Chapter 344: It Must Have Been the Innately Evil Shadow Who Did It
Time passed little by little as Cid lost himself in random thoughts, and before long, he reached the end of the long corridor in Christina's mansion.
From here, he could easily see Christina arguing with the group gathered in front of her. Even without using his superhuman hearing, Cid could clearly make out their voices at this distance.
"Miss Christina, are you really not going to give us an explanation? If nothing else, at least find a way to get us through this situation. After all, in a sense, you're the one who caused everything that's happening now."
The words were obviously meant to corner her and were unreasonable from the start.
The green-haired boy leading the "rabble" was the one confronting Christina. Judging from Kanade's description earlier, this guy was probably Isaac.
"Even if you say that, I don't know the full details of what's happening either. Even if I want to solve it, I need time. More importantly, all of you already withdrew, so why should I still help you? Don't forget that the reason we came here in the first place was to deal with the disappearances in our respective territories."
The clear voice unmistakably belonged to Christina, who was currently being surrounded and pressured by the crowd.
To Cid's surprise, she was not nearly as much of a pushover as he had expected.
He had assumed someone with Christina's peculiar sense of justice would immediately say she would take care of everything herself.
"Hah... Lady Christina, do you really have to force me to say it this plainly? Fine. Then let's put everything out in the open. Everyone knows that the real rulers of the Kingdom of Midgar aren't the royal family, but the Nightsword Society. They're the true rulers of this kingdom."
"Solving the disappearances in our territories? That sounds nice, but do you really believe that?"
"We all know what the truth is. Our Houses sent us here to express their dissatisfaction to the noble Nightsword Society, even if it meant sacrificing our future political careers."
"And we achieved that objective the day before yesterday. Lady Eliza extended goodwill toward us. Everything could have ended right there. We might have sacrificed our futures, but at least none of what followed would have happened."
"But because of you, Christina, because you insisted on doing things your way, you've doomed us. The night before last, Apsan died because of you, and last night, three more members died. All of this happened because you rejected Lady Eliza!"
Isaac's impassioned speech immediately stirred up the emotions of the people around him.
None of the rabble following behind him had thought that deeply about the situation at the time, but that did not stop them from glaring at Christina as though everything really was her fault.
Being stared at with such open resentment by so many people, Christina's expression visibly darkened as anger rose within her.
"Is that really what all of you think? Did every one of you come here with that attitude? Was there not a single person among you who genuinely wanted to save the people who disappeared?"
Christina shouted angrily.
Isaac's undisguised words had truly infuriated her.
The people she questioned looked uneasy, but when they thought about the pressure coming from the Thirteen Nightblades, none of them dared guarantee that they would not become tonight's victims.
"Is that so? Not one of you? Hah... I really was an idiot for expecting anything from you."
Christina swept her gaze across them.
Not one person stepped forward to contradict her. Every one of them remained silent, effectively admitting it.
Christina sighed.
To be honest, she had long known that this group was nothing more than rabble. They were the least promising members of their Houses, sent here as disposable pawns.
Even so, she had still wondered whether perhaps one or two of them had volunteered because they truly wanted to resolve the disappearances, just as she did.
Unfortunately, judging by what she was seeing now, there was not a single one.
"That's enough. I'll deal with the matter myself. You can leave now."
Christina spoke with obvious irritation.
After being repeatedly stabbed in the back, her mood had fallen to rock bottom. She waved her hand, signaling for all of them to leave.
Naturally, Isaac had no intention of meekly walking away after receiving such a dismissive answer.
"We don't need you to solve it for us, Christina. You only need to cooperate with us and help us with a few small things. Then we can calm the Thirteen Nightblades' anger toward us."
"...What things?"
Christina frowned and looked at Isaac in confusion as he spoke with absolute confidence.
She could not understand why he seemed so sure both the Thirteen Nightblades and Christina herself would simply do whatever he demanded.
