RAMHM Chapter 71

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After witnessing Adrienne's tears, Rhodness couldn't contain the turbulence roiling inside him. I'll stay by your side. I'll protect you. Beyond such words—useless, inadequate—he could do nothing, and the impotence drove him half-mad with the urge to cut himself open.

Adrienne's face, desperate to escape everything, plunged him into boundless despair. An unease crept over him—sudden as her marriage had been, sudden as her death—that she might vanish from him just as abruptly.

How hard he'd fought to grasp this thread. How desperately he'd reclaimed her. He'd been confident he could treat her far better than that bastard Novian Trovika, at least. But seeing those helpless tears fall, that guilt-stricken face turned toward him, a sense of crisis overwhelmed him: this won't do.

Was it all just emotion born of his flimsy lie—that they could remain friends until everything ended? Rhodness had known for a long time that his obsession originated with Adrienne.

Like a newly hatched duckling following only its mother, his eyes had turned solely toward Adrienne from that childhood day when she'd given him warm comfort.

'Adrienne, I only need to be good to you.'

That hadn't been a joke. Adrienne herself was his morality. If they remained merely good friends in name only, he'd spend his entire life consumed by that damned obsession. Always thirsty. Always hungry.

Nights when he couldn't sleep unless he kept slashing at monsters—or anything—until his body became rags. Just as she wanted to end everything with her own hands, he no longer wanted to be alone without Adrienne.

He was sick of being alone. Having tasted that brief childhood happiness, forgetting was impossible.

The only reason that had kept him moving in a world without Adrienne—his brother Bardenaldo—Rhodness didn't want to see him manipulated by Novian anymore either. The two he loved most in this world. To protect both Adrienne and Bardenaldo, Novian Trovika had to be eliminated like any other monster.

"Your Highness, are you all right?"

Neil asked worriedly, seeing Rhodness's expression harden—the prince who'd seemed so diligent lately. He was such a concerning prince in every way.

Rhodness sat utterly motionless, glaring at the stacked investigation reports. For the past few days, he'd ordered a tent set up in front of the Grand Ducal Estate to investigate the servants, and he received updates on the estate's movements at every opportunity.

Neil thought there was no need to ask why. It would be because of Countess Acacia. That woman was truly something. No matter how stunning her beauty, the way she selected and toppled only the hardest men to break in Ronteaux, claiming a place beside each one...

Even for a dog of a prince, blood runs thicker than water—though that woman didn't look entirely favorable, when Neil recalled her sad smile or kind greetings, his own heart gave that little thrill that left him unsettled. Hadn't they met again today at an absurdly perfect moment? The noblewoman's weeping face had been so forlorn that even a passing stranger would want to embrace her.

'Women with stories are dangerous for precisely this reason.'

Thinking thus, Neil placed on the desk the report he'd diligently compiled over these past months and rapped his knuckles against it. It was behavior Vincento had criticized many times, but if he didn't, his lord would remain lost in thought, unaware of who stood before him.

"Your Highness."

"When did you arrive?"

"I've been standing here like this for about five minutes."

Rhodness skimmed the report with sharp eyes.

"!"

It appeared to be the report he'd been hounding them about—investigating the relationship between Bliea Acacia and Novian Trovika as if it were a murder case.

"As you can see, it's excessively clean. However, this time we caught a lead—the lady's trail begins from the Ellaconia side. Since the Trovika territory and Ellaconia are adjacent, they clearly first met there. There's also testimony of a woman with similar features seen at the border crossing from Ellaconia to Ronteaux."

Listening to Neil's report, Rhodness recalled something Adrienne had once said. When receiving the Ellaconian envoys, she'd mentioned being able to understand Ellaconian. The possibility that Bliea was Ellaconian-born grew stronger.

"And while tracking northward like that, we discovered this as well."

This time Neil held out something roughly sketched. A cabin in a dense forest.

"Below this cabin was an underground dungeon. You know there's been another disappearance in the capital recently? We found Baroness Lotus, the victim of that disappearance case, imprisoned in this dungeon and brought her today. Would you like to meet her?"

"This country is an absolute mess. Who owns this land?"

"...The late Count Acacia."

Vincento, who'd been sitting nearby quietly working, suddenly looked up at them. A moment of utterly vicious silence descended. Rhodness's eyes gleamed sharp and cold as they did just before killing a monster.

"...Novian Trovika's doing."

"Pardon? Why are you suddenly jumping to—"

"It must be Novian Trovika's doing. Understand?"

"!"

Rhodness shot to his feet and disappeared toward Baroness Lotus. Neil and Vincento both bolted after him simultaneously. They'd witnessed this prince cause trouble with those eyes too many times before.

What Baroness Lotus had to say was nothing short of shocking. The people who'd abducted her had constantly mentioned "the Grand Duke," debating whether they should report to him or not.

The baroness said they'd treated her like someone about to die, and so had chattered away freely about everything in front of her. Vincento and Neil exchanged glances, both sensing something ominous.

"Perhaps..."

"Baroness Kuroseida might already be dead."

"And that..."

"Could be the Grand Duke of Trovika's doing."

