Chapter 157: Chapter 157: Downfall, Windfall (IX)

It was late in the evening when Esther and her family arrived at the mansion.

Deheen sent the children off first, then went straight to the office and looked through the materials he had organized about Brions.

Eventually, he found what he wanted and left the office feeling satisfied.

Then he climbed the stairs to check Esther’s condition. He opened the door silently and looked inside.

“You’re sleeping well.”

Esther was sleeping so peacefully that one of her legs was sticking out of the covers.

Deheen gazed at him lovingly. After pulling the blanket over her, he left the room.

“The maids said she fell asleep right after washing up.”

Delbert reported the situation. He came to Esther’s room with Deheen.

“She must have been very tired. Too much has happened.”

“Now that the lady is back, it feels like the house is full.”

“Yes. During this week, it was always empty whenever I looked.”

Every night, Deheen would check on the sleeping twins. Despite knowing full well that Esther was away, he still opened the door to her room.

For a week, Deheen looked at her empty bed with blank eyes.

Delbert was delighted at the thought of not having to see it anymore.

Then, there was the sound of a knight in uniform coming up the stairs.

He signaled the knight to lower the volume, fearing that the loud noise would awaken Esther.

“Why did you come up?”

“Ben is back. You told me to inform you as soon as he arrived…”

Ben, who was left at the temple to clean up, arrived a few hours later.

Deheen nodded and headed for the office, where Ben was.

“How did it go?”

“I informed the temple of the incident and formally requested an investigation into the truth, but they dismissed it as having nothing to do with them.”

“Is it true?”

“For now. There is no reason for the temple side to hire an outsider to forcefully kidnap the lady. It would have been easier to prevent her from going at all by using the reason that she is a saint.”

“I think so too. It’s probably Brions or his daughter’s doing.”

“Still, it’s true that the lady was attacked while she was at the temple, so if the mastermind is revealed, he or she will be held accountable.”

Deheen nodded, thinking Ben had handled it well.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Did they talk about the saint issue separately?”

“Hmm… it felt like they were sparing their words because their opinions were not united.”

“Right.”

Deheen tapped his chin for a moment and thought about something, then he left the room with Ben.

It was long past the time to sleep. However, his steps headed not to the bedroom but to the prison where Albert was being held.

“Did you find out anything?”

“I roughly knew which guild this guy belonged to.”

This wasn’t found out by interrogating Albert.

As soon as Deheen arrived, he entrusted the torture to the knight commander. But no matter how much Albert was beaten, he would not open his mouth.

Instead, Deheen was able to sort out Albert’s guild from the information he had on Duke Brions.

Not too long ago, he researched all kinds of data to find out the weaknesses of Duke Brions.

At that time, he noted that there were several guilds that cleaned up the mess of the Duchy of Brions.

An assassination guild was marked as the most dangerous of them all. Thus, Deheen assumed it was them.

“Well, shall I try?”

Passing through the entrance of the prison and descending into the dark basement, Deheen saw the knights guarding a cell.

Inside the cell was a passed out Albert. He was chained to a chair, covered in blood.

“You can go out.”

“Yes!”

After sending all the knights out, Deheen unlocked the door and went inside.

“Wake up.”

Deheen scooped up water from a bucket and poured it over Albert.

“Puha!”

Albert, who had fainted, opened his eyes in a flash. When salt water, not plain water, touched the wounds, his whole body ached.

“Ugh.”

As the knight commander left minor wounds all over his body, pain spread and pulsed.

“I can’t be merciful.”

Deheen murmured coldly as he kicked the chair Albert was bound to.

Albert’s head fell to the floor with a thud.

Deheen remained expressionless as he trampled his hair with his shoe.

“Since you touched my daughter, I have no intention of showing you grace.”

Considering that Albert used a sword on Esther and tried to kidnap her, it was not enough even if Deheen killed him on the spot.

Just imagining that she would have been kidnapped if he didn’t go there made Deheen’s blood flow backwards.

“But I have to catch the one I hate more than you.”

Even so, there was one reason to keep Albert alive instead of killing him right away. It was to catch Duke Brions.

Deheen spilled the murderous intent he once wielded on the battlefield at Albert, grabbing him by the collar and looking him straight in the eyes.

“I found your guild.”

Albert, who hadn’t responded to any threats from the knight commander, widened his eyes.

“Even though you disappeared, the guild members still remain. There are still many alive in the temple.”

Finding the guild was a bluff, but judging from Albert’s reaction, it seemed like the right stab.

“Ugh.”

“Your subordinates and their families. Everyone involved could be hanged. Even a newborn child. I have the power to do that.”

Having heard of Deheen’s notoriety, Albert assumed he was serious, and his lips trembled.

‘Jason’s wife is said to be due soon…’

One of his subordinates was unable to come with him this time because of his wife’s childbirth.

He closed his eyes anxiously at the thought that if Deheen found out about the guild, Jason, his wife, and even the newborn child might be caught.

