Welcome to the Café of the Dark Guild’s Successor - Chapter 133

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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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A café operated by the heir to the Dark Guild.
Chapter 133
Seeing her, Biedler straightened from his bow and rose to his feet with a smile.
“My congratulations.”
He spoke loudly enough to carry across the room, then gestured to Roy.
Roy approached the dais, carrying a flower basket nearly as large as himself.
“A gift for Her Majesty the Empress.”
The flower basket was set before the Empress.
Taken aback at suddenly receiving flowers from Biedler, the Empress stiffened her expression.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“Precisely what I said—congratulations. You’ll soon be blessed with an imperial grandchild, after all.”
At the word “grandchild,” people throughout the hall drew sharp breaths. Since the Crown Prince had officially not yet married, murmurs of confusion swelled.
“What are you saying!”
The Crown Prince, standing behind the Empress, stepped forward and interjected.
But the attention was already fixed, and he lacked the authority to quell the disturbance.
“My congratulations, brother. How fortuitous that she’s here.”
Biedler paid the Crown Prince no mind and gestured toward Melissa, who stood with an anxious expression.
Recognition flickered across the Crown Prince’s face at the sight of her.
“Why have you brought the Princess…?”
The Princess and Crown Prince’s eyes met, and he hastily moved to block her approach.
“Surely you’re aware, brother—she carries your precious heir.”
Just then, the orchestra that had been playing from one corner of the venue finished their piece, and the hall fell silent.
The dramatic moment intensified as all eyes fixed upon the Princess and the Crown Prince.
The flustered Crown Prince began to ramble incoherently.
“What nonsense is this? I heard you were getting along well with the Princess. But now she’s suddenly carrying my child? Are the two of you conspiring to defame me?”
“Your Highness! Are you truly going to do this?”
“Why are you behaving this way? Step away from me at once!”
The Princess grasped his arm with a trembling voice, tears beginning to form. He shoved her away, regarding her with a look of pure loathing.
There was no warmth in his eyes—not even a trace of the affection one might show a woman once beloved.
“It’s absolutely false! My child? I’ve never even met the Princess privately. Everyone knows the rumors about these two meeting, surely?”
The Crown Prince shamelessely deflected, bundling both Biedler and the Princess together in accusation.
His firm stance split the crowd’s reaction.
“Your Highness! It’s our child. Please, I beg you—acknowledge it. You said you loved me. You told me to wait….”
“Get away from me!”
The Crown Prince shoved the Princess aside violently as she clung closer.
Losing her balance and nearly falling, she was caught at the last moment by my hand as I stood nearby.
“Th-thank you.”
The Princess’s voice trembled as she offered her thanks.
But seeing her clutch her belly, fury rose in my chest.
I’d known his character was poor, but to shove aside a woman carrying his own child like that—
“Don’t be deceived. I have nothing to do with her. They’re trying to frame me without a shred of proof….”
“Brother, if it’s proof you need, I have some here. Shall I show everyone?”
Biedler pulled one corner of his mouth into a smile and produced a Recording Artifact.
The Crown Prince’s eyes flickered with unease, uncertain what it contained.
When Biedler activated the Artifact, the tender voices of the Crown Prince and Princess flowed out.
To anyone’s ear, the two murmuring endearments sounded like lovers deeply devoted to one another.
Their names were captured clearly on the recording. Unable to bear it further, the Crown Prince snatched it from Biedler and stomped it to pieces beneath his heel.
“This is fabricated! Don’t believe any of it!”
“Brother, do you truly believe that was my only evidence? There is more.”
“Produce it then, and I’ll destroy that too. No matter what you do, you have no allies here.”
As the princes reached an absurd impasse, the Empress suddenly shrieked.
“What is this chaos on such a blessed day!”
“Mother… It isn’t me. Biedler covets my position and seeks to defame me.”
The Crown Prince hurried to the Empress’s side, crying out his grievance.
“To bring unconfirmed matters and cause such a disturbance… I cannot overlook this. I understand your jealousy of your brother, but this is beneath a man’s honor.”
The Empress rebuked Biedler sharply for the commotion and gestured to the guards.
“Remove the Second Prince and the Princess from this hall at once. If matters require clarification, I shall arrange a separate proceeding.”
As the guards approached, Biedler let out a low chuckle.
“Your Majesty, this cannot be resolved so simply. Shall we ask His Majesty’s opinion?”
“His Majesty shares my view.”
“Is that truly the case?”
The Emperor, who had remained silent until the Empress rose, slowly lifted his head at Biedler’s words.
In that moment, the guards seized the Princess’s arm.
The Emperor looked between the Princess and Biedler in turn, then parted his lips. His voice emerged, thin and weary.
“Princess, are you truly pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Whose child is it?”
