The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 196

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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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“What do you think is the most necessary virtue for a Knight?”

During his days as an apprentice.

Ailren, who was polishing a sword, answered immediately.

“Devotion.”

“Oh? That’s quite a fresh answer.”

The senior knight who had asked the question, and the owner of the sword, looked quite surprised by that answer.

Then he chuckled.

“All the other guys who’ve been under me so far spouted nonsense like discipline, leadership, force, or even faith. Devotion… At least that makes sense. But you’re wrong.”

The senior knight, who was looking at the blood-red stains of unknown origin soaked into the cloth in Ailren’s hand, spat out bluntly.

“The most necessary virtue for a Knight is blind obedience.”

The next day, he died.

There were hundreds of rebel corpses and only two Knight corpses including him, so it was a brilliant victory.

The memorial service was merely considered one procedure of the victory celebration.

Ailren, like the other Knights, had no complaints about this. Dying honorably in battle was a privilege and glory given to those who wielded swords.

However.

“Blind obedience.”

Even after leaving his apprenticeship and eventually rising to the position of Captain of the Royal Knights, the dead man’s words would occasionally linger in his ears.

*

“So… do you want to completely exclude me from this matter?”

Ailren looked down without answering and saw Elisha’s neck.

Blood vessels stood out trembling beneath the large bandage where blood was faintly seeping through.

Ah. Did I disappoint her?

Though his heart felt heavy, Ailren slowly steadied his breathing.

There were still words left that would disappoint her.

“I don’t think the word ‘exclude’ is appropriate. The case was closed when the perpetrator died, so the investigation has simply ended. That’s all.”

“But.”

“Thank you for your help as an external consultant. I promise on behalf of the Royal Knights that compensation will be provided soon.”

“Count Airen?”

“I’ll escort you this far. Please return safely.”

This isn’t how I should treat this person.

Ailren knew this. He knew it so well he felt it keenly. Nevertheless, he only left a few empty, businesslike words and turned away.

However, the words he ‘had to say’ to Elisha, which had been swallowed and suppressed until they were crushed, sprouted on their own and lingered at his lips.

‘I’m sorry.’

As the investigation supervisor, he had been at the Temple rather than the Imperial Palace the entire time.

He interrogated the former Count Hestian, his daughter, and other gambling den associates, and searched through documents meticulously.

Ailren decided not to deny that it had been a harsh time for both the interrogation subjects and himself.

As a result, it wasn’t difficult to find the connection between the gambling den and the Regent King.

However, that alone wasn’t enough.

To avoid questioning the judgment of the Emperor who had made him Regent King and the imperial family of ‘Etewirn,’ which included the Empress and Princess, there needed to be more concrete evidence equivalent to a confession.

Ailren began additional investigation.

There were several addresses left in the documents.

They appeared to be locations that were probably candidate sites for the gambling den or preliminary sites for other illegal businesses.

While conducting searches at each location one by one, Ailren discovered something at the last place.

It was a video magical device.

Next to it was a piece of paper with a single sentence typed on a typewriter.

[A gift for the most upright knight]

That ‘gift’ that had been waiting as if knowing I would come felt more like mockery.

However, Ailren turned on the magical device.

Someone’s face filled the wall. The person from the composite sketch sent from the duchy smiled.

「Please excuse this way of greeting. I know such words should be said face to face, but as you know, we’re not on those terms.」

It was Eivor.

「Getting to the point, I’d like to make a proposal. It’ll be quite useful.」

Ailren answered curtly. He had no intention of compromising with a criminal.

As he raised his hand to turn off the video magical device while thinking of ways to track him, laughter reached his ears.

「Even though it’s a proposal that could bring down Crodil Etewirn in one stroke? You lack evidence. That’s why you came this far, isn’t it?」

Ailren answered curtly again. He said he knew that Eivor had secretly colluded with that Regent King.

It was an answer that the words of someone who practiced betrayal weren’t even worth listening to, but Eivor laughed again.

「If you don’t bring him down now, the Princess will be in quite a predicament.」

Ailren didn’t answer and pressed the button on the video magical device. It didn’t turn off.

「The Emperor you serve might also be in danger. This is exactly the limit.」

Ailren didn’t answer and pressed the button on the video magical device again. It didn’t turn off this time either.

「Hmm, then how about this.」

Ailren was about to press the button on the video magical device…

「The pawnshop owner, I mean. Your ‘Elisha.’」

He stopped mid-press.