"First, Christina-san must hand over the culprit who murdered the three Nightsword Lords. That is the first step toward preserving the authority of the Nightsword Society."
"The murders of Earl Shoddi and the others have nothing to do with the Hope family. Do not slander me or my family."
Christina sharply cut off Isaac's outrageous demand and glared at the green-haired boy in front of her.
If she had failed to deny it immediately, it would have been the same as accepting responsibility for something that could get her entire family killed.
This bastard was trying to kill her.
"Fine, fine. Let's assume for now that the murderer of the three Nightsword Lords has nothing to do with you, Christina. After that, you must publicly apologize to Lady Eliza in front of everyone. Only then will the Nightsword Society forgive your offense."
"Dream on!"
Christina immediately snapped back.
To her, throwing away her dignity and beliefs and allowing them to be trampled on like that would be worse than death.
"But everything started because of you, Christina. If you hadn't rejected Lady Eliza's goodwill, things never would have reached this point. No, even after you refused, the generous Nightsword Lords only intended to use Apu's life as a warning to us. But then that same night, you hired an assassin to murder Earl Shoddi..."
Christina had already given up on trying to argue with Isaac's deranged rambling.
What was the point of debating a lunatic?
She turned around and reached for the door.
Then she abruptly froze and leapt aside.
"Clang!"
A sharp longsword pierced through the spot where Christina had just been standing and continued straight through the wall.
"Have you all lost your minds?!"
Christina spun around in disbelief.
She could not imagine they would actually dare attack her at her own front door.
The entire area should have been full of guards employed by the Hope family.
Could they have...
No.
Christina quickly looked around.
At some point, every Hope family guard had disappeared.
There was not even the slightest sign of a fight on the ground.
"You're the one who's lost her mind, Christina. You have no idea what the Thirteen Nightblades represent in this country. We are the ones walking the correct path. We're going to capture you and offer you to the Lords of the Nightsword Society as proof of our innocence and loyalty."
A smug smile appeared on Isaac's face.
He glanced toward the people behind him.
Understanding what he meant, they immediately surged forward and blocked every possible escape route around Christina.
"You really have gone insane. Aren't you afraid of retaliation from the Hope family?"
Christina looked warily at the crowd surrounding her and instinctively reached toward her waist.
Unfortunately, she had never expected these people to dare attack her here, so she had not brought her weapon downstairs.
"Retaliation? Hahaha... Christina, why do you think every guard protecting this mansion suddenly disappeared? Do you really think we killed them?"
"..."
Isaac's repeated rhetorical questions left Christina silent, her expression growing darker with every word.
"The answer is simple. They left on their own after receiving orders from your father. Hahaha... Naive young lady, you have completely underestimated how terrifying the Nightsword Society is in this country."
"Thanks to you rejecting Eliza, the Hope family has become the one sticking its head out. Right now, they'd love nothing more than to personally hand you over to the Nightswords."
"And after a brief and friendly conversation with your father, we were more than happy to help him with that."
Christina did not refute him.
Because she knew perfectly well that her father truly was capable of doing something like that.
Right now, she only regretted not bringing her sword downstairs.
If she had, she might at least have had a chance to fight her way out.
"Surrender, Christina. I know you're strong, but without a weapon, you have no chance against this many people. If you surrender now, perhaps the Nightsword Lords will spare you out of consideration for the Hope family."
Christina's face twisted in disgust.
Even with her eyes closed, she could imagine what the morally bankrupt Thirteen Nightblades would do to her once she lost the protection that came from being a member of the Hope family and became effectively "unregistered."
"Still refusing to see reason? Get her!"
At Isaac's command, the group charged forward, ready to seize Christina and offer her to the Thirteen Nightblades as proof of their loyalty.
But in the next instant, a greatsword descended from above and slammed down between the two sides.
"This farce ends here!"
...
"Thank you very much, Princess Iris, Princess Alexia. You saved me!"
