have thought they’d send a spy, not even an assassin… It’s my fault for not checking thoroughly.”

“Is this man the only spy within the castle?”

“I can’t be certain.”

“…”

Lucas bowed his head deeply, as if ashamed.

His lord, Derek, was a man with many enemies.

From minor nobles to the imperial family of a distant continent, he had incurred resentment far and wide.

It wasn’t because his nature was inherently evil. Though he wasn’t exactly good either, but as the blood on his sword increased, so did his enemies naturally.

Even after signing the armistice, enemies sent assassins as if to avenge past humiliations.

The half-century war had ended with the Criant Empire’s victory, but the Duke’s castle was still paying the price of that victory.

‘These insufferable bastards…’

Even Lucas, who was already hardened to most assassins, looked grave this time.

Perhaps they might have to suspect even all the comrades they’ve worked with until now.

There’s no guarantee that the man they caught this time was the first and only spy.

If there are any remaining accomplices, they will try even harder to conceal their identities.

It might turn out to be a longer battle than expected.

“How many new people have we brought into the castle recently?”

“Just the servants alone number about thirty, and if we include all departments, it easily exceeds forty.”

“…”

“For now, starting with those recently hired-“

“Killing them all would solve the problem.”

“Your Grace…!”

Lucas, who had been thinking of dismissals at most, turned pale and tried to stop Derek.

Mass execution. Wasn’t that an option to be used as a last resort even on the battlefield?

The gaze that seemed to ask if there was any better alternative was piercing.

“…”

No, that’s not wrong, no, but still…

Lucas swallowed the words that had been rolling around in his mouth several times.

Considering his lord’s life, it wasn’t an order he couldn’t understand at all.

Derek Frith was a man who had spent about a third of his life on the battlefield.

The scene of mutual killing and slaughter probably wasn’t the best learning ground for a child in their formative years.

Fifteen. While his peers were trailing after women at balls, he was pursuing retreating enemy soldiers and ultimately beheading them.

And what about the mercy he showed to a dying enemy soldier?

The man who was clearly on the verge of death turned himself into a final bomb and charged into the Kriant Imperial army’s quarters.

Only after embracing his blood-soaked subordinates did Derek acutely realize the importance of confirming kills.

For a man who became an adult in such a way, beheading 40 people of unclear affiliation was nothing.

‘Can he ever get married like this?’

Suddenly, Lucas’s gaze, which had been seriously observing his lord, turned sympathetic.

To be honest, unless women were insane, there was no way they would ‘voluntarily’ like Duke Frith.

‘Even after being by his side for years, there are countless times when he gives me the chills…’

With such a fierce gaze that had been through hell and back, even if he tried to whisper words of love, wouldn’t women just faint or wet themselves?

But as a loyal servant, he couldn’t just stand by and watch the Frith family line end.

Lucas offered sincere advice.

“Is there really a need for you to get blood on your hands? I will issue orders to dismiss everyone first thing tomorrow morning. So please withdraw your order.”

“Do you want to see a castle explosion show tomorrow morning?”

“…I will definitely wrap it up by this evening.”

“It needs to be as fast as possible.”

“Understood. By the way, what should we do with this one?”

Derek silently stepped forward.

Then, in an instant, he drew his sword and accurately pierced the heart of the man who had already stopped breathing.

It was a chilling confirmation of death.

“…!”

“Burn it.”

“…Yes, yes.”

Derek pulled out his sword again and turned his back without any lingering attachment.

Lucas, feeling his pores tingle for no reason, absentmindedly watched while covering his heart area.

He felt like slapping his own mouth, wondering what state of mind had possessed him to offer direct advice to such a man.

At the same time, he felt a strong sense of empathy.

‘No matter how I look at it, he’s not cut out for romance.’

Of course, no woman would be thrilled by such a cruel and persistent man.

Unless they were truly insane.

How could anyone be thrilled by a man closer to death than love?

Lucas, who at twenty-seven had never had a girlfriend himself, worried about the 25-year-old lifelong single Duke.

It was like a mouse worrying about a cat.