18 – What Happened Here
As the maids with dark expressions hurriedly moved their positions.
Duke Shurain hastily sat at the tea table.
The Queen pressed her forehead with two fingers and poured tea into an empty cup.
“Father, what on earth is happening?”
The Duke looked around once again.
“It seems that a rat has sneaked into the Gerund Manor.”
It was a whisper so quiet that only his daughter could hear.
Thud.
The teapot came down, but the cup remained half empty.
“Surely, the information hasn’t leaked, right?”
His face and voice were no different from usual.
No matter what happened.
He had an attitude that he wouldn’t be shaken.
“That… a considerable amount of documents seems to have disappeared like magic…”
As if afraid of the reaction that would follow, the Duke paused for a moment.
“So…?”
“If it is revealed, it is expected that a significant number of nobles who supported Mama and me will turn away.”
The Queen’s smile faded.
“What about the person who was supposed to guard it? Surely, there was someone, right?”
What appeared in her gaze was an intense anger.
In the end, the Duke, seemingly anxious, had no choice but to clasp his hands together and lower his gaze.
“The veteran mercenary was guarding it, but his heart was pierced, and he died.”
The voice that grew smaller at the end was clearly trembling.
“Mercenaries? Ha! Father, what are we supposed to do if you handle matters like that?”
A soft voice, no different from the beginning, carried on the spring breeze.
He was angry, but not furious.
As he raised his eyes again to the familiar yet eerie sensation.
The Empress was suddenly smiling brightly.
It was a face that anyone could see was filled with happiness.
But Duke Shlain knew very well.
His daughter, who was different from others since birth, was angrier than ever.
“Didn’t I tell you clearly? Don’t trust mercenaries. Make sure to deploy three or more of the duke’s knights. Was it really so difficult to do that simple thing? Huh? And now you’ve come running here after a month, just as the situation has exploded.”
“….”
Many words came to mind.
He wanted to explain immediately.
But the duke’s face, with his mouth tightly shut, showed a helpless expression.
It was just as his daughter had said.
It wasn’t difficult to deploy a few knights.
But the duke’s knights were not idle people either.
They had to earn their keep, as a considerable amount of money was involved.
Having them guard a secret study with nothing happening for a whole year.
It was not only excessive waste, but also a very unpleasant thing that made them feel less like the knights who should sweep through the battlefield.
But the Duke had to swallow the words he wanted to say.
If he didn’t. Eventually, he knew from experience that even greater humiliation would come his way.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”
The Duke bowed his head.
It was not difficult for him to lower his head to his daughter, who had already become the most noble woman in the Empire.
But such an act.
Was it because of the shame of revealing his incompetence?
Or was it because of the fear that had gradually built up over the years, the fear of his daughter?
“Now, what should I do?”
After much deliberation, he finally managed to utter those words with difficulty.
But the Empress.
She had a calm expression as if she had put all the situations in the palm of her hand.
“For now, we need to draw a line.”
“Do you mean to kill the artist?”
He asked cautiously, as if checking the life or death of a fallen person, but her response was like scolding a misbehaving child that bounced back against a wall.
“Father, why are you like this? It’s been years since you became a minister, but until when will you continue to act so foolishly?”
It was a gaze of disdain that he could never get used to.
An extreme sense of shame.
It was only natural that his face, which had been pale and blue, turned even redder.
“……”
“Are there people in the Empire who do not know that Gerund is my father’s dog?”
Certainly, she is his daughter.
Undoubtedly, she came from her mother’s womb.
In moments like this, it felt as if a giant beast, different from herself, was looking down at her.
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“If you allow it…”
“Capture Gerund yourself and offer him to His Majesty the Emperor. Then no one will dare to doubt your father. Even if someone dares to doubt, well, what can you do? You wouldn’t want to be discarded like Gerund. And with just that fact alone, the power of evidence will evaporate. If someone claims that your father’s involvement is a fabrication, that will be the end of it.”
The Duke’s face showed confusion.
It seemed plausible at first glance, but the burden of danger was too great.
“But if that happens, Gerund will not betray-“
“Father.”
In the end, the Empress’s voice cut off his words, low and cold like the morning fog of a withering autumn day.
“Do I really have to explain everything to you?”
As if unable to bear her building frustration any longer, the Empress tilted her head and rubbed her forehead with one hand.
In the face that met hers again,
there was nothing but deep resignation, the acceptance that she could no longer comprehend her father’s incompetence and had ultimately decided to accept it.
“If you’re afraid of speaking out, cut out your tongue and chop off your hands. And after eliminating Gerund’s limbs and family altogether, burn everything without leaving any evidence. Do you understand? Instill overwhelming fear, so that no other thoughts can be harbored.”
The words were spoken without a hint of hesitation.
Upon hearing those gruesome words, the Duke was certain.
Indeed, to his daughter, several crucial aspects of being human were clearly lacking.
Far more than anyone who had committed all sorts of wicked deeds.
But no matter how true that may be.
It was no longer a matter of having any other sharp moves.
If one wanted to survive, there was no choice but to listen.
