Chapter 308 The End of the Albert Family
Count Mills stood up, wanting to go to the window for some fresh air, but as he turned around, his arm accidentally bumped into a delicate bone china teacup on the edge of the desk.
The porcelain cup tipped over and was about to fall to the ground.
However, in the next instant, a steady hand reached out from the side, took the teacup, and handed it back to Count Mills.
"Thanks."
Earl Mills instinctively thanked him.
Before he could finish speaking, his entire body suddenly stiffened, and a chilling coldness instantly shot up his spine to the top of his head, sending shivers down his spine.
His study was an absolute private sanctuary; no servant would dare set foot inside without his summons.
So here's the question.
Whose hand is this?!
Earl Mills gasped sharply, suppressing the gasp that threatened to escape his throat, and forced himself to calm down as quickly as possible.
He slowly turned around.
Then.
A young face that he knew all too well, a face of unparalleled handsomeness, came into his view.
"Mr. Mills, how have you been?"
The Flower Knight Charles Hines wore a bright smile, as always, but his azure eyes held no joy.
"Ciel?! You're alright?!"
After a brief silence, Earl Mills' face broke into a look of surprise.
"Gods above! This is wonderful! I always thought... I thought you had met with some misfortune in the dragon's territory."
The count spoke excitedly as he naturally extended his hand.
He wanted to take Charles's hand warmly, as always, to express his closeness and care.
This is his usual tactic for winning people over.
Simple physical contact and a condescending attitude from those in a superior position can easily move naive young people and win their favor.
However, this time...
Charles Hines took a step back expressionlessly, avoiding Count Mills' outstretched hand.
The hand hovered in mid-air.
The Flower Knight looked at the Earl's seemingly genuine surprise and joy, and then recalled the cold, disgusted, and irritating voice on the other end of the crystal ball communication—"Useless trash, the Albert family will not pay you even a single copper coin!"
The stark contrast made all of the Earl's genuine emotions seem incredibly hypocritical, pretentious, and even nauseating in Charles's eyes.
“Mr. Mills”.
Charles's voice was calm and undisturbed.
"Before I came back, I had a question in my mind that I wanted to ask you in person."
"Oh? What's troubling you so much, my child?"
The count's tone remained gentle.
Charles said, “Rod Albert, Sienna Albert, Sanchez Albert…these three, as well as many of your private army leaders and elite warriors, all have one thing in common.”
"They were all orphans, their backgrounds were as clean as a blank sheet of paper."
"The Albert family is able to recruit so many warriors who come from tragic backgrounds but are exceptionally talented and willing to die for the family unconditionally."
"Is all of this just due to good luck?"
The Knight of Flowers gazed at Earl Mills, observing his reaction.
"The family owns several charitable orphanages. Rod and the others were indeed orphaned children who were adopted by the family and given education and warmth."
Earl Mills maintained a calm facade.
He countered, "They are grateful for the family's nurturing, and therefore strive to be loyal to the family. What's wrong with that?"
"Yeah?"
The Flower Knight spoke slowly, his voice lowering.
“I returned to the South before Rhodes and the others.”
"In order to prevent myself from being deceived by lies again, and from being instigated and fooled, I have not been idle in the past."
Charles took a small step forward, and an invisible sense of oppression spread outwards.
“I spent considerable time and effort, like a real detective rather than the naive knight you might expect, conducting a meticulous, in-depth, and even dangerous investigation throughout the Albert family’s territory.”
Earl Mills frowned slightly.
"During the investigation, I discovered a rather interesting phenomenon."
"The Albert family generously bestowed various favors upon the common people of their territory, such as tax reductions, road repairs, and the distribution of inexpensive medicines."
“But after each act of kindness, if there are young children in the beneficiary family, the family’s kindness will be further enhanced.”
"They would conduct various talent and potential tests for those children free of charge and with great enthusiasm."
The knight's gaze swept over the count's jawline, which was beginning to tighten slightly, and he continued, "What's even more interesting is that the security of your family's territory is indeed exemplary on the surface, with the patrols being very diligent and the crime rate extremely low."
"However, the frequency of various unexpected events is unusually high, and they are especially prevalent in families where children have just been tested and whose children are considered to be talented or outstanding."
"Fire, landslide, monster attack, or even a simple accidental fall into the water... these accidents always create new orphans."
"As a result, the number of orphans in Albert's territory far exceeds the range of a normal earl's territory, but unfortunately no one usually pays attention to it."
As he spoke, the knight took another step forward.
He was less than three feet away from the count.
“Mr. Mills”.
Charles calmly asked, "Could you explain to me why this is?"
Earl Mills's face finally darkened.
"I don't know what nonsense you're spouting."
"Charles, I was originally very happy to see you return safely, but your baseless and malicious speculations make me very unhappy!"
His voice was low and accusatory.
"The Albert family has done good deeds for free, adopting orphans and bestowing kindness far and wide, yet you use such filthy thoughts to tarnish this goodwill! Is this how you interpret the chivalrous spirit you uphold?"
As he spoke, his fingers discreetly traced a gemstone ring between his fingers.
That's a magical item that triggers an emergency call for help.
However, the surroundings were deathly silent, and nothing happened.
