episode_0008

Before long, she was sitting in front of me.

“Please pass on someone.”

“They all got bitten?”

“There’s an escort driver next to you.”

“Ah, because this person has a big mouth… ”

“That’s it, so I’ll bite you. Surely the commander of the Northern Army wouldn’t say he’s afraid of a weak lady like me?”

“… ”

I quietly looked at the escort driver. I nodded and the escort driver left.

“So, what did you do to resolve it?”

“I heard you killed Reinhard von Eppenstein.”

“But.”

“Why did you kill him?”

“… ”

Can I be honest? He said he didn’t want to see the inhumane torture show.

If I told her honestly, if she opened her mouth to others, rumors could have spread that I was criticizing the Empire. So, it’s best to get around this place somehow…

“Because I thought it was inhumane to humiliate someone like that no matter how much they lost the war. Right?”

The moment I thought that, she hit the nail on the head.

“You’re the type of person who can’t lie. It was all revealed in the expression.”

“Yes? Me?”

The moment I touched her face to see if it was really revealed, she said this.

“It was just a passing comment, but if you actually touch my face, it’s like admitting that what I said is true. I’ve heard that your commanding ability is great, but when you use your head, you’re like a child?”

“… ”

That’s what I heard and saw. I was playing on her hands.

“There is. It’s good to have achieved success, but success at a young age is a double-edged sword. If you act like such a fool, you might not get my punishment. That’s what killed Effenstein today. What would the imperial family think if you arbitrarily ruined the event prepared by the imperial family?”

“… ”

“It’s fortunate that someone took the help of a hand to create a confrontation between the Brestmire family and the Effenstein family among the people of the empire. Otherwise, you would have been in really big trouble.”

“That’s you?”

She nodded quietly.

“How do you believe that? It could be a rumor spread by someone else, or it could be a rumor that started naturally.”

When I said this with suspicion, she smiled slightly and stood up.

“I knew you would say that. Do you need proof?”

I nodded slightly.

“Won’t you regret it?”

“I don’t regret it.”

“If so, okay. Instead, there is a condition.”

“Condition?”

I wondered what would happen if I said something outrageous, but the conditions she gave me weren’t as great as I thought.

“I can’t show you the evidence here right now, so please come here at midnight today.”

She must have been anticipating this situation in advance, so she took out a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to me. The location of a monastery was written on the paper.

—–

At midnight that day, I headed to the monastery with an escort. Since the location was different, it was difficult to bring a lot of escorts, and I thought that something big would happen in the capital.

When we arrived at the monastery, Katharina von Edelhardt was there. She also had one escort with her. However, in addition to the escort driver, there was a shabby man wearing an old robe behind his back.

“Ah, Mr. Georges! Are you here? I wondered what I would do if he didn’t come.”

“Can you really be that stupid? This is the person who might be holding my lifeline.”

“You’re not holding it, but you might be holding it?”

“Because nothing is certain yet.”

“Then let me show you. Mr. Hans.”

Then, the man who was wearing a tattered robe behind his back came forward and took off his robe.

A balding man who appears to be in his mid to late 40s. For a moment, I wondered who that guy was. But it wasn’t long before I recognized it right away. The identity of the guy is…

“Punishment officer?”

He was the executioner who tortured Effenstein.

“Hehehe, how are you? Commander, Excellency. We’ll meet again like this.”

“Why here… ?”

Honestly, I felt a little embarrassed. Why is this guy here? Are you saying he wasn’t someone who worked for the imperial family?

He carefully came forward, lowered his voice, and began to explain the situation.

“I was an advisor working for the imperial family. Their main job was to torture criminals or prisoners to make them open their mouths. This job was a golden opportunity for me to get ahead. After all, it was an opportunity to torture the rebel commander-in-chief, Reinhard von Eppenstein! From beginning to end, I have been speaking to you. To humiliate Reinhard von Eppenstein as much as possible in front of the citizens and then kill him. I thought. How should I humiliate him? So the conclusion was to make him submit to pain and beg for mercy from the empire!”

