Episode 114

“Wait here for a moment. You will be given time to speak.”

“Understood.”

The elderly man seated me at the back of the table.

Then he returned to Lidia’s side and sat down with a solemn expression.

Lidia took a deep breath.

Then, she resumed her cool, monarch-like demeanor to begin the discussion.

In front of her were the people of her homeland, lined up in a row.

And her opponents.

“Let me say this again, no matter what happens to Hakim’s situation, nothing will change.”

Everyone focused on the Princess’s cold statement.

“As the highest-ranking royal and direct descendant of my mother, I will rightfully continue to hold full authority over Samad.”

Upon hearing Lidia’s words, Lady Tilda, a woman with long, braided black hair, crossed her arms.

“Lidia, isn’t your ambition a bit too much? The empire lands you already possess are nearly equal to half of Samad’s population.”

The nobles of Samad nodded in agreement with her words.

Since Lidia and Vanessa had moved to the empire, there were hardly any allies left in their homeland.

“You are already overseeing more than enough land for someone who is not even a king.”

Hakim’s wife countered with ease.

“And even though my husband is under arrest, he’ll be out within five years, right? By then, we can easily hand over the kingdom.”

Lidia scoffed at Tilda’s words.

She raised her chin defiantly, her red eyes sparkling.

“Ha, are you saying now you want a criminal to be the king?”

At the sharp retort of the 19-year-old, Tilda’s eyebrows twitched.

“Watch your words. Unlike Hakim, you haven’t lived in Samad. Even a few years with Hakim is better.”

Tilda raised her finger.

And pointed at her sister-in-law, speaking firmly.

“Do you think you, who have only visited Samad on inspections, can govern it well?”

The lady stood up from her seat.

“Besides, it’s common for royalty to contest the throne. Just because there’s an underground city doesn’t mean there’s been an actual rebellion.”

She spread her arms, seeking support from her allies.

“At most, it’s about unintentionally stealing something from the same royal family (Rea) and failing to manage nearby thieves.”

The lady casually recited Hakim’s charges as if they were trivial.

“How long can you keep Hakim imprisoned for that?”

“……”

Lidia responded with a deadly glare to Tilda’s words.

As if she wanted to order her knights to execute Tilda and her allies right then and there.

“You have the same look as your mother. Just a pretty-faced woman.”

Honestly, the Princess’s power could match that of the entire Samad.

However, there was no justification, and doing so would lose her support from her homeland.

“Lidia, it’s not yet time.”

The elderly man next to her, aware of this fact, quietly advised his granddaughter.

Then, he glanced back at me.

And signaled me with his eyes.

“Show us the ‘item’ you’ve brought.”

“Understood.”

Responding accordingly, I stood up.

Carrying the prepared wooden box, I confidently approached Lidia’s side.

“Vail, what are you thinking?”

Lidia looked at me wearily.

To reassure her, I gave her a slight smile.

“I’ve come to give a gift.”

“Haven’t you already given a gift?”

Lidia pointed to a small red butterfly sitting on her tie.

“Ah, sorry, but this gift is not for the Princess. It’s for Miss Tilda.”

The 3rd Princess looked stunned upon hearing this.

Giving a gift to a woman from an enemy country, not herself.

She looked quite troubled.

Ignoring her, I turned my gaze squarely to Tilda and her entourage.

Next to the lady was the Captain of the Samad Royal Guards.

“Greetings, noble royals of the great Samad.”

And on his arm…

…was a pattern similar to the one on the gift inside my box.

“I am Vail Mikhail, a Defense Knight.”

I approached the conference table.

Then, I bowed respectfully.

“A Defense Knight…? Why is such a low-ranking person here?”

Tilda asked, frowning.

Her aides also looked at me with disdain.

“That’s right, I’m a low-ranking knight.”

I answered her with a broad smile.

“I’m the lowest of the low, patrolling the capital to ensure there are no issues.”

Upon hearing that I had been scouting the area all day, Tilda clenched her mouth shut.

As if she had suddenly become anxious.

“Such a person daring to stand at this meeting must have a valid reason, right?”

Asked the Captain of the guards accompanying Tilda.

“Yes, I captured the perpetrator of last night’s palace terrorist incident.”

Hearing this, the faces of all the royals turned pale.

“That can’t be. I heard only the Crown Prince and Princess Irina made the arrest.”

“Are you daring to lie in front of us now?”

The Eastern royals looked displeased.

They were skeptical of me, who was not at the award ceremony.

“Everything I’m saying is true. I did not attend the award ceremony due to injuries, but I’ve already been separately commended by His Majesty the Emperor.”

I boldly placed the box on the table as I spoke.

Thud!!

“That’s why I personally handed over the body of the criminal.”

