Chapter 115
Asipallo Castle, southeast of the Baldina Royal Capital.
It was a city fortress located about a fifteen-day horse ride from the capital.
Anyone heading toward the Royal Capital had to pass through this castle.
“Line up straight!”
“Hey, you there! No cutting in line!”
A long line stretched out in front of the castle gates.
This time, there were particularly many peddlers with wagons heavily loaded with goods, heading out on trade routes.
“Where is your pass?”
At the gatekeeper’s words, a peddler wearing a robe pulled a paper from his breast pocket.
The gatekeeper, having received the pass, tilted his head in confusion.
“Eh? This brand is a fake.”
At the commotion, other gatekeepers gathered around.
“Look here. Do we look like a joke to you? There’s no way the Lord’s seal stamped two months ago would be this clear—urk!”
Before he could finish his sentence, a flashing blade struck. Simultaneously, the peddlers shed their outer clothes and revealed their true identities.
“Sweep them all away!”
They drew their swords and charged toward the rushing guards.
“Rebellion! A rebellion has broken out! Quickly, inform the superiors!”
The gatekeeper shouted while beating the drum.
* * *
Baldina Royal Palace.
A sharp and solemn atmosphere hung over the silent hall.
“W-What is the meaning of all this? This is pure speculation!”
It was a gathering where the Queen Dowager, Medeia, the high officials, and even the Kazen envoy group had all been summoned.
In the center, surrounded by the crowd, stood Iason.
He looked panicked and engulfed in shock, having lost all the composure he once prided himself on.
“To say I released a pack of wolves... what kind of investigation did you conduct to frame an innocent man!”
Not long ago, the knights who had completed the investigation of the royal hunting grounds returned and identified the culprit. Incredibly, it was the Grand Duke of Kazen, Iason Castulo.
Siseo stared coldly at the space behind Iason.
At his signal, a royal knight dragged forward a certain man. The middle-aged man, dressed in Imperial attire, fell to his knees and bowed his head low.
“P-Please, spare me. I only committed the crime as the Grand Duke ordered.”
“What are you talking about! I don't even know you!”
The man with thinning grey hair looked up and stared at Iason. His face was filled with the same look of unbelievable shock.
“What do you mean? You clearly gave me the order. I suffered so much to smuggle those vicious beasts from the Axel Peninsula all the way to Baldina on Your Grace's command, and now you're pretending not to know me?”
“What nonsense, that wasn't me—!”
Iason looked at the 4th Imperial Princess with a face ghastly with shock.
“Iason, to think you committed such a cruel act. What on earth were you thinking?”
Angelique asked back with an innocent face, as if she were the one interrogating him.
“Did you hope for the Princess of Baldina to die and for the two countries to become enemies? Or did you want to make things difficult for me, the person in charge of the envoy group?”
Iason’s complexion turned blue. He glared at the witness as if he would kill him, threatening him gloomily.
“You! Knowing full well that I am not the real culprit, you must not fear the divine punishment of the gods.”
Then Siseo asked.
“It seems the Grand Duke knows who the real culprit is. If that is the case, please tell us right here. The knights are standing by.”
“...That is...”
Just then, the 4th Imperial Princess stepped forward to silence him.
“When the evidence is this clear, what kind of twist do you expect by continuing to deny it? The more you try to deny it, the more you only tarnish the honor of Kazen.”
She had long since considered Iason an enemy.
“Look at what my brother has done to the Princess of Baldina.”
The dozens of papers she presented were filled with fabricated evidence.
‘Iason, you dared to play me. No matter what, things will never go the way you want.’
Only then could Iason guess the sequence of events.
All the evidence she presented was what he had hidden away to use as leverage against the 4th Imperial Princess.
Iason never dreamed that Medeia had intervened in the middle to turn Angelique’s arrows toward him.
Therefore, he only thought this frame-up was Angelique’s retaliation after discovering his ulterior motives.
‘Damn it, I wondered why the evidence disappeared! Where was I found out? How did Angelique find out?’
If the evidence were still in his possession, it might be different, but now that he had no proof, it was too dangerous to recklessly reveal that the 4th Imperial Princess was the real culprit.
The hot-tempered and cruel 4th Imperial Princess was by no means an easy opponent.
Had he not been watching the situation from behind, looking for a chance to topple the Princess because he had no chance in a head-on confrontation?