When Neil withheld words, Vincento completed the speculation. Their voices grew progressively quieter. Unlike Baroness Lotus, if it was Baroness Kuroseida, the Grand Duke would have had reason to touch her.

The current Empress Grace Ronteaux was the youngest and least influential of the imperial consorts, personally recommended by the Crown Prince. Nothing the Crown Prince did escaped Novian's influence, so naturally Grace's elevation to empress had been Novian's will as well.

But the Emperor favored Baroness Kuroseida, who resembled the late Empress Letina, over the young empress with whom he'd even had children. With the current empress—who should have moved at his will—rendered useless, naturally the Emperor's mistress would be a thorn in his side.

"I said it was Novian Trovika."

When that dry voice echoed through the office, they snapped to attention and saluted. It was Rhodness, who'd finished his conversation with Baroness Lotus and changed into formal uniform. Contrary to their worries, Rhodness had met with Baroness Lotus quite calmly. Though that made them even more uneasy.

"Th-then what now, Your Highness?"

"What do you mean, what?"

Rhodness, who'd been smiling sharply, blinked his slightly bloodshot eyes slowly.

"I have to inform Brother."

"Not His Imperial Majesty first?"

"Even if we inform His Majesty, if Brother personally steps forward to stop it, it'll all be for nothing."

Rhodness ground his teeth, glaring into empty air. Though he disliked seeing the central figure of the Crown Prince's faction cast out like this, for Bardenaldo, Novian was poison that needed removing eventually. Who knew what schemes that man—who'd abandoned Adrienne and mercilessly killed even his own vassal—might use to harm someone else next?

"There's no choice but to let Brother decide."

Rhodness murmured low, stroking the heavy sword hilt at his side. Depending on Bardenaldo's choice, he had two options. If Bardenaldo abandoned Novian Trovika, he would stand guard as Adrienne wished, ensuring she could push Novian off that cliff as quickly as possible. Conversely, if Bardenaldo couldn't abandon Novian to the end...

'I'll have no choice but to kill him and make him disappear.'

The eyes of Rhodness, who'd seized this opportunity, gleamed even more ominously than when someone had screamed he was a battle demon.

Rhodness already sensed his brother had reached his limit. Bardenaldo, who greeted him, couldn't even serve him a cup of his usual favorite tea—just kept sighing. The moment Bardenaldo saw Rhodness, the composed expression he'd been maintaining crumbled, and he sat before him with his head bowed like a criminal.

"Rhoan. How can I possibly say this..."

"I have something to tell you first."

Bardenaldo, who'd been hesitating, slowly nodded. Watching Bardenaldo's eyes fill with inexplicable fear, Rhodness held out the prepared report. Bardenaldo read through the report extremely slowly. The Crown Prince, who kept rereading content that wasn't even long, finally rubbed his face with his hands.

"Rhoan."

"Brother. Novian Trovika is dangerous."

"...Rhoan."

Bardenaldo called his name almost sobbing.

"Yesterday, I heard shocking testimony."

"...What was it?"

The Crown Prince paused for a long while. Rhodness waited patiently until he opened his trembling lips.

"That there actually... are no rebels in this country."

"What do you mean?"

Rhodness asked, feigning ignorance.

"The Grand Duke—the Grand Duke created nonexistent rebels and sent them to keep your feet tied to the west... And he planted the forbidden mana stones in the west so monsters would regularly appear..."

"Did that bastard spew all that from his own mouth?"

"No, Countess Acacia told me."

So she'd already spoken to Brother. Rhodness's nerves sharpened with worry that sparks might fly toward Adrienne, but he barely maintained his reason. However many years he'd rolled around battlefields, now wasn't the time to dwell on such things.

"What will you do?"

Rather—if his meaningless rolling around could make Brother release Novian Trovika from his grasp, that would be good enough. Bardenaldo's face, looking at Rhodness who was neither surprised nor angered as much as expected, appeared heartbreakingly sad. A similar reaction to Adrienne's.

"How can you be so calm? Rhoan. I couldn't even sleep, unable to believe that the uncle I trusted so much did that to you...!"

"So if I can just free Brother from that dangerous man, I don't care."

Bardenaldo lowered his head with a devastated expression.

"If what you say is true, Brother, Novian Trovika has already committed unforgivable sins. Not only the rebels that plagued the imperial family so, but summoning monsters? Moreover, things related to magic like mana stones are forbidden in this country. If you continue holding onto him, Brother, you'll be hurt."

"Don't you know how difficult it would have been for me to reach this position without his contributions? How can I cast him aside with my own hands? Rhoan, I only have you and Uncle..."

"Your Highness! Your Highness!!"

The moment the Crown Prince sobbed with a despairing voice, a servant burst in without permission. He shouted so loudly it was frown-inducing.

"F-from the East, a letter came from the East!"

Seized by an ominous premonition, the Crown Prince shot to his feet and received the letter. The servant who'd rushed in was the one he always entrusted with sorting correspondence, so if he was reacting this urgently, it must surely be important content. At the word "East," the Crown Prince started as if struck on the back of the head and frantically unfolded the letter.

[The Eastern Alliance including Pirreta withdraws all support for Grand Duke Novian Trovika.]

It was an unbelievable notification.