The double life of a count’s bastard

Episode 31

“Poohhhhhhh!”

Rousseau looked like a beggar and laughed like a madman.

His companions stared at him in disdain, either outright or with glares.

“Why? What, am I a scumbag? I risked my life to cut down the evil in the world, and this is the least I deserve!”

He shouted at his companions, who looked at him as if he were pathetic or despicable, and then he giggled again.

She stripped down.

The real Rosita was robbed by Russo of everything she had worked for her entire life, except for the underwear she was wearing.

Sure, she’d held out at first.

Dead or dying, she vowed, she would never give up even a single lead to this unstoppable wretch.

But he was not a good opponent.

He was an unrelenting bastard who didn’t blink an eye when people criticised him or pointed fingers.

“I’ve never seen a man use his hands so brutally on a woman in my life, and if people knew about this…”

Jason shook his head, even sighing as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“What the hell, a demon that grabs innocent children and rips their hearts out while they’re still alive? That’s worse than a beast that has nothing to say when it’s beaten to death.”

Russo snorted at Jason’s comment.

“If I kidnapped your son or daughter and ripped out their heart, would you still say something like that?”

“That, that’s…….”

A sound I wouldn’t mind ripping out.

At the change in Jason’s expression that made him cringe at the mere thought of it, Rousseau raised one corner of his mouth as if to say.

“You think it’s your job, so you don’t see the difference between a woman and a man? Why do you put so much stock in appearances? I’m not a saint, and I’m not going to give humanity to anything that isn’t human.”

Rousseau’s conviction left Jason speechless.

Neither Hans, Merlin, nor Sir Coach thought Rousseau was wrong, though they didn’t say so.

Male or female gender meant nothing to those who had done evil or who had given up being human.

“Do you think he’ll be okay as is, by the way?”

Merlin glanced at Rosita, who was being dragged behind the group, bound from head to foot.

Gone were the beauty and charm of a woman her age.

Her hair was dishevelled and unkempt, and her face was a mess of disfigurement, though she could be cleaned and given time to heal and return to her former self.

Her bloodshot eyes, unfocused and hollow, as if her soul had been sucked out of her, were enough for anyone to recognise that she was not normal.

“What can I say? Did you expect me to be like that?”

Rousseau shrugged her shoulders as if she wasn’t to blame.

Though he wasn’t exactly wrong,.

“How impudent of him to rush to solve something that should have been solved gradually and then screw it up.”

Hans, Merlin, and even Jason nodded at Lord Coach’s words.

Rousseau started to say something, but then turned away, as if it would only hurt his mouth.

Rosita had become an idiot.

Rousseau, who had known from the start that Rosita wouldn’t hand over her fortune so easily, had prepared a fifth-level spellbook, Mind Control.

As an ordinary woman, Rosita was controlled by her mind and forced to reveal everything about herself to Russo.

The purpose of mind-control magic is to take control of someone’s mind and make them discern truth from lies or perform certain behaviours.

The after-effects are not severe, and once the spell is broken, the victim will not remember what they said or did and will return to their normal behaviour.

So, once Rosita reveals all of her hidden wealth, she should be able to return to her normal self.

The question was:.

“This wouldn’t have happened if I had been more careful. Even the common servants of Sahrtan are subject to mind control, so why shouldn’t the highest priests be?”

The others nodded at Hans’s words.

It was certainly flippant.

The reason Rosita had become an idiot was that Rousseau had had a mental breakdown while trying to find out information about the Spartans.

The Sahrtan Church had placed a mind-control spell in her mind early on, with a failsafe that would cause her mind to disintegrate if she was forced to reveal it.

“They’re evil, putting such horrible restrictions on the minds of innocent people. They shouldn’t be in the world.”

To be honest, neither Russo nor Rosita had any idea how thorough Rosita’s mental restraints would be.

“Who’s going to be afraid to use mental magic against the priests of Sahrtan in the future?”

The others looked at Rousseau with a look that said, “I mean, everyone could have seen this coming except you.

Rousseau wiped his mouth shamelessly.

“This is why people have to live clean and clear,” he said, “because they do things that aren’t human, and in the end, they’re punished.”

“…….”

“…….”

Rousseau’s words made everyone in the group stare at him.

“What? Why? Did I say something wrong?”

He was right.

That’s not something you’d expect to hear from the mouth of a man who’s been shunned by his own family, is it?

* * *

Rosita was to be taken to the Order of Nevatera by Merlin.

Since he was a priest of Sahr’tan, it was only fitting that one of the three main opposing orders should take him.

Even if he was a demented idiot, it was certain that the Three Orders would try to get information on the evil Sahr’tan by any means necessary.

The question was:.

“You’re going to give me everything? Why?”

Merlin stared at Rousseau with a look of utter incomprehension, and so did the others.

The mere existence of a follower of the evil god Sahr’tan was a grave sin, and the Three Orders offered generous bounties for his capture, no matter how lowly a minion.

If they wanted money, they got it; if they wanted expensive holy water or potions, they paid for them.

If you were a priest, the value would be even higher, but Rousseau would give it all up.

Rather.

“I’d rather my name not be mentioned at all.”

Though he didn’t say it, Rousseau seemed to know that Rosita was a priestess of Satan.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t explain everything.

Still, Russo wanted it to be known that he had nothing to do with this.

