The crowd was growing in numbers. At first, the people who had been scared at the sight of Jacqueline being dragged away changed when they gathered as a group and showed ferocious force, as if they would even attack Roman Dmitry.
People continued to pour into the square endlessly, and they paused a few steps away from Roman Dmitry and his men. It was tense.
A man from the crowd stepped forward and spoke on behalf of everyone,
“Jacqueline is the hero of Redford! What on earth did he do to persecute him?!”
“Everyone here should know. This man robbed the carriage of Count London and stole his gold.”
Roman Dmitry spoke calmly. His face didn’t seem to care about the crowd at all.
“Count London is a traitor who sold the nation! We saw and heard it, and we know he intends to play with the Dmitry family and side with you. The gold coins in the carriage were the property of Redford. He must have intended to steal it and run away to Dmitry. Jacqueline has only used the money of the traitor for the right thing, and you, a foreigner, cannot punish him!”
“Right!”
“Free Jacqueline right now!”
The people were angry. Their fear was gone, and their eyes glistened with murderous intent.
From one loot, they saw blood. They had come to think that the nobles were nothing and believed that thousands of them could take down Roman and his men. That was what common sense would tell people.
However, they didn’t know that a single human could kill all of them. They were ignorant and foolish. Even if they opened their eyes and ears, they didn’t seem to hear or see anything.
Roman Dmitry said,
“Where is the truth to what you claim?”
“What truth?! It is our experience! Count London is trash, and everyone knows that. After you visited, he stole some gold from somewhere and was running away. It wasn’t even a little gold. It was 100,000. If that huge amount of money is not used for running away, then what is it for?!”
“So you based that on just pure speculation?”
“Do not change my words! It is a fact!”
Betrayer, gold, Roman Dmitry—these three words led people to conclude that Count London was about to commit treason.
Roman chuckled. Their statement about not changing their words meant that there wasn’t any truth to them.
“Innocent people died because of you. The soldiers and knights who followed Count London did nothing wrong, and yet you killed them for a statement that cannot be proved. It is different from normal theft. People died, yet you continue to speak the same words like a parrot. There is no evidence, but you claim to be right. There is no evidence, but Count London is a traitor.”
He took something out of his sleeves. Then he undid the cloth and threw the papers at Jacqueline.
Tuk.
“Read it.”
His unexpected behavior made everyone present confused. What could the documents inside be?
Jacqueline looked at Roman Dmitry.
Whoosh.
He picked up the papers, and the moment he began to read them, his face was shocked.
“… W-What is this?”
He was confounded. His eyes went wide as he looked back and forth between Roman and the papers.
His eyes trembled at the documents. He couldn’t accept this reality. However, the official seal stamped there proved that the documents were real.
“Read it.”
The voice called out, and Jacqueline gulped. His face was pale, as he was unable to handle the reality in front of him.
“… The Golden Bank certifies through these documents that Roman Dmitry of the Dmitry family has repaid the 110,000 gold borrowed by the Redford Kingdom from the Golden Bank.”
Tuk.
He dropped the papers and looked in disbelief at Roman Dmitry, who calmly said,
“You clearly said it was supposed to be 100,000 for him to run away, right? But the truth is there in the documents, and it was money to pay off the debts of this kingdom. A few days ago, he received an ultimatum from the Golden Bank about the money, and he borrowed that money from me. If the carriage had arrived safely, we wouldn’t have needed to pay an additional 10,000 gold as interest. It is the truth that you have chosen to ignore until now.”
“Bullshit!”
Jacqueline groaned and screamed. This was really… this made no sense. There was no reason for Roman Dmitry to lend such a huge amount, and why was Count London even trying to pay off the debt of the nation?
Count London was not a patriot. He was the type to only care about himself, and the rumors going around proved what he was like. Then this had to be fabricated. However, the contents of the document couldn’t be explained.
Jacqueline yelled,
“Do you think I don’t know that it is a forged document? Count London is someone who turns a blind eye to people in trouble. When everyone was starving and complaining of hunger, people were even thrown out of their jobs due to a dispute with the upper-class people. Even after making so much money, he did nothing for the people. He didn’t give a little bit, and he invited you to a grand party and enjoyed things we couldn’t.”
The party that day was what ticked them off. The luxury that Count London was enjoying could no longer be tolerated.
Right, so Roman asked,
“The authenticity has been confirmed by the Golden Bank. Rather, I have something to ask you. Just like how your claim that he was trying to siphon the money elsewhere has been proven to be false, where is the evidence about Count London being the traitor that you spoke of?”
