A Puppet on His Own String
"……"
A heavy silence settled over the room.
It was as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over a blazing torch. Whatever opinions they held, and whoever they had supported, everyone was equally dumbfounded.
Bewildered stares from both sides drilled into Arendt's back.
He kept his head bowed without so much as a twitch. Of course, the wicked smile blooming beneath his masked face was something no one could see.
Cantares curved his lips into a smile. "You've made quite a mess of things. I'd hoped to leave at least some safety measure in place, you know. One has to be able to predict where you'll bolt off to next."
"How unfortunate, Your Highness. With this many people placing their faith in me, perhaps it's time you gave up on the idea."
Raising his head, Arendt responded to the Crown Prince in a tone entirely devoid of regret.
After a long moment, someone finally spoke up in a daze. "Your Highness, by 'safety measure,' you mean……"
"Everything Sir Arendt has done up to this point was more than enough to prove his innocence, just as you all argued. But this friend of mine is dreadfully free-spirited, you see."
Cantares answered with a shrug of his shoulders.
In that gesture, someone's image seemed to overlap with his.
"I know your heart is in the right place when it comes to me, but you pull off such reckless stunts that you keep making enemies wherever you go."
Cantares let out a short, amused laugh. "At the very least, keeping that bracelet on you shows the world that I and Sir Laios have you firmly on a leash. That way, our allies won't end up resenting you for dragging them into trouble."
As the Crown Prince continued, the people around the room grew more and more bewildered.
"But it seems our dear Arendt was rather dissatisfied with the arrangement. Isn't that right, Sir Arendt?"
"I believe I told you any number of times that none of that was necessary. I simply do as I please."
"Utterly insufferable. I, the Crown Prince, express my concern, and this is the attitude you show me."
After Arendt's brusque reply, only two sounds filled the council chamber: the knights stifling their giggles, and the Crown Prince laughing outright as though he'd never been entertained in his life.
Arendt dusted off his clothes and rose from his seat as though his work here was done, then deliberately turned to face the assembled crowd.
Even faced with such an outrageous display, no one could work up the nerve to say a word.
The knights on his own side were no different, but the expressions on Marquis Lanford and the nobles who followed him were truly a sight to behold.
The Marquis's face twisted as he ground his teeth. "You…… was this your plan from the very beginning?"
"I'm afraid I don't follow, my lord." A faint smirk tugged at the corner of Arendt's mouth. "Whatever situation may arise, surely none of you here would dream of threatening me. You did declare your trust in me so openly, after all — and I trust His Highness the Crown Prince fully understands what that meant."
"……"
Grrk.
A vicious grinding of teeth slipped through the Count's clenched lips. His tightly balled fists had long since gone bone-white, drained of blood.
As he quietly took in the openly sneering face before him, the truths he'd so desperately refused to acknowledge began, one by one, to come into sharp focus.
"Marquis Lanford."
"……What is it."
"However did you come to take such a sudden interest in my son?"
"That is……"
At Count Eckhart's frigid question, the Marquis had begun to answer almost reflexively — and then he froze.
The decision to meet Arendt von Eckhart in person had come, without question, after his brief conference with the Crown Prince. Before that, he apparently hadn't given the apprentice knight much thought at all.
Back then, the Crown Prince had shown an oddly equivocal attitude toward Arendt, and so the Marquis had gone to see the boy himself. He had even gone out of his way to learn when Arendt would be on patrol.
And Arendt, face to face with Marquis Lanford for the first time, had bared his teeth like a fierce hound overworked by a cruel master — and the Marquis had believed that image with all his heart, reaching out a helping hand.
The moment that thought completed itself, a hollow laugh burst out of him before he could stop it.
The premise itself had been wrong from the start.
From the very beginning, this entire game had lain squarely in the palm of that brat of a knight's hand. Marquis Lanford and Count Eckhart had simply played their parts and been reeled in beautifully.
He played us. Completely.
"Ha…… hahaha."
Unable to hold back the laughter welling up inside him, the Marquis dragged a hand down his face.
He had expressed pity for an apprentice knight, told the Crown Prince it was right to set him free — all while polishing the boy's loyalty with his own two lips. Release the hound, he had reasoned, and it would either flee for good or come wagging its tail at him. Instead, the hound had slipped its leash, snatched up the prey in its jaws, and strutted straight back to its true master.
No. No, that's not it at all.
That thing was no hound. It was a monster that laid everything in the palm of its hand and toyed with it as it pleased.
"Marquis Lanford, surely you understand by now. Sir Arendt is a very difficult one to handle."
"……Yes, Your Highness. Truly, you speak nothing but the truth."
At Cantares's soothing words, the Marquis nodded with a smile utterly drained of strength.
Cantares glanced over the defeated man, then lifted his head and swept his gaze around the room.
The other nobles were just as hollow-eyed.
Naturally — every one of them had spoken with Arendt at least once. Which meant they couldn't even dump the blame for this whole fiasco onto the Marquis.
The Crown Prince pressed on in a thoroughly cheerful tone. "Now, with this matter settled, let us return to the business at hand. I intend to use this opportunity to set the Empire right once more, and to focus our strength on driving out the enemy."
"It shall be as you will, Your Highness."
Duke Lancelot added his piece with a gentle smile.
At that, Commander Kendrick, who had been silently waiting, finally spoke. "It is frankly mortifying to have our move stolen by an apprentice knight. The Imperial Knights shall devote themselves, now and always, to serving this Empire, His Majesty the Emperor, and Your Highness the Crown Prince. On God Luce, we swear it."
"We swear upon God Himself to give our hearts and souls to the protection of the imperial house."
