It was when Enoch had counted to one hundred and fifty after the wardrobe closed.

Screams erupted one after another from the quiet outside. Whether women or men, their shrieks sounded as if they were in pain.

Enoch couldn’t check outside due to the blanket piled high on his body. Remembering the nanny’s warning not to move enough to shake the wardrobe, he couldn’t even toss and turn comfortably.

Bang!

At that moment, a loud noise spread inside the door. Whether an object had collided, a large wave reached even Enoch inside the wardrobe.

‘Huk!’

Startled, Enoch almost hiccupped out of habit.

If he hiccupped, he would surely forget the count of five hundred he had reached so far, so the boy continued counting the remaining numbers while holding back the sound trying to escape.

Bang!

Then, once again, something struck the door.

The impact caused the wardrobe door to open slightly. Surprised by the sudden light, the boy blinked. After staring intently through the gap, his eyes soon adjusted to the light.

However, the scene visible through the gap was all red. Enoch’s study was decorated in his favorite blue color, so why was everything in his sight red?

Blood burst forth beyond the body that kept pounding on the wardrobe. Pain followed as the pungent liquid splattered between the eyes that had barely peeked out.

‘Ack!’

It was a pain as if his eyes were burning. He wanted to quickly wash away this stuffy and damp feeling.

But Enoch dared not open his mouth. It wasn’t just because of the nanny’s words not to make a sound.

Seven years old was old enough to distinguish reason. Therefore, the boy could vaguely guess the situation happening outside.

Sieghart trembled and counted to ten thousand as the nanny had said.

He counted to five thousand, six thousand, seven thousand, but noise continued to come from outside. So Enoch pretended to forget counting and started over from one thousand.

When silence finally fell upon the count’s residence, the boy ventured out.

The nanny who had gently embraced him just moments ago was now sleeping deeply with her eyes closed. Her son, tightly holding her hand, was the same.

Stepping into the hallway, he saw his family members. For some reason, their eyes were open. Enoch ran towards them with joy, mistakenly thinking they were alive.

But his family was not alive. They had merely fallen asleep with their eyes open.

“Mother, Father. Elder brother, elder sister. Please answer me. The nanny won’t wake up. The knights won’t wake up either…”

Enoch wailed, hugging them as if denying reality. Though still young, the boy had grown enough to understand the meaning of death.

“…Why won’t you wake up too? Why don’t you answer me? Why… why aren’t you breathing?”

But he was too young to accept death. He repeatedly spoke to his family, ignoring the tragedy he faced.

Only when he saw disgusting insects crawling through their eyes, only when he smelled the foul stench in his nose did the boy realize that what he was holding were corpses, not his family.

Startled, the boy put them down in shock. He had realized that even his beloved family had left his side.

Afterwards, he ran and ran through the mansion. Normally, servants would stop the foolish young master, saying he shouldn’t run, but no one restrained the boy as he passed through the long corridors.

He instinctively realized that outside the main gate was dangerous. The boy turned back and ran and ran through the forest. Though his feet sank into the snow, he pressed forward without minding.

Where should he go? Enoch agonized as he ran through the silent snowy field. When his cold feet had lost all feeling, he came down to the village. The place he reached was the nearby port.

Yes, let’s ask for help here.

Let’s plead that one day, all my family members were murdered. That my precious home was burned and gone. That I now have nowhere to go.

Let’s ask them to find and punish the culprits, and request them to take me in as I have nowhere to go.

He regained a glimmer of hope, determined to punish the wicked ones. Enoch walked the path earnestly with his swollen feet.

However, no one listened to the words of the dirty boy. To the busy citizens who had to go to work, Enoch’s courage seemed no different from that of a beggar asking for alms.

Realizing that no one was listening to him, the boy wandered the streets, whimpering.

‘Is there really no one who will help me?’

Enoch caught his breath in an alley, sniffling. In the corner of the alley, homeless people were reading newspapers. An old man who had been intently reading the contents finally exclaimed in dismay.

