Hoo...
With the sound of drawing deeply on his cigar, a thick cloud of smoke flowed from Kallian's lips.
Watching William curl his bloodstained fingertips into a fist at his words, Kallian let out a faint chuckle.
“Well, I don't intend to dig any deeper into that matter. Even if it hadn't been you, Commander, I was planning to deal with your wife myself.”
Then, as if he already knew everything, he added generously,
“But if this incident damages my reputation even a little, I can't just sit back and do nothing, can I?”
When Kallian tilted his head slightly, the quick-witted Benjamin handed him a neatly organized report, just as tidy as his personality.
After skimming through it once more, Kallian leaned back in his chair with an exaggerated frown.
“You're certainly a devoted son. Judging by the amount of property transferred to your parents and relatives... it's quite substantial.”
“Is there something wrong with a son supporting his parents?”
“There's nothing wrong with that. But embezzling the budget and secretly hiding your family's assets before transferring them elsewhere—that's a problem. That's embezzlement.”
“Hiding assets? What are you...?”
“Do you know something? Throughout my life, whenever I've met people who keep telling lies that anyone can see through...”
As if he had finally reached his limit, Kallian stood up and walked toward the desk.
He picked up the sword hidden beneath it and held it toward the sunlight as he continued.
“I've never once let them go. Not even once.”
He ran his fingertips, infused with mana, along the blade.
Bloodstains that had been cleaned away so thoroughly that no trace remained clung to his rough fingertips.
A murderous smile slowly spread across his lips as he looked at them.
“Still, I can't very well ruin the father-in-law I'm supposed to treat with the utmost respect, can I?”
Raising one thick eyebrow, he took a piece of paper from his coat and smeared the blood onto it.
Whoosh!
The paper burst into blue flames as it burned away.
The flame floated through the air for a moment before disappearing into the blade of the Holy Sword, which had been passed down through generations of the Commander of the Holy Knights.
It was one of the ancient spells used to identify both the owner of the blood and the weapon used in a murder.
William, who had been silently watching the entire process, suddenly slammed both hands onto the table and stood up.
“What are you doing to the sacred sword?!”
“I'll give you a chance to speak in a moment, so keep your mouth shut and listen first. Hmm?”
With a flick of Kallian's hand, Benjamin began explaining William's crimes in his place.
His filthy affairs, enough to strip him of his position as commander on the spot.
His gambling.
The funds he had cleverly funneled back to his birth family.
And much more.
As the long list of corruption was read aloud in Benjamin's gentle voice, William's face turned deathly pale.
“H-How did you find all this...?”
“It only took two days to uncover this much. At this point, I'm almost curious to see how much more I'd find if I dug deeper.”
Among the noble families that had accumulated wealth and inherited titles for generations throughout the Empire, it was difficult to find one completely free of stains.
The difference was that those families hid their corruption so thoroughly that exposing it required years of effort.
In that regard, the fact that William was the first head of his house was extremely fortunate for the Grand Duke.
“There's something I've really been wondering.”
William instinctively realized that the answer to this question would determine his fate.
He swallowed hard.
Kallian looked at the trembling man with mild curiosity.
“Why would a Holy Knight who was so terrified of his wife's opinion make the woman he brought back from the hunting grounds into his bedroom maid?”
“T-That was something my wife approved of! She said that since she was pregnant, I'd need another woman to satisfy my desires...”
“That only makes it sound even more suspicious. If you intended to use the maid for that purpose from the beginning, you should have made sure she couldn't bear children.”
“There were circumstances! My wife's womb was damaged after giving birth. Since she was lonely, we thought... perhaps our daughter should have a younger sibling...”
“A younger sibling?”
Suppressing a curse, Kallian smiled with a twisted expression.
The laugh that began at the corner of his lips gradually became so eerie that chills ran down William's spine.
“If that were true... then why did you make it impossible for her to have children?”
“...”
“Your story doesn't add up. Unless, of course, you meant you wanted to give your daughter a doll instead of a sibling.”
“...”
“Well, regardless, cutting off the limbs of such a considerate wife... surely that's enough to incur God's wrath.”
William's dark green eyes shook violently.
“H-How do you know that...?”
