The man who approached with his arms crossed in a black uniform was none other than Balt.
Balt’s sword on his waist reflected the sunset and shone.
“Did you receive the letter I gave you last night?”
As Balt approached, Dietrich took a step forward as if he were protecting Seliya.
Balt raised one eyebrow and sneered.
“You’re being really overprotective. Do you think I’m going to do something in front of you?”
“I knew it in advance. What’s going on?”
Balt shrugged his shoulders at Dietrich’s wary voice.
“You don’t trust me.”
“In this situation, wouldn’t it be stranger to trust the Duke?”
“Well, that’s true. It doesn’t feel very good to be treated like Illeon.”
Balt scratched his chin and took something out of his bosom and handed it to Dietrich.
“If I give you this, will you trust me a little?”
“...!”
What Balt handed over was a scrapbook containing all of Illeon’s atrocities.
Inside were detailed descriptions of Illeon’s crimes, evidence, and circumstances.
The scrapbook contained detailed information that would have been enough to drive Illeon into a corner and incidents that would have caused those who still believed in Illeon to completely turn their backs.
“Why are you giving me something this important?”
Dietrich asked. Balt smirked and answered.
“I know very well that you want to destroy Abelon. I gave you this so that you would destroy Abelon but not kill the innocent people.”
“Duke Portman, you are the Duke of Abelon. Are you telling me that you will abandon Abelon now?”
Balt countered Dietrich.
“Weren’t you also a Duke at one time? Even if it was a sham title that Illeon gave you out of kindness and then took away.”
“My case is different from yours. You are from Abelon from birth, and I am not.”
“You’re saying something about being born into a good family?”
Balt continued, making a hmm.
“I understand. After all that you’ve been through, it’s hard for you to trust me based on a few scraps of paper.”
“...”
“But you know very well that what’s written there isn’t a lie, right?”
Just as Balt had said, everything in the scrapbook was true. There wasn’t a single bit of false information.
“If you hadn’t taken Illeon out of prison in the first place, things wouldn’t have gotten this complicated.”
Balt let out a deep sigh, struck by Dietrich’s words.
“Yeah. I thought that crazy bastard was my friend for a moment. But people don’t change easily.”
Balt looked at the desolate streets devoid of people with a bitter expression.
“I thought he’d come to his senses if I burned down the Great Temple. He was a god-believer more than anyone else...”
Balt paused for a moment. It seemed difficult to continue speaking as various emotions towards Illeon surged at once.
“Kill that stupid kid who thinks he’s the smartest in the world with your own hands.”
“...”
“F*ck, being too affectionate is useless. I can’t bring myself to kill that damn kid with my own hands.”
Balt swore.
“Oh, by the way, I’m sorry I killed a few of your knights on my way out.”
“...Now?”
Balt coughed loudly at Seliya’s words and shouted.
“How can you apologize so late?”
“...”
“If you want something, claim it as the Duke Portman. By the way, if you’re going to establish a new country after the destruction, don’t touch my family. If you disobey me, I’ll blow your hand off right here and now.”
Dietrich’s expression didn’t change at all despite Balt’s savage words.
“It’s not funny. What do you like about this guy?”
Balt, who looked at Dietrich with a face that said he was fed up, clicked his tongue and looked down at Seliya.
Seliya stared at Balt with a face as dry as Dietrich's. Contrary to his words.
“You’re really teasing me.”
Balt didn’t seem offended at all.
“I think I told you everything I had to tell you, so I’m going now.”
Balt turned around as if his business was over.
Seliya asked Dietrich, who was a man, casually.
“...What do you think about what happened just now?”
Dietrich opened his mouth while looking at the scrapbook that Balt had practically handed him.
“Well. I don’t know for now. I wonder what’s going on.”
“I think so too.”
“But, the contents of this item are not a lie.”
Dietrich’s troubled expression was evident.
“Even if the sense of betrayal was great because he trusted Illeon, seeing that he readily handed over such an important item to me, it means that he really doesn’t care if Abelon is destroyed.”
Dietrich frowned.
“...Now that I have it in my hands, I should use it.”
Dietrich immediately put his words into action.
He copied the scrapbook Balt had given him and handed it over to his newspaper.
