The wizard who had appeared suddenly vanished just as suddenly as he had appeared.
The sacred flames consumed the last traces of dark magic and collapsed into white light that shone more brilliantly than any flame.
I came down to the first floor along with the flustered people.
The central hall remained exactly as it had been when they defeated the undead wyvern. One side of the majestic hall was shattered into a mess around the large, black corpse. The broken windows on the floor remained as they were.
Benedict had returned to the central hall with the knights.
Lady Celtic ordered clean towels to be brought to wipe Benedict down. He refused. Though Benedict’s tone and expression were sufficiently polite, I could see the lady standing close to him trembling briefly.
Benedict raised his gaze that had been cast downward.
Soaked in blood and rain after finishing battle, he looked more imposing and dangerous than ever. The brutal side he had been hiding behind his calm gaze had been exposed through the combat, appearing as if it had not yet been fully contained.
“I’ve ended up proving it unintentionally.”
Benedict said, looking at the Regent Duke who had just entered the hall alone.
Duke Yorick, who had been singled out, stopped walking. He stood still some distance from the entrance.
The once-arrogant ruler said nothing, and the people around him—the Iotans too—withdrew from his vicinity.
Benedict closed and opened his eyes as if suppressing himself. Even so, his still-merciless eyes were flushed red.
“Answer me.”
His voice was also chillingly cold, as if placed on ice.
“Is the proof insufficient?”
Benedict asked again, but still the Regent Duke gave no answer.
“…….”
People’s gazes turned to Duke Yorick, who was at a loss for words. Only then did the Regent straighten his hunched shoulders as if coming to his senses. His red ceremonial robes, rumpled here and there from everything that had happened, were visible.
“I… I think… that’s a separate matter.”
The Regent Duke answered.
This time Benedict remained silent, watching him wordlessly. Though the distance was sufficient, Duke Yorick hesitated and stepped back, then flushed darkly as if it had been an unconscious action. After a moment, the Regent Duke cleared his throat and strode several steps toward Benedict with an ostentatious show of confidence.
“For one thing, the past emperors… all possessed tremendous magical power.”
However, his voice no longer sounded confident but anxious.
“So, in determining the leader to rule this nation… I’m saying we should reconsider. You’re an Alpha but you suffer from Rut Deficiency Syndrome… there’s no telling when you might irrationally turn violent. And now you’ve even lost your magic… that’s all it was.”
Benedict let out a short sound of admiration.
“Alpha and magic, you mean.”
Benedict smiled slightly.
It was his usual polite smile, but perhaps because of his eyes, it felt overbearing.
“…….”
“Was that what you hated about both. Or,”
Benedict continued calmly.
“Was it what you resented and craved.”
The Regent, who had been backing away, stopped walking.
The Regent suddenly contorted his face with some unidentifiable emotion, looking just like a tightly crushed beast.
“I’m not curious about how much magical power the Regent possesses. Whether you have no magic at all, or aren’t an Alpha. I won’t put forward such innate things.”
The Regent Duke’s Adam’s apple twitched as if he would scream at any moment. However, as if firmly pinned down by the front paw of a giant beast, he couldn’t go any further. His face, which had been expressing anger, soon turned deathly pale. Benedict’s eyes facing him deepened further.
“However, I’d like to examine how much you struggled for this nation before moving on.”
Knights approached from behind the silent Regent, surrounding him.
They had not softened their killing intent from after the battle at all. The Regent Duke’s eyes moved to each side once, as if cornered.
“What… what are you doing right now?”
He barely managed to open his mouth and protest.
That’s when the sound of weapons was heard.
It was the sound of armor clashing against armor, and numerous heavy weights firmly treading the carpeted corridor.
Everyone’s gaze turned to the wide-open door of the central hall.
“We greet His Highness Benedict Roman Augentier, Light of the Empire.”
They were formally armed Imperial knights.
At their head stood Count Leroy, wearing dark gray plate armor, his eyes more resolute than ever.
The Count, who had pronounced Benedict’s name with emphasis, immediately approached and bowed deeply. The knights who followed added their salutes in turn. The knights of the Count’s household who had entered with them at the rear did likewise.
Nearly a hundred knights surrounded the venue. With those arrayed behind him, Benedict faced the Regent Duke whose face had lost its destination.
“Clemens Yorick.”
In the air charged with clear intent, the venue had become as quiet as death.
Only Benedict’s distinct voice cut through the venue.
“I will bind you here as the defendant in a summary trial.”
His manner of addressing the Regent had changed. Not a single person could open their mouth.
