Bloodhound’s Regression Instinct

Chapter 88

30 minutes ago.

Cruel was enjoying a banquet he attended for the first time in a while.

He indulged in expensive champagne and foods, a luxury not found at the training center, and savored the performance of the royal orchestra.

As he was finding peace of mind, someone bumped into Cruel’s shoulder and passed by.

“What’s this?”

Cruel frowned and turned his head.

“Huh? Who might this be?”

Recognizing the person, Cruel scrunched up his face, intending to ignore them.

But the person wouldn’t have it, grabbing Cruel’s shoulder firmly.

“Going to leave without a greeting after such a long time?”

“…Brother.”

It was Cruel’s half-brother and the eldest son of the Dwight family, Bruce Dwight.

Surrounding him were various nobles, close acquaintances of his.

Each wore an insufferably smug expression.

Bruce began to taunt Cruel with a sneer.

“Why would I be your brother?”

“…If you’ve come to pick a fight, just go away.”

“How could I let such a perfect opportunity slip by?”

Bruce laughed maliciously.

The emperor’s banquet was a gathering of nearly all the empire’s nobility.

If Bruce could embarrass Cruel here, he could assert his superiority over him to the other nobles.

“This is the perfect place to build an image before the heir’s competition. For instance, showing everyone that you’re beneath me.”

Cruel clenched his fist.

‘I can easily ignore this much.’

In the past, he would have exploded in anger and struck Bruce’s face without hesitation.

But Cruel had grown enough to disregard Bruce’s nonsense.

“I know you’re aiming for the head of the family by participating in the Dragon Knight Project, but you haven’t even made it to first place, or even second, have you?”

Bruce cackled.

“If you want to tarnish the family name, you might as well take your own life. Don’t sully the Dwight name for nothing.”

Cruel closed his eyes and sighed deeply, then tried to walk past Bruce.

There was no point in continuing the conversation.

That’s when Bruce touched a nerve.

“Oh right, about your nanny.”

At those words, Cruel’s steps halted abruptly.

He turned around, his eyes blazing with fury.

To him, the nanny was more than just a caretaker.

She was the woman who had nursed him since birth in place of his deceased mother.

She had sacrificed much to care for him since his childhood, becoming as much a mother to Cruel as anyone could be.

And she was one of the few who could control the unruly Cruel.

“What are you trying to say?”

“She’s become quite the eyesore. There wasn’t much I could do before since you were always around, but now the situation is different, isn’t it?”

Bruce shrugged nonchalantly.

Cruel ground his teeth.

Bruce had always tried to pin crimes on his nanny to torment her.

It was easier to target her, a bystander, than his brother Cruel.

Bruce’s methods of tormenting her were varied.

Stealing ornaments from the room she cleaned or secretly slipping someone else’s jewelry into her pocket.

Due to his cunning behavior, it was always Cruel’s nanny who ended up under suspicion.

Cruel bit his lower lip.

When he was at the family home, he could claim he sold things for pocket money, but now he couldn’t.

He was outside the family now.

Chances were, things would go just as Bruce planned.

Bruce’s lips curled into a smirk.

“You didn’t react to my taunts, but now you’re hooked.”

“I’ll have a recording sent to you of your nanny being beaten by soldiers and knights. Look forward to it.”

“…Don’t you dare.”

“I’m curious if that proud woman can withstand a whipping.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“Aren’t you curious?”

Cruel growled, his face inches from Bruce’s.

“If, by some slim chance, something like that happens, you’ll be the one I kill.”

Cruel’s fist trembled, and his heart pounded.

He wanted to beat this trash to a pulp right then and there, but the head instructor’s warning held him back.

“If you disgrace my name, you’ll be expelled immediately, and I won’t let you off easy. I really hate this place and don’t want to give them any excuse to catch me.”

Being punished didn’t matter.

As long as he didn’t die.

‘But if I get expelled, everything I’ve done up to now will be for nothing.’

Cruel turned his back, throwing a deadly warning over his shoulder.

“Don’t forget my words. If you touch my nanny, you’ll truly die a gruesome death.”

Bruce chuckled and grabbed Cruel’s wrist as he tried to leave.

He had provoked Cruel enough; now it was time to shame him.

With the nanny as a hostage, he could control this beastly man without any risk.

Bruce smiled.

“Let’s see how well you can endure what I’m about to do. I’m not sure if your temperament will allow it, though.”

Bruce lifted the champagne glass over Cruel’s head and poured it down.

