This Delusional Voice Keeps Telling Me I’m a Villain

Several days later.

I was transferred. That was a given. The study mates had been dissolved, so that salon was no longer in use.

The former study mates were now close aides; they were guarded by people of higher aptitude than me.

I was transferred to a patrol team for the palace back garden. It was a quiet duty usually scorned among the guards, but for me who were tired of the nobles, there was nothing better than this.

The back garden of the palace was vast and no one came unless there was something special to do. Every day, all I could see were the flowers, the grass, the trees, the mountains and the sky.

…No evils lurking around.

So refreshing! If possible, I’d like to spend relaxing days like this forever…

“Please! I beg you!”

…I couldn’t.

A shaken, frightened voice pleading for someone echoed from a pavilion in the back garden. From his voice, it sounded like a middle-aged man.

For security reasons, I could not possibly overlook this… So reluctantly, I went to check on the situation.

In the pavilion, there were two noblemen… One of them was clearly a high noble from his outfit. I was only observing from afar, so I could not see their faces. What I could infer was that both of them were middle-aged and one of them had a big body build laden with fat. As for the other, was he a civil officer? He had that vibe on him with a lanky body and a monocle on.

…And then, the bigger man was bowing his head to the ground without shame or pride to the man in the monocle.

It was the voice I heard just now. So it belonged to this big man. Even from this distance, I could tell that his face was very pale.

“I beg you… No more, please no more of this… Not only my dukedom, even my life is now in peril. Please…”

The man in the monocle merely laughed at his plea.

“Oh? Is there any point asking me that? Duke Nyschager.”

Duke Nyschager… So that was Hauser-sama’s father. Then, who was the man in the monocle?

Even though he was about to lose his seat, Sir Nyschager was still a duke. The other party was even able to make such a duke to throw away his pride as he begged and pleaded… In contrast to Duke Nyschager, the man in the monocle barely changed his expression as he continued to speak like he was only making small talk.

“Duke Nyschager, the ones who are chasing you down are the nobles who are your political rivals and enemies your son had created, as well as the Knights Order that you used to lead, aren’t they? Did I even do anything to harm you?”

“…!”

Duke Nyschager silently shook his head as if in protest and then, he took a breath.

“In the first place, it’s because your son…” His voice was nearly inaudible like that of a mosquito when he pointed that out.

Hm? Hence, the man in the monocle was…

“Oh dear, you’re saying it’s my son who has cornered you like this? What a joke. That child is still little. How could he do that to an adult, what’s more, someone from a ducal house with a long history. How much do you think our sons’ age difference is…?”

So brazen—that was what I felt towards him. The Duke of Nyschager also looked at him in disbelief.

The man in the monocle—Urschel’s father and also the Duke of Minusle—then said flatly, “Duke Nyschager, are you taking a child’s quarrel seriously? It’s just a petty quarrel between children. Haha! It’s just a coincidence that there was someone whistleblowing on the night the children had a quarrel, wasn’t it? Am I wrong?”

Duke Minusle simply spat out straight in Duke Nyschager’s face quite naturally, but with a chilling eeriness that sent chills down the spine, that no way a child’s quarrel could destroy a ducal house.

“How can…?!”

“Oh, but…”

Duke Minusle took off his monocle and sneered at Duke Nyschager… His eyes weren’t smiling at all.

“By the way, the children’s quarrel just reminded me that your son accused our House of Minusle as a family of ordinary civil officers directly in my son’s face, didn’t he?”

Duke Nyschager’s face was beyond pale, it was the colour of the earth, as if he was nearly dying.

“Duke Nyschager, just what kind of education did you give your child? Eight generations ago, the royal family of Nyschager from a small country, was absorbed into our country and became a member of the nobility. Could it be that you still couldn’t shake off your sense of a royal even after eight generations? In our country, any noble—no matter how petty their positions are—know that the House of Minusle are no ordinary civil officers. Hahaha! I can’t stop laughing. We’ve been taken for a fool. Wouldn’t it have been better for you to have spent your money on your son’s education rather than on your own career? It would have saved you some work and your future prospects would not have been so bad like now.”

