SLDS 56

Cecil immediately ran to the Peridot Palace. The very first thing he did upon arriving was to search the study. He rummaged around frantically, but soon, a sigh escaped him.

The ‘Sword of Luminous’ was really gone. As soon as the possibility of the evidence being fake vanished, all the strength drained from his body, and his vision went black.

Cecil roughly rubbed his face. He considered the possibility that someone from the empress’s side had secretly infiltrated and taken the sword. But no matter how he thought about it, it made no sense.

They had more than enough reason to harm Yuria, but there was no reason to frame Cecil’s attendants. What on earth would they gain from it!

“Damn it.”

Cecil clutched his head and thought, and thought again.

Just then, Johannes knocked on the door and came inside. Seemingly aware of the situation, he glanced once at the messy study, then cautiously approached and spoke.

“…I heard all the attendants were captured.”

“Johan, I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to talk to you right now.”

“What’s going to happen to them? Surely… they’re not going to be executed, are they?”

Cecil sighed and mercilessly ruffled his hair. His mind was already a complicated mess, and now Johannes was here adding to it, making him feel irritated. Unconsciously, he glared at Johannes with a fierce look.

Seeing Cecil’s sharp gaze, Johannes flinched, then lowered his head and avoided his eyes.

Johannes, who had been pulling at his sleeve and clutching it so tightly it was wrinkling, fidgeted like a guilty man and finally opened his mouth himself.

“Actually… I did it.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, Cecil.”

“…That’s impossible.”

Cecil turned deathly pale upon hearing Johannes’s confession. His already pale face was now so drained of color that it wouldn’t have been strange if he had collapsed on the spot.

Cecil gripped Johannes’s shoulders tightly.

“You, you tried to kill Yuria?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Are you insane? Why on earth would you do that!”

“Hk, huu.”

Johannes burst into tears he had been holding back. There was no way this situation was easy on him, either.

He was, by nature, a cowardly and weak person who couldn’t even kill a bug. A momentary surge of greed had led him to do something he shouldn’t have, and it had caused enormous repercussions.

“I just thought that if I obtained the sacred blood, my illness might be cured a little.”

Johannes, trembling, revealed the entire truth. Why he had committed such an act. From sneaking into the Peridot Palace late at night to steal the robe and sword, to infiltrating Yuria’s chambers. And even how he had attacked her—everything.

“Johannes!”

“I swear I didn’t intend to kill her! I was just trying to take a little of her blood. The Saintess screamed so loudly that I panicked!”

“Did you think that kind of vulgar superstition would help? You did it knowing it would be useless?”

Johannes cried out desperately.

“What do you know! I wanted to live! I wanted to live so badly that I was just trying to clutch at straws!”

“Because of what you did, my attendants are now about to die!”

Cecil firmly grabbed Johannes by the collar. He was so angry that he, too, felt like he was about to cry.

He clenched his jaw tightly and with great effort, swallowed the harsh words that were trying to escape his throat. Still holding the collar, he pulled Johannes’s body closer.

“Go right now. Go and tell them the truth yourself.”

“Aah, Cecil. No! Please!”

At that, Johannes grabbed Cecil’s arm and clung to him tenaciously. He even went so far as to get on his knees and begin to beg profusely.

“If it’s revealed that I did it, I’m truly finished. I’ll probably be investigated by the Berka Empire for a long time, and even if I return to the Themion Kingdom, I’ll be rebuked by countless people. I can’t spend what little life I have left like that!”

“So what do you propose I do, that my attendants should take the fall for your crime? Must those innocent people suffer in your place?”

“Cecil, please!”

Johannes grabbed Cecil’s ankles and pleaded.

“Just once… Please, just turn a blind eye this one time. For your dying friend. Hmm?”

It was a tearful plea, but to Cecil, it only felt burdensome and hopeless. Cecil covered his eyes with his palm, trying to ignore his friend’s pathetic state.

“Johannes. People all die eventually. You, and me.”

“……”

“You pay for the sins you’ve committed. There’s no reason for my innocent attendants to take your place.”

A thought suddenly flashed through the mind of Johannes, who was sniffling with tears and snot. Still prostrate, he lifted only his head to look up at Cecil.

“Then could you… say that you did it?”

“Ha, say something that makes sense!”

“You’re royalty. I heard that in the Berka Empire, royalty receives a pardon unless they commit a grave crime. You’ll just get a small punishment and that will be it.”

Cecil swallowed a hollow laugh. What Johannes said wasn’t entirely wrong. Royalty, by nature, were beings who enjoyed special privileges.

