The Emperor Has Returned - Chapter 43

Chapter 43 Indeterminate polyhedron(2)

“Again I’m surprised at how fast the Helwin family gathers information. Considerable effort was put in to keep the information tight lipped……Anyways, the equipment is not going to stay in my hands for long, as I’m intending to give it to someone else.”
“What a lucky person. I don’t want to make our Earl uncomfortable, but it’s just that I’ve heard some concerning words that you’d want to hear.”
Earl Hannbon, after briefly contemplating, sighed as he replied.
“I didn’t expect the Helwin family to be interested in this item. Alright. My ears are yours. However, the banquet’s not an appropriate place for this discussion. I’ll arrange a room in the back for us to talk privately.”
Heretia gave a curt nod.
After Earl Hannbon left, Juan let out a deep sigh. Heretia tapped his shoulder.
Suddenly feeling tired, Juan went and sat on a chair. Heretia whispered quietly.
“Thank you.”
“Give me your word that you won’t interfere if I take his head after you’ve finished your business with him.”
“……….I hope you don’t do anything rash. I was thinking of maintaining a good relationship not with Earl Hannbon but with you. Earl Hannbon is Hiveden’s feudal lord and the one who manages all the gangs.”
Juan didn’t respond. His mind was already set.
“Can’t you just walk up and say, let’s talk and negotiate?”
“That’s not the way nobles do it. First you get on friendly terms at a social gathering, then speak out about the topic you want to discuss, then conduct business as if this wasn’t your objective in the first place. After three or four interactions, you can then start to think about having real talks. This is normally how it goes, but seeing I’m in a bit of a rush this time, I’ll try to get it done in one.”
“I wish you would all die.”
Juan was being serious.
“In the past, life was much more simple.”
“You sound like an old fart. The outer district shouldn’t be that different compared to the capital. Or maybe you just didn’t know.”
Juan was about to deny this but then acknowledged that he couldn’t be compared to normal standards.
Kings and heads of states all rushed to bow in his presence.
Back then, Juan’s words were the law. Whatever that was said, however he wanted things to be.
‘Maybe this behavioural conduct was gradually surfacing, hidden from my eyes.’
Tradition was something that didn’t change easily. Juan decided to respect Heretia’s way of doing things.
Then suddenly, they heard a disturbance from the main hall. Everyone’s attention turned towards it. In the middle of a group of girls, a girl similar in size to Juan was looking at him with embarrassed eyes.
“That’s Earl Hannbon’s daughter.”
The other girls whispered into her ear, as if they were encouraging her on about something.
Juan had a bad feeling about this. And his intuition was spot on.
The other girls basically pushed Hannbon’s daughter towards Juan.
Hannbon’s daughter fidgeted for a bit then with her closed embarrassed eyes, she asked.
“Wou, would you like to dance with me?”
Juan now understood why the girl was so embarrassed. Heretia was a little surprised but then smiled and whispered.
“See, didn’t I tell you, that you’d be popular with the girls.”
“Shut up.”
Juan’s standing in this banquet was not much different to a pet or a servant, so to dance with him, approval from his master was needed before anything else.
But Hannbon’s daughter’s eyes weren’t straying off Juan.
Florid cheeks and hazy eyes, it told of a girl clearly in love.
“Do I need to accept this?”
“Preferably yes, but I don’t mind if you decline. I’m the one who needs to give the approval or decline anyways. But why don’t we do it gently……?”
Before Heretia stopped talking, Juan had grabbed Hannbon’s daughter’s hand.
The girl slightly flinched at Juan’s sudden bold act and Juan made sure her hands didn’t escape his.
“It would be my honor, young lady.”
He took her hands and led her onto the middle of the dance floor. There were other servants like him, who had gotten approvals from their master to dance with their respective counterparts.
Heretia looked on in astonishment, seeing Juan able to dance with etiquette.
She didn’t stay surprised for long.
The banquet’s attention was still aimed at Juan. Heretia felt a little bitter about the situation. She had never received this much attention, even on her birthdays.
Currently, Heretia was dancing with Juan.
“……….When did you learn to dance?”
“Thought it would be useful to learn it. It wasn’t all that different from swordsmanship.”
Heretia recalled Juan’s dance patterns. It seemed Juan wasn’t versed with the current dancing trend but his traditional and elegant motions captured even the other dancing performers as well. They soon were dancing to the beat of Juan’s dancing rhythm.
By the time the second song had finished, the stage was Juan’s solo performance.
As each song finished, partners were changed but Hannbon’s daughter wanted to continue dancing with Juan.
However, being his master, Heretia used her authority and took the position of his dance partner again.
“Not bad. You continue to impress.”
“I recall you saying it before. Women are attracted when men show their unexpected side.”
Heretia was about to scold him but then stopped herself, after realising she didn’t know why she was annoyed about this.
It was a waste of time, getting emotions involved with this child. But it didn’t stop the fact that it kept happening.
“Are we continuing?”
“You can give me your orders, as I’ll listen to you for today. Enjoy it while it last, today will be the last of it.”
Heretia felt a bit disheartened but tried to not show as she whispered to him.
“There’s still alot of young ladys waiting in line, so continue dancing for a bit more. You don’t have to dance with the whole lot though. Get yourself out, when you think it’s enough. I’ll deal with the lot who misses out.”
“Alright.”
