Radiant Dragon’s Otherworldly Reincarnation

Chapter 239. You Would Have Been Different (3)

Turning back time···.

Immediately after Ava’s abduction.

“Oh… ooooh….”

Prince Dawson had a genuinely impressed expression.

When he first abducted Ava, his plan was to hold her hostage to threaten the lord and call out Princess Isabella.

But…….

“To think such a beauty exists…. A beauty too good for a mere country lord.”

The moment he saw Ava, all his plans changed.

Prince Dawson stared at Ava with bewitched eyes.

Ava found Prince Dawson’s gaze extremely unpleasant.

Having always been surrounded by good people, she had rarely received such a blatant and unpleasant gaze.

To her, who was shuddering with a terrible sense of disgust as if a snake were crawling all over her, Prince Dawson spoke.

“I will take you to my country. I will let you enjoy a luxurious life on a different level from living as a country noble.”

“Are you really the prince of a nation?”

A son of a bitch who didn’t feel a speck of dignity or intelligence befitting a royal.

That was Prince Dawson.

To Ava’s scornful expression, Prince Dawson smiled, revealing his teeth, and said.

“It seems education is needed first. Drag this bitch to the basement.”

“Yes.”

And Ava was dragged to the wine cellar in the basement.

And Prince Dawson also followed, telling the knights to go upstairs and to close the door firmly.

“Hehehe. No matter how much you cry and scream here, it’s no use.”

“Don’t do this. I… I have a husband?”

“Sometimes, that makes it burn even hotter.”

And Prince Dawson unhesitatingly took off his clothes and approached.

Even the strong-willed Ava’s body trembled slightly.

Faced with a crisis she had never experienced in her life, she retreated as if to flee from Dawson, who was approaching while taking off his clothes.

“Don’t come near me. If you do… if you do, I will resist?”

“Hahaha. Go ahead.”

Prince Dawson laughed and approached.

And the moment he reached out his hand to Ava’s body….

“Noooo!”

Ava forcefully thrust her bound hands forward.

The moment those hands touched Dawson’s body….

Peo-eo-eo-eong!

“Keo-heo-eok!”

It was a twin palm strike of terrifying destructive power.

Prince Dawson usually wore a physical resistance artifact to protect his body, a high-quality item that could withstand being kicked by a horse.

But the moment Ava’s hands touched his chest, a destructive power that surpassed the artifact’s defense struck his body.

As a result, Prince Dawson screamed and was sent flying far away.

“…Huh?”

Ava was bewildered.

She looked at her own hands with an incomprehensible expression.

“How did I….”

She wondered if it was a coincidence, but it wasn’t.

A little later, when Prince Dawson tried to regain consciousness….

“Hmph!”

“Wh… Keo-eok!”

Jjeo-eo-eo-eong!

This time, he was driven into the floor.

Dawson, crushed by a strong twin strike from above, vomited blood and was flattened on the ground, losing consciousness again.

Only then did Ava realize.

“I’m strong.”

That wasn’t the issue at hand, though….

***

Ava Schneider.

She originally had a constitution of severed meridians.

It wasn’t as severe as April’s, but she had lived her whole life with a frail constitution.

After giving birth to Patrick, her health had worsened, and she spent her days finding it hard to even get out of bed.

But Patrick, who realized Ava’s problem, had taught her an internal energy heart law since he was five.

As a result, she improved her constitution and became healthy.

But even after becoming healthy, she never skipped the internal energy heart law her son had taught her, not even for a day.

It was because she consistently felt her body improving.

In other words, she, who had cured her severed meridians and had a body close to a Heavenly Martial Body, had steadily continued her internal energy training for a full 15 years without rest.

Her training period was much longer than April’s.

On top of that, with the addition of this world’s mana density, which was much higher than the Central Plains….

[I didn’t know it, but I’m strong.]

Ava had become strong enough to easily beat up a hooligan prince who hadn’t even trained properly.

There was no technique or anything.

Just slapping him with her palm was enough to send the opponent flying as if kicked by a horse.

So….

[Keuk…. Where is this….]

[Oh my, you’re awake again.]

[D… don’t come! Kuaaaak!]

If he tried to get up, she would hit him again to knock him out, and if he tried to regain consciousness, she would hit him again to knock him out….

She had been repeating that action all day.

The soundproofing of the cellar was so good that the knights guarding upstairs were just having lewd thoughts like, ‘The prince must be playing rough.’

“Huuuuu….”

April, who had grasped the entire situation, sheathed her sword and sighed in relief.

“I’m glad you are safe, my lady.”

The kidnapping of Ava, which had thrown the entire fiefdom into an uproar, was thus concluded.

***

Ava, who had been kidnapped, returned safely.

