Chapter 183 – 183. The Shadow of Demon Summoning (1)
“Whoa…”
After the court meeting, while walking around the palace, Diane felt tired and sighed.
Her sighs, which she let out unconsciously, were so tired that even her maid who was walking behind her could hear them.
“Would you like to go straight to bed?”
“Do that.”
Diane, who arrived in front of the bed with her tired body, went into her room while being seen off by her maid.
Changing into her simple negligee as her maid of honor, her maid bowed her head to her queen and announced her departure.
She nodded and allowed her maid to leave the room, and as soon as her maid left, she sat down on her bed.
“Ha…”
She let out a sigh of exhaustion and lay down on her bed.
Her humiliation and anger at her court meeting, even though it was before her dinner, before the sun had yet set, made Diane’s heart very weary.
“You look very tired.”
“Who is this all about… Awesome!”
Diane, who was unconsciously responding to the man’s voice speaking to her casually, jumped up in surprise.
She hurriedly covered her own skin exposed in her negligee with a blanket, and glared in the direction she had heard her voice.
A silver-haired man sitting in a chair with his legs crossed and looking at himself calmly opened his mouth with a smile.
“You don’t call the guards. That’s a good judgement.”
Despite the fact that she calmly entered the queen’s bedroom, where no one except the king and the first prince could step into her, Diane kept her mouth shut and just stared at Eunhyun.
“You… Did you know where this place is?”
“Of course. Here she was waiting for the queen.”
“Is it so. This is my bed! It’s not a place where men from outsiders are allowed to come in! Get out of here before the guards are called!”
Even as she said that, Diane’s hands trembled little by little at the various emotions that filled her heart.
The fact that he broke into the palace and entered the most heavily guarded queen’s bedroom and calmly waited for Diane gave me goosebumps.
It was because it was tantamount to indirectly proving that Eunhyeon’s level was higher than any other royal knights guarding the court.
‘I knew he was a great player, but I never thought he would be this good…’
Even if you get the feeling of shouting and calling the guards here, Eun-hyeon will take action before that and subdue herself.
“If that was the case, I would have suffered so much that I would not have come to see the queen.”
Eunhyun’s relaxed attitude of smiling and shrugging her shoulders makes Diane even more uncomfortable.
“The reason I came here to meet the queen secretly is because I have something I need to tell you urgently.”
“… Actually?”
“Would you like to see this?”
Eun-hyeon took out a piece of paper from her arms and handed it to Diane.
“This…”
Naturally, after reading the title at the top of the document, Diane widened her eyes and read the contents of the document again to make sure that she was not mistaken.
“‘The Temple of Vesta’s Materials Support Contract’…”
It is a contract in which Bishop Harkan of the Temple of Vesta donates a large amount of goods to the Kingdom of Pernias in the name of the temple.
Beneath it were the signatures of Bishop Harkan and the current king, Andrea Pernias.
Even on that date, in the same year, before the Lindewald Territory was purged as pagans.
Ominous thoughts begin to emerge in Diane’s mind.
“No way…”
“Aren’t you curious where I found this?”
“…”
“This is the hideout of the main culprit who spread drugs in the kingdom this time.”
“What is that…”
“To be exact, it is the hideout of Randell Maber, the son of Rampel Maber, the court wizard of the Mirvabilla Empire.”
“… !”
Although she didn’t know the details of the name of the court mage of the fallen empire, the fact that she was the court mage of the empire was a shocking fact to Diane.
“Isn’t that really strange? Why did the diplomatic document concluded between the Temple of Vesta and the Kingdom of Pernias come out of the hiding place of the remnants of the Empire?”
Diane, who was very annoyed by Eunhyun’s attitude as she smiled and asked questions, frowned.
It was because he could clearly see Eun-hyeon’s intention to ask questions even though he already knew everything.
“If there is something you want to say, say it straight up.”
“The remnants of the empire still remain, and they are still trying to fulfill their long-cherished wish of summoning demons. There…”
Eunhyun’s smiling face hardened at once, and she continued speaking in a low voice.
“It means that this country is not irrelevant.”
“…”
Diane gritted her teeth at the suggestion of a possibility she did not want to even imagine.
What’s even more dangerous is the country’s king who is involved.
“This is just my speculation, but I think that His Majesty the King was trying to dismiss the Lindewald Incident as a condition of strengthening the country’s finances with the temple’s support. And behind Bishop Harkan, there was a warlock who was the remnant of the empire and whose goal was to summon demons.”
The reason Eunhyeon couldn’t come up with this possibility was because before Har Khan was excommunicated by Agnes, when he read his memories, he had no memories of encountering Randall or other warlocks.
However, during Eleanor’s abduction, Bark, the son of Harkan, appeared in the Lindewald Territory, and this question was resolved to some extent.
‘The one who was used by Randel was probably Bark.’
Could it be that Barque was set up in the middle, and Barque’s father borrowed the prestige of the bishopric to induce the Lindewald territory to be purged as a heretic.
Even Eun-hyeon didn’t know what kind of price Bark had been paid to cooperate with Randel.
