Chapter 33 : Chapter 33
Chapter 33. A Mere Non-Heir Son
Morning light streamed through the narrow stone windows of the lord’s keep, casting slanting patches of golden light across the rough wooden floor.
For once, Eli had not risen before dawn.
He was lying on his side, with Ella curled up in his arms, her gray-white hair scattered loosely across his chest.
Her even breathing rose and fell gently, carrying a warmth that put his heart at ease.
Eli lowered his gaze to her peaceful sleeping face. His fingertips brushed aside a stray lock from her forehead, his movements light and careful.
An indescribable sense of contentment and laziness wrapped around him.
He had never felt the morning sunlight to be so gentle, nor the birdsong outside the window to be so pleasing.
Ella’s eyelashes trembled once, like the wings of a startled butterfly.
“You’re awake?” Eli’s voice was low and gentle, slightly hoarse from sleep.
At once, a blush bloomed across Ella’s cheeks again, and she instinctively tried to pull back the leg that was draped over his waist.
“It’s... it’s daylight...” Ella’s voice was soft as a whisper. Mortified, she buried her face even deeper into his chest.
Eli laughed softly, and the vibration in his chest passed clearly into her body.
“Yes, it’s daylight. So, my lady, it’s time to get up and attend council.”
“M-My lady?” Ella shot her head up at once, her eyes going round.
“What else?” Eli raised a brow. “Who was it that agreed last night?”
Ella slapped his hand away in embarrassment and tried to struggle upright. “W-Who agreed to anything?! Let go of me. Estor and the others must already be waiting...”
“If the lord chooses to sleep in, who would dare complain?”
“Don’t... mm...”
In the morning light, quiet breaths intertwined with low laughter and flustered little protests.
The rough linen bedding was worked into folds, while light and shadow danced across their entwined figures.
...
By the time Eli led Ella, whose cheeks were still flushed as she tried her best to maintain a dignified bearing, into the Council Hall, both sides of the long table were already full.
Bol’s booming voice rang out at once. “My lord! You’ve finally—”
The words died the moment he saw their clasped hands and the blush on Ella’s face.
An exaggerated grin of instant understanding spread across his face, and he forcibly swallowed the second half of the sentence.
He only let out two chuckles, earning a helpless eye-roll from Aika beside him.
The other officials all rose to greet them, and there was a warm, knowing look in every one of their eyes.
“Sit down.” Eli took his seat at the head of the table and swept his gaze across the room.
“Let’s begin. Bol, you first.”
Bol cleared his throat. “My lord! The soldiers are full of spirit! Yesterday’s commendation ceremony was beyond effective! Training for the new recruits is being kept tight, and the patrol units are rotating in three shifts. No abnormalities have been discovered around the camp, the mine, or the riverside fishery.”
Eli nodded. “Wolfgang, what about the forest?”
“The hunting party advanced ten li deeper into the woods. The haul was acceptable—three deer and five wild boars.No large threats were found. The young wolves remain stable. A few of them have already begun recognizing masters.”
“Good. The young wolves are our future. Put extra care into them.” Eli turned to Leon. “The mine?”
“My lord, mining is going smoothly! The newly arrived slaves are learning quickly, and output remains steady. I’m only afraid that this vein may not have much left.”
He added that last part with some regret.
“There’s no rush. Safety comes first.”
Eli let his eyes pass over the other officials and representatives in turn. The reports he received were all the same: “order is good,” “the people are at peace,” and “morale is high.”
At last, his gaze came to rest on Brandon’s empty seat. “And Brandon’s side... still no word?”
The strange silence on Baron Grumm’s side pressed against his heart like a heavy stone.
No harassment, no probing. Such stillness often meant that an even greater storm was gathering beneath the surface.
The Council Hall fell quiet. All the main matters had already been reported, and everyone waited for the lord’s decision.
Eli cleared his throat and broke the silence.
“There is one more thing to announce.” He paused, and for once, a trace of... shyness appeared on his face.
Ella’s whole body stiffened, and her clear eyes filled with panic.
Eli tightened his grip on her hand, passing strength into it, and looked firmly at the assembled officials.
“From this day forward, Ella is the lady of Obsidian Territory.”
Boom!
It was as though a stone had been thrown into a still lake.
And yet, the uproar or shock he had expected never came.
Hm?
After a brief silence, Old John was the first to let out a snort of laughter.
“My lord! It seems... you were the last person to realize that.”
Once Old John opened the way, the officials all followed, laughing out loud.
Eli was left rather awkward, and the tips of his ears grew slightly warm.
“Ahem!” Eli coughed heavily, trying to cover his embarrassment.
“Since everyone already... knows, then let today’s council end here. Off with you all. Get back to what you should be doing!”
“Yes, my lord!”
Suppressing their laughter, everyone rose, saluted, and filed out in turn.
Before leaving, Estor even shot Ella a teasing wink, earning a flustered glare from her in return.
In an instant, only the two of them were left in the Council Hall.
Ella jerked her hand back and covered her burning cheeks. “It’s... it’s all your fault! Now... now I really can’t face anyone.”
