I Became the Childhood Friend of the Northern Duchess - Chapter 187



187 – Coming to the Forefront

Even though some time had passed since then, Albrich had to respond to the emperor’s call to explain the rays of light that rose from the castle.

Even though he has been acting secretly behind the scenes while presenting himself as the emperor, to the outside world, he is his subject.

Nevertheless, if he did not respond even when the emperor officially called him, many rumors would inevitably spread.

In the first place, what he wanted was to work secretly behind the emperor’s back without others knowing, not to brag about it to the public.

If he wanted something like that, he would have taken real power by threatening the emperor with an excuse he had already made.

‘I never thought they would do something like that. Was it that woman’s doing?’

He usually showed little change in his expression, but today he clearly showed his anger.

In a way, it can be said that Ariel’s little work was amazingly successful.

Eventually, when the carriage he was riding in arrived at the imperial palace, he entered the palace alone without any attendant or even anyone accompanying him.

To others, it may seem like a rather simple scene that does not fit the title of the third most powerful person in the empire.

But this just came from his personality

The reason he doesn’t need an escort is because he doesn’t have anyone he can trust and entrust to him.

The reason he has no attendants or servants to assist him is because there are very few people he completely trusts.

“Your Excellency, Your Majesty is waiting.”

As he entered the imperial palace and was about to head straight to the throne room, a woman who had come out first bowed down and offered to be her guide.

In response, Albrich first looked down at the face of the brown-haired woman and her clothes.

It was not the sticky gaze of lustful men, but the gaze of an observer as if trying to find something.

‘This is my first time seeing this face.’

Albrich is quite cautious.

That’s why he planted a significant number of guards around the emperor, who he treated like a puppet.

However, of course, there were a lot of people who were not the people he had planted, so when we met, we had a procedure to carefully check their faces and behavior.

“… Guide me.”

Once the process is over, you respond differently depending on the opponent.

If he is remembered as the person he planted, he asks about the emperor’s work and activities today and checks to see if he senses anything strange.

If he turns out to be an ordinary employee of the imperial palace, just leave him to do his job and keep his mouth shut

It was not very pleasant for him, who liked silence, to bother talking to these people.

Again. Togak.

After receiving the guidance, we made our way to the throne room.

To the shoes worn by others, Albrich’s shoes had a much higher heel, so the sound of his footsteps echoed as he walked.

A heavy silence followed, with no conversation other than the sound of the two people’s footsteps, or at least the chirping of birds outside the window.

The woman who was guiding Albrich felt very disturbed by this silence, but she could not let it show. She just wanted to get to her throne room as quickly as possible.

“This way. “Your Excellency.”

As she had hoped, they soon arrived at the throne room, where they were greeted by a huge door that seemed overwhelming just by looking at it.

Normally, she would do something like adjusting her clothes for a moment before going to the throne room, but Albrich didn’t have even the slightest tension.

If there weren’t people watching in the first place, they would have opened the door and entered right away without permission.

“I have brought you His Excellency Bertus, so please allow me an audience.”

“Please wait a moment.”

Two soldiers standing guard with solemn expressions on both sides of the door followed the woman’s instructions and sent a message inside her on her behalf.

Eventually, when permission was given from inside, they made eye contact, nodded, and started pushing, holding on to the huge door from both sides with their weight.

“You can just go in.”

“Sure.”

Albrich responded in a low voice and entered the throne room.

Then, the figure of her man sitting on her red throne came into view.

It was none other than the country’s most powerful emperor, Bartheus Hellvenir.

Most people would feel intimidated by that scene, but Albrich only had a faint look of ridicule.

That’s because, for someone who was in a position to deal with such an emperor, it felt like nothing more than a child’s prank, as if he was trying to show off his solemnity.

‘Were there any other personnel? This was unexpected.’

There is no rule that one-on-one conversations can always be held in the throne room, but since that was often the case, it was Albrich who made the guess.

However, contrary to his expectations, there were several high-ranking figures in the throne room.

While I was shifting my gaze like that…

“… !”

Albrich’s eyes widened when he saw a person standing at the end.

Whether the emperor realized this or not, he uttered Albrich’s name and awakened his spirit.

“I’m sorry for asking you to come. Albrich.”

