Chapter 534: 534
Chapter 534: If you really want to (1)
Duke Fredo’s grand residence .
All Vampires related to that residence were currently in the first-floor hall chatting with each other .
“What's going on?”
“Who knows? We're all here because they told us to all gather . ”
All of them looked nervous .
The ones in charge of cooking, cleaning, and even the guards . Beyond them, the vassals who were responsible for handling everything big and small that happens in the Ejellan Duchy .
“…But the warrior-nims aren't here?”
“You're right . I think everybody except them is here . ”
The large hall almost seemed small as everybody except the warriors was gathered here .
Actually, it was a bit small .
Some of them had opened the doors to the room connected to the hall and were inside there as they looked around .
"The Butler-nim isn't here either . ”
“I'm sure that the Butler-nim went to escort young master Naru-nim!”
Young master Naru-nim .
The Vampires around him stopped talking for a moment after hearing that .
The reason they all looked nervous…
The reason for that came out of one of the Vampires’ mouths .
“…Do you think that they have to tell us something related to the Duke-nim?”
That voice sounded full of concern .
He looked toward his close friend who was not saying anything and started to whisper .
“You saw the healers urgently rushing in just now . Something, what if something-”
“Hey, shut up!”
He finally looked around after hearing his close friend shout .
He looked into the eyes of the others who looked as nervous as he looked and shut up .
The White Star and the other nobles had visited after young master Naru-nim returned yesterday .
Things had been peaceful since then .
They were all relieved that at least young master Naru-nim was here while the Duke-nim was unconscious .
That was why they had started the day a bit more relaxed than yesterday .
‘Yes, we were a bit relieved . ’
The Vampire who had shut up after his friend scolded him clenched his eyes shut .
They had just seen healers rushing to Duke Fredo-nim’s bedroom led by the butler .
He had not seen young master Naru-nim all day and Solennim was not visible either .
‘I have a bad feeling about this . ’
Was something going to happen?
That uncertainty was slowly creeping up in the minds of all of the Vampires inside this grand residence .
The Ejellan Duchy, no, Duke Fredo, was an extremely precious liege for them .
It was at that moment .
The staircase heading down to the first-floor hall .
Naru Von Ejellan appeared at that spot .
Behind him were Solena and Butler Melundo as they slowly walked down the stairs .
The three Vampires walking down the stairs looked more serious than ever .
The Vampires in the hall stood up straight and stopped talking .
‘This is the first time . ’
‘I've never seen the young master-nim looking so serious……!’
Naru Von Ejellan always had a gentle smile on his face .
His face was stiff, unlike usual .
Boom . Boom .
The Vampires’ hearts started to thump a bit louder .
Tap!
Naru stopped at the middle of the stairs .
‘There’s so many of them . ’
Naru, no, Cale was slowly looking around at the Vampires standing inside the hall at the bottom of the stairs .
Well, the hall and the nearby rooms and the kitchen .
Everybody inside this grand residence was gathered here .
Everybody except the warriors .
Cale recalled a piece of information at this moment .
‘It’s been about 20 or so years since the Endable Kingdom was created . ’
It was the information that Duke Fredo had given him .
He had said the following as well .
‘That means that the White Star is barely over twenty years old in this life . ’
Cale had learned that the Endable Kingdom was started when the White Star's current life had started .
Of course, the White Star would have prepared for the creation of this kingdom in his previous life . It had started about 50 years ago .
That meant that this Endable Kingdom had a history of about 70 years, including the preparation time .
Cale opened his mouth to speak .
“Thank you all for gathering together even though you may be busy . ”
The people in the hall raised their heads to look at him .
Cale was looking at their gazes as he recalled a portion of the conversation he just had with Duke Fredo before coming down here .
‘My son . ’
‘Cale . ’
‘Yes, my friend . Are you really planning on fighting against, ‘Cale Henituse’?’
Cale had shrugged his shoulders as Duke Fredo asked that .
‘No? Why would I fight?’
Duke Fredo had a relaxed smile after hearing Cale say that he wasn't going to fight as he nodded his head .
‘Okay then, my son . Do as you please . Your father will cheer on his son’s dream!’
‘How about you drop the act?’
‘But this is quite entertaining . ’
Cale snorted at Fredo's response and casually asked .
