"I think you'll like what I have to say," the young man began, "but I want mercy in return for saying anything."

Kivamus frowned. "Why would you need to ask for mercy? You have helped to timely catch an assassin in the manor, and have probably saved my life. I don't see anything to forgive you for."

"Trust me, milord, you'll change your mind after you hear everything I have to say. So I'm not opening my mouth until you agree to it."

"How can we agree to anything like that without knowing what you've done!" Hudan growled.

The young man grimaced. "I know that the information I have will be helpful enough for you that I can ask you to trade it for my life. Put me in jail or send me to the mines if you want, but just don't kill me. I can be very useful to you in the future!"

"We'll see about that..." Kivamus muttered, "but I'm not making any promises about forgiving you. Now start speaking."

The bearded young man shook his head. "Then at least give me your word that you'll hear me to the end before deciding what to do with me instead of making a rash decision."

Kivamus exhaled. "You are asking for a lot and I don't even know what you want to talk about." He gave a nod. "Fine. I agree not to have you executed immediately after listening to you, but if what you've done is bad enough, I'll still hold a hearing with my advisors later on, and you'll get the judgement your actions deserve. I can't do any more for you."

"That..." the man sighed. "I guess that's the best I'm going to get." He looked around at the people remaining in the hall, his eyes stopping at Tesyb and Duvas for a moment. "Are you sure you can trust these people completely? If any of them blabs about what I'm telling you, you are going to have a lot of problems in the future."

"Is that a threat?" Hudan barked as he took a step ahead.

The man defensively put his hands in front of himself. "No, no! You'll understand after you hear me out."

Kivamus tilted his head. "I trust everyone who is present or they wouldn't be here right now. Now speak! My patience is running thin..."

The young man nodded. "I'll start from the beginning. I was born as the first and the only son of the man who was meant to become the Count of Cinran, which means I was also supposed to inherit the domain of Cinran in the future, but my destiny was stolen from me by Lord Ebirtas, who is the younger brother of my father - my uncle."

"I call bullshit on this!" Hudan spat.

"Boy, are you still drunk or something?" Duvas asked with pity. "I know Sir Tuilas went to the alehouse last night with his guards. Maybe that's where you had a vivid dream where you thought of this incredible story?"

"No! I'm not lying!"

Tesyb put a brawny hand on the young man's shoulder. "Do you want me to throw him out, milord?"

Kivamus raised a hand to stop the others. "Let's hear him out first." An ordinary guard turning out to be a noble in hiding? This did seem interesting, even if it turned out to be a sham later on. "Go on."

The bearded man nodded with relief. "My father was supposed to become the Count around two decades ago, but he was murdered by my uncle Ebirtas when they had gone horse riding together to celebrate my father becoming the next count after my grandfather died." He clenched his fists. "However, while my father was known as an excellent rider, somehow, he was thrown over by the horse and broke his neck, which meant Ebirtas became the Count instead of my father. I've been told that officially it was classified as just an accident, but I know it wasn't! Nobody speaks anything about it anymore to prevent making the count angry at them, so I can't give you any proof about it, but everything I've said is true!"

Stolen novel; please report.

Kivamus frowned. "This does sound hard to believe... What's your name anyway? Maybe that will jog my memory."

The bearded man flinched. "Let's leave that for the end."

"Fine," Kivamus shrugged, "but how do I even believe that you are the son of the man who was supposed to become the count, and not just some random servant without any noble blood in him who has heard the story and created a good narrative around it to help himself?"

The young man glared at him. "How can anyone prove that they are the son of a person? I hadn't been born then, so I haven't seen my father even once, but I know it's true! Just... Just look at any old portrait of my father in the Count's mansion, and you'll see how much I look like him! I've been in that mansion so many times and Ebirtas has already removed any good paintings of my father, but there are still a couple of them from when both of them were younger and had had a painting drawn of the family along with my grandfather. You can easily compare it to me."

Kivamus nodded slowly, noticing that Duvas seemed to be lost in thoughts. Without access to technology like DNA testing, it wasn't possible to know anything for sure, so a family resemblance would be all that could be used to prove something like this. "If what you are saying is true, why hasn't the count killed you by now? From what I know, he also has a son. Even though that boy is known as a wastrel, he's the only heir your uncle has, which means you pose a threat to him inheriting Cinran from Ebirtas in the future. That's a very good reason for the count to prevent you from breathing any longer."

The man snorted. "He can't kill me if he doesn't know I'm alive! I told you that I hadn't even been born when my father was murdered. My mother was pregnant with me at the time, and she died of shock after the news came that my father had passed away during that horse riding accident." He grimaced. "Perhaps it was uncle Ebirtas who had her murdered, but I can't prove it. Either way, while she died at the time, somehow I was saved, and I've been living as a servant in the Count's mansion since then. As far as my uncle knows, nobody from my father's bloodline has survived."

Kivamus nodded. "That does make sense if it's true, but there's a hole in your story. If you were just an infant when all this happened, and nobody talks about it anymore - for good reason, I'd say - then how would you have known about all this, with both your father and mother already dead and no siblings either to tell you the story."

The young man grimaced. "That bastard Zoricus! Who else? He was the one to tell me all this, including the fact that he had saved my life when my mother died. That's why I have been working for him all my life behind the scenes, even though technically I am employed as a servant for the count."

Kivamus steepled his hands, thinking about it. "It's very much possible that Zoricus had just picked up an infant - you - from somewhere and created this story so you'd think that you were the true heir of Cinran, so he'd get a good pawn in his hands to use against Ebirtas in the future."

"I told you that you can easily see in that portrait that I look just like my father when he was young!" The man protested. "I've seen that portrait myself! I am not lying!"

Kivamus looked at the majordomo. "What are you thinking about? You know anything about this?"

Duvas scratched his short white beard. "It's been a long time, and my memory is hazy about it, but I do remember that there was a short power struggle in Cinran, soon after Tiranat was founded around two decades ago. Well, it wasn't much of a power struggle - but more like a power grab. When I moved here after Tiranat was founded, the previous count - the father of Lord Ebirtas - had just died after living for a very long time, and his older son was the heir - who was in his forties already. From what I remember, the older son didn't have any children by then, but it's still possible that his wife was pregnant with a son at the time. I have no idea if the older son was a good rider or not, but everyone had heard that he died in an accident when he supposedly fell from his horse, so Lord Ebirtas became the count instead of him."

"See?" The young man pointed out with relief. "I told you it wasn't an accident! Ebirtas must have done something to the saddle straps to make them too loose or easy to break! There's no way my father just fell to his death!"

Duvas shook his head. "It really might have been an accident. Nobody can say for sure at this point."

Kivamus nodded, looking at the majordomo. "Certainly, but it might not have been Ebirtas behind this at all. After hearing that Zoricus had secretly saved the infant son of the older brother who was supposed to become the count, it sounds like he had a lot to do with this incident. So it may have been him who caused all this to happen and the real heir to die - assuming it wasn't just an accident."

He shrugged. "Still, this elaborate plan to save the child of the real heir makes sense if Zoricus wants to use him to basically take over Cinran in the future by using this kid as a puppet while he rules the town from the background. But knowing how rich he is, why couldn't Zoricus have just worked with the older brother? There was no point in taking this much risk."