Chapter 90
Renoa Edelhyde. As a witch, you are to be taken into custody.
As soon as Aiter's declaration fell, the imperial knights closed in on Renoa in perfect formation.
Leon immediately stepped forward and blocked them.
Leon stared steadily at Aiter.
“You're going to arrest the young lady? What are you talking about?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. The young lady is of witch blood. We have to eliminate a dangerous element that threatens the Empire's security, don't we?”
At Aiter's openly hostile display, Leon's expression turned cold.
“This seems different from what was promised.”
“I truly am ashamed and sorry about that.”
“If you're ashamed, then you could just not do it, couldn't you?”
“The situation changed beyond my control.”
At Aiter's light nod, as if he had been waiting for it, the soldiers brought two corpses from the rear.
One was the body of Pascal, the head of House Edelhyde, with a hole punched through his heart.
And the other was the corpse of the witch Sercia.
“I found this in the duke's laboratory.”
“If you had time to sneak something like that out, why didn't you help us instead?”
“I thought if we barged in, it would only make things even more chaotic.”
Leon brushed it off and steered the conversation elsewhere.
“So. Why did you bring this?”
“What do they look like to you?”
“The corpses of a duke and a witch.”
Aiter shook his head.
“Half right. To be precise, it's the corpse of the Duke of Edelhyde and that of an ordinary old woman of unknown identity.”
“What?”
“There isn't a single trace left on this old woman's corpse that proves she was a witch. In other words, it's an empty shell.”
Sercia had offered up every last bit of power in her original body as a sacrifice to unleash her final spell.
As a result, her shell was reduced to nothing more than the corpse of an ordinary, frail old woman.
“The witch is gone. Someone has to take responsibility for this and take her place.”
“You mean you're going to make the young lady the scapegoat?”
“A necessary sacrifice.”
Aiter's gaze turned cold.
A horrific tragedy unprecedented in imperial history.
It was a massacre that had taken place in House Edelhyde, one of the Empire's pillars.
A single witch had toyed with an entire family, and countless innocent blood had been spilled.
Only by publicly and brutally killing the clear culprit behind this enormous tragedy could they soothe the people's fear and rage.
Otherwise, the entire Empire would be shaken.
The imperial family desperately needed a scapegoat to explain away this uncontrollable crisis.
Renoa, who carried witch blood, was more than suitable to replace the instigator of this tragedy.
“Leon. Why didn't you wait for the imperial family? Why did you try to subjugate the witch on your own?”
Aiter went on, his eyes cold, as if rebuking him.
“If you had quietly waited for imperial reinforcements, none of this would have happened, and I wouldn't have had to break my promise in the first place.”
Neither Leon nor Renoa could offer any rebuttal to his reproach.
In particular, Renoa's face had gone white as paper. It was a guilt she herself felt deep in her bones.
After all, the beginning of this tragedy was the result of her own arrogance and greed.
She wasn't even granted the right to blame anyone else.
Just as Renoa was about to lower her head, crushed by guilt,
“You've gotten better at talking nonsense while I wasn't looking, Aiter. In the end, you've become no different from the very nobles you used to despise.”
A cold voice split the heavy silence. Everyone's gaze turned in one direction.
It was Cassius, House Edelhyde's young master.
“Scapegoat? Broke a promise? What a pitiful excuse. You're just trying to use House Edelhyde's name for your disgusting political games.”
Even Aiter found those words irritating. He frowned.
“Your words are too harsh, brother.”
“Today's biggest victim is unquestionably House Edelhyde. And yet you bring up the common people and try to make the imperial family play victim. Where could there be hypocrisy more disgusting than that?”
“This is an unavoidable measure for the greater good...”
“The head of House Edelhyde is dead.”
Cassius cut him off.
After giving Pascal's corpse an indifferent glance, he looked straight back at Aiter.
“From this moment on, all the authority and responsibility of House Edelhyde belong to me, Cassius.”
A fierce light burst from Cassius's eyes.
“This is a matter of my family. Even if she is a witch, the right to hold her accountable and cut off her head belongs to me, not the imperial family.”
“The fact that the young lady is a witch is undeniable. If you protect the witch, Brother, you won't be safe either. Especially now, with the house in such a precarious state.”
The atmosphere grew grim.
The knights looked ready to draw their weapons and charge at any moment.
Yet Cassius faced them head-on without even blinking.
“Who do you think I am?”
It happened in an instant.
Mana roiled violently around Cassius.
The current of air twisted unnaturally.
Even the air itself seemed to sink, heavy as iron.
The silver knights, who had survived countless life-and-death battles, staggered disgracefully.
Some even stumbled back, crushed by instinctive fear.
