Chapter 7
So she left him as soon as she woke up. That’s why Alexis’ memories of that night felt like a dream, and he felt deep regret.
In the first place, I shouldn’t have left the bedroom for work. I shouldn’t have just sent that mysterious woman away. I should have waited until she woke up and taken a look inside that dark, unfathomable place.
Alexis wasn’t fooled by her lame excuses about how she had a crush on him from the start.
He crossed his arms and chewed on his cigar. A bitter taste spread through his mouth. His deep golden eyes sank deeply as if they had plunged into water.
In high society, his tastes are known only for his red-hot and green eyes, but when you look inside, the situation is unexpectedly profound.
My strong taste was related to a woman who had been like a lifeline to me in the past.
When everyone turned away, the only woman who offered Alexis
a helping hand was her.
Alexis was the illegitimate son of a duke, and lived alone with his ailing mother in a small village in the Viscounty of Haleton before being adopted into the family, unaware of the truth.
He would wake up every morning to the sound of his mother coughing. His mother was in poor health and always got up to take care of her only son. Alexis, who was still young and could not do anything, only saw her off and greeted her.
Alexis thought his life was terrible, because sometimes he thought that if only he had a father, it wouldn’t be so hard.
It’s not that I didn’t love my mother. However, unlike others, the absence of my father sometimes heightened the foggy loneliness, and my life of surviving day by day with little money felt shabby.
Then one day, his mother, who had gone to work sick, collapsed when she returned home. He asked the village doctor for help, but he was refused treatment simply because of his poor financial situation, and he ended up having to witness his mother’s death right before his eyes.
Alexis was alone as he mourned the death of his mother when an unexpected visitor arrived. The man in shiny clothes said that
he was an aide to the Duke of Vegas and had come to escort him to the capital at the Duke’s behest.
Alexis had to head straight to the capital without being able to properly pack anything due to the man who suddenly barged in. He didn’t even need to ride a carriage for a week because he had moved through warp using high-speed magic. The warp, which he had experienced for the first time, made his stomach turn into a mess, as if he was going to throw up at any moment.
In a state of confusion, he had to meet the Duke of Vegas, whose name he had never even heard of.
‘You are Helena’s son.’
The person he saw for the first time was so intimidating that he couldn’t even speak to him carelessly. When his face, which was slowly approaching him, appeared in the light, Alexis was a little surprised. It was because it was very similar to his own face that he saw in the mirror every day.
The duke let out a soft laugh, perhaps feeling the same thing.
‘… … I was wondering where she was hiding when she said she would never show it to me.’
The reason the Duke came to see him was because of a letter from his mother that Helena had barely delivered to the capital before she died.
Helena, who worked as a maid at the Duke of Vegas, realized that she had become pregnant after spending a night with the Duke. However, she quickly realized that he was not the right person for her, and fearing that the baby might be taken away from her, she quickly cleaned up her surroundings and came down to the countryside.
After that, she tried to give birth to a child and live on her own, but things did not go as planned due to her physical condition and worries about Alexis, who would be left alone if she died, so she ended up writing a letter to the Duke.
‘Your mother seems to want you to be my illegitimate child. What should I do?’
The Duke of Vegas was already a man who had married the Marquis’s daughter. This meant that his wife and the children born from them were now living in the ducal residence.
Alexis naturally wanted to get out of here. He didn’t want to be dragged to a capital city he had never been to before and live his life being treated with contempt for something he had done nothing wrong.
But he had to think realistically. If he stayed here, at least his life would be guaranteed. On the other hand, if he went outside, he could do whatever he wanted, but his life could be in danger. The young boy didn’t have the strength to live alone.
As his thoughts turned to one side, Alexis was forced to choose an unpalatable option.
Since then, many things have happened until Alexis officially received the name of Vegas. The Duchess’s displeased gaze, the cold treatment of the successors, and the gossip of the employees. While these things piled up and scratched his heart, he continued to grow.
What he had the hardest time with was the violence and criticism from his two and three year old siblings. Getting beaten was a daily occurrence. Until then, Alexis had not eaten well and was smaller than his peers, so he had no choice but to be beaten by them.
It was when he fell for the plot of Vinther and Boris, the legitimate successors to the Duke’s family and his half-brothers, that he met the red-haired woman.
I was curious as to why they were acting so friendly and asking me to go to the square with them, but I followed them. After indiscriminately beating him in the carriage, they sold Alexis to bandits who had taken over the forest east of the capital’s outskirts.