“… “No.”

There was no trace of regret on his face, but Albrich did not bother to point it out.

No, he probably couldn’t point it out because he has eyes to see.

“As you know, there are still many people asking about the incident from last time. I guess I can hide it for you if you explain the whole story… “I called you because I wanted you to know that if you pull me off like that, we’ll be in trouble too.”

Albrich gritted his teeth inwardly at the emperor’s actions of making meaningless puns.

For someone who had been protecting him no matter how he behaved until now, coming forward in this way was no different from starting an open fight.

There’s no way Albrich wouldn’t know that the matter was slowly being buried in the first place.

He also has ears and eyes.

Moreover, judging from the person whose eyes met a moment ago, it is clear that this situation was created by someone’s blatant influence.

“But, Your Majesty, I really don’t know what Soshin is.”

“Well, I guess I don’t doubt you either. However, a fact that cannot be easily ignored has come to my ears…”

‘Damn.’

Albrich was able to guess what was going on without having to listen any further.

The only problem is that just because you can predict it, it’s impossible to escape or prevent it.

“First of all, it would be quicker to hear this story directly. “Don’t you think so?”

‘Archduke.’

A woman’s position was put into his mouth, and the woman who was staying at the end of Albrich’s right diagonal line gently raised her head.

“Yes, Your Majesty. From here on, I will ask you directly.”

Ariel Robeheim.

The owner of the grand ducal family, who was supposed to be in Hespania, came directly to the imperial palace without any word.

*

This story goes back three days.

The Robeheim family, who found out that Albrich was behind the enemy, has not had a quiet day recently.

It was a situation where those who could be called the leaders were spending at least five hours a day just discussing future actions, and work was not running smoothly overall.

It was clear that if these days continued, there would not be very good results.

Accordingly, one day, when Edgar was talking with Yulken and Ariel, he suggested that it might be a good idea to take a hard-line approach, even if it was a bit harsh.

“This way? “Didn’t you tell me that it would be dangerous to touch Albrich first?”

Ariel asked again, recalling the conversation we had a while ago, and Yulken agreed.

In any case, since the other party is also the head of the current Marquis, if we touch it too hastily, we might end up in trouble.

Moreover, unless there is any evidence other than that ray of light, it would be impossible to officially accuse him.

Or is there something sharp about it?

“That thought is still the same. But there’s nothing good if we keep fighting over each other’s wits like now, right?”

“Well, that’s true.”

Ariel also agreed with that opinion.

I don’t know what Albrich’s main purpose is, but it wouldn’t be good if the situation became fixed unless we at least knew how many cards there were.

However, it was also far-fetched to pounce on Albrich, who was crouching like that, and hope to find suitable evidence.

In other words, if things continue like this, the uncomfortable days will only continue without us finding out that that man is behind it.

That wasn’t what Ariel wanted either.

“But what are you going to do? It turned out that it was virtually impossible to use the last incident as an excuse to criticize me.”

“My opinion is the same as your daughter’s.” “Isn’t it difficult to present evidence unless you can first explain their purpose?”

It is already known to the outside world that Albrich’s subordinate, or more accurately, an unidentified intruder, entered Robeheim Castle and caused damage.

However, the problem here is that, assuming that they are Albrich’s subordinates, the Robeheim family cannot prove their purpose.

This is because the fact that Kelagh exists in the castle is still treated as a secret to the outside world.

First of all, to prove that their purpose was to assassinate Kelagh, they would have to explain why he was in the castle.

However, at present, we have not been able to obtain any evidence that Albrich joined hands with the Carbita people.

In such a situation, if this fact were to be revealed, only the rumor would spread that the Robeheim family had colluded with the Kartiva family and were turning the Bertus family, who found out about it, into traitors to silence them.

“No. There is one way. To be exact, it’s just a patchwork…”

“What do you mean, weaving?”

“This is Albrich’s purpose. “If his goal could be explained by something other than Kellagg, wouldn’t this evidence be credible?”

That’s right.

In the first place, the most difficult thing about the current situation was that there was nothing else to show for Albrich’s purpose other than Kelagh.

But that’s the reason I’ve been having so much trouble, so suddenly a solution appears like this? For Yulken, that was just more of a question.

