50 – An Apology Too Late (5)
“What… what’s this?”
“An… earthquake?”
As if struck by an earthquake, the royal palace conference room began to quiver.
In that place, the nobles and their attendants started to become engulfed in confusion, unable to grasp the situation.
“Ah… no, Your Grace? What… What exactly is happening here? And what did you mean by what you said just now…?”
Count Lamotte’s voice was frantic with questions.
He was ensnared by confusion, the situation unfolding so very differently from what he had been told.
And then.
In response to his inquiry, Duke Ocleang, with a cold smile, briefly uttered a single phrase.
“You’ve all done very well.”
“N…no? What does th… ackghh!”
The next moment, Count Lamotte’s face twisted in sudden pain as he began to slump to the floor.
This phenomenon was not limited to Marquis alone.
The high-ranking nobles who followed him, including the Duke of Ocleane.
They all began to collapse to the ground, feeling an intense pain as if something was choking their throat.
And from their fallen bodies, a single strand of something was pulled out.
Souls… They could only think of them as souls,
They started to gather in one place where the Duke stood in the center.
“Ego! Everything is now ready! It’s time to reveal our appearance according to the contract!”
With such intense excitement, Duke of Ocleane awaited ‘it’ that was about to come.
Having sacrificed all the necessary offerings, he had no doubt that the ‘task’ to fulfill his long-desired wish would begin next.
However…
“…Huh?”
“…?”
“…Huh?”
In the next moment, the trembling of the earth suddenly stopped.
The situation just a moment ago seemed to be false, as even the sound of an ant passing by could be heard in the conference room, making it incredibly quiet.
“W-what… what’s going on? Why… why isn’t anything happening?”
All conditions necessary for the contract were met.
All the preparations that were needed in advance, and the offering to summon it, were all made.
However,
The vibration just moments ago now seemed irrelevant in this place,
It seemed as if nothing was happening, as if it were all a lie.
The only thing that had occurred was the sacrifice of his underling nobles, who had lost their souls and been killed.
Faced with such an unexpected situation, Duke Ocleane automatically began to break out in cold sweat.
“Oh… no, wait. This can’t happen, right?”
The prepared plan was not being executed.
A situation where they had provoked so much without anything happening in the end.
In that case, one could say that the duke had practically thrown himself into hell.
“No… what the hell happened? D-did he… that demon… deceive me? Pretend to follow my words all this time just to strike at the decisive moment?”
It wasn’t an impossible story.
Although he had faithfully followed what was called a contract so far, the creature’s true nature was that of a demon.
Even if cunning, he was not just a puppet who couldn’t rise above the level of a beast, but a real demon.
If he was a being who aimed to destroy humans, just as was told in myths and legends,
it was very plausible that he had played with the contractee himself and then struck him unexpectedly.
“f*ck… this is f*cked…”
And right after his thoughts reached that point.
Duke Ocleane quickly began to think about what he needed to do to survive in this moment.
Currently, in this place, he was in the midst of the royal guards and the strongest Devil Hunters under Ellie’s command, protecting the queen.
On the other hand, the only ones around him who had just arrogantly declared the “rebellion” were the small number of Devil Hunters who were his personal soldiers.
Even they were shaken by the recent events, so the chance of success in any reckless attempts was slim to none.
After quickly analyzing the situation, a thought popped into his mind in just a few moments.
The result…
From Noble mtl dot com
“Your Majesty!”
Duke Ocleane kneeled in front of the queen, shouting.
“Now you can rest assured! I have disposed of all those who opposed your will and opposed the Tripartite Council!”
“…What?”
“…”
The queen spoke with an incredulous voice,
and Eli maintained a cold expression, silent.
Seeing the two of them, the Duke shouted with all his might, raising his voice.
“I deeply apologize for my rudeness just now! However, in order to keep them off guard and effectively conclude the matter, it was an unavoidable choice to attract their attention for a moment! Your Majesty, please graciously accept my sincere loyalty with your broad-mindedness!”
The previous display of power was an undisguised declaration of submission,
and the instant change in stance was truly shameless.
However, it was also true that the high-ranking nobles who had been opposing him until now were instantly annihilated due to his actions.
Considering that they were originally thought to be under the control of Duke Ocleane, his action of sweeping them away could be compared to self-mutilation,
but paradoxically, because of this reason, his words held some credibility.
Thus, the queen pondered for a moment on how to handle the situation.
At that moment, Eli quietly whispered something in the queen’s ear related to this matter.
And immediately after,
the queen looked at Duke Ocleane, who was prostrate before her, and spoke in a solemn voice.
“Understood. Then this time, I will trust your intention.”
“T-Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“If so, we can consider the three-party conference to be confirmed. Make the announcement.”
With no one left to oppose in this situation, the Queen swiftly made her declaration.
In response, everyone in the conference room lowered their heads and showed their respect to the Queen.
“I will accept Your Majesty’s orders.”
“We will follow Your Majesty’s will!”
In this seemingly harmonious situation where everything was settled smoothly,
However,
Among the people who were relieved at this moment, there were only two individuals still maintaining their cold expressions.
One person was Ellie, still looking at the Duke with cold eyes.
And the other person, rather than before, had an even heavier expression on his face.
It was Gerald Mura.
*
After the morning meeting was over, as darkness fell.
Returning to the mansion, I immediately followed Ellie to her room.
“Do you have something to say?”
As soon as I entered her room and we were alone together,
Ellie turned to me and calmly asked in her voice.
And regarding this,
I asked her with a voice filled with doubt and strong caution.
“Do you really believe what the author is saying? If my memory serves me right, I heard that the Duke d’Ocleon is aiming for the throne, so we should be on guard.”
Based on Ellie’s story, I expressed my doubts about her actions.
And in response to this,
Ellie answered in a calm voice.
“Yes, I also mentioned that a considerable number of high-ranking nobles in this country are following him.”
“But why did you spare the author’s life? If we had pushed a little harder in the recent situation, we could have easily killed him.”
A presence that could have put Gabriel and us in danger.
The fact that I didn’t eliminate that guy in an instant made me quite dissatisfied.
In response to this,
Ellie leaned back in her chair, looked straight into my face, and said.
“That’s why we couldn’t kill the author just now. No matter what, he showed obedience to His Majesty by sacrificing some of his faction. If we were to cut his neck in this situation, the remaining nobles would undoubtedly be greatly shaken.”
It was an unfair and frustrating situation, but the world doesn’t always revolve around righteousness and justice.
In the end, what matters is power.
In a situation where power is lacking, the reality is that there is ultimately nothing one can do.
“At a time when the state of affairs is already uncertain, if the nobles start to act recklessly, it could potentially lead this country to collapse.”
“Hmm…”
Simply put, it means that in a situation where one has to be mindful of the other nobles, it is unwise to worsen public opinion against the nobility.
After understanding the approximate situation,
“I understand what you mean. However, Ellie, this matter is by no means over. It is not due to the whims of petty nobles, but because of the movements of a more serious individual.”
I immediately broke the news about something that was more significant than anything else.
From the position of knowing what he had just done,
now I am talking about the thing that will soon be 100% coming.
“What does that mean, Geralt?”
“He will appear soon. If you don’t prepare yourself as much as possible, everything could end sooner than you think.”
“…When you say ‘he’?”
Elly expressing doubt.
In regards to this, I told her the truth in a cold voice.
“Raplus, he will appear.”