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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: The Price of Sin
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Jonny froze. It was the moment the true secret he had desperately tried to hide was laid bare.
“Rose didn’t take her own life. She died because of this necklace, which you enchanted with black magic to induce suicide.”
At those words, Sisley gasped. She had cherished that pendant necklace, believing it to be Rose’s last memento and the only proof of their bond.
But to think it was actually the murder weapon that killed Rose…
“No, no… No… I never did that. It wasn’t me.”
Jonny, shaking his head in a panic and backing away, tripped over his feet and fell awkwardly.
He then crawled on his knees towards Demian. He sat at Demian’s feet, shaking his head frantically.
“Co-Commander! No! No, I never did such a thing. That’s a fake necklace! Sisley made it up to frame me…!”
“How much further do you intend to disappoint me, Jonny Pattinson?”
Demian ruthlessly slapped away Jonny’s hand, which was clutching his trouser leg, and looked down at him with contempt.
“You committed the worst possible act for a knight. Do you know what that is?”
Jonny hesitated, shaking his head. Demian reached out and gripped his shoulder as if to crush it.
“Betraying trust.”
“…”
“The woman who loved you, the comrades who trusted you, and even me. You betrayed them all.”
Transparent tears welled up in Jonny’s eyes. He contorted his face like a child, choking back sobs.
“I couldn’t help it either. If Rayna found out I cheated, she would surely break off our engagement… Even when I tried to end things amicably, Rose threatened to go to Rayna and expose everything, saying she wouldn’t stand for it!”
Jonny hadn’t intended to kill Rose from the start. It was true that he had met her because he liked her. Her rather pretty appearance and charming personality had greatly appealed to him.
However, he simply had no intention of genuinely taking responsibility for Rose. He had only thought of her as a brief affair to enjoy while stationed at the border.
He had met Rose to alleviate his temporary loneliness.
If she had simply let go willingly, he wouldn’t have gone this far.
For him, the second son of the Pattinson Barony, an engagement to Rayna, the eldest daughter of the Hobbs Countship, was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity he absolutely couldn’t miss.
But when Rose tried to ruin it, Jonny snapped.
The anxiety that he might lose his promising future as a knight, if he made a single mistake, spurred him on further.
As he desperately pondered how to silence Rose, one day a colleague told him a story.
‘I heard this from a friend who works at the Imperial Office a few years ago. Apparently, some noble suddenly committed suicide a long time ago. But their family members raised a fuss, insisting it couldn’t be and demanding an investigation. So, they had no choice but to send someone to dig into it, and it turned out it wasn’t actually a suicide.’
‘Then what?’
‘There’s a black magic spell, a curse, that makes someone commit suicide, and someone who held a grudge against that noble used it to make them kill themselves.’
‘Wow, that’s incredible. There was no sign they’d been affected by magic?’
‘Nope, because it puts a suggestion in their mind, making them kill themselves, so there was no trace at all.’
That was the first time Jonny became interested in black magic.
He had been unable to act, worried that if he directly eliminated Rose, the Red Hawk Knights might investigate it as a murder.
If it was suicide, not murder, no one would pay attention. Moreover, Rose had no family to cause a fuss like the noble in the story.
Sisley, whom Rose considered like a sister, was a commoner like her, of no great standing, so she wouldn’t be able to step forward easily.
Furthermore, if she died by magic, the chances of him, a knight, being suspected were low.
Jonny, having made a cruel decision, secretly sought out a black magic user and gifted Rose the enchanted pendant.
And when she died a few hours later, he sent someone to stage the scene to look like a suicide.
However, his undoing was not being able to retrieve the crucial evidence because Rose, just before she died, had hidden her diary and the necklace under Sisley’s bed.
Rose, mentally driven to the brink by the black magic, had, in the spirit of leaving a will and mementos, handed them over to Sisley, her only family, before taking her own life.
The pendant he couldn’t find, even after ransacking the house disguised as a thief, had ultimately returned like this.
“What’s so unfair when you first deceived and betrayed Rose? If it were me, I’d go to your fiancée myself and tell her not to marry trash like you.”
Aracilla glared with disgust at Jonny, who was whimpering with an aggrieved expression.
Just then, Sisley, who had been sitting on the floor, stumbled to her feet and approached him. Jonny flinched, looking up at Sisley.
“You said Rose threatened you, so you had no choice…?”
Sisley’s voice trembled as she asked. She knew Rose’s personality well.
