Chapter 48
Helkin’s resonant voice echoed through the banquet hall, and Kylus’s eyebrow rose askew.
“Kill me?”
“Yes, this medicine I brought today contains a deadly poison that will stop Your Grace’s heart. However…”
Just before Helkin finished speaking, a loud bang resounded as someone struck the table.
The source of the sound was none other than Madam Quillian’s palm.
She had hit it so hard that the plates on the table momentarily vibrated.
Madam Quillian stood up abruptly and shouted:
“Have you ever seen such a vicious villain!? Poison in the Duke’s medicine!! Guards, seize him immediately and throw him in the dungeon!!”
Her breathless speech seemed quite urgent.
Madam Quillian had realized the situation had gone awry. And in a way that was very unfavorable to her.
But the servants didn’t follow Madam Quillian’s order, instead looking to Kylus for guidance.
Kylus, who had been frowning at the ear-splitting shout, opened his mouth:
“The doctor hasn’t finished speaking yet.”
“What more is there to hear? He’s confessed to trying to poison you himself. We should cut out his tongue and throat immediately…”
“No. If you cut out his tongue, we won’t be able to find out who ordered him to kill me, so we can’t do that.”
“Mastermind? What are you…”
“Surely you don’t think a mere personal physician plotted this alone, Mother? Aren’t you curious? Who’s behind this attempt to kill me again after I barely survived?”
“I…”
“If you don’t already know, let’s quietly hear the answer.”
Kylus’s eyes gleamed intensely.
Madam Quillian was momentarily speechless at his chilling gaze.
Satisfied with her clam-like shut mouth, Kylus turned to Helkin.
“But, what comes next?”
“But, putting poison in Your Grace’s medicine was absolutely not something I wanted to do. As Your Grace said, I was merely under irrefutable threats!”
“Who threatened you?”
Just as Madam Quillian’s fingertips trembled, Helkin pointed at someone and shouted:
“It was all on Madam’s orders!”
“Shut up!!”
Madam Quillian shouted back.
Despite her loud voice, her face had turned as white as a sheet.
As if she sensed something ominous.
“How dare you slander me! Do you think you’ll get away with this!?”
They say the more afraid one is, the louder they bark.
Madam Quillian’s current state fit that description perfectly.
She soon tried to rush at Helkin, pushing away from her seat. But she didn’t even manage a few steps before being caught by servants acting on Kylus’s orders.
The servants grabbed Madam Quillian’s arms, stopping her movement.
“Let go! What are you doing! Kylus!”
“Mother, please wait quietly until all the circumstances are revealed.”
“Are you saying you believe that wicked man’s words!? Without any evidence?!”
“How could I believe without a shred of evidence? Especially when it concerns you, Mother. That’s why I intend to investigate from now on. However, if you interfere, Mother, I’ll cut out the wicked one’s tongue first without needing to hear more, as you suggested.”
“……”
Everyone in the banquet hall understood whose tongue “the wicked one” referred to.
Kylus’s killing intent was clearly directed at Madam Quillian.
It was chilling just to witness; how terrifying must it be for the person directly meeting his eyes?
It must be hard even to breathe.
Madam Quillian clamped her mouth shut, turning pale as if her tongue had already been cut out.
“What evidence is there that Madam Quillian instigated the poisoning?”
“I have a recording stone!”
Helkin hurriedly pulled out a triangular recording stone from his breast pocket. He was so nervous that the stone slipped from his hand and fell to the floor with a thud.
Helkin picked up the recording stone with trembling hands and firmly pressed its apex.
Soon, Madam Quillian’s clear voice flowed from the recording stone:
[On the day Edellm arrives, a banquet will be held. Put this deadly poison in Kylus’s medicine that day. There won’t be a second chance, so you absolutely must not fail. If you fail this time, not only you but your family won’t be safe either.]
It was unmistakably Madam Quillian’s voice, even mentioning Edellm’s name.
Her distinctive shrill voice was so clear that no one could deny it.
Except for the person herself.
“No! It wasn’t me!!”
Madam Quillian shouted as soon as the recording stone turned off.
She was so strong that the servants holding her arms were flung away.
Madam Quillian lunged at Helkin as if to devour him. She looked like a wild beast.
Helkin seemed to feel the same, as he yelped in terror and hid the recording stone evidence in his breast pocket. Then he hurriedly approached Kylus on his knees.
“It was Madam! Madam ordered me to put poison in Your Grace’s medicine, Your Grace!”
