She was scared, but even more than that, she had expectations. She felt like she had to find out who this voice belonged to.
The stairs creaked, but Jen didn’t get up. It was unusual as if some magic had been cast to put him to sleep.
Marianne reached the first floor but found the stairs leading down to the basement again. Just remembering that it was where she hid Jeremy’s body was creepy, but… … .
‘I need to check.’
She got goosebumps as she went down to the utterly dark basement. Marianne opened the door to her cellar, lighting the lamp on the shelf. The cold scared Marianne even more than the lack of light.
Ha… … . A bright light penetrated into the darkness of the warehouse. Marianne trembled and held out her hand holding her lamp, shining it into the warehouse.
The warehouse was still the same. Jeremy’s body lay on the floor, wrapped in a brown blanket. Jen had put all his scattered limbs together.
‘No!’
Thinking that she didn’t want to see that anymore, Marianne quickly tried to close the door. However, there was a movement, and one side of the blanket moved.
It was on Jeremy’s chest.
‘What?’
Even if miracles happened, there was no way Jeremy would come back to life. Marianne denied the thought that occurred to her, but she still felt her heart pounding hard.
“… … .”
Marianne propped up the door to the warehouse, looking frightened. She then went into the warehouse, holding the lamp.
She hated squatting next to Jeremy’s body, but she did it. As her trembling fingertips pulled down the fabric over his chest, she could see the inside of his shirt quivering.
‘It looks like there’s something in your pocket.’
As she carefully pushed her hand in, she caught a hard object wrapped in paper. As if by magic, it touched Marianne’s hand and stopped moving.
Marianne’s fears also disappeared.
She would have noticed something was off if she had been a little more cool-headed.
Marianne took out her dagger from the dead Jeremy’s arms. It was Gallot’s dagger that he carefully carried.
The dagger glowed magically in her hand.
❁ ❁ ❁
The nobles believed that Aslei would not change because of that one message. However, he did. Aslei became hopeful and transformed.
He had something to think about as he watched the nobles asking him to become Emperor.
‘The reason I couldn’t protect Frisia was because I was weak!’
Physically, he was far from weak. But politically, he thought he had not been strong enough.
He had been in a position to put pressure on the imperial family, but he ended up in a dispute with them, leading Frisia into a terrible trap.
Since fire magic wholly burned down the chariot, he could only imagine the injuries she must have suffered.
Just thinking about it made Aslei unable to control his murderous aura.
‘I must not allow anyone to rebel against me. Never will a loved one… … .’
Frisia was not the only one affected by this incident. Many knights and servants who came along to serve Frisia and Aslei died.
If it had been another noble family, they would have suffered more significant damage, but even so, it was not a small loss.
‘No one. I will make it so that no one can even think of opposing me!’
He had once let go of his attachments to the world, but he was not a fool. He was rather close to being an overly outstanding person.
It was the nobles who were taken aback when Aslei acted like he had come to his senses.
They had already publicly declared their support for putting Aslei on the throne. Aslei could have become Emperor through his blood.
But he cut off the head of the previous Emperor and trampled on it.
He even tore the bodies of the Emperor and prince into pieces and fed them to wild dogs. No one had raised an objection because they were too scared of him.
First, Aslei ordered the bodies to be removed from the imperial palace and instructed the blood stains to be cleaned away. Areas where blood could not be removed were destroyed and reconstructed.
Then he arrested those in power who were deeply connected to Julien and the Emperor or made them sign oaths of submission.
Those who resisted were executed or imprisoned, and all their property was confiscated.
Finding the reason was simple. Corruption. As a treacherous person, he did not advise the Emperor properly, etc. … . The nobles complained of injustice, but the opponent was Aslei.
He would be difficult to kill even if the army was mobilized against him, but no army dared face him in the end. If they were to fight against Aslei, the first to die would be the generals and commanders, so no knights stepped forward.
In addition, the majority of knights supported Aslei’s reason for rebelling against the imperial family; they were sympathetic to Aslei.
As the situation progressed, the position of the nobles, including the Duke of Atreille, became more delicate.
Since initially he was mentally unstable, they thought he would give up on politics, but Aslei was properly organizing the capital and extending his power there.
The nobles who constituted the power base of the Duke of Tintalion settled down in the capital as if they had been waiting.
The dissatisfaction of the capital’s nobles was great, but they did not dare to oppose the path made with swords and blood.