But this did not solve all the problems.

For the prince of one nation to kidnap the wife of a noble from another country, this was no small accident; it was a major incident.

Count Schneider immediately reported this fact to the capital.

And he demanded that Prince Dawson be given a just punishment and that justice be served.

It was an extremely common-sense and proper response.

But the person who came down from the capital at top speed without rest said….

“Release him immediately.”

It was something like that.

At first, Count Schneider thought he had misheard.

“Release him, you say?”

“That’s right.”

When the same answer returned, Count Schneider’s expression distorted.

“Are you telling me to just let go of a criminal who committed a clear crime against my wife in my own fiefdom?”

“It is a royal command. The Count will prioritize the royal command.”

“Marquis Panola!”

Count Schneider shouted, but the man in front of him didn’t even blink an eye.

He spoke calmly, as if he had expected this much of a backlash.

“Look at the bigger picture. If you execute the justice the Count desires here, what kind of repercussions do you think that will bring?”

“Repercussions, you say?”

“Must the young men of the kingdom shed blood in a war with the Harbor Kingdom because of your one wife? That is what I am saying.”

“…….”

At the word ‘war’, Count Schneider clamped his mouth shut.

Although he was boiling with anger, he could not help but hesitate at the word ‘war’.

To such a Count Schneider, Marquis Panola said with a cold gaze.

“As the Count knows, to put it coolly, the national power of the Harbor Kingdom surpasses our country’s.”

“So you’re saying we should just cover up something like this?”

“Yes. We must.”

“What did you say?”

At Marquis Panola’s nonchalant affirmation, it was Count Schneider who was taken aback.

Regardless, Marquis Panola spoke calmly.

“According to the report you submitted, nothing actually happened to your wife, did it?”

“She was kidnapped. And two of my fief’s knights almost died. Are you saying that’s nothing?”

“The knights were somewhat injured, but are they not both recovering safely? And your wife, in the end, returned without anything happening to her.”

“But….”

“Don’t overreact. If you act like this, people might misunderstand and think that something actually did happen to your wife.”

“Marquis Panola!”

Count Schneider stood up, shouting.

At that, Marquis Panola smirked and said.

“I’m just saying. Just saying.”

“…….”

Count Schneider gritted his teeth.

He had an inkling from the moment Marquis Panola came as the person in charge of handling this incident from the kingdom.

That things would not be resolved easily.

And for good reason, the Panola marquisate and the Schneider county were linked by a bad relationship.

When Patrick entered the Academy, he got into a fight with the children of the Panola marquisate, and as a result, the two sons of the marquisate became half-crippled and dropped out of the Academy.

Count Schneider was well aware of that fact.

But at the same time, he thought.

Still, are we not nobles of the same kingdom?

If one knew how to properly distinguish between public and private affairs, he had thought that he would still side with him, who belonged to the same country.

But….

“Is this the will of the royal family?”

To Count Schneider, who asked while gritting his teeth, Marquis Panola flinched for the first time.

But he soon composed his expression and said.

“His Majesty has entrusted me, the commander of the Royal Knightly Order, with full authority over this incident.”

This was true.

To be precise, when this issue arose, no one wanted to step forward, and it was Marquis Panola who had quickly raised his hand at that moment.

From the royal family’s perspective, their honest feeling was that they did not want to get involved in this subtle and difficult incident.

So they had entrusted full authority to the enthusiastically willing Marquis Panola.

Of course, if they had known he would handle things this way, they probably wouldn’t have given him full authority.

Marquis Panola actively exercised the authority he had received from the royal family.

“Representing the will of the royal family, I formally command. Count Schneider is to release Prince Dawson of the Harbor Kingdom and apologize for the unfortunate diplomatic incident.”

“…….”

“Do as you are told. If you do so, this matter can be passed over smoothly.”

To an onlooker, it was a statement that made it seem as if Count Schneider was responsible.

Count Schneider remained silent with a hardened expression, then barely managed to continue.

“Please give me time to think.”

“I cannot give you long.”

“…….”

“Decide by tomorrow.”

And Marquis Panola stood up from his seat without even waiting for Count Schneider’s reply.

And Count Schneider, left alone in the reception room, brought his hands to his face, washed it dryly, and let out a deep sigh.

***

“Hey, did you hear?”

“Damn it, of course I heard.”

“How can the royal family do this to our lord? Does this even make sense?”

“Does it make sense? This goddamn….”

The drinkers gathered in the tavern were grumbling about the recent news they had heard.

The kingdom had put pressure on Count Schneider.

And he had to release Prince Dawson and publicly apologize for this incident.

The rumor spread quickly throughout the entire fiefdom.

As if someone had intentionally spread it.

