Chapter 76
“So…”
I made an excuse while carefully watching their reactions.
“I was in a hurry because I was worried about what would happen to His Highness the Grand Duke….”
“I’m not scolding you. I wanted to tell you that you did well. Thanks to you, Kaiden’s life was spared, and humanity has been given a chance, hasn’t it.”
Is that so. Hearing the grand duke say that put my mind at ease for the moment.
After reassuring me, he spoke to Lucas.
“Your Highness. Gather the troops.”
“Troops… you say.”
Lucas asked back with a puzzled expression.
“Of course, I had intended to recruit soldiers before heading to the Marquis Fernandi’s castle, but just in case, I ask. What scale is the grand duke thinking of?”
“Take all the empire’s soldiers.”
“Yes…?”
Lucas’s mouth opened slightly.
“If it’s all the empire’s soldiers….”
“I mean gather every knight, soldier, and mercenary whose arms and legs are intact right now. All the soldiers privately held by the nobles as well.”
“…….”
The scale was larger than expected, so I also opened my mouth in surprise.
“But in the current situation….”
Lucas hesitated.
Lava boulders had fallen across the empire, causing immense damage. The soldiers in each region were surely exerting themselves to restore the damage and maintain order.
It was already a situation where manpower was insufficient, so pulling them out from there was not an easy decision.
Noticing that hesitation, the former grand duke spoke in a loud voice as if frustrated.
“The Demon King has descended! The moment it is revealed that Marion is not his daughter, it’s destruction—so what is there to quibble over or reconsider? We are in a situation of life or death right now!”
It was true. It was nothing less than opposing the Demon King himself. Since there was no way I was the Demon King’s daughter, it was right to plan assuming the worst.
“And simply concluding that the marquis’s daughter is the person he loved just because the Demon King told us to come to the Marquis Fernandi’s castle is also naive. He might have loved some passing woman, or perhaps he simply chose it because it was close to the eastern waters!”
It was telling him that if you are the crown prince, don’t fixate on one thing but look broadly. Lucas lowered his head as if ashamed and acknowledged it.
“My thinking was short-sighted. I want to continue hearing the grand duke’s opinion.”
“I am grateful that you say so. Your Highness is the centerpiece of the empire. Prepare for the final battle and stop the Demon King.”
It meant to fulfill his duty by thinking of the entire empire as the crown prince. If we cannot stop the Demon King now, the empire—and humanity—would fall.
“Yes. I will do so.”
Lucas nodded with eyes full of determination.
“And Marion.”
“Yes!”
I answered with perfect military discipline.
“Though I said this, you must think of yourself as the Marquis Fernandi’s granddaughter and create the evidence.”
“Yes…?”
It was different from what he had just said to Lucas. To me, he was saying to proceed with the matter while treating only one option as the correct answer.
Confused by his intentions, the former grand duke noticed and explained the reason.
“Your Highness and you are different. You have to personally confront the Demon King, so you need choice and focus. Even if it is a gamble.”
It’s a gamble. I swallowed hard.
“Then, grand duke… what do you think is the probability that the person the Demon King loved was the Marquis Fernandi’s daughter?”
“70 percent.”
Lucas and I were surprised. He was convinced with a much higher probability than expected.
“Why do you think so?”
When Lucas asked, the grand duke began the story while gazing into the air as if reminiscing about the past.
“About 20 years ago, at that time I was the Grand Duke Baltstein. I was quite close with the Marquis Fernandi, often meeting and talking. I was also acquainted with his daughter, Charlize.”
As Stella had guessed, the grand duke had a connection with the Marquis Fernandi.
“One day, Charlize told me this. She was curious about the eastern waters and sneaked in without the marquis knowing, almost died after encountering a demonic beast, but then a certain man walked out from the forest and the demonic beasts got scared and fled.”
I muttered, not understanding.
“Demonic beasts… flee?”
“Yes. Demonic beasts do not flee even when they see sword masters like Kaiden or Marion. It was extremely suspicious.”
Demonic beasts had no fear. Even though it was clear that Kaiden and I were stronger than them, they would attack recklessly.
“So I told Charlize on behalf of the marquis never to enter the waters again. But it seemed she often met that man.”
The 70 percent the grand duke mentioned was actually a very conservatively estimated value. In my view, there was a 99 percent probability that the man was the Demon King.
“Then, not long after, I heard news that she had eloped with the man. I was also uneasy, so I sent people to inquire about Charlize’s whereabouts. But she had hidden so perfectly that we couldn’t find her.”
Perhaps the long speech had burdened his throat, the former grand duke cleared it with a cough. As if his wife were right nearby, she poured water from the kettle and handed it to him. He wet his throat and continued the story.
“And three years later, only Charlize’s corpse returned. Strangely, the clean corpse without a single wound had been placed in the middle of the marquis castle hall without anyone knowing. Flowers that couldn’t possibly have bloomed in midwinter surrounded Charles.”
The former grand duke wet his throat again. The people in the room held their breath waiting for the next words.
“I investigated because it was strange, but I couldn’t find any traces of how the corpse and flowers had been transported. It was truly bizarre.”
The grand duke frowned as if recalling that time.
“The man who was said to have eloped with her was also suspicious, so I investigated, but I couldn’t find any traces of him. It was as if he had never existed in this world.”
Every action leaves a trace. Even magic is not omnipotent and inevitably leaves some form of trace.
But the suspiciously traceless corpse and flowers, and the man’s activities, seemed to point to the man’s identity being the Demon King.
“And so, with nothing revealed, time passed and now we are here.”
“Grand duke.”
“Yes, Crown Prince Lucas.”
“You told me to look more broadly, but it seems that man is indeed the Demon King.”
At Lucas’s words, the grand duke shook his head.
“Even so, because Your Highness is the crown prince, you must be cautious. Think that the possibility is high, but you must not miss the unlikely other possibilities either.”
At the grand duke who had been emphasizing the ‘crown prince’s’ duty from earlier, Lucas nodded with a slightly burdened expression.
“And I have to choose and focus.”
When I continued, the grand duke nodded.
“Yes. From now on, Marion, you must think of yourself as the Demon King’s daughter and the Marquis Fernandi’s granddaughter and create the evidence. Do you have anything in mind?”
I also felt burdened. Isn’t this a complete fraud?
“Actually, I don’t have anything…. The germanium bracelet was also just luck…. I don’t know what more to do here for the Demon King to believe.”
In fact, even if he believed, it was a problem.
Beyond pretending to be pregnant, now I had to act as the Demon King’s daughter until I died. On top of that, I had to act as the marquis’s granddaughter too.
Worry and guilt came rushing in like a mountain. But everyone’s lives hung on my lies, so I couldn’t back out. Moving forward was the only way to survive.
After pondering for a moment, the former grand duke proposed a clever plan.
“Let’s call Durante.”
“Durante?”
“Yes. That fellow is also from the western slums of the capital.”
“!”
He’s from the same district as me?
“He is 12 years older than you. So he might not have known you. Anyway, he can come forward as a witness who saw you wearing that bracelet.”
It was good luck. What were the odds of someone from the same slum district as me being right nearby.
“If it’s Durante, he is now part of the grand duke’s household, so he will gladly help.”
“Good. Let’s talk with Durante.”
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