Chapter 146
Chapter 146
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 146
Chapter Title: Unmasking the Traitor
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“Well, I can still give it a shot.”
Shrugging my gauntlet-clad arm with deliberate ambiguity, Mother's expression chilled another degree.
“The Trial's Spire I prepared this time is something an incompetent like you could never hope to endure...”
“You're gravely mistaken, Mother.”
Cutting her off, I curled my lips into a smirk.
“The lord of Banten isn't Elena von Carviot—it's Bacchus von Carviot. After you left the meeting room, Viscountess, I got the lord's direct permission myself. Deciding my participation for me seems like overstepping your bounds.”
I knew Mother loved me. I had no real reason to mock her like this.
But right now, it was time to play the part of the 'emboldened' me, genuinely gunning for the heir position.
“...How amusing.”
Not noticing my act, Mother turned to Father, her face devoid of emotion.
“Did you permit Jerome to enter the Trial's Spire?”
Father's shoulders twitched faintly under her impassive gaze.
“...Y-yes. Jerome is a direct descendant of the Carviot family, after all. No reason he can't enter the Trial's Spire.”
“...Hah.”
Mother pressed her temples, clearly nursing a headache from my unexpected stunt.
“Seeing you act so boldly only makes you look more pathetic, but fine. I'll adjust the difficulty a bit higher...”
Seemingly worried for my safety(?), Mother moved to tweak the magic circle.
“No.”
No reason to drag this out any longer, so I firmly rejected her so-called consideration.
“Looks like we've finished eating anyway. I'll head in right now. Immediately.”
Dozmarie Lake, where the Blizzard Knight Order had trained in naval combat for ages without knowing why.
As the morning sun climbed toward its zenith, a boat typically used for training sliced silently across the tranquil lake.
When the boat reached the lake's center, Elena at the prow began her incantation.
“Hidden path, open the Door of Truth before me now.”
The light bursting from her staff touched the water, sending ripples spreading from the point of contact.
The ripples, starting coin-sized, grew wider until they formed a vortex.
Kwaaaaa!
At the vortex's heart, a translucent yellow membrane emerged.
Elena glanced back and spoke.
“As I said, once you enter, you can't come out until you've cleared the trial before your eyes. No one can pull you out either.”
Reflected in her sea-blue eyes—a group of people, among them those stepping forward one by one.
My eldest brother, my sister, and me.
“If you want to tuck tail like a nine-tailed fox, speak now. This is your last chance.”
Mother's warning gaze shifted subtly left—toward me. She was giving me one final out.
Swipe!
Eldest brother Ares stepped forward first.
“A contender for Banten's succession can't shrink from a mere trial like this.”
Taat!
With resolve, Ares hurled himself into the gaping vortex.
“Finally saying something I like.”
Next was sister Mercy's turn.
“Not to be Banten's lady like Mother, but its true master. I've trained my sword until blisters burst for that. This path is mine alone.”
Mercy's expression flickered briefly toward Darkan.
“No trial can stop me.”
Thud!
With smoother poise than Ares, Mercy dove into the vortex, drawing all eyes on deck naturally to the one left: me.
Yes.
This was the moment I'd waited for.
Moving my brother and sister to the fair trial grounds, drawing the eyes of the family's key members to me—this exact instant.
Swipe!
Expecting me to step forward like them and offer a brief resolve, I opened my mouth with crisp enunciation that rang clearer than anyone's.
“I'm just gonna tuck tail.”
“......”
“...Huh?”
“What...”
Those anticipating a grand speech from the First Young Master or Second Young Lady before a heroic plunge into the Trial's Spire froze like malfunctioning machines at my deflating reply.
“Looks like you didn't hear, so I'll say it again. I'm tucking tail like a nine-tailed fox and forfeiting.”
Not a mishearing.
As the same words left my mouth twice, realization dawned on the deck.
“Jerome, what are you thinking? You boldly declared at dinner you'd challenge the Trial's Spire. Was it all a lie?”
Mother's voice mixed contempt, disappointment, and odd relief.
Act bold to the end or don't step up at all.
Strutting out then tucking tail—what was the bottom of this irredeemable pit? But at least he knows when to bail.
Her face said it all.
“No, it's true. I said I'd challenge it, but seeing the Trial's Spire now changed my mind. Got nine tails worth of cowardice, you see. Instead...”
Crack! Crack!
I slowly flexed my finger joints inside the gauntlet.
“Heir candidates can't do it, but a nine-tailer can. Like this.”
Taat!
Opposite to brother and sister leaping from the bow into the vortex, I launched from mid-deck toward Darkan, slamming my foot down mid-air.
Kwaaaang!
The shockwave tore through the boat with a roar, roiling the surrounding water.
Despite the sudden ambush, Darkan raised his scabbard, blocking my aura-clad shin.
Not just blocking—he diverted the Iron Shin Kick's shockwave like a flowing river, out over the boat's edge.
Thus, the boat rocked wildly from the waves, unscathed itself.
A clean technique.
