Betrayal Knight’s Joyful Faith - Chapter 456



Only Krnovel

The Cheerful God of Betrayal Chapter 456

“Ah, you’re back.”

A familiar voice suddenly caught their attention. Jereon, who had just entered the Crown Prince’s private training ground, looked slightly surprised.

Lyos was the first to greet me.

“I’m back, sir.”

“Thank you for your hard work this time too, Captain. I heard you achieved great results.”

Jereon bowed to the captain and smiled bitterly when he saw Arendt among the knights.

“Like everyone else, Lord Arendt is as tattered as ever.”

“It’s been a while, Chief of Staff.”

Arendt nodded at him curiously.

“I thought you wouldn’t even pretend to know me, but you’re being quite kind to me.”

“Hahaha… … . Arendt’s jokes never get old no matter how much time passes.”

Jereon answered calmly.

“His Highness the Crown Prince will decide whether or not he is guilty. I am merely serving His Highness as his aide. This is not a matter in which I can intervene with my personal feelings.”

“It sounds like you are saying that you personally feel very sorry about it.”

“I have been up all night for days because of Arendt. I can’t help but feel truly sorry about that.”

Jereon answered nonchalantly and changed the subject.

“You all have worked hard. You must be extremely tired, so His Majesty has ordered you to return to the dormitory and rest for today. Commander Lyos as well. I have also prepared a separate guest room for the prince.”

“… … .”

Lyos’ face hardened slightly. The other knights also swallowed briefly.

After a while, the expected words came out of the aide’s mouth.

“Please, Lord Arendt, come with me for a moment. He said he would like to hear a detailed report from Lord Arendt.”

“I will go with you too.”

“no.”

Laius opened his mouth, but Jereon answered firmly.

“Your Majesty has ordered me to bring only Lord Arendt.”

An eerie silence flowed through the training ground. Salem, who had been observing the situation, looked at Arendt with anxiety. However, Arendt simply shrugged her shoulders as usual.

“song.”

“Yes. I have also prepared some refreshments that Sir Arendt likes.”

Jereon smiled and nodded. There was a coldness in his affectionate voice.

* * *

As I left the training ground and followed behind Jereon, I felt the gazes of people pouring in from all directions.

Of course, the atmosphere wasn’t very friendly. If Jereon hadn’t been there, it seemed like someone would have rushed in.

This situation where everyone is on guard against each other is not so unfamiliar.

Because Arendt von Eckhart originally played the role of a traitor.

As I was thinking about that, the aide who was walking ahead suddenly asked me a question.

“Are you feeling better from your injury?”

“It’s okay. Lexion-nim fixed the broken and punctured parts somehow. I can’t say it’s completely fine though.”

“Yes, it looks like that.”

Jereon slowed down his walking pace a little for Arendt, who was limping a little.

“Can I ask what happened?”

“I’m sure Lord Arendt knows that His Highness Lumiel has formed a separate force.”

“It looks like you were the one who caught the tail first.”

Arendt answered leisurely.

“Well, the imperial troops must have been busy fighting.”

“Seeing you speak so calmly, it seems like it wasn’t a false accusation.”

“Aren’t you already that sure?”

Arendt shrugged as Jereon glanced at her.

“You must have already completed a thorough verification. I don’t think His Majesty is so incompetent that he can’t even detect the trickery of a mere apprentice knight.”

“Well… … It seems that His Majesty is already very upset.”

While they were having that conversation, the two stood in front of Cantares’ office.

Jereon knocked smartly twice and opened the door himself.

“Aren’t you going in, sir?”

“As I said before, His Majesty wishes to speak to Lord Arendt alone.”

Jereon smiled and stepped back.

“If you need anything, please call me. I will be waiting nearby.”

“… … .”

It seemed that Cantares had made the right decision. Arendt followed his advice without asking any more questions and went into the office alone.

widely.

The door closed behind him, and a heavy silence settled into the office.

Cantares, who would normally have greeted him, simply leaned back in his chair and stared blankly at him.

“Have you been to Toraj?”

With a single word, Arendt limped towards him.

Cantares looked up and down at the apprentice knight standing in front of the desk.

“It’s a mess again.”

“Still, he’s handsome.”

Arendt shrugged. Cantares looked a little tired of the nonsense that came back so calmly in the midst of all this.

But that was only for a moment.

“… … Okay, let’s get to the main point first.”

Cantares let out a short sigh and changed the subject. It was a signal that he did not want to drag out the conversation. Cantares opened his eyes slightly and looked straight at Arendt.

“You. What on earth are you up to?”

In the blue eyes turned towards her, Arendt could read emotions that were different from usual.

Distrust, wariness, and anxiety.

Thanks to that, I felt more at ease.

“First, tell me the general story. How did it all go?”

“ruler.”

Bam.

Cantares threw a wad of paper on the desk. It was a report from the investigation team dispatched from the shrine.

Arendt picked it up without saying anything and began to read it.

As I turned the pages of the rough outline of the investigation, I found that the key points were recorded.

Cantares continued speaking coldly.

“In order to strengthen the faith in himself, God Luce allowed the evil religion to rebel again.”

“… … .”

“As a result, the evil god Chernion, who had already perished during the Great War, began to invade this land once again, and the god Luce succeeded in solidifying his faith as he had intended… … .”

Arendt looked straight at the Crown Prince as if telling him to continue.

“In fact, it means that the two gods joined forces to bring chaos to this land. The god Chernion was able to increase his power again, and the god Luce was able to bring tension to the land and assume the role of absolute good.”

