“Welcome home, master.”

At the edge of the duchy, in the Lester family’s villa.

The duke’s servants lined up to greet their master’s return.

“Master, that’s……”

The servants welcoming Sched fixed their gazes on a woman being unloaded from the carriage.

A woman limping with bandages on her legs. With disheveled hair and dirty clothes, she looked like a beggar picked up from somewhere.

“Take her and make her presentable.”

Sched said to the head butler Werner as he handed the reins to the coachman.

The middle-aged head butler nodded politely and replied that he would do so.

Just then, a cheerful voice was heard cutting through the servants.

“Duke Sched Lester! Our hero!”

A young man walking with light steps, a woman on one shoulder.

With bright wheat-colored hair and a friendly impression, he was dressed in a noticeably flashy yet sophisticated outfit.

As Sched looked at him with closed lips, he burst into laughter.

“Haha, why am I here, you ask? How could I not come? Our dear Duke has achieved such great merit, I must congratulate him.”

Speaking glibly, he was Eclas Bitel, the youngest son of the Bitel Count family and the richest man in the empire.

“I heard His Majesty has newly granted you land.”

Eclas smiled brightly, arm wrapped around the woman’s waist.

Sched knew why Eclas had come all the way to the border of the duchy in person.

‘Surely it’s because of the new territory to be incorporated into the duchy.’

He had an uncanny nose for money, after all.

But to think he’d already be here…

He was truly quick and cunning.

“But who is that woman?”

Eclas, who had been smiling and welcoming Sched, noticed Riana behind him and asked.

“A maid.”

Sched gave a short answer and strode forward.

Eclas followed with a sly smile.

“A maid is still a woman. And a pretty one at that.”

Eclas, following behind Sched, glanced back and looked Riana up and down.

Though she had a disheveled appearance, beauty still seeped through her features.

Others might not notice, but Eclas Bitel’s eyes were always accurate.

She would surely become quite beautiful if cleaned up.

“To think the great Duke Sched Lester would return with a woman, the world must be ending……”

“Eclas.”

“Oh my. I must have been too noisy again.”

Eclas smiled and exaggeratedly closed his lips.

The woman clinging to his side giggled.

Riana stood still, watching the nobles chattering amongst themselves as they moved away.

Sched did not look back at her even once. He headed towards the mansion with the laughing group.

As if, having brought her this far, he no longer needed to pay her any attention.

The Lester Duke’s villa was excessively large, and thanks to that, Sched Lester soon disappeared from sight.

Riana stood abandoned like a toy that had lost its appeal.

At that moment, the head butler Werner approached her.

“Your name?”

“……Riana, sir.”

“Riana. Good. We’ll have to do something about that appearance of yours. To become someone suitable for the Duke’s household, that is.”

Werner looked Riana up and down as if appraising the quality of an item brought into the mansion, then turned and walked away, indicating for her to follow.

Eclas savored the bittersweet aroma of black tea as he gazed at Sched Lester sitting across from him.

The hero who had returned after achieving great merit was sitting askew on the sofa, staring blankly at an innocent candle flame.

As if this great victory and the Emperor’s survival had nothing to do with him.

Eclas thought he looked just like a beast.

Lounging lazily, but able to bite someone’s neck at any moment like a predator. As if he might pounce on someone the moment the candle went out…

‘Is it because of the Lupus blood flowing through him…’

Eclas thought as he looked at the violet eyes that were like a symbol of the Lupus.

People considered those purple eyes ominous. Because in myths, the eyes of fallen angels were described as being grape-colored.

Certainly, that dark and uncommon color gave a sense of otherness compared to ordinary people.

‘But in the end, they’re just eyes.’

Eclas didn’t pay much attention to intangible myths.

The reason the Lupus were feared was not so much their mysterious eye color, but their superior physical abilities.

Strength greater than ordinary people, tall stature, quick movements.

Eclas had seen many Lupus before, but among them, Sched Lester stood out.

A tall stature that stood out anywhere, muscles densely packed without gaps, solidly extending bones.

An overwhelming presence just by existing.

According to the knights, his charisma in daily life was laughable compared to the battlefield.

They said Sched Lester on the battlefield evoked mythical monsters. Countless testimonies stated that even allies dared not approach him.

If he had been an enemy, they would have sensed defeat the moment they saw him.

