Chapter 172: The Sentinels... (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 172: The Sentinels... (2)
Power does not stay in one place.
Nor does it ever truly unite.
The confirmation of Kents Bertem as Minister of Commerce was underway. While many officials in the Imperial Palace were undoubtedly displeased with the decision, the matter had already been "agreed upon" behind closed doors. They had no choice but to accept it, masking their true feelings with practiced indifference.
However.
“Minister Einz.”
During the hearing, a book was delivered to Einz, the Minister of Internal Affairs. He adjusted his glasses, his eyes scanning a paragraph underlined in ink before he began to read aloud.
“‘…Candidate Anton insisted on remaining a bachelor his entire life, yet it appears he once had a lover with whom he was deeply involved.’”
It was a transcript from the closed confirmation hearing for Anton Zefren’s appointment as Vice-Commander, held years ago in a secret chamber of the Imperial Palace. It was a record of the vitriol Kents Bertem had spewed at Anton—a man who had refused Kents's bribes and solicitations countless times.
“‘We have confirmed hospital records indicating a past pregnancy, which ended in a miscarriage.’”
“……”
The color drained from the face of Kents Bertem, who had been lounging on the dais with an air of smug composure. Einz, however, offered a faint, cold smile.
“This news was just delivered to me. It seems a book containing these details was published just this morning.”
He held up the cover for all to see.
[Transcript of the Anton Zefren Closed Hearing]
Every eye in the hall locked onto the volume. Kents took a deep breath, forcing his expression back into a mask of calm.
“It’s a fabrication. A subversive document maliciously concocted to slander me. A record from the inner sanctum of the Imperial Palace being leaked to the public? That is impossible in the first place.”
He waved a hand dismissively, a thin smile playing on his lips. Einz nodded, his own smile widening slightly.
“In that case, to determine the authenticity of this transcript, may I request that former Vice-Commander Anton Zefren be summoned as a witness?”
Kents’s face hardened. His lips twitched, the tip of his nose quivered, and a single eyebrow trembled. He was cornered, but he still had a legal leg to stand on.
“……Is it not strictly forbidden by law to divulge or verify the contents of a closed hearing?”
“No. No such law exists. Privacy is a principle—an unwritten rule—nothing more.”
Einz chuckled softly.
An unwritten rule was not a law. While the original transcript was stored in the deepest reaches of the Imperial Library, and trespassing there was a grave crime, there was no specific statute against publishing its contents. Doing so would merely earn one the "great displeasure" of the Imperial family.
“Well, I suppose we cannot know for certain which audacious soul published this, but if we wish to verify the truth, we need only summon the party in question and ask him directly.”
Kents looked around. Copies of the bound transcript were already appearing in the hands of numerous reporters and officials. Simply asking about the authenticity of a matter already in the public eye was not an act that would necessarily incur the Emperor's wrath.
“……No, wait a moment. Even if parts of that are true, what bearing does it have on my confirmation as Minister of Commerce?”
Members of Kents’s faction rose to defend him, but Minister Einz only smirked.
“A man who spewed such vile and insulting language at the former Vice-Commander of the Sentinels—the Empire’s most elite armed force, led by a man who earned the absolute trust of his knights?”
Minister Einz held up a page of the transcript, raising an eyebrow.
“What kind of mutual respect or cooperation could such a man possibly have with the Knight Orders? The core duty of the Minister of Commerce is the coordination and oversight of the Knight Orders. Do you think the knights gathered here…”
He gestured toward the Sentinels, the Novus, and the Esentic Knights. He held the transcript high for them all to see.
“...Could ever accept your confirmation as Minister of Commerce?”
Before long, copies of the "book" reached even Kents’s supporters. As they read the lines, their faces etched with dismay.
“……”
Kents bit his lip so hard it bled. His clenched fists trembled, and a pounding headache throbbed against his skull. Through his dizzying vision, the face of one particular bastard came into focus.
Blond, curly hair. Plump cheeks. A grin that seemed to stretch from ear to ear.
Sitting in the audience, looking utterly delighted, was Reutern II.
Ha…
The only one with enough clandestine authority to leak a transcript from the Imperial Library and enough malice to ruin me like this. No matter how I look at it, it has to be that fucking bastard.
*
At the same time, at the Sentinel Knights headquarters.
Cliff was packing his belongings in his empty office. Awaiting disciplinary action after the explosion, he found himself alone; no aides or administrators remained. His dismissal was inevitable. Besides, he no longer felt any attachment to this place.
Knock, knock.
A sudden knock broke the silence.
Cliff opened the door, his face weary. The hallway was empty, but at his feet lay a thick manila envelope.
“……”
He picked it up and returned to his desk. Inside was a book.
「Transcript of the Anton Zefren Closed Hearing」
The moment he saw the cover, Cliff’s face contorted. He gripped the book so tightly the pages crumpled as he flipped through them.
One line. Two lines. Three lines.
His eyes scanned the text, his lips moving soundlessly as he began to tremble violently. These were hundreds of pages of raw, unfiltered conversation from the secret hearing.
[Kents Bertem: To think you tried to sire a filthy seed with a woman plotting treason. It’s astounding. It was a blessing the brat was lost in the womb.]
Kents Bertem’s tirades were all there—belittling Vice-Commander Anton, picking at his deepest wounds, and spewing vile ridicule. Anton’s "old friend" had been the one to betray him.
The transcript recorded the heart-wrenching moments where a psychologically cornered Anton stuttered, fell silent, and sighed in despair.
And then… a certain man appeared near the end of the record.
Maximilian.
[Chairman: In that case, what is your opinion on these seditious private conversations Sir Anton shared in letters with anti-national figures?]
[Maximilian: The content of the letters can be interpreted in various ways.]
