100 – 100. Humiliation
The Wolf family’s initial reaction was a denial of reality.
“You bastard…!”
“Calm down. Your father can handle it.”
Hayden Wolf restrained his enraged daughter who was about to rush at me. If Hayden’s daughter had drawn a pistol, I would have responded immediately. I don’t shy away from violence, but now was not the time.
Even if it means committing a little later.
In the midst of this, the only one remaining calm was Hayden Wolf.
“Alan Maydof.”
He called my name and fell silent again.
Although it may seem ridiculous now, if Victoria had become the emperor unharmed, they would have seized all the power of the empire.
“But now it’s all over.”
However, Hayden Walpole seemed to think differently.
Does he still think there is a way to survive? He hesitated for a moment and a slightly eerie smile crossed his mind.
“Do you think it’s over?”
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“Yes.”
“Who do you think you are, being so arrogant… No. I don’t care about your attitude. You must have deceived Empress Victoria with some trickery.”
“……”
“But this is not enough for the Second Princess to become the Crown Princess. If I contact a few acquaintances, you’ll be buried in an instant.”
His words were arrogant, but Hayden’s voice was trembling.
He probably knew that it was already over. He knew there was no way out, but he couldn’t admit it and could only deny it.
…It’s nothing. I owe many people money, this is just a temporary crisis, and if I endure it for a while, it will be resolved in no time.
The mindset of a cornered giant was usually similar.
“I understand, General Hayden. Who will you fight against in this rescue operation?”
“I owe favors to several people…! There are many people who are beyond your reach. There’s no need to list them all.”
“But please list them anyway.”
“The Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Defense owe me.”
“I’m sorry, but I am under the direct orders of the two princesses. There are only two people in the empire who are higher than the princesses. Emperor and Empress… Do you really think they will ask the Walpole family to save them from the swamp?”
“Politics…”
“Politics, what?”
Hayden Wolfol shook his head from side to side instead of giving an answer, tightly closing his eyes.
Suddenly gone mad?
It didn’t seem that way. It was just the extreme stress getting to him. It meant that he had even lost the leisure to be conscious of others’ gazes.
Of course, Hayden Wolfol wasn’t the only one denying reality.
“Why did Victoria betray us? Without us, Victoria is also in danger. Because our family supports her from behind, no matter what she does, everyone bows their heads in acknowledgment. Thanks to our family’s support, even she…”
“Oh, calm down, really! It’s not a big deal. We just gave morphine to sick people. It’s all we did. Normally, morphine is given to sick people, so if we used it appropriately, it’s fine, isn’t it…?”
“If we fall, the imperial army falls too. Don’t worry.”
The moment they truly felt that this family was a conspiracy.
There was no need to listen further, so I just informed them.
“It’s over for all of you.”
“Alan Maydof, who gave you the authority.”
“Yes. I don’t have the authority to decide your fate. My job is to deliver evidence of your misconduct to the person with the authority in front of you. You can make excuses at that time.”
“…”
“We will escort you quietly. For the sake of Princess 1, just follow along. Do you think she sent us comfortably?”
I deliberately looked at Hayden Wolfol while mentioning Victoria.
A faint flush began to appear on Hayden’s still distorted face.
He still seemed to consider Victoria as a lifeline. It was mentioned from the beginning. Just because the family was about to collapse doesn’t mean that Victoria, his niece, would change. Surely he believed she wouldn’t plunge off the cliff.
“Everything will be resolved. For now… let’s follow.”
Hayden Wolfol reluctantly gave instructions to his family, his mouth corners moving with effort.
I ushered them onto the carriage.
I did not confiscate any weapons. Not because I lacked the power to do so, nor out of pity for the cornered Wolphol family, but rather because I had prepared something else for their complete subjugation.
Since I had decided to send them away, I couldn’t leave any room for their survival.
**
The carriage carrying the Wolphol family was heading towards the prison.
There were no handcuffs or shackles.
However, it seemed that they were experiencing less stress compared to ordinary criminals. It was because I was sitting next to the carriage, driving the horses.
Just the act of looking at them through the window must have been stressful enough. And I added to that stress by taunting them with my words, carefully chosen to provoke their emotions.
“In fact, Timothy Wolphol has never betrayed any of you.”
“……”
“On the contrary, he was an exceptional friend with unwavering loyalty to the family. Even in a situation where he was imprisoned, he believed that if he could endure for a moment, the elders of the family would come to his rescue. Of course, he never informed me of any of your wrongdoings.”
“What…?”
“I’m saying that Timothy Wolphol did not betray any of you. It was only your own judgment that considered him a traitor. If you hadn’t doubted Timothy, you wouldn’t have ended up in this crisis.”