The newspaper was distributed throughout Abelon. It contained stories about Illeon using Arthur Cervantes to kill the Crown Prince and ascend to the throne, about Illeon poisoning the Crown Prince and causing him to go mad, and so on.
The content of the articles was so shocking that some people fainted on the spot while reading the newspaper.
This was enough to drag Illeon’s already negative public opinion into the abyss.
And finally, Illeon showed a reaction.
As the guardian of Abelon, Illeon declared all-out war against Dietrich.
Illeon's representative, accompanied by armed knights, read a speech in a loud voice on the streets of the capital.
"Listen, people of Abelon! I, Illeon Gregrick Basilisk, as the last guardian of Abelon, declare that I will execute the commander of the imperial knights, Sir Dietrich."
People who had kept their windows tightly shut to prevent anyone from entering opened them wide and listened to the speech.
Illeon's representative, who noticed that people were watching him, read the speech in an even louder voice than before.
"The crime of bewitching and deceiving the minds and bodies of the people with false words together with Seliya Brillion, the Princess of the fallen Shan Kingdom, the crime of burning down the Great Temple, the crime of killing Arthur Cervantes and the royal family, etc. The crimes are so heinous that I cannot even speak of them. The greatest crime of all is..."
Illeon's representative stopped talking and looked around at the people watching him from the window.
“He is not even from Abelon, but he is risen to the position of captain of the royal knights of Abelon. Since someone who came here with the sole purpose of destroying Abelon has become the captain of the royal knights, the destruction of Abelon was something that was expected from the beginning.”
The people’s commotion grew louder at Illeon’s representative’s words.
“What? Is that true?”
“Didn’t the former Emperor simply take back someone about to be sold into slavery?”
“...What? He was planning to destroy Abelon from the beginning?”
“That’s ridiculous...”
The representative’s voice gradually spread through the commotion.
“The people are mistaken. In fact, Sir Dietrich’s real name is not Dietrich, and his origins are the youngest Prince of the Principality of Inata, which disappeared into history along with the Kingdom of Shan.”
The people could not help but be astonished.
“I, Illeon Gregrick Basilisk, swear to the people here. Let’s tear down Dietrich, who confuses people with his cunning tongue, and return this Abelon, which is engulfed in chaos, to peace!”
The agent finished speaking and took out the emblem of the Gregrick family from his sleeve.
And so, an all-out war between Illeon and Dietrich began.
“What on earth are you going to use these humans for?”
Illeon let out a small laugh at his subordinate’s question.
In front of Illeon, Hariel, Gabriel, and Vincent were kneeling on the cold floor with gags in their mouths.
“The Great Temple is on fire, so there is no altar, but we have the Aquinep grass. How wonderful it is to have a sacrifice that we can offer to the gods with peace of mind.”
“...”
“Prepare an executor to perform the ritual. The younger the better.”
“Understood, Master.”
‘Altar? Sacrifices?’
Gabriel frowned at the unintelligible words.
Gabriel cautiously looked around.
However, the whole place was covered with blackout curtains like a pitch-black night, so he couldn’t tell where he was at all.
“Are you awake? Gabriel Brillion.”
Gabriel stopped looking around at the soft voice that didn’t match the situation and looked up at Illeon in front of her.
Illeon’s face was brightly lit by the light from the lantern his subordinate was holding.
Illeon, who was rumored to be in prison or sick, was standing in front of her as if it were a lie.
Contrary to his gentle tone, the walls beneath Illeon’s straight eyebrows were icy cold.
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Gabriel tried to say where she was, but her words couldn’t come out properly because her mouth was gagged.
“Oh, I don’t know what you’re saying.”
Illeon gestured to his subordinate to remove the gag from Gabriel’s mouth.
“Your Majesty. Where am I? Why am I here?”
Balt didn’t seem offended at all.
“I think I told you everything I had to tell you, so I’m going now.”
Balt turned around as if his business was over.
Seliya asked Dietrich, who was a man, casually.
“...What do you think about what happened just now?”
Dietrich opened his mouth while looking at the scrapbook that Balt had practically handed him.
“Well. I don’t know for now. I wonder what’s going on.”
“I think so too.”
“But, the contents of this item are not a lie.”