Cassius's chin lifted arrogantly. A fierce killing intent flared in the gaze he cast down at Aiter.
“I am Cassius Edelhyde. And this is House Edelhyde. It is not a place where the imperial family's hounds can bark as they please.”
“Brother.”
“Get lost. Or die. You have only two choices.”
A blatant declaration of war, openly insulting the imperial family.
Aiter's face, which had been feigning composure, stiffened.
Aiter realized there was no longer any room for conversation and wordlessly gestured.
The knights who had received the order drew their swords in unison.
A hair-trigger standoff, with killing intent flying everywhere.
“Renoa.”
Without taking his eyes off the imperial knights, Cassius called to Renoa.
“A half-blood like you is not Edelhyde. You aren't now, and you never will be.”
The poisonous words Cassius had once spat at Renoa.
You are not Edelhyde.
It wasn't just Cassius. Everyone in the family treated Renoa as the family's shame, a half-wit.
Renoa didn't really mind. Even she thought she deserved to be treated that way.
Because that was what an illegitimate child was.
Cassius's words, too, seemed no different from everyone else's.
However.
“If being half made you not Edelhyde, then being half means you aren't a witch either.”
The meaning behind Cassius's words that followed was completely different from what Renoa had expected.
“You don't need to blame yourself. You're not a witch, so there's no reason to grieve. You're not Edelhyde, after all.”
“What are you even—”
“I don't resent you. The house was doomed the moment the witch infiltrated it. If there is blame to assign, it's our weakness for driving you to the brink.”
Renoa's green pupils trembled slightly.
“Live your own path. I'll bear all the filthy dregs left behind here.”
The voice that spoke those words had lost every trace of the fierceness it had held when threatening Aiter.
It was a much gentler, calmer tone.
It was almost like the voice of an older brother soothing his younger sister.
“Lowborn bastard.”
“Yes.”
At Cassius's call, Leon answered briefly.
“Take your master and leave this place at once. Never mention this detestable House Edelhyde again, and run somewhere beyond the imperial family's reach to hide and survive.”
“Understood.”
Leon stepped back and took Renoa by the wrist; she was still dazed and hadn't grasped the situation.
“Let's go, young lady.”
Renoa was dragged along as if she were being pulled.
She couldn't even manage a proper reply. As she walked, she kept stealing glances at Cassius.
The three of them, including Bibi, vanished completely.
“Zain.”
“Yes, young master.”
“Why are you still here instead of leaving?”
At Cassius's indifferent question, Zain let out a breathy snort of laughter.
“I've devoted my whole life to House Edelhyde. Someone like me could never leave the young master behind and follow a woman who isn't Edelhyde.”
“...I see.”
Zain and the few other knights drew their swords.
The mages House Edelhyde was proud of also raised their mana and prepared their spells.
“Brother, won't you regret this?”
Aiter asked as if offering one last mercy.
“Regret is just an excuse the weak chew up and swallow.”
“...”
“At the very least, within House Edelhyde's territory, no one can teach me regret—not even the imperial family. And above all,”
Cassius casually shoved his hand into his trouser pocket. The corner of his mouth curled up into a crescent smile.
“As the head of the house, it is to protect the family's members, and as an older brother, it is to protect my little sister.”
What had seemed like a sneer soon shifted into an entirely different emotion.
Since childhood, it had lain buried so far back in memory.
It was the most relieved smile Cassius had ever shown.
“I've wanted this moment for so long.”
It had been ever since the moment in his childhood when he realized Duke Pascal had been swallowed by the witch's grasp.
To survive and to protect his family as the eldest son, Cassius prostrated himself before the witch.
He humbly wagged his tail and willingly played the hound.
He wore a mask, kept a secret that would throw the Empire into chaos, and deceived even his own family.
Behind that mask, he honed his magic through pain, as if his bones were being ground away and his flesh burned.
Waiting for the day his revenge would come.
Yet the witch died at someone else's hands. The revenge he had longed for all his life slipped out of reach.
And he had lost far too much.
He hadn't even been able to properly act as the eldest son, and even as they were dying, he hadn't been able to hold their hands.
But he hadn't lost everything.
There was still someone worth burning his whole life to protect.
Wasn't the pride he had to protect still standing clearly behind him?
Being an illegitimate child or whatever didn't matter.
She was unquestionably his little sister, blood of his blood.
“It's been a full twenty years. I've finally been able to protect something precious with my own hands after twenty years, so there's no way I'd regret it.”
Just that one fact alone was enough to fill Cassius's chest with boundless satisfaction.
Cassius raised his hand into the air.
-Snap.
He snapped his fingers.
A roar swallowed the mansion.