'Insolent...'
The Crown Prince clenched his fists. Despite being younger than him and a subject, Dante had never been polite to the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince quietly ground his teeth.
'A bastard!'
The Emperor sighed and shook his head.
"Then I will leave first. My heart has grown weak as I grow older... Take care, Duke. I will wait and see."
"I will stay here."
The Crown Prince lifted his chin.
"Since we are punishing the ringleader of the rebellion, one of us, Father or I, will have to watch."
"Do as you wish."
Dante answered with disinterested eyes, walked over to the prisoner, and removed the gag. The prisoner, whose mouth was now open, glared at Dante, panting harshly.
"Kill, kill me. I have nothing more to say."
"I have something to hear."
Dante said, lightly twirling the dagger he had drawn.
"Tell me who is behind this."
"..!"
The prisoner's eyes widened as if they were going to tear apart. Dante spoke again.
"Who ordered you to kill Eduardo Lopez?"
"I said I had nothing more to say... ugh!"
In an instant, the cold blade of the dagger was lowered onto the prisoner's Adam's apple. The prisoner glared at Dante as if he was going to kill him, shuddering with fear.
"Just kill me, you dirty murderer! You're like a human butcher!"
They both had blood on their hands, but unlike Dante, who had a just cause to put the rightful Emperor on the throne, the man said he killed people for fun. It was widely rumored that he had voluntarily thrown himself into a battle with barbarians that no noble would support because it was too dangerous, and that he wanted to see more bloodshed.
"I have nothing to say to someone like you who kills people for pleasure- ugh."
The prisoner swallowed his breath as the knife was thrust between his legs.
Crack.
The knife cut through the iron chair with an eerie sound.
"As you said, I'm used to butchering people."
Dante warned in a low voice, gripping the handle of the knife.
"I know exactly where you'll die and babble your secrets."
Creak, creak...
The knife advanced further between the prisoner's legs.
"Hee, hee...!"
A desperate fear flashed in the prisoner's eyes. Wrong. He wouldn't be able to leave this room alive. At least not in a human-like manner.
"Tell me who's behind you."
Dante commanded softly. The prisoner's eyes shock as if there had been an earthquake. Fear was clearly engraved upon them. Despite this, the prisoner only trembled with his tightly shut mouth, not opening it. As if a greater fear existed beyond.
"What?"
Dante narrowed his brows. His trembling eyes were afraid of something other than himself. But in the end, nothing takes precedence over the fear right before his eyes. It was the moment when Dante gripped the knife tightly.
"I, I, I will!"
The prisoner, who had stared in horror at the knife that had dug all the way between his legs, shut his eyes tightly and shouted. He gave up sooner than expected. He was a weakling for a man in the action brigade. Of course, it was a good thing for Dante.
The red gaze glanced at the clock. About twenty minutes had passed since he had left Ariana behind. The prisoner opened his mouth, trembling miserably.
"Bah, bah. The culprit is, phe..."
At that moment, Dante turned around. And at the same time, bang. A spear that had come flying from the direction Dante had turned pierced the prisoner's Adam's apple.
"Cough, bang..."
The prisoner's eyes widened, he vomited blood several times and soon died.
"Huh, huff, what the heck. Chase him! There's an intruder!"
The imperial knight commander who had been watching rallied his soldiers in terror. Dante wiped the blood off his clothes with a disgusted expression. The assassin's presence was already quickly receding.
"Th, the culprit is, Fe..."
The last words the prisoner was about to utter. Dante could easily guess what followed.
'Ferzen Lopez! The son-in-law of the Lopez family, and Ariana's biological father.'
He had guessed that he was the one behind the scenes. As a result of the investigation, it was said that a week before the day the Lopez family died in a 'carriage accident', the Lopez Count's residence was turned upside down. It was because it was revealed that Ferzen Lopez was having an affair and had even fathered a daughter with a mistress.
