Ainz Ooal Gown: Noble Knight

"Kick the wall?" Lei Wenhou raised an eyebrow slightly.

“Hmm.” Rune nodded. “Bang, bang, very loud. And someone’s cursing something.”

"I was a little curious, so...so I went to take a look."

As he spoke, he looked up, his face showing the lingering fear of a child who had done something they shouldn't have.

"And then?" Ravenhou's tone was tinged with urgency. "What did you see?"

“I saw…”

Rune's eyes became somewhat blank, as if he were recalling a scene that did not exist.

“There was a man standing there. He was wearing dark clothes and was very fat. He was swearing, and he was swearing very rudely. I couldn’t understand him very well, but it seemed like he was saying something…”

He frowned slightly, pretending to try hard to remember.

“They said, ‘I, the Baron of Rivian, only give me this small share, and all my goods are the best.’”

He imitated that exasperated tone, his voice rough and completely different from his previous soft, childlike voice.

Lei Wenhou's expression faltered slightly.

But he did not interrupt.

“Then he cursed again,” Rune continued, “'Damn bastards, just a bunch of muscle-bound thugs and idiots.'”

At this point, Rune looked up, his face showing the confusion typical of a child.

"My lord, what do you mean by 'muscular rogue fool'?"

Lei Wenhou's expression was subtle for a moment.

But in just a moment, his face regained that friendly smile.

“They’re some…bad people,” he explained. “Little Rune, don’t worry about them.”

“Oh.” Rune nodded obediently.

"And then?" Raven continued to ask.

Rune thought for a moment.

"He seems...drunk?"

He tilted his head, pretending to recall something.

"His face was very red. He was walking unsteadily, barely able to stand. He was kicking the wall while cursing. After cursing, he would lean against the wall to catch his breath, and then he would curse again."

The drunken scene was obviously fabricated by Rune, but Baron Levion, who had been devoured by wild dogs, could no longer verify it.

This time, the Paw Patrol team made a great contribution.

Lei Wenhou frowned slightly.

Drunk.

That's a reasonable explanation.

He knew a little about Rivia's reputation. That kind of low-ranking nobleman, relying on his collusion with Eight Fingers, ran rampant in the capital. Getting drunk and going crazy was indeed something he would do.

"And then?" Raven continued to press. "He saw you?"

Rune nodded, a hint of lingering fear appearing on his face.

"I...I was startled and tried to leave. But he saw me."

He pursed his lips.

“He saw me, his eyes widened, and then he laughed. That laugh…it was terrifying. He walked towards me and said…”

Rune paused, then his voice became even softer.

"They said I'm worth a good price."

After Rune finished speaking, a silence fell over the three of them.

The meaning of this sentence was understood by all three people present.

“Then I told him my name,” Rune broke the silence. “I told him I was from the Aindora family. I wanted to… I wanted to tell him not to arrest me.”

What happened after he heard that?

He seems...very angry.

Rune lowered his head, his fingers gripping the corner of the blanket tightly.

“He said… ‘You bunch of nobles deserve to die, eating so much gravy, aren’t you afraid of choking to death?’ Then he pulled out a knife and tried to cut me.”

'Watch how I use a story to make Baron Levion offend two powerful forces,' Rune thought with a hint of malice.

He raised his head and looked at Lei Wenhou.

Those light green eyes held the unique innocence of a child, along with a hint of lingering fear and tears.

Chapter 14 Choice

Lei Wenhou remained silent for a few seconds.

Those slender blue eyes remained fixed on Rune's face, as if examining a newly unearthed antique, wanting to confirm its age and understand the meaning behind every mark on it.

How did Baron Levion die?

He asked very softly, but his tone no longer sounded like he was coaxing a child.

But Rune's nerves tensed up instantly.

This problem

He lowered his head.

My shoulders started to tremble.

It started gently, then grew stronger. Rune buried his face in the corner of the blanket, his small body curled up like a frightened little animal.

no answer.

Just shaking.

The room quieted down, so quiet that you could hear the occasional crackling of the candlelight and your own breathing.

Lei Wenhou did not urge him.

He simply stood there, looking down at the curled-up figure on the bed, his gaze as calm as if he were watching a play whose ending he already knew.

Rune buried his face in the blanket, letting his breathing become rapid and disordered, and keeping the trembling of his shoulders at a frequency of "too scared to speak".

The blanket concealed his expression, as well as his overly lucid eyes.

If you encounter a difficult question, just stay silent; no one will criticize a child who has just "luckily escaped death."

"enough."

Count Alves's voice was not loud, but it clearly interrupted the performance.

He took a step forward, blocking Rune's bed and meeting Raven's gaze head-on.

“My lord, my son is frightened and emotionally unstable.” His voice was flat and unwavering. “Now that things are clear, let’s leave it at that.”

Lei Wenhou looked at him.

Count Alves was also looking at him.

The two adults' eyes met in mid-air, neither willing to back down.

A few seconds later, Ravenhou laughed.

The smile was faint, so faint that it was almost impossible to discern any emotion. He withdrew his gaze and looked again at the small figure curled up in a ball on the bed.

“Sir Alves,” he said, “you have a fine son.”

It was impossible to tell whether his tone was praise or something else.

"Very quick to react."

Count Alves did not respond.

Rune's lips twitched slightly as his face was buried in the blanket.

'Sharp reflexes?'

'Ha, just bluffing.'

'He acts like he sees through everything, but he's just trying to scare the kids.'

Rune silently defined Raven's behavior in his mind.

He'd seen this tactic many times: first, put on an air of "I know everything" to throw the other person off balance, and then extract more information from them.

pity.

He's not a real child.

Lei Wenhou seemed unconcerned about receiving a response. He simply stood there, looking down at the small figure on the bed, and suddenly spoke:

“Rune”.

Rune's shoulders twitched, but he didn't look up.

"You should talk to Princess Lana more."

His tone was casual, as if he were saying that the weather was nice today.

"You two should get along very well."

Rune's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.

Princess Lana.

The name was like a fine needle, precisely piercing into the deepest, most hidden corner of his mind.

The third princess of the Kingdom of Riestij, the kingdom's most brilliant mind, and the one who will betray and destroy the kingdom in the future.

Rather than being a person, it's more accurate to say that while the person appears human, their inner self is like a monster.

Has Lord Raven already noticed Princess Lana's unusual behavior?