The Grand Duchess Escape

The moment Zeke finished speaking, Calix’s mouth curved up neatly in the shape of a crescent moon, and his cold red eyes glowed.

Ryzen guessed what was going to happen next and sighed quietly.

Not only was Zeke demoted for his behavior before he left for his last job, but Ryzen was now witnessing in real-time, right in front of his eyes, the scene of Zeke being demoted again only a few minutes after he returned.

“Doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Huh?”

However, his master’s words, which came unexpectedly, made Ryzen almost mistakenly think that he had misheard him for a moment.

Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with his hearing.

“When you receive a gift, of course, one must return the favor.”

A cold smile appeared on Calix’s beautiful face.

Zeke’s complexion brightened quickly. He began to shout excitedly on his own before Calix could order anything.

“Yes! Let me do it! Let me do it, okay?”

His figure was not different from a puppy who was eagerly wagging his tail and trying to be charming in front of his master. But the matter of what he was begging to do was frightening.

“You know, My Lord, I am the best at doing those things!”

To put it in a little more detail, things like separating head and body in a beautiful and clean way.

“Leave it to me! I’ll approach secretly and quietly, then poof!”

Ryzen laughed in his mind.

Zeke and the Fourth Karma he led were certainly the farthest thing from the word ‘quiet’.

“I’m sure the kids are feeling down, and their bodies are going stiff because they haven’t been able to move for a while. I’m going to take this opportunity to take them out for a warm-up and wipe that place clean in one shot!”

“How?”

Zeke was boasting about what he could do before his movement came to a halt.

“What?”

“I’m asking you, how do you plan to do that?”

Zeke looked amused. Unfortunately, making plans using his brain was not his area of expertise.

“The Emperor is no ordinary man. Do you not know how he succeeded to the throne?”

“No matter how great a man he is, he’ll die once you cut his head off!”

Ryzen sighed as he stood next to him.

He was still the same as ever, jumping around like a horse with horns up to his butt, unable to stay still.

If it weren’t for Zeke’s monstrous swordsmanship, nerve, and reflexes, it would be outrageous to make him one of the commanders leading a Karma unit.

“Why don’t we just go straight into the Imperial Palace, find out where he is, and do it quietly?”

Zeke pretended to quickly draw his hand, making a beheading gesture with his hand.

“Haa…”

Ryzen didn’t even bother to hide his sigh anymore. What was happening before him was so ridiculous that he was speechless; he could not help but laugh.

God blessed Zeke with many talents, but he did not give him a head to think with.

Fortunately, his master came to a conclusion similar to Ryzen’s.

“I was wrong.”

“What? What do you have in mind?”

Instead of answering Zeke’s counter-question, Calix turned his attention to Ryzen.

“Ryzen, you will take care of the Fourth Karma, just as you have done so far.”

“I’ll follow your orders.”

Ryzen was the commander of the First Karma, and when Zeke was demoted, he assumed the Fourth Karma unit along with the First.

And when at last he thought that his workload would be reduced when Zeke came back after a period of self-reflection, that stupid mouth of his made that impossible once again.

This was absolutely not very happy news for Ryzen, who was suffering from an excessive workload alone.

“My Lord, what about me then?”

Calix’s cold eyes turned to the immature and ignorant beast.

“You will have to go back.”

Zeke opened his mouth wide like someone who had just heard the most shocking words in the world. The look on his face was incredulous.

Ryzen could already tell what was coming for Zeke.

As if to prove that the saying that the mouth was the source of all evil, that lousy mouth of his wouldn’t stop getting him into trouble. It hadn’t been an hour since he returned, and he was already ordered to go back.

You reap what you sow.

Ryzen expressed his deepest condolences to his best friend and best rival.

Of course, only in his mind.

Meanwhile, Zeke, who came back to his senses, hurriedly opened his mouth.

“Where do you want me to go?”

“Where?”

Calix leaned back against the armrest of his chair and placed his chin on the back of his hand.

“Is there anywhere besides the capital?”

“You can’t do that!”

Zeke screamed. Thanks to his remarkable natural survival instincts, he knew now what he had to do.

He finished assessing the situation quickly and knelt on the floor. Holding hands together as if begging, he looked up at Calix with a desperate look in his eyes.

“I’ll do anything you want, just don’t tell me to go there!”

The blood drained from Zeke’s face as he remembered his life in the capital. Goosebumps rose all over his body as he thought of the past few months where he had had to be confined to that dreaded Grand Duke’s mansion.

Zeke whimpered like a desperate dog and whined.

“Why not? Shouldn’t it be nice and comfortable?”

It was a place where nothing ever happened. Calix pulled his red mouth tightly and laughed.

That soulless, bright smile Calix showed made Zeke’s mind go blank.

Needless to say, for an average person, it was a place of work that provided a peaceful and comforting living without much effort. But to Zeke, whose stimulation was the joy and pleasure of life, it was a hellish place.

“I’ve never been in a place so boring and tedious in my life! If you send me there again, I’d rather die!”

“Then die.”

“My Lord!”

Despite Zeke’s cry, Calix did not bat an eyelid. His way of thinking was always concise and clear.

Wild beasts cubs needed to be pushed off the cliffs once they grew older, and if they died? Well, it couldn’t be helped.

“I can never go to that awful place again! If you keep me here, I’ll do anything! I’ll even clean the knights’ toilets every day! No, just kill me already!”

Zeke’s pleading continued, and Ryzen, who was watching, shook his head.

The only thing that could tame the beast’s cub was another beast.

Zeke, who behaved stubbornly and acted recklessly without a single fear in the world, couldn’t even move in front of Calix.

“Ryzen.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Drag him out.”

“Understood.”

Ryzen bowed to his master, and with a swift motion, he grabbed Zeke’s arms.

“Wait!!! Wait a minute!”

Driven to the cliff’s edge, Zeke spat out whatever came to his mind.

“I-I saw the Emperor’s dogs on the way back!”

“I’m sure you did.”

“I took care of every single one of them, all of them! You have nothing to worry about!”

Calix motioned with a wry look on his face. It meant to drag him away as quickly as possible.

Zeke hastily shouted.

“We caught one of them, the strongest looking one, alive! I tied him up nearby just in case…”

“Hold.”

For the first time, Zeke’s words caught Calix’s interest.

“Elaborate.”