Finally the song ended. Juan and Heretia parted their hands and went to find their new partners. As if she was waiting, Hannbon’s daughter quickly grabbed his hand.
Wanting to show that she wouldn’t relinquish his hand to anyone, she firmly held on to Juan’s hand for all to see.
As he placed his head over her shoulder, thinking ‘it’s going to be hard to change partners’, he saw a familiar face.
Anya.
Unlike her usual comfortable leather outfit, she was wearing a dress like any other lady at the banquet.
Like Juan, Anya had also noticed his existence and was staring at him with surprised eyes.
The next song began. Even though Juan’s body started to move instinctively, he never left his sight on Anya.
He could feel that she was armed beneath her dress.
Juan was only able to escape, after dancing three more songs with Hannbon’s daughter.
As soon as he was free, Juan made his way over to Anya.
Anya with a panicked look tried to escape as Juan approached.
Juan was about to run towards her then thought twice about it.
He shouldn’t do anything stupid. He had to comply with Heretia’s orders. At least for today.
Anya disappeared into the crowd.
“Where were you headed?”
Heretia had chased after him. She expected Juan to come towards her after the dance had ended and yet, he had headed off in a completely different direction.
Juan shook his head as he briefly glanced where Anya had disappeared.
“It’s nothing.”
Moments after, a man approached Heretia and Juan. He was a young man with cheeks bright red, looking already drunk. He glared furiously at Juan as their eyes met.
“What are you looking at, kid.”
“Kelmory kyung, can I help you?”
Heretia quickly got between them before Juan had the chance to respond. Instead of replying, the young man called Kelmory looked at her then turned his head as he snorted.
Juan’s eyebrows twitched at his rude attitude.
“Earl Hannbon’s daughter’s fiance.”
Heretia quickly whispered. Juan instantly could figure out what was going through his head.
The organiser of this banquet was Earl Hannbon and it was right to say his daughter and her fiance were the protagonists of this banquet.
And yet, Kelmory who was supposed to receive all the participants’ interests, had it stolen by some kid who had rolled in from god knows where.
And furthermore, his fiance’s interest as well.
And to top it all off, the kid’s master was a noble of high standing that he couldn’t look to compare himself to. Therefore, he couldn’t just mindlessly let out his anger on him.
‘A big pitiful blob with an inferiority complex.’
That was the quick description Juan had got of him.
“Hmmpf! A barbaric child acting like he’s all civilised……”
“Kelmory kyung, if you have something to say to my servant, say it to me.”
“It’s nothing my lady. I was just thinking, bringing along a barbaric child along to a banquet would degrade your name and the banquet.”
“Oh, I never thought of it that way. Thanks for your concern. I’ll happily pass on your concerning words to Lady Elemoore and Lady Linde. I’m sure they’ll be pleased to know how their servant is being treated and perceived by Kelmory kyung.”
Kelmory’s face turned sour. He knew the names that Heretia had mentioned.
Like Heretia, they both had black haired servants and their families had powerful influences over Earl Hannbon’s family.
If Heretia actually passed on the word, Kelmory would likely end up having to bow and apologise.
Of course, Heretia had no intention of doing this.
She didn’t want to make things difficult on Earl Hannbon when she was planning to strike a deal with him later on.
But Kelmory didn’t know this. So he had to back off. As he pulled back, his ego didn’t allow him to back off without saying anything back.
“Hiding underneath a Lady’s skirt…..Tsk. Does he even fit inside the skirt? Seeing as you brought him to the banquet, I suppose he entertains you well from underneath the table?”
As a skilled politician, Heretia’s smile never left her face, even in the face of such disturbing remarks.
Upon seeing that Heretia wasn’t agitated by this at all, Kelmory grumbled as he turned around.
“Disgusting apostate family. Having only survived by licking the Pope’s butt…..They should have eliminated every single one of you.”
Juan moved first before Heretia’s lips could part in reply.
Juan kicked Kelmory’s calves, who was backing off.
Suddenly losing his balance, Kelmory split his wine over his face as he fell on the floor.
Everyone’s attention was drawn to the sound of the wine glass shattering out loud.
Having received such unexpected attention, Kelmory’s face reddened to the colour of his split wine.
“Wha, what…..”
Kelmory looked at the small child standing in front of him. Juan was looking down at him with a cool expression.
Juan pulled off his white glove that he was wearing and chucked it at Kelmory’s face.
Chul-suk! The glove was thrown so hard that Kelmory’s face had almost turned the other way. Juan chucked the other remaining glove as well.
“Times have changed but you insolents bastards always stay the same, huh.”
“You, what… Do you want to die?”
“Lets duel. Trash. No servant is going to stand and do nothing while their master’s name is tarnished.”
Kelmory looked at Juan, unable to comprehend what was happening. He couldn’t understand the situation.
While the entire banquet fell into a silence, Heretia quickly came over and whispered.
“Juan, it’s been 40 years since we requested for duels that way. This bastard won’t even know that was the tradition in the past. If you want to fight in an honorable duel, you need to file a claim suit to the church. A duel only happens once the church approves the claim suit and they send a priest to overlook the fight.”
“What? Then how on earth does a lady reclaim her tarnished honor?”
“For now, beating him half to death.”
“Ah.”
Juan understood very well.
He swung his fist at Kelmory who was still looking on dazely at the situation.