The person who came into the conference room was Dietrich. Marquis Tailor pursed his lips in surprise.
“Why...”
“Have I come to a place I shouldn’t have come to?”
Dietrich tilted his head with an expressionless face. Indifferent glances passed over the faces of the ministers who tried not to make eye contact with him.
“Did you just call me, Marquis?"
Dietrich stepped into the conference room. Every time he walked, the sword on his waist reflected from the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, emitting a sharp light.
The sword was clearly in its sheath, but it wouldn't be surprising if Dietrich pulled out the sword right now and stained the conference hall with blood.
“... Yo, Your Excellency Duke Calypso.”
In the end, Marquis Tailor gave up. In any case, Dietrich's title was Duke, and he controlled the military power of the imperial palace.
Even though the title of Duke was only a superficial title given by the Three Dukes as if they were enemies, the fact that he was the leader of the Imperial Knights did not change.
“You must be busy. Why did you come to the conference hall?”
Dietrich was afraid, but the ministers did not hide their discomfort. In any case, Dietrich was their biggest enemy that had to be put aside first and foremost.
Dietrich didn't like to spin his words around. He immediately explained the reason he came to the conference hall.
“I was curious about the opinions of the ministers regarding the woman who assassinated the Emperor.”
Dietrich naturally sat in the seat at the head of the conference room. The appearance was as natural as flowing water.
“How could you possibly keep that woman alive? This is clearly an act of deceiving the imperial family.”
Instead, one voice expressed his opinion loudly.
What he said was now a condemnation of Dietrich's actions. He did this to get Dietrich in trouble by holding him accountable for leaving Seliya unkilled, to shift the blame.
Dietrich's eyes turned to the face of the minister who spoke his words.
“Deception is probably what you are doing now.”
The ministers were dumbfounded by Dietrich's blunt words.
“W-what did you just say?”
“I was the one who prepared the funeral for the assassinated Emperor, and I was the one who imprisoned the woman who murdered His Majesty.”
Dietrich paused for a moment and looked at each of the ministers' faces. The ministers in the conference hall were like snakes who were anxious to eat him.
There wasn't a single person like that. If the Three Dukes had not supported them, Dietrich would have long ago killed everyone who stood in the way of his plans.
Anyway, one of the ropes was a good one. Dietrich, who was looking indifferently at the faces of the ministers, opened his lips.
“What have the ministers done?”
“!”
The chins of the insulted ministers trembled.
“Why are you insulting me like this when we say we're curious about your opinion?”
“...Opinion?"
Dietrich sneered. His eyes were not smiling at all, and only one of his lips was lifted awkwardly, and he added his last words.
“Since when was an attack using a knife needle called an opinion?”
The ministers who had hit the nail on the head tried their best to pretend to look somewhere else to avoid Dietrich's gaze.
Dietrich felt that the ministers were pitiful. Although they gossip excitedly when he is not around, they are unable to speak in front of him as if they were dumb.
“A voice calling for the release of Brillion’s angel is heard outside the imperial palace. As a subject, I cannot possibly ignore these words.”
“!”
The ministers' eyes shook violently. What Dietrich was saying now was that he would keep Seliya alive rather than kill her.
Marquis Tailor took the lead.
“Now, are you saying that you will openly cover up the crime of the woman who murdered the Emperor?”
“...Crime?"
Dietrich looked down at the Marquis with a dry look.
“If there is any guilt, it lies with those who tried to take advantage of His Majesty’s death. Do you know? As heard outside the imperial palace, someone in the imperial palace may have used that woman to assassinate His Majesty.”
"Are you doubting me now?”
“I didn’t say who it was, Marquis.”
Dietrich stood up. The face of the Marquis, whose cheeks and neck were red with anger, came into Dietrich's field of vision.
“Okay then.”
Dietrich left the meeting without any regrets. The conference room he left was filled with ministers cursing Dietrich.
***
He had not been able to feed Seliya for two days already.
Dietrich, who could not leave the room because he was busy attending the Emperor's funeral, did not even have time to catch a glimpse.
While he was working, he was worried about Seliya. Even if she doesn't starve for two days, she won't starve to death, but in the dungeon, it is difficult to distinguish between day and night.
Two days could feel like a week to a prisoner.
The reason he went to the conference hall right after the funeral was to announce to the public that Dietrich was not going to kill Seliya.
Outside the imperial palace, many men admired her. Men who had seen Seliya even once, or who had ever courted her, were trying their best to keep her alive.
Dietrich found them fascinating. To be able to love that woman, called Brillion's Angel, so much.
"I did not know? Those are all words made up by idiots."
However, Seliya actually seemed to hate men who loved her. A hint of contempt seemed to pass over her.
As she said, in Dietrich's eyes, the men who hung on to her unrequited love seemed pathetic.
'What. It's a good thing for me though.'
It seemed to her that thanks to him she might be able to get Seliya out of prison sooner rather than later.
In exchange for getting Seliya out of prison, Dietrich intended to keep her by his side and use her abilities as needed.
'She must be sensitive because she skipped meals.'
Dietrich went straight to the dungeon where Seliya would be, taking well-baked bread, soup containing more meat than usual, fresh fruit, and water to drink.
“...”
But as soon as she entered the prison, he felt something ominous.
Dietrich's steps became faster. Prisoners sitting hunched over in cages stretched out their hands toward the place where the smell of delicious food was coming from.
