CH 190

Meal Service (1)

“Bring in the carriage. The lord has commanded it.”

There was a chill in the dew. The dawn was pale blue as if the sun would never rise. A thick fog fell over the southern gates of Cadis on a gloomy morning.

The chains shrieked as they were loosened to lower the drawbridge. The ground trembled as the bridge fell on the edge of the moat.

“The only people allowed by the lord to enter are the coachman and Shylock Isles. The rest wait outside the castle, or go back the way you came.”

This time, the aide first looked at his master’s attention. When he agreed without any tactics, the aide also resigned.

The carriage crossed the bridge slowly. The one loaded with precious objects like a mountain was left in a pile outside the moat, like livestock tied together.

As the carriage entered Cadis, Shylock gently opened the window curtains with his fingertips.

The appearance of cavalry attached to the four corners of the carriage seemed to be escorting him. Those who did not know anything thought that the lord had been courteous to his precious guests.

However, Shylock, who saw the intention, ridiculed it. It wasn’t even surveillance. It was a warning. It was a message that clearly showed whose territory he had set foot in.

Shylock was already defeated by this small advance.

What to do? If I get hit like this, there’s no choice but to be beaten.

He stopped as he was about to close his curtains, clicking his tongue.

Shylock pulled up his curtains with the back of his hand. The scenery of Cadis poured into the triangular space formed by the sliding of the curtains.

The city landscape was quite different from what he knew.

“…I can’t believe it. Did no one know that it was such a wealthy city?”

The carriage did not rattle once as it entered the center. As for the huge boulevard, the land was even without a single stone break.

Also, it was early in the morning when darkness still remained in the depths of the mountain. The road was as bright as the spring sun.

“Streetlights…”

A cheap resin candle was burning, but it was still a street lamp. It was a luxury comparable to the emperor’s own “essentials”.

Citizens crawled out one by one with less sleep and put a ladder on the street lamp in front of their house and turned off the light. Shylock was stunned.

The exterior of the house where only commoners or serfs would live was surprisingly clean. Whether it was built or repaired at the same time, the appearance was similar. Thanks to this, the city as a whole looked neat.

Shylock left the curtains open, deep in thought.

“At the very least, there will be people who come and go from the small area?”

Cadis was a very closed city. Since the city had not opened for a long time, of course, information could not reach the central part of the continent.

Shylock became very sensitive.

He had no information. He was nothing more than a frontline without weapons. He didn’t even know the Duke’s face. He never knew he would show up in black armor until the day of his wedding.

There was no face attached to his daughter’s marriage partner. The red eyes could not prove his identity. He made sure he wasn’t an impersonator, so that was enough.

“Vladislav de Winter. There’s a lot of information about him I don’t know… ”

A thousand people in the crowd gave a thousand different rumors about him. He was more of a veil, flooded with cheap information mixed with truth.

What was certain was that the whole world knew.

Without a title, let alone a name, he was the most famous and disgusting of the illegitimate children the emperor had sown everywhere.

He didn’t know how he ignored and angered the Sun Emperor. In the end, he set out and conquered half of the continent and obtained even the duke’s title with his own hands.

Although his birth was different, he was a man from the lowest just like himself. He knew very well just how terrible the desires of such a vicious person were.

Shylock couldn’t make an exact inference, but it was certain that he was a formidable person. He had to deal with guesswork and improvisation, so he needed to be prepared to do everything he could.

As he rolled his head, the carriage stopped. The coachman hurriedly jumped down and lowered the pedestal at Shylock’s feet.

He climbed the stairs that lined up the front door of Cadis, where the soldiers lined up left and right.

As he entered the hall without a guide, a knight in black armor stopped him. He was a large and stiff-necked old knight.

The strong knight with an eyepatch stood still, but the commander’s dignity was buried.

The first thing that caught Shylock’s eyes was the familiar black armor. Armor of the Knights of de Winter when the duke came to marry his eldest daughter.

Shylock, who glanced at the knight for a moment, narrowing his eyes, bowed his head politely. “Shylock Isles. Greetings to Count Godwin Valks, Lord of Cadis.”

“Hmm.” Valks furrowed his thick eyebrows and made an uncomfortable sound. Instead of reacting further, he turned around. “Follow me.”

After crossing the long hallway for a long time, they arrived in front of a huge door. Valks pushed it open with both hands.

A deep wrinkle formed between Shylock’s forehead. “This place…”

“Wait until the lord comes.”

An elegant candle lit the long table and greeted him. The room had no curtains and a dark atmosphere like at night.

It was the dining room.

A long, empty table greeted him.

* * *