Chapter 1 : Villain Like Me

Anselm Hydra tightened the wolf cloak that his butler Saville had draped over him.

Sheriff, tax officer, minor lord… he had been in Chishuang Territory for only a month, and he had already hanged eleven bureaucrats and nobles.

Did he have the emperor’s decree, or approval through any procedure, or any permission?

No, of course not, because Hydra didn’t need such things.

Even though Anselm had not yet inherited the authority of Hydra from his father, as long as there was a reason—a sufficient, adequate, necessary reason—within the entire empire, except for the royal family, he could kill whoever he wanted, provided the reason was sufficient, even a grand duke.

—This was the greatest villain that made all the empire’s evildoers tremble in fear, Hydra.

Soon, he would set out to meet the great lord of Chishuang Territory, Count Chishuang, to discuss matters concerning Chishuang Territory amicably.

As for the reason… the reason why he suddenly came to Chishuang Territory, acting recklessly and killing indiscriminately, a reason that all the empire’s nobles, including Count Chishuang himself, could not comprehend—some were unaware, while others thought they understood.

After all, Hydra was both reasonable and utterly unreasonable.

But the truth was known only to Anselm.

This was the first step in his insane plan, a plan about… fate.

“Let’s go, Saville.” The young noble took the pitch-black snake-headed cane, adorned with scarlet gemstones in its snake eyes, from his butler’s hands and strolled forward.

“We can’t keep our dear Count waiting.”

The moment Anselm stepped out of the manor’s gates, the surrounding streets erupted with deafening cheers.

“Lord Hydra! Lord Hydra is setting out!”

“That damned Count Chishuang is finished, he’s as good as dead! Lord Hydra will hang him at the city gates!”

The noisy, frenzied cheers and shouts even drowned out the howling of the blizzard.

In such harsh weather, with a snowstorm raging, so many people had gathered near Anselm’s temporary manor.

Leaning on his snake-headed cane, Anselm smiled, stepped beside the carriage, and raised one hand to gesture downward.

The scene quickly quieted.

“I heard your voices, people of the empire.”

The young noble’s radiant golden hair fluttered in the snowstorm, his youthful voice, still tinged with the last traces of boyishness, sounded resolute and powerful, unshaken even by the roaring northern winds.

“That’s why I came, so you could pour out your anger to me here, while they—”

The righteous Anselm Hydra bowed slightly to the crowd around him, raising his hand to point to the right, where a wide frame stood.

As Anselm’s finger gradually pointed upward, the commoners’ breathing grew more rapid, like hunters gathered around a bonfire after a hunt, waiting to divide the spoils, so ravenous.

“They only deserve to hang there.”

Pointing at the eleven dried corpses hanging on the frame, Anselm raised his head and declared.

“Ohhh—!”

The cheers were almost roars, mixed with ecstatic joy on the verge of tears and a rage that even the winter’s cold could not extinguish.

Amid this tidal wave of cheers, the young noble smiled calmly, composed like a madman gazing at the sea from a solitary lighthouse in a raging storm.

When the tide subsided, he raised his head again and said: “Now, I will go meet Count Chishuang, your lord.”

Anselm scanned the surroundings: “What do you want me to say to him?”

The crowd fell silent for two seconds, then erupted with curses so chaotic that no words could be distinguished, the tide instantly turning into a volcano spewing molten lava.

This time, Anselm didn’t wait for them to quiet down.

His young, forceful voice rose above the noisy clamor.

This kind noble, who came in the name of justice and mercy, laughed heartily and promised the commoners:

“I will tell him—”

“I’m here, and I’ve reserved a place for him.”

Anselm gave another slight, elegant bow, then boarded the carriage beside him, soon disappearing into the snowstorm.

“Hydra!”

A few seconds later, someone shouted this.

“Hydra!” “Hydra!” “Hydra!”

No one doubted this young man’s zeal and compassion.

A month ago, he arrived in Chishuang Territory, from remote villages to here, executing three sheriffs, six tax officers, and even two minor lords!

Every three days, a villain met a gruesome end at the hands of Lord Hydra!

Now, he was going to meet Count Chishuang.

He would surely fulfill his promise, and no one doubted it.

No one doubted the merciful and just Anselm Hydra.

***

“Clink!”

The sound of clinking wine glasses echoed in the opulent banquet hall.

“I’m truly grateful, Your Excellency.”

The tall, obese Count Chishuang let out a low chuckle: “Those unruly commoners haven’t been this obedient in a long time. In just one month, with just nine insignificant pests, Chishuang Territory has become so much quieter, all thanks to you.”

At this moment, the merciful and just Lord Hydra was surrounded by beautiful women, his head resting on a woman’s abdomen, his feet comfortably placed on soft, firm thighs.

The hand not holding a wine glass was buried somewhere on a woman kneeling beside him, caressing and kneading.

Anselm half-opened his sea-blue eyes, lazily swirling his wine glass: “It’s just a small matter, Count.”

He yawned, devoid of the passion he showed when addressing the commoners earlier: “I will make Chishuang Territory easier to manage, but the condition is—”

Clap, clap—

Without needing Anselm to say more, Count Chishuang immediately clapped his hands, and someone promptly stepped forward, respectfully presenting a stack of documents to Anselm.

“Everything you requested is here.”

Count Chishuang didn’t look at the documents, unwilling to let the young noble, who appeared harmless, catch the pained expression on his face and risk dissatisfaction.

Because sitting across from him… was that Hydra.

The Hydra with unlimited judicial and execution rights over the empire’s nobles, answerable only to the royal family… no, only to the emperor himself!

