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Chapter 21
A knight stopped in front of Rowen with a troubled expression.
“His Highness the Second Prince is causing a disturbance.”
“A disturbance?”
“Yes. He’s shouting that he can’t stay in this filthy place any longer and demands to be taken out immediately. He’s even threatening to bite his tongue and kill himself.”
“A threat, huh……”
After thinking for a moment, Rowen replied.
“Just leave him be.”
“Pardon? But what if he actually bites his tongue and dies?”
“Arsen would never do that. So just leave him.”
“Yes, understood.”
The knight returned to the prison and ignored Arsen as Rowen had ordered.
Left alone, Arsen eventually grew exhausted from his own tantrum and quieted down.
In truth, his threat to bite his tongue and die was never serious to begin with.
After his outburst, Arsen finally began to think.
What does that bastard know? And a tip-off? Who the hell…?
He considered every possibility, but no one came to mind.
Then one person surfaced in his thoughts.
“Chamberlain…?”
But he quickly dismissed the idea.
The Chamberlain had served by his side for years, acting as his hands and feet.
He always handled the dirty work, never once allowing Arsen to soil his own hands.
Whenever things became difficult or complicated, it was also the Chamberlain who helped him.
So then… was it one of the maids?
That was also a possibility.
Perhaps one of the maids planted by that bastard had slipped in like a rat and stolen everything.
“You cowardly bastard……”
Arsen ground his teeth.
As if he had completely forgotten that he himself had planted spies in Rowen’s palace.
In any case, the Chamberlain would surely prove his innocence.
So Arsen wasn’t particularly worried.
Once he got out, he swore he would definitely take Rowen’s life next time.
But a day passed. Then two.
And still, nothing changed.
“Right. That bastard must be deliberately dragging things out despite the Chamberlain’s request. Still, other nobles will surely help me. I’ll be out tomorrow.”
Arsen muttered while biting his nails.
But even the next day, and the day after that, he still did not leave the prison.
Arsen was only released two weeks later.
The prison door, which seemed like it would never open again, finally creaked open.
Having not bathed or changed clothes for days, Arsen looked utterly wretched.
A foul odor clung to him.
As the door opened, he lifted his head sharply.
“So my false charges have been cleared, I see? Hah, of course. I was innocent, so that bastard just dragged it out on purpose.”
Arsen chuckled.
His expression looked almost insane, but the knights did not react.
“I’ll go back to the palace and wash immediately.”
Frowning, Arsen hunched under the low ceiling and stepped out of the cell.
But the moment he exited, the knights grabbed both of his arms and restrained him.
Startled, Arsen struggled violently, but his body—starved from prison—had no strength left.
“Damn it, what are you doing?! Let go of me! Where are you taking me?!”
He tried to resist, but the knights were too strong.
Since he had been held in the deepest part of the imperial palace dungeon, they had to climb stairs for a long time.
“Damn it, how many stairs are there?”
By the time Arsen was panting for breath, they finally exited the dungeon.
“Ugh……!”
The harsh sunlight blinded him, and he instinctively stopped.
But the knights did not wait for him and kept moving.
Forced to stagger forward, Arsen struggled to adjust to the light.
Looking around, he realized this was not the way to his palace.
“Hey, where are you taking me? Huh?”
No matter how many times he asked, the knights did not answer.
A sense of unease slowly crept in.
Even at best, this was not the route to his palace.
Eventually, after walking and walking, they arrived at the courthouse—one he had passed by a few times before.
“The courthouse…?”
Arsen’s heart dropped.
His mind went completely blank.
“W-wait. We’re going inside there? Me? Why?”
The silent knight finally spoke.
“Because you committed crimes. Naturally.”
“Crimes…? What nonsense are you talking about?”
There shouldn’t be any evidence left.
The Chamberlain had handled everything—there was no way he would leave traces so carelessly.
Arsen shook his head and tried to step back, but the knight held him firmly, dragging him forward.
The gate slowly opened at the signal of a court attendant.