“I can’t do it. No, I won’t do it.”

But Cecil didn’t think deeply and turned away coldly. Only a tear-streaked Johannes was left behind in the messy study.

Not long after, the emperor’s approval was given, and the official investigation began. The attendants who had been locked in the underground prison were all dragged out to stand before Crown Prince Alexis.

They insisted they were innocent, but the evidence was too clear. Since everyone was denying it, they had to identify the culprit, so a coercive investigation was unavoidable.

In the end, harsh torture followed. Cecil remained present, but he couldn’t bear to watch the horrific scene. Having experienced it himself, he knew well how unbearable that pain was.

Cecil turned his head away and listened to the cries and screams of his attendants. His tightly shut eyelids trembled.

Johannes still showed no sign of turning himself in. As he had come as the delegation’s representative, it wasn’t easy to even see his face because he was busy carrying out his duties. Only Johannes would know if he was truly busy, or if he was intentionally avoiding Cecil.

Yes, this is all my fault. I shouldn’t have told Johannes about the future.

The price for his arrogance was being paid by his innocent attendants, while he stood by, perfectly fine, just watching their suffering. It was clearly wrong. He had to set things right, even now.

“Please… stop the investigation.”

Cecil spoke with difficulty. It was a faint voice, but Alexis understood his plea immediately, and when he raised his hand, all actions ceased.

“I did it.”

“What?”

“The culprit who attacked Yuria is me. I said, I did it.”

Alexis rose from his seat and strode toward Cecil. Just standing in front of him, Cecil felt a chilling pressure that was enough to freeze his entire body. That was how palpable Alexis’s fury was.

“There’s no way you did it.”

“No. I did it.”

“……”

“Around 11 o’clock the night before last, I went to Yuria’s chambers and told the knight guarding the door that I had come to pick up an item sent from the Peridot Palace, and I encountered Yuria, who had finished preparing for bed. She approached without any suspicion, but when she saw the sword I pulled out, she screamed loudly. I, for the purpose of harming Yuria…”

“Enough!”

Alexis glared at Cecil with fierce eyes. If his gaze had a physical form, Cecil might have been torn to shreds.

He took a deep breath, his chest heaving, trying to calm himself. But the trembling just wouldn’t go away.

“If it were really you, there’s no way the knight wouldn’t have recognized you.”

“It was a dark night, and I was wearing a robe. And I can just disguise my voice.”

“Nonsense. Do you think I’d fall for such a crude lie?”

“I can tell you in as much detail as you want.”

Cecil continued to confess with his own lips. It was just a matter of changing the subject based on what Johannes had told him.

“Cecil Adrian. Shut your mouth.”

“Please release all the attendants. Since I am the culprit, you should be holding me.”

“Did I not tell you to shut your mouth!”

A voice filled with fury once again echoed through the interrogation room. Alexis was uncharacteristically agitated.

Since he had confessed in front of everyone, Cecil’s words had become an official statement.

Furthermore, the content of his confession matched the incident perfectly. It contained details that only Yuria and the person who committed the crime would know.

But Alexis couldn’t accept it until the end. He couldn’t tolerate that Cecil, Cecil Adrian, who had even sworn an oath of loyalty to him, had betrayed him.

“I’ll ask one last time. Did you really try to kill Yuria Beatrice?”

“Yes.”

Cecil answered as if he had been waiting. The dry reply contained no guilt whatsoever. Also, he absolutely did not make eye contact with him.

“……”

A moment of silence passed.

As time went on, the angry Alexis’s temperature dropped, becoming icy. In the taut tension that pressed down on the air, no one could breathe comfortably.

“I will investigate Cecil Adrian. Lock him in the underground prison and release all the attendants.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

After he gave the short order, he kicked open the door of the interrogation room and left. Before the murderous aura had even dissipated, the knights hesitantly approached Cecil.

“Please… put your hands in front of you.”

Cecil extended both hands forward as the knight requested. A thick rope was wound tightly around his wrists, and his arms were restrained by the knights’ hands. He was being treated just like a criminal.

“Mister Cecil!”

“Mister Cecil! You can’t! We’ll just take the punishment instead!”

The attendants called out for Cecil as he was being dragged away. It was from a heart that was willing to suffer in his place, even if Cecil had truly done it.

But the knights were already leading Cecil across the threshold of the interrogation room. He had to be dragged away without even being able to speak with his attendants. Only the pitch-black path leading to the underground prison welcomed Cecil.