Chapter 38
At Marcel’s shocking answer, Mikhail was left speechless. The situation was just too perfect. An enormous break had suddenly occurred in a lair that hadn’t been active for years, the barrier that monsters could not cross happened to be completed at exactly the right time, the Gate had been closed, and now they didn’t intend to send a subjugation force.
It was as if… As if someone had deliberately set the stage, hoping for monsters to lay waste to Quillan.
Mikhail shook his head at such a conclusion. It was too inhuman a suspicion.
No matter how long Quillan and Osbrandt had been bitter enemies since ancient times, Quillan was now Osbrandt’s territory, and the people living there were subjects who paid taxes to Osbrandt. Surely they wouldn’t have orchestrated something so absurd. Forcing himself to deny the possibility, Mikhail asked Marcel again.
“Who gave that order? It couldn’t have been Father, could it?”
Unable to completely hide the anger in his voice, Mikhail asked. Marcel was momentarily at a loss for words. Should he say it? The prince was wearing a face Marcel had never seen before.
If anyone had ever scoffed at the idea that the smiling, easygoing prince could be the hero of the Delwyn Mountains, the prince now looked ready to cut down anything that stood in his way.
“You know, right? Don’t hide it from me. Just tell me.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Marcel confessed the truth.
“…It was His Highness the Crown Prince.”
In that instant, Mikhail’s eyes glinted blue with anger. All this time, Mikhail had always treated his elder brother with the courtesy due from a younger sibling. Even though he knew that taking the position of Crown Prince was the only way to save the one he loved, he had never dared imagine pointing a sword at his brother.
But if his brother was betraying his duties as a ruler? If he was someone who thought it didn’t matter how many civilians were sacrificed for his own gain? Such a person must not be allowed to sit on the throne. On this point, Mikhail would never compromise.
“We’re returning to the palace. I’m going to see my brother right away.”
Marcel had the sense that a new storm was about to hit the long-quiet imperial palace. Though he wasn’t even forty yet, Marcel had spent most of his youth as an informant, and his instincts were sharp in such matters. For the sake of the imperial family’s peace, he would have to try his best to present the Crown Prince’s actions as part of some greater plan or deeper consideration.
‘Even if it is a domain taken from an enemy nation, this is just too… too ugly and inhumane a method.’
Marcel, who had once been forced to watch his own comrades become vicious marauders for the crime of participating in a prince’s rescue operation, could hardly turn a blind eye to the current situation.
But as nothing more than a powerless pawn, there was nothing Marcel himself could do. All he could do was place his hopes in the prince and support him. That was the only way to redeem his twisted conscience.
The prince passed through the Gate first and arrived at the palace, and Marcel followed, stepping onto the finest carpet. The prince, who until now had barely been noticed, suddenly marched straight to the Crown Prince’s palace and demanded an audience, but the Crown Prince’s attendants ignored and mocked him.
“His Highness the Crown Prince is currently occupied. Please come again another time.”
Mikhail answered with a steely expression.
“I have urgent business and must see him now. Open the door.”
But the attendants still paid him no heed. As if anyone would be frightened by a snot-nosed prince with a temper, picked up by a mercenary company. These were people who had long used their tiny bit of power under the Crown Prince as they pleased. Since the Crown Prince treated the prince like an insect, it was only natural they regarded Mikhail as beneath their notice.
“I’m sorry, but you must leave.”
At that cynical sneer, Mikhail did not respond further. He simply gripped the door handle.
“Ha, unbelievable. Didn’t I tell you the reason you can’t have an audience? How lightly do you take the imperial etiquette—”
The attendant’s sneer was abruptly cut off.
Because Mikhail tore the office door off its hinges, handle and all.
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