“Is there even a reasonable number?”

“Yes, actually, just when I was feeling a bit uncomfortable, I asked Minette for her opinion and asked her a few questions. Then, a strange point of contact caught my eye.”

Edgar unfolded a piece of paper he had brought with him.

The paper, divided into two halves by a line drawn in the middle, contained two main lines of content, one of which was none other than information about an assassin that Ariel had experienced in the past.

“Even though the assassin died on the spot… He later said that he searched his head and his using magic.”

“Well, I remember that too. However, because it was difficult to extract information from a dead body, only a few words were all that was said.”

“You’re right. Among them, the point I was pointing out was this part.”

Where Edgar pointed, the phrase ‘Symbol of Domination’ was written.

One of the three pieces of words that I managed to find by searching the assassin’s mind at the time.

The first one is the princess. This must be referring to Ariel.

The second is a betrayal. I haven’t learned anything about this yet.

And the third is a symbol of domination. He told me the sad news that exists in the Robeheim family.

“At first I thought it was just an assassin. But when I saw it overlapping with the incident in Whitewood the other day, my perspective changed a bit.”

“… Right. I know what you mean. “I remember Kellagg said that too.”

When Kelagh invaded Whitewood according to a contract with the enemy, what he offered as a condition of exchange with Yulken was a symbol of domination.

At first, I wondered why people who were just foreigners would want that, but looking back now, I can say that it was Albrich’s purpose, not Kelagh’s.

And if you think about the purpose of the author who secretly attacked Ariel in the past, there were enough overlaps that could be seen.

“That means… “Are you saying that the real goal of the assassin who tried to kill me was kidnapping, not assassination?”

From noble mtl dot come

“It’s just a guess on my part, though.”

As Edgar nodded, the wrinkles between Ariel’s eyebrows deepened.

It can certainly be seen as unreasonable, but for that to be the case, there is quite a bit of overlap in the situation.

If Ariel was also almost kidnapped in exchange for the symbol of domination, the story fits quite well.

“And above all, it is presumed that the method by which the assassin passed through the barrier was the same as mine.”

“I know that too, but… Why is that?”

“Actually, I think that’s a method that even Minette didn’t know about. “This is something I heard relatively recently.”

Rather than not knowing about it, it was more likely that he didn’t even feel it was worth experimenting with.

In the first place, not being able to flow magical power through the body in this world is a significant drawback, and would someone who was one of the wise men of the Magic Tower really want to know about using such people to pass through the barrier ?

Moreover, since the barrier is not so easily created, it may have been highly reliable.

Rather, it would be natural for Edgar, who boldly attempted to experiment with his own body, to be called crazy.

“I don’t think the leader of the assassins would know something that even Minette didn’t know.”

“… In other words, the person behind the assassin is someone full of magical theories. “There is only one person in this country who is even superior to Minette.”

Nod.

“Of course, I don’t plan on pushing you for this. However, if you come forward and stab them yourself, you will be able to clearly see their reaction.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to act as best as I can. Even if it doesn’t work, you can just brush it off and say you didn’t actually suspect it…”

In short, the main purpose of this plan was not to attack Albrich externally, but to probe his reaction.

If Albrich’s purpose was really a symbol of domination, you wouldn’t even think you could find out from here.

Therefore, when the purpose was revealed, he became impatient and could take action.

After all, we are both ordinary people who don’t know each other’s true intentions.

“Please, go to the imperial palace as soon as possible and report this to His Majesty. And I want you to be present when I call Albrich.”

“And you?”

“Of course I should join you too. “Did you know what would happen?”

As Edgar shrugged her shoulders and spoke slyly, a faint smile appeared on Yulken’s lips as he watched.

I knew he was a truly amazing man, but I never thought he could make such an inference based on this much information.

As he said, what is important right now is not whether this is true or not.

The fact that Kelagh is being hidden here is not made public, and we just need a justification to point out his purpose.

It would be a good thing if we could push Albrich away with this, and even if not, it would be perfect to find out his reaction.

‘But for some reason, a part of my heart feels uneasy.’

However, he tilted his head and tilted his teacup at the strange feeling of heterogeneity that did not go away easily.

Maybe I’m missing something somewhere.

Because suddenly that thought occurred to me.