The guards who expected to break down the door, the flashing alarm lights, the activated defensive array... nothing happened.
"No need to waste your energy, Mr. Mills."
"Neither your voice, nor the magical signals emanating from your ring, nor any probes attempting to penetrate this place have been blocked."
Charles tilted his head slightly and said, "They, like you, are trapped in this spatial cage, unable to reach the other side you long for."
For the first time, fear appeared on Earl Mills' face.
"Charles!"
The count, forcing a show of noble dignity, growled in a low voice, his tone sharp but his voice weak: "What...what do you want? Have you forgotten the favors I once did for you?!"
"Who generously gave you money when you were penniless and desperate? Who provided you with that priceless antidote when you were poisoned and on the verge of death?! Is your chivalry only for repaying the betrayal and blades of your benefactors?!"
Clang—!
His excited words were abruptly interrupted by a crisp, cold metallic scraping sound.
The Knight of Flowers drew his cross sword.
“I have repaid those favors you mentioned with my life and my freedom. We are now even.”
Charles slowly raised the longsword in his hand, the tip of the sword steadily pointing at Count Mills' heart.
"Standing before you now is a knight determined to eradicate evil and hypocrisy."
Earl Mills retreated step by step, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
"Don't do anything foolish! Charles! You must have been bewitched by that evil dragon! You've lost your mind!"
"We can have a good talk! I promise I'll give you a perfect and reasonable explanation for all your doubts and suspicions! Trust me!"
The Flower Knight was no longer listening to him.
He was unwilling to waste any more words on this hypocritical count. He stepped forward, and the cross-shaped sword in his hand transformed into a cold, sharp light as he thrust it forward.
The sword easily tore through the several layers of defensive shields that the count had instantly activated, and precisely pierced his heart beneath the luxurious velvet tuxedo.
Earl Mills' eyes widened in shock, his face filled with disbelief and extreme fear of death.
He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but he could only feel his life force rapidly draining away like the receding tide. In the end, he could not utter a single word, only a hoarse sound of air leaking out.
The Flower Knight slowly drew his blood-stained cross sword, looked at the count's limp body, and uttered his last words.
"By the way, the Iron King asked me to give you his regards."
The King of Smelting Iron?!
It was that damned dragon who orchestrated all of this! He bewitched Ciel!
Boundless anger and regret instantly overwhelmed Mills' consciousness. Finally, with his eyes wide open, filled with resentment and unwillingness, he fell heavily onto the cold, luxurious floor.
He died with his eyes wide open in disbelief.
The Flower Knight, Charles Hines, stood quietly in place.
With a flick of his wrist, he shook off the last few drops of blood clinging to the blade, then calmly sheathed the longsword.
The space around him rippled like water, his figure became blurred and transparent, like a shadow merging into the air, and finally disappeared.
But he did not immediately leave the Albert family estate.
The border walker wanders through the gaps in space like a ghost, silently passing through the heavily guarded corridors and courtyards of the manor.
He went to the alchemist Sienna's bedroom and to the bedside of the protective mage Sanchez.
Finally, he stopped in the room of Rune Knight Rod Albert.
In each room, he left behind a stack of neatly arranged papers containing the truth.
They were placed silently beside the pillow within easy reach of the sleeping person.
Having done all this, Ciel's figure completely disappeared into space, as if he had never existed.
"who?!"
Rod Albert suddenly opened his eyes.
This battle-hardened wolf general, who had teetered on the brink of death countless times, possessed a perception so acute it was almost instinctive.
Although he couldn't clearly perceive the barely perceptible spatial fluctuations, he was still startled awake and instantly sat up from the bed.
The room was empty, with no obvious signs of intruders.
However, his gaze was instantly drawn to a stack of papers that had suddenly appeared on the bedside table.
Rod frowned, picked up the stack of papers warily, and began to read them carefully.
The night was quiet, with only the faint sound of pages turning.
Those screening lists for talent tests.
Those investigation reports about the accident.
Those hidden clues pointing to directives from the family's top brass.
Every name, every date, is like a sharp sword, tearing open those blurry childhood fragments deep in Rod's memory.
The unexpected loss of his parents, the orphanage he was taken in by, the instilling of gratitude and loyalty... As he read on, his pupils suddenly contracted, and the expression on his face began to change drastically.
From initial confusion to shock, and then to uncontrollable anger.
Finally, his face turned completely ashen and twisted, contorted like a wolf that had been thoroughly enraged.
Just as this emotion was about to completely erupt.
Rod Albert, the wolf general of the Albert family, suddenly closed his eyes.
When I opened my eyes again, all the intense external reactions I had just experienced were gradually suppressed.
The grotesque, ashen look on his face slowly faded, his muscles relaxed, and his distorted expression returned to calm, becoming expressionless.
only.
Some things that once sustained his life and for which he fought bloody battles have completely collapsed like sandcastles and vanished into thin air, while other things that are completely different, dark and intense, are silently sprouting and growing wildly on the ruins of loyalty.
It is foreseeable.
With the death of the patriarch and the defection of the once loyal pillars of the family, the Albert family will soon exist in name only.
It's hard for anyone to believe:
It all started with a red iron dragon thousands of miles away.
(End of this chapter)
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