Your Majesty, I’m Not that Man - Chapter 1: Preparing to Escape (4)

Albert felt truly free for the first time after leaving the duke’s estate.

Though he departed with a heavy heart, a sense of liberation accompanied his exit. For so long, he had felt like a sinner within those walls—a thief who, despite his feelings for Lavinia, was stealing everything that rightfully belonged to her.

No matter how he tried to rationalize it, the truth was undeniable: he had taken and used the privileges Lavinia was entitled to.

“I wonder how Father is doing…”

Lavinia had advised Albert to leave the empire, suggesting he would be safer in a place beyond the duke’s reach. But Albert couldn’t bring himself to go that far.

Though he had left, his father, Hans, remained by Lavinia’s side. If Hans learned the real reason for Albert’s departure, there was a chance he might try to harm her. Lavinia’s suspicions about Hans were not unfounded; he was the sort of man who could do such a thing. Hans had long been consumed by dreams far beyond his reach.

Having been raised within the comforts of the duke’s household, and receiving an education beyond his station, Albert had grown into a Swordmaster. While there were around fifty Swordmasters in the empire, they were still regarded as an extraordinary asset. Albert could easily make a living as a mercenary.

“So…”

This was enough for him.

He had grown up without the fear of being beaten, treated as the heir to the duchy, and lived a childhood free of suffering. Although he occasionally dreamt nightmares of his secrets being exposed and his subsequent execution, those dreams were the only blemish on an otherwise peaceful upbringing.

Of course, things hadn’t been so tranquil before he entered the duke’s household…

Albert’s thoughts drifted to the time when it was just him and his father. Hans had struggled to raise a child alone, often paying a woman from the village to look after Albert.

Albert knew his father cared for him. Hans had endured the humiliation of becoming the duke’s kept man, facing constant scorn, all for Albert’s sake.

“Please… let it all go, and leave the duke’s side, Father.”

With that earnest hope in his heart, Albert turned one last time to look back at the Wendell Duke’s grand estate.

＊ ＊ ＊

The process of adopting a child into a noble family was notoriously strict and challenging, while the process of disowning an adopted child was shockingly easy. This system was designed to prevent nobles from exploiting orphans by adopting them and then profiting from their presence as pseudo-commodities.

Additionally, it was a deliberate measure to make “adoption” as a means of entering noble society as difficult as possible. On the other hand, disownment was simple: a noble who adopted a child could annul the adoption with the help of a few hired witnesses. Ruthless nobles often employed lawyers to handle such matters swiftly and efficiently.

Maxim was one such cold-hearted noble. He had never adopted Albert out of affection. The adoption was merely a means to curry favor with Hans.

As Maxim scratched Albert’s name from the noble registry, an unexpected revelation stopped him in his tracks: the records of Albert’s engagement to Lavinia had already been altered.

This could only have been done with the consent of both families involved—in this case, solely the Wendell Duke’s household. No other party could make such a change, save for one exception…

“The Emperor!”

The Wendell family was now the only remaining ducal house in the Empire, yet Maxim had been avoiding an audience with Emperor Cassion at all costs. The memory of Cassion from that private imperial banquet, where only members of the royal family were present, was still seared into Maxim’s mind.

The image of the young, arrogant boy gripping a bloodied sword in his hand, dripping with the lifeblood of the Guard Captain he had just slain with a single stroke.

His piercing gaze, commanding and deadly, swept over the trembling guards as he declared:
“Now, I am the sole living descendant of Anais’s bloodline.”

Beyond the heavy golden doors of the banquet hall, no sound could be heard. It was clear that the boy, who had just seemingly awakened as a transcendent, had killed everyone inside.

Transcendents—those beings who could make even Swordmasters look like mere children in comparison—only ever emerged from the Anais bloodline.

“So, I ask you this… Who is your master?”

The Deputy Captain of the Guard was a man of quick wit and opportunistic instincts, as well as one who had resented the now-deceased Emperor Kailon. He knelt immediately, his head bowed in submission, and answered:
“Your Majesty.”

Cassion, only 14 years old at the time, looked down at the groveling man with satisfaction. That gaze, filled with cold menace, was enough to make Maxim freeze even now, just recalling it.