“No, why does our lord have to apologize?”

“I don’t know. Damn it…. The royal family must be crazy.”

“The Schneider family has been loyal to the royal family for hundreds of years, and this is how they’re treated?”

“You don’t even have to go back hundreds of years. Where do you think the food that’s feeding the entire nation during this great famine is coming from?”

“They’re all living off the food that came from the land our Young Master reclaimed, right? And they dare to treat him like this?”

“Damn the royal family and all, does this even make sense?”

The drinkers vented their frustration.

At the table next to them, a man in a robe casually interjected.

“But is it really alright?”

“…What is?”

At the words of the man who had suddenly interjected from the side, the drinkers looked at him with uncomprehending eyes.

And he continued to speak….

“I’m talking about the wife of the Lord of Schneider. I heard she was kidnapped and was gone for over half a day?”

“…So? What are you trying to say?”

“I hear the Countess is such a beautiful woman. So what happened is obvious….”

“You X-bastard!”

“Hey! What did you just say?!”

“You wanna die?!”

In an instant, everyone in the tavern shot up from their seats.

Even the tavern owner rushed out from the kitchen and shouted.

“Who’s the bastard who just said that nonsense?!”

“That bastard… he’s running away!”

“Hey! Don’t you stop there?!”

“Get over here! You’re dead!”

The man, who had run out of the tavern and run for a long time, hid in an alley and sighed.

“Damn it. What kind of fiefdom is this?”

He was one of the envoys from the Harbor Kingdom.

He had been going around the taverns at night, spreading rumors and disrupting information to manipulate public opinion.

He had done this kind of work many times before.

But this Schneider fiefdom was more difficult to work in than usual.

The entire populace was as loyal to the lord’s family as knights, no, even ordinary knights were rarely this loyal to their lord to the death.

But here, the entire populace acted as if they were the loyal retainers of the Schneider family.

Thanks to that, he had only achieved about half of his goal.

“Anyway, I’ve achieved half of it….”

Count Schneider officially apologizes to the envoy of the Harbor Kingdom.

Just by spreading this fact widely, the Harbor Kingdom’s face would be saved.

To cover up the fact that Prince Dawson had kidnapped a married woman and tried to assault her, but was instead beaten up badly by that married woman and was still recovering from his injuries, this much of a rumor was necessary.

If a rumor that the Countess of Schneider had been defiled was added to this, covering a scandal with another scandal, it would be perfect, but….

‘Impossible. It’s impossible.’

Whenever he tried to even mention it, the subjects of the fiefdom tried to beat him to death.

It seemed he would have to give up on that.

“It can’t be helped.”

Still, he had achieved half of his goal.

Now that the rumor had spread throughout the entire fiefdom, the moment Prince Dawson was safely returned and an apology was received, Count Schneider’s reputation would hit rock bottom.

***

Late at night.

Count Schneider, who had uncharacteristically had a bit to drink, visited the bedroom where his son was sleeping.

“My lord.”

April, who was guarding the bedroom, quickly stood up at the Count’s visit.

Count Schneider smiled at her and said.

“Will you let me be alone with my son?”

“Yes. I understand.”

If it were anyone else, it would be a different story, but Count Schneider was Patrick’s biological father.

April obediently withdrew, and Count Schneider, left alone with his son in the room, brought a chair and sat in front of his son, saying.

“You’re sleeping well.”

“…….”

“You carefree fellow.”

He stroked his son’s forehead once and said.

“I was promoted thanks to you, but no matter how I think about it, I don’t seem to have the makings of a Count.”

“…….”

“I want to punish the bastards who threatened your mother and my wife, Ava. If I had my way, I would fight against the royal family, regardless of war or anything, to handle things properly.”

“…….”

“But I can’t do that.”

“…….”

“This father’s vessel is too small to choose war. I don’t have the guts to hold the prince of the Harbor Kingdom accountable, ignoring the subjects who would die and be injured in a war.”

“…….”

“You would have been different. Yes. You would have been different.”

“…….”

“I wish it was me lying here like this instead of you….”

Count Schneider lamented, stroking his son’s face.

In truth, nothing would change by doing this.

His son couldn’t wake up now, and it was his job as the lord to handle the problems that had arisen in the fiefdom.

But what he was doing here was just lamenting.

He had come to his dependable son to pour out his heart, wanting to complain somewhere out of frustration.

“Wake up soon. Until you do, I will somehow protect the fiefdom safely.”

After stroking his son’s face once more, Count Schneider stood up from his seat.

And after staring at his son’s face for a moment, he turned his back and left the room.

And immediately after he left the room.

Twitch.

It was a small but definite movement.

The finger of Patrick, who had been lying in bed, moved, albeit slightly.