Ch#78
“Did that Rohanson wench murder my son?”
The Emperor's fury was immense. Even if he was a son out of favor, he was the Emperor's last remaining son and the Crown Prince of the Empire. The crime of assassinating the Crown Prince could never be taken lightly.
Those who had attended the banquet thought Evangeline would be executed the very next day, but unexpectedly, several nights passed, and Evangeline Rohanson remained only a suspect.
The Rohanson Mansion had barricaded its doors. Rumors swirled that the count, fearing execution under the law of implicated families, had prepared to abandon his daughter and flee.
The biggest obstacle to executing Evangeline Rohanson, who had been abandoned by her own family, was undoubtedly Gabriel, the leader of the Pararos Knights Order, blinded by love.
In response to the order to execute Evangeline Rohanson immediately, Gabriel had staked his own life to buy time. If he failed to find the true culprit in her place, he would share her fate on the day of her execution.
And less than a day later, Bishop Marik also requested an audience with the Emperor.
“The leader of the Pararos Knights Order, and now even the bishop. My son was so quiet in life, yet in death, he's causing nothing but chaos. Bishop Marik, what brings you to see me?”
The Emperor's face was exceedingly weary amid preparations for the funeral. With the Crown Prince's death, all of the Emperor's children were gone. Preparing a state funeral for a child never grew familiar, no matter how many times it happened. The Crown Prince's funeral had been postponed for now—to bury the culprit who assassinated him alongside him in the tomb, to soothe his wronged son's soul.
“It's been so long since we've met, yet Your Majesty doesn't even ask after my well-being before jumping straight to business. How hurtful.”
“Bishop Marik, were we ever close enough to exchange pleasantries?”
Even as the Emperor asked with veiled anger, Bishop Marik showed no sign of fear. Instead, she brazenly continued.
“Didn't Your Majesty and I overcome hardships together?”
The 'hardships' Bishop Marik referred to dated back over twenty years. It was the event known to the world as the heretic purge. Once, Bishop Marik had been the Emperor's greatest ally. In the days right after he had slain his brothers to claim the throne, the Emperor had relied on her help to solidify his legitimacy and imperial authority.
The Minister of Finance, who had boldly called the Emperor a ruthless tyrant for killing his own kin, was revealed to have secretly diverted treasury funds to sorcerers, leading to his family's extermination. Many nobles who had opposed the Emperor like the Minister were also exposed as wicked heretics and purged without mercy.
Indeed, it was undeniable that Bishop Marik had played no small part in securing the Emperor's current position.
“True, there was such a time in the past. But from the moment you, forsaken by the gods, tried to steal away my son to use as a weakness against me, our relationship soured.”
If it became known that the Emperor's child—born during the heretic purge that solidified his rule—had been cursed impervious to holy water, the blow to his authority would be devastating. Bishop Marik had sought to seize the Emperor's vulnerability.
The Emperor had belatedly realized she hadn't killed the youngest prince but smuggled him away, and sent pursuers, but the child's whereabouts remained unknown.
However, those not blessed with holy water typically had short lives, rarely passing ten years, so the youngest prince must have died long ago. The Emperor had consoled himself that way.
“I don't have much time to spare for you, so get to the point. What did you come to say?”
At the Emperor's urging, Bishop Marik wasted no more time and got to the heart of the matter.
“There is 'another' person I suspect as the true culprit behind the assassination of His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Not Evangeline Rohanson?”
“Of course, Lady Rohanson is quite suspicious as well.”
With the holy knight vowing to share her fate and now even Bishop Marik stepping forward, it was starting to seem as though there truly might be a separate culprit.
“Your Majesty must have heard the report about the sorcery circle drawn on the banquet hall floor. As you know, it was a sorcery circle for summoning demons. And when I entered the banquet hall, there were exactly two people from whom I sensed an unsettling presence.”
One
