Chapter 46

They couldn’t even feel someone’s presence and even less the presence of all the men in uniform surrounding them.

“Catch them!”

When the order was issued, two men in uniform approached silently and arrested them at once.

“Who are you!”

“Shut up. How dare you raise your voice.”

Under the dim moonlight, their blue uniforms shone brightly.

‘Blue uniform. I’ve definitely seen it before.’

The knights who accompanied the Grand Duke in the square during the witch’s ceremony. They were Grand Duke’s people.

“Ho-How? H-He was supposed to be on his way to the capital…”

The young man was utterly confused, because he remembered making sure that the Grand Duke left the house with the Lord’s people. But what is the meaning of this?

“Bring him quietly.”

“Yes, sir Archen.”

Archen, who looked at the men with contemptuous gaze, left first. The knights covered their mouths and quietly dragged them away. In a blink, the front of Cersinia’s house became quiet. The night was so peaceful that you couldn’t even imagine what had happened a minute ago.

* * *

Guided by the soldiers, they walked without stopping. They mercilessly pushed to the ground when they reached the vacant lot far from Cersinia’s house.

“Uurgh!”

Stuck on the ground with a shabby appearance, they hurriedly looked up and looked at their surroundings.

“C-Chief!”

In the vacant was those who had already been arrested, they were all kneeling in a row. From the Chief, Chalres, the freckled woman, the woman who threw a torch at Cersinia and even Goredon, who was said to have left the village. Except for Charles and Goredon, everyone else was there when they planned to get rid of Cersinia.

‘How the hell did our plan get discovered?’

Looking at everyone with suspicious eyes, the man noticed a very small child standing next to the knights. His eyes were focused on the boy who didn’t fit in the situation.

“Y-You!”

The man yelled when realized. It wasn’t the first time he saw the boy…this boy brought tea to the Chief’s room. He got goosebumps as he remembered.

‘That boy was the Grand Duke’s spy?!’

They shouldn’t let their guard down, but who would’ve suspected a child? As the despair fell, the man quickly got on his knees and begged to spare him.

“I-I just did what I was told to!”

He was practically screaming.

“O-Old man…”

“I did it because the village Chief told me to!”

His pleas, which sounded more like excuses, headed toward Archen. The latter did not even hear him, too concentrated looking at the monsters in front of him. Isn’t it funny? The same people who treated Cersinia like she was a witch and tried to kill her multiple times were now trembling and bowing their heads as if they were about to die. Archen, who was disgusted, crumpled his face.

“Let me talk to Count Dexter!”

The Chief raised his face in anger and shouted. He was huffing like a toad.

“From today, the Count has been deprived of his title. The Emperor has granted the Grand Duke the authority to temporarily handle all matters concerning this territory, so your punishment will be handled by the Grand Duke.”

Everyone held their breath at those words. Dozens of knights stood behind Archen, holding torches.

“N-No, no, no, no…there’s no way! That can’t be true! How can I believe that!” the village Chief said.

Archen clicked his tongue at his brazenness, and proceeded to unfold the letter that he was holding then hold it out in front of the Chief.

“Don’t expect the Count to save you.”

There was a gorgeous gold pattern painted on the outer surface of the letter, the symbol of the Empire. The face of the Chief, who was reading the letter, was completely drained of blood.

“H-How could this be…”

The village Chief was stunned and dropped his head. Both of his fists were trembling in fear. Archen looked at him who knelt down, then kicked the goods they had brought.

“Just know that what you guys tried to pull today will not idly pass by. Especially the fact that you guys tried to burn someone’s house.”

A large barrel fell sideways at his kick, it was the one front earlier and next to it was the match the man was holding. At that time, the sound of horseshoes cutting through the silent night several times, and then stopped. Soon after, the knights bowed their heads, toward one place, in harmony.

Thud.

The sound of a man stepping off his horse shook the ground. A black figure dressed in a dark red uniform walked through the darkness. Then the man’s face was slowly revealed.

A dark red lion…It was Alexdemikan Shorevarce. As soon as he was on his feet, he drew out his sword. The metal was reflecting the flames, it made the sword look like it was burning. Everyone who saw the scene lowered their eyes in fear and held their breaths. It seemed like if they made even the smallest sound or worst breathed, their head would fall off.

The Grand Duke looked perfect as he strode toward the sinners. He was so sensual and captivating, even his hair fluttered in the light breeze. The bearded man forgot in what situation he was in when the Grand Duke made eye contact with him, but then shivered at the Grand Duke’s chilling aura. He was far away from him but the bearded men could still feel the aura coming from him, he looked like he could kill someone at any given moment.

“Are you Goredon?”

Ben stopped in front of Goredon. The sharp tone made Goredon tremble.