There was only one case for becoming a defendant in a summary trial. Benedict’s eyes, which held shards of ice, glinted with a cold radiance.
“The charges are treason. The crime of regicide against the late Emperor.”
* * *
Numerous prestigious nobles were arrested or placed under house arrest.
It was revealed that the Regent Duke had made some kind of deal with the Iotans but had been caught by Iota’s duplicitous scheming.
The Iotans who had visited as a delegation were likewise imprisoned. Having united with spies within the Empire, they had intended to cause an unseemly incident on the day of the conference to assassinate key figures of the Empire and proceed with the conference favorably, but everything ended in failure.
The lich that had appeared at the great mansion was originally a wizard from Iota, and it was revealed that he had been hidden in the delegation’s procession and had accompanied them in. While dealing with Iota, the Regent Duke had handed over a considerable amount of magic stones instead of gold coins, which, unlike in the past, seemed to have significantly strengthened the lich’s magical power.
However, all of this was only circumstantial. Numerous trials were scheduled, and this was just the beginning.
And two days after the great mansion incident.
The Regent, who had been sentenced to death after the summary trial and was only waiting for the execution date,
“Due to the defendant’s suicide, the execution is nullified.”
was found dead by his own hand in the residence where he had been confined.
It was in front of a portrait of his mother, Bonita Yorick, an Alpha and the first duchess, a genius wizard.
I thought he should have been executed in front of many people, but when Benedict briefly mentioned his suicide location, he answered that it was a fitting end for him.
“He seemed to want revenge on his mother, but the bold hero Bonita Yorick would have merely turned away and sighed. Clemens Yorick would know her temperament better than I do, so he might have regretted it in the moment of death.”
Since he was already dead, another disposition was handed down regarding the Regent Duke. More precisely, it was a disposition regarding his corpse.
At dawn the next day after the disposition for the punishment without a criminal was concluded.
I was descending the stone steps following the jailer.
The faint dawn that had been following down was pushed back, buried in darkness. Only the burning dark lantern lights illuminated the underground stone ceiling here and there in place.
The firmly closed door opened, and cold, musty air approached.
“If you need anything, let me know.”
The jailer said. The door closed again.
It was a cramped and cold space.
Beyond the thick iron bars, Rilke was crouched against a dim stone wall without even a window, looking this way. Only an oil lamp that made crackling sounds faintly illuminated the dark interior.
Looking at him bound tightly in chains, I sat in the tilted iron chair in front of the bars.
The incident at the great mansion had been only four days ago.
This prison had now become saturated. I spoke first.
“Did you hear?”
“…….”
“You’re going to be transferred today.”
Thanks to the numerous criminals, Rilke was scheduled to go somewhere else ahead of schedule.
The place where felons who had received their final judgments waited for the end.
Before Rilke was dragged to that place, there were many things I needed to ask.
“We discovered another secret passage in House Meyer.”
Rilke had been saying nothing until now.
“In the underground prison.”
“…….”
“Is the physician’s death also related to you.”
As expected, the secret passage was underground.
It was a path connecting the prison and the outside of the mansion. How he led the physician to death. I couldn’t know that far, but I could understand how Rilke had escaped from House Meyer.
Crouched Rilke didn’t answer this time either. I called him for another question.
“Rilke.”
Removing emotion, I called his name. Since this might be the last time, I wanted to call him as politely as possible.
Various things I had experienced since returning to the past this spring echoed loudly in my head.
And among them, the most surprising thing was.
How could I never have thought so? I had thought several times… that we resembled each other.
I stared down at the face before my eyes, but there was nothing more I could know. I might regret it after hearing everything, or I might become more confused, but I still had to ask.
“Are you my brother?”
Rilke’s eyes, which hadn’t moved at all, slowly lifted. An unidentifiable emotion surged in his blue eyes.
He opened his parched lips.
“Don’t tell me. Are you asking if I’m your father’s son?”
Rilke’s voice, which had been locked away for so long, rang out in an unfamiliar way.
“Really, don’t tell me. Then would I have just left something like you alone? I would have already trampled and eliminated you.”
Rilke seemed to have a mind to speak.
His voice rustled like stone fragments in the prison, but Rilke made no attempt whatsoever to correct his voice. Nevertheless, as he gradually spoke, as if gaining life, as if drinking water, that voice became increasingly smooth.
“Rather, I’m closer to the existence your father tried to kill.”
He laughed. It was a laugh that had become clear as a bead at some point.
Are you curious who I am? Rilke asked while leaning against the stone wall. There was the sound of chains dragging, and when it became quiet again, Rilke, wearing a strange smile, answered.
“Should I say I’m your uncle?”
