I Became the Keeper of a Suspicious Forest - Chapter 84

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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 84

Sionel stared intently at his younger brother, and Aren’s eyes wavered as he looked at his older brother.

However, he didn’t avoid his gaze like before.

If he wanted to move forward, Aren had the responsibility to face his sins. He knew that fact well.

“Why are you here?”

Aren shifted his eyes. Gideon was looking at him with a gaze that was completely incomprehensible.

“I told Roen everything about what Uncle did to my brother.”

Gideon’s eyes darkened.

He recognized the two documents that Aren was holding.

They were employment contracts he had kept stored under his study desk.

One was for the Ducal House servants, and the other was for the personal assassins he had contracted.

The very existence of those contracts was decisive evidence that he was the mastermind behind the assassins.

Aren was the only one who could enter his study in the Ducal House without permission.

It was something he had allowed.

Gideon had wanted to appear especially close to his nephews even in the manor, and had given permission for them to come to his study anytime.

There were no servants who would be suspicious of Aren entering and leaving his study when he wasn’t there.

The proof was that Gideon hadn’t heard about Aren’s visits until now.

Though he hadn’t expected that Aren, of all people, would betray him.

“Do you know what you’ve just done?”

“…I know. I stopped Uncle from killing my brother.”

Aren looked down at Gideon.

His hair was disheveled, and his shirt collar was crumpled carelessly. His usually refined eyes were brimming with negative emotions.

Gideon, who had seemed so immensely large and perfect to Aren, was now sitting before him showing such vulnerability.

Gideon looked up at Aren and opened his mouth.

“You abandoned your brother in this very place, and now you’re trying to abandon me?”

“…”

“This is the second time you’re abandoning family. No wait, since you stayed silent even knowing I killed your birth parents, would this be the third time?”

Aren had always been at a loss for words at Gideon’s every statement. He would accept his words without thinking for himself.

Gideon calculated.

Even though the situation had come to this, Aren would soon be swayed by him again this time too.

Like a doll that thinks nothing and only listens to his words.

“I gave you an opportunity. Please don’t throw it away.”

“I!”

For the first time, Aren raised his voice in front of him.

Aren caught his breath and spoke slowly.

“I never wanted such an opportunity, not for a single moment.”

“…”

“I never intended to drive my brother to death with my own hands and then live well as if nothing happened. I just… wanted us to be happy.”

Whether Gideon was included in the ‘us’ that Aren spoke of didn’t matter. He contorted his expression.

“How is that happiness? Then you’d have to live your entire life hidden behind your brother’s shadow and eventually be cast out from the family.”

“…”

“Such complacent thinking is what keeps you as a loser.”

Sionel stopped Aren from stepping forward toward him.

“That’s enough now.”

He knew that Aren was pushing himself too hard. It stemmed from self-loathing and guilt about himself.

Sionel stepped forward and bowed his head.

“After today, you won’t be able to set foot in this manor even once. You’ll end your life without ever becoming a proper head of the Ducal House.”

“…”

“I won’t kill you now. You have something you fear more than death, don’t you.”

Gideon had a strong need for recognition. Even though he had risen to the highest position in the Ducal House where he no longer needed to be evaluated by anyone, he was still like that.

So what would truly destroy Gideon would be everyone turning their backs on him.

Sionel spoke gently.

“Soon the entire world will know your true nature. How does that feel.”

While saying he wouldn’t kill him, seeing those eyes glittering with murderous intent, Gideon laughed.

“I was wrong in my thinking.”

Gideon opened his eyes hazily and grabbed Sionel’s shoulder.

His subordinates who had been watching him quickly pulled him away, but only Sionel remained in Gideon’s eyes.

“You don’t resemble your brother, you resemble me.”

“….”

“No matter how hard you try to pretend to be kind, in the end you won’t be able to give your heart to anyone. That’s why you can act so unperturbed even after bringing me to my knees, the one who raised you all this time.”

“….”

“Even though I may have given you the pretext for revenge, you would have killed me someday anyway. Because you’re someone who can do anything to achieve what you want.”

Sionel listened silently to the curse-like words.

“Just wait and see. You’ll agree with my words someday. It might not be long from now.”

When Roen signaled, his subordinates moved.

Gideon was dragged away by them.

All traces of Gideon, who had been the proxy of the Devonham Duchy for 13 years, disappeared from the manor.

* * *

A month passed.

During that time, the Devonham Duchy announced two shocking pieces of news.

First was the news of Sionel Devonham’s survival and return.

