"How did it go?"
"Did she agree?" Scalzi asked impatiently. His face was filled with a mixture of anticipation and fear as he looked toward Irene, waiting for her answer.
Irene curled her lips into a confident smile and replied calmly.
"She had no choice but to agree. Although King Iron Jaw knew about it back then, no one else in the Cortes Kingdom knows anything about it except me. If the truth were exposed, she and the royal family would lose all face, and her comfortable life would immediately come to an end."
"Ahahaha! Excellent! It seems Red Hawk Alvin isn't so terrifying after all. Ahahaha..." Scalzi burst into excited laughter. Now he finally believed his life was safe.
"Is that so?"
Suddenly, another man's voice echoed through the castle hall.
"Who is there!"
The moment they heard the voice, Scalzi and Irene felt as if lightning had struck them. Both of them immediately turned their heads toward the entrance.
"Red... Red Hawk Alvin!" The instant Scalzi saw Alvin standing there with his cold expression, he screamed in terror. His entire body began trembling uncontrollably.
Irene stood beside him. She appeared slightly calmer, though only barely. She forced an awkward smile onto her face.
"That... Lord Red Hawk, this is all a misunderstanding. I... I have already contacted your mother, and she said..."
"Shut up!"
Alvin's roar exploded through the hall like thunder.
Scalzi and Irene both shuddered violently.
Seeing the murderous intent in Alvin's eyes, their legs instantly went weak and they collapsed onto the floor.
"Tell me exactly what happened back then. If even a single word is wrong, you die," Alvin said coldly as he stared directly at Irene.
"Yes, yes, Irene, hurry..."
Clang!
Before Scalzi could finish speaking, a crimson blade flash suddenly appeared.
He felt a cold sensation around his waist, followed immediately by unbearable pain.
To his horror, he realized that Alvin had cut his body cleanly in half.
His upper body slammed onto the ground with a heavy thud.
Blood poured from the severed halves of his body, instantly dyeing the floor red. Even Irene's face was splattered with fresh blood.
Irene remained frozen for a long moment before she slowly came back to her senses.
Only then did she realize that Scalzi was already dead, sliced into two pieces right before her eyes.
"Ahhh!!!"
A terrified scream echoed throughout the entire castle.
Hearing the scream, the gang members outside rushed into the hall while holding their flintlock guns.
But the moment they stepped inside, crimson sword flashes filled their vision.
In just a short time, the entire hall was covered with the corpses of the gang members.
Alvin casually flicked the blood from the sword and sheathed it, and placed it into his spatial storage.
Then he slowly walked toward Irene, who had collapsed on the floor and had already lost control of her bladder in terror.
Hearing Alvin's approaching footsteps, Irene slowly lifted her head.
That single glance felt like staring directly at the Grim Reaper.
Her face instantly turned pale.
"Don't... don't kill me... Wuwuwu... I was wrong. Please don't kill me. I should never have encouraged your mother to meet Iron Jaw. I was wrong. Please don't kill me, wuwuwu..." Irene cried incoherently while desperately crawling backward across the floor.
"If you dare say one more word out of place, I will kill you right now."
Alvin stared down at her coldly. His killing intent seemed ready to explode at any moment.
Irene immediately covered her mouth with both hands and nodded frantically.
"Explain exactly what happened back then. Word for word," Alvin said coldly.
"Okay, okay, please don't kill me. I will tell you everything immediately. Back then..."
Clinging to this chance like a drowning person grabbing a rope, Irene began pouring out every detail of the events from that year.
A few minutes later, Alvin finally understood the full story behind his mother's departure.
"That... Lord Red Hawk... you see... I have already told you everything. Your mother and I are still good friends, you..."
Clang!
Squelch!
Before Irene could finish her sentence, Alvin's blade flashed again.
Her body was instantly cut in half.
"If I had not wanted to know why she left, you would have been the first one to die," Alvin said calmly while looking into Irene's terrified eyes.
A few seconds later, Irene's lifeless body collapsed onto the floor.
"Phew."
"That was tiring. Time to collect the spoils."
Alvin muttered to himself before beginning to search the castle.
He quickly gathered all the valuables and treasures stored inside, placing everything into his system storage before leaving the castle.
————
Half an hour later, inside the royal palace of the Cortes Kingdom, King Iron Jaw received news that the Dark Tide Family in Port City had been completely wiped out.
For him, the destruction of the Dark Tide Family was actually good news.
It meant that he could finally gain full control over the port city, which was an extremely important location for the kingdom.
Previously, the existence of the Dark Tide Family, along with their connections to other mafia organizations throughout the West Blue, had prevented him from taking action.
If he had moved against them, it would have triggered retaliation from gangs across other islands and caused serious trouble for the Cortes Kingdom.
Now that Red Hawk Alvin had destroyed the Dark Tide Family, Iron Jaw could legitimately take control of the entire Port City.
Other gangs would have no grounds to oppose him.
However, he still needed to act.
He had to intimidate the remaining gangs so that none of them would dare to interfere with this prosperous city.
"Red Hawk Alvin... I never expected him to be someone from the Cortes Kingdom."
"But even so, you must die. Otherwise I will not be able to take control of this city smoothly..."
Iron Jaw muttered while gazing toward the direction of Port City.
What he did not realize was that Red Hawk Alvin had another identity.
He was also the queen's other son.
Back then Alvin had only been one year old, so Iron Jaw never learned his name.
And the queen had never told him.
"Father, I just visited Mother, but she seems a little unhappy. Do you know what is wrong?"
At that moment, his son Iron Hero entered the room.
"Is that so? I will go see her shortly."
Iron Jaw paused briefly before continuing.
"By the way, Iron Hero, I have a task for you. Red Hawk Alvin has killed many people in our country. Take our most elite guards and eliminate him."
Iron Jaw deliberately decided to assign this task to his son.
It would be the perfect opportunity to increase his prestige.
"Red Hawk Alvin?"
"Pirates truly are the cancer of the sea. I understand, Father. I will go eliminate him immediately!" Iron Hero replied excitedly.
Of course he had heard of Red Hawk Alvin.
But he believed the newspapers had exaggerated the pirate's strength.
His father had always told him that the newspapers could not be trusted completely.
Iron Jaw nodded with satisfaction as he saw the confident excitement on his son's face.
...
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