‘That’s how he rose to this position…’

A duke of Lupus origin.

Who would have imagined such a record would be possible in history?

The Lupus. Due to their clear otherness compared to ordinary people, they had long supported the bottom of society.

A clan vulgarly called “beasts”.

Long considered less than human and treated as slaves, they were excluded from or discriminated against in social norms.

Lupus cannot wear leather shoes, nor walk in the center of the street.

Lupus must use separate Lupus-only toilets, segregated from others.

Lupus cannot drink fruit wine.

Discrimination that had continued for hundreds of years was deeply rooted.

However, after the rights movement that took place in the imperial territory 10 years ago, their treatment was gradually improving.

But in other words, it had only been 10 years.

In that time, treatment of the Lupus had improved remarkably, but at the same time, it was remarkably the same.

In such social circumstances, Sched Lester was a symbolic figure.

‘Duke Joseph Lester must have gone completely mad. To adopt a Lupus as his heir…’

While thinking this, Eclas was secretly pleased.

He was a merchant, and such changes were new opportunities. The winds of a new era were blowing.

Whether those winds would be favorable, adverse, or bloody was uncertain, but he had sails prepared to ride any wind.

“You must be pleased to return home after achieving such great merit.”

Eclas took a sip of tea and broke the silence.

Sched turned his eyes to look at Eclas, resting his chin on his hand.

“Thanks to Duke Lester, the family name grows more prestigious by the day. With the new territory you’ve received this time, there’s no family in the empire with more land than the Lester Dukedom now, is there?”

Eclas probed Sched while hiding his doubts inside.

The tip of Sched Lester’s finger twitched in annoyance.

“Stop beating around the bush and get to the point.”

Cutting off the decorative introduction so directly was very like Sched Lester.

Sched’s simple and clear manner suited Eclas’ practical taste well.

“I heard you received the Ideana territory.”

Eclas jumped straight to the main point without bothering with formalities.

In this recent war, Sched had saved the Emperor who was in danger of losing his life, and led the battle to victory.

For that merit, the Emperor granted him governance rights over the abandoned Ideana lands in the west of the empire.

The western territory once owned by the Ideana Margrave.

However, after the count family fell, it was incorporated into imperial territory and had since been left abandoned like ruins.

There were many reasons why such vast lands were neglected, but the most important reason was the crime for which the Ideana Count family was annihilated.

Forbidden heretical sorcery, black magic.

Unlike holy magic that uses the power of gods for healing, purification, and blessing, black magic borrows destructive power in exchange for life force.

Murder, poisoning, brainwashing, curses…

The Ideana Count family had researched that magic, and for that crime, they were completely annihilated.

The Ideana territory was polluted by black magic, and people no longer wanted to go to that cursed land.

And now, years later, Sched Lester had obtained dominion over that land.

‘Everyone laughs that it’s a burden rather than a reward…’

Eclas recalled the reactions of the nobles around him when that news was delivered.

The nobles sneered that it was a land perfectly suited for a Lupus.

Certainly, it was a terrible land to give to a meritorious subject who had saved the Emperor’s life.

Moreover, the condition the Emperor added was even more ridiculous.

10 years of governance. It would be Lester’s land for just 10 years.

‘To give such a creative insult to the one who saved his life, His Majesty is truly impressive.’

If Sched governs the cursed land well and restores it, the Emperor will swiftly take it back.

Conversely, if he neglects it, he’ll be accused of abandoning land granted by the Emperor. Furthermore, any problems arising in the Ideana territory could be blamed on Sched Lester.

‘It seems he finds owing his life to a Lupus quite humiliating…’

The current imperial Chepvolden family was quite conservative towards Lupus, and there had been much dissatisfaction when Sched, a Lupus, inherited the Lester Duke title.

‘Though he himself doesn’t seem to care about such things…’

Eclas observed the man sitting before him once again.

Whatever the Emperor’s intentions, Sched Lester seemed to have different thoughts about the cursed land.

‘Understandable.’

Eclas recalled Sched’s origins.

He was from Ideana.

More precisely, he was a former slave who had worked under the Ideana Margrave who disappeared for treason.

‘A slave’s return in glory…’

The former slave was likely to have quite different sentiments about the cursed land.

Translation complete. 100% of original text translated.