“It is the Crown Prince’s child, Your Highness.”
“Can you prove it?”
At those words, the Princess held up a ring she had been carrying.
“This ring was purchased for me directly by the Crown Prince. It is a three-carat diamond with a certificate signed in his name.”
Contrary to the Crown Prince’s claim that they had never met privately, this proved they had at least exchanged costly gifts.
“And regardless of my station as princess of a minor kingdom, I have my pride. I stake my honor and the name of my realm upon it—the child in my womb is the Crown Prince’s.”
At this, the weight of the Princess’s words shifted the room’s mood. Biedler did not miss his opportunity.
“There is also evidence of private meetings between the Princess and my brother. I have obtained certification from a Mage that it has not been tampered with.”
“Which Mage?”
“Archmage Meyson.”
Hearing my grandfather’s name, I glanced around the room and nearly laughed to myself.
‘When did he help?’
Then my eyes met the Empress’s. She was glaring at me, but I let her gaze pass over me lightly.
“Beyond the Princess, brother has many other women for whom he bears responsibility. This is a list of the women he met over the past year.”
“What—you’ve been investigating me?”
The Crown Prince snatched the paper from Biedler’s hands and tore it to shreds, his rage mounting.
“I’m young and capable. What’s wrong with meeting several women before I marry?”
“Most were married women, I’m afraid. There may even be victims here at this very venue. Shall I name them, brother?”
“All of you, hear me not! This is slander! He covets my throne!”
As moral transgressions piled atop one another, the Empress’s face began to drain of color.
Then, from within the hall, came the sharp sound of breaking glass.
Turning, I saw a woman who had visited the Café with the Crown Prince some time before.
“All this time you’ve been deceiving me? You said I was the only one, that there was no other woman….”
“Camilla!”
“Was I just another plaything to cast aside like the Princess? I trusted you… sob, sob….”
Camilla burst into tears and rushed from the hall, and the condemnation of the Crown Prince swelled all the louder.
Moreover, whispered throughout the crowd were the real names of the married women the Crown Prince had been with.
Rumors that had circulated only in shadows now erupted into the light, riding the tide of his exposed misconduct.
At last, unable to bear the voices condemning him, the Crown Prince hurled a glass cup against the wall.
“Ahhhhh! All of you be silent! I have nothing to be ashamed of!”
“Crown Prince! Compose yourself! What are you doing!”
As the situation became irreversible, the Empress clutched her forehead and collapsed into her chair.
“Very well… I understand. We shall thoroughly investigate the relationship between the Princess and the Crown Prince. Both of you, withdraw now.”
At the Empress’s signal, the Crown Prince, still fuming, approached the Princess and placed an arm around her shoulders.
The Princess seemed to think it was over, but my thoughts ran differently.
“If they leave like this, they’ll simply announce the pregnancy never existed. That will be the end of it.”
I whispered to Biedler, who nodded, having already anticipated this, and stepped forward.
“The Imperial Physician waits outside. Shall we confirm the pregnancy here and then allow them to leave?”
“Must we go to such lengths? Hasn’t this been enough?”
“This is only the beginning.”
The Empress opened her eyes wide and glared at Biedler, but it was futile.
Eventually, multiple Imperial Physicians entered and conducted their examination, and the Princess’s pregnancy was publicly confirmed.
Though there was yet no proof the child was the Crown Prince’s, and so he could not be formally disqualified, his reputation was already considerably damaged.
Conversely, Biedler’s standing seemed certain to grow from his role in exposing all of this.
“Well then. Let us all calm ourselves and continue with the celebration….”
“No.”
The Empress tried her best to hurry past the situation, but Biedler’s voice turned cold and cut across her attempt.
“If I may, I have a question for Your Majesty the Empress.”
“What is it?”
“I believe you’ve been administering a medicated beverage to His Majesty every day for several years now. Is this correct?”
“…Yes, I have given him a drink daily. Several years ago, when His Majesty’s vital energy became depleted, I obtained a prescription directly from the Imperial Physician. It’s medicine—what problem could that be?”
I watched the Empress’s expression carefully. The moment she mentioned medicating the Emperor’s drink, her lips tightened imperceptibly.
“Did you truly receive this prescription from the Imperial Physician?”
“Yes, there are records! Now you’re accusing me after Arthur? Is this not enough slander!”
The Empress could bear it no longer and hurled her chair down as she stood, her voice cutting like a blade.
Biedler did not so much as blink at her violent reaction.
He gestured once more to Roy. Roy and his attendants distributed several documents to those around the hall.
Biedler himself produced the same document and held it before the Empress.
It was a Component Analysis Report.
“The chemical compounds contained in that beverage. Should you truly be unaware, please examine this yourself.”

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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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