The Life I Refuse to Waste

Aeglo stared at Zeldryn, who was sitting in front of him.

The threat continued echoing inside his head.

“Because this time, it won’t be your finger that gets cut off.”

Aeglo knew Zeldryn was not bluffing.

Henry’s severed thumb lying on the floor was proof that the boy before him was fully willing to carry out every threat he made.

If Aeglo gave the wrong answer, his head would most likely be the next thing to fall onto the floor.

Cold sweat began covering his body.

Because the truth was, Henry had not been the one who planned Zeldryn’s beating the previous night.

Aeglo had.

He had deliberately arranged everything so that Zeldryn would be seriously injured.

He did not need Zeldryn to die. It would have been enough to leave him unconscious or bedridden for several days.

As long as Zeldryn could not move, Aeglo and Henry would be free to use his name however they pleased.

They could come to the mansion, eat expensive food, command the servants, take anything they wanted, and even harass the female servants without worrying that Zeldryn might suddenly change his mind.

Everyone in the mansion knew them as Zeldryn’s closest friends.

If anyone dared refuse them, they only needed to claim that everything they did had been ordered by Lord Zeldryn.

Aeglo’s thoughts returned to his conversation with Henry the previous night.

Several hours before the beating, the two of them had been standing in a narrow alley not far from the bar Zeldryn frequently visited.

Henry occasionally peeked toward the main street. His expression had remained uneasy ever since Aeglo explained the plan.

“Are you sure about this plan, Aeglo?”

Henry turned toward him with doubt written across his face.

“If we’re caught, we won’t just lose the special treatment Zeldryn gives us. We could be imprisoned or even killed.”

Aeglo merely chuckled.

“Kekeke. Have you ever heard the phrase high risk, high reward?”

Henry frowned.

“What?”

“If you want to gain something valuable, you need to be willing to risk something valuable too.”

Aeglo leaned against the wall with a cunning smile.

“Relax. I’ve already hired several homeless men from the slums. They’ll do anything as long as they’re paid.”

“But the person they’re going to attack is the son of a marquis.”

“They don’t know who hired them. Besides, the person they’ll be beating is Zeldryn.”

Aeglo chuckled again.

“Almost everyone in this area hates him. If those men are caught, people will simply assume they were homeless men who finally lost their patience after being harassed by a drunken bastard.”

Henry still looked uncertain.

“What if Zeldryn dies?”

“He won’t.”

Aeglo answered without the slightest hesitation.

“I already ordered them not to use weapons. They only need to beat him until he loses consciousness. At worst, he’ll fall into a coma. Otherwise, he simply won’t be able to move for several days.”

“This still feels like standing at the edge of a cliff, Aeglo.”

Aeglo stared at Henry’s face for several moments.

Then his smile widened.

“Are you sure you don’t want to slap those servants’ asses without anyone stopping you?”

Henry fell silent.

“Or sneak into their rooms at night?”

Aeglo leaned closer.

“What about the expensive fruits reserved for nobles? The finest meat, costly drinks, and every other luxury inside the mansion?”

Henry’s expression slowly changed.

Stolen story; please report.

The doubt in his eyes began to disappear, replaced by interest.

Henry was not as intelligent as Aeglo.

But when food and women were involved, he did not need much convincing.

“All right.”

Henry finally nodded.

“But make sure no one can connect us to those homeless men.”

“Of course.”

Aeglo patted Henry’s shoulder.

“I’ve already thought of everything.”

Their plan had actually been quite simple.

They knew Zeldryn would visit a bar that night.

The previous Zeldryn frequently drank alcohol despite being far too young. Whenever he became drunk, he was easily provoked and often picked fights with anyone nearby.

Aeglo paid several homeless men to wait inside the bar.

One of them was ordered to deliberately bump into Zeldryn and then answer his insults so that his anger would flare.

Just as expected, the drunken Zeldryn immediately became furious.

A small argument broke out inside the bar before several men lured Zeldryn into an alley behind the building.

That was where the beating began.

Aeglo and Henry did not take part in the attack.

They only watched from a distance to make sure the homeless men completed their task.

However, they left early when the beating began growing too brutal.

They did not want to be seen near the scene when someone eventually discovered Zeldryn’s body.

Aeglo returned to the present.

Zeldryn was still staring at him coldly.

The guard stood beside Henry while holding a sword that was still stained with blood.

Aeglo swallowed.

He had to answer.

But he also knew that telling the truth would be no different from offering his own neck.

That left him with only one option.

Place all the blame on Henry.

“You were beaten because of Henry, Lord Zeldryn.”

Aeglo’s words caused Henry to stop screaming for a moment.

Zeldryn did not respond immediately.

“Continue.”

Aeglo quickly lowered his head.

“Henry planned everything because he wanted you to be seriously injured. He wanted you to fall into a coma so that he could use your name for his own benefit.”