“That emperor… is interested in my family?”

Had he truly issued an order to annul the engagement between Lavinia and Albert?

The implications were obvious, yet Maxim didn’t want to believe it. He couldn’t—because it terrified him.

Maxim had no desire to become a relative of the imperial family. Despite being the Empire’s sole duke, serving the Emperor closely was a nerve-wracking, life-draining affair.

“Perhaps it’s for the best that I handled Albert’s case the way I did…”

The Emperor was known to first grasp a family’s weaknesses when he wanted something from them. Albert’s existence was undeniably a significant vulnerability for Maxim.

Feeling a chill crawl down his spine, Maxim hastily returned to the ducal residence, his heart pounding with dread.

＊ ＊ ＊

Disowning Albert took two days—not counting the day he left the duke’s estate. That meant Hans had been confined to his room for a full three days, and the stress was unbearable.

Hans couldn’t understand why Albert, his kind and obedient son, had suddenly turned against him.

Albert had always harbored feelings for Lavinia, the only daughter of the Wendell dukedom, despite his denial. It was guilt over these feelings that had driven him to follow his father’s instructions so far—because, given Albert’s status, that was the only way he could be tied to Lavinia.

“Could it be Lavinia realized it? But how? From where?”

Though Hans had doted on Albert, to outsiders, it must have seemed as though he was merely currying favor with the duke’s heir. Inevitably, his relationship with Lavinia was bound to be strained.

This wasn’t helped by the fact that the duchess couldn’t tolerate staying in the same house, knowing about Hans and Maxim’s relationship.

“Why hasn’t the duke contacted me yet?”

Maxim was the sort who grew anxious whenever Hans was out of sight. If he was delaying this long, there were only two plausible explanations: either Maxim had met with an accident and was incapacitated—or worse, dead—or he had changed his mind about handling Albert as Hans had instructed.

Hans’s demand had been an extreme one, after all. For a noble like Maxim, who placed such importance on appearances, it was an immense burden.

“Could he have…? No, surely not!”

Maxim had always been drawn to men, but his father’s demands had forced him into his current marriage with the duchess. This had only deepened his resentment toward the previous duke.

It was Hans who had freed Maxim from his repression, acknowledging his true self. Their relationship had long been an open secret—something Hans shamelessly used to his advantage.

Even though the emperor himself kept a public harem of male consorts, Maxim still feared having his relationship with Hans exposed. Hans couldn’t understand this hesitation, but he exploited it mercilessly, using Maxim’s love and devotion for his own ends.

“Maxim’s feelings can still be swayed. As long as he’s alive…”

Despite his outward composure, Maxim’s resolve was weak. What truly worried Hans was the possibility of Maxim’s death. If that were to happen…

“The duchess will kill me.”

Lavinia would likely turn a blind eye to such an act. She would use Albert’s letters to claim Hans had consented to the disownment and then have Albert’s name removed from the noble registry.

“I have to act fast!”

Hans couldn’t allow Albert’s name to be erased. He had fought too hard to have it added to the registry in the first place, cajoling and pressuring Maxim in every way imaginable.

Though Hans resented Albert for running away, Albert was still his only son. Hans had resolved to ensure his child wouldn’t inherit the miserable life of a commoner.

“First, I need to convince Maxim… and hire the best mercenaries. I’ll use them to bring Albert back safely. Then I’ll persuade him.”

Albert was a good boy, Hans thought. If he begged for forgiveness and swore it had all been a moment of youthful folly, Albert would likely believe him.

“The only evidence is Albert’s letter anyway, so I just need to spin the story…”

The real obstacle was Lavinia. But Hans had a plan for her as well: spread rumors that Albert and Lavinia had already been intimate. While it wasn’t a serious scandal for noblewomen to meet with men in this era, a rumor of impropriety would cause enough of a stir.

By creating the scandal, Hans could pressure Maxim to hasten Albert and Lavinia’s marriage. If everything went as planned, his long and arduous efforts would finally bear fruit.

“Yes, that’s the way to do it!”

Hans needed to leave his room as soon as possible to set his plan into motion. He rushed to the door and began pounding on it.

