[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-seventh-prince-wants-to-bail":3,"chapter-the-seventh-prince-wants-to-bail-the-seventh-prince-wants-to-bail-chapter-20":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Seventh Prince Wants to Bail",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1222746,1619,"Chapter 20","the-seventh-prince-wants-to-bail-chapter-20",20,"\u003Cp>Episode 20 — The result of choice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Knock, knock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Acting family head, it is Jack.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Come in.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the short but cold and nervous voice, Jack, the knight commander of the duke’s family, swallowed once and opened the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tollin, whose blue hair had grown long enough to cover his neck and was roughly tied back, was looking through documents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What is the atmosphere like within the knight order?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He asked without taking his eyes off the paper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes. As you said, there were those in the 2nd Knights spreading false rumors about the young duke, so we punished them by cutting off their thumbs and index fingers and sent them away. The atmosphere remains unsettled, but it seems it will soon be corrected.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Good. There are signs that those who left on their own feet are trying to return. Do not let a single one of them back in.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jack looked at Tollin, who spoke coldly, with pity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But because he knew that such a gaze would be of no help to Tollin, he could only salute after Tollin ordered him to leave, then step out with his armor clanking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Agony Feedus was dead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And he had been executed by the imperial family at that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blow this dealt to the duke’s family was enormous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feedus was a family that had served Great Emperor Sierra from the beginning, and for over a thousand years, it had protected the imperial family from the closest position.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wealth, unity, and glory the House of Feedus had enjoyed, the roots of all of it, were shaken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a while, Jack, too, could not recover from the shock that Agony Feedus, who had been like a dream to him, had met such a dishonorable death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the reason for loyalty disappeared, the oath lost its direction and faith withered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many people left, and Jack, too, could not get his bearings on what he should do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was true that he had respected Agony Feedus as an individual, but his loyalty had also been toward Feedus, who served the imperial family.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why had Agony Feedus made such a choice?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why had he betrayed everyone and chosen such an irresponsible death?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jack, who had witnessed his death with his own eyes, had spent days sunk in despair, barely seeming to live properly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Tollin..... He did not even seem to have the leisure to fall into despair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tollin, who rose after only one day, had changed into a completely different person.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jack understood him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because he had followed Agony Feedus more than he followed even his own father.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If his sense of betrayal was greater than Jack’s, then greater it was, but it would never be less.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was why, when Tollin gathered the people of the house, Jack expected him to order them to hold Agony Feedus’ final funeral.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the first thing he did after rising was to completely exclude Agony Feedus from the members of the family.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—Agony Feedus is no longer a person of the House of Feedus. There will be no funeral proceedings. He is someone who never existed from the beginning. The loyalty of the House of Feedus will not dry up because of a single traitor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At his cold and resolute speech calling Agony Feedus a “traitor”, Jack swallowed without realizing it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tollin, who had briefly closed and opened his eyes, looked around at those seated and continued speaking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—Those who will leave, leave. I will not stop you. But remember this. In Feedus, there remains someone who will continue the thousand-year oath. I will not miss the chance to prove our loyalty. And in that process, I have no leisure to show warmth to traitors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone knew that the traitors he referred to did not mean only Agony Feedus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They also knew that every venom-filled word spoken by him, whose complexion was so pale that he looked as if he might collapse at any moment, was another oath he would risk his life to keep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The timid aide who, only a short while ago, had awkwardly laughed at the hunting festival, saying that he had tripped over a stone and hit his head on another stone, was gone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He made decisions swiftly, handled matters sharply, and took revenge mercilessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before even two weeks had passed, half of the employees of the ducal castle were cut away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were people sent or coaxed by those trying to gnaw away at the wealth and reputation of the masterless House of Duke Feedus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tollin’s bold actions were a great help to Jack in steadying his shaken heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because Tollin’s words were correct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The legitimate heir of Feedus still remained in the mansion, and that meant there were still countless chances to prove their loyalty to the emperor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Assisting Tollin became a guidepost for the confused Jack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jack thought that this was not only the case for himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more Tollin became the center, the more the House of Feedus regained stability.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was only natural because enemies surrounded them on all sides, but Jack still felt bewildered, and in one sense sad, that the timid and faint-hearted Tollin had done such things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, the duke’s family was showing more active political moves than ever before, and because it seemed to be flourishing in a different form than before, there was nothing for Jack, as the knight commander of the duke’s family, to be sad about.