I Regressed to My Ruined Family – 24

 #I returned, and my family fell into ruin (24)

Frixian and Lawrence.

I returned to the inner castle with the two of them. I immediately put Frixian in charge of general administration.

After he left.

Only Lawrence and Ethan remained in the office.

“Lawrence.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Would you like to try being my advisor?”

“Advisor…?”

Lawrence’s eyes widened.

For a commoner, becoming an advisor to a noble was one of the best ways to rise in society. It was no surprise that he was so surprised by this opportunity.

“Yes. I think you would be well suited for the position.”

The boy, who had been hesitating, spoke first.

“Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

“Actually… there is something I haven’t told you.”

“What is it?”

With that, Lawrence closed his eyes tightly and said,

“The truth is, I am not a man.”

Until then, his voice had sounded like a delicate boy’s, but now it was distinctly feminine.

His voice had changed in an instant. Even so, Ethan’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.

“Yeah.”

He simply nodded bluntly.

In his previous life, he was a transcendent being.

No matter how far away he was, he could tell at a glance whether someone was a man or a woman.

That was why he already knew her gender.

Laurence flinched at his indifferent response. The Grand Duke wasn’t angry that he had deceived him, nor was he trying to take back the offer he had made to the woman.

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This was a completely unexpected reaction. Lawrence tilted his head.

“…Did you know?”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything?”

“Is that important?”

Ethan was a knight who had survived until the time when humanity was on the brink of extinction.

At that time, trivial things like gender were not important.

Ability.

That was the only thing that mattered. The criteria for judging a person’s worth had been firmly established at that time.

That was why he didn’t mention her gender.

“…I’ve been wandering the streets since I was a child.”

“I see.”

His parents never showed him any love since he was born.

What they wanted was a son, not a daughter.

From a very young age, Lawrence, or rather Sylvia, realized that it was much more advantageous to live as a man than as a woman in this world.

Even when the tax collector of the viscount’s domain looked at him and smacked his lips every time.

Even when her family starved to death due to excessive exploitation and she ran away from home to spend a long time at the bottom of society.

It was always like that.

She spent nearly nine years at the bottom of society before being taken in by the Prexians.

“That’s why I dressed as a man. I had no choice if I wanted to protect myself…”

“I understand.”

“…Please don’t tell my master.”

“Does Frexian not know?”

“No.”

Silvia smiled bitterly.

She recalled the stories she had heard from Prexian while he was teaching her.

He had said that she was a bright child and would surely rise to a high position even as a commoner.

However, Prexian had no idea that she was a girl.

If he had known, he would never have said such a thing.

Being poor was a huge disadvantage, let alone being a girl.

She might have been able to work as a night attendant, but other than that, it was obvious that no noble would ever consider her for anything important.

The same would be true of the grand duke standing right in front of her.

Perhaps she had completely missed the opportunity to express her anger, which was why he was looking at her with such a calm expression. Or maybe he was just extremely patient, which was why he was acting this way.

“So I cannot accept your proposal…”

“Why? As I said earlier, your gender is not an important factor to me.”

Lawrence’s eyes widened.

Once, he could have dismissed it as a matter of pride, but to repeat the same thing twice?

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“Are you really going to keep me as your strategist?”

“If you do your job well, why wouldn’t I?”

“…If it becomes known that I am a woman, many people will point fingers at you.”

They will say that a strategist is serving as a night attendant. Ethan chuckled at those words.

“Point fingers at me? Do you think their fingers will remain unharmed?”

“…

“If you don’t want to, I won’t force you. You can just stay by Frexian’s side and do odd jobs.”

He gave her a choice.

So it was up to her to decide.

‘If she doesn’t want to, there’s nothing I can do.’

Even the king couldn’t force someone to do something they didn’t want to do.

Ethan waited quietly for her answer.

After thinking about it for a long time, she said.

“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to give it a try. But can I tell people that I’m a man?”

“If that makes you feel more comfortable, then do so.”

She had been dressing as a man for a long time, so it would feel much more natural for her to do so in public. Hearing this, she bowed her head deeply.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“… Oh, right. My real name is Silvia.”

“Then is Lawrence your pseudonym?”

“It’s my younger brother’s name.”

‘I see.’

The reason she was called Lawrence in her previous life was because she had used her younger brother’s name.

Ethan nodded.

“Okay. Take care, Sylvia.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The bookkeeper was added.

It was time to give him a task.

“I’m going to give you your first mission.”

“What is it?”

His voice changed back to that of a boy.

“Doesn’t that hurt your throat?”

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I’m used to it.”

“I see.”

Ethan nodded and handed him a ledger.

It was the ledger he had received from the eldest son of the baron last time, listing the groups that paid monthly tribute.

A whopping 80% of them were concentrated in this small town of Poert.

It was a city that had developed and then rotted away.

“The eight groups that run rampant in this city are called the Eight Gates of Darkness.”

“Ah…”

“Do you know anything about them?”

“I heard a lot about them when I was living on the streets. In a nutshell, they are a gathering place for trash.”