Aeglo pointed toward Henry, who was still lying on the floor while clutching his wounded hand.

“He wanted to enjoy the food inside the mansion, command the servants, and do whatever he pleased without worrying that you would stop him.”

Henry stared at Aeglo with his eyes wide open.

“I had nothing to do with any of it, my lord,” Aeglo continued. “I only learned about the plan after Henry told me last night, when the guards found your body inside an alley.”

The room fell silent again.

Aeglo carefully maintained an expression of fear and regret.

He hoped Henry’s pain and panic would prevent the man from explaining anything properly.

However, a moment later, Henry’s face turned red with rage.

“You bastard!”

Henry tried to stand, but the ropes binding his body caused him to fall again.

“You planned everything!”

Aeglo immediately turned toward him.

“Don’t accuse me just because your plan failed!”

“My plan?”

Henry laughed bitterly through the pain.

“You were the one who hired those homeless men! You were also the one who ordered them to provoke Zeldryn inside the bar!”

“That’s a lie!”

“You treacherous bastard! You were the one who said we could use Zeldryn’s name however we wanted if he fell into a coma!”

“Shut up! Don’t try to drag me into your mistakes!”

“You dragged me into this from the beginning!”

The two of them began shouting at each other.

Henry exposed their entire plan while cursing Aeglo, while Aeglo continued denying everything and accused Henry of lying out of fear.

Their voices filled the hall.

The servants watched them with tense expressions.

They were beginning to understand that the beating from the previous night had not been an ordinary incident.

The two men who had always been known as Zeldryn’s friends had deliberately planned everything.

“Silence.”

Zeldryn did not raise his voice.

Even so, Henry and Aeglo immediately stopped arguing.

Zeldryn examined them one after the other.

From the way they spoke, he was beginning to understand their personalities.

Henry was an idiot who could easily be influenced. He was greedy, lustful, and incapable of considering the consequences of his actions.

Aeglo, on the other hand, was far more dangerous.

He could quickly read a situation, lie convincingly, and always tried to use someone else as a shield whenever his plans failed.

If one of them had been the true mastermind, it was almost certainly Aeglo.

Zeldryn shifted his gaze toward Henry.

“Explain what you meant.”

Henry stared at Zeldryn while breathing heavily.

His face was wet with tears and sweat. Blood continued dripping from the hand that had lost its thumb.

“I-I’ll explain everything, my lord.”

Henry swallowed before looking at Aeglo with hatred.

“He was the one who created the plan.”

Henry began explaining everything that had happened.

He described their conversation before the incident, how Aeglo tempted him with food and female servants, and how several homeless men had been paid to attack Zeldryn.

According to Henry, they had already known that Zeldryn would visit the bar that night.

One of the homeless men deliberately bumped into him while he was drunk.

The man then answered Zeldryn’s insults and continued provoking him until an argument broke out.

After losing control, Zeldryn chased them out of the bar.

They led him into a narrow alley where the other attackers were already waiting.

That was where they surrounded and beat him.

Henry and Aeglo watched everything from a distance.

They left after Zeldryn collapsed and could no longer fight back.

“We never ordered them to kill you, my lord!”

Henry spoke quickly.

“Aeglo only told them to make you lose consciousness or leave you unable to move for several days. I swear, I didn’t know they would beat you that badly!”

“Liar!” Aeglo shouted. “It was all his plan!”

Henry tried to throw himself at Aeglo even though his body was still bound.

“You still dare to lie?!”

“Enough.”

Zeldryn stopped them again.

He remained silent while processing everything he had just heard.

So the injuries covering the previous Zeldryn’s body had not come from a fight that happened by coincidence.

Everything had been planned.

The previous Zeldryn had certainly been provoked because he was drunk and had a terrible personality, but Henry and Aeglo had deliberately created that situation.

They had nearly killed him just so they could enjoy the authority attached to his name for several days.

Reka did not know what had happened to the previous Zeldryn’s soul after the beating.

However, there was a strong possibility that this body had already been close to death before Reka entered it.

In other words, the two men before him might have been the reason he had arrived in this world.

Zeldryn stared at Aeglo.

The thin man immediately lowered his head.

Then Zeldryn looked at Henry, who continued trembling while holding his bleeding hand.

“So the two of you nearly killed me just for food and female servants?”

Neither of them answered.

Zeldryn smiled faintly.

But that smile did not make the atmosphere any lighter.

Instead, Aeglo felt a cold sensation crawl down his spine.

“Interesting.”

Zeldryn rose from the chair.

He then turned toward the guard, who was still holding the sword.

“Now I know which one of them lied.”

Aeglo raised his head in panic.

“L-Lord, wait! I can explain!”

Zeldryn looked at him without expression.

“Didn’t I warn you earlier?”

His gaze dropped toward the sword in the guard’s hand.

“If either answer sounded suspicious, you were to cut off the liar’s head.”

Aeglo’s face lost every trace of color.

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