Murdering one's spouse within the Empire was considered a crime nearly as serious as murdering one's own parents.
And above all, he was a Holy Knight, someone who was supposed to embody purity.
Realizing it was impossible to deceive Kallian from the start, William wiped his sweaty hands on his trousers before collapsing to his knees.
“W-What do you want from me? Why are you doing this? I kept my mouth shut so that no harm would come to you!”
Kallian already knew that William was the one who had murdered Louise.
He had expected an assassination attempt and had secretly assigned men to watch the prison carriage.
Naturally, the High Priest must have been the one who ordered it.
Which meant there was something important enough to hide that they were even willing to silence their adopted daughter.
'It must have something to do with Evelyn.'
The Stone of Resentment.
The power of regeneration.
But even if he confronted Count Lawrence immediately, it would not answer the fundamental questions.
Perhaps Count Lawrence himself was merely one of their chess pieces, ignorant of the greater scheme.
'Still, planting Count Lawrence inside the temple like a Trojan horse would be far too risky.'
In the worst-case scenario, even the little they had already uncovered would disappear beneath the surface.
In the end...
There was only one option.
“Very well. I appreciate that.”
William looked up, only to meet Kallian's fierce gaze before lowering his eyes once more.
As William trembled while awaiting his punishment, Kallian's heavy voice fell upon him like the blade of a guillotine.
“So, to ensure you never become an eyesore to me again, I've decided to confiscate your title and all your property.”
Ordinarily, stripping a great noble of his title was an extremely difficult matter.
Blood ties, businesses, and political interests were usually tangled together like a spider's web.
Just as Viscount Fairfield, a distant relative of the Emperor, remained untouched despite committing murder, anything short of treason was generally overlooked in noble society.
But William had been born a commoner.
His house had no long history to protect it.
Furthermore, as a man of the temple, he had never earned enough of the Emperor's trust to escape responsibility for murder.
This might be the perfect opportunity to legally sever the High Priest's right-hand man.
“However, if you confess your crimes and reveal who is behind this, I'll spare your life.”
“...I truly don't know who planned all this.”
“What a trustworthy answer.”
“I'm telling the truth! At this point, what reason would I have to lie?”
William hurried to his desk, rummaged through the drawer, and held out a letter sealed with red wax before Kallian.
“This is the letter that man sent!”
That mark again.
The same symbol that had appeared on the key, the glass bottle, and the monsters.
The letter described how to murder Louise and threatened to kill William's daughter if he failed.
“I didn't want to lose my only daughter. Please... show mercy...”
William looked up at Kallian with eyes consumed by fear.
Seeing those crocodile tears made Kallian's stomach turn.
Everyone was hypocritical to some extent, but every time he witnessed such blatant pretense, the urge to kill rose within him.
“Then I'll see you shortly at the examination.”
After staring at him for a moment with eyes so dry they seemed ready to crack, Kallian turned and left the office.
The underground prison of the Imperial Palace of the Cardian Empire.
The darkest and most sinister place within the palace, otherwise filled with priceless treasures, was unusually busy.
The Emperor and several officials had gathered to witness the examination of the former Countess's body.
Everyone clicked their tongues at the horrifying condition of the corpse.
Some even openly blamed it on the brutality of the North.
Kallian remained completely unmoved, silently standing beside the Emperor.
At last, news arrived that Count William Lawrence had confessed.
It came at the very moment the High Priest began reciting prayers for the dead.
When the Captain of the Imperial Guards handed the written confession to the Emperor, those who had suspected the Grand Duke immediately changed their attitude.
“Hmph! Since he hadn't come out of his office, I thought he must have been devastated by the loss of his wife.”
“He must have believed his wife had tarnished his honor. What a despicable man!”
Their opportunistic whispers finally died away after the High Priest finished his solemn prayer.
Just when it seemed the examination was over, it continued.
Procedure was procedure.
The Imperial physician and the coroner carefully examined the wounds on the corpse and began recording their guesses about the murder weapon.
“We'll be leaving.”
The Emperor frowned in annoyance and gestured for the Captain of the Guards to continue the investigation before leading the Grand Duke toward his office.
The chief attendant promptly served them tea.
“What about the Richef incident? I heard you had a difficult time.”