Considering her sexual obsession with Eleanor, there were parts that were expected to some extent, but thinking about it only made her feel bad, so Eun-hyeon didn’t bother to talk about it in detail.
“A priest colluding with a warlock to accuse people of being heretics and have them all executed. There is no separate plate. In addition, the kingdom tolerated this even though the people of its territory were sacrificed. The world is going well. Right?”
Diane didn’t respond to Eunhyeon’s sarcasm.
Only the hand holding the document trembled slightly.
“To me… Why on earth are you showing this to me!”
“You should know. Because you are the mother of this country.”
“I am… I didn’t know. That His Majesty condoned this fact…”
“I know. It’s been less than two years since the queen started to take charge of the kingdom’s deputy cleanup.”
“…”
Diane recalls the image of the current king, who is now suffering from a disease and cannot take care of state affairs while lying down.
‘Did Your Majesty know that the remnants of the empire and the black magicians were involved in the Lindewald Incident?’
“But. But that doesn’t take away the country’s responsibility.”
“If you publish this fact, it will end not only this country, but also the Temple of Vesta! Are you still going to announce it?”
“Aren’t you going to announce it?”
“… I beg your pardon?”
“Who announces that it is good? This huge piece of shit. It would be effective in instilling warlocks’ vigilance throughout the continent, but the moment the announcement was made, not only Pernias, but also the authority of the Temple of Vesta spread throughout the continent would fall to the ground. I intend to tell Agnes about this. Publicizing this incident on the continent is an act of self-destruction that has nothing to gain.”
“What the hell are you saying to me? What the hell are you expecting from me!”
Diane is losing her reason little by little in the midst of rising irritation and resentment.
He was weighed down by the weight of the decisions he hadn’t made, the circumstances the king had committed, and the weight he had to bear and be responsible for.
“I am not hoping for anything.”
“… I beg your pardon?”
“There is no reason for me to inform the queen of this fact. The Queen is now the supreme decision maker in this country, and it is her duty to know how this country got involved in demon summoning by warlocks. That way, you can think of future countermeasures. Whatever choice the queen makes doesn’t mean much to me.”
“… You are from the Duke Armitas side. Why are you caring for me?”
At Diane’s question, Eunhyun smiled and shook her head.
“It’s not like that kind of master-servant relationship with the Duke. I happened to be in charge of my daughter, but should I say that the relationship between me and the Duke is a cooperative relationship that fills in each other’s shortcomings? Strictly speaking, I’m not from the duke’s side.”
“… ?”
At the incomprehensible explanation, Diane frowned.
She’s betrothed to Eleanor, but isn’t she from the Duke’s side?
If it wasn’t for her intention to make Eun-hyeon her own person and use his ability, why the hell did she get engaged to her own daughter?
I can’t understand Avros’ choice.
And what I don’t understand the most at this point is.
‘I can’t quite understand what this man is thinking.’
“Your purpose is… What the hell is it?”
“Queen. I mean. I don’t really care what happens to this country. Looking at the current Koraji, it’s a very difficult situation, but that doesn’t mean that the entire continent will perish just because this country perishes.”
It is also similar to the ‘gods’ way of thinking’ that Eunhyeon hates the most.
In the end, Eun-hyeon herself couldn’t escape the hateful way of thinking that had been instilled for a long time.
“How cruel… Haven’t you thought about the lives of many people who die in the process?”
Receiving Diane’s tired gaze, Eunhyeon smiled.
“What is funny?”
“I thought it was an interesting sophistry.”
“… Sophistry?”
“Do you think that the nobles who support the queen’s son, Prince Damian, through her efforts to appoint her as the crown prince, are good nobles who take care of the people and care about the safety of the country?”
“That…”
“Among people. There are people who are willing to close their eyes and become ugly for the benefit they desire. Just like how the queen closed her eyes for Prince Damian and tried to use the power of the nobles who had other ideas.”
“I am… It’s different from them.”
“However, it cannot be said that the queen is not at all responsible for neglecting those nobles and causing the current country to become like this.”
“…”
When the undeniable facts were pointed out, Diane could not refute anything.
“The reason I came to the queen secretly is to tell you how her kingdom got involved in the case of the Lindewald Spirit. Earlier, I said that it didn’t really matter if this country collapsed or not, but that didn’t mean it didn’t matter if it collapsed now.”
In other words, it doesn’t matter what the outcome is.
“Please don’t think that this is over. The remnants of the empire are not just Randall Maber.”
Eun-hyeon, who stood up from her seat, turned her body around and looked at Diane and opened her mouth.
“I want to ask you something.”
“… What is it?”
“Do you really think it is meaningful to put Prince Damian in the position of master of this country, even while the queen struggles? Do you see this country as it is today worth it?”
“…”
Checking Diane’s face as if she had been bitten by an insect and unable to answer, Eunhyeon smiled.
She doesn’t have to answer, but her expression says it all.
“I heard your answer well. Then… Please, I pray in my heart that this country will not perish.”
After greeting her, Eun-hyeon’s body disappeared like a fog.
