CH 140

Conspiracy (13)

The Duke continued to hold out and attack the man even though he should have already collapsed instead. Then, it was the man who soon became nervous. He rolled his eyes and watched for an opportunity to surprise. Nevertheless, the old Duke never gave up a gap at all.

Just once, only once.

How unexpected, such a gap……

The man then muttered to himself and all of a sudden, Roelin began to convulse.

It might have been an extension of the second seizure or perhaps the third seizure itself.

“Empress!”

Lucy hurriedly turned to help Roelin. At the same time, the Duke of Bönt’s concentration, which had been seeking to kill, was suddenly disrupted.

“Now!”

The man flung away all the remaining daggers that he had towards the Duke of Bönt. Then, Lucy was simply pushed aside before he snatched Roelin’s waist and ran out of the tent. Shortly thereafter, a whistle could be heard before it was soon followed by the sound of horses hooves.

“Oh, no! Empress!”

Lucy screamed. Duke Bönt also rushed out of the tent right after removing all of the daggers.

Nevertheless, Roelin had already been kidnapped by the man and disappeared into thin air.

* * *

“……wait.”

Kergel stopped his horse and beckoned to Gilov, who was following after him. Then, Gilov drove up right next to him.

“It smells like blood.”

“……that certainly is true.”

A gust of wind blew and he could immediately feel the scent of blood getting mixed in. Gilov looked back at Kergel with a firm look in return.

Apparently, it was a rather bad omen. In consideration of the fact that the people in front of this road had been the Empress and her entourage, it could never be openly said that they were not welcomed at all.

“Look around carefully, just in case there’s someone else.”

Kergel gave a sharp order and steered slowly. By completely erasing the signs as he looked around, Gilov similarly followed suit.

However, they had no other choice but to speed up again soon after. Seroif’s knights and soldiers who had been at the scene of the bloodbath were gradually found.

“Roelin!”

As soon as Kergel found them in the distance, he kicked the horse in the ribs as a gesture and galloped. A knight who had been taking care of the scene was immediately alerted by the clop of the horse’s hooves approaching and hurriedly showed courtesy when he recognized Kergel’s appearance.

“I greet His Majesty……”

“Where’s the Empress? Where is the Empress? Is she okay? What about Bönt? Where is the Duke?”

Kergel asked those questions in haste without any sample of an article. Then, the driver’s expression turned contorted.

“Hu, the Empress……”

“Is the Empress not here? How frustrating! Answer me at once!”

“……The Empress has been kidnapped.”

Right at that moment, he could hear someone else’s voice. Kergel turned his head to the direction in which the voice had come from. The Duke of Bönt’s aide had stood there.

But one of his arms had already vanished into thin air. Kergel narrowed his brows at the appearance of that aide. Nevertheless, the aide could only bite his molars tightly before he soon continued.

“The Duke was the one that led the surviving knights to chase after them, but there has been no news as yet. The Duke was badly injured as well. We could only provide him with quick first aid earlier…”

“What?”

Kergel doubted his ears. He just couldn’t understand what he was listening to right now.

Kidnapping?

Besides, the Duke whom he trusted was also injured.

“It seems that the people who were aiming for the Empress had kidnapped her in the event of an unexpected situation. Just in case, to use her as a hostage.”

“Where—which way did he go?”

Kergel pressed his temples with his hands and asked while trying to forcibly calm his seething anger. Then, when he had heard of the aide’s answer and attempted to move right away, he could hear a voice that was calling out to him.

“Your Majesty!”

It was Lucy, the maid of honor, who had called out to Kergel. Lucy came up while running in a mess before she stumbled down. Nevertheless, she soon got up again and approached Kergel before clinging onto him.

“You must get it before the third attack transpires, Your Majesty. The Palace Doctor had already made an antidote. Now that we’ve gotten the antidote, if only the Empress could take it before the third seizure takes place…… only then you can absolutely save her.”

“What is this……”

Kergel’s face became utterly distorted. He didn’t know what had exactly happened, but he could roughly make a guess.

An antidote.

And that was enough.

“Doc—they even used poison as well?”

“This is the work of Rakain. The King and the previous Queen were trying to kill the Empress……”

Lucy sobbed hard as she looked at Kergel in tears. She appeared 10 years older because of the shame that she couldn’t protect the Empress earlier.

A huge energy gushed out from Kergel, who was now realizing it all. The energy was so strong that he could even see it with his own eyes that it had already begun to feast upon the surroundings.

“Your Majesty!”

Gilov tried to approach him in contemplation. He wondered if the seal was just about to break soon. But even before that, Kergel had already stepped down from his horse and soared away.

“Your Majesty!”

Gilov looked around to find the figure of Kergel, who had already disappeared in an instant. Nonetheless, there was no sign of Kergel anywhere else.

“You must have already opened up the power of the Wolves…… even though the seal must never be broken.”

Gilov sighed as he began clenching his fists tightly.

If the seal, which held the power of the Wolves, was broken with the disappearance of the ‘companion’, the only thing that was left would be catastrophe.