Kapitel 278: Suspicion
Hendrick suppressed his anger and then asked the most crucial question.
"And then? Who's really behind this?"
"Cordelion family?"
"Or... Riezel Brynhart?"
Riezel actually had reasons to be suspected.
Firstly, Riezel had a public dispute with Sorren, which everyone witnessed.
Secondly, Sorren had secretly targeted Riezel's family, giving Riezel enough motive to retaliate.
Thirdly, Riezel had repeatedly taken a tough stance against the royal family, proving that he wasn't someone who would swallow his pride.
All these signs made Hendrick suspect that the one who attacked Sorren might be this newly appointed Sword Saint.
To Hendrick's question, Rohm did not deny the possibility.
"According to the Shadow's investigation, Riezel Brynhart has rarely left the Frenzel residence since the award ceremony and has been occupied with challenges from other swordsmen. However, among the few recorded outings, one was confirmed to be a visit to the Hydromel Restaurant."
Rohm had even looked into this matter personally.
"I sent a Shadow Knight to the restaurant and questioned the person in charge there. It appeared that, on that day, Riezel Brynhart had dinner with Count Elliott's daughter."
Upon hearing this, a glint of light flashed in Hendrick's eyes.
"You mean he had contact with people from the Cordelion family?"
Anyone in the noble circle knew that the Elliott family was a vassal of the Cordelion family, and Hendrick was no exception.
"Most likely..." Rohm confirmed. "According to the restaurant manager, Count Elliott's daughter was accompanied that day by two girls around the same age, one of whom was probably Duke Cordelion's daughter."
"It seems my niece is quite restless, huh..." Hendrick muttered coldly. "I knew they wouldn't pass up the chance to win over a new Sword Saint."
"Not long after that, the incident with His Highness occurred..." Rohm continued his report. "In conclusion, we have reason to believe that Riezel Brynhart learned from the Cordelion family about His Highness's plan to target his family and then developed a desire to retaliate."
In such a case, the motive for attacking Sorren was sufficient.
"Riezel Brynhart was used and instigated by the Cordelion family, wasn't he?"
Saying this, Hendrick believed it to be the case.
In his view, the Cordelion family revealing this information to Riezel was undoubtedly an act of ill intent. Since they themselves didn't dare attack Sorren, they might have tried to provoke Riezel, hoping he would take action against Sorren, which was entirely possible.
Last night, when Sorren was attacked, he hadn't suspected Riezel or the Frenzel family at all, but Hendrick and Rohm thought differently since they didn't view the situation as narrowly or self-righteously as Sorren did.
Sorren believed that if Riezel and Yuri had summoned that many dolls, it would have caused quite a commotion and wouldn't have escaped people's notice. However, they didn't necessarily have to summon them all at once—if they had planned ahead, summoning them one by one into the royal capital would have been just as feasible.
Moreover, there were ways to conceal the noticeable phenomena and magical energy fluctuations caused by large-scale magic. Any knowledgeable person knew that Tactical-Class Magicians or Strategic-Class Magicians could do it easily.
Given this reason, suspicion of Riezel and the Frenzel family was understandable.
As for Sorren's belief that the Frenzel family didn't have a powerful swordsman as strong as 'Mist' under their command, that also didn't hold up to scrutiny.
If Sorren could secretly cultivate his own private troops, why couldn't the Frenzel family secretly cultivate their own?
Even if they couldn't cultivate them, there was no problem with secretly recruiting or hiring them.
Hendrick and Rohm even considered the possibility that 'Mist' might actually be Riezel himself.
Even though the swordsmanship used by 'Mist' was completely different from the one Riezel openly used, how could they be sure that he wasn't secretly practicing two different styles of swordsmanship?
Sorren hadn't thought of these things in his moment of crisis, but Hendrick and Rohm had considered them all.
Currently, the only question the two had was whether or not 'Mist' was actually Riezel.
Swordsmen who practiced two different styles of swordsmanship simultaneously were, after all, very rare—or, to be more precise, it was rare to find someone who practiced two styles of Special Swordsmanship at the same time.
Unlike Elementary Swordsmanship and Advanced Swordsmanship, Special Swordsmanship usually had varying degrees of requirements.
For example, the Holy Dragon Sword Style, famous across the entire continent, required practitioners to possess a vast amount of magical energy. If their magical energy wasn't abundant enough, they simply couldn't master it, no matter how hard they tried.
Meanwhile, the War King Sword Style passed down in the royal family of Jinas, was similar in this regard, requiring specific demands on the practitioner's mental willpower. Out of Hendrick's eleven children, only three or four barely met the requirements, while the others couldn't even begin to learn it.
Likewise, the swordsmanship used by the Letto brothers demanded absolute unity, compatibility, and connection among its practitioners, making the requirements even stricter.
