Chapter 51
“Carlston has returned?!” Marquis Daniel exclaimed, jumping to his feet.
“What is the meaning of this? Didn’t you say he would certainly die if stabbed with that thing?!”
Across the table from the Marquis sat Antonio, a Dragon Knight with brown hair, and a woman with her red hair tied up.
Although Antonio didn’t show his shock as openly as the Marquis, his face was clearly troubled.
Antonio had his pay cut and was banned from contact with dragons for attacking the prince. But compared to the scale of their plan, it was a handicap they could easily bear.
The fact that it had all been rendered completely ineffective left not only the Marquis but also Antonio, who had received the punishment, visibly shaken.
“He’s quite lucky, that prince,” remarked the red-haired woman, seemingly the only one unfazed. She twisted the corner of her mouth in admiration, showing no sign of surprise.
“Is this something that can be dismissed as mere luck? Everyone knows that Antonio stabbed the prince! If he brings ‘that’ as evidence…”
“Oh my, Marquis. Didn’t I tell you? There was a slight possibility he might survive, so I asked you to send me with the search party. It was your mistake, Marquis, to neglect properly dealing with the Crown Prince.”
The woman in the luxurious dress, Revenant, spoke calmly. The Marquis’s face crumpled. Revenant glanced at the Marquis, who was trembling with anger and at a loss for words, and snorted lightly.
“It seems someone with good fortune saved him. But there’s no need to worry too much. Ordinary dragon masters can’t even touch ‘that’ thing. Even if someone did save the prince, they wouldn’t have thought it was anything special. They probably threw it away.”
“But what if…”
“Even if he did bring that object, how would he know where it came from or how it came into this world?” Revenant interrupted the Marquis with a languid smile. At these words, even the Marquis seemed to calm down a bit and closed his mouth.
“But the prince knows I attached it to the sword,” Antonio said fearfully, his face pale. Revenant glanced sideways at Antonio with her arms crossed.
“Did either of you know about the existence of that thing before I explained it to you?”
Antonio and the Marquis looked at each other. Revenant laughed loudly.
“It’s an item that has been out of circulation for a very long time. The honorable dragon masters find it disgusting even to mention. The prince has no way of knowing its true nature. You can rest assured.”
A bone carved from a living dragon.
Antonio and the Marquis vividly remembered the shock and revulsion they felt when they first saw it. Revenant’s words were quite convincing.
While not enough to completely put them at ease, the Marquis became noticeably calmer and slumped back into his seat.
“My, my, how can you accomplish great things with such small courage…” Revenant coldly mocked, glancing at the Marquis’s face, which had quickly regained composure after a few words. The Marquis frowned, clearly displeased by the mockery from a woman inferior to him in both status and age.
However, he merely wore an indignant expression and kept his mouth shut. She was not an opponent he could best with words.
“Anyway, so where is His Highness the returned prince now?” Revenant asked.
“Somewhere in the palace, I suppose. His Majesty has summoned a council of nobles for a fair hearing. Antonio and I will be attending as well.”
“Ah, I see.” Revenant let out an affected exclamation as she fanned herself with a feathered fan.
“If prince Carlston happens to present a dagger made from a living dragon’s bone as evidence at that meeting, you two must absolutely pretend not to know anything about it.”
“That goes without saying.”
“Also, you should create an atmosphere where the Crown Prince and the Prince suspect each other.”
Revenant spoke as if it were an easy task. The Marquis, who had already once been refused when he demanded the formation of a search party led by Revenant, a once-retired dragon hunter, glared at her with obvious discontent.
Here is my English translation of the Korean novel chapter:
“Do you think that’s an easy thing to do? Contrary to the widespread rumors throughout the empire, Hendrick and Carlston are quite close brothers. Antonio’s attack on Ivarid and Carlston was a mistake, and once it’s proven that Carlston had nothing to do with the Dragon King’s assassination, their relationship will quickly recover.”
The Marquis, as an uncle who had long observed the princes, judged them quite accurately. At the Marquis’s words, Revenant opened her fan to cover her mouth. Above the fan, her green eyes were curved into crescents, glinting ominously.
“The stronger the vessel, the more easily it shatters from a small impact. Ivarid’s unfortunate attack was a mistake by our Sir Carter and that dragon Brita, but it was the Crown Prince’s decision to bring Brita and Alma along with Ivarid. If the Crown Prince had fully believed in the Prince’s innocence, he would have quietly tried to confirm the facts first without leading the dragons. Emphasize that fact to make the Prince resent the Crown Prince.”
“…”
The Marquis and Antonio listened to Revenant’s words with grave expressions. It seemed reasonable at first glance. Revenant continued:
“Also, Idelin’s scales were found in the nest where the Prince’s Dragon King was killed. For the Crown Prince, that’s irrefutable perfect evidence that the Prince is the culprit. Without proving why Idelin’s scales were found there, it will be difficult for the Prince to claim innocence.”
