Vote for Your Knight! - Chapter 53

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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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Vote for your knight!
Episode 53
Kusto lifted his head once more.
“I couldn’t allow them to become slaves. So I released them all. I never brought them to the Domain Lord.”
“Then why were you sentenced to execution?”
Edith asked.
Kusto’s gaze shifted to Tieri Born, seated across from him.
“Only the Domain Lord of Pius would know that.”
“May I speak now?”
Tieri Born asked.
Edith nodded.
“Kusto is playing with words.”
He wore an expression of regret that was utterly nauseating.
Tieri Born had been summoned by imperial decree to attend this proceeding.
At first, it had rankled—being dragged here like some common witness. But his irritation had quickly transformed into something else.
‘Foolish Princess.’
She’d thought that invoking the imperial name would pressure him into confession. How naive.
But she was mistaken about something far more fundamental.
What fool would believe the word of a slave-born wretch over that of the Domain Lord of Pius himself?
This was a golden opportunity—not just to make a fool of the Princess, but of the entire Imperial House.
He picked up a document with a smile of triumph.
“As you can see from the Execution Verdict Document, Kusto conspired with pirates and accepted bribes.”
This document had not existed at the time.
It had been hastily fabricated after Edith’s departure.
Edith stared at him, visibly taken aback.
‘Why? Has he found a weakness?’
Tieri Born felt a surge of triumph bloom in his chest.
But his face contorted as if his heart were breaking.
“Kusto murdered all of the hostages I specifically ordered him to bring back. My precious Domain subjects!”
Tears streamed down Tieri Born’s cheeks.
It was an extraordinary performance.
‘In a past life, this would have swept every acting award.’
Edith’s patience was wearing thin.
Yet she maintained the strictest neutrality.
“Now I’ll hear the debaters’ opinions.”
The masked debaters rushed to raise their hands.
“My Lord, why do you believe Kusto murdered innocent hostages?”
“For amusement. Kusto has always been savage. During pirate-clearing operations, he always seemed to enjoy himself—that’s how he earned the epithet ‘Monster.’ I should have seen it then…”
“What is your response to this testimony, Kusto?”
Another debater pressed forward.
“It is not true.”
“If it’s not true, then Kusto didn’t kill the hostages—is that what you’re saying?”
“They were not killed.”
“Pardon?”
“The hostages are still alive.”
A murmur rippled through the gallery.
The questioner faltered, confusion crossing his masked face.
“Where are these living hostages, then?”
“That is…”
Kusto exhaled softly.
“I don’t know.”
A wave of jeers erupted from sections of the audience.
“At least get your lies straight.”
“Can’t even keep a story together.”
By any measure, the situation had turned decisively against Kusto.
Even the knights seated at the back began to murmur among themselves.
‘Why did the Princess even hold this debate?’
‘This is nothing but a execution for Kusto.’
‘If she wanted to remove him from Cartamen, she could have simply followed the law quietly.’
The knights, stripped of any voice in the matter, seethed with frustration.
Kusto Mari felt the same suffocating frustration—as if her chest might burst.
‘If things go on like this…… our Kusto might die!’
Not disqualification from Cartamen, but execution itself.
Kusto Mari glared at Tieri Born with resentment.
Just then, Tieri Born wiped away his tears and shouted at Kusto.
“The captives are alive, you say? Then bring me my domain folk! The very people I so desperately wanted to save! If they’re alive, bring them to me now!”
It was a cry of anguish.
Anyone listening could feel the raw, shattering pain in his voice as genuine.
Kusto Mari’s hands trembled.
‘This is…… lost.’
There seemed to be no way for Kusto to escape this trap.
Tieri Born finished speaking and broke into sobs.
The genuine weeping of a lord who truly cherished his people.
The jeers and murmurs died away, and the hall filled with nothing but his tears.
One of the debaters quietly raised a hand.
And then spoke.
“I am here.”
Kusto looked up in surprise at the person.
He wore a black mask.
But something about his voice and build seemed familiar.
‘Could it be……?’
In that moment, the debater removed his mask.
“My lord, I am here. Your domain folk.”
“!”
Tieri Born, who had been sobbing, turned around.
His face was bewildered.
Though they were called his domain folk, he did not know each one’s face.
But Kusto recognized him.
He was one of those who had wept with gratitude that Kusto had saved them.
“Tessa!”
Kusto sprang to his feet, calling out the domain folk’s name.
Tessa, hearing her name, nodded and smiled.
“Kusto, it’s been so long. And you as well, my lord.”
Kusto Mari covered her mouth with both hands.
‘Could it be, could it be, could it be…… m, mad……!’
Kusto and Tessa gazed at each other with undisguised joy.
Edith asked in a measured voice.
“Tessa, would you introduce yourself?”
“Yes. I was a captive who lived in Pius Coastal Village and was taken by pirates. And I nearly became a slave to the lord.”
“W, what are you saying!”
Tieri Born burst out angrily.
“Tessa still has the floor,” Edith said sternly.
“But the defendant is lying——”
“We will know who is lying only after we hear from everyone.”
Edith was resolute.
Left with no choice, Tieri Born fell silent.
Tessa continued.
“It is well known that my lord uses captives as slaves. If you were to visit my lord’s mansion now, you would surely see many unfortunates who did not enjoy the same fortune I did.”
“The same fortune as you?” Edith asked.
Tessa nodded.
“Yes. The fortune of meeting Kusto.”
Tessa smiled at Kusto, her eyes glistening with gratitude.
“If Kusto had not freed us, we too would have become slaves.”
Suddenly, Tessa bowed her head.
“But when we heard that Kusto would be executed because of us, we did not come forward. We were too afraid of being dragged to the mansion or of being killed alongside him. But now I wish to step forward. I no longer wish to be a coward.”
“L, lies! How dare you speak such nonsense—do you think the spirits of the other captives who died by Kusto’s hand will return to life?”
Unable to contain himself, Tieri Born cried out again.
Edith was about to silence him.
When someone suddenly rose from their seat among the debaters.

“That spirit has returned to us here.”
And then, all around the hall, people began rising to their feet.
“I was saved too.”
“So was I.”
“Kusto saved our family as well!”
A multitude stood from their seats—more than a third of all those assembled.
Kusto’s eyes widened.
“You are…!”
They were all the captives he had freed.
Tessa smiled softly.
“Kusto saved us. Kusto is not a murderer—he is a savior.”
The hall erupted. Shouts poured forth in waves.
The other spectators, who had stood stunned by the sudden turn of events, and the knights watching from the rear rows—all of them grasped the truth.
“Kusto is not a murderer—he is a savior.”
At that very moment, Tessa’s words were broadcast across the entire Empire through the Visual Broadcast System.
Every plaza in the Empire erupted in cheers.
Edith gazed warmly at the hall, flushed with exhilaration, and the knights seated in the back rows, their faces alight with joy.
And at Tieri Born, standing paralyzed by despair.
‘Tieri Born, you thought I’d fallen into the trap you laid for me.’
But this is the trap I designed to catch you.
‘To save an innocent man.’

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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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