Chapter 241 : Chapter 241
Chapter 241 : For the King (2)
Zisair and I walked side by side down the corridor. Just the two of us, without a single attendant.
Sunlight pouring through the coolly opened arched windows brightly soaked the marble hallway. It was to the point of giving the illusion of dipping my feet into a dazzling golden pond with every step.
"It is a truly wonderful place. Lately.......... no, that is not right."
Zisair waved his finger in the air with his eyes tightly shut. He looked as if he were retracing an old memory.
"I assure you, this is the first time in at least one or two hundred years that I have been on such a peaceful and beautiful walking path."
"I agree. Although I haven't lived that long."
Zisair chuckled. Seeing his ugly face wearing an arrogant smile, my murderous intent surged anew.
"It's unexpected. I thought you would lunge to kill me as soon as you saw me."
"Same here. Since we both clearly know everything anyway, I was worried you would uselessly feign ignorance and drain my energy for nothing—"
I stopped walking first. Zisair, who was walking ahead with a leisurely stride, turned around unhurriedly.
"How thankful I am that you revealed your true colors first."
".........."
"Well, is there any need to drag this out longer? Stop acting so damn arrogant now and die quietly."
At my sharp rebuke, Zisair covered his mouth with his hand and giggled. Looking at it again, that bastard's arms were bizarrely long. If he stood in a proper posture, his fingertips would reach far below his knees with room to spare.
Putting his ugly face and bizarre body together, it was as if he were a primate that evolved in a different direction from humanity rather than a human. It was the source of the physiological disgust that surged whenever I looked at him.
"You're impatient. It's not time yet."
"..........Ha."
A chuckle burst out of me without me realizing it. Because it was quite fresh. I thought he would lay out some cliché last words like asking if I had something to say or if I had many questions.
"Somehow you're speaking as if you knew this was your grave and crawled in on your own two feet."
"Well, it probably wouldn't be any different."
".........."
"You have a face with suddenly a lot on its mind, Bihen Benkou."
SHING!
I drew the Heavenly Demon and placed it against his nape. Until that moment, Zisair didn't bat an eye.
I pulled my chin in and stared at the bastard's ugly face.
"Your tricks are obvious anyway. Are you acting high and mighty after taking a few people's lives hostage?"
"If you put it that way, everyone inside Pretoria is a hostage, but can you dismiss that as just a few people?"
I pulled up the corners of my mouth.
Knowing he would come out like this, I immediately ordered Kuhn to survey the area as soon as I heard the bastard had appeared. If he had played some trick with sorcery, a report would have come in, but there's no such talk yet. In other words, it means not even a trace of sorcery has been detected.
"Don't bluff, you old monster."
"Tsk tsk. It's a pity, but I don't have such bad taste."
The bastard smiled slyly and narrowed his eyes.
"After I became aware of my existence, I swear I have never once dirtied my hands with human blood. Except for exactly one person, no, just a single bloodline."
I didn't bother asking back who that 'bloodline' was. The current situation where the bastard had ostensibly become the real power and was manipulating the entire Kingdom already said everything.
"The sight of you holding the throat of a bug-like king like that and putting on airs is truly a spectacle."
Zisair laughed low.
A member of the Eight Demons, and currently wearing the human skin of Chancellor Zisair, this evil demon was the mastermind who had held and shaken the leash of the Aleos royal family for generations.
Recalling that the Outer Ones, who presided over the beginning and end of the Kingdom's history and protected the balance of Karma, had ravaged the world according to their respective roles, it wasn't too surprising.
"Hearing you say that makes me embarrassed, tsk tsk. Still, if that pitiful fellow were to meet a sudden death in this Neutral Zone you painstakingly established, wouldn't your situation become quite difficult? Even looking like that, he is the King of this country."
"Anyway, every single one of you bastards has a long tongue."
I extended my arm a little further forward. The tip of the Heavenly Demon slightly dug into the old monster's sagging nape.
"I wouldn't have anything to lose at all, would I? The chaos caused by one bastard dying would be nothing but a mere handful compared to the hellish chaos you'll bring to this land."
Zisair laughed low. He nodded as if in admiration.
"You are evenly equipped with martial might, resourcefulness, and even guts. You can truly be called an anomaly. I know now that it was no coincidence my brothers perished by your hands. Yes, therefore.........."
