Restart:Untalented Man

Chapter 16 Declaration Of War

?At the same time as Richard is interrogating the assassin, Count Gyalcakes is in his office waiting for the good news.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

"Come in"

"Milord, the mission failed. The assassin was captured"

"Instruct our agent in Ryntum mansion to kill the assassin"

"About that milord....", the butler hesitated to continue.

"What!!?"

"We lost contact with all of our agents"

"Lost?!!", Count Gyalcakes shocked. He quickly regains his calm and starts to think.

'If our agent lost, that means Ryntum probably suspects us a long time ago. They just need a valid reason to retaliate.'

Even if Gyalcakes is confident, he still needs a solid reason to wage a war. At the moment, he could only make some preparation.

Planting a spy in other nobles' houses is normal. As a noble, getting first-hand information is very important that can influence decisions made. They also need to keep up to date with the situation.

"Then slowly prepare for war, don't alert them. Ryntum will definitely wage a war against us."

"What about Lady Maria, milord?", ask the butler.

"She is already useless to me. She can die all she wants". Count Gyalcakes replied without any concern in his tone. That's how he treats his daughter. For him, they are just a tool to build connections with other nobles and he didn't care about what happened to them afterwards.

'She should at least be careful that I married her to a young man rather than some fat old nobles'. thought Count Gyalcakes.

Among all his four daughters, Maria can be said the luckiest one since she married a promising young Richard years ago.

As Count Gyalcakes is making his next move, the news also reaches Cerdeaux, the capital of the Republic of Cerdeauxia.

President Matthew Milan is reading the report about the assassination. He gritted his teeth trying to hold back his anger.

'How could a professional assassin be unable to kill a single brat?'.

To make things worse, he even got captured. If the Bagyarosia king knows that he sends an assassin to assassinate a noble in his kingdom, Nicholas I might break the alliance agreement.

He needs to put pressure on the king and demand him hand over Riz to Cerdeauxia. Riz's existence is a threat to his governance. If the royalist knows that the royal bloodline still exists, the large-scale uprising can engulf the entire nation.

"Summon Andrew for me", the secretary promptly executes the order.

Later, Andrew comes to the presidential office.

"Mr President, what do you want from me?"

"I want you to go to Bagyarosia as an envoy and asked the king to hand over the brat to us. Put some pressure on them"

"I will depart for Bagyarosia right away."

....

*Clank*

The door to the prison was opened by the guard. Richard and Riz were there watching Maria and Robert were thrown into the prison located on the underground floor.

"You bastard!!!, how dare you do this to your own son!!", swear Robert. He came back all the way from the border just to find himself in this state.

His eyes fall on Riz before saying, "No matter how you dote on him, you should treat your son fairly". He had suffered a lot because of Richard's favouritism since he was a kid.

"Hahahaha...Don't worry, I treat my children fairly. If not, then Rachel would be here with you.", Richard said before his eyes looking at Maria.

"Wh...what do you mean?", Robert couldn't understand.

Maria on the side shudders when Richard is looking at her. She has a bad feeling about where is this going.

"Anthony. The young promising knight that serves the Gyalcakes around twenty years ago. At some point, he acts as young lady Maria Gyalcakes's personal knight during her engagement with Young Master Richard. After Young Lady Maria married into the Ryntum, he suddenly disappear as if he never exist". Richard starts narrating someone's life story while occasionally looking at Maria.

Maria was sweating profusely when she heard the familiar name. Riz doesn't need to hear the rest to know where this story leads them to.

Richard takes a sack that was held by the knight and throws it at Maria and Robert. In there contained a freshly decapitated head.

"Robert, meet your father", says Richard.

Robert stares at Anthony's head blankly as if his brain stops working. The face on that head shows an expression of fear and despair. He looked at Maria for confirmation but only to see Maria's bloodless face.

'It's over.' Maria helplessly acknowledges the fact. Not only did she deceive her husband for twenty years, she even try to put her son on a count's seat. No one could tolerate this.

Ignoring Robert's questionable gaze, Richard continues his story.

"It takes a very long time to find him. Maria does her best to conceal his existence. However, I'm not someone who gives up easily. My hard work finally pays off after years of searching. When I found him, he was at his house with his wife and his two small children enjoying a meal. Did you know what did he do when I introduce myself? He instantly grovels in front of me begging for mercy. I ask the knight to hold him and then proceed by killing his entire family member. Hahahahaha, his expression was so priceless.", Richard finish his story.

He looked at Maria, "Do you think I'm stupid Maria? I know everything about your deed of poisoning Eve to death, about how you try to do the same at Riz and about the forest incident."

Right now, Maria just wants to get out of here. She never saw Richard this mad before.

"Pl..please father. I don't know anything. It's all Mother's fault", Robert starts to hug Richard's leg and beg. If what Richard said is true, then his life will be in danger.

Richard kicks Robert in his face, "Don't call me 'father', it is very disgusting to hear it from your mouth."

Robert did not give up and starts to cling to Riz. Riz doesn't do much except step on Robert's throat while asking Richard, "What we are going to do with them, Father?".

'If I'm not mistaken, some of the punishment for adulterous women in medieval times back on earth is whipping, head shaving, and parading through the streets.'

Seeing his father trying to hold back his anger, Riz didn't think their punishment would be simple as that.

Nobody likes being cheated by others, especially someone close to them.

"Don't worry Riz. I'm going to publicly execute them in the square. The knight is preparing a stage as we speak right now."

"Hmm. Don't you think it's kinda simple?"

"What? Do you have another plan? Let me hear it"

"Let's make it as flashy as possible. Let's use their death as a declaration of war against Gyalcakes"

"Hoh, hurry up explain it to me", Richard urged.

"For Robert, we just need to kill him. He doesn't have any value at all. However, Maria, since she can't keep that loose hole of hers closed, let's fill it with a hot iron rod and impale her to death. Then, we spread the tale of 'Maria the cheater' to an entire kingdom, indirectly destroying Gyalcake's reputation." Riz explained.

Actually, he doesn't care so much about how they died. When he heard that his mother in this life was poisoned to death, he felt deep down in his heart. Perhaps this is inherent emotion left by the original owner. So, he decided to make Maria's death as cruel as possible.

"Excellent!! Ruthless to your enemies, just like your mother"

Maria who hears the conversation between father and son trembles in fear. They treat her life as if it were worth nothing at all.

....

After concluding the matters about that woman and her son, Richard called Josephine to inform her that she will be the family's main wife from now on.

At first, she was quite confused but after explaining everything to her, she agreed to accept the role. Even so, her heart was filled with fear.

'That man did not waver at all when he decided to eliminate the woman who lives with him for twenty years. No matter what, I will do my best to not displease him', resolved Josephine.