“What could the great Callendt family have lacked to commit treason! It’s truly lamentable.”

He clicked his tongue and threw the finished newspaper in the trash.

Hearing the familiar name, Enoch rummaged through the trash to read the newspaper. The front page of the kingdom’s most famous newspaper was reporting the downfall of a family.

“The End of Count Callendt’s Family Who Plotted Treason!”

―In the name of treason.

“Treason? That’s impossible.”

Enoch shouted into the air, unable to believe it.

Treason is bad. He learned from his history tutor that betraying the ruler was no different from going against God. His family could not have committed such a wicked and blasphemous act.

There must have been some mistake. It must be a false accusation.

He decided to leave to prove their innocence.

As the sole survivor of the Callendt family, he had to make their innocence known to the world. It was unbearable enough that an innocent family had been exterminated, but it was unreasonable for them to be permanently branded as criminals.

Three days later, after arriving in the Letius Empire, his next destination was the imperial palace.

Upon reaching the palace, he carefully observed the sentries standing at the main gate. The knights were warily eyeing Enoch in his shabby appearance, pretending not to.

By the looks of it, they wouldn’t simply let him in just because he said he wanted to meet the emperor.

He pretended to turn back and hid behind a large tree. He stood there waiting until the bright sky turned to sunset, and then to pitch darkness.

He could see the knights on sentry duty nodding off. Though he wouldn’t escape capture by creeping quietly, he thought he could buy a little time.

Enoch dashed out, shook off the knights trying to stop him, and entered through the main gate. He ran busily to avoid being caught by the knights chasing after him.

The boy searching for the audience chamber was soon blocked by knights in front of him. The knights surrounding him were so large in stature, they were like an iron fortress. The boy was still too small and weak to elude them.

The captured boy was surprisingly brought before the emperor. As he knelt like a criminal, he could hear the conversation between the knights and the emperor in front of him. They were deliberating on how to deal with Enoch.

It was a perilous moment when the boy’s crime was being decided. Pressed down by the knights, the boy suffered pain as if his lungs would burst.

Huk, huk. The boy who had been crying in pain looked up with a frown.

The emperor was looking down at him with cold eyes. Through those chilling eyes, the boy faced the future foretold. That ‘thing’ he had learned from his family was waiting for him.

“Please spare me, Your Imperial Majesty! I, I need Your Majesty’s help.”

The boy cried out urgently. He must not die. He had to survive and clear his family’s grievances. He had to prove that they were not wrong, that they were undoubtedly innocent.

“I, I am Enoch Callendt. I am the only survivor of the Callendt count family that was ruined after being framed for treason. Pl-please help me who will suffer injustice!”

Enoch emphasized the words ‘framed’ and ‘injustice’ to catch the emperor’s attention. After all, a ruler is one who empathizes with and helps the pain and difficulties of the weak.

But for some reason, the face of Emperor Letius remained indifferent. It was an expression that seemed to say, you’re so wronged and pitiful, so what do you want me to do?

The emperor, gesturing for silence, soon began discussing with the knights. It was to punish the boy who had unknowingly invaded the imperial palace.

Enoch, certain of a bad premonition, cried out desperately once more.

“I’ll, I’ll become a dog!”

He couldn’t be driven out from here. He had to grasp at the slightest hope to create a foothold for revenge.

“I will become the imperial dog and do all sorts of tasks. So please, use me as Your Imperial Majesty’s dog!”

Even if he had to become the emperor’s dog, he had to.

Emperor Letius, 24 years old, found Enoch’s proposal interesting. However, as nothing in the world is free, conditions were attached to the boy.

Ordering him to prove his worth, he commanded Enoch to compete with the boys in the dog fighting arena and claim first place before turning thirteen.

Dog fighting arena? Wasn’t that literally a place for dogs to fight? Enoch didn’t understand easily, but blinded by immediate revenge, he accepted the proposal.

And the next day, the place he headed to was a room more fierce and filthy than the prison said to be teeming with criminals.