'As expected of Hexagon's second shield. Can't take him down easy with a surprise attack.'
Kikiik! Kikiik!
“...Third Young Master, mind explaining what this means?”
From behind the scabbard screeching impossibly against my shin came Darkan's flat voice.
No inflection, but unmistakable fury laced it.
Ignoring him, I continued where I'd left off.
“As you see, I have a dog's nose for sniffing out Empire-colluding rats.”
“......!!”
My abrupt action paled against this bombshell—everyone's minds blanked.
“...Third Young Master, that's too far. Are you saying I'm colluding with the Empire?”
Darkan's tone perfectly blended incredulity, humiliation as a lifelong knight branded traitor, and emptiness.
Without my foreknowledge, even I'd doubt.
How much more the others?
“Third Young Master! What are you saying?!”
Even flame knight Hakaren, Ares's follower.
“Third Young Master, Sir Darkan colluding?! After decades devoted solely to Banten—there must be a misunderstanding!”
Ice knight Beskin, my follower too.
Rivals following different heirs, yet both rejecting Darkan's betrayal.
'Yes, just as I expected.'
That's why I'd held back when he tried delivering elixirs to Mercy—waited a full week more.
For ironclad proof.
I drew a small orb from my bosom.
“That's...?”
“A communication orb from Sir Darkan's room.”
Whoosh!
I tossed it to Mother.
“Check its logs, and you'll see ties to the Empire. Shouldn't be hard for you, Mother.”
“......!!”
With concrete evidence inescapable, doubt crept into the others.
Yet oddly, Darkan's face—despite the orb from his room—didn't waver.
Mother and Sir Merlin calmly inspected it, then shook their heads.
“...Wrong. It's a one-way cutoff from the other side. No way to trace who it connected to.”
Elena von Carviot's gaze returned to me.
“This doesn't prove Sir Darkan colluded.”
Darkan's lips twitched upward ever so slightly at her words.
“Third Young Master, since your heart doesn't follow me, I may not please you. But my loyalty to Banten is unwavering truth. I'll chalk this to youthful overzeal in seeking merit.”
Sheathing the sword that blocked my foot, he spoke bitterly—his upturned lip seeming poignant.
Yes.
'I predicted this far.'
Ibarella, the monster emperor who devoured the continent.
She wouldn't naively keep Darkan's comms linked after I thwarted her repeatedly.
I'd foreseen she'd cut traces preemptively, assuming exposure.
She was that kind of woman.
But even her keen mind...
...couldn't know I already pegged Darkan as the spy.
I drew another orb—identical to the first.
Infusing it with mana like before, a familiar voice emanated.
-What the hell! Why's the comms dead?!
-Damn it! Did Ibarella blow the orb, that trash bitch!
The moment Darkan visited Mercy, I'd used Saladin's thread to slip into his room via the window, swapping the orb quietly.
Not comms magic—a recording orb.
“......!!!!!”
Reactions differed now. The clear voice inside belonged to someone all knew.
Dark Knight Darkan.
“Th-this is a frame job! Me betraying Banten? Impossible!”
This he hadn't foreseen—his eyes shook unlike before.
To drive the nail, I pulled final proof from my bosom and handed it to Father.
“Records of what casino owner Hans tribute-paid to Darkan. Check Second Young Lady's room—plenty of listed items there. He'd rigged for her, not First Young Master, to clear the Trial's Spire first.”
Of course, if Mercy touched those elixirs, different story—but I was certain.
Her realm was utterly stable before entering.
“...Darkan. Anything else to say? Is everything Jerome claims true?”
Father's voice trembled faintly.
Even he, with ironclad mind dubbed Thousand Victories...
...would reel from decades-old comrade's betrayal.
“...Turn the boat around. Back to Banten immediately. I'll investigate every detail myself. Maybe some misunderstanding...”
“Hahahahahahaha!!”
Darkan burst into mad laughter at Father's order to return.
“Kuk, heh... Well played, Third Young Master. Didn't expect such thorough prep.”
Wiping tears after laughing, he spoke.
“When did you know?”
“Since I hit puberty and frequented the casino. Suspicious—manager never changed despite term ending.”
“Tch, figures. Kept the pest 'cause he worked well. Never dreamed he'd backstab like this. And to the 'worm' Third Young Master, no less. Life's unpredictable.”
Tsking low, Darkan glanced around.
“Must have reason to reveal on this boat?”
“Obviously. If you hide or flee, it'd be a headache.”
Dark Knight's moniker wasn't just black aura. Stealth and ambushes his forte—messy in open, better seal in tight space.
“Clever. Heard you'd changed, but not you'd corner me like this. But...”
Woooong!
Darkan's energy surged wildly.
All but me still reeled from his betrayal.
Thus, reactions lagged slightly to his sudden slash toward the Trial's Spire.
That split-second hesitation was plenty for him.
“Smart rats always carve an escape hole anywhere!”
Kwaoo!
His aura shock rocked the gate to the Trial's Spire, vortex around it subsiding.