The royals all looked at the box I had brought.

“However, during the process of retrieving his body, there were vile individuals trying to sneak it away.”

I opened the lid of the box.

And…

“I’m not sure where they were from, but…”

I pulled out the charred arm of the assassin.

“They tried to hide this.”

I casually tossed the arm onto the table.

The royal women shrieked in shock and retreated.

“Look at the pattern on this arm.”

But Lidia was different.

She stood up and boldly grabbed the corpse’s arm with her bare hands.

“Lidia…”

Her grandfather looked at her with concern.

However, the 3rd Princess, unbothered, noticed the pattern on the arm.

“This is… the insignia of the Samad Kingdom’s Royal Guards, isn’t it?”

“Correct, that’s why I dared to enter this meeting room, suspecting the perpetrator to be someone from the kingdom.”

I stared intently at the Captain of the guards.

And noticed his arm sticking out of his clothes.

“Come to think of it, the captain sitting next to Lady Tilda has the same pattern on his arm.”

Lidia smirked upon hearing my words.

She realized the significance of the gift I brought for Tilda.

“You’ll need to ‘explain’ this.”

I crossed my arms and looked down at the middle-aged man.

The others did the same.

Everyone focused on the Captain of the guards as the center of the incident.

“Ah, this is… The culprit seems to be a disgraced former member of my guards…”

The Captain stroked his beard thoughtfully.

And answered with a forced smile.

“I can’t do anything about the actions of a disgraced knight.”

He was trying to cut off the tail and escape.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at his audacity.

“Oh, is that so? But it seems there are quite a few disgraced knights.”

I shouted firmly, twisting the knife.

“Everyone, come in!”

At my command, sounds of movement came from the direction of the meeting room’s door.

Then, the moment the door opened.

“Excuse us for interrupting the meeting!!”

Two great Eastern knights.

Batsyu and Tau entered.

Accompanied by the one-armed knight.

“…!!”

The sight of his battered subordinate made the Captain’s eyes waver.

I immediately noticed it.

“Captain, are you trying to claim this man is also a disgraced knight?”

As my tone became more forceful, the atmosphere in the room grew colder.

The Captain glared at me with disdain.

“He was the one disguised as an imperial knight. He was caught trying to steal the body and immediately drew his sword at me.”

Tilda’s aides began murmuring among themselves.

As if cracks were forming in their previously solid alliance.

Tilda, distressed, reprimanded the Captain in a low voice.

‘What are we going to do now? You said it would be alright!’

The Captain took a deep breath.

His eyes looked ready to draw his sword and start a fight, realizing the situation was out of control.

“……”

I smiled slyly at him.

And, I clasped my hands together, calming the situation.

“Well, it’s okay.”

With a single phrase, I changed the atmosphere that had been aggravated.

Everyone looked at me with stunned expressions at that one sentence.

“As you all said, maybe the Captain didn’t order this. There’s no clear evidence, right?”

Upon hearing this, the Captain had a hesitant expression.

As if he couldn’t comprehend my sudden leniency.

However, Lidia’s grandfather, a man who had seen many battles, was different.

He looked at me with a peculiar gaze, as if pouring cold water on the heated atmosphere.

“If the Captain didn’t order this, then what purpose would they have for orchestrating such a thing?”

I raised my finger.

And then I shifted the blame for the entire incident from Tilda and the Captain to Hakim.

“The most likely mastermind is someone else. It’s Hakim himself.”

I received the arm of the corpse from Lidia.

“When I captured the leader, I heard him declare, ‘Hakim is the master of the East.’”

Then, I shook it emphatically as I spoke.

“So, isn’t Hakim, not you, the perpetrator of all these events?”

I turned my head.

And asked the sturdy Deputy Commander Batsyu.

“Batsyu, what is the usual punishment for attempting to blow up the imperial palace?”

“It’s the death penalty.”

At the Eastern knight’s firm words, I smiled slightly.

“Fortunately, they don’t execute the entire family, do they?”

I spoke the harsh words with casual ease.

Tilda was left speechless by my demeanor.

“So, you all live, and the issue of succession, the main topic of this meeting, is resolved. Isn’t that good for everyone?”

The Captain had a troubled expression.

Whether to abandon Hakim to save himself and place all the blame on him.

Or accept the charges and be executed for pointless loyalty.

“Why worry so much? Surely, the Emperor wouldn’t actually execute his own son, right?”

For him, I whispered a sweet reassurance.

“At worst, it’ll be life imprisonment, so don’t worry too much.”

Lidia’s aides looked at me disapprovingly, as if I were letting go of a victory they had secured.

But Lidia, sensing the tide of the situation, quietly reprimanded them.

