Chapter 132
Chapter 132
Translation: godsn
He stood frozen, unable to even vent his fury as he clutched the lifeless Ost.
Medeia watched with indifferent eyes as the last target she'd missed on the battlefield met his end.
'I was determined to eliminate him before he left Valdina.'
She was slightly surprised that Pelleus had been the one to deliver the final blow—something she hadn't anticipated.
Just then, Dianzel winked at Medeia.
"Tom? Who are you still aiming your arrow at?"
"Yes, Senior. Her Highness the Princess ordered me to eliminate Grand Duke Castulo's secret guards."
When Marquess Gilifos led the Agema to raid the village where Iason's covert unit was hiding, Dianzel happened to be beside Tom.
"Oh ho, if it's Her Highness's command... Hmm, shall I lend a hand?"
"I'd be grateful. She said they never leave the Grand Duke's side and wear helmets with laurel insignias. For someone of your skill, tracking them down shouldn't be difficult."
The only reason Tom managed to locate and eliminate all three reclusive guards without fail was thanks to the assistance of Dianzel, the leader of the Agema.
And before Pelleus made his appearance, Dianzel fully disclosed to his liege how Grand Duke Castulo had intervened and how his hidden guards had been eliminated.
"Escort the Grand Duke. This time, my knights will ensure he returns to his homeland safely."
Pelleus's words maintained the proper decorum befitting foreign royalty.
Yet, eloquent speech did not guarantee noble actions.
The Agema moved to Iason's side and seized his arms. Their grip was so rough it nearly cut off his circulation, their hostility and fury palpable.
Iason bit his lip, swallowing the rising humiliation.
Mixed in was a handful of resentment toward Medeia.
"Princess Medeia. Do you truly intend to cast me aside like this?"
The words spilled out before he could stop them. Pelleus frowned, his handsome features twisting as he stepped protectively in front of his sister.
As if even letting Iason's gaze reach her was distasteful. The shame of being treated like vermin welled up in Iason's chest.
"I genuinely tried to protect you. It was you who rejected and insulted my goodwill, not the other way around!"
Did she even know what he had lost?
The more he spoke, the more his anger boiled over. Without realizing it, he lost control and lashed out.
"I've never once wronged you. What possible malice could I have harbored that you'd—"
Iason truly couldn't comprehend it.
Not only had she failed to reciprocate his kindness, but she'd also repeatedly pushed him away, glaring at him with what seemed like hatred. It made his skin crawl.
"Who knows?"
Medeia shrugged.
"Perhaps we had some ill-fated enmity in a past life."
Her flippant reply contrasted starkly with the weight of his emotions, deepening the insult.
Iason clenched his fists. The fury of being cast aside simmered beneath his skin. Never in his life had he faced so much rejection.
The hollow ache of having nothing to hold onto seeped into his bones, and the pain of being surrounded by the murderous King and Agema without any means to retaliate was excruciating.
'If only my Varangians and the recluses had been here...'
He wouldn't have had to retreat in such disgrace. He'd lost every card in his hand without gaining a single thing.
Before he could swallow his rising indignation, the Agema at his sides seized him roughly again.
"Release me! I'll walk on my own!"
Iason shook them off and turned away. His exit was a pitiful contrast to his grand arrival in Valdina.
"Then, Grand Duke Castulo, I bid you a safe journey. I trust you have no intention of setting foot on Valdina's soil again."
Pelleus issued the blatantly humiliating expulsion order before turning to the Regent's faction.
"Imprison them all. Not a single exception—every last one will be executed."
"Y-Your Majesty!"
The vassals gasped.
The Regent's face turned ashen.
"Pelleus! I am your uncle!"
The implication was clear—he expected to be spared.
But the ones truly affected by those words weren't Pelleus, but the nobles of the Regent's faction.
'He thinks he can escape alone just because he's royalty?'
They, too, were incarnations of greed and lust for power, second to none in the kingdom.
With their lives on the line, loyalty and honor were discarded.
"Your Majesty! The Regent was the one who first exposed our corruption and blackmailed us! He threatened to expose us if we didn't join the rebellion!"
Someone shouted. It only took one to break the dam.
"Your Majesty, this man conspired with Head Maid Cuisine and Minister Etienne, using embezzled palace funds to raise the rebel army!"