Second was Gideon Devonham’s assassination plot.

Sionel, who had returned dramatically, immediately sent out articles throughout the entire Empire.

He went to the Imperial Palace to request a noble trial, and the Emperor accepted it.

The Emperor, who had initially subtly sided with Gideon saying they should wait and see how things developed, soon changed his stance.

Upon confirming the decisive evidence of the assassination attempt, he could not refuse the request for a trial from Sionel, the victim.

Rather than trying to save the rapidly falling Gideon, he calculated that Sionel, who was still just a young man, would be easier to handle.

Even before the trial began, most nobles did not believe in Gideon’s criminal acts.

The newspapers even wrote suspicions that Sionel might be trying to frame Gideon out of greed to inherit the dukedom.

However, once the trial began, the atmosphere completely changed.

Adam’s confession, who had long served as the ducal house butler, and the testimonies of the assassins caught by Sionel all pointed to Gideon as the culprit.

And the employment contracts Gideon had made with them clearly revealed that he had conspired for Sionel’s death.

The shock didn’t end there.

The names of the two assassins in the employment contract were the same as those who had caused the carriage accident of the deceased former ducal couple.

However, since they couldn’t even confirm whether the two assassins were alive or dead, they couldn’t uncover the truth about the carriage accident.

But outside, everyone was talking about the truth.

The charges against Gideon were conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder.

However, as everyone was outraged about the former ducal couple’s case, the Emperor delivered a verdict that matched the fierce public opinion.

It was the first death sentence handed down to a noble in the Empire’s history, an unprecedented case.

That night after the trial ended.

“It’s Roen.”

Roen entered the study with permission. Sionel was looking out the window when he asked.

“What about Ponia?”

Roen bowed his head.

“We still haven’t found her. I’m sorry.”

When Sionel, who had been at death’s door, barely regained consciousness, he asked Roen.

“What about Ponia?”

Upon learning that Roen had ignored his orders, he gave the command again.

To find her no matter what.

It was an order given before anything about the assassins Gideon had hired.

Roen deployed people to search for Ponia.

However, only the corpses of the assassins Gideon had hired remained in Mirban Forest.

Ponia was not at the Harbel Family, her family home either.

The people at the office that had employed her, and Jerome the forest guide, also didn’t know her whereabouts.

As if she had vanished from this world.

Sionel recalled his last moment with her.

Ponia must be alive.

She had survived in the forest teeming with monsters. She had saved him as well.

So, she must have safely escaped the forest.

But why couldn’t he find her even after a month had passed.

He was anxious.

What if this current situation was Ponia’s choice.

What if she wasn’t including him in her future. Then, what should he do.

“Roen.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Find Ponia by any means necessary.”

He could no longer imagine daily life without her.

* * *

“Newspaper! Today’s newspaper!”

Early in the morning, a boy appeared in the Town Square carrying an armful of newspapers and shouted.

The boy, who had been selling newspapers at a moderate pace, spotted someone and quickly approached.

“Here, here’s your newspaper!”

Ponia crossed her arms at the hand extended as if it were natural, expressing her bewilderment.

“I didn’t say I wanted one.”

“But you buy one every day, sis. You’re going to buy it anyway, so I came over.”

That was true. Ponia paid the coins and took the newspaper.

Reading the newspaper, she entered a Small House around the Town Square. Ponia discovered a notable article and brightened up.

She immediately went up to the Second Floor and cut the middle of the newspaper with scissors. Then, she opened a thick notebook.

Other articles were scattered on both sides.

Duke Devonham’s son, dramatic survival!

The young lord found injured in Mirban Forest was…

Is Gideon Devonham behind the assassination attempt on Duke Devonham’s son?

According to what the victim, Duke Devonham’s son, directly revealed at the Imperial Palace…

Final verdict, Gideon Devonham sentenced to death…

For conspiracy and attempted murder of Duke Devonham’s son…

Sionel Devonham inherits the Devonham Earldom!

Two months after Gideon Devonham’s sentencing, he inherited the Devonham Earldom…

She looked at the articles organized in chronological order, then looked at today’s article again.

Duke Devonham receives Mirban Forest as a grant from the Emperor…

Mirban Forest has been owned by the Imperial Court for the past 52 years…

She couldn’t take her eyes off the words ‘Mirban Forest.’

The monster-infested forest where she had lived for over three months.

The fact that it had become Sionel’s property meant he was receiving the Imperial Court’s trust, but it could also be interpreted differently.

One year after Sionel returned to the Capital, he was finally standing at the starting point of the novel.

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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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