“And?”

“But at some point, Chernion’s power began to exceed what Luce could handle. Soon, they grew uncontrollably, so he belatedly gave up the holy sword to stop the evil cult.”

In other words, the current war started from the two gods’ self-directed play… … and in the end, the cause of this war was the desire and inaction of the god Luce.

“The truth will come out soon, so please be patient and wait a little longer. He even left a signature at the end, implying that it was you who sent it.”

“… … .”

Most of the letters were delivered to crowded inns, halls, etc. in cities that were quite far from the imperial palace.

Originally, it was a place where all kinds of goods and letters came and went.

Because of this, the person who received the letter broke the seal and checked the contents without even properly checking the sender.

“Moreover, the letter was accompanied by evidence to support that opinion.”

It was explained in detail so that even an ignorant person could understand it if they could read the text.

It goes without saying that most of the evidence was what Arendt had been investigating with Prince Llewelyn at the forefront.

“I traced the original callers, but they were all thugs you knew. They all testified that they handed it over to the information center on your behalf. They had no idea what was inside.”

“That’s true. Surely you haven’t already sentenced them to death. They’re all bad guys, so it would be okay to keep them in prison for the time being.”

Arendt answered calmly. Cantares burst out laughing at her impudence.

“Ha, Commander Lyos is a true hero, and there are even rumors that the temple and the imperial family are using him.”

“That’s unfortunate. But I’m not really sorry. It’s not entirely wrong.”

The coldness in Cantares’ eyes grew even stronger at the calm voice.

“What on earth is your goal? Do you want to start a real rebellion, led by the true hero Laius de Winfrid?”

“Do I seem like such an ambitious person? Are you asking because you really don’t know why I’m doing this?”

Arendt tilted her head.

“I am the crown prince of this country. His Majesty the Emperor is also alive and well.”

Cantares, who had been keeping his mouth shut for a moment, slowly began to cry again.

“The Kallion Empire was founded under the name of divinity. We have grown under the protection of Lady Luce, His Majesty the First Emperor, and Hero Khan, and have come to call ourselves an empire that spans the continent.”

“That’s right. That’s why I can interfere with this country and that country while acting as the guardian dog of the god Luce.”

Arendt replied leisurely, her hands deep in her pockets.

“Can you really say that the letter is a lie from beginning to end? I have already shown the evidence to Your Majesty, and I have told you this several times.”

“Whether or not I follow my master’s dog, it’s my decision. At least it shouldn’t have come to my ears like this.”

Those words seemed to make Cantares even more upset.

“There is a strong opinion that you should be dismissed and summoned to trial to be punished. I have also ordered Union Chairman Henry and Union Vice Chairman Arx to appear before me, but they have not shown up to this day.”

Rumors had already spread widely among the nobles.

Since the temple got the information first, there was no way for Cantares to do anything.

“How long do I have to watch you crawl?”

Anger began to creep into the crown prince’s voice.

“You, my savage, must know that division in a wartime situation is tantamount to death. I have a duty to protect the Empire at all costs.”

Arendt didn’t answer, just stared at him.

“Even if that means serving the god Luce, whom you hate so much, as your master.”

Cantares already knew vaguely.

The reason why the hero Khan separated the temple and the imperial family. And the evidence that Arendt had gathered and presented to him alone.

The God Luce was never simply a benevolent and just being.

But I didn’t care.

“That’s what survival is all about. Are you willing to put everyone in danger because of your own presumption?”

It was already too late to do anything about it.

In the midst of the chaotic war that continued day after day, public sentiment was shaken to the core.

While Leo’s support was growing by the day, people were also turning their backs on the god Luce.

They could not be suppressed violently, because using force in such a situation would only be counterproductive.

In the end, all Cantares could do was to clarify that it was false and punish the person who spread the false rumor.

“… … .”

And the culprit was standing before his eyes, completely wounded after fighting the Chernion Cult.

In this dispatch, he even achieved the feat of killing Jiklin, a senior member of the evil sect.

That was exactly what made Cantares feel even more frustrated.

Boom!

Cantares, his fist clenched, finally slammed the desk.

“Say something! What do you want me to do, now?”

Even in front of the Crown Prince who shouted fiercely, Arendt simply remained calm.

“I was just thinking about it for a moment.”

“Worried? Do you think I’m joking right now?”

Cantares’ face crumpled. But what Arendt replied with was an unexpected answer.

“Should I act like I usually do, or should I be honest with you…? I haven’t decided yet.”

“… … .”

Forgetting his anger for a moment, Cantares opened his eyes slightly wide.

Arendt, standing crookedly, had her eyes cast down as if she was really thinking.

“Would you like to choose, Your Majesty?”

That’s not an act of contrition.

Somehow I could sense it intuitively.

As I looked at that sight, my head, which had been hot, seemed to cool down.

The fists that had been clenched tightly on the desk relaxed.

“… …Honestly, Ra.”

Cantares hummed briefly. It was a word that really did not suit Arendt.

As the apprentice knight’s gaze turned back to him, Cantares spoke coldly.

“Tell me. I wonder how open you are.”

It was unlikely that Arendt would simply tell us what she really thought. If she had deliberately hidden her expression, it would have been difficult to detect.

“At least this time, there shouldn’t be an inch of falsehood. Before I get even more disappointed.”

But Cantares allowed him to speak.

In return for his service thus far, he was given one last chance to explain himself to the impudent apprentice knight.