Excuses

As far as I could see, the chancellor’s expression was no different from the stern expression I had seen over the past few days, but judging from the way he stood frozen at the entrance to the conference room, he did not seem calm.

Well, that was only natural… After all, a member of his own faction had, for some incomprehensible reason, charged in armed while his own country’s king and another country’s king were holding a tea party.

This was not a matter of a blunder or anything like that. It was normally a cause for war, and from the Lufelon Holy Kingdom’s perspective, it would probably become a matter of beheading everyone involved and apologizing.

By the way, when the chancellor entered this room, it seemed like he had been about to tell Efaria and the regent something… but what was he trying to say?

It felt like he froze when he saw me… or rather, Kiriku.

While Efaria and I were having our tea party, it seemed Kiriku and the chancellor had been holding some sort of meeting… Did he perhaps threaten him or something?

Even now, he clearly seemed wary of Kiriku… no, conscious of him.

“Chancellor. I believe you have already heard, but just a moment ago, I was attacked. The fools who tried to harm me and even harm the king of Einheria, who is an honored guest of the state… make my head hurt so badly that I feel nothing at all anymore, but unfortunately, they are nobles of our country.”

“Yes…”

The chancellor listened to Efaria’s words without taking a seat.

“And those people seem to be ones you have been looking after. Marquis Afron, Viscount Zackle, Baron Munuru, Baron Rogai… The destruction of their houses and the execution of their entire families and followers have already been decided. Do you have any objections?”

“I could not possibly have any. This is the crime of treason against the state. Execution is only natural.”

The chancellor answered without the slightest pause.

Hmm, what was he thinking…? I could not tell.

As expected, it seemed impossible to have Kiriku quietly explain it to me here… For now, I would put on a knowing look, or rather, an expression of composure.

“If possible, would you entrust the interrogation of those insolent people to me?”

“You should understand better than anyone whether that is possible.”

“…My apologies.”

Efaria, who glanced sideways at the chancellor with a sharp expression, had an intensity far removed from the size of her body and her age.

“Now then, Chancellor… no, Rigaro-Rangas. I want to spare us the trouble here. So I will ask you directly. Why did you betray the country?”

“What might you mean? Your Holy Majesty, I am the chancellor… To serve the country and develop the country is my duty. It is regrettable to suddenly be accused of betrayal. It is true that this time, those I had been looking after committed an outrageous act. As chancellor, I admit that I failed to manage those who belonged to my faction, but I myself have never harbored rebellious intent.”

On the chancellor’s face as he calmly played dumb, there was no sign of agitation at all… If we had not obtained information until now, I really could not imagine thinking this person had betrayed the country.

No, that was wrong… This guy had not betrayed the Lufelon Holy Kingdom. He had been an enemy from the very beginning… That was Kiriku’s opinion.

Since he had not been serving the Lufelon Holy Kingdom in the first place, did that mean he had never harbored rebellious intent…? No, taking a salary from the Lufelon Holy Kingdom and saying that was far too shameless.

“No rebellious intent, you say… I think how good it would have been if I could innocently believe those words. You worked for the Holy Kingdom for many years and accomplished many achievements… But I cannot allow you to remain free any longer.”

“…Your Holy Majesty, I do not know what Einheria told you, but… the ones aiming for this country now are those people.”

The chancellor said that and cast his gaze toward us.

“Oh, Sir Rangas. We are the ones who find it regrettable to have baseless suspicion cast upon us.”

Saying that, Kiriku showed a bright smile unlike the ones he usually showed.

Incidentally, I was struggling not to react at all.

“As I have said many times, we came to form friendly relations with the Lufelon Holy Kingdom.”

“Hmph… Spare me the farce. The treaty your side proposed… This rebellion began with that treaty. You brought out a treaty that could never possibly be accepted in order to shake us and make us erupt, did you not?”

“We had no such intent. We made those clauses thinking only of how both of our nations could develop further.”

“You say that so brazenly… Your Holy Majesty, I believe you most likely made a secret agreement that Einheria would become your backing, eliminate us… and after obtaining real power, conclude a formal treaty anew, but that is Einheria’s trap!”