Dietrich’s troubled expression was evident.
“Even if the sense of betrayal was great because he trusted Illeon, seeing that he readily handed over such an important item to me, it means that he really doesn’t care if Abelon is destroyed.”
Dietrich frowned.
“...Now that I have it in my hands, I should use it.”
Dietrich immediately put his words into action.
He copied the scrapbook Balt had given him and handed it over to his newspaper.
The newspaper was distributed throughout Abelon. It contained stories about Illeon using Arthur Cervantes to kill the Crown Prince and ascend to the throne, about Illeon poisoning the Crown Prince and causing him to go mad, and so on.
The content of the articles was so shocking that some people fainted on the spot while reading the newspaper.
This was enough to drag Illeon’s already negative public opinion into the abyss.
And finally, Illeon showed a reaction.
As the guardian of Abelon, Illeon declared all-out war against Dietrich.
***
Illeon's representative, accompanied by armed knights, read a speech in a loud voice on the streets of the capital.
"Listen, people of Abelon! I, Illeon Gregrick Basilisk, as the last guardian of Abelon, declare that I will execute the commander of the imperial knights, Sir Dietrich."
People who had kept their windows tightly shut to prevent anyone from entering opened them wide and listened to the speech.
Illeon's representative, who noticed that people were watching him, read the speech in an even louder voice than before.
"The crime of bewitching and deceiving the minds and bodies of the people with false words together with Seliya Brillion, the Princess of the fallen Shan Kingdom, the crime of burning down the Great Temple, the crime of killing Arthur Cervantes and the royal family, etc. The crimes are so heinous that I cannot even speak of them. The greatest crime of all is..."
Illeon's representative stopped talking and looked around at the people watching him from the window.
“He is not even from Abelon, but he is risen to the position of captain of the royal knights of Abelon. Since someone who came here with the sole purpose of destroying Abelon has become the captain of the royal knights, the destruction of Abelon was something that was expected from the beginning.”
The people’s commotion grew louder at Illeon’s representative’s words.
“What? Is that true?”
“Didn’t the former Emperor simply take back someone about to be sold into slavery?”
“...What? He was planning to destroy Abelon from the beginning?”
“That’s ridiculous...”
The representative’s voice gradually spread through the commotion.
“The people are mistaken. In fact, Sir Dietrich’s real name is not Dietrich, and his origins are the youngest Prince of the Principality of Inata, which disappeared into history along with the Kingdom of Shan.”
The people could not help but be astonished.
“I, Illeon Gregrick Basilisk, swear to the people here. Let’s tear down Dietrich, who confuses people with his cunning tongue, and return this Abelon, which is engulfed in chaos, to peace!”
The agent finished speaking and took out the emblem of the Gregrick family from his sleeve.
And so, an all-out war between Illeon and Dietrich began.
***
“What on earth are you going to use these humans for?”
Illeon let out a small laugh at his subordinate’s question.
In front of Illeon, Hariel, Gabriel, and Vincent were kneeling on the cold floor with gags in their mouths.
“The Great Temple is on fire, so there is no altar, but we have the Aquinep grass. How wonderful it is to have a sacrifice that we can offer to the gods with peace of mind.”
“...”
“Prepare an executor to perform the ritual. The younger the better.”
“Understood, Master.”
‘Altar? Sacrifices?’
Gabriel frowned at the unintelligible words.
Gabriel cautiously looked around.
However, the whole place was covered with blackout curtains like a pitch-black night, so he couldn’t tell where he was at all.
“Are you awake? Gabriel Brillion.”
Gabriel stopped looking around at the soft voice that didn’t match the situation and looked up at Illeon in front of her.
Illeon’s face was brightly lit by the light from the lantern his subordinate was holding.
Illeon, who was rumored to be in prison or sick, was standing in front of her as if it were a lie.
Contrary to his gentle tone, the walls beneath Illeon’s straight eyebrows were icy cold.
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Gabriel tried to say where she was, but her words couldn’t come out properly because her mouth was gagged.
“Oh, I don’t know what you’re saying.”
Illeon gestured to his subordinate to remove the gag from Gabriel’s mouth.
“Your Majesty. Where am I? Why am I here?”
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