There was no way Iason, who had encountered her trap without any preparation, could be a match for the 4th Imperial Princess.
“Kensington, you know, don't you? That I didn't do this!”
Iason looked around urgently, spotted Count Kensington standing nearby, and asked for help.
Kensington only stared at him silently with an expressionless face.
‘Regardless of the 4th Imperial Princess’s pathetic behavior, it is better for the Grand Duke to fall here. His ambition will only disturb Kazen.’
The fact that the Grand Duke had not yet left even though an unofficial imperial order to return home had been issued meant that he had something to gain in Baldina.
On the other hand, he could not hide his admiration and shock. Kensington’s eyes flickered toward Medeia.
‘Was the Princess of Baldina targeting all three of them as I thought?’
Meanwhile, when even the Count Kensington he trusted turned away, Iason was driven to madness.
It was difficult to escape this massive trap ensnaring him, and no one in the Kazen envoy group stepped forward for him.
“Castulo Grand Duke, you truly have thick skin! How do you still have the face to look at Her Highness?”
At the roar of the Border Duke Monte, who could not contain his anger, Iason reflexively stared at Medeia.
‘Could it be that the Princess also believes that? That I tried to harm her? Is that why she has pushed me away so coldly all this time?’
“N-No, Princess. It’s a lie.”
Desperation to prove his innocence was reflected in his face.
He had truly intended to protect her.
He had even prepared to rescue the Princess from the wolves at great risk, and even after that, he had searched for her anxiously.
Even if the first button had been fastened incorrectly, Iason hoped that she, at least, would recognize his efforts.
“No, Princess. Surely, you don't believe it? That I would ever try to harm you...”
Iason looked at Medeia with pleading eyes.
‘As long as the Princess believes me. Then there is a chance.’
But Medeia only looked down at him quietly, as if trampling his hope. No emotion could be read from those eyes. Iason was bewildered.
“Castulo Grand Duke, you are poor at lying.”
Was she disappointed by that still-calm voice? Was she angry? He couldn't be certain.
He only realized that an even thicker wall had been built over that veil-like barrier.
‘Am I to be pushed away like this, without ever reaching that woman?’
Medeia, the existence of that Princess, felt like it was slipping through his fingers like sand.
Meanwhile, the Queen Dowager did not hide her displeasure.
‘To think it was the Grand Duke’s doing and not the 4th Imperial Princess’s; I have completely misjudged my person.’
The Grand Duke had stepped forward for Medeia in the previous duel and even at the hunting grounds.
Except for the fact that he was from Kazen, she thought his character was righteous and upright. For a moment, she had even thought he would be a good match for Medeia.
‘To think I didn't know even with such a great villain right before my eyes.’
At the same time her heart sank, a corresponding rage surged within her.
How could these Kazen people be so uniformly cunning?
The gazes of the other Baldinians were no different from the Queen Dowager’s.
“They say you can't know a person’s heart without cutting them open. You acted all righteous and caring with every word, yet you targeted our Princess with such hypocrisy!”
“Castulo, that devious cruelty surely resembles his father’s! That man is an enemy of Baldina!”
Iason had essentially had his true face exposed.
Noticing the atmosphere that had changed in an instant, Iason’s heart grew frantic.
“I-I can explain everything. This is a scheme by those trying to frame me. Surely the wise Queen Dowager of Baldina—”
“Castulo Grand Duke.”
Just then, a heavy resonance echoed, as if suppressing anger.
“This old woman has eyes and ears as well, so there is no need to explain.”
The Queen Dowager spat coldly and turned her back.
“ I will not speak long. From this day forth, I hope never to see the Grand Duke again.”
The Queen Dowager had no intention of listening further to excuses as greasy as Iason’s polished face.
If she could, she wanted to strike that man with a whip right now, but the opponent was the Grand Duke of Kazen.
No matter how much she was the Queen Dowager, she could not allow her desire to vent her anger to invite an even greater disaster.
“Leave Baldina. This Royal Palace is narrow, and it is not large enough to give space to a wolf targeting my back.”
“Queen Dowager Her Highness!”
Iason, who was making frantic excuses, stopped as if struck by lightning. To be kicked out so unceremoniously, like chasing away a dog rolling in the street?!
“We will formally protest to the Empire, Castulo Grand Duke. Regardless of the Queen Dowager’s command, you will be held responsible for this matter.”
Siseo spoke to Iason in a dry voice.
