Ch#82
Gabriel racked his brains. The situation was turning extremely unfavorable, contrary to his bold promise that Lady Rohanson would soon be released from prison.
First, there was the dagger. Gabriel's opinion—that it was only natural she wouldn't use a dagger she herself brought in, which was obviously suspicious, as the murder weapon—was extremely reasonable. However, beyond that, they were holding her accountable for bringing a dagger that could be used as a murder weapon into the Crown Prince's birthday banquet.
The claim that the dagger had no blade was useless because the ones who had inspected the items happened to be from Gabriel's Pararos Knights Order. Instead, they were accused of being accomplices who had helped smuggle in the murder weapon.
So Gabriel recalled that Evangeline had received the dagger from the count and went to see the Rohanson Count next.
The count's mansion had its doors firmly locked and was blocking all outside communication, but Gabriel's persistence finally secured a meeting with the count.
“Count, I want to hear where you obtained the dagger.”
When Gabriel interrogated him with a far more ferocious demeanor than he had shown in front of Evangeline, the count trembled nervously.
“It was a gift.”
“A gift? From whom?”
“From Whikel Viscount.”
However, Whikel Viscount himself claimed that the dagger he had gifted to the count was one with a proper blade, and that it was utterly horrifying how a gift given in friendship had become the weapon that murdered the Crown Prince—he turned the tables shamelessly.
“This makes it look like we turned a blind eye to Lady Rohanson.”
“Captain, they say the donations Whikel Viscount collected for his recent charity work are suspiciously large.”
“A considerable amount came from those who follow Bishop Marik.”
The charity work Whikel Viscount had started was to build a Temple building. Since it was charity for the Temple, it wasn't strange that people under Bishop Marik were on the list of donors.
“It's bribe money.”
Moreover, the people Whikel Viscount had recently cozied up to were the Rohanson Count and Hosakin Duke—both blood relatives of Evangeline. Gabriel could now picture how the dagger had passed through Whikel Viscount to reach Lady Evangeline.
It was Gabriel's miscalculation. Despite knowing that the Temple side, especially Bishop Marik, was taking an interest in Lady Rohanson, he had fallen completely into the trap.
Since they couldn't prove that the dagger Evangeline brought in had no blade, they needed another approach. As Gabriel pondered, one of his knights voiced his discontent.
“Captain, do we really need to go against the bishop just to save Lady Rohanson?”
“What are you saying! Just imagining Lady Rohanson unjustly locked away in that cold prison tears my heart into a thousand pieces!”
Michel, who had been listening, flared up. Perhaps because it involved Evangeline, he was far more enthusiastic than his usual apathetic approach to knights' order duties.
“...You aren't helping Lady Rohanson because of that lunatic Michelle Smitiana, are you?”
“Of course not.”
Gabriel refuted it, but the fierce glares directed at Michel showed no sign of abating. In their eyes, Gabriel probably looked the same. There weren't many who followed without question when it came to helping Evangeline—at most, Michel, Raphaella, and Uriel.
“Then what is it for? Captain, do you know how the Pararos Knights Order is being treated like crows picking at corpses these days? I'm ashamed of the insignia I'm wearing lately.”
Ever since getting involved with Evangeline, Gabriel's reputation had plummeted day by day. Not only was the young, beautiful knight who had once been sincerely admired now being pointed at as bewitched by a witch and