"By the authority of Her Highness the Princess's royal seal, I replaced every official who refused to cooperate with me!"
"I was in charge of laundering funds for Duke Claudio's household. The ducal estate was overflowing with gold and jewels, and they've hidden slush funds in more than ten locations across the kingdom—no, even throughout the Empire!"
Revelations poured forth as if everyone had been waiting for this moment.
The Regent, who had just moments ago tried to sell out Iason without hesitation, was now receiving the same treatment from his own subordinates.
They laid bare every instance of corruption, malpractice, and crime the Regent had committed.
In truth, they might have anticipated this moment ever since the Regent had coldly disposed of Minister Etienne, his own right-hand man.
Thus, they felt no guilt whatsoever about betraying him to save their own skins.
"Your Majesty! The Regent even ordered them to scar Her Highness's face during her abduction! He said even if the Grand Duke rescued her, he'd make sure she could never become a Grand Duchess!"
"I served as a retainer under the minor nobility—under their orders, I slaughtered everyone at Count Etienne's estate. During the hunting tournament, I was the one who tied the beast-luring sachet to Her Highness the Princess's horse."
It wasn't just the Regent's faction of nobles and vassals scrambling for survival.
The Regent's face turned ashen.
"You ungrateful wretches! After all the money and power I've lavished upon you, how dare you—!"
Consumed by bone-deep betrayal, he flew into a rage. Even his remaining eye turned bloodshot, veins bulging as if about to burst.
The commoners who had gathered below the castle walls, surrounding the condemned, also heard these shocking revelations.
"By the heavens, they've truly gorged themselves! Our kingdom's poverty wasn't Her Highness the Princess's doing—it was that vile Regent all along!"
"And this monster wanted to be king? Wake up from your delusions, Claudio! Even a swarm of ants would reject filth like you!"
"Not content with kidnapping his own beloved niece, he ordered her face mutilated? This isn't a man—it's a monster wearing human skin!"
People clicked their tongues at such unprecedented depravity.
"Wise and just King, we beg you to weigh our circumstances! We had no choice but to comply with that villain's threats!"
The nobles of the Regent's faction kowtowed as they pleaded.
"......"
"Y-Your Majesty...?"
Receiving no response, they cautiously raised their heads—only to tremble violently upon meeting the King's indifferent gaze looking down at them.
Pelleus wasn't fooled by their excuses.
'When Dea exposed the signature document to the world, it must have been to root out the corrupt like the Regent and his ilk.'
"These are creatures who grew fat on the blood and flesh of our people. Is there any exception for treason? All rebels must be executed."
His authoritative voice pronounced judgment as firmly as a brand.
"Y-Your... M-Majesty...!"
Their gaping mouths, like fish tossed ashore, snapped shut under Pelleus's chilling aura.
The Regent's lackeys finally realized:
The King before them was no longer young nor weak.
He was a warrior who had survived a decade of battlefields, the conqueror who brought the plains tribes to their knees.
Their pitiful pretenses had been seen through long ago—down to the marrow.
"Take them away. Their executions will be held in the plaza after the triumphal procession."
"By your command!"
Amid the knights' unified cry, the doomed men's sobs leaked out.
'I'll meet my end at the guillotine too.'
Kneeling among the condemned, Theo thought absently.
'If only I could see Saya one last time...'
But he knew that was greed.
He couldn't burden Saya with the stigma of being a rebel's kin before leaving.
'If I'd known it would come to this—if I'd known the revolution would end here—I never should have left.'
"Wait."
Though a clear voice rang out, it didn't reach Theo's ears, lost as he was in despair.
As he bowed his head in hollow defeat, a shadow fell over him. Sensing movement, Theo instinctively looked up.
Blinking against the painfully bright sunlight, he finally saw the astonishingly beautiful girl standing before him.
"Your Highness, this man is—"
The Princess raised her hand to stop the approaching knight, looking down at Theo.
'The... Princess?'
This was his first time seeing her in person, having only known her through correspondence.
Theo drew a sharp breath.
The impact was greater than when he'd glimpsed her faint silhouette atop the castle walls.
"So it's you. The one who beheaded the rebel leader and brought me the Regent's crimes."
The Princess's voice was gentle.
Her pale cheeks looked angelically soft, her expression both reverent and pure.