Christina bowed deeply to the two women standing before her.
"It's nothing. As a princess of the Kingdom of Midgar, this is what I should do. More importantly, Christina-san, I hope you won't take what they did to heart. They were simply frightened."
The red-haired woman smiled as she answered.
Yet there was a slight hint of sympathy in her words toward Isaac and the others, who had already been taken away by the Island Guard.
"Instead of thanking me, Christina, you should thank this guy..."
Alexia waved off Christina's gratitude and walked past her with an expressionless face toward the corner of the corridor.
Then she reached out.
"Waaah... Let go of me, Alexia."
Cid appeared before Christina, dragged out by Alexia while giving a remarkably lifeless protest.
"Yes, Alexia is right. If you want to thank someone, Christina-san, you should thank Cid. He was the one who called us here."
Noticing Cid, Iris smiled and nodded toward Christina.
"Gratitude can wait. Personally, I'm a little more interested in why Po... why Cid is here."
Alexia pinched Cid's cheek and kneaded it between her fingers while speaking in a low, expressionless voice.
"Well... I got held up by a few things, and there wasn't enough time, among other reasons. It's hard to explain quickly."
"Then make it quick."
"That's asking too much."
Watching the two bicker, Iris smiled with faint amusement.
"They're quite entertaining, aren't they?"
"Mm, they are. But Princess Iris, I'm actually more curious about what you meant when you said those people were simply frightened."
Christina smiled as well, but quickly returned her attention to what Iris had said earlier.
"That... is a little complicated. But please rest assured. I will capture the culprit threatening the kingdom's safety as soon as possible."
"Huh?"
Seeing the confusion on Christina's face, Iris thought for a moment and decided to explain.
"According to the investigation report Gray gave me, the person who killed Earl Shoddi and the other two was the same person responsible for killing members of your alliance. In other words, this is actually a scheme by a third-party faction attempting to intensify the conflict and provoke a war inside our kingdom."
"...Huh?!"
Christina's eyes widened as she stared at Iris in disbelief, almost as though she was questioning whether she had heard correctly.
"I know this may be difficult for you to believe, but after considering all the information currently available, this is the most likely conclusion I've reached."
Nearby, Cid and Alexia stopped fooling around and quietly listened as First Princess Iris explained her theory.
"Among all the evidence gathered so far, there is nothing proving that Earl Shoddi or the others ever sent people into other territories to kidnap civilians. That is precisely why I reached this conclusion."
"The Nightswords never kidnapped anyone."
"There is neither motive nor evidence."
"Your alliance made a mistake."
"..."
"If that is true, then the so-called disappearances were nothing more than someone framing Earl Shoddi and the others while attempting to exploit the forces backing all of you."
"Considering that incidents began as soon as you arrived, I suspect this third party was the one responsible for the disappearances. They then framed Earl Shoddi and the others in order to provoke hostility between both sides."
"Once you reached the royal capital, they sent assassins to further escalate the conflict, while using public opinion to push both sides toward war and tarnish Earl Shoddi and the others' reputations."
"Then Princess Iris, who do you think this third-party faction is? In the current alliance between worlds, the only people who would gain anything from the two sides going to war are those from World 1 and World 2. But they wouldn't risk violating the treaty just to do something like this."
Cid looked left and right.
Seeing that neither Christina nor Alexia seemed willing to speak, he stepped forward and pointed out the flaw in Iris's reasoning.
Right now, the allied nations were busy developing their own countries while desperately trying to avoid being dragged down by their allies. Even domestically, an action like this could be vetoed.
Besides, it would cause far too much trouble.
"Cid, you're absolutely right. But innate evil needs no reason."
A sharp light flashed in Iris's eyes.
"And there is only one person in this world who fits that description."
Princess Iris's face filled with determination and hatred as she shouted.
"So this must have been the work of the innately evil Shadow!"
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