CH 44

Translated by Yonnee

Roiqan never imagined this to transpire—for Isabelle to reject him resolutely. He stood there for a moment, trying to compose himself.

Perhaps it’s because she’s been hanging around with that Duke Cardiago ever since she was young. She should have lacked many things as she was raised as an orphan, but it seemed like she grew up without anything lacking.

Since it’s like this, then she could only be shaken through appropriate methods.

‘Let’s see if you won’t waver when you see this.’

Roiqan took out the small key that he brought with him from Pilsburg. Divine power was coursing through his hand as he held the key.

“I repeat, Lady Isabelle. It is also your responsibility to produce a successor for the Imperial Family.”

Roiqan showed the key to Isabelle. The divine power of the earth was so great in it that it was an item that was coveted by all those who could use it.

But the woman in front of him had a bigger reason for wanting to covet this key.

“The former owner of this key was the youngest daughter of the current emperor—Isadora Pilsburg, former princess, subsequent empress of Pilsburg. Your mother.”

“……!”

Roiqan touted the key and a small butterfly flew out from the handle and sat on Isabelle’s hand. Then, it disappeared immediately.

She didn’t expect that she’d hear Isadora Pilsburg would be mentioned here. Isadora Pilsburg, who was her mother and the spouse of Paulsith XII, and also the person who was said to have taken Isabelle out of the palace. On top of it all, she was the empress whose name was hushed from everyone’s lips.

Isabelle removed the mana that the butterfly had spilled over her hand, rubbing it away with her other hand. It was all the more confusing because there was no effect.

“Lord Pilsburg. What have you just done?”

“This is the key to the empress’ room at the Pilsburg Palace. Isadora Pilsburg’s remaining belongings are still stored there.”

Flustered, Isabelle’s face turned as white as a sheet.

“Are you threatening me now with my mother’s belongings?”

“I want you to come with me to Pilsburg, where your mother’s belongings remain.”

“You’re playing dirty.”

“Not just her belongings are left there. Who knows, Lady Isadora might have left behind a mana stone with a voice or video recording.”

“……”

“As its name suggests, it is the empress’ room. One cannot enter unless they are allowed.”

Isabelle wordlessly gritted her molars. She wouldn’t have believed it if it’s just based on Roiqan’s words, but the mana that she felt just now in the form of that butterfly undeniably resembled hers so much.

As soon as the fluttering wings touched the back of her hand, she could intrinsically feel that the key truly belonged to her mother, and that it was for the empress’ room.

“My mother…”

She didn’t want to know more about her mother in this way, after having not seen her for all her life. However, Roiqan showed no qualms with holding this memento against her.

At the unexpected situation she was faced with, Isabelle’s hands trembled. She tried to calm down her tumultuous stomach, feeling as though she was at the edge of the abyss, about to be pushed into it.

Isis said that the reason why her mother brought her outside the palace was because her mother loved her. There might be some evidence of this remaining in the empress’ room.

Evidence that Isabelle was someone’s beloved daughter.

With this thought in mind, she felt sick about the fact that her mother’s belongings weren’t with her. In the calm demeanor that she was using as a mask, there was a crack that could be seen.

“If it’s something that my mother left behind for me in the first place, then please return it to me. Don’t threaten me with things that should be mine.”

“It’s not for Isabelle. Those things belong to Isabelle Pilsburg.”

“……”

“So, do your duty as a woman of direct Pilsburg descent. The moment you say that you will do so, the empress’ room and all the things inside it will be yours.”

Roiqan took a step closer to Isabelle, who glared at him ferociously.

As she merely grew up in a small temple in the Cardiago domain, he was going to make sure to let her know just who it was that stood dominant between them. She was nothing but a young lady who didn’t know anything about the world.

“Heading back home to Pilsburg is something that you shouldn’t be so conflicted about. You must know the cruelty of Duke Cardiago better than anyone else.”

Roiqan spoke with an air of seniority towards Isabelle. She looked at him with incredulity, as if she wanted to ask what kind of sophistry this was.  

“Well, I don’t think that Duke Cardiago has ever come clean to you about his brutal past yet.”

“I know my husband better than you, Lord Pilsburg.”

“Is that so? But Lady Isabelle, have you ever asked directly? Even when the Cardiago family has been staying at their large mansion in the capital, why is it that they suddenly moved back to their estate?”

“I don’t want to hear it through your mouth.”

“Then because you don’t want to listen, that’s just making me want to tell you more. Who do you think killed the previous Duke Cardiago… Urk!”

Roiqan clutched his stomach suddenly. For one instant, he felt nauseous because it felt like cold, metallic hands were digging into his insides.

There was a stir in the time and space around them, which had been distorted by infusing the Cardiago ring with divine power. A vacuum appeared in one spot of the dark sepia colored space.

Then, a voice rang out.

“Roiqan Pilsburg. Do you dare challenge me?”

“……!”

Riggs’ low voice came from the vortex, where a concentration of his power could be felt.

