Ch.187Suppression (6)

*DING DING DING DING DING—!!*

“Protect His Majesty!!”

“Block the path!!”

‘Damn… things have gone wrong.’

Even though it’s wartime, to demand that I and my guards enter without weapons…

In the past, no matter what audience we were granted, they never inspected weapons this strictly… tch.

“The tyrant must be waiting in the audience chamber! Break through quickly before he escapes!!”

“Yes, sir!!”

He truly trusts no one—a man with absolutely no concept of trust in his head.

It must be because he knows nothing of morals or ethics that he commits such tyranny.

*DING DING DING DING DING—!!*

*CLANG—!!*

‘Damn it all…’

The royal guards seem to have gone completely mad from serving such a strange master.

To immediately attempt to arrest us just because we didn’t hand over our weapons—is this something that would occur to a normal person?

It’s the natural right of a vassal and his guards to be armed, yet instead of trying to persuade us, they attack with weapons. The country has truly gone mad.

We must hurry to eliminate the tyrant and restore everyone’s rights, common sense, and morality.

‘…And Ellen too.’

With such a terrible mindset, he surely didn’t treat Ellen normally either.

Since she comes from common birth, didn’t he just use her however he pleased?

That’s right, now that I think about it, all the tyrant’s concubines are commoners.

How cruel and despicable—he must have taken commoner women as concubines because he couldn’t play with noblewomen like toys as he wished.

*SLASH—!*

“Push them back!!”

Tch… we can’t waste any more time here.

These royal guard bastards—it hasn’t even been minutes since our surprise attack, and already they’re swarming like a pack of dogs.

Their equipment and training are even impressive.

They’re fighting almost on par with us, who have prepared our weapons and honed our skills in anticipation of combat within the castle.

…I didn’t want to use this here.

“Make way! Or I’ll use this!”

“What—! That’s!!”

As I raise the bottle high in the air, the guards’ expressions and bodies freeze instantly.

Certainly, working in the palace means they all know what this is. Seeing how cautious they are, stealing it was worth the effort.

The exterior isn’t glass but more like pottery, with an opaque, crude color and correspondingly low hardness, and a very bumpy surface that hardly looks like a bottle at all. But precisely because of this appearance, this bottle has a very distinct identity.

There’s even cloth stuffed into the opening, making it highly noticeable—anyone who has seen this bottle even once would immediately recognize it from afar.

“If you don’t want to burn to death, quickly make—”

“Everyone charge!! Even if we burn alive, we must kill him!!”

“Yes, sir!!”

“—!?”

But Louis misjudged.

Knowing about a firebomb well means knowing about its dangers too.

The royal guards, who until just now were fighting a delaying action to buy time for Claude to evacuate, now attack without fear of injury—like moths rushing into a bonfire.

Being indoors, the passage is extremely narrow, limiting the direction of attack, but this creates tremendous pressure of mass. It almost feels like they’re using the person in front as a meat shield to charge forward.

“What’s wrong with you all? Do you want to burn to death?!”

These, these crazy bastards…

I never dreamed they would react like this.

While it’s true that firebombs are most effective in confined spaces, if the enemy gets this close, we’re in danger too. Moreover, Ellen is somewhere in the palace—if a large fire breaks out, she could be critically harmed.

In the end, unless used as a threat, a firebomb should never be used, but the problem is that even the threat has backfired.

“You understand my heart well!”

“Long live His Majesty!”

“Y-you…”

The moment they saw the firebomb, the royal guards charged with such readiness to sacrifice their lives.

A threat is meant to intimidate the opponent to get what you want, but this has only maximized their aggression instead of intimidating them.

Damn it, I have to use it after all.

“Everyone retreat!! We’ll take a detour and join the other units!”

“Yes, sir!!”

Furniture in the corridor is overturned and scattered across the floor, and in the confusion, the intruders distance themselves from the royal guards.

“What are you doing? Hurry after them!”

“Back men, fall back!!”

Due to too many guards crowding the narrow passage and the obstacles of furniture and bodies, the royal guards cannot immediately pursue the intruders.

Of course, this delay lasts only a moment, but that brief instant allows the intruders to escape.

*WHOOSH—!*

“Ugh—?!”

The thrown firebomb instantly fills the corridor with flames.

