The northern part where many demons appeared was usually closed and the poor from the northern territories were not accepted anywhere. They were trapped in the cold land and forced to live, looking only at death. They naturally became cruel and lost their emotions. Only beasts remained, and the people of the capital even called them ‘the northern monsters’.
Irene also visualised a horrifying image when she first heard the words.
But Louiselle and Ram’s mercenaries were from the poor northern group of people.
And how did Tom and Noel meet them?
Irene could not hold back her curiosity.
“Noel, how did you get to know the Ram mercenaries?” she asked Noel.
Noel was silent at her question. It was because he recalled that time...
“My mother was from the North.”
“...”
“My mother predicted that my father would forcibly erase me when she found out that she was pregnant, so she ran away back to her hometown. Then she gave birth to me there. However, my weak mother died when I was five years old. Left alone, I entered the impoverished bandit groups and managed to survive in the slums.”
While telling his life story, Noel stole glances at Irene. This was a story that no one knew except for the Ram mercenaries and the deceased former Grand Duke. And, of course, not excluding his grandfather, the current Grand Duke of Kristen.
It was a personal matter that he had never brought up, so he was partly curious but worried about Irene’s reaction. Would she despise him, or would she sympathise with him?
No, I already know the answer.
“So that is what happened. You have been through a lot, Noel.”
There was no sign of sympathy, let alone contempt. Irene simply said quietly and calmly that he had suffered a lot.
The woman he knew had always been like this. She was someone kind and warm enough to melt even the frozen snow. She did not even have any prejudices, only fair and pure...
Contemplating, Noel held his breath.
If she knew my feelings, would she still treat me like that?
If so, he thought he could be a little braver.
Noel took a deep breath and slowly continued.
“Life in poverty was tough. It was cold, and I was hungry, and it felt like my whole body was frozen. I thought I would die, but the children in the same group took care of me diligently because I was young and clumsy. On sick days, they took turns looking after me. I did the same for them.”
A smile crept upon his lips as if he was reminiscing about the old times as he spoke.
“It was difficult, but I thought it wasn’t bad. They felt like a big family to me. The group I was in did not commit any crimes. Because I did not want to get involved in crimes, I left the original group and formed a new one. Instead of robbing, we collected small animals and some herbs that we could save to get by. Two years later, my father, the former Grand Duke, appeared, and so I left for Kreisen.”
“...”
“Kreisen was so warm and affluent that it was incomparable to the place I once lived. I truly thought it was the utopia we had all dreamed of. But I ended up feeling even more lonely…I got to know Tom in Kreisen because, at the time, Viscount Esquan was in debt and had entrusted him to Kreisen Castle.”
“That means…”
Irene could not find the right words to say anymore. It was an insensible consignment. For an aristocrat to entrust his child to a castle without an owner, in other words, meant abandoning him.
“Tom and I were in a similar situation and were of the same age, so we quickly became friends. After he came, I could not even go to the Snow Tree. So…”
Noel did not say it directly, but she knew the profound meaning better than anyone because Noel was also neglected in a castle without an owner.
“Friends, you two were friends.”
“It’s a little embarrassing to say, but that’s true. However, the relationship did not last long. Esquan’s family business started to prosper, and the Viscount took Tom away again. Around the same time, I agreed to my father’s offer as I took his hand and entered the Grand Duke’s residence. After that, Tom, who travelled to the capital, came to me with the wish of working for me. Certainly, I had no reason to refuse him, so I accepted. When my brother became the Grand Duke, I left the mansion and established a Mercenary Corps with Tom under the pseudonym, Ram. Immediately, I headed north again to recruit mercenaries.”
“Is it perhaps the current Ram mercenaries?”
“Yes, but… the process was not easy.”
“What happened?”