“Why would you do something like this, something that might make people see you again?”

For seven years, Russo had been a disgrace to his family’s honour.

Lord Coach was said to have done more than his fair share of work in capturing Rosita, but Rousseau’s greatest accomplishment was in identifying Sahrtan’s priest beforehand.

But does capturing a single priest of Sahr’tan cleanse the past?

Of course not.

Rousseau himself knew that, and even if it did, it was the last thing he wanted right now.

He would have to remain a complete and utter failure.

Unable to reveal all of these facts, Rousseau simply replied with a look of annoyance.

“It’s annoying, and as I said, my purpose was Rosita’s money, so if I get it, that’s all that matters.”

I did indeed take a lot.

No, I’m going to get it.

Rosita had indeed scattered her lifetime’s wealth around, and Russo had gobbled it all up.

None of them had the right to ask for it to be shared, nor did they want to.

Only.

“Let’s be clear, Sir Coach, no matter what anyone says, you’re the one who did the most good today, and isn’t that honourable enough before you retire? You’re not interested in dirty money anyway, are you?”

Sir Coach’s brow furrowed at Rousseau’s tone as if he were asking if he coveted dirty money, but he snorted and shook his head.

“To come empty-handed and go empty-handed is life!”

Rousseau chuckled as if that were a satisfactory answer.

“Hans won’t have any complaints.”

Hans was a knight under contract to himself, so he had no reason to ask for a cut, nor did he seem inclined to.

Jason was his butler, too, and would have to abide by whatever Russo decided.

“You’re not interested in the riches of the Order, either, so take this opportunity to show the Order that you care.”

As Rousseau had said, Merlin had no interest in Rosita’s wealth.

Nor was he in a position to expect anything in return, since he had agreed to help her in exchange for her keeping his secret.

Nevertheless, Rousseau would gain a great deal of credit in the Order by handing Rosita over to Merlin.

It was a far greater gain than money, and Merlin couldn’t help but wonder why Rousseau was so obsessed with money.

“Hmph~ This isn’t some kind of rat poison, is it?”

The food was so tantalising that Merlin wondered if he might get sick from eating it.

No matter how much he trusted Rousseau, he was still the one who was being judged.

“Isn’t it enough for you to be able to digest rat poison? Isn’t that enough for you?”

Rousseau smirked, but Merlin, realising that there was no intent in his eyes, nodded meekly.

“Well, if you can’t eat it, you’re a fool.”

Once Merlin had complied, Russo glanced at Hans and Jason.

Hans was an asshole, but he wasn’t exactly a loudmouth.

“Jason, good luck with your future.”

“……??”

What? What the hell is he talking about?

Jason looked at Russo with a questioning look, but he didn’t say anything more.

“Isn’t this… a pierced nose?

Unable to control his emotions at the moment, Jason couldn’t shake the feeling that he had unintentionally shared a different side of Russo and his secrets, that he had crossed a river he shouldn’t have.

“But what about those children, especially the elves?”

At Merlin’s question, Rousseau jerked his head back to look at the five children who had been kidnapped and dramatically rescued by Rosita.

Four of the children were commoners, and if they wanted to find their parents, they could find them, but the elves were a problem.

The elves, who live in complete isolation from humans, are only known to be based in the northern mountains, but their exact location is unknown.

There is only one reason why elves and humans cannot coexist.

Greedy humans want to enslave the elves.

With an average life expectancy of 700 years, the elves wanted to stamp out the greed of humans who don’t even live to see 100, but the disparity in population meant they were forced to live separate lives.

“We’ll have to take them with us.”

“You can’t possibly…”

Merlin narrowed his eyes at Russo.

She was an elf who had not yet reached adulthood, but she was clearly female, and she already possessed a beauty and mystery that few humans possessed.

Moreover, as a high elf, it was obvious that an elf would be of immense value to the four-legged aristocracy.

“That’s it. I may be a wretch, but I’m not that much of a scumbag, am I?”

Rousseau frowned, showing his displeasure, and Merlin, as well as the others who had been listening intently to the conversation, relaxed their stony expressions.

“Then where are you taking me?”

Merlin asked, and Rousseau replied bluntly, with a hint of displeasure in his voice, as if that was the only thing he recognised about him.

“Where are you going? Take me home!”

“Home, that elf’s home?”

Merlin stared at the High Elf, who was naturally stunned.

“I’ve heard that when you kidnap elves, you usually make sure they don’t run home.”

Jason said, carefully lowering his voice to a whisper.

Unless they’re fighting elves to defend their territory, even full-grown adult elves get lost when they venture outside of it.

The High Elf, who had been kidnapped atop Rosita, was so young that it was unlikely he would have known which way home was.

Everyone in the group looked at Russo with a strong question in their eyes: how could they get the elf back home?

“Their house is in the northern mountains.”

Who didn’t know that?

Only.

The Northern Mountains, which encompassed even the Inkeran Mountains, were enormous beyond imagination, so they couldn’t just go looking for the elves’ territory.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”

At Rousseau’s nonchalant reply, Merlin once again looked at him with suspicion.

“Ew! Eyes! I’ll, uh, whatever! I’ll, uh, get that kid, uh, ahhhh!”

Rousseau raised his fists in frustration at the unclean look of suspicion.