Chapter 93
“This is the overall progress.”
As soon as Hert sat down on the sofa, Mogen lowered her head and pointed to the papers she had placed on the table. Hert skillfully picked it up and took a quick look at it. At the same time, Mogen spoke up and conveyed another report.
“As instructed, those who came under the Marquis’ influence were sent to the walls and outskirts as much as possible, but keeping in mind that there are still more inside, we are continuing to search. And as the Marchioness’ watchdog, Sir Zitazen, whom you requested earlier, was selected from among the candidates selected and the task was entrusted to him. According to Sir Zitazen, he has not seen anything suspicious yet.”
“What about those women?”
“Yes, in Missus Velodem’s case, we moved her to the annex as before and made sure she wouldn’t be able to leave the room. And about Missus Velodem’s maid, she was suspected of being the muscle of their group and was thus isolated. And the maid who stole Lady Tessa’s goods had no history other than that, so we sent her back to the kitchen, where she worked before she started serving on Lady Tessa. We also have a separate surveillance station attached, so if they find any suspicious behavior, we will report it immediately.”
“Okay, I believe the rest was done well as I said…”
Mogen’s report was as he had instructed. Originally, her work process was not as smooth and perfect as that of Lange, his aide, but in its own way, it was comparable. Thanks to this, Hert let out a light sigh, slightly loosening the tension that had been tightening him.
After Tessa was caught trying to escape, he struggled for several days to pick and choose those who were under the Marquis’ influence and deploy them outside the castle.
Truthfully, he wanted to throw them out completely, but that was next to impossible. In the first place, more than half of the troops he brought to the Jutert estate belonged to Marquis Borwen.
Therefore, what Hert could do in the present situation was to filter as much as possible and fill the castle with people he could trust.
Of course, among them, there could still be a spy that the Marquis had sent, who he had not yet found. There’s no way that Marquis Borwen wasn’t prepared for a situation like this. She was a terrifying person in many ways.
‘Damned woman.’
Feeling helpless, he cursed.
Hert was enraged, but he knew that he could not escape from Marquis Borwen’s clutches right now. Not only were things not working out between them, but the woman clearly has no intention of letting him go.
If the Marquis had intended to let him go, he would have been killed right away. If Marquis Borwen thought he’s useless, he’s the one who’d be concerned right away about how she might clean him up.
‘Still, I don’t regret being in league with her.’
If he hadn’t worked under her, he would have been dead before he could even meet Tessa again. Hert also used Marquis Borwen for his own benefit. Of course, the Marquis already saw through his intentions clearly, so she was now asking him to pay the price.
‘But I can’t go too far… as her pawn.’
After being picked up by Marquis Borwen, Hert struggled in the battlefield to survive for a year. Even if he won in the war, he’d have to survive to find Tessa anyway.
So, even when the Marquis forced him to die by talking about a ridiculous strategy, he went busy decapitating the enemy commander and returning alive.
He wasn’t given any time to think.
As a result, Hert suddenly became the mad dog of the mad marquis, and his surroundings were full of people from Marquis Borwen.
Even though he became a knight representing Marquis Borwen, he was not treated well. Those who had been chosen by the marquis since birth and worked for her always watched Hert, and if Hert made a mistake, they ran to the Marquis at any moment and acted as if they were going to cut his throat and throw him away. So even though Hert became the Marquis’s dog, he couldn’t be careless.
After the war, he tried to gain power. Of course it wasn’t easy. Having his own army and subordinates within Marquis Borwen’s forces was, in a way, an act of rebellion against her.
So, Hert had to work hard not to provoke the Marquis’ vigilance while saving people and attracting them to his side as close as possible.
He felt miserable and resentful at times, but he couldn’t help it.
Until he found Tessa, Hert couldn’t go against the Marquis’ orders.
Still, Hert’s efforts were not in vain. Working alongside the Marquis, he expanded his influence little by little, referring to what he saw and heard over his shoulder. Although few in number, he was able to create an army for himself. And from then on, his influence has been slowly opening up. He felt that if he could find Tessa, he would be able to live a decent life in his own way.
If anything went wrong, he could run away with Tessa.
And the moment he met Tessa again, Hert had no intention of being swayed by Marquis Borwen any more. In the first place, his goal was Tessa, and now he has achieved that goal.
But there was one catch.
Marquis Borwen’s plot.
Marquis Borwen was the person who used Tessa as an excuse to control Hert in order to make him a useful dog. In particular, after knowing Hert’s bloodline, she would have tried hard to keep him as her dog.
Besides, the damn woman wasn’t one to do anything nonsense. What Hert realized over the past two years as he was being dragged by the woman was that the Marquis’ actions all had a purpose.
There was no way that such a woman would have easily given up Tessa to him.
‘I guess she’s doing strange things out there that I can’t get involved in…’
What was it? Hert put down his paper and tapped the table with the tip of his finger. Then he thought about Marquis Borwen’s ultimate goal.
The Marquis was not someone to be satisfied being the king’s right-hand man. She wanted more. Therefore, for the woman, the first thing she had to put away was, of course, the young king’s cousin, Duke Callias.
‘But what does the Duke Callias have to do with the Jutert estate?’
Hert knew that Marquis Borwen did not recruit him simply to put him here.
At first glance, someone who knew the situation might think that she sent him here because Tessa was here, as if she was being generous. However, Marquis Borwen was not a fool, and each of her actions was part of a scheme.
The damn woman was a strategist with an eye for moves.
‘What are you waiting for here…?’
Hert let out a small curse in his head as his head throbbed. This was why he no longer wanted to associate himself with Marquis Borwen. She treated people thoroughly as chess pieces and tried to drag them into the whirlpool she created. Even so, she always prepared a hole through which she can leisurely escape.
In fact, sending Lange, his aide, out of the estate was also done with Marquis Borwen in mind. Hert knew that this would come someday after the Young Marquis fled. So, in order to prepare for this, she had to take off at least one of her eyes. And the first target was Lange Geoffrey.
‘As an aide, he’s competent, but after all, he’s her person, so the outcome is obvious.’
As the Marquis had carefully selected and attached him, Lange Geoffrey’s ability as an aide was exceptionally good. However, the moment Hert would confront Marquis Borwen, Lange would inevitably choose Marquis Borwen rather than him. No, Lange didn’t have a choice in the first place. Because he was trained from the beginning to work for Marquis Borwen.
Also, Lange, who had external authority, could not be left in the castle at such a dangerous time. If Hert was away, the knights and soldiers would of course follow his command.
He would always regret it if anything happened to Tessa if he left her.
And if that were to happen, the Marquis would once again get Tessa and try to use her against Hert. In the end, he’d crawl into the Marquis’ palm with his own feet.
So, after the incident with the Young Marquis, he first sent Lange out. Hert had to find out about his and Tessa’s past, so he meant to use Lange’s ability sparingly.
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