At that time, Eduardo Lopez was said to have become unusually angry and threatened to divorce her immediately. Ferzen, a commoner, would have had to give up all the treatment he received as a noble if he had been divorced. He must have wanted to prevent the divorce at all costs. However, he could not be persuaded at all, and in the end, he killed his father-in-law and his wife before the divorce was granted...
That was Dante's guess.
'That wasn't all.'
Dante slowly looked back. An accomplice was hiding in this palace.
"W-what the hell is going on?! What the hell is the palace security like!"
The Crown Prince was running wild and yelling at the knights.
"My, my lord."
Rio approached with a bewildered face.
"What should we do? Are you going to chase them?"
The knights were already chasing them, but given Dante's personality, there was a possibility that he would move himself.
"No."
Dante said, taking off his blood-stained coat.
"I'm going back to Ariana."
***
"The Duchess has moved to see the art festival."
Dante turned his head toward the east corridor. The art festival held in the palace on National Foundation Day was largely divided into two parts.
Music festival. And art festival. Unlike the music festival that started around sunset, the art festival was open from the daytime. Therefore, the east corridor of the main palace where the art festival was held was crowded with people.
Rio looked around and thought.
'But I'll be able to find our mistress soon.'
Of course, she was someone who stood out no matter where she was. Now that he knew that an assassin had broken in, he was worried about Ariana, who would be alone. Of course, she wasn't exactly 'alone. The guards hiding throughout the palace would have been guarding her tightly. If something had happened to Ariana, they would have reported it long ago.
While thinking that, Rio felt his heart grow impatient and turned his head around. Soon, Rio's gaze stopped at a certain place.
'Why are there so many people there?'
He was curious that one side of the hallway was particularly crowded with people.
"...Are you scared?"
"I repeat, I... "
He could hear the voices of a man and a woman. Judging from the strangely excited tone of their voices, it seemed that there had been a slight conflict. What's going on?
Rio lifted his heels slightly. Since he was taller than the others, he could see right through the crowd with just a little bit of tiptoeing. Rio's eyes widened as he looked inside.
Standing at the center of the commotion was the lady he had been desperately searching for, Ariana.
***
Ariana's reason for visiting the art festival was simple. The painting that Princess Katarina was exhibiting this year would sell for a huge price in three years. She wanted to see it in advance. It would be even better if she could buy it.
'I don't know if Her Highness the Princess will try to sell it to me.'
The Princess, who had left with a bright red face that day, never showed up in front of Ariana again. However, it seemed that she had looked into ways to annul a marriage. It seemed that she had not completely given up on her first love.
'Then I guess she still doesn't have good feelings for me.'
In any case, now was the right time to appreciate the Princess's paintings. After the sun began to set and the music festival began, things were going to get quite noisy.
'It was a lyrical landscape.'
The painting that the Princess was exhibiting this year was a tranquil landscape that was peaceful enough to just look at. As she was walking around the hallway, imagining the green that was soothing to the eyes.
"Your Highness! Oh, how could you have painted such a provocative and obscene picture!"
A small commotion was heard from afar. Ariana turned her head toward the direction of the sound and slowly opened her eyes wide. Princess Katarina was chewing the inside of her mouth in embarrassment.
"Why are you all doing this? You boring old farts!"
The empire did not treat women's art well, but even so, if she was a Princess, they would show at least a little respect. That's why Katarina's painting was revealed to the public with quite a bit of attention. However, the moment the attendant pulled down the cloth covering the painting.
"Oh, my goodness."
"What is this...!"
The two nobles standing in the front muttered in shock. The work Katarina had submitted this year was a painting of a man and a woman kissing passionately.
"Your Highness! Oh, how could you have painted such a provocative and obscene picture!"
Count Horace, who was expected to be the first to inherit the title of Master Musician since Eduardo Lopez, who had been called the Master of Imperial Music for nearly ten years, said with a frown.
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