I Just Wanted Revenge, But Everyone Loves Me - Chapter 78

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 78
The moment those who swore the Founding Oath kill one another, they receive retribution.
This was a fact known to anyone who understood the true nature of the oath.
“Just look at those blue eyes still gleaming with life, and you know it. Not only you, but the Temple and the Magic Tower must know as well.”
The Temple, perhaps.
But the Magic Tower, for reasons unknown, had likewise refrained from mentioning the Founding Oath.
“Whether the Magic Tower was complicit or not hardly matters.”
What mattered at this moment was simple enough.
“The conclusion is merely that I did not kill the Crown Prince.”
…….
“That’s why you sent me to Iztail and sought to isolate Bancadium. If you had me executed, you too would suffer the consequence.”
How much easier it would have been if the Crown Prince could have been dealt with by assassination, as with so many others. The Emperor was surely still turning that thought over in his mind.
“Isolation? If that were my aim, Duke, would I have stopped at a mere Blockade Order?”
“Because a blockade is the limit, that’s how it is. The Imperial Court has never attacked Bancadium directly, so you worried—didn’t you?—that even sending knights would incur the price.”
……Damn it, sharp as ever.
Confronted with such an accurate assessment, the Emperor found himself momentarily speechless.
But the instant he admitted those words were true, all responsibility would shift to the Imperial Court. That would bring the Imperial House’s prestige crashing to the ground.
“I too am aware of the Founding Oath. I merely harbored the suspicion that you might have circumvented direct action and arranged the Crown Prince’s assassination through indirect means—nothing more than a misunderstanding.”
At those words, Rodrigo openly scoffed. The excuse was simply too absurd.
Circumvent the method? As if such a thing were possible?
Had any indirect approach worked, the Emperor would have sent assassins again and again long ago to test it.
Hearing such words from one who would have done anything—absolutely anything—to erase him was almost comical.
To see him struggling so desperately to wriggle free from this bind…… his effort was almost admirable.
“Then I should like to examine the existing evidence.”
…….
“I’ve only heard reports, you see. I’d like to verify what evidence could have clouded the Emperor’s discernment so thoroughly.”
…….
“Surely such a request is reasonable.”
“Of course, it is.”
The Emperor forced his lips upward in a smile and rang the bell. Shortly after, the Knight Commander entered, bowing deeply.
“Go and bring the evidence.”
“At once, Your Majesty.”
The Knight Commander, understanding the order, turned swiftly on his heel. Naturally, he departed without offering so much as an apology to Bancadium, despite having pressed a sword against them mere moments before.
Rodrigo, who scarcely troubled himself with such insects in the first place, waited calmly for the evidence to arrive.
The Emperor absently ran his tongue across his parched mouth.
‘No matter how long we wait, the evidence will not come.’
He had already ordered it destroyed.
When the Knight Commander returned, he would surely say:
‘Y-Your Majesty, someone has stolen all the evidence!’
—something to that effect.
Then he himself could say,
‘It appears the one who sought to frame you has moved with surprising swiftness. Given that the other knights are now gathering in the Banquet Hall, it was the perfect opportunity to slip away unnoticed.’
—a single line, no more.
That should douse this immediate fire.
The Emperor, thinking himself slightly unburdened, squared his shoulders. The plan had nearly collapsed, but it was not yet beyond recovery.
Fury roiled within him, but what was done was done. First he would salvage the situation, then punish those who deserved punishment.
Yet as the saying goes, once a thread is tangled, it remains tangled to the very end.
Knock, knock.
A crisp rap at the door, and it swung open.
The person who entered was none other than…….
“You—”
“Your Majesty.”
It was the Attendant he had met in the Corridor earlier, the one he’d ordered the knight to chase down.
“I have brought the evidence.”
“!”
Evidence—brought already?
That should have been the Knight Commander’s task, surely?
“You’ve brought it.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Forgive the delay.”
“No. You’ve brought it at precisely the right moment.”
The Emperor’s eyes darted rapidly. It was one thing that the Attendant appeared with the evidence instead, but another entirely that he was now conversing with Bancadium so easily.
At this point, a single possibility crystallized.
‘That wretch.’
Was he Bancadium’s man?
‘Damn it all.’
The Emperor bit his lip, swallowing a curse. Had he known, he would have crushed that creature from the start.
Rather than merely chasing him, he should have simply ordered him killed on the spot!
Regret flooded through him like a rising tide.
Though by now he could do nothing but mourn the fish that had slipped away.
“Your Majesty!”
The Knight Commander, arriving belatedly, opened his eyes wide as a lantern the moment he spotted the Attendant already standing within.
“To suspect Bancadium on such shabby evidence as this.”
Rodrigo grasped the sword laid upon the table. Though it bore Bancadium’s seal, its durability made it clear this was no family heirloom.
“It seems someone is counterfeiting our seal.”
…….
“It’s even been polished clean.”
Some claimed to preserve the evidence, yet maintained it carelessly.
The other pieces were no different—servants’ rags that had decayed to tatters, rings bearing Bancadium’s seal.
Every single one of those rings, of course, was counterfeit.
‘This is absurd.’
The family nearly fell into ruin over such trifles.
“I believe the evidence I’ve brought will hold far greater credibility. We can verify it later.”
…….
“Or, if Your Majesty prefers, we could summon all the nobility now and settle the matter openly…….”
“I shall lift the Blockade Order.”
“Your Majesty!”
The Knight Commander cried out in haste.
But it was to no avail.
What more could he say in such circumstances?
The longer the Emperor held his ground, the worse it became for him. Each denial only gave his opponent more leverage.
“As you said, we shall regard this matter as a mutual misunderstanding and let it rest.”
“Word choice again—how convenient. That a single phrase can wrap up all that has transpired.”
“The Imperial Court shall compensate you for the humiliation and injustice you’ve suffered. We’ll ensure you are not left wanting.”
“I wouldn’t presume to say otherwise.”
“We shall grant anything. Whatever you ask.”
“Then I suppose I have no choice.”
As if to say: since you’re going to such lengths, I’ll graciously withdraw. Rodrigo spoke his final opening words with that tone.
“I need nothing else. Simply promise me three things, and I shall stand down.”
Three things?
How much could he possibly be asking for?
The Emperor adopted an eager posture, already mentally noting those whom he would crush later.
“Issue an official declaration that Bancadium is not the culprit, and commit it to writing. Seal it with your stamp, naturally.”
In other words: don’t you dare try to weasel out of this later. The Emperor, already seething, swallowed his trembling breath.
“Very well. State the second condition.”
“Cede the trade routes of the Northern Region to us.”
“What!”
The trade routes of the North.
In other words, the Golden Trade Route.
It was the most valuable trade passage available for ventures into foreign lands.
“You did say to speak whatever I wished.”
…….
“Surely you didn’t mean it as empty words.”
“I would never…….”
Damn it all.
Why must he bring up such a thing?
‘A house that doesn’t even trade—why should they have that!’
But the words were already spoken.
They could not be taken back.
He was trapped between two fires.
“And the third condition?”
At this point, the Emperor began to grow genuinely anxious. If the second wish had been this steep, what in heaven’s name was the third?
The Emperor swallowed involuntarily.
Rodrigo, watching the tension etched across his face, let out a soft laugh.
“The third is…….”

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