“Duke Rahert of the South attempted to poison me and failed to assassinate Sir Arcadia Nugent. The assassin who tried to kill Sir Arcadia Nugent was known as ‘the black caterpillar.’ He was the one who assassinated the former Northern Duke’s deputy, Hern Nugent.”
The hundred or so vassals and their heirs began to stir.
“Was the South really behind the murder of the former deputy?”
“Was what we only suspected actually true?”
“If we hadn’t stopped it, this time, His Grace the Duke and Sir Nugent could have been in danger…”
The murmurs quickly turned into a surge of anger.
The death of Hern Nugent in his previous life remained an unsolved case until the Northern Duke was executed for treason.
There had been no evidence that it was the work of the South.
“Do you have any evidence, Your Highness?”
An old vassal with graying hair raised both arms and shouted.
The Duke looked at me.
“Sir Esdel, can you show the memory stone?”
“Me?”
‘The memory? Could it be that memory.’
I was momentarily startled but soon complied. I always carried the item with me.
As I took out the memory stone, the Duke said.
“When you were in the region, show everyone the conversation you had with the red caterpillar in the tavern.”
“…Yes.”
That’s right.
In that memory, the caterpillar tells me to approach Julia Nugent.
And when I ask if the black caterpillar, who killed Hern Nugent, is dead, he confirms it and says the caterpillar is already dead.
“Be aware that I used Sir Esdel as a spy to investigate the South.”
The Duke said.
I projected the memory onto the ceiling of the conference hall.
On the endlessly high white ceiling, the memory unfolded like a fresco.
In the scene where the red caterpillar mentions Julia Nugent and admits that the black caterpillar killed Hern Nugent, gasps of anger erupted.
“This damned Southern Duke!”
The vassals trembled with rage after witnessing everything.
The Duke said.
“We have yet to avenge the North against them. I want to ask you. Do you want revenge?”
“Yes!”
“Of course!”
Everyone shouted in unison. The boiling anger reached even to me, standing in one corner.
“Then I ask again. Do you only want revenge? Or do you want victory?”
“!”
The seething heat turned cold.
The question of whether they wanted only revenge or true victory.
After a while.
“Victory! True victory!”
The oldest vassal, appearing over ninety years old, straightened his back and exclaimed,
“Count Barkun.”
“Your Highness. Revenge is fleeting, and once the moment passes, only emptiness remains. But victory is eternal. Victory is the greatest revenge, surpassing revenge itself. It’s about annihilating the enemy, beyond just retaliation.”
Everyone nodded at the old vassal’s words. The young heirs seemed ready to draw their swords, boiling with blood.
But the Duke remained unresponsive.
He spoke to me in a voice colder and more detached than before.
“Sir Esdel, can you show us how the red caterpillar hypnotized Julia Nugent?”
“…Yes.”
I projected the scene onto the ceiling as commanded.
The caterpillar pleads his innocence to Julia through tears.
Then Julia, with a tearful face, asks the caterpillar behind the bars.
Just once more, let me be with my mother and father.
At her words, everyone fell silent.
Among those gathered here, there was no one who didn’t know who Julia’s parents were.
The caterpillar hypnotizes her.
Julia Nugent, who am I?
My friend.
Yes, you foolish girl.
I’m a foolish girl.
I showed up to the death of Hans Edel.
One of the vassals muttered in pity,
“Ah… such foolishness!”
Julia bowed her head to the floor as if in realization.
‘Has she realized her crime now?’
The Duke spoke.
“Julia Nugent deserves to be executed.”
Most people had called for Julia’s death. But at this moment, at the Duke’s words, everyone fell silent.
“I’ve thought about it all night. As the Duke of the North, the descendant of the Belparst God! I must punish the traitor.”
“…”
A statement everyone understood.
The Duke continued.
“But as a human being, I wondered. Am I… am I completely free of responsibility for today’s tragedy?”
Everyone looked at the Duke.
“I was not strong enough to protect Hern Nugent from the South. Because I had to go as a hostage to the island, Julia Nugent lost her younger brother. He was only nine when he left his family to follow me alone.”
At these words, Arcadia lifted his head.
“Am I worthy in your eyes?”
“…”
“While I was away, you all did your best, surviving solely on the strength of the North. I am grateful to you and feel unworthy.”
‘…Your Highness.’
“Your Highness!”
The vassals called out to the Duke.
The Duke said,
“The South, Rahert, tried to approach the only daughter of the Nugent family to divide the North. The important thing is their attempt to divide us.”
‘!’
I realized what the Duke was getting at.
‘My Duke.’
“After the Southern spy was imprisoned in our dungeon, monsters attacked the northwest. Was that a coincidence?”
People who were listening intently began to lift their heads.
“While fighting the monsters, we encountered Swathus, almost as if they were waiting for us. The arrows they shot at my Sword Master were coated with Southern poison. Was that a coincidence?”
Anger began to engulf the hall again.
The Duke commanded,
“Sir Esdel, will you show how the Holy Sword revealed you?”
“!”
‘I will obey.’
The words spoken to use me are being used this way.
I projected the image of the Duke coming towards me with the Holy Sword Lapis, high on the ceiling.
Everyone knelt and prayed upon seeing this.
“Belparst God!”
“He has revealed himself after a thousand years!”
“Lapis!”
The image shown by Ventus’s memory stone of the Holy Sword was brilliant.
A sight clearly not of human origin. The Duke lifting it, merged with the blue aura of the sword.
The sword strikes my shoulder.
Brilliant light envelops the room, and Lapis disappears like smoke.
Everyone looked at the Duke. And then, at me.
“The Holy Sword saved the first Sword Master in the history of the continent, for our North.”
A being who could destroy or save an entire continent, the Sword Master.
“The Holy Sword responded to my prayers and descended from the highest place by itself, for our North.”
“!”
“We can win. Because it is us.”
The low murmuring gradually turned into a tumultuous cheer.
“Will you seek revenge, or will you protect ourselves, unite, and achieve victory?”
“We will achieve victory!”
Everyone shouted.
The Duke commanded.
“I will make a judgment regarding Julia Nugent. First, Sword Master, Sir Esdel, come forward.”
“Yes.”
I slowly walked and stood below the Duke. Then I removed the mask that had been covering the left side of my face.
“I, Esdel, have regained my appearance and strength through the grace of the Holy Sword and will become the sword of the North, fighting for the North. However, only Belparst can draw this sword’s handle.”
“Sir Esdel, cut the hair of the criminal.”
I infused my sword with sword energy. In an instant, the sword lengthened to more than three times its length.
While everyone gasped, I faced Julia, who was sitting far away.
Her eyes widened in fear.
I slightly drew the sword through the air.
Her long platinum hair, reaching down to her waist, was cut short and fell to the ground.
This time, a real gasp erupted.
The Duke said,
“I will make the judgment.”
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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