Circumstances of a Fallen Lord

Chapter 20

In a split second, Ruger had pulled up alongside Luisen’s horse. As a noble servant, he was an excellent rider. “I’ll be by your side, assisting my duke. The road will be flat; you’ll be fine.”

“Okay, I’ll put my trust in you….”

The party began to depart.

‘Let’s just quietly follow. What could go wrong?’ Luisen took a deep breath and spurred his horse.

At that time, Luisen didn’t realize how hard it was to plaster oneself to the horse like a dead body–how hard it was to fulfill the ‘easy’ deed to follow the party!

****

They were left in the middle of a village.

Only Luisen and Ruger remained on the road. Carlton and the rest of the group had long faded into the horizon.

Luisen had been left behind before he and his attendant could even properly get out of his territory.

“Haaaah…..” Luisen let out a long sigh.

Ruger looked at Luisen as if he was at his wits end. Luisen also could only sigh more, as he had no easy solution.

‘Was I…..truly this bad at riding….?’

It had been okay at first.

The party departed slowly. Luisen was quite unsteady, but he was able to follow along. But, perhaps everyone was so excited to leave the castle after such a long time of being stationary? Or perhaps the problem was that there were no obstacles in front of them on this open road?

Carlton and his men gradually began to increase speed; after a minute of regaining their senses, their horses began to gallop.

Luisen’s poor riding was unable to keep up with these skillful warriors. The duke was part of the leading retinue at the beginning of the journey, but as time went on, he was gradually pushed backwards until he could no longer touch the tails of the horses before him.

They had to follow after the rest somehow. Luisen had no doubt that Carlton would find some way to find fault with him…but–the bigger issue–he was embarrassed!

Luisen’s heart was in a hurry, but his body couldn’t follow along. Frustration simmered within him. Luisen had directed his temper to his horse, trying to urge it to move with polished but curt words, and the annoyed horse refused to move.

“Please. Horse. Why are you doing this? Can’t we quickly go? Hmm?” Luisen shook the reins and dug into the sides with his heels. He did everything, but his horse had only snorted his refusal.

Simultaneously, Carlton and his men were quickly disappearing in the distance. Anxiously, Luisen called out to them, but his voice was buried underneath the clopping sound of hooves. Nobody looked back–Luisen was sure he was forgotten.

Ruger did not forget his duty and remained by the side of his master.

“Come on, you’re a good horse, right? Will you move for us?” Ruger dismounted and tried to coax Luisen’s horse. “I don’t think this will work, it’s not budging. The horse is incredibly upset.”

“They said it was the mildest of horses in the duchy though…”

“That’s true….”

“I guess even I’d be annoyed to be the steed of such an incompetent rider.” Luisen sighed again. Ruger continued to fret, voicing his worries–not one tail of Carlton’s horses was now visible.

“What should we do?” Ruger asked.

“What can we do? Even if we walk, we have to follow somehow.” If they continued to walk on this road, maybe Carlton would notice their absence and return for them. Or, if the cavalry continued to the Vinard territory without them, Luisen would be thankful.

Anyway, it was important to maintain the image that he tried to follow along. Luisen needed to show that he hadn’t intentionally fallen behind. Furthermore, there was no use standing still in the middle of a village.

Luisen clambered off his horse.

The insolent horse extraordinarily became calm as soon as Luisen dismounted. It followed Ruger tamely as he took the reins.

Luisen, Ruger, and their two horses began to walk along the quaint road.

‘Now that I think about it, I haven’t been outside the castle since my regression.’ Luisen had been busy circling the castle and its outskirts, running errands for Carlton. Even while surrendering on that fateful night, Luisen had taken the forest path and avoided the village.

‘It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the village…I thought I’d never see it again.’ The village below the castle had disappeared when the duchy burnt down. Though Luisen had been away for a long time, the memory of his hometown was still vivid in his mind.

‘That’s the flower shop, right? And there’s the tobacco refinery next to it? I think there’s a greengrocer somewhere around here as well….’

Luisen, lost in longing, made eye contact with a woman who stood by the window of a two-story building. She didn’t greet Luisen nor hide from him; she just stared. Perhaps due to her deep set eyes, her gaze was quite piercing.

‘Who’s that?’

Luisen did not know this woman. Luisen had quite the loud dating history in the capital, but he had never made a partner on the estate. However, her penetrating glare made his steps falter.

Luisen noticed the strange sense of disharmony stagnating in the air. He was absorbed by nostalgia, but as he cleared his mind, something was definitely wrong.

‘Why is it so quiet?’

The main road connecting the outer and inner districts was one of the busiest places in the village. It had always been crowded with people, horses, and wagons. But now it was quiet for the first time in Luisen’s life.