For Rose, who was foolishly kind and soft-hearted, to make such a threat to Jonny, it wouldn’t have been because she genuinely wanted to harm him.
It must have been a plea not to abandon her, a desperate cling for him to acknowledge her wounded heart, her last hope to hear even a sincere apology.
But Jonny Pattinson had discarded all of that and ended his relationship with Rose in the worst possible way.
“Did you ever think about why she did that? No, did you ever apologize to her even once… just once?”
“…”
Jonny couldn’t say a word.
He suddenly remembered the first time he had argued with Rose. To her, who had questioned him after finding out about his fiancée, he had said:
‘I couldn’t help it either. How could I honestly tell you I had a fiancée when you loved me so much? Please, try to understand me, Rose.’
He always tried to gloss over everything, excusing himself with “I couldn’t help it.”
Perhaps Rose, realizing that the man she loved was actually such a cowardly person, had hidden the pendant and diary not under her own bed, but under Sisley’s.
Because cowards will do anything to avoid facing problems.
“If you had just apologized, Rose would have backed down. If you had just said you were sorry, that foolishly kind Rose would have given up on you and kept quiet…”
This tragedy happened because Jonny was afraid that admitting his fault would leave a blemish on his life.
Sisley collapsed to the floor and wept openly. Her cries sounded like a soul being torn to shreds in agony.
Jonny couldn’t bring himself to face Sisley directly and turned his head. Demian’s shoes entered his field of vision.
“Jonny Pattinson, you are permanently expelled from the Red Hawk Knights. Know that your knightly title will also be revoked.”
“!”
“You will never be a knight again, no matter where you go. You won’t be able to live properly either. The shadow of your sin will follow you and bind you for the rest of your life.”
Demian’s voice, as cold and heavy as ice, echoed like a death sentence. Jonny dropped his head, his face filled with despair.
With no one to blame but himself, his foolish actions had shattered his future, his dreams, and his life.
If only he had sincerely apologized to Rose and begged for forgiveness back then, things wouldn’t have come to this…
Jonny, finally regretting everything, shed genuine tears. It was a realization that had come far, far too late.
* * *
Through an internal investigation by the Red Hawk Knights, it was revealed that Jonny Pattinson had killed someone using black magic.
This news dramatically graced the front pages of the Cetron Empire’s morning newspapers.
While announcing the detailed circumstances of the case, the Knights also officially acknowledged Aracilla’s assistance.
The knightly order, which had been so arrogant when the Magic Tower closed Jonny Pattinson’s case, suddenly fell silent.
They were even more speechless because it wasn’t even their own internal discovery, but Aracilla’s cooperation that played a significant role.
However, that didn’t mean the mages were triumphant either.
Since they had closed the case based solely on the accuser’s identity without proper investigation, ultimately leaving the Knights to solve it, they were equally without words.
To their great embarrassment, the Magic Tower even belatedly received the case back from the Knights.
This was because, regardless, black magic-related cases ultimately fell under their jurisdiction for management and judgment.
An uncomfortable and awkward silence hung over the meeting convened to discuss Jonny Pattinson’s punishment.
When Aracilla entered the meeting room, that atmosphere overtly intensified. Of course, Aracilla didn’t pay it much mind and simply went to her seat.
“Ahem, ahem! Aracilla, I heard you cooperated with the Red Hawk Knights to resolve this case.”
Among the senior mages who had been gauging the mood, Fernando was the first to speak, clearing his throat.
Naturally, his intention wasn’t good; he was still displeased with the case and with her, and wanted to say a sharp word or two.
“While you certainly worked hard, wasn’t it a bit much to cooperate without the Magic Tower’s permission? By helping the Knights, didn’t you make the Magic Tower look even more ridiculous?”
Aracilla calmly gazed at Fernando with a serene expression.
When their eyes met, Fernando flinched slightly. Honestly, he felt a pang of guilt, knowing he was picking an unnecessary fight.
“I realized something through this incident.”
“...?”
“There’s no human being in the world as unsightly as someone who can’t admit their own mistakes.”
“!”
Fernando’s face flushed crimson. Because she hadn’t explicitly stated the subject, several mages who felt a prick of conscience also turned red.
“Since you don’t want to admit your own faults, you keep blaming me. Does that make you feel any better?”
“Well, even so, your words are a bit…!”
It was the moment an indignant Fernando tried to pick a fight, this time based on her manners and respect towards her elders.
