I Just Wanted Revenge, But Everyone Loves Me - Chapter 77
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Episode 77
“That person is…….”
The Emperor’s faction nobles, naturally assuming this was a Bancadium knight, gasped in unison.
It was a woman, not a burly man.
Moreover, she was dressed as a servant.
‘Your Highness, the Crown Prince. Are you all right? Please……please fetch a physician…….’
‘No.’
‘Take this, and search my drawer at once, Charlotte.’
‘And.’
‘Go find Bancadium.’
By any means necessary,
‘It has to be Bancadium. No one else. Only him directly.’
Remarkably, the Crown Prince did not die on impact. He lived long enough to pull the blade from his chest and hand it to his maidservant, giving orders. It was only then that death came.
Cause of death: massive hemorrhage.
When the Crown Prince withdrew the blade embedded in his own chest, he lost far too much blood.
“…….”
“What on earth…….”
The nobles who had watched the Crystal Recording to its end remained trapped in shock.
The images had been far too graphic, after all…….
‘Bancadium wasn’t the culprit?’
The man they had so firmly believed to be guilty had actually been an innocent victim. If the Duke had truly been the killer, the Crown Prince would never have issued that command to fetch him with this evidence in hand.
As the nobles fell silent, Premier Jervan, who had been watching the recording alongside them, exhaled sharply.
‘This madness!’
The maidservant had been alive.
What he’d long suspected, what he’d thought could be smoothed over with simple denial, had exploded into the open.
And now the problem was clear.
It was the Emperor.
The man who had personally reported that the Crown Prince’s maidservant was dead, that there was nothing to worry about.
As Premier Jervan stumbled for a moment,
Veronika drew a sword from her belt. Then she unsheathed a scabbard specially treated with magic—
“That’s—that’s the sword from the recording!”
The first noble to recognize it cried out.
The others had no choice but to react in astonishment.
The blade Veronika had produced was the very one that had been embedded in the Crown Prince’s chest—physical evidence of assassination.
“Thanks to Preservation Magic, there’s some dirt on it, but the Crown Prince’s blood remains. You’ll see if you investigate.”
Veronika returned the blade to its sheath.
Then an Emperor’s faction noble shouted toward the Image Sphere.
“Couldn’t that—couldn’t that be fabricated?”
“Stupid.”
Veronika’s blunt dismissal made the noble’s face flush with humiliation.
“Wh—what!”
“Ah, I apologize. I wasn’t thinking.”
It was an utterly hollow apology, but none dared press the matter.
The situation had reversed in an instant.
“This Image Sphere was a personal gift from the Magic Tower’s Master to the Crown Prince. It’s not shoddy enough to be manipulated, and if it were tampered with, couldn’t we simply send it to the neutral Magic Tower for investigation?”
“…….”
“To prevent any future dispute, it’s best to be certain. The maidservant who brought us this evidence is currently under our protection. It took considerable effort to find her.”
Veronika’s proposal was entirely reasonable.
Given that she had been the subject of the accusation, her desire to have the evidence verified was natural enough.
And she even had a credible witness to produce.
At this point, the nobles began to exchange uncertain glances.
The evidence presented by Bancadium carried more objective credibility than what the Imperial Court had offered.
Once Rodrigo confirmed the room had grown quiet, he turned his gaze to the Emperor.
“Your Majesty.”
Toward the man who had orchestrated this entire spectacle.
“I was imprisoned in Izta’il under false accusation, my house’s honor and reputation dragged through the mud. A Lockdown Order was imposed, I was barred from the Capital’s gates. Bancadium’s retainers were subjected to cruel surveillance and public humiliation.”
“…….”
“And now they speak of me controlling monsters. It seems the quiet Bancadium is an easy target.”
Whoever orchestrated this, truly.
“……Duke.”
The Emperor, swallowing the tremor of his rage, began to speak with difficulty.
“The evidence you’ve presented—I’ve seen it well. Frankly, I’m so shocked right now that I find it difficult to speak. I never thought I would witness the Crown Prince’s final moments like this.”
Having just pursued the man so relentlessly, he now wore the grief of a parent who had seen his son’s last breath.
How repugnant.
“Rather than lingering here, why don’t we share our accounts? There seems to be some misunderstanding between us.”
“Misunderstanding.”
Rodrigo fixed on that single word and let out a cold laugh.
“One misunderstanding and my life has suffered, everyone around me has suffered—”
“…….”
“Yet somehow a single word ties it all up neatly. How convenient.”
“Duke.”
“Very well.”
Let’s see what excuses you can conjure.
Rodrigo answered with such lukewarm disdain, his eyes lifting toward the Magical Beast perched above him.
The creature met the dragon’s gaze and flinched. Its crimson pupils dilated sharply.
And then—
“Screeeee!”
Its head was cleanly severed.
Thud. Thump-thump.
Without so much as a gesture, the severed head of the beast rolled across the floor.
The Aura flowing from the body carried deep killing intent, irritation, and rage in equal measure.
Rodrigo’s mouth curved upward on one side.
“It was getting in the way.”
* * *
‘Jervan Pelton.’
He would deal with that man, one way or another.
Even though he’d said he was dead.
Making such bold claims!
The Emperor, forcing down the rising tide of killing intent, regarded his seated counterpart.
Not a trace of anger, frustration, or anything else—his face was devastatingly serene.
For a man who had worn false charges and endured imprisonment, he was remarkably unperturbed.
That composure had always rankled him.
No matter what transpired, that face standing aloof and untouchable, as if nothing had happened at all—he had never liked it.
“Don’t drag this out. State your point plainly.”
The moment he confirmed the nobles were gone, Rodrigo spoke without restraint.
Others might call it disrespectful, but he was Bancadium.
The power that stood second only to the Imperial Family. An entity that had shared a thousand years of history together.
At that station, such rudeness could easily be forgiven.
The Emperor, irritation rising at such arrogance, quietly clenched his jaw.
“I’d prefer that too, Duke. It’s better this way—no misunderstanding, nothing messy.”
He’d already ordered his knights to burn all the existing evidence.
Fortunately, there were no further grounds to accuse him of anything.
At such bold confidence, Rodrigo let out an amused chuckle. He crossed one long leg over the other and spoke.
“Lift the Lockdown Order at once. Withdraw all suspicions against Bancadium. And tell the Imperial Family’s dogs to stop barking.”
“But Duke, it may be rather difficult to do so immediately.”
“Difficult, is it.”
Then,
“It must have been very easy to decide to isolate Bancadium in the first place?”
“That’s—”
“Regardless of what others might do, you cannot speak such words.”
“…….”
“Your memory has grown poor with age, it seems. To forget the Founding Oath.”
The Founding Oath.
How could one forget it.
That very oath was why he could not kill Bancadium now.
But taking the inverse logic—
“If Bancadium had killed the Crown Prince, I too would have had to die.”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————