「She doesn’t seem to be the legitimate heir of the Rionet Ducal House.」

「She’s not the biological granddaughter of the former Duke Rionet. And Crodil Etewirn is just about to learn that fact. What do you think will happen then?」

「But if you accept my proposal, if only you dirty your hands, such unfortunate events won’t happen… Ah.」

Eivor, who had been speaking as if singing, saw Ailren’s hand stop and broke into a full smile.

「Ah, good. Good. I like this conclusion. I finally feel like I’ve heard a proper answer from you, right?」

Eivor watched as if savoring Ailren’s whitened, clenched fist and his bobbing Adam’s apple, then spoke.

That was enough. He would gladly give Crodil Etewirn his downfall.

At the same time, the note reading [A gift for the most upright knight] burst into flames.

Ailren, who had been staring at the remaining paper scraps, barely managed to lift his head and ask the mage looking down at him.

What did he want from him?

At that time, what Eivor said was…

“Count Ailren!”

His thoughts stopped.

Ailren only realized he had turned around after seeing Elisha’s eyes.

Elisha, who had run through the corridor, stood just a few steps away. A flush had risen to her cheeks.

“Haa, ha. You should at least hear my answer before you go. I absolutely must say this.”

It seemed like she was out of breath.

“Whether it’s for security reasons, or because you’re trying to abandon me now that the job is done.”

Or perhaps she seemed angry.

“Or maybe! I don’t know if there’s a reason you can only speak that way because you’re worried that an innocent citizen like me might end up at sword point, but.”

Her eyes were shining.

“You’ve experienced me. You know. I won’t give up, and you’ll eventually take my hand.”

Brightly, and radiantly.

“So don’t speak as if this is the end.”

Ailren quietly watched that light.

“C-Captain?”

The knights hesitated, unsure what to do with the appraiser who had suddenly rushed into the Imperial Palace and was saying incomprehensible things to the Captain of the Royal Knights.

But Elisha turned and left without lingering, as if that was all she had to say.

Ailren, who had ordered her escort, slowly clenched his fist and turned around slowly.

「What do I want? There’s nothing I need from you. Not this time.」

He passed the meeting room where the Duke, Regent King, and the mage’s corpse would be.

「I told you. It’s a ‘gift.’」

Did the thief who took pleasure in deceiving people ultimately want to deceive even himself?

Did he want to mock the sight of the Empire’s Captain of the Royal Knights breaking his convictions and surrendering, Ailren thought.

But the corpse had no answers, and Crodil Etewirn remained unchanged.

The danger to Presrife, which he devoted himself to, and the fact that Elisha would soon be hurt for some reason, all remained unchanged.

Everything seemed to remain the same.

「If only you would dirty your hands once more, such unfortunate events wouldn’t happen…」

Except for the fact that the ‘most upright knight’ had already dirtied his hands once more.

He sat in his office until the sun had completely set.

Neither the news that Elisha had returned to the pawnshop and headed somewhere else again, nor that the Duke had finally departed for the duchy empty-handed, could move Ailren.

What roused him was the twilight that had come to the Imperial Palace.

The Captain of the Royal Knights held a sword in his hand as he left his office.

“C-Captain.”

When walking through dim corridors, footsteps sometimes sound exactly like someone’s voice.

Actually, there was one more reason why he hoped Elisha wouldn’t become more deeply involved in Imperial Palace affairs.

It was when he received reports about the period he had been absent.

Even after finishing his report, one knight lingered and didn’t leave. It was Patrick, who had worked as a guard for the pawnshop.

After hesitating for a long time, he said that the Princess was curious about every move of the pawnshop owner.

To a degree that couldn’t be explained by words like ‘friend.’

But that wasn’t the reason Patrick had hesitated.

“Then suddenly from this morning, she said there was no need to report anymore. When I carefully asked for the reason, she said something incomprehensible: ‘I thought of a better way.'”

Ailren walked with his back to the pale suspicion.

[I hope such a moment of choice never comes to that brother of yours.]

“Blind obedience.”

He turned the corner. He passed the Princess’s Palace.

His sword blade was directed not toward the Princess’s Palace, but toward Crodil’s Palace.

His steps gradually quickened. The voices following him also became hurried.

Then.

“So don’t speak as if this is the end.”

Thud, his ankle was caught.

“…Ha…”

It was when Ailren, who had let out a long sigh, rubbed his face wearily.

“Uh, uh, uaaaah-!”

A loud scream from somewhere tore through the midnight.

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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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