“I’m hungry... Radish, water...”
However, as soon as they saw the face of the person holding the food, the prisoners froze on the spot. Dietrich walked towards the cage where Seliya was as if he couldn't see them.
As he entered the depths of the prison, instead of the stench, the scent of hyacinth flowers was in the air. He also took charge of it once.
'She is that woman's special ability. She's alone and has no reason to use her powers...'
She can't be there. While he was away preparing for the Emperor's funeral, someone broke in.
Dietrich was already running. Ominous thoughts flooded his mind.
He could not come to prison for two days because of the Emperor's funeral. Even though he had tight control over the prison, there might have been some fools who thought he could avoid being discovered.
Wherever they go, people whose brains are dominated by curiosity are bound to do foolish things.
When Dietrich arrived at the very back of the prison, the scent of hyacinths was strong enough to make him faint. The fishy smell of blood mixed in with the scent of the flowers.
Dalgak.
Dietrich put the bowl containing the meal on the floor and looked for Seliya. His impatient gaze was directed at the half-open cage and the man inside the cage.
Dietrich's breath seemed to catch his breath as he realized who the man was.
The man with his lower body exposed and his glassy eyes frozen was one of Dietrich's direct knights.
How can a knight under my direct command do what the guard did? And that too, while he was away.
Dietrich was truly angry. He grabbed the knight by the shoulder and threw him out of the cage. He fell helplessly like a marionette whose strings had been cut.
Dietrich checked on Seliya. Seliya was curled up in the corner of the wall, breathing heavily.
She must have coughed up blood, and there was blood on the bottom of the cage and around her mouth.
Seliya had her eyes closed and was clutching the uniform around her body to keep her consciousness from fading. Dietrich walked closer to Seliya, who was breathing hard.
"Who is this..."
Seliya became alert and exhaled her hyacinth scent even more strongly. The scent was so strong that Dietrich narrowed his eyes at the suffocating scent.
Ugh!
With a sound, blood spurted out from Seliya's mouth. Red blood-soaked Dietrich's collar.
Dietrich looked at Seliya, who was spitting out blood, with an indescribable face.
“...Hey."
At Dietrich's voice, the scent of hyacinths that filled the prison was completely cleared. Seliya forcibly lifted her eyelids, which had been trying to close, to see if it was Dietrich.
A handsome face filled her blurry vision.
A hearty smile flowed from her face and between her teeth as if she was pitying herself.
She feels relieved to see Dietrich and wonders if she feels foolish? Or maybe it's just because this situation is funny.
She paralyzed the five senses of the man who tried to rape her through the scent of hyacinth, so if she had strangled him, the knight would have died without being able to resist.
The reason she saved herself life at the cost of cutting her lifespan was because she wanted Dietrich to see this situation clearly with his own eyes.
If she had killed the knight, Dietrich would never have trusted her. The victim is Seliya, who could have instead turned her into an assailant.
So she tried gambling. Would Dietrich trust her, or would he trust his direct report, who had seen the lower half of his body exposed for a long time?
Seliya's eyes began to close. She waited too long for Dietrich, not knowing when he would come. She felt very resentful of him because she had not eaten anything for two days.
Still, he came. He threw away his knight and came to her. It's not like Seliya doesn't know that Dietrich is planning to take advantage of her.
So Seliya also decided to use him. It didn't matter whether it was sympathy, pity, or anything else.
'So this is self-defense.'
Seliya continued to stumble while holding onto Dietrich's collar.
“My life...It’s yours.”
“...”
“It’s late... It was...”
It was a very, very weak power. Instead of removing her hand that was tugging at his collar, Dietrich just stared at her.
Seliya's eyelids slowly closed, and the hand that was holding the hem of his clothes fell weakly.
Dietrich looked at Seliya, who was spitting out blood, with an indescribable face.
“...Hey."
At Dietrich's voice, the scent of hyacinths that filled the prison was completely cleared. Seliya forcibly lifted her eyelids, which had been trying to close, to see if it was Dietrich.
A handsome face filled her blurry vision.
A hearty smile flowed from her face and between her teeth as if she was pitying herself.
She feels relieved to see Dietrich and wonders if she feels foolish? Or maybe it's just because this situation is funny.
She paralyzed the five senses of the man who tried to rape her through the scent of hyacinth, so if she had strangled him, the knight would have died without being able to resist.
The reason she saved herself life at the cost of cutting her lifespan was because she wanted Dietrich to see this situation clearly with his own eyes.
If she had killed the knight, Dietrich would never have trusted her. The victim is Seliya, who could have instead turned her into an assailant.
So she tried gambling. Would Dietrich trust her, or would he trust his direct report, who had seen the lower half of his body exposed for a long time?
Seliya's eyes began to close. She waited too long for Dietrich, not knowing when he would come. She felt very resentful of him because she had not eaten anything for two days.
Still, he came. He threw away his knight and came to her. It's not like Seliya doesn't know that Dietrich is planning to take advantage of her.
So Seliya also decided to use him. It didn't matter whether it was sympathy, pity, or anything else.
'So this is self-defense.'
Seliya continued to stumble while holding onto Dietrich's collar.
“My life...It’s yours.”
“...”
“It’s late... It was...”
It was a very, very weak power. Instead of removing her hand that was tugging at his collar, Dietrich just stared at her.
Seliya's eyelids slowly closed, and the hand that was holding the hem of his clothes fell weakly.
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