She was scared, but even more than that, she had expectations. She felt like she had to find out who this voice belonged to.
The stairs creaked, but Jen didn’t get up. It was unusual as if some magic had been cast to put him to sleep.
Marianne reached the first floor but found the stairs leading down to the basement again. Just remembering that it was where she hid Jeremy’s body was creepy, but… … .
‘I need to check.’
She got goosebumps as she went down to the utterly dark basement. Marianne opened the door to her cellar, lighting the lamp on the shelf. The cold scared Marianne even more than the lack of light.
Ha… … . A bright light penetrated into the darkness of the warehouse. Marianne trembled and held out her hand holding her lamp, shining it into the warehouse.
The warehouse was still the same. Jeremy’s body lay on the floor, wrapped in a brown blanket. Jen had put all his scattered limbs together.
‘No!’
Thinking that she didn’t want to see that anymore, Marianne quickly tried to close the door. However, there was a movement, and one side of the blanket moved.
It was on Jeremy’s chest.
‘What?’
Even if miracles happened, there was no way Jeremy would come back to life. Marianne denied the thought that occurred to her, but she still felt her heart pounding hard.
“… … .”
Marianne propped up the door to the warehouse, looking frightened. She then went into the warehouse, holding the lamp.
She hated squatting next to Jeremy’s body, but she did it. As her trembling fingertips pulled down the fabric over his chest, she could see the inside of his shirt quivering.
‘It looks like there’s something in your pocket.’
As she carefully pushed her hand in, she caught a hard object wrapped in paper. As if by magic, it touched Marianne’s hand and stopped moving.
Marianne’s fears also disappeared.
She would have noticed something was off if she had been a little more cool-headed.
Marianne took out her dagger from the dead Jeremy’s arms. It was Gallot’s dagger that he carefully carried.
The dagger glowed magically in her hand.
❁ ❁ ❁
The nobles believed that Aslei would not change because of that one message. However, he did. Aslei became hopeful and transformed.
He had something to think about as he watched the nobles asking him to become Emperor.
‘The reason I couldn’t protect Frisia was because I was weak!’
Physically, he was far from weak. But politically, he thought he had not been strong enough.
He had been in a position to put pressure on the imperial family, but he ended up in a dispute with them, leading Frisia into a terrible trap.
Since fire magic wholly burned down the chariot, he could only imagine the injuries she must have suffered.
Just thinking about it made Aslei unable to control his murderous aura.
‘I must not allow anyone to rebel against me. Never will a loved one… … .’
Frisia was not the only one affected by this incident. Many knights and servants who came along to serve Frisia and Aslei died.
If it had been another noble family, they would have suffered more significant damage, but even so, it was not a small loss.
‘No one. I will make it so that no one can even think of opposing me!’
He had once let go of his attachments to the world, but he was not a fool. He was rather close to being an overly outstanding person.
It was the nobles who were taken aback when Aslei acted like he had come to his senses.
They had already publicly declared their support for putting Aslei on the throne. Aslei could have become Emperor through his blood.
But he cut off the head of the previous Emperor and trampled on it.
He even tore the bodies of the Emperor and prince into pieces and fed them to wild dogs. No one had raised an objection because they were too scared of him.
First, Aslei ordered the bodies to be removed from the imperial palace and instructed the blood stains to be cleaned away. Areas where blood could not be removed were destroyed and reconstructed.
Then he arrested those in power who were deeply connected to Julien and the Emperor or made them sign oaths of submission.
Those who resisted were executed or imprisoned, and all their property was confiscated.
Finding the reason was simple. Corruption. As a treacherous person, he did not advise the Emperor properly, etc. … . The nobles complained of injustice, but the opponent was Aslei.
He would be difficult to kill even if the army was mobilized against him, but no army dared face him in the end. If they were to fight against Aslei, the first to die would be the generals and commanders, so no knights stepped forward.
In addition, the majority of knights supported Aslei’s reason for rebelling against the imperial family; they were sympathetic to Aslei.
As the situation progressed, the position of the nobles, including the Duke of Atreille, became more delicate.
Since initially he was mentally unstable, they thought he would give up on politics, but Aslei was properly organizing the capital and extending his power there.
The nobles who constituted the power base of the Duke of Tintalion settled down in the capital as if they had been waiting.
The dissatisfaction of the capital’s nobles was great, but they did not dare to oppose the path made with swords and blood.
