Return of the Fallen Nobleman With an SSS-Rank Talent-Chapter 70: Six months

Deep within the mansion, where the cells for traitors and soldiers who had committed serious crimes against the city were located, the air was thick with humidity... and the lingering smell of blood.

Adam took a deep breath. That smell no longer made him feel nauseous.

In the deepest cell, he stood with his arms crossed, watching the man tied to the wall.

He kept his expression cold.

The traitor had made a mistake.

A beautiful mistake.

In his desperation, he had tried to sneak back into the room. Adam had planned to wait at least a week before taking action... but luck seemed to be on his side.

The man had acted too quickly.

When he realized who it was, he felt as if the world had stopped for a moment.

That was something he never imagined.

He looked up as the prisoner began to regain consciousness.

"To think that the person closest to my father would be the traitor... don’t you agree, Alfred?"

The butler, who had served his family since Arkham’s founding, slowly raised his head.

Adam saw a flash of surprise appear in his eyes.

"Young master... So you finally discovered me?"

Adam raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected such a quick confession.

Alfred let out a brief laugh.

"Surprised?"

"Actually... yes,"

Adam replied, slightly taken aback.

He hadn’t expected him to accept it so easily. To think he grew up alongside a traitor.

"Heh... you figured it out fast, as always. You’ve been very smart since you were little."

"..."

Adam felt a tightness in his chest.

He had always considered Alfred part of the family. The butler had been a constant presence in his life ever since he was born.

When he went back in time, he suspected him... but deep down, he hoped he was wrong.

He wanted the traitor to be anyone else. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

But not Alfred.

Remembering the state he had found his father in erased any lingering doubt or nostalgia. He forced his face to remain emotionless.

"It’s time to begin; you know what happens to traitors."

He leaned slightly toward him.

"Will you talk?"

Alfred smiled.

And he said nothing.

Without a second thought, Adam reached out toward his forearm, staring at it indifferently. He clenched his fingers like a claw, applying all his strength.

He felt the bones give way under his pressure. The sharp crack echoed in his ears, like a dry twig snapping. He watched as the forearm bent at an impossible angle, the skin tearing in places and bone fragments poking through the flesh.

A heart-wrenching scream escaped Alfred’s lips. Adam didn’t give him time to process it before bringing his other hand down on the man’s leg.

With a swift movement, he stomped down on the knee. He felt it give way under his weight with a repulsive resistance, as if he were crushing rotten meat. He heard the ligaments snap and saw the tibia shatter and tear through the skin in a burst of blood.

Blood began to gush out, staining the floor a thick, dark red. Alfred’s body convulsed from the impact.

Adam clenched his teeth. He felt a whirlwind of emotions swirling in his chest, but he pushed them aside. As he continued his work, he had to focus solely on making his father’s former butler talk.

"Aren’t you going to say anything?"

He heard only silence in reply.

Adam grabbed his arm with both hands. As if he were a broken toy, he jerked him backward until he felt the collarbone snap under the strain; the sound of the bones popping out of their joints was almost a whisper compared to the scream that burst from the butler’s throat.

He watched as the skin around his elbow split open with a wet tear, exposing quivering flesh and throbbing veins.

The final blow was aimed at his remaining leg. Without thinking, Adam raised his foot and brought it down like a sledgehammer. He felt his thigh crush beneath his sole with a dry, grotesque crack.

The femur shattered under his weight. His victim could barely make a sound—just a muffled gasp. Adam looked down at the body, now reduced to a trembling mass of broken bones and bloodied flesh.

Before finishing, he reached into Alfred’s mouth. He remembered that traitors often hid poison in their teeth. He yanked one out with a sharp tug.

The butler vomited a large amount of blood as he looked at him. Adam held his gaze with a cold, indifferent expression.

He untied him and then stepped on his chest. He felt his ribs crack slightly under his weight.

"Are you ready to talk?"

Alfred was suffering from mild spasms. He remained silent.

Adam felt his patience wearing thin.

