Not Knowing The Betrayal Of That Day

“Ah, damn it…!”

Things went smoothly until he tied Hert Shine’s feet outside the outer wall and secretly infiltrated the castle in the meantime. It was thanks to the anonymous helper not only giving detailed information about the castle’s layout, but also being good at helping the invasion. Ferdale also made full use of the information he had learned while growing up in the castle for all his life.

However, the problem started after entering the castle. Ferdale couldn’t hold back his anger when he couldn’t find the seal he needed to get. He was originally going to pack only what he needed to pack and hurriedly leave the castle, so the current situation was not what Ferdale expected.

‘This would only delay time…!’

In fact, Ferdale had no intention of taking the initiative himself. His one and only life was precious. He didn’t want to stand in front of Hert Shine and be decapitated like a fool—like his father before him.

Ferdale’s role in this plan was to cause chaos and then quickly pick up the necessary item and move back to a safe place. It was everyone else’s job to fight and take control of the castle.

‘My role here is to lend a cause and disappear!’

However, he couldn’t shake off the sense of anxiety because he couldn’t seem to find the most important seal among the things he had to take care of. It was when a curse word was about to come out of his mouth.

“Young Marquis!”

One of the soldiers who followed him rushed into the office and called Ferdale in haste.

“Did you find her?”

The soldier hesitantly opened his mouth to Ferdale, who asked quickly.

“That, that… Even after searching the castle, we can’t find her!”

Ferdale frowned at the soldier’s words. He can’t find her? He barely held back the desire to grab the soldier’s collar right away. Ferdale urged the soldier with a ferocious voice.

“What? But no one went out before we came in? This castle is completely in the palm of our hands! She’s definitely in here! Find her again! Find her quickly and bring her in front of me!”

“But… we looked hard… Or, could she have already escaped through a secret passage?”

The soldier replied to Ferdale with terrible concern. But Ferdale only snorted at those words.

“A secret passage? How does that bitch know it’s there? She won’t be able to find it!”

There were several secret passages hidden in the castle, but there was no way for outsiders to know about them. Along with the location of the family seal, the location of the secret passage is something that only the head of the family and the family members could possibly know.

There was no way Tessa, a girl that was sold as a bride, could have known that— there’s no way that she could have escaped through one of the passages.

“Stop the nonsense and move quickly! I have to drag her back, too!”

Ferdale shouted once more, and the soldier hurriedly lowered his head and quickly exited the office.

Even in the midst of this, there was still a commotion outside the office. The sound of soldiers secretly brought by Ferdale fighting against Hert’s soldiers who were guarding the castle remained here, which meant that the time Ferdale could stay in the castle was limited.

“Did you find it?”

As Ferdale was nervously tossing the office for the last time, a man entered the office carrying a blood stained sword. He was appalled by the sight, and Ferdale shouted with a growl.

“N-No, not yet!”

“You’d better find it soon.”

“I know, I know! Rather, you go and find her! I’ll take care of this!”

“Then I’ll come back later.”

The man brushed off the blood on his sword and headed out of the office again. Ferdale saw the man’s back and trembled with goosebumps. The man given to Ferdale was more like an assassin than an ordinary soldier, and he was also the last resort to move if things went wrong.

‘There is nothing free in this world… Damn, I don’t have time for this.’

Ferdale stopped rummaging through the office and headed outside. His biological mother would have known. Because she was also a member of the family. He heard from the assistant that she was living in the castle rather than the spire in the west, so he wouldn’t lose anything by asking.

‘The problem is, I don’t know where she is either…’

When Ferdale was trying to find the whereabouts of his birth mother, this time another soldier was hurriedly running towards him. With a pale face, he spoke in a whisper that only Ferdale could hear.

“There’s big trouble, Young Marquis!”

“What is it?”

“T-They say the enemies are coming back inside the walls now. They’ve already passed the outer wall and now…”

“What?”

Ferdale’s eyes widened at the soldier’s words. They’re coming back? What is that… Could it be that Hert killed him already? That fast? Ferdale approached the window, opened it, and turned his body toward the outer wall.

As the soldier said, he could see Hert’s army pushing into the wall in the distance. Ferdale’s face also began to turn white at the terrifyingly fast pace of movement.

“Nonsense! Damn, how…!”

The face of the knight who arrogantly responded to Ferdale’s somewhat concerned words came to mind. After being so confident, in the end, it seemed that Hert Shine had taken his head. Faster than expected too.

Ferdale bit his lower lip and raised his fingernails to scratch the window frame.

‘Damn you bastard… I didn’t expect you to notice this soon…’

But even if Hert had figured out his plan, it was foolish to push in like this. Reckless retreat into an already breached castle. It was the same as killing oneself. Even if his commander is dead, Ferdale’s forces outside have not yet disbanded. The commander’s absence was also anticipated and prepared to some extent.

‘What happened to your brain? If you return to the castle now, you know that everyone will die, right? Didn’t you think we deliberately chose a two-sided siege on purpose?’

The Jutert castle had long since lost its function as a fortress. Even if Hert Shine returned to the castle like this, the castle that had already been breached by Ferdale would not be of any help to him, and it would only slow him down. In the end, the picture Ferdale wanted came out.

Either abandon the castle and run away, or die here.

However, the opponent was that Hert Shine. The damage Ferdale would have to suffer would be formidable. At worst, he could have lost his only life.

“What should we do?”

“What! Damn… move out! We have to leave…”

Rumble!

As Ferdale was trying to push the soldier forward, they stopped abruptly at the loud sound.

For a moment, the castle was enveloped in a tense silence. At some point, people looked at each other and slowly looked around. The castle began to shake slightly.

“Young Marquis, now…”

“Sh*t, what is this…”

Why was the castle shaking?

Ferdale’s body trembled all over in the unexpected situation. Everyone was feeling the current castle shaking. All of them noticed with their whole body that the castle itself was shaking, not just the ground shaking.

When they thought that the castle might collapse, from then on, everyone started to panic.

“Young Marquis, we must escape immediately!”

“The castle is collapsing!”

“I, I know, I feel it too… what the hell…”

The castle collapsing was not in the plan… Ferdale stepped back with a pale face. Yes, now he had to run away from here whether with the family seal or not. Otherwise, he will be crushed to death in rubble.

“Damn, damn it, we need to get out of here… Move! Get out of the way!”

It was then. Someone appeared in front of Ferdale, who was trying to escape.

“You still haven’t let go of that arrogance of yours.”