Chapter 399 - Chapter Nine: Noein Arqvist
"Then, I have certainly delivered it."
"Yes, I've received it... thank you for your hard work."
As Noein looked up while offering a perfunctory word of appreciation, the head maid had not been listening.
Watching with a cynical smile as the head maid already turned her back and departed, disappearing beyond the forest path, Noein opened the letter she had brought—a letter from his hated father, Maximilian.
His father would never come to this detached residence himself, but when he had business with Noein, the head maid would deliver a letter like this. Even then, it happened perhaps once a year.
"Noein-sama, what was the nature of the business?"
Matilda approached Noein, who was reading the letter from his father while still standing, and asked.
"Look, it was about my future treatment."
Saying so, Noein turned the letter toward her. Noein, who would turn fourteen this year, had grown in height compared to before, but he remained small and delicate; Matilda, who was tall for a woman, ended up in a posture where she peered at the letter over Noein's shoulder.
"...I see. It turned out exactly as you predicted, Noein-sama."
The letter stated that in one year—specifically, when the Royal Calendar reached the year 211, the year Noein would turn fifteen—Noein would be cast out from the House of Count Kivileft.
Noein had predicted that this would likely happen, but with this, the fact of his expulsion was finalized.
"But with this, I can't really tell how I'll be kicked out. Or how I'll be treated after I'm gone."
The letter Noein stared at while sighing contained only a single sentence: "At the beginning of the Royal Calendar year 211, when you turn fifteen, I shall sever your ties with the House of Count Kivileft and have you leave the house, so be prepared for that."
What would happen after he was cast out? Would he receive a settlement fee? Would he be expelled from this territory, Laden, or from the Count Kivileft territory itself? He knew nothing. Most likely, he would be strictly forbidden from revealing his origins to the outside world.
"...Well, whatever. If I can be free, then that's fine. From now on, I'll gradually prepare myself to live in the outside world."
"Yes, Noein-sama."
As Noein leaned his head on Matilda's shoulder with a fearless smile, Matilda gently hugged Noein from behind and returned the smile.
.....
And so time passed, and the Royal Calendar year 211 arrived, the year Noein turned fifteen. That day came early in the new year.
"...It has been a long time, Noein."
"Yes. Father... no, His Excellency Count Kivileft."
Maximilian Kivileft, his biological father, whom he faced for the first time in about six years. Noein confronted him, as the man had visited the detached residence without any prior notice.
Just calling him "father" made his skin crawl. The man likely felt the same way just being called "father" by him. Therefore, Noein went out of his way to correct it to the distant "His Excellency Count Kivileft."
Despite Noein's consideration, Maximilian's expression became bitter. He clicked his tongue softly and spoke again.
"Because it has become known to those around me that you are a child of my blood, I have been forced to feed you—the evidence of my youthful mistake—for fifteen years. How tedious and unpleasant this has been—"
Noein maintained a calm expression toward Maximilian, who rattled off a long string of selfish and egocentric logic. He knew perfectly well that his father was this kind of person. At this point, such things did not move his emotions.
And then, what Maximilian spoke of was the matter of pushing a forest that was a territory in name only, along with a bottom-tier peerage, onto Noein.
"—I shall also give you some settlement money as development funds... that should be sufficient, yes?"
So that's how it is, Noein thought. He was slightly impressed by his father's maneuvering.
A single move to dispose of a troublesome bastard child and a remote exclave all at once. By telling the Royal Family, "I have let the bastard child inherit the exclave, severed ties, and made them independent," he saves face; and even if Noein fails at development and dies in a ditch, that is the responsibility of Baronet Noein Arqvist, so the House of Count Kivileft, having severed ties, bears no responsibility. The territory of a noble whose lineage has ended becomes the land of the Royal Family.
Furthermore, for a piece of land that could hardly be called a territory—merely a slice of the edge of the Bezel Great Forest—the probability of successful development was not high. Even if he didn't die in a ditch, the best he could hope for was to end his life as the lord of a poor farming village barely carved out of the forest. Normally, anyone would think so.
At least as long as Maximilian lived, the possibility of Noein rising as a noble and becoming a nuisance was infinitely small. For a move conceived by this small-minded father, it was brilliant.
Noein let out a short breath, laughed, and answered.
"Just one more thing... I would like to purchase one of the Count's slaves; would that be acceptable?"
The only thing Noein had decided regarding his future way of life: to live together with Matilda.
To achieve this, Noein brought it up to his father. After a short negotiation with a father who seemed to have absolutely no interest in one of the many slaves he owned, it was decided that Noein would purchase Matilda for 50,000 Rebro.