So, the torture show itself was prepared by the Empire, but the idea of making them beg for mercy by removing the gag in the middle was introduced by Lee Ja-sik.

“But how would I have known? I never thought Eppenstein would have such a strong mentality. He did not beg for his life and instead cursed the empire. Because of this, citizens were once again in an uproar over the curse of the Effenstein family. The imperial servant tried to kill me. Because I thought I had done something useless and only raised the name of the rebel. At that time, it was he who provided an escort and a refuge… ”

The executioner looked at Katarina von Edelstein.

“This is Katarina. You are the savior of my life. lol… ”

“… ”

“After that, I went around the city with my escort, going from bar to bar, repeating the same thing over and over again in every bar I went to.”

“What did you say?”

“I saw the Commander of the Northern Army next to him when he killed Eppenstein. He seemed very angry and killed Eppenstein several times, shouting at him several times that the Brestmire family would protect the empire. ”

Ah, that ridiculous line from the 2nd grade soldier came from this bastard…

“The reason you spread such nonsense… ”

It was Katarina, not the executioner, who answered my question.

“If the newly emerging war hero sympathizes with the rebels and kills them without pain, Mr. Georges will be wary of the imperial family because the imperial family will become cruel villains, but if a storyline is created that he killed to protect the empire, Mr. Georges will become the imperial family. Since he is portrayed as a loyal subject, the imperial family will have no reason to be wary of Mr. Georges.”

“Ah… ”

Only after hearing those words did I realize how thoughtless my actions had been. I was a fool. A fool who almost strangled me because he was influenced by the mood of the moment. And the woman in front of me was the benefactor who saved my life.

“How and how to be thankful… ”

“Don’t suddenly change your attitude so it doesn’t suit you. It’s okay if you treat me the same way as before. And the reason I saved Georges is the same as I said last time. Georges is a central noble, and I am also a central noble. Wouldn’t it be better for the same factions to join hands if possible?”

“Just for that reason?”

“Actually, there’s more to it than that. Georges is going to be successful in the future, and my honest impression is that there is a calculation that if you stick next to him, you will fall.”

indeed. She was like this in the original as well. In the original work, she was not a central noble, that is, a clan noble. At first, he was born into the blood of a noble family, but in order to succeed, he betrayed the noble family and became a subordinate to Vinnet Franz. As he is that ambitious, there will be no help without calculation.

“What is the price?”

She grinned at those words.

“It’s better than you think, right? is it so. Everything comes with a price. Hmm, what should I pay for it?”

After pretending to think for a moment, she continued speaking.

“I don’t need anything right now. So pay later. I’ll get help someday when I’m in trouble.”

“… I understand.”

So to speak, you’ve discovered a weakness. I think it would be best not to do anything that might bother her for the time being. Until this thing quiets down.

—–

A few days later, Lee Si-hyeon’s family was preparing to go north. Hundreds of servants were busy moving around and loading dozens of wagons. Servants and attendants were busy, and the Breastmire family was more lively than usual. In the meantime, what was Sihyeon Lee doing?

“I heard you found it.”

When Lee Si-hyeon opened the door and entered, there were three men sitting there. Two were middle-aged and the other was an elderly man. All three had unusual physiques, but at first glance, they were boneless and wearing military uniforms, so it was not difficult to recognize that they were high-ranking soldiers.

“I found it. Sit there.”

Lee Si-hyeon sat across from them. The three older soldiers sat in one place and Lee Si-hyeon sat on the other side. The atmosphere was reminiscent of an interview room.

“What are you looking for? ”

“I heard that you became the commander of the Northern Army.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Relax. Although our ages may be different, as soldiers, you and we are the same.”

That’s right. These were the commander of the Western Army, the Southern Army, and the Central Army.

The military’s powerful figures, who could move 80 percent of the imperial army, were gathered in this small room.