The Nymph Wants to be Plundered - Chapter 122

“I can’t believe it, brother. Cough, sniff, my throat is all blocked up. That carriage… did they even finish cleaning it?”

“……”

Iel remained silent with his arms firmly crossed. Even in the wind that blew quite chilly for night, his two arms didn’t uncross.

To escort the transport carriage that had just departed, he had selected and sent along a total of ten knights. It wasn’t a small number. It was unavoidable since it was a long journey and they needed to add available personnel in case something happened along the way. He had drawn them exclusively from the 1st Knight Order because they were the most trustworthy, but conversely, he needed to rearrange the knights so that their absence wouldn’t be felt until they returned, so his mental calculations were busy.

Polyxene stepped closer and rubbed the tip of her foot against the floor made of smooth stone.

“Brother, all this time, I only thought Lya had some business and temporarily left the castle. But a trial? A banishment order! Nobody seems to know what exactly happened.”

Brax, who had been quietly watching until the carriage departed, looked dejected. The fact that Polyxene had been misinformed was also because he had forcibly fabricated lies to cover up the detention and trial. When no one responded to her words, Polyxene let out deep sighs.

“Sigh… But, it’s not a false accusation forced on him, is it? Lya was usually quiet, so they didn’t just pressure him saying it was all his fault…. If we don’t reveal what happened and what the truth is in detail, there will be those who are wronged.”

Brax, who had been keeping a heavy silence, finally opened his mouth.

“Polyxene , just because you were close to Lya doesn’t mean you need to defend him. The crime is certain. There was evidence and witnesses too.”

“That, that can’t be.”

‘Hmm….’

Iel, who had been mulling over the silence, felt an inexplicable uneasiness. Polyxene shouldn’t know anything about that incident, so why was she speaking as if she knew the inside story?

Although it was a closed trial, since the verdict was confirmed and it was such an unprecedented incident, it was understandable that the content and results spread through the residents’ mouths in less than a day. The court staff must have spoken openly about it since they too were appalled by Lya’s misdeeds.

But there were facts that they absolutely didn’t know, weren’t there? For some reason, it seemed like Polyxene was saying those very words. Even though that couldn’t be possible.

If you knew that Lya, who just left, stole your arrows and induced a criminal switch, you’d be horrified.

As the onlookers began to disperse after the carriage departed, Polyxene stood facing the direction where the wind was whistling and whispered to him again.

“That evidence they mentioned, I couldn’t see it so I don’t know what it was, but perhaps something was wrong….”

“Stop it, Polyxene . Saying other things about someone who has left won’t change anything, so go inside now. The night is deep.”

“…Yes.”

Polyxene ‘s retreating figure with drooping shoulders looked lonely. For now, at least.

Iel watched that figure steadily, then decided to comfort Brax, who had bowed his head dejectedly. For this elf, who was young and famous for his good character, today’s events would become a gloomy shadow that would remain in his heart for a long time, and he wanted to ease that guilt somewhat.

“I too once had the experience of sending my colleague to the Island of Solitude for disciplinary violations. The charge was interfering with boundary guard applications. Even after arbitrarily forging official documents, he showed no remorse.”

At the unexpected words, Brax’s head shot up.

That was an incident he had heard of, and it wasn’t long ago either. However, at that time Brax had no occasion to participate in the trial, and since it was judged summarily not in the castle but outside, in the borderlands, he had only heard of it secondhand.

“The beginning of that incident wasn’t even a small quarrel but merely petty jealousy. It was for the pathetic reason that he, a knight, as well as his colleagues—myself and other knights—were being overshadowed in recognition by the boundary guards, who represent the elves.”

“…Sir.”

There was a strange sense of discord in Iel’s words. Theoretically, he seemed to be saying that an incident that divided the line between boundary guards and knights over mere jealousy was pathetic, but somehow… It seemed like he understood the feelings of that departed colleague. Since he too was a knight, it couldn’t be called strange.

“Think about it, Brax. Just because we live for eternity, does that mean we don’t know emotions?”

“No, sir.”

“Everyone is busy praising elves for being unchanging, but I think differently. It’s natural for truths we knew in the past to change, transform, and break with the flow of time. It was the same during the nymph extinction crisis.”

“……”

Brax remembered that nymph who had come to greet them with a shy face when the door opened. The pitiful nymph who, in today’s courtroom, simply told exactly what she had experienced and left. She must have tried to act composed, but her face was pale and floating, clearly showing signs of suffering.