Moreover, the words of the daughter who had made herself a savior, had she ever been wrong even once.
“……Yes, I understand.”
“Have you found out who is behind the rat bastard?”
“There is no evidence, but it must be Duke Pelios without a doubt.”
“I see. He’s the only one who would scheme like this in the current situation.”
The Empress raised the teapot again and filled the cup.
“He was supposed to be eliminated later, but it can’t be done like this. Get rid of him as soon as possible. Once he’s gone, the other two will naturally fall into our hands.”
***
Somehow, it was a morning with a sinister feeling.
Perhaps it was going to rain spring showers today.
The blue sky, visible in patches here and there, was gradually narrowing due to the gathering dark clouds overnight.
It had been three days since I had narrowly escaped death for the second time.
Squeak-squeak-
I was now sitting on a swing installed by the pond in front of the Imperial Palace.
It was a bench swing designed to accommodate up to four people.
I heard it was a gift from the Emperor to the Empress.
Although the metallic creaking sound was somewhat ominous,
I was still enjoying a rare moment of peace after surviving two brushes with death.
“Could you please stop shaking?”
“….”
Beside me,
Astia Levolun, who had returned to her post as my knight after a long wandering, was sitting.
With a face that seemed quite irritated, she crossed her arms and tightly closed her eyes.
“I said to stop shaking….”
Ignoring me as if I didn’t exist, she muttered without even looking at me.
Her attitude was both intimidating and unyielding, like that of an older sister dealing with her younger brother.
“Stop it because it’s annoying.”
At the end of her threatening voice, her teeth clenched tightly, and I suddenly remembered being slammed into the dirt by her fists.
In the end, I had no choice but to stop.
And then, in the distance, I saw three men.
Their luxurious clothes, adorned with gold and silver threads on a white background,
clearly revealed their status as nobles of the Mersen Empire.
As they got closer, the anger on their faces became more distinct.
The one leading them was Duke Felios, the leader of the Anti-Empire Faction.
Behind him followed Viscount Triane and Marquis Validman.
These three were the only nobles of the Anti-Empire Faction in the Empire.
Of course, just because they were hostile to the empress didn’t mean they had a good relationship with me, the friendly faction of the emperor.
As if that would ever happen.
They even came all the way to where I could see their faces.
Marquis Felios and his gang.
They just stared at me with fierce eyes.
And then they turned their heads and left without even a nod. How audacious.
This was the situation that occurred every day after I secretly delivered evidence of corruption by Marquis Gernud to them.
Every morning, they went to the emperor.
They diligently appealed, based on the evidence I provided, that Marquis Gernud was behind it all, with Marquis Shurain as his backer.
But as the emperor, there was nothing he could do.
It was Marquis Shurain who had captured Marquis Gernud.
Of course, there was no shortage of loose ends.
The point was.
Marquis Gernud’s body was excessively damaged.
His eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hands, and feet.
All of them were thoroughly destroyed.
He couldn’t even express himself anymore.
In fact, his condition was so dire that even being alive was considered a miracle.
Could anyone not notice that?
It was a warning.
A blatant threat that promised to completely ruin anyone who betrayed them, to the point where recovery would be impossible.
Because of that.
Even though Duke Pelios had revealed evidence of his corruption to everyone.
There was not a single ripple of disturbance in the Queen’s faction.
Of course, even so.
It could be seen as a significant gain to temporarily cut off the massive flow of funds pouring into Duke Shurain, even if just for a moment.
I gazed at the receding figure of Duke Pelios.
Duke Pelios.
He emerges as a loyalist who cannot forget the fallen empire in the novel.
Although he couldn’t achieve it in the end, his only dream was to help the hero, save the world, and rebuild the ruins of Mersen.
Despite being as cunning as Duke Shurain, he was still single.
It was because he couldn’t forget his first love, who was Duke Shurain’s younger sister.
Originally, Shurain and Pelios, as the only two dukes of the empire, were destined to be rivals.
They had spent many years in bitter rivalry.
In the end, they became enemies.
But suddenly, Duke Shurain’s beloved declared that she would reject the arranged engagement set by her family and marry the heir of the enemy household.
It was nothing less than tarnishing the great name of Shurain that had been established since the birth of the empire.
That’s why the head of the Shurain family at the time.
I ordered Aura to make my younger sister die.
That’s why Duke Felios.
Like oil meeting water, he could never be together with Shurain.
Attacking Duke Shurain so persistently with only two nobles was all for that reason.
However, the attack had little effect.
As a result, the Empress now.
She would want to kill Duke Felios, who keeps annoyingly begging for mercy, right away.
But his death would be a bit inconvenient for me as well.
Leaving the Empress’s hostile faction intact would be much better for me to handle.
So for now.
I have to save Duke Felios, who has become the target of the Empress.
While thinking about that, a man and a familiar-looking woman appeared.
Blonde hair that never loses its shine even on a cloudy day, and clear blue eyes that can be seen clearly from afar, like the sky on a clear day.
The woman who came with the middle-aged man was clearly Elaine.