With his head bowed, the Duke of Nyschager puckered up his mouth like a fish on shore, as if he were about to die. Turning his back, the Duke of Minusle walked towards the royal palace.

“…Seriously, you’ve failed to educate your son so badly. Well, that’s all right. As for me, my son has had a good experience thanks to your son, and the education of my ducal successor has greatly progressed. Sometimes, it’s worth it to do some task you’re not really up to. Thanks to that, the future of my dukedom is bright. If he couldn’t even settle something like that, he won’t be able to be in charge of our duchy.

To tell the truth, he is still a cute, innocent child and I was not sure if he could really be my successor. If he hadn’t succeeded this time, I would have decided to simply raise him by my side. I have a lot of things to say about you, but in the end I am grateful to you. Hahaha.”

Laughing, the Duke of Minusle walked away. Behind him, the Duke of Nyschager collapsed to his knees, wobbling and trembling.

I… I shuddered in sheer horror. My throat twitched, my knees trembled, and my feet cowered.

I knew Urschel-sama very well, but I knew nearly nothing about the Duke of Minusle. I was merely a guardsman, and while I certainly had some idea of the inner workings of the world of nobility, I didn’t know much about it or understand it.

I knew nothing… But if my speculation was correct… In other words…

Ah! What a scary thought!

‘Just what is that—that monster! That is no way any ordinary civil officer. Piecing together Urschel-sama’s statement from the other day with what the duke said just now and various things I’ve seen, the puzzle pieces all fell into place. Could it be that, that ducal house is…!’

My waist gave out, I ended up slumping down just like that, unable to move.

A while after that, I quit being a guard. The reason: a few days after listening to the dukes’ conversation, I got transferred from patrolling the back garden to the government office where all the civil officers were—I sensed my life was in danger.

I already had enough of the nobles. I didn’t want to get involved in anything ever.

Since that day, I couldn’t get Duke Minusle’s laughters out of my head. I was stuck in that situation when the transfer order came in.

I immediately handed in my resignation notice, moved out of the guards’ quarters as if to flee, and quit. My superiors tried to talk me out of it, saying that it would be a great career move for me to move to a government office, where normally only the elites would go, but I refused.

I couldn’t ever possibly tell him about Duke Minusle.

I quit and immediately went down to the city to look for a carriage to take me near my home town, and when I found one I almost ran into it.

However…

“Yes, just in time. You came here like I had calculated.”

After I ran in and the carriage had departed, I… I felt as if my breath had been stopped by this other most unlikely passenger.

“Yo, Eugene-kun. It’s been a while. I’ve been waiting for you.”

“….Ah..ah…”

“Well, well, you seem to be at a loss for words. Well, that’s all right. I’d sooner finish my business than have you calm down… Well, I’ll get right to business…”

“…So, will you die for me?”

“What bad luck you have. You’re not even an enemy spy nor my political rival or anything close. You’re simply a hard-working soldier with no shady intentions. But it was purely bad luck. Curiosity kills the cat, as they say. If only you were laxer at work, this wouldn’t have happened.

It’s a rule of the House of Minusle. We can’t let anyone know about our work except our direct subordinates and the nobility. Not only Urschel, you also heard what I said and made sense of the situation, so I couldn’t let you get away.

…Nevertheless, it’s nothing but a formality, a rule that I usually overlook somewhat deliberately, but you decided to escape; it’s quite a risk to have you on the loose out there. We have to consider the worst scenario, so it’ll be a big problem if that information is leaked to the surrounding countries. Thus, I have no choice but to kill you, you know… Oh, it’s not going to be a murder, I’ll make it appear as if you died from an accident, so please cooperate.”

“….Hm, anyway.”

“I don’t think there’s a point explaining all this to a dead body, is there?”