“That’s enough. Let’s not do anything more embarrassing.”
Philip’s gentle yet firm voice echoed through the meeting room.
“If we had listened to and trusted Aracilla’s opinion, this wouldn’t have happened. This is all our own doing. We should, in fact, apologize to Aracilla.”
Despite his words, some still looked discontent, while others showed expressions of slight remorse.
Aracilla calmly surveyed them, then fixed her gaze on Fernando.
“Sir Fernando. Did you not hear the Magic Tower Master’s words?”
At the indirect jab asking if he wouldn’t apologize to her, Fernando’s brow furrowed sharply.
Why should he apologize to that insolent girl?
But…
“I’d like to apologize too, Aracilla. I’m sorry.”
As another elder mage readily apologized to Aracilla, the atmosphere naturally shifted towards apologies.
Realizing that resisting here would only make him look odd, Fernando finally gritted his teeth and apologized.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Oh? For what? If you don’t specify, I won’t know what you’re apologizing for.”
Aracilla said, deliberately smiling sweetly. Fernando felt like he could die of vexation that she had let other mages’ brief apologies slide, but was specifically targeting him.
He wanted to explode in anger, but he couldn’t, with Philip sitting in the main seat, watching him.
“For not trusting you… for disregarding your opinion… I am sorry.”
“It’s alright, Sir Fernando. It happens. Just don’t do it again next time.”
This seemingly cordial reply made Fernando’s blood pressure soar even higher, but he merely clamped his mouth shut and sharply turned his head away.
After that round of apologies concluded, the discussion about Jonny Pattinson’s punishment officially began.
“The crime of murder with black magic is heavier than ordinary murder. He must be executed without exception.”
“But Jonny Pattinson is a noble, and the victim was a commoner. Imposing the same punishment as the crime is excessive.”
“Personally, I think it would be best to send him to Luson Island. Then he can decide whether to live or die on his own.”
“Legally, even light use of black magic is a serious crime, and he even committed murder with it, so stripping him of his noble status is appropriate.”
Various opinions clashed. Black magic and murder were serious crimes, but the custom of viewing crimes committed by nobles against commoners as relatively lighter caused conflict.
Philip, reflecting the opinions of the senior mages appropriately, reached the following conclusion:
“To prevent Jonny Pattinson from ever using black magic again, both his hands and his tongue shall be cut off, and he shall be sent to Luson Island as a slave, never to leave.”
Luson Island was nicknamed ‘Hell Island,’ a place where only heinous criminals were gathered.
The terrain was rugged and the weather harsh, making it difficult to live, and with a minimum of 12 hours of labor per day, people frequently died.
This meant that even though Jonny Pattinson had escaped the death penalty, his remaining life was by no means guaranteed.
The Magic Tower’s verdict was announced after receiving the Emperor’s approval.
Jonny Pattinson immediately lost his hands and tongue and was banished to Luson Island. However, the Emperor did not permit the degradation of his status, so he remained a noble.
But that wasn’t necessarily a good thing, as most of the criminals gathered on Luson Island were commoners, and their resentment towards nobles was immense.
He would likely be harassed as soon as he arrived, simply for being a noble. And there, status held no great power, so there would be no one to help him.
It was a fitting end for Jonny, who had lightly killed a person and tried to cover it up just because he was a noble.
* * *
Sisley faced no particular punishment as her accusation was proven true. However, it was difficult for her to simply rejoice.
To learn that Rose, whom she believed had taken her own life, was in fact murdered by the man she thought was her lover…
Mentally and physically exhausted, Sisley decided to leave the capital. She had no intention of returning to her hometown. She simply planned to wander wherever her feet took her.
On the day Jonny Pattinson was dragged to Luson Island, Sisley also packed her sparse belongings and left her home.
Then, she happened to run into Aracilla, who had just arrived for some business.
Blue eyes scrutinized Sisley, who was holding a travel bag.
“Looks like you’re leaving now.”
“Yes, there’s no reason for me to stay here any longer.”
Sisley, who had calmly replied, fidgeted with her fingers before carefully speaking again.
“I’m sorry for lying, Lady Aracilla.”
“It’s alright, Sir Pattinson really did use black magic.”
“No, not that…”
Aracilla readily replied, but Sisley shook her head.
In truth, there was something she hadn’t been able to tell her.
She had wanted to meet Aracilla and tell her before leaving anyway. Since they likely wouldn’t meet again, this would be her last chance.
