บท 312: A Lie to Lena (1)
The ceremony ended after one hour. Afterward, Bryan's coffin was carried to the imperial cemetery.
When the coffin was finally buried, the sun was already gone.
Dina and I stood in front of Bryan's tomb, with Lena holding our hands. Lena had stopped crying, but her eyes were completely red.
When the funeral finished, Dina heaved a sigh and turned around.
"Let's go."
I nodded, pulling Lena with me.
But when I was leaving, I meet someone's eyes and remembered something.
"… Dina, can you accompany Lena for a while? There is something I need to do."
Dina was startled, but when she saw my serious expression, she nodded.
"Be careful."
"I know."
After leaving Lena to Dina, I walked towards my target, Louise.
Realizing that I was walking towards her, Louise's stopped. She, however, was not the only one who realized my presence.
"What are you doing here?" Earl Carson asked in an ice-cold tone. I moved my gaze through his face before ignoring him. "Louise, can we talk for a while?"
"Louise will ne–"
"Father, are you truly going to do this?" Louise's chilling voice sounded from behind him. "Go away. You don't have any right to interfere in my business."
The earl frowned, but after a brief moment of hesitation, he simply turned around and left.
I raised an eyebrow in surprise. I never thought the earl would retreat to easily.
Louise, however, resolved my doubt in the next instant.
"He is probably feeling guilty for what happened this time. Heh, he should have thought about the consequences before sinking our family in sh*t."
Oh… So that is the reason.
Certainly, the earl must be feeling guilty after his wife's family was practically destroyed due to him.
"Where is your mother, Louise?" I asked. "And what about Claire? I don't see them around."
"Mother stayed in the mansion. You know, the current situation is very sensitive, so she can't leave it so easily. As for Claire, she stayed behind to accompany her."
Louise heaved a complicated sight. Her mother was not the only one affected by that. Louise herself could feel several ill-intentioned gazes fixed on her.
Suddenly, Louise seemed to have thought of something. She then looked at me with a bit of hope in her eyes.
"Claus, can you help us? At this rate, my mother's family will…"
I grabbed Louise's hand and smiled softly.
"I will see what I can do, don't worry. Before that, though, can you give your mother a message of my part? Tell her to remember our bet. Also, if she wants to save her family, she can try meeting me."
"Huh? Bet?"
"I'll explain it to you later," I said. "Don't worry, your mother will understand. If she wants to see me, tell her to specify a place and date."
"I understand." Louise nodded. "… By the way, Claus, do you think you can find me a place to live. I… I don't want to stay in that mansion anymore."
I stared at Louise fixedly before leaning forward and stealing her lips. "I will take care of that."
Louise wanted to talk with me for a while more, but I told her that I needed to return to the palace as soon as possible. Louise could understand the situation, so she did not insist.
But when I arrived at the palace, I noticed the atmosphere was strange.
All the servants and guards around were looking around with frightened looks. They seemed scared of being too loud and attracting a calamity.
Soon, I understood the reason.
"… Grand, how long will you leave this situation continue!? You need to avenge our child!" My stepmother, Lilia, was screaming in the main hall of the palace.
The hall was empty besides the emperor, the empress, Alan, Dina, Lena, and some guards and servants; but the voice of the empress was resounding in the entire palace.
When I entered the hall, all the eyes were directed towards me.
And of them, Lilia's gaze was especially piercing.
"YOU!!!" Lilia pointed to me with a furious expression. "It was you! You killed my child!"
I frowned. "Are you crazy? What are you speaking about?" Inwardly, though, I was laughing and praising her quick wits.
She was mistaken, though. I have not killed him yet.
"Hahaha, do you think you can fool me?" Lilia let out a laugh full of killing intent. "It was you who killed my child! I'm sure!"
"Lilia, enough!" The emperor bellowed to stop her, but Lilia did not listen.
"Three beyond-twelfth-layer practitioners. I sent three beyond-twelfth-layer practitioners to kill you, but it was my child who died! Do you think I'm an idiot!? Tell me, where is my child! What did you do to him!?"
Oh? So you decided to reveal everything in public, huh. Bad idea, stepmother.
These words were like a bolt out of the blue. Dina and Lena's faces turned pale. Almost immediately, Lena started to cry.
As for Dina, an incredibly powerful killing intent erupted from her body.
"BITCH! SO YOU TRIED TO KILL MY BROTHER, HUH!!!???"
"Enough!" The emperor, Grand Quintin, shouted again, but neither Lilia nor Dina were planning to leave the matter rest.
"Hahahaha, my son disappeared just after he met this bastard. Do you think I'm so foolish as to believe that coincidence!? And how can it be a coincidence that daemons appeared just the day you were going to be killed!? It was you, little bastard! You planned all of this! I'm sure you called the daemons and asked them to kill my child!!!"
"Lilia, how do you dare to accuse my brother, bitch!? And you! Did you know about it, father!? You know that this woman tried to kill my brother!?"
"Enough!" The emperor bellowed for the third time, and this time his eleventh-layer mana filled the entire hall. "This conversation will end here!"
"I don't think so," I spoke this time, my voice tinged with a bit of killing intent. "Your majesty, this woman just admitted that she conspired to kill a prince. Are you going to do nothing about that?"
The emperor looked at me with an indifferent gaze. "Lilia is just too shocked because her son died, so she misspoke. And as I said before, this conversation will end here!"
"Misspoke, huh." I sneered and looked at my father and stepmother with a malicious smile. "Then perhaps, I also committed a mistake and killed my brother accidentally."
"BASTARD!" Lilia screamed. In an instant, a bolt of fire appeared on her hands and flew towards me.
But at that moment, someone else moved.
"Big bro!" Lena shouted. She ran in front of me and extended her hands, ready to receive the attack of her mother!
Then, under the empress and the emperor's astonished gazes, the firebolt exploded on her.
...
P4TRE0N: patr.eon.com/aidnovels
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