‘I guess you don’t like to fight?’
‘I hate fighting . ’
That response came without a second of hesitation .
Cale found it odd such that he subconsciously asked .
‘Why?’
Fredo asked a question instead of answering the question .
‘What did you see on the streets on your way to this house?’
Cale was about to respond right away before choosing to remain silent for a moment after seeing Fredo's gaze .
Fredo's gaze seemed more serious than ever .
Cale answered honestly after sensing his seriousness .
‘Everything was the same . ’
It was the same .
‘Here and the Roan Kingdom . They looked the same . ’
What he saw in the Henituse territory and the Endable Kingdom's Section 1 were the same .
Cale chuckled and started to speak after realizing this .
‘You made Solena take me through there on purpose to show me that, didn’t you?’
‘My son is so smart . ’
Fredo also laughed and continued to speak .
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‘It was a father's desire to teach his son something . That was why I showed you the path to this grand residence . ’
Fredo turned toward the window as he continued to speak .
‘As you mentioned, everything is the same . This place and the outside world . ’
Although they each had differences if you took a closer look, they were similar at a distance .
They shared the common factor of living .
‘Us Vampires had to live in hiding for generations such that we could never settle anywhere . ’
Fredo recalled how things were more than twenty years ago .
‘I said the following to the Vampires as we created our home here . ’
That moment remained vivid on his mind .
‘ ‘I will create a hometown that all of you can always return to in the future . ’ ’
He wanted to create a hometown, a place of their own for the Vampires .
‘I think I did what I needed to do by creating a place for Vampires to settle down, a place that they can always return to if needed . ’
He turned back toward Cale .
Fredo looked into Cale's eyes as he sternly continued .
‘I do not wish to shed any more blood . ’
Cale finally realized what this enemy, Duke Fredo, whom he had been suspicious about, truly wanted .
He understood why he wanted the King position .
He understood why this Duke lived in a 12 years old boy's appearance .
He understood why Fredo tried to befriend Cale, his group, and even Alberu .
He understood it all .
Cale was silent and Fredo continued to speak while looking at Cale .
‘And it is just my intuition, but I do not think that the White Star truly cares about the Endable Kingdom . ’
On the other hand, Cale could tell that Fredo truly cared about the Endable Kingdom .
Fredo looked south from his home that was located on the northern part of the floor .
He could see a white palace .
The center of Section 1 . It was the White Star’s palace .
‘The White Star and Chief Priest Gersey . I can feel it . Neither of them treasures this place . ’
Hmph .
A bitter scoff flowed out of Fredo's mouth .
‘As for the Dark Elf old man and the knight, they are quite greedy, but they are attached to this kingdom . ’
The two among the first four nobles who were greedy for power and influence .
Fredo did not hate them .
‘I do not hate them . It is because I can feel that they consider this place to be home . ’
Cale realized it at that moment .
‘I can trust this guy a little bit . ’
Also that it was time to tell him .
Cale started to speak .
‘The White Star has been cursed . ’
‘I know . Isn’t it the curse of reincarnation? Of course, it might be a blessing to him . ’
‘Not that . ’
Cale continued to speak and Fredo started to frown for the first time .
‘The White Star cannot cherish anything . The moment he cherishes someone or something, he loses that thing . That is his other curse . ’
‘Ha!’
Fredo scoffed .
He was silent for a while before saying just one thing .
‘…This Endable Kingdom was just a means to an end for him . Everything is just a means to an end . ’
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Cale thought about how Fredo’s expression had looked as he said that before he stopped thinking about him .
Instead, he started to speak to the Vampires looking at him .
"Father is currently in a coma . ”
“Ah . ”
Someone let out a gasp .
“And we do not know when he will wake up . ”
The atmosphere instantly changed .
However, Cale continued to speak before anybody could say anything .
The boy's voice that had always been gentle calmly caused a ruckus today .
“Father told me this . ”
The owner of this household .
The boy who was the son of that owner was talking to them .
“ ‘I will create a hometown that all of you can always return to in the future . ’ ”
Silence filled the area .
The Vampires started to tear up .
Everybody other than the Vampires who were born in the last twenty years or so remembered those words .
They started to think about Duke Fredo .