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as an old colleague, Jack only thought it was a little sad that he could no longer see Tollin clattering around while being teased among the employees.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among those who had worked with Tollin in the duke’s family for a long time, there were a few who secretly carried a sadness they should not feel, like Jack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The coal mine discovered in the south will have Baron Jones, who has territory nearby, claiming ownership. He has a debt he placed on the duke’s family long ago, so tell him to exchange it for that. If we go by the law, he will have no choice even if we threaten him to repay it immediately.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes. Understood.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pale, Tollin’s aide, who nodded at the merciless order, was also someone who missed the old him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, because he had taken on the role of assisting Tollin right beside him, he differed slightly from Jack in that there was a small gap through which he could soothe his sadness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And send word in advance so that I can visit the temple this morning.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"....Lord Tollin, since ‘that incident’, the temple has temporarily refused visits from the House of Feedus.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That incident” was the demonstrative phrase mainly used when they had to refer to the duke’s death, which was difficult to put into words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without any change in expression, Tollin kept his eyes on the documents as he took out paper from a drawer and began writing something without pause.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although his hand movements as he wrote without hesitation were rough, his handwriting was elegant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tollin folded the paper and handed it to Pale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Send this along with it. If they read it, they will not regret it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"....Understood.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pale accepted the letter Tollin handed him and answered quietly before leaving his office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before leaving the room, through the closing door, Pale took into his eyes Tollin, who was focusing as if he would bury his face in the documents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>* * *\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tollin stopped the carriage on a street he had come to during the sliver of time he carved out from lunch and looked through the window at the shantytown and the vagrants wandering inside it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, Tollin still could not understand the will of his former superior, Agony Feedus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He did not know whether the people he had chosen while abandoning his own life and the House of Feedus truly had that much value.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He simply did not want to let his death become meaningless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tomorrow, many things will change.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That space, which was now only filthy, would face many changes going forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could not yet know whether that would follow the same direction as the duke’s will, or become the opposite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was something Tollin could do to honor the dead duke, and at the same time, it was also proof of his oath to protect the remaining young duke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If it also contained something like stubbornness, that he would not let things easily go according to the 1st Prince’s will, then it did.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After giving several instructions to the coachman, he turned the carriage around again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without noticing until the end the existence of the black bird taking in every part of his appearance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>* * *\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was an afternoon with many watching eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rumor had spread quietly that the family that had bought the surrounding area at an enormous price was none other than that House of Feedus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the very land the 1st Prince had coveted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At a glance, the actions of the acting duke, who seemed to be following the will of the late former Duke Feedus, were enough to gather people’s attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were also enough to accelerate the rumor that the acting duke had gone mad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When word spread that such a man would appear in the square today and announce an important decision, people could not bear their curiosity about its content.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those gathered kept looking around to find the mad dog of the House of Feedus, who would soon appear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were no favorable gazes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is also human instinct to want to drag down someone who has fallen from walking high above the sky, and more than anything else, the backlash against the duke who had defied the will of the imperial family was too great.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around the time the authority of the sun that had risen highest weakened and a chilly air began to linger, the carriage carrying Tollin Crisa arrived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The carriage still boasted an imposing size, and people clicked their tongues in dissatisfaction at the prestigious family crest engraved on its door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The door, marked with a large crest of two overlapping swords, opened, and finally Tollin appeared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking thinner and sharper than before, he walked toward the platform without giving a single glance to those gathered in the center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It would not be an exaggeration to say that the malice seeping from the gazes sweeping over him was stabbing him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there was not the slightest hesitation in Tollin’s steps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing on the platform, he looked around at those present with cold eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most were commoners, but among them were nobles who wanted to watch the duke’s family fall with their own eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tollin, standing above them, did not avoid their gazes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without saying a word, and slowly, he scanned the faces of those gathered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if engraving the faces of everyone present into his eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because his quiet action made those watching feel a strange pressure, most of the people who had gathered to mock Tollin swallowed dryly without realizing it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the time Tollin’s warning-like gaze reached the end of the square, silence had already settled over the square, which had been noisy with murmurs and mocking laughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At last, he laughed dryly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You have gathered in a disgustingly large crowd.