TFPOTRN | CHAPTER 41

~CHAPTER 41~

“You behaved in a way unbecoming of a noble. Investigating someone behind their back.”

“Unbecoming of a noble? I’m a lord. I don’t need to hear that from someone like you.”

The reason I could stay calm even after he said he looked into my fake identity was simple.

I didn’t care whether he investigated me or not.

“What gave you the confidence to pull a stunt like that on a lord? You don’t even have a territory. How dare you call yourself a count’s house!”

“Your words don’t make sense. A title isn’t the same as land, is it?”

The Pavrein Count’s House was real.

A long time ago, right before the family collapsed, the heir sold the lineage records for a large sum, and that was how Pavrein ended up with a true title and a real pedigree, despite having no territory.

Other demons had to add their own names to the record when using the family name, but every time a Demon King was born, their name was automatically written as the heir of that count’s house.

Naturally, my name would be there as well.

Ilay would have taken care of that.

‘Jena is a name Sian gave me, so it may differ from the household register, but that’s common. Plenty of people use names different from what’s written. If it’s considered a childhood name, there’s no issue.’

So no matter how much he dug around, I had nothing to worry about.

“I really don’t understand why you came here.”

“You don’t understand? You can say that now? You did that to me…!”

The lord, who had been shouting with a bright red face, suddenly froze with his finger still pointing at me.

I could guess why he couldn’t finish the sentence, and I had to hold back a laugh threatening to escape.

‘Of course he can’t say it. How could he admit in front of others that he became… incapable?’

I pressed my lower lip with my teeth and lowered my gaze.

If I saw his flushed face, I might really burst out laughing.

“Hey.”

Ilay stepped forward.

“Can you shut your mouth? You’re so loud my ears are ringing.”

Kang!

Ilay walked up to the bars and slammed his fist into the door.

The metal clanged loudly, and the knights and the lord stared at him with alarm.

‘…Is he going to break the door?’

With Ilay’s strength, breaking a metal door was nothing.

I hurriedly checked the bars in shock, but they weren’t even bent.

‘Guess he held back.’

This was the house Sian bought with his severance pay.

We needed to keep it in good shape so he could resell it for a proper price when we eventually parted ways.

So even a door had to be kept clean and intact…

“U-ugh! Aaaaah!”

“Stop that!”

While I had drifted into other thoughts, a scream hit my ear.

Ilay had reached through the bars, grabbed the lord by the collar, and lifted him up.

The knights tried to pry Ilay’s hand loose, but it was useless.

Of course it was.

They were security knights posted in a remote village because stronger ones had pushed them out of better assignments.

How could they overpower Ilay?

“Ilay, stop.”

“But…”

“It’s fine. I understand why he’s angry. I… took something precious from him.”

Near the end, my voice trembled.

Not from guilt, but because I was desperately suppressing laughter.

That seemed to make the lord confident again.

“L-let go! She even admits her fault!”

He was the kind who bowed to the strong and trampled the weak, so this reaction was typical.

“Jena.”

Ilay looked back at me.

His eyes asked, *‘Should I kill him?’*

I wanted to nod more than anything, but I held myself back.

Security knights were watching with wide eyes.

If Ilay killed someone here, his name would spread everywhere.

“Let him go.”

“…”

Ilay didn’t look pleased, but he released the man.

“Cough…! Ack…!”

The lord fell on his backside, clutching his throat.

“W-what are you doing!? Arrest that brute for laying hands on a lord! And force that wench to kneel before me—”

“What is going on here?”

Before the enraged lord even finished clearing his throat, a cold voice cut in.

“You’re finally here?”

“Sir Sian.”

Sian stood behind the lord and the knights, looking exhausted.

Unlike earlier, he was now wearing the full uniform of a Holy Knight.

The lord and the knights stiffened the moment they recognized his status.

Holy Knights and regular knights served different powers, so comparing rank was difficult.

But a Holy Knight from the Great Temple had overwhelming authority compared to some remote-village patrol knights.

Only an imperial knight directly under the Emperor could compare.

“A… Holy Knight?”

“There’s never a quiet day.”

Sian let out a tired laugh.

Even smiling, he looked drained.

“Holy Knight, sir! Please listen to me!”

The lord, who had shrunk back earlier, now hurried to Sian with a triumphant expression.

He was certain Sian would take his side.

“What’s the matter?”

“That woman! She injured me gravely! A man’s ability to sire heirs is sacred! And she robbed me of that right—”

Ah, I was about to laugh again.

Not “bearing” children, but “making” them was an important right, according to him.

It was disgusting and archaic, but also funny that he was praising himself for failing to exercise his own “right.”

I covered my mouth and turned away, barely holding in a snort.

Ilay stepped close beside me.

‘What is he doing?’

My confusion vanished when I heard Sian’s cold voice.

“‘That woman’?”

His brows were tightly drawn at the crude address.

The lord quickly changed his wording.

“N-no, I mean, that lady…”

“Are you referring to her?”

“H-her?”

Sian looked at me, and the lord followed his gaze.

I met their eyes with my hand still half-covering my mouth.

“S-see! She knows she’s at fault! Look how nervous she is!”

Me?

I stared at Sian, confused.

He gave me a brief, sympathetic look before turning back to the lord with a blank expression.

“I don’t know the details, but a man who calls himself a lord should not be bullying someone weaker than him.”

“W-what?”

“Jena, do you believe you did something wrong?”

A sudden question, but my answer was already decided.

“No. And if it happened again, I would do the same thing.”

“You! You said earlier that you understood why I was angry! That means you admit—”

“You can be angry. That doesn’t mean I did something wrong.”

I shot him a look full of disgust as he kept squawking like a cornered bird.

“People like you always think you’re the victim. You get trapped in your own thoughts and lash out. I understand that.”

“How dare you! Even the gods will be angered—!”

“Stop. Don’t invoke the gods in a place like this.”

Sian stepped in.

He frowned at the lord’s casual use of the divine name.

“Since both sides disagree, there’s only one option.”

“…?”

“You must settle this in a duel trial. With both sides’ honor on the line.”

“Why would we duel!? I’m the victim!”

“Then can you show proof?”

“…!”

His mouth snapped shut.

Of course he couldn’t show evidence.

Producing proof would make him a man with an official medical certification of permanent dysfunction.

He had been thinking about marriage too.

No unmarried nobleman would expose that flaw publicly.

‘If he shows proof, he’ll be considered a certified disabled heir-producer.’

Still, a duel trial…

I couldn’t help smiling.

‘There’s no way I’m losing.’