“Everyone, be quiet and wait. There must be a reason for what he’s saying.”

After all, with Hakim gone, there was no one to stop Lidia’s succession to the throne.

Once their symbol, the Prince, disappeared, their driving force would dissipate on its own.

So, it was wiser to give them a chance to live rather than provoke them to incite a civil war.

‘As expected, our Princess is very smart.’

“Well then, now there’s only one successor to the throne of Samad left.”

I looked at Tilda with a satisfied expression.

The lady bowed her head.

Her clenched fists were trembling madly.

“It seems better for you to step back for now…”

As the Captain whispered, Hakim’s wife took a deep breath.

And through her disheveled hair, she glared at me as if she wanted to kill me.

Was it anger over not being able to retrieve her husband?

‘Absolutely not.’

If she truly loved her husband as a wife, she wouldn’t have accepted this situation.

She would have repented of her mistakes and acknowledged her crimes.

That was the only way Hakim would survive.

But.

Tilda was only using Hakim for her own power, nothing more.

So, she had no choice but to abandon Hakim easily.

‘In the end, she was just a pawn in the Crown Prince’s self-made drama, unable to endure for five years.’

The lady’s black eyes quivered as she looked at me.

Her expression seemed to wonder where such a cunning person had come from.

A strange and foreign person who had suddenly appeared.

As if looking at the guardian deity of the royal family, she shuddered.

“You… I will definitely remember this…!”

Tilda shouted in a cracking voice.

Then, she stood up and left the conference room indifferently.

Staying any longer would only expose her own treacherous actions.

The Captain of the guards followed her out.

He glanced at me and then passed by indifferently.

I respectfully bowed to the departing man.

And inwardly, I smiled slyly.

‘So be it. After today, I won’t have to deal with the East again.’

Now, Lidia is the only ruler of Samad.

Following Tilda and the Captain, the royals and nobles exited in a line.

As a result, only Lidia’s supportive relatives remained in the conference room.

“Thank you so much for your help.”

The leading Duke among them approached me.

“Because of you, my granddaughter’s position has been solidified.”

The elderly man looked deeply moved, as if I had accomplished something great.

“I merely returned the lost item to its rightful owners.”

I bowed respectfully to the former ruler of the East.

“No, it may have been just a lost item to you, but it was a crucial card to oust Tilda.”

Lidia also approached me gently.

And, unlike her usual cunning demeanor, she smiled sincerely.

“Yes, Vail. I’m truly grateful.”

The youngest daughter coughed awkwardly, as if it was uncomfortable for her to see her family and me together.

“I’ll arrange a separate reward for you later…”

As we were about to conclude the situation…

“What are you saying?”

The Duke chuckled and interjected between Lidia and me.

“Since we’re all here, how about we have a meal together?”

Upon hearing this, Lidia was startled by her grandfather’s words.

“What? Grandfather, what are you saying…?!”

“Hehheh, we Easterners never forget the favor of those who have helped us.”

Inviting a foreigner to dine together in Samad.

It was a very rare occurrence.

“Everyone agrees, right?”

The Duke was looking at his relatives.

At his question, everyone nodded their heads.

However, their eyes all seemed to carry a subtle sense of wariness.

“There hasn’t been a decent man among those who showed interest in Lidia… but this time, he seems promising.”

Lidia’s uncle and the military commander of Samad looked at me with a fierce gaze.

His muscular body with dark skin was covered in numerous intimidating scars.

Like a fierce, large leopard.

“Yes, I’m curious to see how talented he is.”

Lidia’s aunt and the leader of Samad’s trading guild also smiled broadly.

However, there was a strange ferocity in her smile.

Like a cunning female leopard.

“Well, isn’t he a bit too lean to protect my sister? This guy caught my sister’s interest?”

Lidia’s cousin and an officer of Samad also looked at me with a cold gaze.

Like a young leopard just awakening to its wild nature.

“Uh….”

I instinctively felt fear under their gaze.

“Can’t I just go home?”

Unconsciously, I found myself taking a step back.

Then, the Duke subtly blocked my way out.

“Of course not. Are you saying I shouldn’t even have a chance to show my gratitude?”

The Duke asked me in a sly tone.

His relatives behind him gave me cold stares.

As if saying, how dare I ignore the Duke’s goodwill!

‘This is dangerous… I just came to return a lost item. How did it turn into this…?!’

Lidia watched intently as I was dragged along by the Duke.

It was like a desert fox being dragged into a leopard’s den.

“Lidia… do I really have to go…?!”

The Princess played with one of her twin braids, avoiding my gaze.

“Well… I can’t do anything against my grandfather’s command either.”

As if she secretly desired such a situation.

“There’s no way I can help.”