Chapter 10
Chapter 10: Panda, Not Panda, Panda. (1)
Cain Loges, my cousin a year younger than Ghislaine, was the heir to the Count Loges’ Territory, located a bit further from Perdium.
He was quite big and pretty strong, and people in the Loges Territory had high hopes for him.
To Ghislaine, he was the only friend during this time… and also the nemesis that troubled him the most.
He already frequented Perdium, but with a festival happening, there was no way this guy wouldn’t come.
‘Right! I completely forgot about him!’
As I looked at Cain’s sneering face, old memories flooded back.
Both of them were troublemakers, but their evaluations differed a bit.
Cain was arrogant and violent but not completely ignored by people.
He was always overflowing with confidence, and sometimes it was seen as admirable bravado.
In contrast, Ghislaine was always treated as a petty and inferior guy.
‘Because of that guy, I took more flak.’
This guy never hesitated to trample on Ghislaine’s pride and make him suffer, leaving many shameful moments.
Was that all? While hanging out, Cain treated Ghislaine like a subordinate.
Sending him on errands was a given, and when drunk, he would throw punches for the slightest displeasure.
Each time Ghislaine endured that, his anger would stack up more and more, leading him to harass the locals or cause trouble.
‘Sigh, just thinking about it is embarrassing.’
Ghislaine chuckled bitterly, placing his hand on his forehead.
During that time, he couldn’t take on Cain, so he took out his anger on random things.
Unable to muster a complaint outside, he resorted to shouting only within the walls, earning nicknames like ‘Corner Tyrant’ and ‘Corner Swordmaster.’
‘Ugh, why did I ever do that?’
Sitting in a crouch, Ghislaine plucked flower petals, reminiscing about the past.
Seeing this, Cain furrowed his brow.
“Hey, can’t you hear me? I’ve been hearing rumors that you lost your marbles recently, and it seems like they’re true?”
Cain mocked. Ghislaine dusted off his pants, stood up, and stared blankly at him.
Then Cain approached him with an incredulous expression and whispered.
“Did you not prepare what I told you before? I came to have some fun after a long time, but your reaction seems off today. Did you take some weird drugs or something?”
“Ah… preparation.”
At Cain’s words, Ghislaine finally recalled and nodded.
Right, this guy always told him to prepare drinks and women when he visited.
The excuse was to have fun together, but was that really the nature of friendship? To Cain, Ghislaine was just a useful pawn.
Cain playfully pinched Ghislaine’s cheek.
“Yeah, let’s drink and have a blast like we always do. We’re really on the same wavelength when it comes to this, right? This is what true friendship is about.”
That meant he intended to harass others while wandering around.
Cain, just as reckless as Ghislaine, was known for causing plenty of trouble.
He forced maidens to entertain him and was notorious for beating soldiers for no reason.
With Count Perdium away on campaigns almost all the time, he cavorted freely in the Fortress of Perdium under the pretense of being a relative.
Since Ghislaine, the heir of the territory, was like a subordinate, he felt completely unrestrained.
But as Ghislaine remained in a daze, Cain yelled.
“Hey, what’s with you today! Huh? Why are you so slow to react!”
“…”
“Hey, not answering? Did you suddenly go crazy? Did you eat something bad?”
“…”
“Hey! Ghislaine! Get your head together!”
Cain leaned into Ghislaine’s face, growling. His guard knights hurriedly tried to intervene and whispered.
“Your Highness, there are many eyes watching. Perhaps you should calm down a little here.”
“Perhaps it would be better to discuss with Ghislaine in a quiet place.”
This was the Perdium Territory. Harassing people would not end well if it became public, so they at least pretended to mediate.
He could vent his anger in a secluded area later.
The knights didn’t even try to hide their intentions.
Experiencing this absurd situation after such a long time left Ghislaine truly bewildered, rolling his eyes around.
‘What to do?’
It was too beneath him to pummel a mere brat who picked a fight.
After all, even as the Mercenary King, it had been a long time since he’d maintained any dignity, and it felt somehow embarrassing to deal with a young punk directly.
Besides, it had been ages since he faced any kind of troublemakers. If they did appear, they would usually be dealt with by his subordinates.
‘Guess I need to recruit a useful follower soon.’
While it felt embarrassing to react to a young punk’s provocation one by one, ignoring it completely would be detrimental to the image of a mercenary king.
‘Saving people is one thing…’
Ghislaine subtly glared at Cain.
‘Should I beat him up? Or just let it slide?’
After contemplating briefly, he decided to use his newfound hobby of flower petal fortune-telling. This one guaranteed results, so it was one he occasionally relied on.
Ghislaine picked a flower and began to pluck its petals while divining Cain’s future.
‘Panda, not panda, panda, not panda. Panda. Not panda?’
Cain frowned at the sight of Ghislaine, who wore a strange expression while plucking the petals.
“What the hell are you doing…?”
“Ah, you’re lucky?”
“What?”
Ghislaine tossed the now bare flower stem behind him and continued speaking.
“You insolent brat. Since you came as a guest, I’ll let you off this time. Be thankful for the petals.”
“What, what?”
Cain blinked in confusion, then quickly gathered his thoughts.
“People say the ones who are crazy are truly crazy… You’re just a fool who picks fights with those weaker than you. Right?”
Cain’s words escalated. Even passing servants stopped to gawk at the scene.
Cain’s anger flared, and he didn’t let up even with the curious gazes on them.
“Don’t you lower your gaze? You’re going around lying that you beat a knight; do you really think you got stronger?”
“…”
“I was laughing for a long time because I couldn’t believe the rumor. Who would acknowledge you with such a blatant lie? Should I remind you of your place?”