A sudden bewilderment appeared on the faces of the Wolphol family.
They must have come all the way here, mistakenly believing that Timothy had revealed everything to me. If it turned out to be all a scam, they could only wear such expressions.
That bewilderment quickly turned into anger.
“I set a trap to uncover your crimes as quickly as possible.”
“What!”
“I never expected that those who had been active in the underworld for so long would fall into the trap so easily. Until now, there hasn’t been anyone who has challenged you, probably because they wanted to maintain a good relationship with the wife of the enemy’s leader.”
“Please, shut up.”
I couldn’t back down. I had to push harder at times like this.
“When surrounded by favors, it’s easy to become arrogant about one’s abilities. It’s just a fear of losing prestige and being accommodated by those around you.”
“…If only Victoria could become the princess,”
Hayden’s daughter muttered. I shook my head.
“I don’t understand why you think Queen Victoria will save you. Everything I’ve done for you was accomplished with the consent of Queen Victoria and the support of Queen Sienna.”
“……”
“No one will help the Wolfall family.”
The light disappeared from their eyes at these words.
This was the breaking point. I took a momentary pause and casually murmured.
“Everyone who was close to the Wolfall family will betray you. Even to reduce their own guilt, they will expose the corruption of the Wolfall family in detail. And they will deny any long-standing friendship with the Wolfall family.”
“You must be curious why I’m doing this.”
“You tried to bribe my employees, and even tried to recruit my younger brother who farms in the countryside. Above all, you distributed the morphine that I supplied to the military to the civilian market. The consequences of that will eventually fall on me. That’s why I stepped forward.”
At some point, they stopped responding.
It was evidence that they had reached their limit. There were humans wearing arrogant expressions, lifting their legs, and even siblings fighting each other.
It was unnecessary to dig deeper here.
And now, there was no time to torment them. After obsessing over the Wolfall family for hours, we had unknowingly gotten closer to our destination.
That destination was the palace.
It wasn’t a palace where the two princesses lived independently, but the main palace where the emperor and empress resided.
“The palace…? Why?”
Hayden Wolfall cautiously opened his mouth.
I instructed them to alight from the carriage instead of giving an answer.
Then, I led them to the Grand Hall of the Imperial Palace. It served as an exhibition hall, doubling as a social space often frequented by the nobility.
It wasn’t a place meant for transporting criminals who violated military law and even attempted to eliminate evidence.
However, today it was planned for a slightly special purpose.
“They’re already all gathered.”
“Huh?”
A red carpet and marble pillars. The most precious and valuable crafts in the empire.
Although it was a quite splendid space, the situation didn’t warrant appreciating artworks. It was because of the bustling crowd in the center of the Grand Hall.
Fifty, no, more than sixty people.
Members of the Walford family were gathered here. Direct relatives, distant relatives, in-laws. Anyone even remotely associated with the military, not just active officers, was present.
They didn’t gather voluntarily. It was a summons under the imperial decree.
Naturally, the two princesses were the ones who orchestrated the decree. What happened during my on-site arrest of Hayden Walford and his direct family, orchestrated by Siena and Victoria, leading to the disappearance of the Walford family, was to firmly drive the point home.
As Hayden Walford entered the Grand Hall, they started cheering.
Brother, uncle, cousin, uncle.
People from different branches eagerly called out to Hayden, asking what was going on. Hayden Walford’s expression hardened as he faced the increasingly tumultuous scene.
It was probably due to witnessing a shocking scene before the stress received from escorting me had dissipated. A little more, and it would explode.
“This is also something I requested from Princess Victoria.”
I informed them coldly.
“The one to be killed.”
In the end,
Hayden Wolfall drew the gun strapped to his waist.
A deliberately unconfiscated firearm. I hadn’t expected him to pull it out when he came into the Hwanggung Palace, but there was no reason to avoid it.
I immediately grabbed Morningstar and swung it sharply.
The target area was the clavicle.
“If it weren’t for you… Ugh!”
With a crisp, dull sound, the sensation of rib bones breaking vividly conveyed. Still, since he didn’t let go of the gun, I shattered the opposite clavicle as well.
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Hayden Wolfall fell down in a pathetic manner.
There was no time to watch him. His daughter shouted curses and rushed at me. I struck the inside of her ankle, causing her to fall, and then swung Morningstar again. This time, at the knee. The woman’s screams echoed through the Grand Hall.
After a brief commotion,
In front of me, two direct descendants of the Wolfall family were writhing on the ground in agony. But no one criticized my actions. Instead.
“Arrest them all.”
Under the command of the commander of the guards, the procedure for the Wolfall family began.
It was the perfect moment for Victoria’s in-laws to completely collapse.