The cavalrymen dragged in the prisoners, bound with ropes. At the head of the group was Jason.
"G, Grand Duke Castullo! Why is he still here?"
The Valdinas were surprised when they recognized Jason's face.
Wasn't he banished from the palace some time ago by order of the Queen Dowager after being caught trying to slander the Princess?
"We found them hiding in a village behind rebel strongholds. They were all armed."
"You misunderstood! I was just trying to help suppress the rebels!"
At Gilliforth's words, Jason hastily made an excuse.
He fled with Ost but was eventually captured by Gilliforth, unable to escape his persistent pursuit.
As Jason was being dragged along like a donkey, he heard that the King of Valdina had returned.
And now, as Jason entered the castle, he saw the captured Prince Regent and the corpses of his soldiers piled up like a mountain, covered in blood.
'I failed. I failed badly!'
Who would have thought that the King would return so soon, and avoid the Regent's numerous traps?
Jason bit the inside of his cheek, trying to come to his senses.
But Jason wasn't the only one who was thinking furiously. The Regent's eyes gleamed.
"It is, it is the Grand Duke, Your Majesty. The Grand Duke's actions have been blamed on me. Look, he brought his private soldiers into Valdina, and what he tried to do..."
The Regent took the lead. He blamed everything on Jason.
Jason was astonished.
He wanted to strangle the Prince Regent to death for his brazen behavior of blaming him for the mess he was in charge of.
"No, King of Valdina. This is the Regent's baseless slander to avoid guilt."
Jason suppressed his rising anger and made a hasty excuse.
His soft and gentle voice made him seem like someone who had been falsely accused.
"You may not know this, but even though I was a member of the Katzen delegation, I worked hard to ensure that twice as much relief was delivered to Valdina. I even helped the Princess and guaranteed a fair duel. How could I harm Valdina like this?"
But Sissair would not allow Jason to cleverly manipulate the facts to win Peleus's favor.
"Grand Duke Castullo, was it also your intention to bring a wolf into the royal hunting competition and attack Her Highness Medea causing her to fall off a cliff?"
Sissair cheek was swollen after being struck by the Regent's knight, and there was even a crack in his monocle.
However, his characteristically cool and sharp criticism remained unchanged. He was like an iron-blooded prime minister.
"For that reason, the Queen Mother expelled the Grand Duke from Valdina. But instead of returning to Katzen, you deceived us and brought in an army. Didn't you harbor a grudge against the Valdina royal family and help the rebels?"
"That's right! The Grand Duke planned to kidnap Medea and then stage a scene to rescue her from the rebels, so he could return to the palace!"
The Regent thought this was the moment and struck the gong. The fact that Sissair was the enemy he wanted to kill was forgotten in his mind.
He was now intent on blaming Jason for this.
'I have to survive first. I have to avoid execution at all costs!'
Even if it means turning the Grand Duke who was on the same side into an enemy.
The loyalty they shared together was short-lived, and the instinct for immediate survival was greater than anything else.
Where is the man who was threatening her mother and niece and calling for the throne just a moment ago?
People frowned.
At least if he aims for the highest position, he has to show the qualities befitting it.
The Regent's brazen attempt to avoid execution felt almost cowardly.
The people here weren't stupid.
There is no way they wouldn't have noticed that some kind of agreement had been reached between the Regent and the Grand Duke of Katzen.
"Even if you wanted to become King, did you intend to bring in the Grand Duke of Katzen and make our Valdina a vassal state of the Empire?"
Meanwhile, Jason sighed.
Jason wanted to gouge out his own eyes for trying to gain power by joining hands with such a foolish and cunning fool.
"Grand Duke Castullo, admit it. You came to Valdina to take the Princess's as your wife. Since Medea is young and weak, you want to take control of Valdina instead and join the fight for the throne!"
The Regent's was unstoppable.
He did not hesitate to reveal the secret deal between the two if it meant that he could avert his own sin.
"Your Highness the Regent!"