＊ ＊ ＊

“Here we go again.”

With a bored click of their tongues, the guards turned their backs to the commotion.

Hans’s bedroom was a fairly comfortable room, but it was still one of the servants’ quarters, and thus its door could be locked from the outside. Hans, lacking significant physical strength, could pound on the door all day and still fail to make a dent.

“You think you’ll get away with this?! The duke won’t forgive you!” he bellowed, his voice straining with rage.

But the guards standing outside the door didn’t budge. To them, Hans was nothing more than the duke’s favored male concubine. They knew nothing of Hans’s connection to Albert.

When the duke was present, the guards bowed and acted subservient, but they knew Maxim feared the idea of killing anyone, so his punishments were more for show than reality.

When Maxim was too preoccupied with Hans to manage the household, it wasn’t the duchess who stepped in to handle the estate’s affairs—it was Lavinia. As the de facto authority within the household, her approval ensured that the guards obeyed her orders, even at some risk.

Though Hans had predicted that Maxim would pine for him, Maxim now had other matters occupying his mind. Originally, Maxim had planned to find Hans immediately after disowning Albert, offering comfort while subtly reminding him that Maxim alone could protect Albert. But an unexpected problem had arisen.

“…It seems His Majesty has ordered the annulment of your engagement,” Maxim informed Lavinia, his voice tight with unease.

Engagements between nobles required the Emperor’s tacit approval. Since the Emperor couldn’t personally approve each union due to the sheer number of nobles, a tradition had developed: nobles would record engagements in an official yearbook, and the Emperor’s silence was taken as consent. If the Emperor disapproved, he would issue a decree or annul the engagement outright.

Historically, emperors had rarely involved themselves in such matters unless a union posed a political problem. However, Maxim understood enough about the situation to grasp its implications. Lavinia, too, was startled by how quickly this matter had escalated—something never described in such detail in the original novel.

“It seems His Majesty has someone in mind for me,” Lavinia remarked coolly.

“Do you have any idea who it might be?” Maxim asked, his voice tinged with worry.

“No, none at all.”

The Emperor’s abrupt decree to make Lavinia the Empress—or perhaps, to appoint a chosen candidate as the Wendell Duchy’s heir—felt like a lightning strike out of nowhere.

“Fortunately, we disowned Albert in time. If His Majesty had investigated his background, we would have faced a scandal of catastrophic proportions,” Lavinia said.

Her calm analysis only made Maxim go pale. His face betrayed the realization that, in trying to curry Hans’s favor by pushing Albert into the household, he had unknowingly set himself up for disaster.

“If His Majesty truly has designs on our family, we will likely receive direct communication soon,” Lavinia continued.

The Emperor, a transcendent and the last surviving member of the Anais bloodline, held absolute power. His unrivaled strength ensured that any nobles or royals who dared oppose him lost their heads.

And while his rule had been brutal for the nobility, it had brought relative prosperity to the common people. The Emperor refrained from interfering with nobles who were loyal, lawful, and unambitious, allowing them to live in peace—so long as they didn’t overreach.

Maxim, however, felt anger boiling within him as he realized just how close he had come to disaster. Luckily, that anger was not directed at Lavinia, who had been the one to advise disowning Albert.

“Father, we should exercise caution for the time being,” Lavinia said. “The fact that His Majesty is paying attention to our family is undeniable.”

“…You’re right.”

Because Maxim had followed Lavinia’s suggestion, she felt no need to involve the duchess in the full truth of Albert’s identity. It was enough to provide the duchess with the contents of Albert’s letter.

Though the duchess was furious, she showed little interest in taking action. Like Maxim, she also had a lover outside the household and preferred to keep her distance from internal matters.

“I’ll inform Mother of the situation,” Lavinia concluded. “As for Hans… he hasn’t eaten for days. Father, I suggest you go check on him yourself.”

“…”

Maxim’s reaction was unexpectedly subdued. Rather than bursting out in anger with an exclamation of “Hans?!” as Lavinia had anticipated, he quietly turned his gaze toward the hallway leading to Hans’s room.

“I’ll handle Hans myself. You, take care to conduct yourself properly.”

“Yes, Father,” Lavinia replied obediently.