Although this generation’s Hydra was still young and had not yet donned all eight rings, he was not yet a complete Hydra and had not inherited the butcher’s knife hanging over every noble’s neck from his father.

But Count Chishuang still dared not show the slightest disrespect to the young man teasing the beauties beside him.

Because he was… the strangest Hydra.

The Hydra family, the emperor’s mad dogs, carried a bloodline of madness beyond their control.

In the empire’s thousand-year history, every Hydra was a lunatic, though some were overtly mad, others more restrained.

But Anselm Hydra seemed… truly an anomaly among the inheritors of this mad blood.

At ten years old, without any warning, he began appearing frequently in the empire’s noble circles, attending banquets and events.

No one could connect that well-mannered, adorable child with Hydra.

As he grew, the adorable child became a courteous youth.

Over the years, his sanctimonious father had revealed his true nature countless times—the Black Sea Marquis Manor Massacre, the Kankan Faran Tragedy, the Deep Blue Port Great Silence… While the current Hydra rampaged like a rabid dog, killing wherever he went, young Anselm Hydra was… astonishingly running around cleaning up his father’s messes!

Thus, the empire’s nobles gradually came to believe that this young man was truly a mutant of the mad blood, elegant, kind, and approachable—a noble among nobles!

After all, who could fake their nature from age ten to sixteen without a single mistake? Could he have known how to navigate social circles from the womb?

This was also why Count Chishuang was willing to deal with Anselm.

Though he didn’t know how Hydra had caught him out, at least dear Lord Anselm was willing to negotiate amicably rather than immediately taking his head.

“The Count might think I’m asking for too much.”

Anselm wiggled his fingers with a grin under the coy gaze of the concubine, speaking in a relaxed tone: “But if my father were here, you might already be, well… I’m not threatening you, just stating facts.”

Under Count Chishuang’s slightly alarmed gaze, the young noble, with a smirk, casually scanned the documents on the table.

Smuggling routes, plunder paths, human trafficking networks, black market distribution… all the detailed information on the gray profit chains within and beyond Chishuang Territory was here.

“Truly…” Anselm murmured softly, his eyes gleaming with fascination, “remarkable stuff.”

As he spoke, he easily caught the flicker of relief on Count Chishuang’s face.

Anselm understood these nobles too well.

When you knocked on their doors with a butcher’s knife, they would scream hysterically, panic, and act recklessly, endangering their own lives.

But if you held a bloodied knife in one hand and an empty money bag in the other, they would greet you with respectful smiles.

The larger the bag, the more at ease they felt.

Count Chishuang knew that if his years-long network were exposed, the aged but still world-defying emperor on the throne would never spare him—simply put, he would be torn to shreds by the mad dog named Hydra.

So, even if Anselm demanded to swallow the vast profit network he had painstakingly built, the Count felt a huge relief.

By taking the black scepter, Anselm was effectively shielding the one who offered it.

That was the unspoken rule among nobles.

After all, the kind and virtuous Lord Anselm was a normal person!

He loved fine wine and even more, beautiful women.

How could a normal person resist one of the largest black profit zones in the northern territory?

At that moment, someone suddenly burst into the banquet hall.

Before the now-relieved Count Chishuang could angrily question the intrusion, the person hurriedly whispered in his ear, nervously glancing at the seemingly drunken Anselm.

The two-meter-tall, four-hundred-pound Count Chishuang’s eyelids twitched, and the fat on his face sagged slightly.

He forced a smile and asked tentatively: “May I ask… Your Excellency.”

“Hm?”

Anselm, who was teasing the concubine’s chin like one would a cat, making her eyes flush pink and her breaths quicken, turned his head: “What is it, Count?”

“Ukalid and Nakisai…”

“Oh, your two sons? I hanged them yesterday. Forgot to inform you, my apologies.”

The amber candlelight and the faint feminine fragrance seemed to freeze in that instant.

Even the concubines, handpicked by Count Chishuang and trained to the highest standards of composure, stiffened instantly.

“Truly pitiable, your neck is especially beautiful, reminding me of a piece of pottery cherished by His Majesty.” Anselm sighed gently, his palm slowly sliding to the snow-white, slender neck of the woman he had been caressing.

The exquisite beauty, one in a million, trembled uncontrollably.

She felt something slimy and cold wrapping around her neck, wriggling slowly, tightening.

“Lovely lady, am I so terrifying?”

The young noble, who two years ago could effortlessly lead a beautiful woman he’d met only once from a banquet dance floor to a private lounge, spoke in a soft tone.

The woman whimpered and shook her head.

She didn’t know what she feared.

The youth’s touch on her neck was a thousand times sweeter and gentler than the coldest trainers.

Normally, she would have already melted into his arms, breathless.

But now, she felt only darkness—dark, cold, viscous, enveloping her, binding her, pulling her into a deeper unknown.

“Your Excellency!” Seeing Anselm brush it off casually, Count Chishuang spoke with some trepidation: “If those two fools offended you, their deaths are deserved, but… but it seems, before you came, you…”

“Seemed to have said some unflattering things about you, Count?”

“Well, haha… I know you must have deeper intentions—”

“Of course! How could I betray my friend?”

Anselm released the concubine’s neck, spread his arms, and laughed heartily: “That was just a joke to appease the rabble. Don’t you think it’s amusing to see them so fired up, pinning all their hopes on me?”

Count Chishuang was stunned, then burst into laughter: “Yes, you’re right! That scene was indeed entertaining. It’s a pity I didn’t see it, hahaha! Haha… ha…”

“…ha.”

The laughter in the banquet hall gradually faded.

Anselm smiled without speaking.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep