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Chapter 6
Beadolla arrived shortly after, almost like she really did not want Kyle and the others to move. Surely, she must be more than busy at the imperial palace. She looked like an elderly lady with a bent back, using a cane to walk. And yet, contrary to her appearance, she was one of the three individuals in all of humanfolk who could use supreme-tier magic, and she was the most knowledgeable about magic.
“And can you believe it, she makes me help her at home for staying here, despite me being pregnant…Ah, Teacher. Welcome back.”
Yet, that greatest magic user of humanfolk was now being bad-mouthed by her pupil. As Beadolla walked in, Seraia just smiled innocently as if nothing happened.
“Be thankful I didn’t cut off all our ties after you quit as my pupil. I put a lot of hope in you…” Beadolla grumbled, but she seemed relieved as she spotted Angela. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.”
“Yes. I’m glad we got to meet again, Beadolla,” Angela looked just as happy and sighed in relief. “I’d like to get right into it…What’s going on inside Galgan right now?”
“Well…I think we should move to the main residence before that.”
Beadolla looked around the dimly-lit room, seeming a bit hesitant to speak to the princess here.
“Ah, I’ll just go take a nap, then…” Seraia said as she smiled.
“Do as you please,” Beadolla grumbled.
Kyle felt bad for a lot of things, but this course of events greatly helped him. It wasn’t something a pregnant woman should hear, either, and he didn’t want to wrap her inside this mess. Unlike the small hut where they left Seraia and Roel, this house truly screamed nobility, equipped with high-class decoration, but other than that, it seemed mostly lifeless with no servants in sight. Arriving at the guest room, Beadolla took a sip of the tea her butler prepared and sighed.
“Now then…it’s been a while, hasn’t it. I wish we would have been able to meet during a more peaceful time,” Beadolla said as her face revealed signs of exhaustion.
“You must have been buried with work,” Kyle said.
“Of course. I didn’t even have time to sleep the past few days,” Beadolla sighed once more. “But most importantly…Where were you hiding? We looked everywhere for you, but you’d disappeared like smoke after a flame, so we had mostly given up,” Beadolla looked at Angela, questioning her.
She seemingly didn’t expect them to make their way to the demon territory. And Angela had no intention of speaking about that, so she aimed to keep everything vague.
“I had to go into hiding to hide. Kyle-sama and Seran-sama were kind enough to protect me.”
“I see…”
Beadolla knew that someone aimed for Angela’s life, so where she went wasn’t a part of the question right now.
“What we should discuss first is the problem of the future.”
“That’s right. So, how was Brother Eldorand killed? And who was it?”
“It was publically announced that he suddenly passed, but…It doesn’t do much of a job convincing the citizens,” Beadolla let out a grunt as she couldn’t hide the fact. “But the reason for it is truly bewildering—The reason for his majesty’s death.”
And then, Beadolla started retelling the events of that day.
It was a day like any other. As Eldorand was quite busy, his schedule was full from the early morning to late night, but this was normal. He finished his breakfast and headed to his office to accomplish his official duties—when he suddenly collapsed. A high-ranking priest was called right away and started using healing magic with regenerative abilities, but his consciousness was long gone, and he died right there.
They quickly tried to confirm the reason for Eldorand’s sudden passing, so they received reports from his servants about the moment before he collapsed, and if they had received any peculiar orders, but everything went just as always, showing no anomaly within their statements and actions. At the same time, they questioned all other servants and people working in the castle in hopes of at least getting some information on the killer, but nothing came up. An initial observation after Eldorand’s death also only told them that his heart had suddenly stopped.
“Let alone who, you don’t even know how he was killed? Maybe it really was just an unexpected death?”
Kyle asked, thinking that maybe Eldorand had been sick unbeknownst to other people, and passed because of this sickness.
“No, his Majesty received a Body Reading session the day before, and there were no irregularities to be found. And nothing should have happened after that…”
The imperial family received periodic medical examinations, so they would have known if Eldorand’s health had worsened. But, something must have happened there.