Fortunately, since it was thrown in a corridor made entirely of stone, the fire won’t spread further if properly controlled, but it’s enough to block passage through the corridor.

Even if they try to break through, the sticky oil clings to their lower bodies, making it impossible. One wrong move and they could become carriers spreading fire throughout the palace.

*DING DING DING DING DING—!!*

“Leave men to control the flames and everyone else take a detour!!”

“Yes, sir!!”

The captain’s voice is loud enough to drown out the noisy emergency bells, allowing the guards to remain calm and act rationally despite the emergency.

……….

“…Damn it.”

I was too rash. Far too rash.

I should have eliminated them as soon as I knew they were pro-rebellion, but I left them alone thinking they posed no danger yet.

If I could go back in time, I’d like to give my past self a good beating.

“Don’t be too disheartened.”

“The intruders had to break through checkpoints from the palace entrance, which means Your Majesty had sufficient defenses in place. If you hadn’t prepared properly, they would have entered your audience armed.”

“…Yes, thank you all.”

At least I’m grateful that we secured escape routes well enough to prevent something terrible from happening to my family.

Chloe, Ines, and their children are escaping with me through the secret evacuation route, and Jeanne, whose room was far away, is escaping by a different route since coming this way would be more dangerous for her.

Ellen should be safe at the university, and I sent a guard detail there. By now she should have heard the news and evacuated far away.

“Is it here?”

“No, it’s this way.”

‘…The secret passages are so complex and large that even the royal guards seem uncertain.’

The former Duchy of Bourgogne was extremely wealthy, and this palace, newly built after abandoning the old palace now used as a university, is enormous. There must be evacuation routes and secret rooms that even I don’t know about.

Well, it’s not bad since it’s allowing us to escape so smoothly.

“…Ugh, the smell.”

But it seems maintenance has been completely neglected.

A terribly putrid smell seeps through the cracks of the worn-out door.

“L-let’s hurry… this smell is too strong and might be bad for the children.”

“You’re right. Let’s go quickly.”

Ines also seems to find the smell extremely terrible, as her face has turned quite pale.

Ugh, how dreadful. When this is all over, I’ll have to send people to completely overhaul this place.

……….

‘The atmosphere is definitely not conducive to teaching…’

Well, that’s understandable.

About half of the noble students come from families involved in the rebellion, and some have actually been taken by the intelligence department for investigation on charges of rebellion.

It’s unreasonable to expect proper studying in this situation.

Sigh, I hope the rebellion is suppressed as soon as possible. The progress has been so slow lately that I can’t teach the students properly.

“Ah, welcome, Lady Ellen.”

“Thank you for your hard work today, as always.”

Already arrived? Coming through the back door is indeed faster.

There’s nothing I can do at the university given the situation anyway, so I decided to leave early.

I should just finish work early today and spend more time with His Majesty—

*DING DING DING DING DING—!!*

“—!?”

At that moment, Ellen, walking toward her room, stops in her tracks at the sound of the relentlessly ringing bells.

This is… the alarm bell signaling an emergency.

What’s happening? Is there a fire?

*CLANG— CLANG—!!*

*WAAAAH—!!*

‘…Doesn’t seem like it.’

In the distance, she hears the sound of metal clashing against metal, along with the shouts of many people. And they’re getting closer.

Judging by the echoes, these sounds are definitely coming from inside the palace.

“Lady Ellen, we need to evacuate.”

The soldier on guard duty seems to have noticed it too and advises me to escape.

“Yes, we should.”

I’m not sure what’s happening, but we definitely need to escape.

Those sounds are getting closer, and staying here would mean getting caught up in whatever is happening.

“Yes, let’s quickly—”

*TAP TAP TAP TAP—!*

“—Ugh.”

“…”

But it seems we’re already too late.

I tried to go back the way we came, but I can hear many people running from that direction.

If they’re allies, there’s no problem, but if they’re the perpetrators of this commotion…

“Hide for now. If you hear fighting outside, they’re enemies, and you must remain hidden.”

“…Yes, thank you.”

Ellen’s heart grows heavy hearing the soldier’s words—he’s willing to use his life to determine whether those approaching are enemies or not.

Ellen enters the nearest servant’s room and hides behind the bed. Soon, she bows her head low as she listens to the sounds of soldiers dying outside.