Duvas snorted. "Because when I lived in Cinran, I'd heard that Zoricus had always been close to Lord Ebirtas, while the older brother was known to be far more shrewd, and wanted nothing to do with the baron. As for Zoricus being rich, he was just an ordinary baron before Lord Ebirtas became the count two decades ago. But after that? His fortunes started increasing at an astonishing rate, and now he is easily far richer than the Count."

"Hmm... that makes a lot of sense..." Kivamus muttered. "Zoricus must always have been ambitious, so after the previous count died, and he realized that the perceptive older brother was going to become the next count, he must have had him murdered while disguising it as an accident, so the more gullible younger brother would come to power. Knowing about Zoricus' fortunes today, it certainly has worked, and when eventually Ebirtas is too deep in debt, he won't be able to resist when Zoricus starts asking for things like giving him more official powers to write off some of that debt."

"I am not quite sure how that would play out," Duvas said, "but you are probably right."

The young man looked at both of them with hope. "So you believe me, right?"

Kivamus scratched his chin. "I'll still have to see one of those portraits to confirm that you look like Ebirtas' older brother, although I can't find any more holes in your story. But I still don't get why you wanted to tell me all this. I already had suspicions that Zoricus was after my village for its coal mines, just like he keeps trying to gain more land and more gold for himself. While it was interesting to know how all that started, you telling me about it doesn't help me in any way."

The young man grimaced. "I've told you that I've worked all my life for Zoricus, right? Not all of those things were above board. I am the one whom he sent whenever he needed to threaten a merchant to hand over the deeds to his shop if he couldn't pay back his debt, or when someone was late for the monthly protection money they owed Zoricus, among other things."

Kivamus frowned. "I get that you haven't led an easy life, especially knowing that you were probably meant to live a comfortable life as a high noble like the count, instead of living as a servant who does the dirty work of that greedy bastard. It still doesn't explain why you are here." He tilted his head. "You haven't even told me why you think you need forgiving from me. From what I see, you've been dealt a very bad hand in life, but there is nothing I need to forgive you for. It's more like you are still hiding something. You haven't even told me your name yet."

The young man looked down, seemingly resigned to his fate. "No, I mean..." He exhaled deeply. "You are right, and I haven't, because I know you'd want to kill me immediately if I had told you earlier. But I did tell you about Dosol, right? I didn't have any proof, but I was right, and he really was out to kill you."

Kivamus nodded, a suspicion growing in his mind by now. "The tax collector had told me that one of his guards was from Zoricus, but he didn't know for sure which guard. Doesn't this mean that Zoricus had sent two men here, including you? Why do you think that is?"

The bearded man flinched. "Because... because he had also sent me with the same task. To make sure to kill you..."

"What did you say?" Hudan thundered, pushing the man to his knees and bringing his sword out immediately before he put it at the man's neck. Tesyb also had his sword in his hand by now, ready to separate the man's head from his body at a moment's notice.

However, the young man didn't even try to protest at that treatment, while still gazing downwards. "I only found out today about Dosol being sent by Zoricus. I'm sure that that bastard had told Dosol to kill me if I succeeded, so there wouldn't be any links tying the assassination to him." He shook his head slowly. "It seems there really is no way ahead for me... Zoricus had clearly told me that if I failed again, there wouldn't be any place for me in Cinran anymore, and so it seems here..."

"Again?" Kivamus asked, his intuition screaming that he really had seen this man before. "What do you mean again?"

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The bearded man finally looked up at him. "My name is Levalas, but you might know me better by the commoner version of my name, Levalo."

"Levalo?" Hudan growled, his sword drawing a thin line of blood on Levalas' neck. "That's the guy who tried to poison Lord Kivamus before the winter! I should end your life right now!"

"No, wait!" Levalas protested. "You had promised me not to kill me tonight! This is not..."

Kivamus nodded and held up a hand to stop the guard captain, as he finally remembered where he had seen this man. That dark night when the young maid Clarisa had nearly died from poisoning. The night when he came so close to dying again, just one day after being ambushed at Madam Helga's inn on the road to Tiranat.

Now that he knew the reality, he could see the resemblance in the facial features, but the bearded man in front of him with long, shaggy hair looked way too different from the kid who had tried to poison him and had still looked like a teenager with short cropped hair and no beard to speak of.

However, while he expected to feel angry at Levalas after seeing him alive again, he was surprised to find that there was no rage left in his heart. Not anymore. He only held pity for this kid whose parents had been murdered by the crafty duo of Zoricus and Ebirtas, and he'd been forced to live a life of a thug and assassin.

"Anything else you have left to say before I decide what to do with you?"

Levalas nodded eagerly. "I surrendered to you knowing that I probably wouldn't see the next sunrise, but I know that I can be useful to you! If you want," the young man continued in a hurry, "I'm even willing to give my testimony that Zoricus had sent me to kill you in the Count's court. That's a good reason to keep me alive, right?"

Kivamus shook his head. "For that you'll have to reveal to everyone that you are the son of Ebirtas' older brother, which would brand you as a rival of the present Count for ruling the domain of Cinran, and that's a good enough reason for others to think that you are lying through your teeth. And that is if Ebirtas even allows you to come in front of the court and doesn't have you killed before that."

"Then... then I'll be a witness in the Duke's court in Ulriga! He's your father, right? Wouldn't he believe me? He has the will and the power to punish Zoricus for trying to kill another baron, right?"

Kivamus snorted. "My father is sick and way too detached from the day-to-day happenings of his court to deal with petty matters like this, and as for my brothers... Let's just say they are not going to help either of us."

"But... but..." Levalas looked at everyone's faces in fear. "I... I don't..."

Kivamus interrupted him. "Putting aside the question of your usefulness, I'm still confused why you even surrendered to me... Even if you didn't get a chance to kill me, none of us had recognised you here, so you could have just returned with the tax collector and gone back to your life."

Levalas sighed. "There is no life remaining for me in Cinran anymore. Even after I found out back in the past that I should have become the next Count, I realize now that it's a foolish dream at best, and I am not even interested in gaining power anymore, apart from taking revenge someday against whoever killed my parents. That was the only reason I accepted the job to kill you before the winter, since I'd been promised a 100 gold in return by Zoricus, which would have been enough for me to escape this cursed life entirely and make a new life somewhere away from Cilaria."

"Away from Cilaria?" Kivamus repeated.

Levalas shrugged. "Anything would be better than continuing the life I have led till now. I can't keep working for those bastards anymore after knowing that they were the one behind my parents' deaths, not that I would have a long life expectancy if I returned. Zoricus didn't speak it out loud, but it was quite clear that if I failed to kill you again, I wouldn't get to return to my usual life as a servant in the count's mansion. Most likely, he would have killed me before too long, even if it meant losing a pawn from his hands."

Kivamus shook his head. "This only explains why you wanted to get away from Cinran. You still had a good option to run away from the tax collector's wagon while on the road and try to find some other job in another region of the kingdom. You seem to be pretty good at changing your appearance, so I'm sure you could have lived a long life without Zoricus ever finding out about you. So why did you even confess to everything here, knowing you might be executed for it?"