I don’t like killing.
I just killed first because I didn’t want to die.

How many people in this world actually enjoy killing?

But Marxit Viscount was the only one I had truly planned to kill.

[If it’s Viscount Marxit, isn’t he the captain of the Ghost Cavalry—the one who can make even a crying child go silent?]

[I heard he was known for his horsemanship, even recognized in the royal capital.]

[A knight famed in the capital, you say? That’s reassuring.]

My first impression of him wasn’t bad.
He was said to be famous, and when we met, his firm demeanor made him seem reliable.
Above all, he had shown composure in mediating disputes among divided nobles.

[Moving grain for wartime preparation can wait. What matters now is understanding the Imperial Army’s movement.]

[But what if the Imperial main force marches here before we’re ready?]

[You worry too much. The Imperial Army is currently besieging the royal capital. Would they abandon their catch to chase a few minnows here?]

We weren’t in the position to rescue the capital directly anyway.
At the time, the best we could do was regroup slowly and strike their supply lines.
Maybe I let myself be persuaded by his sweet words—or maybe he was right.
That is, if the Imperial main force hadn’t truly reached this place in just fifteen days.

[We have a problem, my lord!]

[What happened?]

[V-Viscount Marxit murdered the guard on watch last night and fled with his men!]

[You’ve got to be f*cking kidding me…!!]

Captain of the so-called Ghost Cavalry who made children stop crying?
You f*cking bastard.

He didn’t just flee—he took more than half the stored supplies with him.
Thanks to that, we had to fight a war stripped of what little we had left.

‘I swore I’d kill him if he pulled that sh*t again… and of course, he did.’

People don’t change.
And right now, I’m almost grateful for that unchanging truth.
Truly grateful he stayed a hopeless b*stard to the very end—
Because this time, I could kill him without a shred of guilt.

“You can’t execute Viscount Marxit!”

Unexpectedly, several nobles objected to his execution.
I was dumbfounded. He killed a soldier and stole supplies, for f*ck’s sake.
They argued that even if his crimes were severe, as a noble, he deserved a proper trial?

“Only His Majesty can judge a noble. Therefore, a formal trial is required by law.”

“And isn’t Viscount Marxit the famed captain of the Ghost Cavalry? His skills are far too valuable to waste.”

“……”

I slowly swept my gaze across those protesting nobles.
Of course. Without exception, every one of them had joined us only recently.
I didn’t know if it was their faces or their backgrounds that made them predictable—but either way, I replied sharply.

“This isn’t peacetime. He tried to embezzle military supplies and even murdered a soldier. And you’re saying I should overlook that?”

“The Baron is right. In wartime, attempting to seize supplies is a capital offense.”

“He even tried to kill one of our men! How can you speak of reinstating such a murderous fiend?”

By contrast, the nobles who’d been captured as prisoners and later freed all sided with me.
They were the loyal ones who answered the Count’s call and fought until capture.
Most had died, but the few who survived became my steadfast allies.

“As we’ve said before, this isn’t peacetime but war. We must first repel the enemy before us.”

“Heh. Do you still not understand that internal enemies are far more dangerous than those outside our walls?”

“Executing a noble without His Majesty’s consent is treason.”

“Treason, treason, treason! If you’re such a loyalist, why don’t you take your army and march straight into the capital yourself?!”

“Enough.”

My cold, winter-like command froze the quarrel in place.
Different topic, same petty squabbling—just like before my regression.
But I knew now it was my fault too, for watching from the sidelines back then.

“I said it before. Regardless of status or birth, all shall be judged by military law.”

So this time—
I would never repeat the same mistake.

The Arpen Kingdom was one where noble power outweighed the throne.
That was largely due to the tension between the Empire and the Union.
Even now, the Empire was ever-expanding, declaring unification of the continent as its destiny.
And the Union had been formed to resist that ambition.

Naturally, the two were mortal enemies.
Military clashes were frequent, and even trade was strictly forbidden.
Cold war between them was the norm—but there was one problem.

[Still, Imperial steel is the finest… and yet there’s no way to get it.]

[The Union has goods the Empire doesn’t—but there’s no way to get those either.]

The Empire had what the Union didn’t, and vice versa.
Despite hostility, demand only grew.
That was when the Arpen Kingdom appeared—a nation that, interestingly, belonged to neither side.

The Empire didn’t want the Union as its neighbor.
The Union didn’t consider Arpen powerful enough to risk angering the Empire.
So the Kingdom remained neutral—merely a “kingdom.”

[Wait, then trading with Arpen isn’t technically illegal, is it?]

[If we play this right…?]

Exactly.
Trade between Empire and Union was banned, but trade with Arpen wasn’t.
They exploited that loophole.

It wasn’t anything grand—they just traded goods with Arpen.
It just so happened that those goods were Imperial or Union-made.
And that’s where the real problem began.

Trade flourished in the southern region near the Union and the eastern region near the Empire.
That meant nobles in both regions grew richer by the day.
And wealth, as always, meant power.

[Only His Majesty, present at trial, may pass judgment upon a noble.]

At first glance, it looked like a law meant to strengthen the king’s authority.
In truth, it was a safeguard for corrupt nobles.
Because the king had to preside over every case, they had to be sent to the capital first.

[Your Majesty, there may be misunderstandings. We must investigate thoroughly again.]

Then those nobles would simply bribe their way through the capital’s court.
Even the king couldn’t ignore the collective pressure of the noble council.
So cases would drag on and on—until the accused was quietly acquitted.

Unless the evidence was irrefutable or the crime was high treason itself,
most nobles bought their way to freedom and returned to power.
That was precisely why Viscount Marxit had acted so boldly.

‘Right now, the Count’s territory is divided between nobles appointed by the king and those loyal to the Count. Of course, the royal faction won’t let them kill me so easily.’

And just as he’d predicted, the royalist nobles acted accordingly.
They’d joined late and had little justification to stand on,
clinging to flimsy excuses like “protecting the king’s taxes.”

Losing Marxit, their only man of fame,
would mean surrendering all leverage to the Count’s faction.

Thus, he had assumed the worst that could happen was imprisonment.

“……Therefore, for murdering a soldier and attempting to embezzle supplies during wartime, Viscount Marxit is sentenced to death.”

“W-what…?”

“This act has sullied both a noble’s duty to defend this land and His Majesty’s noble command. Know this as the crime of a traitor.”

He hadn’t expected the sentence—let alone an immediate execution.
He wanted to believe it was a nightmare,
but the roar of the gathered crowd before the scaffold was all too real.

Realizing it, he dropped to his knees before me.

“I-I was wrong! No, I mean—I’m sorry! Please, spare my life!”

So even the mighty captain of the Ghost Cavalry was no exception before death.
That made me all the more disgusted.
If life was so precious to him, why had he taken it from others so easily?

“There will be no mercy. Having me, not the executioner, take your head myself—that is the last mercy I grant you.”

“W-wait—!!”

Slash!

The black greatsword I carried on my shoulder gleamed coldly.
That was the last sight Viscount Marxit ever saw—and his final words died with him.

Then I raised his severed head high for all to see.

“If you have eyes, then see! If you have ears, then hear! From this moment forth, regardless of status or birth, anyone who violates military law shall be punished by it—without exception!”

A noble had been beheaded by another noble.
A soldier who upheld his duty was rewarded before everyone’s eyes.
No man, woman, or child missed that scene.

And the morale of the Count’s lands soared higher than ever.

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