Chapter 144: The Knight Hates Love Triangles (3)

“Huuu…”

The blonde girl’s head suddenly went limp as her body tilted to the side. Her eyes were half-closed, as if she was drowsy, and her face looked like she might fall asleep at any moment.

She was either sleepy from the hearty meal just now or was just naturally prone to naps, but looking at the girl’s hazy eyes, neither of the two mentioned things seemed to be the cause.

Thud-!

Just before the girl fell to the side, the maids who had been waiting carefully carried her away.

“Umumumuuu…”

[Geez, Arin… You’re embarrassing me…]

The girl was sleeping soundly, drooling even, so the ghost girl couldn’t help but cover her own face with both hands, feeling like she wanted to dig a hole so deep and hid inside it.

Lee Han blinked at this spectacle while watching them carry the girl away. At the same time, he was wondering why she suddenly fell asleep like that. It was as if she got drugged.

And so…

“…What did you do to her, Your Excellency?”

He suspected that the cause had something to do with what they eat.

The duke’s reply came out casually. He clearly had no intention to hide it at all.

“I just fed her some medicine. Of course, it’s nothing you need to worry about. The medicine will just help her have a good night’s sleep. Think of it as herbal medicine that makes you feel more energized when you’re awake.”

“…You basically just admitted that you drugged her, Your Excellency. Don’t you realize how wrong your words sound?”

“I have no other choice. I don’t want her to hear our conversation.”

“By the way, did you also feed me that herbal medicine, Your Excellency?”

“Yes. Too much of it, actually. I still don’t know how you could eat a whole cake full of it and still be fine.”

“…I see. So that’s why you didn’t touch the cake.”

Lee Han had eaten about 10 servings of dessert. It was an amount that would get normal people worried about diabetes, but after taking that elixir, Lee Han’s heart, liver, and other internal organs had become anything but normal. No matter how much sugar he ate, he’d never get diabetes, while herbs and poisons wouldn’t affect him much.

Although, he’d still turn obese if he were to eat too much.

“Don’t misunderstand. I have no intention of harming you. If anything, it’s a helpful medicine for a knight with strong vitality like you.”

“Is it expensive?”

“Of course not. It’s just one of the ten herbs of eternal youth that the sultan likes to eat.”

“…That’s a roundabout way to tell me that I wouldn’t be able to buy it even if I had the money.”

“Is that how you interpreted it?”

Even before knowing about the medicine, Lee Han had already felt like he was being treated too extravagantly, so this revelation made him feel even more burdensome. However, he decided to let go of that feeling.

After all…

I’m the one with power here.

So, he decided to puff his chest. It was the other person who wanted something from him, and he even treated him well to achieve it, so there was no need for him to be intimidated.

“What I’m going to tell you is something that I can’t tell my adopted daughter. That’s why I made her sleep. And of course, I want you to keep it a secret from her.”

“…If that’s the case, I don’t want to hear it.”

“You have no choice, as that’s the only way you’ll hand over that inquisitor girl to me.”

“…”

This…

Is he actually ‘someone in need of help’?

Now that he took a closer look, the duke didn’t seem to be the ‘someone with power’. Such a revelation made beads of sweat appear on his body.

“You probably already know that my wife has already ‘passed’.”

“…”

“Since you do, our conversation will be easy.”

“A-Ahem…”

We barely started, but the conversation is already heavy…

Is he trying to make me vomit what I ate earlier?

Thankfully for Lee Han, his digestion was quite good. If it wasn’t the case, he’d have vomited what he had eaten because the topic was too heartbreaking. Despite Lee Han’s wish to not hear anymore of this, Duke Blake…

“Do you also know that there are many suspicious things about my wife’s death?”

“I don’t…”

“Then I’ll tell you. My wife was a fairy. Not just any ordinary fairy, but a fairy from the natural world who had become human.”

“I-Is that a big deal?”

“It isn’t common for sure.”

Lee Han didn’t know this, but fairies from the natural world were like spirits or even land gods. In fact, they were once worshiped as gods. Even in the present age when religion was prominent, some regions still worshiped them.

Since fairies were deeply involved in the founding of Pendragon in particular, the power that fairies held in the Southern Continent was considerable.

Duke Blake, who married such a fairy, was undoubtedly a great person. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the death of such a fairy was also a great historical tragedy.

“Fairies have always been easy prey since ancient times. Their Mystics are still synonymous with the unknown. In fact, there are still many kings and powerful people who are trying to uncover their mysteries to obtain either immortality or the Mystics themselves. There was even a wizard who targeted my wife, trying to learn about the fairies from her.”

“…What happened to that magic frea— no, mage?”

“He’s still living in the torture chamber. I have to commend his vitality.”

“…”

“We strayed too far. Let’s get back to the suspicious points about my wife’s death.”

“…I heard she died in an accident?”

“That’s right. But, think about it. Does it make sense that the wife of a duke dies in an ‘accident’?”

“…”

“There were many people guarding her, and the personnel escorting her were the best of the best that I personally selected. And yet…”

“…”

After he said all that, Lee Han could somehow predict what he’d say next.

Since she died even after all that, he suspected that it wasn’t an accident but a murder.

It seems like what the whole world knows about the incident and the thing that actually happened are different.

As expected…

“As you might have expected, my wife was harmed by suspicious people. They neutralized all the guards and killed her…!”

Boom-!

“…”

For a moment, the anger the duke was emitting seemed to explode.

Crackle-!

Tangible Spirit.

Only knights who had reached a certain level could show it; a materialization of one’s bloodlust or fighting spirit. Depending on how it was used, it could be more useful than the Sword Hum. Its destructive power was also something that shouldn’t be looked down upon.

