With a proud smile on his face, Hagen returned and met his father in his office.
He walked right in front of his father and bowed to him. "Father, your son, Hagen, has returned. I've settled all the problems within the fort."
His father didn't buy any of his lies. He simply glanced at his butler and said, "From now on, he can't bear the name of Lawrence and he shall be expelled and thrown into the slum. I never have a son called Hagen."
Upon hearing it, Hagen's face became pale. He was confused, not expecting to receive this treatment, especially after his good work in their fort.
"Fa—" Before he spoke, the Earl had slammed the table and shouted, "You are not my son!"
"What? What is happening? Why did you do this to me?! I've done everything for the fort and yet, you're throwing me like this?!" Obviously, Hagen didn't think he was in the wrong. He never realized that claiming the Demon Banner Army's deeds was one of the greatest mistakes.
"You've done everything you shouldn't have done! It's better if you were never born!" The Earl gritted his teeth, remembering the day when the commander came to extort him.
If he was still as angry as that day, he would've killed this guy on the spot. But because he had promised the commander, he had to make sure everything was done thoroughly.
He took a deep breath and shouted to his butler, "Drag him out of here according to what I've told you before! I don't ever want to see this guy anymore and make sure he can't use Lawrence's name anymore!"
"What? Father, I don't understand why you are doing this to me. I've done everything I can to help you with the fort—!" No matter how much he pleaded, the Earl didn't explain to him while the butler dragged him out and threw him to the knight.
"Let me go!" Hagen kept struggling while two soldiers were pinning him down.
"Are we allowed to do this? Won't our lives be in danger?" One of the soldiers was still hesitating while dragging Hagen to the carriage.
The carriage was driving straight to the slum while the other soldier remained silent because he was focused on restraining Hagen.
Hagen kept cursing them and swore they would kill their families. The other guy was scared while the other maintained his calm.
As soon as they reached the slum area, the calm soldier said, "We've received the order from the lord. From now on, the Young Master is not a part of Lawrence anymore. Although I'm not sure what is happening, I've heard that the commander of the Demon Banner Army has personally come to this place.
"This is just between you and me. According to my friend who went to a merchant that the commander brought to this place, it was said that the young lord had mistreated the people in the fort and asked for the Demon Banner Army's help only to mistreat them and even point his swords at them. And lastly, he claimed their deeds.
"The commander was angry and the Earl had to give him a lot of compensation. I'm not very sure, but back then, there were around fifteen charts of goods… No one knew the extent of the compensation, but it was certainly big for the Earl, considering he was angry for three days and three nights, according to the maid working there."
"What?" The soldier was shocked, Hagen also dropped his jaw, not understanding what was happening.
But the next thing he realized, he had been thrown to the dark alley by the soldiers and said, "Don't blame us, Young Lord. We're only doing our job… Ah right, you're not our Young Lord anymore."
"You—" Hagen wanted to snarl at him but the carriage had driven away. He didn't realize just yet that there were a group of thugs hiding in that darkness.
As soon as the soldiers left, someone's hand covered his mouth as a rough voice echoed in the alley. "Hey, did you hear that? This must be the famous lecherous second lord, right? To think he would be stripped from his title. He is now the same as us!"
"What are—" Hagen tried to struggle to see these people, but there were a few punches landing on his face in that instant, knocking him out.
His consciousness was blank for a few hours before he woke up again in the middle of nowhere. He was surrounded by buildings but it wasn't bright like the town. His body was covered in pain, especially in his jaw.
Because of the temperature, his skin was numb and freezing. In that instant, he realized he was stark naked.
His stomach was soon rumbling as he hadn't eaten anything even before meeting his father, so all the hunger suddenly came. But due to the punches on his stomach that covered his belly with bruises, the moment he touched his stomach, he fell down while growling in pain.
"Aaaaahhh!" Hagen gritted his teeth while looking around, trying to find someone to get help. "Help… I'm the second son of Earl Lawrence. If you help me, I can give you everything."
He kept crying for help, but not a single person came to him. Hagen tried to crawl on the ground, trying to get into the city, but the pain and the cold were making it hard to move. His consciousness had become fuzzy as well due to the hypothermia.
There were only two possibilities for Hagen. If he had a strong mentality, he would try to stand up and find something to eat even if it meant rummaging through the trash. There was a chance that he would be bullied by the people around as well.
And that would put him in greater pain, not knowing whether he would be able to survive or not. After all, he had to suffer from hypothermia due to the lack of clothes, extreme hunger and stomach pain because of the food, and the harsh life of the slum.
The other possibility was him dying due to the cold because no one helped him.
Either way, it was said that Hagen Lawrence was never seen since that day.