“Spa-Please spare me! I just did what I was told to do!”

Goredon spoke with a desperate look as if he was begging with his hand even thought he was being tied up.

“And what would that be?”

“…Charles told me to tell the villagers that it was Cersinia who set fire to the food storage.”

“H-How dare you!”

Charles bursted out. Angry, he started wiggling his body, trying to grab Goredon’s collar but failing miserably, he fell and hit his nose on the ground.

“He threatened my family… I didn’t have a choice…P-Please, spare me!” Goredon bowed and hit his forehead on the ground. What he said caused a huge commotion and all eyes were now turned to Charles.

Goredon clearly testified that it was Cersinia who set the food warehouse on fire when Charles led the population to Cersinia’s house to punish her since it was a grave crime. But now he was saying that it was all a lie…That Cersinia wasn’t the one who set it on fire… Upon realizing that they were all deceived by Charles, they all looked at him in resentment.

“I should have gotten rid of you back then.”

Ben’s sword pointed at Ben quicker than someone could blink, his eyes were merciless and looked like they alone could kill someone. It was all Charles’s scheme.

“You framed Cersinia.”

“Hey! How dare you arrest without any evidence! It’s clear that Goredon made this story up!”

Charles said sarcastically as he spit out the dirt that had entered his mouth.

“No! It’s really Charles who ordered me!”

Goredon shouted, fearing that the Grand Duke would believe Charles instead. Ben’s eyebrow twitched from annoyance at Charles’s foolish figure. He should have gotten rid of him from the beginning. It was thanks to Cersinia that his lifespan increased until now. Ben’s grip on his sword tightened.

“I never did such things! How can you settle this without any proof?!”

“If you tell me the truth, I will spare your life.”

“I never did that!”

Charles denied until the end. It was clear that there was evidence so he had no reason to confess. It was obvious that the Grand Duke was trying to make sin out of a single confession. Charles smiled slyly. He knew that unless there was evidence, the Grand Duke would only be able to insisted until he confessed, which he wasn’t planning on doing.

“Archen.”

Ben nodded toward Archen, who was standing behind him. At his master’s call, Archen quickly came forward, grabbed something from his pocket, and dropped into the ground.

“T-This is…”

Charles, who watched Archen with haughty eyes, was bewildered when he saw what exactly fell on the ground.

“You must recognize this, no?”

It was a black robe with a slightly burnt end but what caught everyone’s attention was the brooch attached to the robe. The unique snake-shaped brooch could easily be recognized by everyone in the village.

“Charles, isn’t it yours…?”

The man next to Charles said. Obviously it was Chalres’s, he always wore it and even bragged about the fact that it was made of platinum multiple times.

“The brooch was found in the remains of the burnt food warehouse and the robe was from your room.”

When Archen finished explaining where he found the objects, everyone looked at Charles, shock evident in their eyes. But the person that was shocked the most was Carl Jacques.

“T-That…”

Charles couldn’t even blink because of the shock. Only then he realized his mistake. The cloth robe should have been burned with the fire, and he should have noticed the existence of the brooch that had been dropped in the food warehouse.

Although he already knew everything the Grand Duke gave Charles a chance to surrender. At the thought, Charles’ heart started beating faster and louder. It was so loud that he could hear it, his pupils, chin and mouth were trembling violently.

“Because of you!”

“You ruined our village by falsely accusing a person!”

“Because of you, we’re in this situation! What are you going to do now!”

All the anger of the present villagers turned to Charles. Charles froze, feeling the resentment pouring on him at once. He had to make an excuse, but he couldn’t say anything since he was panicking. They shouted and criticized Charles harshly, just like they did to Cersinia.

“We-We really didn’t know! Charles…It was Charles who started it…”

“Yes, that’s right! We were deceived too!”

Wanting to live, they all put all the blame on Charles. Even if it meant sacrificing one person, they would do anything in their power to stay alive. Ben looked displeased at what was happening in front of him. The only thing he could see was the ugly side of humans, dirtier than garbage and stinkier than a gutter. He did expect that for their own benefits they would have a change of heart, but he didn’t think it would be so disgusting. They were all selfish and mean. Ben smirked at their pitiful appearance.

‘Disgusting things.’

When he thought about how much Cersinia must have been hurt from hearing all sorts of curses coming from them and all the nasty and resentment filled glare, Ben’s heart swelled with anger. Ben had already suppressed the feeling of cutting their tongues or head off and feed it to the wild beast more than a thousand times

“Do you have anything to say?”

Ben asked Charles, ignoring everybody else.

“…Because of that witch.”

“What?”

“Because of that witch…”

Charles, who perhaps became crazy, muttered with unfocused eyes.