“…However, according to the story I’ve heard, Carlston has already visited the Dragon’s Temple and received evidence of his innocence. The Temple’s evidence is absolute.”
“Then we’ll just have to undermine the Temple’s authority.”
“…What?”
Antonio and the Marquis frowned almost simultaneously. At the reaction of the dragon owners, who had exceptional faith in the Temple, Revenant laughed loudly as if mocking them.
“Why are you so surprised? It’s not like the authority of the Temple, built up over a thousand years, will crumble from a few words. The point is to make the Crown Prince doubt even the evidence the Prince brings.”
Revenant didn’t say it outright, but her clear, high laughter emphasized the arrogance of looking down on her counterparts. The Marquis and the dragon knight Antonio knew full well that the woman before them was disrespecting them, but they had no choice.
Revenant was the one leading all the situations. Most of the planning and execution was her responsibility.
Having already boarded the same ship, they could no longer betray her, and the Marquis and Antonio already knew how she dealt with dragons. As dragon owners, they were utterly powerless before her overwhelming strength.
“Is that really such an easy thing to do…”
The Marquis sighed deeply, shaking his head.
“You don’t need to create a perfect rift on the spot. Disrupt the atmosphere. Nitpicking is fine, so is being unreasonable. Summoning all the nobles for fairness will be poison to the Crown Prince.”
That’s how mob psychology works. The collective intelligence of the majority doesn’t always produce synergistic effects. Sometimes, it easily loses judgment to the bizarre logic of a few who muddy the waters, leading to absurd conclusions.
If there were a wise mediator, it might be different, but it’s clear that neither the Crown Prince nor the Prince will be able to properly play the role of mediator.
Because the Crown Prince’s position and the Prince’s position are so clearly different for each of them.
Revenant was aiming for this and instructed the Marquis and Antonio thoroughly, but it was quite doubtful whether they had properly understood.
“I understand. I get what you mean.”
The Marquis clutched his head, looking troubled. Revenant looked at him indifferently, with a gaze full of distrust, but soon she smiled faintly without saying anything.
“Is this all for my own good?”
Laughing softly, she rose from her seat as she spoke. The inefficiently long dress skirt spread out on the well-polished luxury marble floor.
“Please do your best, Marquis. Our lives are all at stake in this matter, aren’t they?”
With a fan in one hand and slightly grasping her skirt with the other, Revenant crossed the room to stand before a large mirror.
A necklace with a large ruby sparkled with luxurious light on the woman’s slender neck. Below it, her round shoulders and collarbone were covered in vicious scars that didn’t match her beautiful face. Scar upon scar over scars that had faded to white, leaving only traces.
If she had the will to cover the scarred skin, there were many ways. She could let her hair down to cover it, or there are countless dress designs that cover the shoulders.
But Revenant didn’t care at all. It was her choice to deliberately select an off-shoulder dress that exposed her shoulders and upper chest.
As if the skin full of scars, hideous to others’ eyes, was a source of pride or a medal.
“Today’s dress is really pretty.”
Revenant murmured contentedly, gazing rapturously at her reflection in the mirror.
* * *
The noble assembly hall was arranged in a circular format, with seats surrounding a round central podium for speeches. The seats for those listed in the noble assembly were arranged in a tiered manner, step by step.
The podium was empty. However, the noble seats were packed with people, except for a few vacant spots.
‘What did they say was the evidence of innocence brought from the Dragon’s Temple?’
‘I heard they brought some woman…’
‘Is it true that Prince Carlston didn’t assassinate the Dragon King?’
Crown Prince Hendrick was sitting in a specially prepared chair at the very front of the noble seats. Behind him, the sound of nobles whispering about the rumors hung thickly over the seats. Hendrick, who had been quietly allowing the commotion behind him, silently raised his right hand.
“Silence.”
The attendant in formal attire standing next to him called out loudly towards the noble seats. The whispering quickly subsided.
“Call forth the suspect, Carlston Klaus.”
“Suspect Carlston Klaus, enter and stand at the podium!”
The attendant relayed the Crown Prince’s quiet voice. The already quiet audience became even more solemn.
Soon, a black-haired man appeared through the open door in a corner of the assembly hall. The young man wearing a black formal suit with silver epaulettes was the rumored Carlston Klaus.
Carl strode confidently to the podium where he was bound to be the focus of attention from over a hundred people. Standing straight, he showed no signs of intimidation despite the flood of interested gazes from the majority, and instead swept his eyes over the noble seats.
“Name, title, oath.”
“Third Prince of the Empire of Igrion, Carlston Klaus, I swear before the honorable founding dragon Yggdrasil to speak only the truth.”