Alexis, who was suddenly put in a sack, threw a tantrum and demanded to be released, but the bandits seemed to think he was just being cute and didn’t move.
But Alexis could not give up. He saw the symbol stamped on their shoulders before the sacks were placed on their heads. It was the symbol of the Quaidal Bandits, known for their brutality and ferocity.
A brutal and inhumane group that slaughters live animals and brutally skins them, invades small villages in territories far from the capital, and sometimes kidnaps people to sell them as slaves to other empires.
Alexis felt sick and had a headache as his whole body shook inside the sack. Even in the midst of all this, he could clearly hear their conversation.
‘Oh, with your temper. Don’t you get tired? I’d rather just abandon you and go.’
‘No. Have you forgotten how much he’s worth? He may be half-dead, but he’s still the Duke’s blood. He’ll definitely get a big cut of it.’
The reason the Quaidal Bandits bought Alexis was because they thought they could get a price several times higher than what they paid to Vinter and Boris. Of course, the target of their extortion was Alexis’s biological father, Duke Vegas.
Their conversation made Alexis feel very uneasy. He was not sure that the Duke of Vegas would save his illegitimate child by spending a lot of money. He was very afraid that his life might fall into the hands of bandits.
‘Whew, I’m dying from exhaustion. But since I’m a man, I guess I weigh quite a bit.’
‘Let’s take a short break and then go.’
Alexis took his chance when they briefly set the sack on the ground. He quickly poked his head through the opening that had been widened by the struggle he had made to get there, and bit down hard on the arm of the man holding the sack.
‘Aaah!’
As soon as the man dropped the sack, Alexis jumped out of it and ran into the forest with all his might.
‘Don’t miss him! Catch him!’
Running through the trees that filled his field of vision was no easy feat, but it seemed the same for the bandits. Alexis ran without stopping, his heart pounding like thunder in fear.
‘Don’t stand there!’
‘You little rat-like bastard. If you get caught, you’re dead!’
A thunderous roar was heard from behind. Alexis couldn’t stop walking, even though he could smell the pungent smell of blood coming out of his throat. If he stopped here, he would probably be caught by their hands, and if he did… … . An image he didn’t even want to think about filled his vision with blackness.
Alexis often thought of dying amidst all the abuse and violence that had continued. It was a harsh environment that made it inevitable. Even though he was able to live in incomparable abundance compared to the past, he preferred the time when he lived in a shabby environment with his beloved mother rather than living a life of daily meals.
But when I was faced with a situation where I might actually die, I wanted to live. Even though I felt like I was being mean, the instinct to live inevitably raised its head.
As I ran and ran through the thickets and large leaves, the uphill road that had left me breathless suddenly turned into flat ground. And many of the tree trunks that had filled my view disappeared.
I ran away so fast that the surrounding scenery changed, but the sound of people chasing me from behind did not disappear. Of course, they must have paid a considerable price to bring Alexis back, so they wouldn’t be able to give up easily.
After running for a while, Alexis sensed a presence in the distance. There’s someone, over there! Alexis put strength into his legs that were about to stumble, thinking of calling for help.
‘Hey, save me!’
As he had expected, there were quite a few people in the place where he had felt the presence. They were knights with swords on one side of their waists and guns on the other. The knights, who seemed to be protecting someone, drew their weapons without hesitation toward Alexis, who had appeared out of nowhere.
‘Who are you!’
‘Please save me!’
A rough, upside-down voice resonated through the quiet forest.
Alexis, who was standing face to face with the knights who were guarding someone, trembled with fear. They didn’t seem to be safe from me, but they were still better than the Quaidal bandits. If I were to be dragged away by them now, I could suddenly become a slave to another empire. Just thinking about it made his legs lose their strength, and Alexis collapsed in front of them.
The knights hesitated at the appearance of a small boy who did not even seem to fit their waists. After a while of standoff, they turned their heads with troubled eyes at the sound of an orphaned voice coming from behind.
‘What’s going on?’
The group of knights split in half, and a robed woman walked out. The knights looked embarrassed and pointed towards Alexis, who was blocking the group.
Alexis raised his head, catching his breath. The woman had already come close to him. When she took off her robe hood, her red hair flowed beautifully in the bright sunlight.
For a moment, Alexis forgot the urgency of the situation and lost himself in the beauty that had caught his eye. The woman had the most beautiful appearance he had ever seen in his life.
The red-haired woman looked down at Alexis with a blank gaze.
