Chapter 39
“What in the—oh, my…!”
Without a glance at the attendants screaming behind him, Mikhail strode directly to stand before the Crown Prince. Only then did the brown-haired man, who had been staring at the papers on his desk without so much as raising his head despite the commotion outside, turn his gaze toward Mikhail.
As he faced his furious younger brother, he tried to mask his surprise and calm his pounding heart at the sight of the massive iron door ripped away like a fallen leaf.
“What a disturbance. Isn’t it about time you learned that an audience is only possible when the other party consents?”
Ignoring his brother’s rebuke about his manners, Mikhail cut straight to the point.
“Is it true that it was you who forbade the dispatch of a subjugation army for the Quillan dungeon break?”
At Mikhail’s question, tense with anger, the Crown Prince didn’t even bother to hide his crude sneer as he answered.
“That’s right. I gave the order.”
“Why did you do it?”
Seeing the thick vein bulging on Mikhail’s forehead, the Crown Prince spoke with the utmost delight.
“Why? Because it’s for the sake of Osbrandt. Those wretches, just a few years ago, had the audacity to bare their fangs at Osbrandt. Even now, they’re lying low, but if they ever get the chance, they’ll turn their blades on Osbrandt again. So why should we help them?”
Mikhail immediately retorted.
“That isn’t helping them. Now that they have been incorporated into Osbrandt, and as long as they pay taxes as proof of their loyalty to His Majesty, they are, without question, subjects of Osbrandt who deserve the protection of the Imperial Guard.”
At that, the Crown Prince burst into raucous laughter.
“What? Subjects of Osbrandt? I’ve never heard such utter nonsense from you before. Five years ago, weren’t you the one who got kidnapped by those very people and caused the deaths of His Majesty’s elite knights? And now you defend them? Do you have any idea how many soldiers lost their lives at their hands that day?”
The Crown Prince had long since grasped the nature of Mikhail. He could hardly believe this fool, who supposedly shared half his blood, was so naively good-hearted.
If he only mentioned the sacrifice required to rescue the prince, with his lips tightly sealed about how much the Osbrandt soldiers had plundered that day, he could say nothing at all.
As expected, Mikhail bit his lip hard and could not reply. The Crown Prince, sensing his advantage, pressed the attack.
“So there will absolutely be no dispatch of a subjugation force to Quillan. Isn’t that a good thing for you, too? Someday, when you form your own household and become independent as a duke, that domain will be yours. Wouldn’t it be better to sweep away as many of those vermin as possible?”
At that moment, Mikhail reflexively reached for the sword hilt at his waist—only to find, of course, that he had entered the audience chamber completely unarmed, save for ornamental decorations. Grinding his teeth, Mikhail forced out polite speech.
“Then let me ask one more thing. Did you, by any chance, lay a hand on Belgorg’s lair?”
If you’re human, surely you won’t admit to having done all this just to wipe out the people of Quillan. Hoping desperately for a denial, Mikhail asked, and the Crown Prince tilted his head as he replied.
“Well. Hmm…”
The Crown Prince let out a long, thoughtful hum, then continued.
“Now that you mention it, you used to do monster subjugation work yourself. If you plan to keep fighting those things, you’d better keep this in mind. I hear that monsters go berserk when they smell the scent of the karma flower. I haven’t seen it myself, though.”
Before the Crown Prince’s laughter had even faded, Mikhail stormed out of the audience chamber. There was no point in continuing this nauseating conversation.
Now that he’d confirmed his worst suspicion was true, Mikhail was so sickened that he could barely stand.
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