Seeing her both embarrassed and annoyed, Eli’s own awkwardness vanished at once.
“Heh.”
After lingering together for a while, Eli still forced himself back into a working state.
The future of Black Territory would not allow him to indulge for too long.
He walked to the window, faced the crisp morning wind, drew in a deep breath, and let his consciousness sink into his mind.
The familiar pale-blue screen unfolded before him. A beam of deep violet light streaked across it like a falling star.
【Purple: Sabda Medici, second son of the Duke of the Southern Frontier, has already launched a detailed background investigation into Black Territory through his family’s network of covert agents.
He and his core advisers are currently assessing the potential and threat posed by Obsidian Territory.】
“Oh?” Eli’s gaze sharpened instantly.
Medici? The Southern Frontier? Investigating me?
...
At the same time, a hundred li away, southeast of Black Territory and deeper within Nightsong Forest, lay the territory known as Shadow Vale.
The architecture here was completely different from the rough practicality of Black Territory, leaning instead toward the delicacy of the Southern Frontier.
Sabda Medici sat upright in the seat of honor, which was draped in dark green velvet.
He looked to be a little over twenty. His features had inherited the distinctly refined, almost feminine beauty of House Medici.
His skin was pale, and his dark green hair was combed straight back, revealing a pair of deep gray eyes.
His lips were thin, pressed into a sharp, straight line.
Unlike the other lords, Sabda had volunteered for frontier development of his own accord.
Seated around the long table were seven or eight young nobles from the Southern Frontier of similar age.
They were the companions who had grown up with Sabda, and also the core group he had carefully chosen and gathered around himself after breaking free of his family’s restraints.
At that moment, the atmosphere in the hall was grave.
“So, you’re certain that is House Black’s territory?” Sabda asked.
“...The information the scouts brought back is limited. That stronghold does indeed fly the raven banner.
And it is not small in scale. There are rows of wooden houses, the beginnings of planned farmland, and the camp is in excellent order.
Its fortifications may be crude, but the sentries are tight. They are no rabble.
Most importantly...” He paused, then stressed the next words.
“There are Wolf-kin in their camp! Quite a few of them, it seems, and from the look of it... they serve as warriors, not slaves.”
“Wolf-kin warriors?” a round-faced noble blurted out in shock.
“That wastrel from House Black? He managed to tame Wolf-kin? How is that possible!
Before coming here, I had people investigate every lord who took part in the frontier development. In the royal capital of Orlandia, he was famous for being a complete good-for-nothing!”
“A wastrel?” Sabda spoke coldly, silencing him at once.
“A wastrel who built such a stronghold on the wasteland in such a short time?
A wastrel who made proud, untamed Wolf-kin serve him?
Luke, your intelligence needs updating.”
The round-faced noble called Luke flushed red, then pale, before lowering his head awkwardly.
Sabda’s long, pale fingers tapped slowly against the smooth tabletop, producing a light, steady knocking sound.
“Black Territory... Eli Black...”
He rolled the name over softly beneath his breath. Deep within those gray eyes surged a complicated light—scrutiny, and even more than that... a powerful interest that had been stirred awake.
“Sabda, what are you implying?” another noble with a cold, severe face asked.
Sabda lifted his head and swept his gaze across every person seated there. A curve touched his thin lips, but there was no warmth in it.
“Other than him, are there any lords near our territory worth noticing?”
“According to the scouts, there are seven others, but he is the only one worth paying attention to. The rest... are of no concern,” the cold-faced noble replied.
“In that case, what the ear hears may be false, but what the eye sees is true.
A wastrel who can stir up the Western Frontier is worth meeting in person.
Send people out in my name. Deliver seven formal invitations to those seven lords. Invite them to visit my Shadow Vale.”
“An invitation?” Luke could not help interrupting again. “What if he refuses—”
“Refuse me?” Sabda’s voice turned cold at once, cutting Luke off.
His gray pupils narrowed slightly, flashing with the sinister arrogance and imperiousness that belonged solely to the highest nobility.
“A mere non-heir son of a marquess, exiled by his family and with unstable foundations?
What gives him the right to refuse? And how... would he dare refuse an invitation from Medici?”
The room fell instantly silent, so quiet that a pin could have been heard dropping.
Everyone could feel the warped desire for control in Sabda’s words, born of one who had failed in the line of succession, as well as the unquestionable authority beneath it.
“Yes, Young Master Sabda.” The capable young man in charge of intelligence rose at once to accept the order. “I will see to it immediately and send word by our fastest scouts.”
He bowed, then quickly withdrew from the lord’s hall shrouded in dim shadows.
Sabda’s gaze turned once more toward the window, beyond which lay the dark and profound depths of Nightsong Forest.
Just because I was born a few seconds later, I am expected to hand everything over to that idiot brother of mine.
I will prove it to all of you. I, Sabda, will show you who the true Medici is. And it will begin here.
In the depths of his gray eyes, the dancing glow of the hearthfire was reflected.
“Eli Black...” He repeated the name soundlessly, and the cold curve at the corner of his lips slowly deepened.