Zisair gently pushed away the Heavenly Demon digging into his flesh with his finger.
Although it was a distance close enough to cut off each other's breath in a single instance at any moment..........
As if we had made a promise, neither he nor I put strength into our bodies.
"I shall not beat around the bush and bring up the main point right away."
The reason I didn't cut him down at once was because I wanted to confirm with what kind of nerve this evil demon had done such a thing.
Looking at the bastard's face jabbering leisurely, I wanted to change my mind and strike his neck right away, but I decided to endure it for now.
The bastard would have also seen through the meaning of my silence.
Instead of making my mouth sore by engaging in a battle of nerves, I waited for what the bastard would jabber next while aiming the Heavenly Demon.
"I have a favor to ask of you, Bihen Benkou."
"A favor?"
"Yes. It is a matter of grave importance upon which the future and destiny of this country hang."
Zisair added.
"Make Philinus II an emperor."
My brow furrowed automatically. Zisair didn't give me a chance to ask back.
"To make him an emperor means to hand Philinus II an absolute, unchallengeable power that no one in this Kingdom can dare to covet. In other words—"
Was it because of his inhuman appearance? I couldn't read his inner thoughts.
"It means to turn this Kingdom, which is an alliance of nobles scattered like grains of sand, into a fortress of steel that will not collapse even under the Empire's iron hooves."
In my previous life, the Kingdom collapsed helplessly against the Empire's invasion.
Only in this life did I realize that the Eight Demons' design was behind that destruction.
'But the designer who led that catastrophe..........'
Is now urging me to transform the Kingdom into a centralized state to face off against the Empire.
And doing so by putting forward the exceedingly abominable yet plausible justification of fending off the Empire's invasion that he himself would bring about.
"I know very well what you have devoted yourself to like this."
As if he wouldn't give me time to be lost in other thoughts, Zisair whispered slowly.
"Ties, enlightenment, memories, even if they are not such grandiose things, all the terribly trivial things that made you who you are now.......... It must have been to protect all those things that are not a waste even if exchanged for your life, with your own hands."
".........."
"It is the same for me as well."
Suddenly, Zisair extended his clenched hand toward me and opened his fingers one by one.
On his palm was a black jewel split in half.
'Remnant Orb.'
Zisair said.
"Take it. This wretched life has finally gained value today."
An instant sense of incongruity struck me. Zisair's murky voice changed to be as smooth as silk.
I raised my gaze that had been fixed on the Remnant Orb.
'..........!'
The old monster's bizarre human skin was nowhere to be found. The wrinkled and uglily sagging flesh had transformed into skin as transparent and pale as the sunlight broke on the marble hallway.
In the momentary silence..........
I realized the reason why this face, with lines so fine and androgynous that I couldn't even distinguish whether it was a man or a woman, was familiar.
'Gunt.'
The only difference was that the flowing hair was pitch-black instead of golden.
The black-haired Gunt looked at me and smirked.
***
"Your Grace!"
At the voice heard from behind, Adeline and her escort Joel stopped in their tracks.
The one who called was Gunt.
Adeline wore a strange smile.
"Being called that by my brother, it makes me realize the fact that I am the master of Conwell."
"..........Please stop the jokes."
"A joke? I dislike putting nonsense in my mouth."
Gunt nodded as if he understood.
"I know that better than anyone."
"Why did you follow me out?"
Adeline spoke while lifting her chin. It was her characteristic habit that appeared whenever she added the weight of authority.
"The reason I came to Pretoria and the reason I stopped Your Grace, which one should I answer first?"
Adeline subtly glanced at Joel as if looking for a place to put her gaze. In fact, she hadn't thought that deeply before asking.
"..........Please answer both briefly."
"Briefly, it is difficult. Could you please return to the reception room for now? Because His Excellency the Chancellor left his seat with Sir Bihen, His Majesty is very—"
"Pardon? The Chancellor is alone with Sir Bihen?"
Adeline asked back, startled. At this, Gunt stopped speaking and rolled his eyes. Even retracing his words, there wasn't exactly any slip of the tongue.
"Yes. Is there any particular problem?"
"N-No."
"It is very apologetic of me to say such a thing, but—"
Gunt barely took out the words lingering in his mouth.
