Ⅰ
Barro Hamlet, a scrawny man with a pinched, monkeyish face, sat upright in his study. The faint smile at the corners of his mouth showed that he was in a good mood.
In fact, Barro was in a better mood than anyone could imagine.
Twenty years!
Did anyone know how he had lived these past ten years?
Every day, he had to spend time with more than a dozen maids, doing push-ups nonstop. He also had to replace the maids from time to time, and occasionally go out and do things only an idiot would do.
What had he done it all for?
To lull that elder brother of his into complacency.
He had done a very good job.
His elder brother saw him as his foolish little brother.
He might have endured endless mockery, but at least he was alive, wasn't he?
He wouldn't die as inexplicably as Dorn had.
And he had finally found a chance to turn the tables!
After twenty years, his elder brother had finally left the Inner Bay in the truest sense, giving him his opportunity-he knew what his elder brother was going to do.
So he had begun to act without hesitation.
Because-
"Heh, die!
You really should die!
As for everything else?
I'll take care of it for you!"
Barro Hamlet murmured to himself.
Aside from the Golden Lion Family, the Inner Bay had seven noble families dependent on it. None of them had refused his proposal for 'extra income.'
Who would turn down a windfall?
Even if they put on a show of 'honor and justice,' deep down, they could hardly wait.
Besides, the 'honor and justice' of noble tradition required money to sustain them.
As for those knights who held fast to their principles?
The knights might still have