Lady Devil - Chapter 62

#62

Even with more knowledge about him, it seemed he had not yet built his own power base. I was surprised by him once again. Didn’t Johannes, who had barely passed twenty, already have dozens of followers?

Although I had heard that cases like Johannes were rare, Henrik, who was about the same height as Johannes and had a sturdy build like the epitome of a knight, along with outstanding skills, did not seem like an incompetent man unable to gather even one person under him. Thinking about it now, it was probably due to his long-standing strategy of self-preservation that had permeated his entire being.

As I wrote earlier, Henrik was the old man’s last son. In other words, he was the only survivor who had managed to stay alive while his elder brothers were all killed by their father’s hand.

I don’t know much about the details of Indrida’s son’s complicated family history, as I haven’t heard much about it. I can only roughly guess the fear that the brothers must have experienced based on Henrik’s usual demeanor.

I still can’t forget how Henrik, who was so vigorous outside the estate or in the arena, would freeze up pale when facing his dying father. His exterior was hardened with a vague fear.

Like the bones of a crustacean that grew belatedly.

In the end, Henrik was a man who, in trying to erase his own existence, had failed to gather even a group of followers. A man who lived alone without a wife at that age. A man who terribly feared his father.

A man who hated him.

“I was secretly hoping,” Henrik said to me.

“For what?”

“I should have caught a cold at least a dozen times by now, but it seems I’m still able to live. It’s unexpected.”

“Does it look that way?”

I asked him back. Perhaps surprised by my tone, which was a bit more agitated than usual, Henrik slightly raised one eyebrow. Around that time, I was always wrapped in anxiety or impatience as if I had eyes on the back of my head, but my tone was particularly sharp at that moment. Due to the unhealed wound I had received a few days ago, my back and waist ached all over when they touched the backrest.

“…It’s bearable.”

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