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Chapter 41
The Lady Only Deals with the Genuine
Aylin stared intently at me, whose face had suddenly gone pale.
His gaze was deep like the sea, yet unnervingly calm—so calm that no emotion could be read from it.
“There will be no second warnings. If you refuse an inspection, we may enforce it by force, and summary execution is possible. Consider this a notice.”
I swallowed hard and nodded.
“I have no such intention. I’ll open the door for you; you can see for yourself.”
I glanced at Alter, who was frowning slightly.
Trying to signal that it was okay for now, I raised my hand slightly and took out the key to the second floor, thinking:
The first time I saw that article, it was because of the name Hugo. But even after learning it was someone else with the same name, I kept reading the articles because…
[…Tragedy of unknown cause in the office…]
The circumstances were just too strange!
A few months later.
Aylin Hugo Radeyn was found dead late at night in his office, his body scratched all over.
It was said to look as if he had been attacked by a beast.
But is there any way beasts or monsters roam the imperial palace? Even if there were, would the Commander of the Knights have fallen to one?
Moreover, the scene was said to be extremely clean.
Except for some black sand and a few thin shards of glass scattered here and there.
It seemed that others also thought it could not have been the work of a beast.
According to testimonies that the knights had heard loud noises, the consensus had been that it was a wizard’s terrorist attack.
But, as the investigation progressed, the situation took a turn.
…They said there was no ritual. There were no traces of magical power used by a wizard at all.
Meanwhile, what was found in his house was none other than a black magic book.
Illegal magical tools and banned books were stacked in secret spaces.
[…Commander of the Knights of the Imperial Palace, Aylin Hugo Radeyn, found dead while attempting forbidden black magic… shocking revelation…]
In an instant, the brightest star among the knights became a disgrace, buried in humiliation.
All his achievements were dismissed as the result of black magic, and even records were erased.
A venomous snake hiding in the heart of the palace!
The enraged royal family immediately disbanded the Knights of the Palace, replacing them with…
Knights personally selected by Regent Crodel.
Click.
I stepped back as I opened the door to the second floor.
Watching Aylin inspect the collateral, I bit my lip.
No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t make sense.
It made sense that the Commander of the Knights could have magical power, but I couldn’t bring myself to trust the newspaper article.
It wasn’t just blind disbelief that the commander wouldn’t do such a thing.
Who in their right mind would perform black magic in their own office? If at all, it would be in a secret hideout or at home!
I reasoned logically.
Would someone openly carry out such an act in their office, where being caught would obviously mean death?
Moreover…
Everything afterward proceeded too smoothly. As if someone had planned it.
Marquis Crodel.
He filled the vacancy in the Knights with his own people as if he had been waiting for it.
Given Aylin’s incident, common sense would have required long-term verification, yet he acted swiftly, as if pre-selected.
The conclusion was obvious.
Crodel knew. He knew Aylin was destined to die dishonorably. Then…!
Crodel—the man—was the culprit.
He not only orchestrated Aylin’s death but also manipulated the evidence.
The banned books and magical tools were likely placed secretly after Aylin’s death.
As I bit my lip, Aylin, holding the tracking brooch and inspecting the collateral, turned to face me.
“This relic.”
He pointed at the ring in the storage from afar.
The same ring I had borrowed from the temple.
“Through what channel did you acquire it?”
Thinking quickly, I answered calmly:
“Oh, that ring? I borrowed it from the temple.”
“A relic borrowed from the temple… For what purpose?”
“For the same reason as everyone else—to receive a blessing. There’s also the lending certificate beside it; would you like to check it?”
“I have checked it. However…”
Aylin’s eyes sharpened.
“You do not appear to be a devotee of the World Tree Temple. There is no symbol or carving of the World Tree at this pawnshop, correct?”
“Is the symbol that important? What truly matters is the faith held in one’s heart.”
“If it’s simply a borrowed relic, why did you not disclose it during the previous inspection?”
“You never said exactly what you were looking for. Besides, I followed proper procedures to borrow it—I didn’t think it would be a problem. Is that all now?”