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At his first words, which sounded almost like a sneer, displeasure appeared on people’s faces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if he did not care about the reaction of the crowd, he spread his fingers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Two months. Exactly two months from now, this district will be managed by the House of Feedus for one year. Those wandering without homes, those committing crimes, and those damaging the appearance of the temple will be held accountable for their crimes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The murmurs that had briefly subsided returned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most of them were lower nobles who had secretly come to observe the situation, and their servants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had thought he would follow in the footsteps of that foolish Duke Feedus, who had risked his life merely to save commoners, but it was the opposite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We do not share the will of the family’s traitor. A map does not change just because a drop of ink splashes onto it. Though there may be a stain, what Feedus protects has not changed either.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tollin added, as if he had read the people’s questions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reactions of those watching him declare the dead Agony Feedus a stain on the family split in several directions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those whose path to survival had suddenly grown bleak were busy glaring at him as if he were an evil spirit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were many who disapproved of him, thinking he was clinging to his pride even if it killed him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And there were also those who could not contain their curiosity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then what is going to be built there…..I mean, sir?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The eldest son of Duke Millio, who had been hiding among the people and spying on Tollin, opened his mouth, then hurriedly pulled his robe tighter and changed the ending of his sentence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The corner of Tollin’s mouth rose crookedly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A hospital.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The renewed murmuring at his answer grew even louder at the words he added afterward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"While the hospital is being built, I also intend to train the doctors who will work there.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Medical arts, of all things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though it was not quite as difficult as the alchemy taught at the academy, it was still a field of study difficult to learn without a fairly high status.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Usually, in order to learn medicine, one needed another teacher who had properly learned the discipline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the fact that they had learned medicine also meant that they, too, came from high-ranking noble backgrounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In most cases, they were children of nobles whose titles passed to older siblings, leaving them without much inherited wealth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They became attending physicians to those with higher titles than their fathers or mothers, or those with much higher titles received education at the temple and worked in the imperial palace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although they could not inherit a title, it could be called the most ideal path for those who desired honor and knowledge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From among the crowd, the sound of people swallowing could occasionally be heard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There is no way nobles would go to such a hospital….\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While someone flinched at their muttering, which had echoed louder than they had expected, Tollin answered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Even those who are not nobles may use it freely.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As people were once again surprised, Tollin added impassively.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Anyone who can pay the cost will be able to use it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"H-How could the House of Feedus do something like that….\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Young Lord Millio foolishly muttered again, having lost awareness of his position.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The only thing that can stop the House of Feedus is the will of God.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How could the House of Feedus, which has already defied god once…..\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were many noble children besides Young Lord Millio who thought that way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because even that arrogant acting head of Feedus would ultimately be unable to do anything about the fact that he had been abandoned by God.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although they did not say it out loud, they all considered this Tollin’s final struggle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If not for the noisy arrival of the enormous carriage that pushed through the crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a moment, there was a commotion from the sound of wheels rolling, horses neighing, and people screaming as they avoided it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But no one criticized its merciless movement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because everyone who confirmed the splendid carriage that matched its noisy arrival was busy swallowing their breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no one, at least in the capital, who did not know the source of the pure white carriage untouched by filth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before long, the carriage door opened, and the person who appeared turned everyone’s suspicions into certainty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The High Priest, Priest Vesper.\u003C\u002Fp>",2625,"2026-06-04T16:12:46.831Z",1,"revengernovel.com","3a80b7343816f438fe18bd9d1a26e2942c9fbd71d655f188e26693e28665ca55","the-seventh-prince-wants-to-bail-chapter-21","the-seventh-prince-wants-to-bail-chapter-19",33,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-seventh-prince-wants-to-bail-cover.jpg"]