Chapter 207: Exnation Time


    AlrightDo you have any excuses? Arnold?


    Inside the throne room, Father coldly speaks to me.


    Franz is standing beside him and Konrad, Henrick, Eric, and Gordon are also here. All the entertainers of the main guests were assembled.


    The only one I couldnt see here is Trau-niisan. Seriously, even though he is the one I have the best rtion with, where is he in a time like this.


    I dont have any. Father.


    Its Your Majesty, Arnold.


    Its useless! Your Majesty! This guy assisted Leonard to vite the castle lockdown! Moreover, Leonard just raised his sword at Aniue! They both clearly already gone mad! We still couldnt find the Knight Captain who is the criminal in this case but he helped his younger brother escape the castle together with the Griffon Knights who might be in cahoot with the criminal! We must apprehend him immediately!


    The Lockdown wasnt broken, you know? Henrick.


    I told Henrick who strongly wanted to incriminate me.


    Hearing that, Henrick red at me.


    What did you say? Stop spouting nonsense! Leonard just left the castle right!


    No one opened the gate for him to go out. He flew out on top of a griffon. The castle lockdown was untouched.


    You think that kind of sophism will help you!?


    Its not a sophism. It was the duty of the Imperial Knights to prevent anyone from leaving through the castle gates. Nothing was said about preventing someone from leaving through the sky, and in fact, no one was blocking the sky above the castle either. Thats why I sent Leo out for a walk. If there is a problem that then it would be the carelessness of the Imperial Knights here.


    Dont fuck with me!


    Henricks face grew red as he couldnt control his anger.


    However, Father only has an astounded expression on his face while Franz who is standing beside him startsughing.


    Franz. What is so funny?


    Forgive my rudeness, Your Majesty. I havent seen such a skilled me-shifting for a long time.


    Its not something to be praised. Arnold. From the report, I heard that you used Elna to stall the other knights from pursuing Leonard right?


    That is only a misunderstanding. The Knight Commander was being scary. Also.it was Leo who killed her brother so I thought that she might start attacking him back then.


    Unable to endure it any longer, Conrad startedughing.


    Seeing that, Gordon started ring at Conrad.


    Thats imprudence. Conrad.


    I would be troubled if you tell that to me, Aniue. Please use those words on Arnold instead.


    Hmph.Arnold. Just answer the question seriously.


    I have been serious you know.


    I said so with a straight face.


    Hearing that, I can see blue veins appearing on Gordons face.


    They look like they are about to burst. Well, I dont care even if it bursts though.


    However, unlike Gordon, Eric calmly stared at me.


    Arnold. You rarely do anything without a reason. You know that it will cause a ruckus if you send Leonard out. You must have some kind of reason for doing that.


    I see. That might really be the case.


    Then I will ask. Just why did you send Leonard out of the castle?


    Are you saying that you are going to take my words seriously?


    I looked at Father as I replied so.


    In a situation where they are trying to punish me for the problem I caused, they will never take me seriously no matter what I say.


    I would be troubled if my story got swept aside as my delusion after all. Its no good unless they have the reason to listen to me.


    I cant make any excuses or try to justify my action. To make them listen to me I have to avoid telling my story in a situation where I am in a weaker position. After all, what I want to do is a proper exnation.


    However, there is no ally I can rely on here. Truthfully speaking, my position is that of a prince who often causes problems. A weak standing.


    Thats why I was ying a fool.


    Perhaps thinking that this is going nowhere, Father silently gives me a nod.


    He is showing his willingness topromise.


    I will. You had some kind of reason right? Say it.


    Then allow me to tell you what I think happened. I will be jumping to the conclusion but, Saint Leticia is probably still alive.


    What?


    Father squinted his eyes and the other princes sharply gaze at me.


    After all, if that is true, the matter we have at hand is much bigger than the problem we originally have.


    However, Father didnt interrupt me and continued to listen. Thats why I keep exining my reasoning.


    I will give you the grounds that made me think so. First, judging from the circumstantial evidence, it would seem like the Captain of the Saints personal guard is the culprit but if she truly belonged to the Anti-Empire faction, she would never leave any evidence that would lead to her at the crime scene. After all, if the culprit is a knight captain of the Kingdom, the me will not fall to the Empire.


