Happy Daily Life of a Reincarnated Noble Blessed with Vassals - Chapter 14

“Why did I spare you, you ask? Because I found you interesting. Because I thought you had value. Sympathy? Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t care about your past. What interests me is what you become from here on. Show me what a puppet like you can turn into.”

When I broke into the Hesselink estate, what awaited me wasn’t just the usual defenses. Instead, I found myself facing the fallen Holy Knight and the Massacre General, the very two people the rear support guys always said to flee from if encountered.

I had thought I might have a slim chance of pulling this off, but that was wishful thinking. Up until then, the organization’s scouting had never been wrong, but the assassination of House Hesselink’s head turned out to be riddled with irregularities.

The result? I got beaten senseless and left bound up like a piece of trash. I’d killed enough people that I knew I wasn’t going to meet a peaceful end, but I never imagined I’d be captured by a noble as terrifying as the so-called “Lord Protector.”

At the time, I resigned myself to the fact that it was probably better than being caught by some perverted sadist and turned into a plaything.

In reality, though, staying alive wasn’t doing me any favors.

Rex Hesselink—the madman. I’d heard his name before.

They say he’s the champion of the common people.

They say he’s the enemy of the nobility.

They say he’s the apostle of love.

They say he’s the Demon Lord.

This Demon Lord was the one who spared my life when I was about to be beheaded. Even though I survived, I didn’t feel alive after that. I kept thinking I’d end up as food for his summoned beasts or, worse, that I’d actually be turned into some kind of male concubine.

I spent every day thinking about when I should just end it all.

But nothing happened.

I’d eat breakfast, clean the estate, wash the soldiers’ uniforms, eat lunch, spar with the Holy Knight or the Massacre General, bathe, eat dinner, and then sleep. It was such a peaceful routine that I couldn’t believe it.

Those two—the Holy Knight and the Massacre General—praised my skills, especially my footwork. They said it was so precise that they couldn’t copy it, no matter how hard they tried. Even someone as emotionally dead as me couldn’t help but feel moved by that.

On the one hand, I started thinking, Wow, this is actually kind of fun. On the other, I couldn’t shake the fear that the Demon Lord’s judgment was still hanging over me.

I finally couldn’t take it anymore and asked the Massacre General what Rex Hesselink intended to do with me. Why hadn’t he shown himself since the day he saved my life?

The Massacre General answered casually as if he were just talking about that night’s dinner menu, “He’s gone to destroy your old organization. Poor souls. I wonder how many will survive.”

Like father, like son. The lunacy clearly ran in the family. Apparently, Rex’s father had given him a chance to save me—by wiping out my organization, singlehandedly. Of course, that was impossible. Going up against an information network spread across the entire country and an army of people who were masters of assassination? It was a suicide mission.

I grabbed the Massacre General by the collar and screamed at him to go save him, to do something.

I can laugh about it now, but back then, I was deadly serious.

In the end, my old organization was utterly destroyed by Rex Hesselink.

According to the Massacre General, the few survivors scattered and went into hiding, burying themselves underground. With the actions of a single man, the madman Rex Hesselink, one of the darkest organizations in Lepmia had been wiped off the map.

Once the organization that had shaped so much of my life was gone, I felt… nothing. I was empty. I realized that, even though I had hated the organization, a part of me had taken pride in belonging to it.

That was when the fallen Holy Knight began talking to me more often. Later, I learned that he saw a bit of his younger self in me—someone who had been through something similar and couldn’t just stand by and watch.

“My lord has a knack for discovering talent. You and I both caught his eye. In that sense, we’re like brothers, despite the age difference.”

He rarely ever smiled, that strict, stoic Holy Knight. But whenever he talked about Rex Hesselink, a smile would creep across his face. To be honest, that made me even more terrified of Rex. The fact that someone as dangerous as the Holy Knight was devoted to him only underscored how insane Rex really was.

When Rex finally returned after destroying the organization, I didn’t know how to react.

I didn’t have a shred of gratitude for the organization. But did I hate every single person in it? Not really. There were a few good people. Some of them, like me, had been abducted and forced into this life of killing.

I knew those details didn’t matter to him, but I still couldn’t bring myself to fully submit to the guy who had wiped them all out.

“Stop talking like I’m some kind of mass murderer who kills indiscriminately. I spared those who had mitigating circumstances. Whether any of them are the ‘good people’ you’re thinking of, I can’t say. You want to check?”

He threw a thick bundle of papers at me.

I flipped through it—there they were; the people I had prayed wouldn’t die. Their names, and their whereabouts, were all written there.

Aunt Adele, who’d been like a mother to me. Bieder, the old man from the mess hall who always gave me extra food. Kudel, the kid who’d been abducted at the same time as me and forced into being an assassin.

“Even a madman has reason. I’ve chosen who should live and who should die, acting accordingly. Though, I admit I missed a few. Those mistakes will be corrected in time.”

What the hell? How could someone like him show such restraint? I thought he was supposed to be mad. This guy was supposed to be on our side of the fence, wasn’t he?

“What’s this? You actually have emotions to shed tears over? That’s good. Much better than that puppet-like expression you usually wear. You’re much more beautiful when you cry. From now on, Mary, you’re family. Your enemies are my enemies now. But don’t get too worked up about it. You can think of me as your older brother if that helps.”

The fact that he said the exact same thing as the Holy Knight made me laugh.

That was the moment I was reborn. No longer the nameless assassin I had once been, but Mary, the assassin bound to House Hesselink. 

And it was also the moment I swore my undying loyalty to my big brother, Rex Hesselink.