Jason's heart sank.
It was true that he had tried to use the Princess and that he had been after Valdina's back, but he realized that he did not want the Princess to find out about it.
"Oh, no... No..."
Jason turned urgently towards Medea.
"Princess! Surely you don't believe that lie? I just really felt a genuine interest in you. I swear to God that I didn't expect anything in return."
He approached her hesitantly, stretching out his arms. His voice and his eyes toward Medea were both desperate.
But Medea took a step back with an expressionless face.
Because she didn't want Jason's shadow on the floor to overlap with hers.
The glimpse of contempt that passed through her green eyes was fleeting.
But even though they hadn't seen each other for a long time, the blood-related siblings had different personalities.
Peleus noticed that his sister was reluctant to become the Grand Duke's wife.
'Dhea, your incompetent brother has caused you so much suffering.'
From his uncle to the royal family of Katzen.
Peuleus's heart ached as he thought about his sister, who had to go through dangerous schemes and traps alone among the pack of lynxes eyeing Valdina.
Even without that, his blue eyes had become surprisingly cold at the Grand Duke's revelation that he had been after Medea.
Peleus looked at Jason coldly from head to toe.
Now, as long as he exists, the Grand Duke will never be able to set foot on this land again.
Because he had no intention of tolerating the advances of any dirty seed towards his only sister.
Jason also noticed the King's gaze on him. He felt a tingling sensation behind his neck as if he was being targeted by a hunter.
Even among the Agemas, hostility toward Jason grew fiercely.
'That oily Grand Duke of Katzen dares to look down on our Princess! '
After Medea's wit and warning secured victory on the plains, the Princess had long since become an object of respect among them, knowingly or unknowingly.
Jason felt like he was going crazy because there was no solution in sight.
"Your Majesty, there has truly been a misunderstanding."
"Your Highness, can you prove that none of these are true?"
Medea's calm question struck Jason in the heart.
The fake certificate created by the Princess, and now his involvement in the rebellion has been discovered at the scene.
Jason himself knew that empty excuses were of no use.
"Although misunderstandings and mistakes are complicatedly intertwined, I will not escape the damage that Valdina has suffered. I will definitely compensate Valdina later. Enough so that Baldina will not be upset. So that this does not affect the relationship between the two countries-"
"There is no need for that."
Peleus' cool voice rang out.
Jason opened his eyes wide. Was the King believing what he said?
A ray of hope appeared in his red eyes.
"Your Majesty, you cannot let this go like this."
When Cessair, who could not understand his judgment, was forced to step forward, Peleus continued speaking.
"The calculation of the price of life will end here and now."
What does that mean?
Jason had no time to wonder.
Peleus drew his sword.
Slash!
In a place where only the soft sound of cutting through the wind remained.
"Ugh, ugh..."
The knight standing next to Jason fell down. His helmet had a laurel wreath engraved on it.
Those who were watching the scene could not hide their shock.
At that moment, when the sharp, overflowing murderous intent weighed down on his shoulders, his life was over.
"Your Highness, you were captured while helping the rebels, but I'm sure you wouldn't mind losing a single limb if I spared you your life without a single scratch."
Click.
Peleus put his sword back into its scabbard.
Even the simple movements felt reverent.
"However, I will later formally request compensation from the Empire for the Katzen royal family interfering in Valdina's internal affairs and threatening my sister."
His way of gradually pushing his opponent forward, as if this was not the end, resembled that of his blood relatives.
Jason was dumbfounded.
The dead man was the only hermit left to him. Alarm bells rang in his head.
'Did you kill Ost after finding out his true identity? Was the mastermind behind my attack earlier also the King?'
It was unclear whether the cold anger in King's eyes was directed at the one who had targeted his sister, or at the Grand Duke Castullo himself. However, one thing was certain.
The king before his eyes, who had killed the hermit in the blink of an eye was silently warning Jason.
If it weren't for interest, it would have been him.
A shiver ran down Jason's spine.
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