The colors of their surroundings turned back to normal and Riggs suddenly appeared. He went straight to Isabelle and examined her complexion.

“Isabelle, are you alright?”

“……”

She didn’t have any outward wounds. She looked pale, but she didn’t flinch when he held her. It seemed like he arrived before Roiqan could reveal his past.

“Roiqan. You belong to a family that uses the power of the earth, and yet what you used just now was the power of the underworld.”

“……”

“That is my uncle’s power.”

Every word he uttered was as heavy as the pressure in the air.

At this very moment, Roiqan was truly grateful that they were in the middle of the imperial conference, and that he was the emperor’s representative.

He was untouchable as long as he was the emperor’s representative.

“I’d like you to tell me what happened. Slowly now. Where did you hide the body?”

Riggs’ dark energy stretched out in the shape of a hand and reached towards Roiqan’s face. It made him feel as though he’d been dipped into a murky quagmire, making him squirm.

The mana that swept down his cheek burned down towards his neck below. The bookshelves around them vibrated the moment the power of the underground touched his coat pocket where the pendant was.

Crackle—

For one moment, a sharp force cut back on Riggs. He squinted at the source, recognizing whose power it was that’s resisting him. The color in Roiqan’s face disappeared completely.

“My ring.”

“W-What…”

“Roiqan Pilsburg. Did you steal my ring?”

Unable to say anything in return, Roiqan’s shaking body stiffened, and then he dropped to the ground. Riggs frowned at the man who fainted.

‘…In the meantime, he ran away.’

He could no longer feel any underworld power from Roiqan. Instead, an unpleasant stench permeated the air.

How disgusting to think that a grown man had peed himself in Cardiago’s study. Riggs made a mental note to make that man pay the moment he woke up from fainting.

He sent for Pilsburg’s attendants to come here. The moment they saw just what Roiqan had done, they stammered.

“Y-Y-Your Highness, Duke C-Cardiago…”

“Just look at the state he’s in. And you call him the man you serve.”

They took Roiqan from the room. This wasn’t at all what he intended to do, but Roiqan’s honor was henceforth deeply stained.

“Riggs, it’s dripping to the floor…”

Riggs had swept a hand over his face just now, but at Isabelle’s words, he looked at the floor. The traces Roiqan left behind should have already been cleaned up by his men, so there was nothing left.

“Floor?”

“Riggs, your wai… waist…”

“Isabelle, it’s the middle of the day. What are you doing groping a man’s waist…”

Without thinking about it much, Riggs held his waist and spoke no further.

It’s not that big of a wound. At his side and down to his waist, it was only about three inches long.

‘What a futile act.’

Riggs sneered inwardly. For Cardiago, who had the power of the underworld at their disposal, their bodies could hardly be wounded.

Even if he died and went down to the underworld, it’s obvious that Kiel would just snort and turn him away from the gates.

It hurt a bit, but that was all. Riggs wasn’t all that concerned about all the blood that was trickling down to the floor, but Isabelle was thinking the opposite.

“First, the doctor… R-Riggs, are you okay?”

As flustered as she was, she couldn’t stop her hands from shaking. When Riggs first arrived, she was already pale, but her complexion now had turned even worse.

Even so, a minor wound like this would heal quickly after a brief soak in the tub as the water’s infused with the Cardiago territory’s berry leaves. The doctor who Isabelle called also knew this fact, so he wasn’t panicking at all. She was the only one terribly flustered with tears brimming in her eyes.

“Riggs, does it hurt a lot?”

Isabelle was beside herself in tears. Feeling the eyes of the reapers around them, Riggs contemplated for a moment. Then, he went ahead and held his side and collapsed to the floor.

“Ugh…”

“……?”

The reapers began to doubt their eyes as they saw their master’s unfamiliar reaction. Why?

Because as their master took on the role of an injured man, his performance boasted of a season’s actor’s showmanship.

“Riggs!”

“Isabelle…”

As he dropped to the floor, their master looked up at the woman again, his eyes so pure and innocent. When the hell did he have the time to make those eyelashes wet again?

The sight of him was so completely different to the tyrannous demeanor they all knew that all the reapers, including Kiel, were tongue-tied. Behind a wall of invisibility, Kiel was drinking a cocktail.

‘Just what kind of influence does the three-syllable woman have on Milord…’

‘Is it for her that Milord fought for four days even though there was a hole in his stomach back then?’

‘There’s a reason why she’s the Madam.’

The reapers were all rendered speechless. After a while, the faithful butler Billian came running, bringing with him a loud commotion.

The butler knew exactly just how indifferent his master was to any kind of injuries, and he was insensitive to blood even though he was human himself.

However, the story was different in front of the three-syllable woman.

“Your Highness! You must be in agony!”

“…Yeah. It’s a bit like that.”

Bill kicked up a fuss as if Riggs was about to die in the next five minutes.

Thanks to this masterful performance, Riggs was able to receive all of Isabelle’s concern to his heart’s content.