Chapter 190 – Treason (1)

Chapter 190 – Treason (1)

When Juan reached his hand out toward Lenly, Lenly straightened his back.

“It’s okay, Your Majesty. There is no need to...”

“You were wounded while carrying out my order. It’s the least I can do for you.”

Lenly nodded apologetically upon hearing Juan’s firm words.

“It’s an honor, Your Majesty.”

Juan peeled off the cloth wrapped around Lenly’s face. His eyes under the skin that was distorted by the burn were gray and crushed. Juan covered Lenly’s eyes with his hand, and then a pleasant warmth spread over Lenly’s eyes that were distorted by the burns.

Lenly flinched as he felt the tickling sensation spreading above and below his eyelids.

“It won’t heal right away, but it will recover to a considerable extent if you recuperate for about a week or so. I can make it heal right now, but I want to minimize the side effects as much as possible.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. I don’t know what to say.”

Lenly knelt down and bowed his head before Juan. He also knew about the healing Grace and had thought about asking the Priests to cure him. However, he could not do so when he found out that Grace was a power stolen from the emperor.

Furthermore, the wounds caused by Telgramm were difficult to cure even with a healing Grace, since it had its limitations. Upstodatee from n(0)/ve/lbIn/.(co/m

But curing such a wound was just as easy as counting one two three for Juan.

Haild watched the scene in silence.

“Then we will get going now. Let me know when the Saintess wakes up,” Juan said.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will also look into the former Saintess who are still alive,” Lenly answered.

After leaving Lenly behind, Juan became lost in thoughts. His mind was full of questions about the traces left behind in the Saintess’ soul, as well as her constitution. He was also quite curious about Lenly Loen.

Juan had secretly scanned through Lenly’s soul while using the healing Grace on him. It hadn’t been long since Juan assigned Lenly a mission, but there was a possibility that someone who transferred their spirit into Ivy’s body might have influenced Lenly.

However, Leny’s soul was clean. In fact, in terms of purity of the soul alone, he was even comparable to Sina.

While Juan didn’t find anything wrong with Lenly, there was one thing that made Juan feel uneasy.

‘Why did he learn how to use magic?’

Of course, Juan actively recommended and even encouraged his subordinates to learn magic when he used to be the emperor, since it was very useful. However, learning magic did not spread too widely within the empire because training the Baltic Sword alone could make one strong enough.

It was only natural that not a lot of people learned how to use magic, since it was banned after the Church took control of the empire.

But Lenly surprisingly showed signs of having mastered magic to a surprisingly high level.

Juan could tell that it was magic learned through Lenly’s own efforts rather than some simple Grace. But no one, including Juan, had ever seen Lenly use magic. It made sense that he hadn’t used magic until now, since he would have had to hide it from the Church, but Juan couldn’t understand why Lenly was still hiding the fact that he was capable of using magic.

‘I’ll just have to wait and continue to keep my eye on him.’

Although Juan entrusted Lenly with the task himself, Juan did not trust an educated and learned loyalty. Even Sina could only be accepted by Juan after he observed her for a long time.

“Your Majesty.”

Juan turned his head at the sudden call. Upon seeing Haild calling out to him with a tired look, Juan realized that Haild had called him several times.

“Ah, I couldn’t hear you because I was thinking about something. What is it?”

Haild seemed to be hesitant, but he carefully opened his mouth.

Anya found a servant patrolling the hallway, thus she quickly cracked his neck. Checking through the servant’s body, Anya found a sword.

‘Even a servant is patrolling while armed with a sword, huh? This is getting more and more interesting.”

Anya checked each room on the second floor one by one. She took a necklace with names engraved on them from the room of the sleeping twin children, and she also took the hairpin of a lady who slept alone on a large bed. And in the last room, Anya was finally able to find the person she was looking for.

However, the person she was looking for was with a guest in the mansion.

“...it’s a night where patience is necessary. You may feel humiliated, but must patiently wait while lying on your stomach.”

“But you can see how the Argyll family went down. We might just get stabbed while lying on our stomachs.”

Anya found the conversation quite interesting.

‘They should be quietly sticking out their neck if His Majesty wants to cut off their necks, but they are just trembling in fear, huh?’

Anya didn’t intend to eavesdrop on their conversation in the first place, but she decided to wait and keep an eye on them for now.

Anya hid inside the ceiling. Thanks to the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, Anya was able to peek into the room. One of them was Delane Deed, a noble from the religious faction and also the owner of this mansion. But it was impossible for Anya to recognize the other person, since he was wearing a black robe and a hood to cover his face.

“The master is sending supplies that will come in handy through your merchants now. You just have to stay quiet until then.”

“The people who have occupied the Imperial Palace are strong enough to refer themselves to the emperor. If the master doesn’t come forward himself, it will be impossible to fight against them. We won’t even stand a chance. Those people are not opponents that can be dealt with just a few swords.”

‘A treason conspiracy, I see.’

Anya felt entertained rather than angry. She took out a letter containing details about Delane Deed, the owner of this mansion, plotting to commit treason. Delane had become the practical head of the religious faction after the head of the Argyll family died.

He seemed unwilling to take the position, but he had no choice in terms of scale and status.

And this letter—although forged by Anya herself—was part of the plan to frame the defiants for attempted treason, all in order to dry their seeds.

But now, there was no need to even fabricate evidence. It didn’t matter whether it was right or wrong. For Anya, the measure of justice lied only with Juan.

“I’m not talking about just a few swords. The master thinks this might be better than him coming forward in person. If it is used at the right time and place at the perfect moment, then even the fake emperor will...”

At that moment, the man wearing the black robe suddenly stopped talking and looked up at the ceiling.

As soon as she thought she had been caught, Anya broke through the ceiling and stabbed the man wearing the black robe in the shoulder.

Thus, the man in a black robe failed to dodge and looked at Anya in astonishment.

Anya knew her opponent.

‘He’s someone from the Ilde family.’

Ilde family were nobles who not only obeyed the Church as they acted like the Pope’s tongue, but also built wealth through the most profane crimes in Hiveden. Imil Ilde, the head of the Ilde family who fled with the Pope, seemed to have been planning to recapture Torra while working with the insiders like this.

Anya completely covered the face and body of the man from the Ilde family with Umbra before he could even let out a scream. After checking that the man from the Ilde family was pinned down and couldn’t move, Anya turned her gaze toward Delane Deed who was looking at her while frozen.

Then Anya took something out of her pocket and threw it onto the floor before he could run away or call for security.

It was the necklace of the twin children and the hairpin of his wife, all the items she stole earlier.

“I’ll let you choose who I should torture first,” Anya smiled and looked at Delane. “Choose the one you value the least—although you will end up opening your mouth regardless of who you choose.”

Delane could recognize his opponent as well. She was Anya, the captain of the Order of Huginn who could deal with the undead. The Order of Huginn was almost the only object of fear among the nobles in Torra, even before the emperor reappeared.

Anya’s contribution in the recent war once again touched their deep-rooted fears. Some of the nobles feared Anya even more than the returned emperor. This was especially true of Delane who was a noble from the religious faction.

Delane quickly fell on the floor to beg.

“I’ll tell you everything! Please leave my family alone...!”