Even the Shadow Strike Sword Style practiced by Rohm had incredibly stringent requirements. Otherwise, the members of the Shadow wouldn't have settled for only learning the Hazy Strike Sword Style, the simplified version of the Shadow Strike Sword Style.
In other words, for swordsmen to meet the requirements of just one Special Swordsmanship already meant they were exceptionally talented, but meeting the requirements for two Special Swordsmanships simultaneously was undoubtedly an incredibly difficult and rare achievement.
According to the witnesses, Riezel's swordsmanship and the swordsmanship used by 'Mist' were entirely different styles, and from Hendrick and Rohm's perspectives, both of these swordsmanship were undoubtedly Special Swordsmanship.
Considering this, the fact that Riezel could satisfy the requirements to practice two completely different styles of Special Swordsmanship was an extremely unlikely occurrence.
Of course, it was just unlikely, not impossible.
Riezel had already become a Sword Saint at the age of seventeen, not to mention he was also a Tactical-Class Magician, with terrifying talent and potential—for such a prodigy, perhaps it wasn't entirely unthinkable that he could meet the requirements for mastering two different styles of Special Swordsmanship.
One could only say that Riezel's achievements were already astonishing, and for someone like him, Hendrick and Rohm wouldn't be surprised even if he could master two different styles of Special Swordsmanship.
In any case, Riezel was certainly a suspect, and the Frenzel family might be supporting him from behind.
As a king, Hendrick would never dismiss his suspicion of someone so easily, as maintaining a sense of doubt at all times, no matter how absurd it was, was a common trait among rulers.
However, there were still doubts regarding whether Riezel was indeed the culprit.
For example—
"If Riezel Brynhart attacked His Highness because His Highness targeted and kidnapped his family, then why didn't he take them with him after the incident?"
It was a question that Rohm couldn't help but ask.
"When the Shadow Knights arrived at the scene of the incident, the place had already been burned down by a fire. Although the Brynhart family barely escaped in the end, they had almost burned to death inside. It seemed like Mist completely ignored them, which is really strange."
Rohm's words made Hendrick furrow his brow slightly.
"Could it be that it was intentional?" Hendrick mused, stroking his chin. "If he took his family with him, wouldn't that be tantamount to admitting that he was the one who did it?"
"However, according to the surviving knight's testimony, Mist never made contact with the Brynhart family from start to finish."
Rohm shook his head, denying Hendrick's assumption.
"When the fire started, he didn't care at all about their lives, and it was mostly luck that they managed to escape being burned to death. I also considered whether Riezel Brynhart held a grudge against his family and deliberately didn't save them since he had run away from home once, but if that were the case, wouldn't that mean he had no reason to attack His Highness for them in the first place?"
It was truly a contradiction.
Unfortunately for Rohm, he never thought or realized that Riezel had decided to make a move simply because he and Sorren had a score to settle.
Previously, when Riezel had been severely injured by the Shadow, who was under Sorren's order, everyone assumed it was merely a ploy by Riezel, whether to divert attention from himself or to get close to the Frenzel family and Yuri.
However, little did they know that Riezel had indeed been heavily injured, nearly dying in the truest sense—an experience he would never forget and that had him planning his revenge on the mastermind, Sorren, ever since.
Sorren's actions this time were just the spark that made Riezel decide to finally take action.
Just as Riezel had said before in the award ceremony to Yuri, when he went crazy, things could get pretty serious too.
Riezel proved this point to Sorren with his actions.
Clueless about this, Rohm's thinking went off track, leading him astray.
"Also, it's not impossible that someone with ulterior motives is trying to frame Riezel Brynhart."
Rohm shared his speculation with Hendrick.
"Putting aside the Cordelion family for now, many neighboring countries have been secretly sending their people here recently because of his status as the youngest Sword Saint in history."
"If they find out that we haven't recruited him, it's possible they might try to sabotage us, driving a wedge between us to push him toward their side."
"If we act recklessly and make him upset because of this incident, only to find out later that he wasn't actually the culprit, then, with his previous tough stance, we'd be making an enemy out of him for good."
Rohm's cautious speculation reminded Hendrick that, while suspicions were fine unless there was solid evidence proving Riezel was truly involved, it was best not to act rashly. Otherwise, if it turned out that the culprit was not Riezel, the royal family would find itself in a very awkward position.
"Moreover, the Duke Faction could also be involved..." Rohm continued to caution. "We have to investigate this thoroughly and can't just randomly accuse him, Your Majesty."
"You're right..."
Hendrick calmed down and nodded.
"Alright, I'll leave this matter to you."
"You must find out who's really behind this."
"Until then, no one from the Shadow or the Royal Faction, including that little bastard, is allowed to make any contact with Riezel Brynhart."
Hearing this, Rohm nodded and then disappeared on the spot.
Hendrick was left alone, sitting there, murmuring to himself.
"I hope it's not you, Riezel Brynhart..."
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