The chancellor took his gaze off Kiriku and spoke to Efaria in a stronger tone.

Hmm… We had promised to eliminate the chancellor’s faction and secure real power, and the treaty was something to deal with after settling the matter of the chancellor’s faction… but what did he mean by trap?

A trap to bring down the chancellor’s faction…? That was not what he meant, right? There would be no meaning in telling Efaria that.

“Most likely, Einheria manipulated Marquis Afron… no, the former marquis and the others, and made them attack themselves! Their skill was splendid. They truly stirred up the marquis’s group’s sense of crisis and manipulated them well. They joined hands with Your Holy Majesty and thrust absurd terms upon us… especially something like the abolition of the aristocratic system. Since they had already come to an agreement with Your Holy Majesty, those men were driven into a situation where they had no choice but to move… and as a result, they took such short-sighted action.”

Oh… So the abolition of the aristocratic system, which had not existed when we decided the treaty’s contents back home, was added to the clauses in order to lure the chancellor’s faction… I see.

I had heard from Kiriku that the abolition of the aristocratic system would not be passed, but it had to be included… So it had not merely been to shake them up, but had the clear objective of making the foolish children erupt.

…I was truly glad Kiriku was one of my children.

“It is true that my faction will lose power due to those people’s rampage. Naturally, responsibility lies with me as the head of the faction, and I have no objection to that. However, the decision to harm Your Holy Majesty was by no means the will of the entire faction! As the head of the faction, I intend to take responsibility, but please… I beg you to hear my final words as chancellor!”

It seemed like quite an admirable attitude, but… considering the chancellor’s aim, he had not given up, had he…?

What was he thinking? How did he intend to steer this conversation?

“…”

Perhaps unable to grasp the chancellor’s aim, just like me, Efaria silently looked at the chancellor.

“Your Holy Majesty. Do you think Einheria… a nation that invades other countries and devotes itself to territorial expansion, would be satisfied with merely concluding a treaty with the Lufelon Holy Kingdom? That is impossible. This time, Einheria secretly manipulated members of my faction and made them attack their own king while he was conversing pleasantly with Your Holy Majesty… They obtained a just cause to declare war on the Lufelon Holy Kingdom! Most likely, in their homeland, they have already raised an army to invade us.”

…No, we had not raised one.

Huh? Kiriku had prepared an army or something… There was no way he had, right? Yes.

As expected, there was no way he would proceed with that without reporting to me.

“Sir Rangas… Perhaps you are prepared to die, but that is somewhat too extreme an argument, and those words may damage our friendship.”

Contrary to those words, Kiriku was smiling.

No matter how one looked at this from any angle, it only looked like Kiriku had been plotting exactly what the chancellor had said…

“At this point… there is nothing I can do. I merely believe that I cannot allow the Lufelon Holy Kingdom to be trampled underfoot while I watch idly.”

“I see… That sounds like quite a noble thought. By the way, changing the subject, Sir Rangas, it seems you are quite close with the Kingdom of Sorakil. You seem to have sent messengers there yesterday and today in succession.”

“…”

“Well, putting yesterday aside, it seems today’s messenger was not sent by your will…”

Kiriku said that to the chancellor while shrugging, but the chancellor’s face did not twitch at all.

“We also very much wanted to hear what they had to say, so we borrowed a little of the messenger’s time… and heard quite an interesting story.”

“…”

“Apparently, the next Holy King has been decided? My, despite the current Holy King not even having reached adulthood yet, that is rather hasty.”

The chancellor showed no reaction at all to Kiriku’s lines… This person also had extraordinary mental fortitude… To me, it looked like no agitation was showing on the surface at all… but could Kiriku read this person’s emotions too?

“It is a good thing for a successor to be decided early… I do not think the situation is so pressing that a distantly related prince must be called from another country, but well, it is not a matter for someone from another country to comment on. Ah, we will refrain from sending a congratulatory envoy, but that is all right, yes?”

“Rigaro-Rangas. Since when did you become someone in a position to decide the next Holy King?”

“…”

Efaria questioned the chancellor in an unbelievably cold voice.

That intensity made even me, who was not the target of it, feel my lower body tighten.