As Kendrick rose and dropped to one knee, Diana and Laios echoed the oath and bowed low in turn.
Following their commanders, the knights as one offered their pledge of loyalty toward the Crown Prince.
The dazed nobles were left with no other choice.
Marquis Lanford, letting out a laugh of pure resignation, was the first to bend his waist slowly before the Crown Prince. "Upon the name of House Lanford, we shall stand with Your Highness in word and will."
One after another, the remaining nobles bowed in clumsy succession.
It was a historic moment — the full stop at the end of a long era of division.
But one man alone did not move. Count Eckhart stood frozen, his rage-filled gaze devouring his own son — the one who had conjured this entire situation — as though he would tear him apart where he stood.
With everyone's souls still dangling somewhere above their heads, the meeting pressed on under the direction of Cantares and Duke Lancelot — and thanks to that, the Crown Prince walked away with nearly everything he had wanted.
A warrant would be issued for the arrest of Broken Heart's Sword, with the Imperial Knights at the center of the investigation. All intelligence and investigative proceedings were to proceed under the Knights' leadership.
The imperial mages and priests would likewise devote themselves to eradicating the enemy under the Crown Prince's command, and it was decided that a full-scale investigation would be launched to root out any remnants that might yet linger among the nobility.
Nominally, at least, every strand of command had passed into Cantares's grasp.
After the meeting drew to a close, as Arendt stood savoring the sight of Marquis Lanford's retreating, shuffling back — a vicious fist came flying at the back of his head.
THWACK!
"AAAAGH!"
"You absolute lunatic! My heart nearly dropped out of my chest!"
Barely savoring his long-awaited satisfaction at finally landing a hit on Arendt, Arthur immediately began tearing into him tooth and nail.
Arendt rubbed his throbbing skull and snapped back irritably. "Oh, come on! What was that for? Everything worked out, didn't it?"
"You could've told us in advance!"
The next shout came from Ryder. At some point, Arendt had found himself completely surrounded by the 3rd Knight Order.
"And what good would that have done? Great with a sword, sure, but you couldn't strategize your way out of a paper bag."
"Excuse me? Are you seriously saying that right now? Huh?"
But this time the knights didn't back down either.
Watching his subordinates erupt into a raucous brawl, Laios dragged a hand down his face. "Your men have certainly gotten livelier."
"I sincerely apologize."
To Kendrick's wry apology, Laios could only groan in reply.
But the commotion didn't last long — because someone was striding steadily toward the gathered knot of knights.
Count Eckhart.
The instant they confirmed the Count's face, the knights stiffened and squared their postures, but Count Eckhart pushed straight through their ranks and advanced on Arendt in long, deliberate strides.
The knights watched the Count with taut bodies. Arendt, for his part, abandoned his scuffle with Arthur and looked up at his father with cool, unconcerned eyes.
Count Eckhart's voice was arctic. "Is this what you wanted?"
"Yes. As I said from the start, I simply moved toward whichever side benefited me."
With his hands buried deep in his pockets, Arendt answered with an insolent tilt of his head.
"And this act of yours — it benefits you how, exactly?"
"Obviously. A mere marquisate or county has far less on the table than the imperial family does, wouldn't you say? Besides……"
The golden eyes slid past the Count's shoulder.
Arcus, meeting Arendt's gaze, flinched.
"I have no interest in playing puppet for anyone, and above all, the House of Eckhart is simply too small a pot to hold me. You can barely manage one disobedient son as it is."
Pfft — Arendt let out a light, contemptuous laugh.
Count Eckhart growled low and dangerous. "You've grown very arrogant of late."
"No, sir. I've always been this way."
But Arendt only drew himself up prouder still. "Arrogant, foul-tempered, utterly willful, and always cooking up trouble the moment your eyes leave me. That's what I've been until now, and that's what I'll be from here on out."
"……What a boast, you brat."
Arthur grumbled under his breath, but of course he was ignored entirely.
With a slow, dazzling grin, Arendt looked his father dead in the eye. "So give it up. I'm not some trinket you can keep rolling around in your palm and toss away once you're done with it."
"……"
Count Eckhart stared at Arendt in stony silence for a long, long moment.
And then, without a word, he turned on his heel. "You are no longer a member of the House of Eckhart."
"Please don't talk as though that were ever otherwise. I wouldn't take that name if you handed it to me."
It was, in effect, a declaration that their ties were severed — but Arendt never once shut his mouth.
Count Eckhart raked his second son with eyes fit for murder, then strode away without another glance, leaving the hall entirely.
Arcus, who had hung back the whole time, stood rooted to the spot long after the Count had gone.
After a moment, he offered the knights and Arendt a formal bow of his head. "Forgive the intrusion. Until we meet again."
With that, Arcus too hurried off in pursuit of Count Eckhart.
Arendt watched the two figures recede with total indifference, then blew a rude snort. "Posing for no one, honestly."
"Posing? Are you kidding me—"
But the grave atmosphere was already shattered by the furious shout that burst out right behind it.
"Who on earth throws over their own flesh and blood that easily? Is he actually insane?"
"Ugh, seriously! Like it's any of your business either way?"
Starting from Ryder's incredulous outburst, the knights launched back into their boisterous clamor. Arendt snapped something back in irritation, but it was drowned out completely beneath the din.
Watching the scene unfold, Laios felt his thoughts grow only more tangled.
He had certainly wished, at some point, that Arendt would blend in better with the people around him. But……
It was never supposed to look like this.
He'd wanted the boy to behave with a little dignity — so how on earth had the entire unit ended up dyed in his colors instead?
Diana slipped up quietly beside him and gave Laios's shoulder a few consoling pats.