“Shut up!”
“That’s not all! Your Grace’s collapse was all Madam’s doing too!! I still have letters at my home that Madam exchanged during the sleeping poison research! If you compare the handwriting, it will surely match Madam’s!”
Though Helkin was terrified, he didn’t stop talking.
After confessing Madam Quillian’s crimes without taking a breath,
“I’ll kill you!!”
Seeing Madam Quillian rushing at him, he tightly closed his eyes.
Thwack-!
A dull impact sound echoed through the banquet hall.
But Helkin felt no pain.
He clearly heard the sound of something being hit.
Helkin slowly opened his eyes. He saw Madam Quillian sprawled not far away.
“……”
Helkin held his breath as he looked at Kylus standing beside him.
As everyone in the banquet hall froze,
“Ugh……”
The fallen Madam Quillian let out a groan.
Only then did Alice blink slowly.
Just now, Kylus had…
Though it happened in an instant, Alice saw it clearly.
Kylus had mercilessly kicked Madam Quillian’s legs as she lunged at Helkin.
It was quite unfilial, but strangely satisfying.
Kylus looked down at Madam Quillian with an impassive face.
“Oh dear, I haven’t fully recovered yet so I couldn’t control my strength, Mother.”
He slowly approached Madam Quillian.
Kylus’s steps stopped in front of Madam Quillian. He bent one leg and slowly lowered his body.
He grabbed her shoulder as she lay on the floor. Madam Quillian tried to avoid his hand with a face as if she’d seen a demon, but his firm hand didn’t let go of her shoulder.
Kylus yanked her body towards him as he looked into her terrified eyes.
And when her face was finally right in front of him, Kylus smoothly curled up the corners of his mouth.
“You, knew everything… on purpose……”
The foolish stepmother seemed to finally understand the truth as she stuttered.
“If you had quietly left the duchy, you would have kept your life, Mother. Why did you do such a foolish thing?”
Kylus’s gentle voice spread to Madam Quillian’s ears.
“……”
“If you hadn’t done such stupid things, I would have spared your life, but with that foolishness, you’ve ended up cutting your own child’s lifeline too.”
“!”
He would kill Edellm too.
Madam Quillian’s eyes widened as she clearly heard Kylus’s low whisper.
Shock, fear, terror.
Kylus took in every detail of Madam Quillian’s face as it crumbled with intense emotions.
It was a moment he had been waiting for over many years.
“Huh……”
Unable to bear the shock, Madam Quillian grabbed the back of her neck and fell backward.
Only then did Kylus let her go and stand up.
“My, you can’t die yet. It can’t be this easy. This is just the beginning.”
“Mother!”
Edellm, who had been stupidly frozen throughout the commotion, finally rushed over.
Edellm embraced his mother, who looked like she was about to die. The sight looked quite pitiful, but Kylus felt not a shred of sympathy.
As he stared at them with cold eyes, he raised his head towards the banquet hall door.
And he called the name of his loyal subordinate.
“Davit.”
The banquet hall doors opened as if on cue, and knights in black armor entered.
The gray-haired man at the forefront bowed before Kylus.
“My lord.”
A deep voice echoed through the banquet hall, and the servants’ faces were colored with shock.
Alice, among them, also widened her golden eyes at Davit.
Because she knew who this man was.
It was Davit Valleytown, the commander of the Dearrut duchy’s Black Lion Knights.
“How did you… Ah, you planned all this from the beginning! To frame Mother for everything!”
“Edellm, one more word and I’ll cut out your tongue first.”
“……”
Kylus’s gaze was deadly serious.
So much so that even Alice, quite far away, could feel the killing intent.
Edellm shut his mouth like a clam at Kylus’s murderous aura.
Tears flowed over his tightly closed lips, looking quite pitiful…
No, honestly, he wasn’t pitiful.
They had tried to kill Kylus first, after all.
Alice wasn’t broad-minded enough to pity attempted murderers.
“They are criminals who tried to poison me. I will interrogate them personally, so take them to the underground dungeon.”
“I receive my lord’s command.”
Just as Davit answered, Madam Quillian finally collapsed. Regardless, the knights diligently carried out their assigned duties.
They bound Edellm and picked up Madam Quillian like a sack of goods. At Davit’s gesture, the knights quickly carried the criminals out of the banquet hall.
It was a miserable end for people who had been laughing and enjoying themselves in the banquet hall just minutes ago.