Drug trafficking, human trafficking, kidnapping, theft, and so on.

Eight representative groups of the underworld that are involved in every kind of crime imaginable.

They were called the Eight Gates of Darkness.

Ethan nodded quietly at Silvia’s explanation.

“They’re hopeless trash.”

“It wasn’t always this bad, but over the past ten years, the baron has turned a blind eye to them, and they’ve become increasingly bold. You’re right, they are beyond redemption.”

“Your first mission is to take care of them. Make sure they never cross my path again.”

“Give me a day, and I’ll see what I can do.”

Silvia’s eyes quietly lit up.

How she handled this matter would determine how the Grand Duke would view her.

This was a hard-won opportunity.

She had no intention of handling it carelessly.

“I will assign you knights and soldiers. Your role is to be an advisor.”

“Yes. Oh, wait. Grand Duke.”

“Go ahead.”

“After this is done, may I make use of these men personally?”

“Use them for what?”

“I’m thinking of forming an intelligence group.”

An intelligence group.

As long as they did their cleaning well, it was not Ethan’s concern whether they were killed or used for other purposes.

“Do as you wish.”

“I will get started right away.”

“Have a safe trip.”

Silvia left the office.

* *

Hans and Myers.

The carriage carrying the two passed through the large outer walls.

Hermes, the large city where the Perne family’s main residence was located.

They had finally arrived.

Meyers looked at the magnificent exterior of the city and exclaimed in admiration.

“Wow. It’s really big.”

“Young master. From now on, you must stay alert. We have a very important role to play.”

“Yes, I will.”

“You memorized all the instructions I gave you, right?”

“Yes, I memorized everything.”

Hans breathed a sigh of relief.

Now he had no choice but to stick close to Myers.

How Myers behaved would determine how he would be treated.

He prayed that Myers would do well.

As Hans prayed silently, the carriage passed the outer walls and began to enter the inner walls.

Kelmont Castle.

Seeing one of the most magnificent castles in the western continent, Hans swallowed hard.

Passing through was easy.

And they received a much warmer welcome than expected.

The lord of the castle, Count Cheiman, came out to greet them in person.

“It’s been a long time, youngest prince. How have you been?”

“I’ve been doing well. How have you been, Count?”

“I’ve been so busy lately… Let’s not stand here. Let’s go inside.”

Hans tilted his head.

‘The count is welcoming us more warmly than I expected.

Meyers had told him that they had met a few times in the past, but that was no reason for the count to welcome Meyers so warmly.

If they were really that close, he wouldn’t have gotten him drunk and ruined his life.

“Why is the count acting like this…?”

After thinking about it for a moment, a thought crossed Hans’ mind.

“No, it can’t be.”

Could the Grand Duke already be making his move?

If not, there was no reason for the heavy-bottomed Count to welcome Myers with such enthusiasm.

Something had definitely changed.

Just before entering the office.

The Count looked at Hans.

“Who is that?”

“He is my trusted servant. He is quick-witted and diligent, so I keep him close.”

“I see.”

“May we enter?”

“Of course.”

The three entered the office. The count sat at the head of the table, and Myers sat next to him.

“By the way, what brings you here? It’s quite a distance, and it hasn’t been long since the Grand Duke awoke.”

“Well, actually…”

Meyer ruffled his hair and sighed.

“My older brother has become… very strange.”

“The Grand Duke?”

“Take a look.”

Meyers lifted his shirt. His shirt was covered with scars.

Some of the wounds had not even scabbed over yet.

They were clearly marks left by a real sword.

“What on earth happened? Who did this to the youngest prince?”

“My older brother did it. Not only me, but Hans here was also beaten up.”

Hans opened his mouth in a flash.

There were gaps in his mouth.

They were traces of missing teeth.

“I couldn’t stand it anymore. As you know, the eldest brother used to be very calm and reliable…”

“…I’m sure he was.”

“But now he’s completely changed, like he’s gone mad!”

Gone mad.

Chayman twitched his eyes.

There was one interesting piece of news that had come in recently.

It was that the Baron of Karagas had been completely destroyed by a prince. The truth of the rumor had not yet been confirmed.

However, one thing was certain.

“The baron is not answering his phone.”

Even when they tried to contact him using their own methods, there was no response.

It seemed certain that something had happened.

What if the Grand Duke had begun to reveal his ambitions?

“We need to push one of our own.”

The Third Prince was out of the question.

He was already nothing more than a puppet of the seven royal families.

The Grand Duke was also in a difficult position.

He was known for silently eliminating one of the ten branches of the royal family.

Furthermore, putting someone with immunity at the top of his organization was the worst possible choice.

“The Grand Duchess is out of the question.”

If all the men were blind, it might be possible, but otherwise, titles were never passed down to women.

The only viable option was Myers, who was right in front of him.

It was at that very moment.

“Count.”

“Yes?”

“I know the truth.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The 10th branch of the family tried to turn me into a drunkard and put me in a puppet role as the head of the family.”

“……!”

Chayman showed his first look of confusion at the blunt words.