    ..He seems to have the same opinion as you, Franz.


    I have only reached the point where the culprit is not the Captain, Your majesty. I couldnt find anything that would indicate that Saint Leticia is still alive. Please continue, Your Highness.


    As expected of the Prime Minister. So he also noticed the strangeness in that room huh. Even so, that must be the only thing he knows.


    The Empires Imperial Family has been adding the blood of highly skilled people for generations and is one of the most prestigious bloodlines in the continent. A person with that bloodline should be able to notice the difort I felt if he closely observes it.


    The secret lies in Leticias body. No matter how excellent he is, Franz who hails from themoners wont be able to notice it. If he did notice something strange, he would have opposed sealing up the castle.


    The culprit was faking this as the work of the Captain of the Saints personal guard. With that said, it is entirely possible that the culprit still remains in the castle.


    However, that was not the truth.


    The second reason is Grimoire. Silver destroyed their base in the Imperial Capital but he also discovered the documents regarding their n to use Saint Leticia in a magical experiment. Father should already have seen those, no?


    Yeah, Ive seen it.


    Then have you notice how unnatural it is? Grimoire is a group of people obsessed with magical research. Their only purpose is to pursue the extremity of magic. However, Grimoire did not n anything about how they would capture Saint Leticia. They only have nned out how to use her after they captured her. Dont you think that it was as if they think that Saint Leticia is already in their hands?


    So someone abducted the Saint and handed her over to Grimoire. Is that your theory?


    Eric asks.


    His expression is sharper than before.


    The more realistic my theory gets, the worse it is for the Empire.


    That line of thinking would be natural. But Saint Leticias dead body certainly exists. If that was really the body of Saint Leticia, Grimoire has nothing to gain here. The only ones who benefit are the Kingdom and the real culprit. The Kingdom would treat the Captain as the culprit and me the Empire for failing to capture her while the true culprit would have the time to escape. With such an borate n, it is likely that the real culprit has already left the castle after all.


    Silver already destroyed Grimoires base. Dont you think that it would cause them to adjust their n?


    There is a possibility of that but..from the fact that Grimoire has infiltrated the Imperial Capital, it is almost certain that the culprit and Grimoire have some kind of cooperative rtionship. And if they are cooperating with each other, it would be natural for them to hand them theirpensation. Besides, Grimoires base might not only be in the Imperial Capital.


    It would be one thing if Grimoire was destroyed entirely as an organization but the only thing I destroyed was only their base in the capital. They are a criminal organization that has existed for a long time, they should have their members spread out in many ces.


    Even if they cant deliver her to them in the capital, they can still hand her over at another ce and it is possible that the one who will receive her is not the one in the capital in the first ce.


    There is no end to the possibilities if you start to think about it.


    Then..you will exin what is wrong with that body right?


    Yes. The reason I think that Saint Leticia was kidnapped was exactly because of her dead body. Did Father and Aniue feel any difort from it?


    ..I cant say that I have a hobby of looking at dead bodies. Did you notice something from it?


    Yes. I was observing it. Very carefully.


    For a moment, Father frowns. Eric is also the same while Gordon snorts and doesnt take me seriously.


    Their expressions say that they think that it was just a theory after all.


    So Arnold. What is so strange about that body? Isnt it just because you are just unfamiliar with dead bodies?


    Then let me ask this in return, even though you are used to seeing dead bodies, you still dont feel anything strange from it? Gordon-aniue.


    Gordons eyes looked like they are about to bleed after he heard me.


    He took a step forward and tried to grab me but Father stopped him.


    Gordon. Calm down.


    Father, my pride wont allow a failure like him to ridicule me!


    I dont care about your pride. If it was as Arnold said, it will be true that you didnt notice the thing that he did. Of course, he would make fun of you.


    Are you going to believe Arnolds words!?


    It is worth checking out. Bring Saint Leticias body here. Butyou know what will happen if no one shares that same difort as yours right? Arnold.


    Yes, do with me as you please.


    Saying so, I slightly lower my head.


    I managed to reach this point.


    Just one more push.


    If I can prove my story the people here will change how they see me. That is not a desirable development butthis is for my brother.


    There is no other choice.


    In the end, having people look down on me is but one of the means. My goal is only to make Leo the Emperor.


    This time, I will do it seriously.