The spirit that the duke was exuding in particular…

Did he just shattered the marble just by exuding his spirit?

Haa…

It was on a different level from what other knights had achieved. In comparison, if the other guys were exuding what was the equivalent of gunpowder, this man was exuding nitroglycerin.

Merely touching that spirit would sting or burn you.

Its level was so high that someone would laugh out loud at how absurd it was,

I knew it already, but…

The person in front of him was unbelievably strong. His title as The Kingdom’s Greatest Swordsman wasn’t just a bluff.

Lee Han even thought that he might be on par with an Aura User.

Still not letting up his spirit, the duke continued.

“While I still don’t know how many people were involved in her death, I still know who they were.”

—This was the might of Galahad.

It couldn’t be anything but a chilling afterthought.

A force that possessed more power than the Pendragon royal family was mobilized to dig for information.

“We were able to narrow down the suspect who killed her.”

Thud-!

“…”

“It was a group that called themselves [Angel] followers.”

“…Hmm.”

What the duke showed him was a blood-stained cross. However, it wasn’t just any cross. It was an inverted cross that looked incredibly sinister, and also something that Lee Han had already seen before.

“Since you are the knight who destroyed the Tunnel, you should know about those fanatics, right?”

“…Just how much do you know about it, Your Excellency?”

“It would be faster for you to ask what I don’t know.”

“…”

Blood Cross.

A group which was presumed to be the mastermind behind the summoning of the Ghost King. They were also presumed to be related to the Black Moon, the assassin organization that occupied the Tunnel and kidnapped Lee Han when he was young.

That very same group even harmed the duke’s wife, so Lee Han tightly closed his eyes.

This world’s truly a rofan world, huh?

One of the clichés of the rofan genre was exactly this: an organization that directly targeted and assassinated either a duke or an archduke’s wife, or the emperor’s lover.

Most of the time, those organizations were…

Either led the church or the elders of the imperial family.

It was like a set cliché, and Lee Han could only wonder if that cliché was also in effect in this world.

Moreover…

If it goes according to that cliché, then maybe… .

He’s going to tell me the good old [sweet potato¹]…

“Do you know what my adopted daughter Irene Windler and Judia Pierre, that heretic inquisitor, have in common?”

“…What is it, Your Excellency?”

“It’s ‘Mark of a Fairy’.”

“…”

…Yep, there it is. The cliché of the duke being suspicious of his own daughter.

Facing one of the worst rofan clichés since its inception, Lee Han felt a little suffocated even though he had already digested the food he had just eaten.

He desperately wished that he had a glass of cider in his hand, but the duke just continued.

“Irene Windler shows ‘Natural Affinity’, and Judia Pierre shows ‘God Favor’. They are both the inherent quality of fairies.”

“…Magic and Divine Power.”

“You are sharp.”

“Do you think…that makes sense, Your Excellency?”

Natural Affinity meant having dual properties, and God Favor seemed to refer to Divine Power. No matter how Lee Han looked at it, the way the duke interpreted this was either delusional or overly exaggerated.

Irene Windler’s talent was special, but it was a talent that would still appear once in a while. Meanwhile in the redhead’s case, anyone could have Divine Power as long as they believed in God.

But, even though Lee Han thought this was nothing but his delusion, the duke…

“It is rare for ‘someone with the same age’ and with this much talent to appear at the same era. Especially when they’re both ‘women’.”

“…”

Kept talking about his suspicion to Lee Han.

“That isn’t all. I have information that Irene Windler’s personality suddenly changed when she became a teenager. She was originally arrogant, but she suddenly became gentle, and she even took good care of the children at the orphanage she was in.”

“…It’s probably because she matured late.”

“That could be true, but what about this? Judia Pierre was just an ordinary street urchin, but she was saved by Cardinal Raphael who took pity on her and entered the temple. After that, she became incredibly prominent and even became an inquisitor. However, despite all these achievements, she lied about her age and gender… Does that still seem like a coincidence to you?”

“Hmm…”

“To me, it seems as if she’s desperately trying to hide something.”

“…”

The duke’s suspicions seemed reasonable at first glance. Women of the same age suddenly appeared after his wife died. They were both 19 years old, the same age as his wife’s death. In addition, they seemed to have extraordinary talents and outstanding beauty, as if they had the inherent quality of a fairy.

It would be foolish not to suspect both of them.

“That’s why I want Judia Pierre. Not only is she extremely suspicious, after investigating, I found out that she had a connection to the cult. All that’s left is to ask her directly. Of course, I won’t treat her harshly if she gives me the answer I want to hear. That’s why I want you to hand her over to me.”

“…”

“It won’t be a bad offer to you. I’ll give you sufficient compensation. If you want—”

“Now that I look at it closely, his eyes really look like the eyes of a lunatic.”

“…?”

…For a moment there, everyone around became tense.

It was as if time came to a standstill.

[[…]]

Being glared at by over a hundred people wasn’t something that everyone had experienced, and that was how it should be.

…After all, it was a traumatic experience, to say the least.

However, even in that situation, Lee Han…

“Ah, whoops, I said what I was thinking out loud…”

Just shrugged it off awkwardly. Shamelessly even.

Since he figured that the situation was already so bad…

“Hey, Mister. Drink some cold water and come to your senses. Don’t do anything weird, be more mindful of your age.”

“…”

“I was wondering what you were going to talk about with me.”

“…Huh?”

Lee Han decided to take it to the next level.

He wanted to show the annoying old man in front of him what being violated by words and facts felt like.