Not a single person was seen on the street–there was no one except for Luisen and Ruger. Unbelievable…even if the gate was sealed, people would still be living in the village. However, Luisen couldn’t hear any signs of life. The village sounded like an abandoned ghost town.

‘What……?’

While Luisen was lost in anxiety, Ruger, sticking close to his master, said grimly, “My duke, It would be best for us to mount our horses.”

“Huh?”

Ruger was looking at a distant location. Following his wary gaze, Luisen saw a small crowd.

 The people who were hiding in the alleyways or inside their houses came out one by one and approached Luisen. They had no strength in their bodies, and their faces were caked with dirt. Their cheeks were gaunt–like walking corpses. Each desperate eye was bloodshot; Luisen was horrified.

“What happened to these people?” he murmured.

The Anies territory was rich; ordinary villagers were also able to gain weight and sport supple skin. The generosity of life exuded from their appearance. The villagers of the castle footholds, especially, lived a particularly wealthy life as they were close to the duke’s castle. Normally, they were people who would have lived without knowing hunger for all their lives.

Though the village was quarantined, there still was plenty of time before winter. Additionally, the cold season shouldn’t have been a problem as the village should have stocked food supply reserves in advance.

One of the villagers stepped forward and asked, “My lord…You’re the lord, aren’t you?”

Luisen wasn’t willing to confirm anything. ‘The atmosphere is alarming….’ He wondered if a riot was about to break out. The villagers’ faces seemed to all be filled with anger. It would be better to approach more covertly and ask what had happened.

While Luisen was carefully choosing his words, Ruger stepped forward. He covered his master with one arm, protecting him, and shouted at the people.

“That’s right. This man here is Luisen, the Duke of Anies! Knowing that, how dare you block his path?!”

‘…Crazy Ruger! Shut up!’ Luisen panicked.

“Please don’t worry, my lord. Now that they know you’re the duke, they’ll get out of your way.”

‘No, no. The issue is that you’ve revealed my identity!’ Luisen dropped his head into his hands.

“It’s the lord.”

“The lord is here!”

“The lord came out of his castle!”

Lured by the uproar, more people gathered in no time. The crowd was so intimidating that Luisen plastered himself by Ruger’s side.

“What are you doing?!” Ruger was shocked by the unexpected reaction and gave an indignant shout.

“We’re from the village! We have something to demand from the lord!”

“There’s something we need to ask!”

Ruger quickly declined all the requests with one single stroke, “If you have any questions, go through the proper formalities!” Luisen didn’t even have the chance to calm the crowd and hear them out.

“Formalities? Procedures??”

“Even if we go through them, you won’t listen to us at all!”

“Did you go through the proper procedures when you robbed our granary and storehouses?”

Luisen was in shock. “Wait, what? What did you say?” he asked.

At his words, dozens of people aired out their grievances. “Give us back what you took!”

“All the grain foodstuffs have been taken, the distributed rations have disappeared, and we’re barred from leaving the grounds? Are we supposed to die?!”

“Outside the castle grounds, the fields are laden with wheat, but the inner city is left to scramble for crumbs and starvation!”

The sky shook with the villagers’ loud cries of fury and resentment. More shouting layered upon tears. The many voices began to mix together and created a confusing cacophony.

‘What are they saying? They’re starving to death? How could they be starving to death? Why?? What are they saying we took, and what are these distributions?’ Luisen was puzzled.

What had happened to the village at this time of the year? What had happened after the war? Luisen couldn’t remember. Or, more accurately, Luisen didn’t forget, but these details were lost to time in the future.

“Please, slowly tell me the details. I…..I don’t know anything….” Luisen said.

However, Ruger blocked Luisen from moving forward. “Please stay still, Duke. It’s dangerous. I’ll take care of it. You don’t need to work directly with these ruffians.”

“What? Did you just call us ruffians?” A very angry man rushed to grab Ruger by the collar, but Ruger simply overpowered the man and threw him forward. An ordinary, starving villager was no match for a noble youth who had trained in martial arts.

Ruger, angry at being threatened by the townsfolk, finally raised his bow. He aimed at the man on the ground.

‘T-this is crazy!’ Luisen panicked and quickly grabbed Ruger’s arm.

“Don’t stop me! How dare these commoners attack the nobility!”

“Don’t talk nonsense and lower your bow! These are my people!” Luisen managed to take away Ruger’s weapon, but it was too late.

“The servant of the lord tried to kill the people of this land!”

“No, calm down!” However, now no one would listen to Luisen. The crowd’s patience, which had been stretched tight like rubber, had finally snapped. Ruger’s behavior sparked an uncontrollable spread of anger.

The crowd had become agitated, losing all reason. The situation had instantly distorted.

TL: (I’ll do a bonus chap soon in the future, Thanks Er la Inertia and Io! Thanks for enjoying this novel and the translation!)

Also, that feel when Luisen wants to say he’s not classist but everyone around him messes that up.