Maximilian did not know that Noein had provided Matilda with an advanced education. He likely thought she was a simple labor slave capable only of the calculations necessary to endure shopping. For her price to be 50,000 Rebro was clearly higher than the market rate.
However, Noein accepted his father's asking price. It would be unbearable if he tried to haggle and was told, "Then I will stop selling her." To Noein, Matilda was an existence of value that could not be exchanged for money.
"Then, leave this place by two weeks from now. Pack your personal belongings... I had heard you acquired a talent for puppet magic, but you certainly bought a lot of golems and such. They were all originally bought with my money... Ah, you are taking things bought with the allowance I gave you. I shall charge a removal fee. 50,000 Rebro."
"Huh?"
Noein involuntarily cried out. To take the same amount of money as Matilda's price just for taking things. Even for his own father, it was a level of narrow-mindedness that left him appalled. That was what he thought.
"Do you have a complaint? I could just as well forbid the removal of all these items, you know?"
"...No, it is fine. I will pay the 50,000 Rebro."
"That's better. I have various needs at the moment. I must hire and gather mercenaries to dispatch troops for the conflict with the Pallas Empire at the start of the year. It costs money for a noble to fulfill their duties. You would do well to remember that."
"..."
Even so, 50,000 Rebro would hardly be a significant help, and in the first place, providing such an amount would be trivial for the House of Count Kivileft.
He thought so, but Noein did not say it. It was ridiculous to speak with his father any further.
"Then, we are finished... Hmph, I wonder how you managed to live in such a cramped, beast-smelling detached residence for six years."
Spitting out a final line that seemed unbelievable coming from the very person who had locked him up, Maximilian left.
Noein turned back toward Matilda with an exasperated face and met her eyes.
"And that's how it is, Matilda. It seems I'm becoming a landed noble."
"...May I say congratulations?"
At her ambiguous expression, Noein laughed softly.
"Fufu, well, yes... I suppose it's not bad. It's convenient for living happily."
If he had been cast out by Count Kivileft, Noein had intended to start a trading company or a farm. There, he intended to hire various people, give them affection, receive love from them in return, and live happily.
From the experience of feeling immense happiness by receiving love from Matilda, he had come to want more love, an overflowing amount of love; he came to believe that this was the happiness he sought.
Being given a territory and a title was, depending on how one looked at it, convenient. Developing a remote forest would certainly not be easy, but if he achieved success, he could stand in the ideal position of a lord surrounded by many people—a position perfect for giving affection and receiving fondness and respect.
He could create a paradise exactly like his ideal from scratch.
"Besides, I'll probably have a higher success rate at development than an ordinary person."
Noein looked back toward the backyard. Two golems were seated there.
After that, Noein had requested the Alessandri Magic Tool Workshop again and had brand new golems manufactured specifically for himself. The two golems, finished in a state optimal for Noein to handle, would be the perfect military force for development work.
"...I will make the development a success. And I will create a utopia. I'll gather many people in my territory and, as their lord, cherish and adore them all. Then, the vassals and the people will surely love me. They will adore me. In such a utopia, I will live happily forever. I will spend my life gaining great happiness. That... that is my revenge against my father."
Noein spoke while putting strength into his hand.
"Father stole fifteen years from me. For the last six, he locked me up in a place like this. Even now, he thinks he has dropped me into the depths of misery by pushing the frontier onto me. As if I'll let things go according to those intentions. Using the knowledge and abilities I gained while locked away, and utilizing the position my father pushed onto me, I will show him that I can be happy..."
And then, he directed a smile of utmost kindness toward Matilda.
"So Matilda, I want you to watch over my revenge and become happy together with me. I want you to continue loving me closer than anyone else... Will you come with me?"
"Of course, Noein-sama."
Matilda answered without a moment's hesitation.
"I am a part of Noein-sama. Noein-sama is my everything. The place where Noein-sama is is the place where I should be. I will accompany you to any place. I will serve you forever. Please, let me stay closest to you from now on as well."
"...Thank you, Matilda."
Noein pulled Matilda close, and Matilda enveloped Noein in her arms.
"Fufu, it's surely going to be fun from now on... Let's have a fun revenge. A revenge of living happily."
On this day, in the arms of the woman he loved most, Noein Arqvist was born.
This concludes Chapter Zero. Thank you for reading the story of the beginning of Noein and Matilda.
From here, it connects to Volume 1 of the book.
The book version, "The Happiness Tale of the Twisted Lord," is now on sale at bookstores nationwide and various online shopping sites.
With significant additions, this work has deepened in content even further than the web version; as the author, it would be my greatest joy if you would welcome it into your hands. I humbly ask for your support.