His relentless, stiff questioning made the pressure palpable.
Yet Aylin still regarded me steadily, replying to every point.
Rina’s pendant is already hidden. Somewhere Aylin can never find it.
The tracking brooch cannot detect just any relic.
Although Aylin claimed he could track it, that would have to be dealt with later.
For now, the interrogation was what mattered.
However…
“No. This is not over.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Everything you have said just now is false.”
I paused for a moment, then smiled and asked:
“Do you have a basis for that judgment?”
“There is a contradiction. You say what is important is the faith held in your heart, yet you went to the trouble of borrowing a relic.”
Calm but sharp, Aylin methodically pointed out the inconsistencies.
“And the certificate, without a date, placed as if to show when it was borrowed, is also a contradiction.”
“Excuse me, but that still sounds like insufficient evidence.”
“Is that so? Then how do you explain the tremor at your eyes? Open the door to the third floor.”
Damn.
No wonder he is the Commander of the Knights.
This guy’s intuition is unreal.
But the reason I wasn’t as calm as usual was:
Because I know your fate!
I wanted to prevent Aylin from dying. Because…
If Crodel and Aylin had the same opinions, Crodel wouldn’t go out of his way to harm this man!
It was clear that Aylin stood opposed to Crodel.
He would not have been eliminated merely because he couldn’t be persuaded. Like what Rosanne did to Hannah.
That means Aylin’s mere existence threatens Crodel. So I have to keep him alive.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Even if it wasn’t about Rina, Crodel was effectively my enemy.
William sent a telegraph this morning.
I found out who was behind the renewal of the permit forms.
It was none other than Regent Crodel.
Apparently, it was triggered by something he heard at tea time. I’m still investigating who attended that tea.
Even without hearing the results, it’s obvious. Rosanne was there. Crodel and Rosanne are on the same side.
But how could I thwart Crodel’s schemes?
I recalled my conversation with Emma.
This morning.
Though Emma had warned me to stay uninvolved, I persuaded her that I needed to know to respond properly.
Reluctantly, she spoke.
“Simply put, that guy is addicted to magical power. Like the lake in February—a precarious lake, the ice could break at any moment.”
Emma pushed her hair back and crossed her arms.
“But no wizard would dare cast magic directly on the Commander. So it’s probably through a mana stone infusion.”
“You mean he was continuously exposed to the mana from the stones?”
“Exactly. They likely used a very pure mana stone, enchanted to look like an ordinary stone. Whoever it was, they must be a highly skilled wizard.”
In retrospect, it made sense why there had been no ritual.
He wasn’t magically attacked; he was addicted to mana through the stone.
It was effectively a deadly curse for the knights alone.
“But it’s strange that he accepted the mana stone so willingly. Even if disguised as an ordinary stone, to just take it and keep it…”
“Probably hidden in a mundane object. But what everyday object could hold that many stones?”
Emma continued, clearly troubled.
“One piece wouldn’t affect the knight. Even compressed, there would be so many. Does such an object exist?”
An everyday object that could hold many stones?
I pondered, and Emma murmured almost carelessly:
“Anyway, he won’t be able to properly do his duties as a knight now.”
“Really? Why?”
“Because contact with holy power would hurt him. A vicious cycle. To cleanse the mana addiction, he needs holy power, but contact with holy power causes pain, so he will unconsciously avoid it.”
She added:
“Yet he behaved politely. Ugh…”
“Is that a problem?”
“Of course. Imagine how severely he must be suppressing himself. He’s not normal.”
Emma’s warning was meant to caution me, but I had a slightly different thought.
It was true that Aylin wasn’t normal.
He’s sick. Essentially a patient.
A patient suffering from an incurable, hopeless disease.
Hearing the story inevitably made me think of my grandfather.
But he probably won’t listen to me easily. He won’t believe me just because I speak.
Then what strategy could I use?
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
And…
Intuition for intuition.
Having made up my mind, I gave Aylin a bright smile.