The champagne drenched Cruel’s hair and dripped down his face to the floor.

Cruel’s eyes settled into a cold glare.

Rage boiled up inside him.

In the past, he wouldn’t have hesitated to unleash that anger.

But now, things are different.

Now, he had something to lose.

If he could just endure a little, just a bit longer, neither his nanny nor he would face expulsion from the training center.

Cruel suppressed his rising fury.

Bruce’s eyes widened in surprise at Cruel’s restraint.

“Wow, you’re actually holding back?”

He whispered in Cruel’s ear and turned away.

Then he wore an annoying smile.

“Oops, would someone kindly bring a handkerchief? My clumsy brother has spilled champagne all over himself.”

The gathered noble offspring burst into laughter.

Cruel lifted his head and looked around.

He saw Lorena, frowning as she walked from a distance.

And he saw his father too.

‘Just like father.’

At the very least, he could have asked what was going on, but instead, he just glanced from afar and continued his conversation with another noble.

Even Lorena, whom he had only seen for a few years, showed more concern.

A fire of rage burned in Cruel’s chest.

Then, it happened.

A soft touch landed on his head. It was a gentle towel.

‘Lorena?’

Cruel smirked bitterly and grabbed the towel covering his sight.

“Huh?”

His eyes widened as he saw who it was.

“Yan?”

“Wipe it off quickly. I hate the smell when I sleep.”

Yan’s words were casually thrown, indifferent.

Cruel pressed his lips together and wiped off the champagne with the towel Yan had given him.

Bruce snickered at the sight.

“Now you’ve stooped to fraternizing with commoners?”

The other noble offspring chimed in with a few words of their own.

“Disgusting. Rolling with commoners, have you forgotten you’re a noble?”

“You never had the temperament for nobility anyway. Who knows? Maybe you’ll open a fruit stand together later?”

Cruel was about to retort when suddenly…

A sharp aura erupted from Yan, sweeping through the banquet hall.

Bruce and his friends, the main targets of the aura, turned pale.

The sudden manifestation of the aura made the nobles shiver.

“Screams! What’s this?”

“An aura? Which madman is doing this!”

“Who dares to pull such a stunt in the banquet hall!”

The skilled nobles quickly turned their heads toward the source of the aura, while the others were still trying to regain their composure.

After a brief moment, as the aura vanished as if washed away, most of the nobles came to their senses.

And as if by agreement, their gazes focused on one spot.

“…The Royal Knights.”

Centered around Yan, a trainee of the Dragon Knight Project, four Royal Knights surrounded him with swords drawn.

The blades, gleaming sharply in the light, seemed ready to pierce Yan’s throat at any moment.

Lorena, watching from a distance, was about to intervene when Hans, attending as the proxy for Duke Beowulf, held her shoulder and shook his head.

“He’ll handle it.”

“Hans, don’t you see what’s happening? Even if he’s annoying, he’s the one who saved me.”

Hans smiled broadly and pointed at Yan.

“Does that look like the face of someone who acts without thought?”

At his words, Lorena shifted her gaze to Yan’s face.

“…I suppose you’re right.”

A smirk played on Yan’s lips.

* * *

Kyle looked at Yan with a troubled expression, but the sharp sword in his hand was pointed right at Yan’s throat.

“Yan, I don’t know what’s going on, but even now…”

Clavan, with a stern look, cut off Kyle’s words.

“If you don’t want your head cut off this instant, explain the meaning of that aura just now.”

It was a far cry from the smiling demeanor he had shown earlier.

Yan adjusted his expression and bowed deeply at a right angle.

“I apologize! I knew it was rude, but I couldn’t contain my emotions after seeing my comrade being attacked.”

Deputy Commander Clavan frowned and glanced at Cruel.

His hair and clothes were soaked with champagne.

“…I see the situation. But this is a banquet hosted by His Majesty. It’s not a matter to be taken lightly.”

Yan nodded in agreement with Deputy Commander Clavan’s words.

“I understand. But before that.”

Yan rummaged through his belongings and then threw a rag he had grabbed at Bruce, who stood there dumbfounded.

Splat.

The rag, greased from weapon cleaning, slid down Bruce’s face.

Yan, seeing Bruce’s state, curled the corners of his mouth.

“I will accept punishment after I duel with this man who harmed my comrade.”

At those words.

The atmosphere in the banquet hall began to heat up.

The nobles were no different; they too enjoyed a good spectacle of a fight.