"..........It would not be an exaggeration to say that half the reason His Majesty personally took steps here is because of Your Grace."
In an instant, anger flared in Adeline's eyes.
"Do you think I am still the little girl from those days who begged for her life while catering to the whims of the royal family, Brother?"
"I-It is a misunderstanding! That is not what my words meant—"
The flustered Gunt urgently took a step closer as if to explain. Joel blocked such a person.
Gunt blatantly looked Joel up and down. Displeasure surged up first at the fact that a mere attendant dared to recklessly block the path of a noble, and the head of the Imperial Magic Corps at that.
At the same time, sadness spread in a corner of his chest. No matter how much time had passed, the fact that such a high and solid wall had been erected between Adeline and himself hit him quite painfully.
The sense of distance where he couldn't approach her unreservedly like before, and even the arrogance of an unknown attendant blocking the front as if to prove that sense of distance.
Gunt painstakingly suppressed his complex emotions.
"..........You have kept a loyal escort."
"He is Joel, the son of Conwell's most honorable knight, Sir Eugene, and who will soon be knighted. Joel, give your greetings."
Joel roughly saluted Gunt with an expressionless face. Indifferently placing a clenched fist over the chest, it was a customary greeting used among knights.
Gunt's fine brow furrowed. It wasn't because of a lack of courtesy and respect for a high official.
"..........Sir Eugene."
Gunt's complexion quickly returned to normal.
"Throughout the entire Kingdom, a sword as noble as his was rare. I remember His Majesty was also greatly saddened by the fact that such a wonderful person perished without leaving an heir."
Joel is the last bloodline of a family that suffered extermination after plotting treason in Conwell in the past.
Due to the opposition of the previous Lord of Conwell, who was concerned about a blemish on the family's reputation, Eugene was ultimately unable to register him in the family register.
In the end, according to the official records of the royal family, it was the established theory that Eugene's family line had been cut off.
Gunt was revealing with a cautious voice that he was clearly aware of this major disqualification reason.
However, what he truly wanted to point out and move on from was not merely the bloodline of a cheeky attendant.
"In any case, if he is to the point of bearing the halo of the great Sir Eugene, there would be no change to the fact that he is a promising talent who will shoulder the future of Conwell. I can tell just by seeing how Your Grace cherishes him so much."
Gunt alternately looked at Joel's youthful face once and Adeline's cold eyes once, and then lightly raised the corners of his mouth.
"However, unless my eyes are mistaken, there is no way this frail man is the rumored Sword Fiend. The actual leading figure of the Conwell civil war, who stood alone in the desperately inferior camp of the Youngest Lady and slaughtered all the mighty forces of the Eldest Brother and Second Son."
Adeline also did not back down and responded by twisting the corners of her mouth.
"As for that Sword Fiend, didn't you personally face him earlier and know who he is?"
"..........Why did you tell a lie to His Majesty?"
"A lie?"
"If it is not a lie, are you saying it is a joke? No matter how much Your Grace is the ruler of the East, you are ultimately a vassal who swore loyalty to the Aleos royal family. Deceiving His Majesty like that is a clear mockery of the royal family."
Gunt took a step toward Adeline with bloodshot eyes.
Joel tried to block him again, but Adeline lightly raised her hand and restrained him. Her intention was to listen to the end.
"You said you were not in a liege-vassal relationship with Bihen Benkou. Then just what kind of massive reward did you promise him? I will not go out of my way to mention the fact that he is an Imperial with my own mouth. Because I know better than anyone that Your Grace is an honorable person. Then, just what kind of wealth, glory, and honor did you promise him, that he didn't stop at fighting such a ridiculous war all by himself, but even doesn't hesitate to do the crazy act of daring to point a sword under the chin of the Imperial Capital?!"
Gunt let out a long breath laced with anger. He forcefully softened his voice.
"No matter how outstanding his martial might is, it is a ridiculous track record that he could never have achieved without Your Grace's dignity and backing behind it. Just where in this world..........! Are you saying there is a crazy fool who throws away his life just for another person without any contract or justification!"
Adeline raised her head. Her eyes, like blue jewels, shone brightly.
"That noble fool, whom you will never understand in your entire life, Brother, is right beside me."