“Guhh……!”
The vast courtroom was filled with people.
Every gaze turned to Arsen at once.
If looks could kill, he would have died right there.
His body trembled violently.
Only now did he fully realize the situation he was in.
Nobles whispered among themselves at his filthy appearance.
Cold sweat ran down his face as he lowered his head.
There wasn’t even a seat for him—he was forced to kneel.
Slowly, trembling, he lifted his head.
“You……!”
Directly ahead sat Rowen, legs crossed, smiling leisurely.
It was a clear victor’s smile.
Arsen instinctively tried to lunge forward, but he was immediately forced back down by the knights.
“Ugh, damn it……”
A firm hand pressed his shoulder down, making his knees ache.
He twisted his body, but the knights behind him held him immobile.
As the courtroom grew noisy, Rowen gestured lightly toward the back.
Behind him stood a man in a white robe.
A court mage of the imperial palace.
The mage muttered something under his breath, and Rowen cleared his throat before speaking.
“Silence.”
He hadn’t raised his voice, yet it echoed throughout the entire courtroom.
The nobles immediately fell quiet.
Rowen looked down at Arsen and spoke again.
“From this moment, I will begin the trial of the criminal, Arsen de Alexio.”
At the word criminal, Arsen’s eyes widened.
Criminal?
He did not believe he had done anything wrong.
“I’m not a criminal! I am Arsen de Alexio, of the noble imperial bloodline!”
He shouted until veins bulged in his neck, then coughed.
Rowen looked at him with a bored expression.
“That’s something we’ll determine now.”
Arsen breathed heavily, enraged that his words were being ignored.
His head spun. He couldn’t think straight.
He just wanted this cleared quickly so he could go back, bathe in warm water, and sleep.
Rowen looked at him with disdain before speaking.
“First, let’s go through your crimes.”
He unfolded a long document and began reading one by one.
“Illegal gambling, embezzlement, prostitution, illegal slave auctions, attempted incitement of murder…… Quite the list.”
The murmuring in the courtroom grew louder.
Arsen froze.
Those records should not exist.
The Chamberlain had erased everything perfectly.
“…And lastly, the poisoning of His Majesty the Emperor.”
At that, Rowen tossed the document aside, and the nobles gasped.
Arsen’s face turned pale.
“T-That…!”
“Save your excuses for later. Bring in the evidence.”
The Chamberlain soon returned carrying a large stack of documents.
Rowen took one sheet and nodded toward the mage.
The mage stepped forward, brushing the document with his hand.
Immediately, copies of the document appeared before every noble present.
Mass projection magic.
Rowen spoke again.
“First, this is evidence of illegal gambling.”
The nobles quickly scanned the documents.
They contained detailed records of when and where gambling occurred, and even proof that embezzled funds had been used.
Rowen flipped to the next page.
“This is the illegal slave auction.”
The empire had abolished slavery long ago.
Yet illegal slave auctions still existed in secret, growing large enough that they could not simply be ignored.
And the one person who should have eradicated them—the royal family—was Arsen himself, who participated in them.
Even worse, it was revealed that the slaves he purchased were taken to a secret villa where they were subjected to horrific abuse.
Dozens of those slaves had died there.
The nobles were horrified.
More evidence followed.
The most shocking of all were documents proving that Arsen had incited murder against Rowen and ordered the poisoning of the Emperor.
“How could this be…?”
“How can something like this happen?”
“How could a human do such things?”
Whispers filled the courtroom.
Arsen’s body shook as he kept his head down.
He could not understand where these documents had come from.
Desperate, he shouted:
“T-Those documents are forged! He made them up to kill me and take the throne!”
But the nobles remained cold.
His own signature was clearly present at the bottom.
Rowen scoffed and gestured to the Chamberlain.
The Chamberlain nodded.
Soon after, the courtroom doors opened again.
Someone entered.
“Just in time, the witness has arrived. For reference, he is also the one who reported everything.”
At the word reported, Arsen snapped his head around.