There was a reason why every Vampire in the Eastern and Western continents followed Duke Fredo and cherished him .
Fredo Von Ejellan .
He always kept his word to the Vampires .
Duke Fredo always spoke the truth to Vampires who specialized in camouflage, stealth, and escaping, and had created a place where they did not need any of those things .
They came here not trusting the White Star, but trusting Duke Fredo .
They were given a peaceful life as a result .
An extremely precious peaceful life .
“I, Naru Von Ejellan, give this order as the acting patriarch . ”
His son was talking to the Vampires in this house right now .
‘No . ’
The Vampires could feel it .
These words were not just for them in here, but for all Vampires .
That was what their intuitions were telling them .
The boy they always just saw as a little kid was speaking calmly but more confidently than anybody else .
“Until my father wakes back up…”
This was a precarious situation .
“Trust me and follow me . ”
Cooks, maids, guards . All of the Vampires living in the Endable Kingdom clenched their fists .
“Some bad things may happen . It might become chaotic . ”
Cale looked toward the Vampires looking at him as he continued .
“But trust our Ejellan household and follow me . ”
He was serious .
Duke Fredo was someone he could trust .
‘Cale Henituse . You can do as you please . However, you must remember that this place is the same as the Roan Kingdom . ’
‘Isn’t that obvious? Places people live are pretty much always the same . ”
‘Yes, it is obvious . ’
Fredo had said the following .
‘I do not want this peace to be destroyed because of the White Star’s greed . He will probably start a war against the Eastern and the Western continents . However, the Vampires and all different races inside this kingdom have already suffered a lot prior to making this place our home . Most of the regular citizens welcome this peace and are happy . You can tell that that is the case if you walk the streets . ’
Fredo was able to walk freely around this kingdom, get close to the citizens, and see their lives because he could become Naru, a young and gentle boy .
Vampires, Dark Elves, and the other races .
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All of their lives were normal here .
‘I must protect this peace . That is my responsibility for the people who trust and follow me . ’
Fredo's voice echoed in Cale’s ears .
Cale spoke honestly as Cale and not as Naru .
“I will fend off the people who disturb your peace with my own hands, so do not shake even if it becomes chaotic . ”
The Vampires clenched their fists .
This was it .
The Ejellan household was such a place .
“Remember these words from today and continue to live as if things were normal . Then everything will have passed . ”
Cale then walked through the hall and headed to the main door of the house .
Screeeech-
The door slowly opened and Cale walked out .
There was a black carriage outside to take him to the palace .
Cale got on the carriage .
“Young master-nim . ”
He turned his gaze .
Solena got on the carriage with him and quietly whispered .
“Thank you very much . ”
He could sense her gratitude in her voice .
“No need to thank me . I'm going to cause a shitshow from here onward . ”
According to the plan, Duke Fredo will stay in his coma for a while during which things would happen to cause the White Star headaches .
There won’t be a war inside the Endable Kingdom, but it will become noisy .
Cale just did what he needed to do to make sure the Vampires who would be even more flustered because their leader was in a coma would not cause trouble .
Smile .
A gentle smile appeared on Solena's face .
“It’s okay, young master-nim . We will be able to carry on as if everything was normal without being shaken . ”
She stopped for a moment and started to close the carriage door .
Solena could see the Vampires heading back to work .
Their strides looked much less concerned about their patriarch’s wellbeing .
Clack .
The carriage door closed and she resumed talking to Cale underneath Naru’s appearance .
“And that is why I am thankful . ”
She felt that he was sincere .
Cale had been sincere when he said that he would stop the people from disturbing their peace .
“…I don’t think I did anything that really deserves gratitude?”
Solena smiled at Cale who was looking at her with a brusque expression that seemed to be asking what she was talking about before opening the door toward the driver .
She then addressed the driver .
“Let’s go to the palace . ”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The driver responded energetically and the carriage started to move toward the palace .
The center of Section 1 of the Endable Kingdom's capital .
The white palace that was said to be the White Star's residence .
The center of that palace, in the grand assembly room currently filled with 101 people .
‘Shall I get started?’
Cale stealthily looked around as if he was a hunter with his prey in front of him .
Of course, he just looked like an awkward and innocent boy who was not yet used to this type of assembly .