His manner toward Anton was respectful.
[Maximilian: While it is possible Vice-Commander Anton harbored seditious thoughts, is it not also possible that he was attempting to monitor and control those individuals by keeping them close?]
He did not judge Anton, nor did he rush to suspect him. Cliff’s hand shook as he turned the page.
[Chairman: But, Sir Maximilian, look at this disgraceful record. Ceria Martel, Vice-Commander Anton’s former lover, is a Class-1 fugitive.]
[Maximilian: That is a deeply personal and unfortunate matter.]
Far from pushing Anton off a cliff, Maximilian had decisively cut through the malice and contempt filling the chamber.
[Maximilian: A private life is just that—private. I do not believe it is a topic to be discussed in a hearing concerning the confirmation of a Knight Commander.]
[Chairman: Even so, Candidate Anton’s connection with an executive of the Revolutionary Group…]
[Maximilian: Conversely, it is entirely possible to interpret that the pain of that miscarriage led him to make a clean break from her, drawing a firm line as a Knight of the Empire.]
“……”
Cliff grabbed his own hair, tearing at it in anguish as if to punish his own foolishness. Then, he noticed a small voice recorder that had been enclosed with the book. With a trembling hand, he pressed play.
Click.
—…I heard the rumors. That Cliff grabbed you by the collar.
A woman’s voice flowed through the static. It was a calm tone, one that seemed familiar yet impossible to place.
—Have you ever been grabbed by the collar before in your life, Duke Ebenholtz? Sir Cliff must be in significant trouble now. To dare lay a hand on you.
The voice seemed to dig into Cliff's chest, highlighting his own transgression. However, the reply that followed was unmistakably the voice of the man Cliff had assaulted.
—No.
Maximilian Ebenholtz’s voice was steady.
—A Knight of the Empire… never abandons a comrade.
Those were the words he had left behind.
“……”
Cliff sucked in a sharp breath. He set the recorder down and bowed his head.
“Ah…”
Who had left this here? For what purpose had they shown him this truth?
—Regarding your words that a knight never abandons a comrade…
The woman’s voice continued on the recording. Cliff raised his head.
—May I ask why Anton was the exception?
The recorder still had more to tell him.
—……
There was a moment of faint laughter from Maximilian. Then, his answer spread like ripples in a stream.
—This… was the way to protect Anton.
Cliff’s heart seemed to stop.
—Surely, someday. In the distant future, when the Empire is a little more peaceful.
Before Anton was forced to wallow in even more filth, as recorded in the transcript. Before he was insulted further by worthless men. In this dirty, despicable political arena, this was the only way to help him.
—A day will surely come when a man like Anton Zefren is needed. This is a preservation for that day.
At last, Cliff understood the whole story. He exhaled a shaky breath and closed his eyes. After a moment of quiet contemplation, he rose from his seat. He walked out of the office, Maximilian’s final words echoing in his mind.
*
On a mountain not far from the Sentinel Knights headquarters, a clear lake reflected the stars. As Jerome stood alone, gazing at the night scenery, someone quietly approached.
“……”
It was Chiron. He came to stand beside Jerome.
“……The lake is clear,” Chiron said, breaking the silence. The moonlight shimmered on the water’s surface, scattering like rippling silver.
“So it is,” Jerome answered calmly.
Chiron was Jerome’s senior by rank, but they were the same age. They were comrades who had served together for over a decade, for better or worse. The silence between them was heavy with the weight of years.
Jerome closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.
“Did you read the transcript?”
Chiron nodded. The transcript had already circulated through nearly the entire Knight Order, sending shockwaves through their hearts.
“Then… Cliff will be dismissed.”
Chiron did not answer immediately. He felt the night breeze on his face before murmuring softly.
“The night before former Vice-Commander Anton left the Sentinels… I met with him.”
Jerome’s shoulders tensed. A faint bitterness tinged Chiron’s voice.
‘Chiron. I respect your endless ambition.’
There had been no resentment in Anton's voice. No anger. No sadness. Anton had simply accepted how he had been worn down by the era, and he had even managed a smile.
“Anton was… yes. He was certainly a man worthy of respect.”
Gazing at the lake, Chiron recalled the words Anton had left him that day.
‘But if you must destroy what you desire in order to obtain it, it may no longer be what you wanted in the first place. So, please, protect it. That which you desired… in its most complete form.’
They were words Maximilian had already understood.
‘That is all the advice I have for my successor.’
Chiron smiled faintly. A schism in the Sentinels was exactly what the Imperial Palace wanted. They wanted the commoners and nobles to fight, using Anton as the fuse. If they played into that, the Sentinels would lose their integrity. They would lose their authority.
“……The Sentinels are still the Sentinels. There will be no dismissal.”
What Chiron wanted, just as Anton had requested, was the Sentinels in their most complete form.
“……”
Jerome took a deep breath and looked up at the night sky.
“I’ll find a way to persuade Max.”
A full moon had risen between the gray clouds.
“It’s dark, Vice-Commander Chiron,” Jerome muttered. “Where… are we supposed to go from here? Looking back, it feels like we’ve always just been wandering.”
Even after ten years, they weren't so different from when they were in their twenties. Still lost, still afraid of what they couldn't see. The only thing that had changed was that now, they were no longer allowed to show it.
“Who knows.”
Chiron raised his head, his expression unchanging.
“……The moon.”
His heavy voice spread gently across the lakeside, fading into the night breeze.
“The moonlight is shining on us.”
*
Cliff stood before a door, his face resolute. The office light was still burning brightly, even in the late hours of the dawn.
Knock, knock.
He knocked, and upon hearing the command to enter, he opened the door.
“……We just have to follow that light.”
As Cliff approached with a deep sigh, Maximilian greeted him with calm, golden eyes.