"It seems you have no intention of speaking. To think I have to keep this up until you die or decide to talk."

He shoved his hand back into the butler’s mouth. He grabbed a tooth between two fingers and yanked it out with all his strength.

Alfred’s scream pierced the air. His mouth and chest were filled with blood. Adam noticed his gaze beginning to lose focus.

He held the tooth in his hand for a moment, feeling nausea rise in his throat. He flung it aside.

He looked at it coldly once more.

Seeing that Alfred had no intention of speaking, Adam kept his expression indifferent and his eyes cold. He began pulling out his teeth one by one. The butler’s screams echoed in his ears, but he had already learned to ignore them.

He didn’t know how much time had passed. His hands were covered in blood. He had lost count after the fifth tooth. Alfred lay on the floor, coughing up blood incessantly and convulsing from time to time.

Adam reached out with his bloodied hand to pull out another tooth.

But at that moment, the butler finally opened his mouth.

"I... I’ll talk... I’ll talk..."

Adam brushed the blood off his hand and began asking him a series of questions.

...

After a few minutes, Adam emerged from the mansion’s underground cells. In his hands, he held a rag, which he used to wipe the blood from his face slowly.

Alfred had spoken.

He had told him everything he knew... and also why he had decided to betray his father.

And when he finished speaking, Adam did what he knew he had to do.

He took his life.

Although, to be honest, he would have preferred it if the old butler had spoken up from the start. It would have been simpler. Faster.

Instead of forcing him to go through that whole process.

Adam closed his eyes.

Memories began to flash through his mind: from his childhood to the present, every moment Alfred had been there as if he were watching scenes play out one after another.

As if they were...

A movie?

Adam frowned slightly.

A movie?

Where had that term come from?

For a moment, he considered thinking it over more carefully, but decided against it. Not now.

There were too many conflicting emotions swirling inside him.

And none of them were easy to bear.

Letting out a long sigh, Adam continued walking down the mansion’s deserted hallways and, without looking away, spoke:

"How much time does my father have left?"

Asterin hovered a few steps behind him; she replied in a neutral tone.

"With the dose of poison that Butler gave him, his life has been cut in half. He has about six months left."

"..."

Adam slowly lowered his gaze.

The shadows of the night seeped through the mansion’s tall windows, and the pale moonlight cast silvery lines across the stone floor. For a moment, the silence in the hallway seemed to grow heavier.

Six months.

A bitter expression crossed his face.

The situation had become far more complicated than he had anticipated. Everything was moving too fast: hidden enemies, hostile territories... and now his father’s time slipping away like sand through his fingers.

But dwelling on it wouldn’t do any good.

Adam took a deep breath.

He still had things to do. He had to prepare to leave and find allies as soon as possible. He couldn’t face the coming war with Arkham’s forces alone.

At least one thing had gone right.

He had uncovered the traitor before he left.

The distant echo of his footsteps began to reverberate as he set off.

In the pale moonlight streaming through the windows, Adam made his way down the long hallways of the mansion. His figure faded among the columns and shadows until he vanished completely without uttering another word.

Time... was running out.

...

Once in his room, Adam stared at the wall for several minutes, processing the information Alfred had revealed to him.

The betrayal had a clear source.

Count Valentain.

One of the three great pillars of the kingdom.

Adam had never imagined that a figure of that stature would be involved in something like this... but that wasn’t even the most troubling part.

Count Valentain, in fact, belonged to the kingdom of Kamelot.

Adam didn’t know the reasons behind this dual loyalty, but the implication was clear: one of the kingdom’s great nobles was secretly serving an enemy.

That made the situation far more dangerous.

And it also explained a lot.

The Hall territory had always been a key strategic point. Because of its location, it controlled important routes between various domains, making it a coveted prize for neighboring kingdoms.

It was no surprise that others had their sights set on it.

But for a count from their own kingdom to be behind it all...

That was a whole different level of trouble.

Adam let out a long sigh.

Then he leaned back slowly in his chair, his gaze unfocused as he tried to untangle all the threads of that conspiracy.