For the heart - Chapter 54

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 54

Tern Puaco was someone who had joined the knighthood a few years ago.

He didn’t have any particularly outstanding skills compared to other knights, so he remained a regular knight, but Count Puaco had repeatedly requested that his nephew be promoted to senior knight.

It was within Nina’s authority as the knight commander, but she had consistently ignored those requests.

Nina realized that Count Puaco was behind this incident.

She knew that Count Puaco was desperate to frame her for the murder of his daughter, but she hadn’t expected him to go this far.

Moreover, the ambushers weren’t targeting me, but Casian.

“What reason does Count Puaco have for targeting Duke Montregger instead of me?”

“….”

At Nina’s question, Tern Puaco clamped his mouth shut.

“I know you weren’t targeting me. Answer obediently while I’m asking nicely.”

As soon as Nina finished speaking, blood flowed from between his lips.

“Damn it!”

Tern had bitten his tongue.

As if he had expected this, Casian, who had been watching Tern, immediately approached and grabbed the back of his neck.

Though it was a rough gesture, he was clearly channeling healing power into him.

Tern’s eyes widened as he looked up at Casian in confusion.

“Don’t think about dying before answering the Princess’s question. There’s someone here who will keep you alive no matter what you do.”

Casian pulled out the dagger that was tucked in Tern’s waistband and brought it before Tern’s eyes. Then he forcefully plunged the blade into Tern’s thigh.

“Aaaahhh—!”

“There were about ninety arrows shot at the Princess and me. I’ll stab you that many times for now. While keeping you alive just before you die.”

Tern glared at Casian before him and gritted his teeth.

Reading this as a challenge to go ahead and try, Casian smirked and pulled out the knife he had stuck in the thigh.

Blood gushed out from the gaping red wound.

“Argh!”

When he immediately thrust the knife into the same spot again, Tern collapsed to the side, gasping for breath.

One of the men, thinking that if Tern didn’t talk, they would all end up in the same state, crawled forward on his knees and spoke.

“I, I’ll tell you everything! We, we really didn’t know, Your Grace! A while ago, some man asked us to gather people who could shoot arrows. We only heard it was a job to deal with traitors of Arsed!”

Sobbing, the terrified man burst into tears.

He had never imagined that the people they had shot arrows at were the Princess of Arsed and her dedicated healer.

“We received the ambush request in advance, and that guy appeared and told us to shower arrows only at the man, not the woman, when he gave the signal! We really thought they were traitors interfering with Arsed’s continental unification!”

The man prostrated himself before the duke who was looking at him coldly. Then all the other men also buried their heads in the ground, begging.

Except for Tern, all those who participated in the attack were citizens of the Blanche Duchy.

As if his dignity had been completely crushed, the duke’s expression turned ice cold.

“How truly disappointing. To think that citizens of the Blanche Duchy are this pathetic. Do you even know how many treaties between Blanche and Arsed you’ve violated?”

“We, we have committed a mortal sin, Your Grace!”

“Please spare us, Your Grace!”

Realizing their lives were in danger, the men turned pale and wailed.

But the offended duke turned away from them and approached Nina.

“I am deeply ashamed, Your Highness. I will handle this as you wish. If you order me to behead them all here, I will do so immediately.”

At the duke’s cold voice, everyone’s eyes turned to Nina.

Nina shook her head.

“Now that the mastermind is clear, unnecessary killing is not needed. If you were to take the lives of duchy citizens over a matter caused by Arsed, you would feel uncomfortable too, Your Grace.”

“Ah… You’re stirring my heart until the very end before leaving, Your Highness.”

With a wistful sigh, his eyes looking at Nina softened.

Nina couldn’t understand what he meant.

Stirring his heart.

She thought he was expressing his gratitude for not being harsh in a very strange way.

Even that was only brief.

She was busy calculating in her head what would be advantageous for her when she returned to Arsed with Tern alive.

Count Puaco, who wanted to frame me for murder, had tried to kill Casian instead of me.

Though she had a rough idea, it seemed she would need to ask directly to get an answer.

* * *

When Nina and Casian departed for Arsed, Duke Blanche dispatched a special envoy along with them.

The special envoy included three people from the duchy who had participated in the attack as witnesses, and Tern Puaco was bound and loaded into a carriage so he could never commit suicide during the journey.

A diplomatic envoy was also included to defend against the treaty violation issues.

When they arrived in Arsed.

Count Puaco was shocked to see his nephew carried in like luggage with his hands and feet bound.

He hadn’t expected it to fail.

The diplomatic envoy from the Blanche Duchy immediately had an audience with Emperor Rainer Arsed, and Rainer summoned Count Puaco with a furious expression.

“Count Puaco! What on earth do you think you’re doing?! To commit such acts not in Arsed, but in the Blanche Duchy territory!”

“….”

“Say something!”

Count Puaco, who had been keeping his mouth shut at the Emperor’s outburst, spoke in a resigned voice.

“Since she killed my daughter, I wanted to kill Princess Nina too. But since she has an immortal body and won’t die, I tried to eliminate at least the healer who treats the Princess.”

“How frustrating! Isn’t an investigation ongoing! We even caught a witness who saw Nina that day, so how could you act so rashly! You know well how fox-like Duke Blanche is! Who knows what the duke will demand using this incident as leverage.”

“What does it matter if you caught them. They just keep repeating the same thing like a madman.”

Rainer pressed his hand to his forehead as if he had a headache.

His anger was half an act.

In truth, he didn’t want to lose Puaco.

He was already tacitly condoning the framing of Nina for murder.

On the day he heard news of the Six Small Nations’ fall, his calculations were already complete.

‘Now that continental unification has been achieved, there won’t be much need for Nina for a while. I can keep her in prison for a few years until Count Puaco’s anger subsides, then take her out and use her when needed.’

But who would have thought he’d pull such an outrageous stunt.

As Rainer pondered deeply, a faint smile that Count Puaco couldn’t detect played across his face.

“How about this? It does seem Nina killed your daughter. The man in prison keeps saying the same thing, but anyway, it’s a consistent story that he saw Nina, isn’t it?”

Count Puaco looked at the Emperor without speaking.

Though the story was consistent, it lacked context and proper interrogation hadn’t even been conducted, so there was no way that testimony would be accepted.

“The judge presiding over this case isn’t accepting the testimony though.”

“….”

“What you’ve done this time is certainly a nationally troublesome matter. You’ll acknowledge that much, won’t you?”

Though it was a reprimand, the Emperor’s voice was soft enough to feel gentle.

Only then did Count Puaco respond.

“Yes.”

“Hand over your account books to me. And you will withdraw from Imperial Treasury affairs going forward. If you promise to bury what has happened, I’ll hold a public trial in the town square by imperial decree. So that Nina’s murder charge can be announced to all the empire’s citizens. Your daughter’s injustice must be resolved, mustn’t it?”

Seeing Count Puaco’s tightly pressed lips tremble slightly, a vile satisfaction spread across the Emperor’s face.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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