“…”
In that moment, Ghislaine tangibly felt he had changed.
‘If it were the old me, I would have effortlessly thrashed him right about now. I must have grown up; I really have become an adult after my last life.’
“Hey, what’s going on? Not gonna answer? Should I rip your mouth open?”
‘Stay calm, I’m an adult. No need to get lured by this punk’s provocation…’
“Hey, you insolent brat!”
In that moment, Ghislaine’s right hand moved like lightning.
Swoosh!
“Oof!”
Cain, caught off guard, covered his face with his hands. Ghislaine stared at his right hand in amazement.
‘All I wanted was to hit him, and my hand just flew out!’
Cain shouted, gripping his face.
“You crazy bastard!”
Swoosh!
“Oof!”
“Your Highness!”
As Cain staggered back, his guard knights rushed to him in horror.
In the midst of it, Ghislaine looked at his left hand, continuing to wear an amazed expression.
Cain’s face turned beet red, retreating a step as he drew his sword.
“I’ll kill you!”
“Not a chance! Your Highness!”
The guard knight quickly blocked Cain’s path and whispered softly.
“There are too many eyes on you right now.”
Servants and maids, as well as soldiers, had already gathered, excitedly watching the scene unfold.
Cain gritted his teeth as he glanced around.
“It’s the same for me getting hit in front of people. Are you saying I should just put up with it?”
“Request a duel, a duel. That would settle things. Besides, the one who attacked first over there, right?”
The guard knight spoke with a meaningful expression. Cain pondered for a moment before nodding.
“A duel… Yeah, sounds good. That’s better.”
If he publicly humiliated me, that bundle of inferiority would never be able to endure it.
On top of that, he might even take one solid hit to be made an absolute fool.
Cain immediately took out his gloves and threw them at Ghislaine’s face.
Whoosh.
Ghislaine lightly dodged the gloves, causing Cain’s face to become increasingly contorted as he shouted.
“A duel! There are widespread rumors you’ve been lying about defeating Jamal and Philip! You’ve tarnished the dignity of a noble and dared to attack me, who wants to verify the facts!”
Ghislaine’s eyes widened in surprise, pointing a finger at himself.
“A duel? With me? Are you serious?”
“Yeah! You wouldn’t get scared and run away now, right? There are already numerous witnesses!”
“Wow…”
Ghislaine felt a strange emotion wash over him.
A duel! He couldn’t even remember the last time he had one.
Even Aiden, one of the Seven Prides of the continent, took a safe joint attack in the last battle.
That’s how the Seven Prides existed. No one could guarantee they’d win in a one-on-one fight.
And yet, this young punk in particular was challenging him to a duel.
‘Let’s just go with the flow. Has my sudden return made me overthink my future plans? I’m struggling to adjust.’
It might be the dissonance between his past life memories and present body. He needed time to get used to it, yet he had been too hasty.
‘What would happen to that guy in the future?’
The Loges Territory had perished alongside Perdium during the territorial wars.
After that, Cain disappeared without a trace.
In his past life, Ghislaine collected information up to that point and lost interest.
The bad memories from childhood were too far deep to be a trauma given his stature.
Anyway, while the son had no future prospects, Count Loges had loyalty.
‘Whatever. For Count Loges’ sake, I should teach him a lesson this time. You learn something when you’re young; I suffered a lot for being clueless too, didn’t I?’
Ghislaine made up his mind and threw his gloves toward Cain’s face.
Cain scoffed and tried to dodge, but the flying gloves changed direction and hit him in the face.
“Huh?”
The spectators nearby burst into muffled laughter.
“This bastard….”
Cain’s face went from red to blue. Just as he was about to explode again, Ghislaine said calmly.
“Alright, I’ll accept the duel. Honestly, I was just going to slide past it since I’ve been thinking too much due to my funding plans… Oh wait, hold on.”
Ghislaine suddenly recalled something he had forgotten and brightened up.
“Hey, pay me back that money you borrowed.”
“What? When did I borrow money from you?”
“You constantly borrowed money from me little by little.”
Cain would often take money from Ghislaine without a second thought.
Ghislaine had lived in a poor territory, receiving even the little pocket change reserved for the heir.
“If you add it all up, it should be around a thousand gold.”
But upon hearing the hefty sum of a thousand gold, Cain gasped and shouted.
“What thousand gold! I didn’t even take a hundred gold from you!”
“Oh, was that so? Well, anyway, the fact remains you borrowed from me. With interest, that amounts to a thousand gold. Pay up quickly. I really need some cash right now.”
To be honest, a thousand gold was still insufficient for Ghislaine’s planned endeavors. He would need at least ten thousand gold to tackle even a portion of it.
But since there was no way Cain would have that much money, Ghislaine settled for the thousand gold for now.
‘It’s a tiny amount, but money is money. What matters is starting somewhere.’
Unaware of Ghislaine’s true feelings, Cain shouted in disbelief.
“What the hell is this crazy bastard saying! Why should your money troubles concern me! Besides, that money was just a thank you for being friendly! Don’t you know about ‘friendship money’?”
Goodness, so nowadays one has to pay to make friends.
‘Friendship money? What nonsense is that… I was just being a patsy.’
Ghislaine shook his head.
As the conversation progressed, he clearly remembered that, to be honest, he hadn’t wanted to give that money, but Cain had forced him to do so.
“People who take money by force always say that. Well, once this duel is over, I guess you’ll have to pay up whether you like it or not.”
Ghislaine raised his fist and grinned.
“Once you get hit a few times, you’ll find that money suddenly comes to you.”