At that, Jacqueline’s eyes trembled.
Count London. Where did his reputation come from? It wasn’t that he intentionally did it. In a situation where rumors spread around the world, he just didn’t deny them.
It started with the work of Baron Dread, his competitor. Baron Dread had a fight with Count London over the rights of the commercials in the capital, but when he was defeated in the financial battle, he came up with a plan.
His reputation had to be changed. The Count’s father was known to be a patriot, but his son, who succeeded him, didn’t show any signs similar to his. So rumors spread about him being trash. At the same time, Baron Dread released money to the public to look good.
It was a nice plan. Baron Dread went out in the mornings to give out food to the people, and then he won the hearts of the people by showing a false smile, and with that, the rumors spread that Baron Dread was the one for the Redford Kingdom.
If only it had stopped there, Count London might not have gone after Baron Dread, but the man had done so many evil things that it was horrible—human trafficking and drugs. He got involved on the wrong side and was selling people to the empire to get a nice relationship with the Kronos Empire.
Actually, Baron Dread’s reputation wouldn’t have lasted that long. With time, the truth would have come out, but before that, Count London broke him down, and that made him the villain.
Common people thought that Baron Dread was a good person, and Count London, who had taken down a good man, got criticized.
The rumor that he was a traitor began from there. In fact, he didn’t even try to sell the nation or harm it, yet the people would never stop criticizing the poor man.
One year, then two years. As the years passed, people began to become more sure of it. Even if he acted like a normal merchant, people would still call him greedy.
Roman said,
“Has Count London ever done anything that deserves for him to be called evil? A quarrel with Baron Dread cannot be called an evil act. Just like how you compete with others at work, it is a common thing, and Count London was the one who settled the debts that Baron Dread left. Why did you think he did it? Did he care about how you, people, see him? No. He didn’t care about what he was called since the people were already pointing at him, but considering the circumstances of the people who were tormented by Baron Dread, he made a decision to do it.”
The truth was right in front of his eyes. The people were blinded. Some might say he cheated, or some might say he didn’t explain anything.
However, was that even valid? Before making hasty judgments, there had to be some truth to them. A little digging into Baron Dread would have shown how bad he was, and Count London followed the right path.
How the hell could he be evil, then? People labeled everything he did as mean. Count London’s reputation had already been built.
“If anyone presents clear evidence of how he is a traitor, I will release Jacqueline here. Why did you call him trash? Because he is rich? Because he threw a party? He was using what was his. Even if he only cares about his own interests, you, people, have no right to criticize him for doing what he wants with his own money, saying he didn’t give himself up for you.”
Prejudice limits people’s thoughts. Yu Hyun and Count London—just as they thought the other person needed help because they were poor and thought that they would just happily receive the help, the people of Redford believed that the riches of Count London were their right and that any additional money must mean he did something wrong.
Both cases were illusions. The world that the two lived in was different from another. In the same situation, if one chooses a good deed, the other chooses a bad deed.
“I will ask again. Is Count London really the traitor you are talking about?”
At those words, everyone was confused.
Roman was right. Could Count London be the traitor? He was called wicked because of Baron Dread, who showed kindness to the people, and no matter what the man did, people hated him.
Actually, that was why Jacqueline rioted. Count London had a lot of money, and the man was only using it on himself, and all the citizens now looked shocked.
The attack on the carriage and the murder of innocent people. Even in the face of death, the reason they moved forward was that London was a bad man, but now everything had changed.
And now they had turned into murderers. They had become beings who blindly followed the rumors and didn’t care about the truth. However, the truth before their eyes changed everything.
Roman Dmitry was someone who settled Redford’s debts. Count London was trying to help the nation and not run away, yet he was punished. Their faith in their actions was shattered.
However, no one could accept that. The moment they put down their weapons, they didn’t have the confidence to take responsibility for the mistakes they had made. It was then….
“There is this place called Annabelle Orphanage in Redford. Everyone probably knows it. Annabelle, who manages a place for homeless kids and helps those in need, is called the hero of Redford, like Jacqueline. But did you think about where the wealth of the orphanage comes from? Annabelle is a commoner. Isn’t it strange for her to have had the resources to help people for so many years?”
The actions of the evil man were questioned again. People considered the orphanage a sanctuary.
At that moment, they were dumbfounded. Why bring up that topic now? When the ominous thoughts began to creep into them slowly, Roman said,
“The sponsor of the Annabelle Orphanage. It is Count London, whom you accuse of being trash.”
The hidden truth—it was a story different from what they saw or heard.