“Tell me who ordered this job. Then your men will be spared.”

Not expecting those words to come out of Deheen’s mouth, Albert flinched and gazed at him in suspicion.

Deheen released Albert’s mouth, which had been covered with a cloth the whole time.

“I don’t think it’s a bad suggestion?”

“…It’s a lie.”

“It’s not a lie.”

When Albert gave him a venomous look, Deheen pulled out one of his bound arms and snapped it to the other side.

Albert’s screams echoed through the prison, but Deheen didn’t even blink.

“I can’t sell out my customers. It’s a long-time customer too.”

“Is it more important than the lives of your comrades who you shared life and death with?”

“…….”

Albert was shaking.

He had done anything and everything for money, even killing people casually.

But to him, his men were more than family. No matter what happened to strangers, his men were precious.

“Really… You will guarantee the lives of all my men… Really?”

“Yes. I will be able to.”

Deheen pulled out the sword from his waist and aimed it at Albert’s neck.

A sharp blade grazed the center of his neck, and blood dripped from the slight wound.

“Keugh.”

“I already roughly know who ordered it. All you have to do is answer whether or not it is the person I am talking about.”

Tilting his head sideways and exerting a little more force on the sword aimed at the neck, Deheen asked,

“Is it Brions?”

Deheen’s killing intent was such that it wouldn’t be strange at all to pierce Albert’s neck as it was.

“…You’re right.”

Albert, who had gone through various hardships, gave in not for his own life.

Realizing that his opponent wasn’t the type of person who would crumble by wasting time, Albert changed his mind to save even just his subordinates.

“Bastard.”

Even if Deheen had guessed it, once it was confirmed, his anger at Duke Brions rose unbearably.

“It must have been like this before.”

Recalling Esther’s life in captivity, Deheen’s hands tightened.

Because of that, the sword dug into Albert’s neck, turning the slight wound deep.

“Your Grace, you must not kill him. We must have him testify.”

Ben stepped in. As a result, fatal injuries were avoided, but Albert had already passed out.

“I know. I won’t kill him.”

Deheen withdrew his sword, catching his breath to contain his anger.

“Call the doctor and get him treated.”

Regaining his sanity, he went out of the prison to get some cold air.

“Are you okay?”

“Brions, my desire to kill him is soaring. For a moment, all I thought was that.”

“I understand.”

“Ben, we need to call a meeting of the four great families. The earlier the date, the better. Coordinate with the other two families except for Brions. Ah, the place for the meeting would be the Imperial Palace.”

There was no need to wait any longer, as they had even obtained a witness to testify that Duke Brions had attacked the grand duke’s daughter.

“All right. Also, why don’t we take back Lucifer who was sent to the duke’s mansion? It might be useful for this meeting.”

“That would be nice.”

Deheen looked up at the sky with conflicted eyes as he pondered why he had sent Lucifer.

It was dawn.

The morning sun was already coming up.

★★★

A meeting room inside the temple.

The meeting had already been underway for two days since the qualification test was held, but it was not easy to gather opinions.

“Come on, everyone, calm down. We can’t make any decisions like this.”

Rubbing a tense spot on her forehead, Sharon led the meeting and roughly summarized the contents.

“First, let’s decide how to deal with the four high priests.”

Currently, the high priests were on probation, just like Rabienne.

“We need them to do the relief work. Isn’t it a time where we can’t lack even one pair of hands?”

“But they are the ones who cause this by having a fake saint. We can’t just pass it over.”

Opposition was so tense that there was no gap at all.

“It can’t be helped. Let’s decide by majority.”

Usually, in the elders’ meeting, they would talk until they reached a decision that everyone was satisfied with.

But right now, the temple side had neither the time nor the leisure to spare.

“Then, by majority vote, the disposal of the four will be postponed until after the epidemic is over. However, as for High Priest Lucas… he will remain on probation.”

It was not a decision that everyone was satisfied with, but they moved on to the next item on the agenda.

“The saint, no, the next question is how much punishment should be given to Rabienne, the former saint.”

“This will only be discussed when Duke Brions comes. Why isn’t he here yet?”

“Maybe he wasn’t contacted?”

“How can that be? Seeing that he hasn’t come and hasn’t sent anyone yet, he may have already cut his daughter off. He is such a person.”

“Please. She is his daughter anyway. Didn’t we see how pampered she is?”

“Hmm, for now… If we wait until today and Duke Brions doesn’t come, we’d better move Rabienne to the dungeon.”

After thinking about it, Sharon made a decision.

Rabienne was to be punished after hearing what Duke Brions had to say, which was why she was placed in the special room.

But if he didn’t come, then there was no need to let things slide anymore.

“What… What will we do about the saint?”

At this time…

Elder Derek, who looked displeased throughout the meeting, spoke.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m asking if she’ll be kept under the grand duke like this. Wouldn’t it be better to send someone to bring her back somehow?”

Credits goes to Kushi for raw providing and Ame for translating.