“And as if that wasn’t enough, the news about this incident spread outside the castle far too quickly.”
It happened early in the morning, and yet the entire capital knew of that fact by the evening. And his passing happened at the worst possible timing, so the royal family wanted to at least earn some time, but all the hiding was futile because it was leaked soon enough.
“Something must have happened…But as we don’t know what’s going on, we had to publicly announce something.”
That’s why everything was so vague. After all, humanfolk’s greatest shining gem was stolen right in front of their eyes.
“Can I ask one thing?” Minagi spoke up. “Is it possible for us to see Prince Eldorand’s body?”
“Hm…Okay, I shall arrange it,” Beadolla responded after thinking about it for a moment.
She probably opted that any course of action was better than none at all. Minagi nodded and went quiet again. Kyle was curious about that reaction but continued nonetheless.
“Then do you have any idea who could have ordered this assassination?”
It was hard to believe that the assassination could have been carried out by a single individual. Kyle was saying that there must be a mastermind pulling the strings, but Beadolla shook her head.
“We’ve got rumors to mention…But the turmoil had itself in consideration. Prince Maizer and Prince Konrad are all talented, but Princess Angela has a right in succession, too.” Beadolla glanced over at Angela as she continued. “Some assume that it may have been the work of the Zilgus Kingdom or the Holy Kingdom of Sura, whereas others think this may be the beginning of a rebellion of a smaller country part of the Empire, and the possibility of this being the Demons’ work cannot be disregarded. Unbelievably so, a minority believes that Emperor Benedix was jealous of Prince Eldorand and ordered his assassination,” Beadolla said, grumbling at how laughable this was.
“Yeah, that indeed is something we can only laugh off,” Angela spoke with an ironic tone, but as Kyle knew this almost happened in Zilgus, he could only keep a straight face.
“Well…That means you’ve got specifications, I see. Well, that explains all the confusion right now.”
Beadolla didn’t want to admit it, but she had to nod and accept this fact.
“The Empire has too many enemies. And all of them can’t just be easily laughed off…So to be honest, we’re at a loss right now.”
Too many would benefit from Eldorand’s passing.
“At the very least, the wife of late Prince Eldorand has pulled Nord-sama from the war for succession.”
“So it happened…Well, my dear sister does not prefer fighting, as she has a very docile personality,” Angela accepted this fact, but that brought up yet another problem.
“Will the faction supporting him accept that?”
“They…probably won’t. Especially those who stood close to Prince Eldorand,” Beadolla sighed once again as she responded to Angela’s question.
The faction following Eldorand was keen on having his son Nord as the one inheriting the throne. Surely, they wouldn’t just let this stand.
“It seems like this state is prone to create problems, too…Then, how is the army moving?” Angela asked about another thing she was curious about.
“They’re staying low for now. It seems like the generals know their current position and seem keen on avoiding any civil war.” Beadolla explained, which left Angela relieved. “However, a small portion seems to be taking this uproar as a chance…Well, it doesn’t seem like the grave, but we see suspicious movement,” Beadolla seemed to be unsure if anything would be forced at this stage.
“Another point of interest would be Princess Milena. How is she being treated?” Kyle asked.
“Another point of interest and another headache for me. What horrible timing…But, that’s probably why,” Beadolla sighed once again, probably struggling in that regard, too.
“But it’s clear that Princess Milena is unrelated to this case, no? Even if Zilgus planned this assassination, they would not send their own princess for that. Shouldn’t you send her home as quickly as possible?”
“I’m well aware of that, and I hardly believe Zilgus would be as foolish to do that, and we have no proof either…However, there will be people not accepting that. And with that as an established fact, we sadly can’t take the easy way out.” Beadolla shook her head, despite agreeing with his argument.
Even if it meant fabricating proof, they would have to find the criminal eventually. That was the same for Zilgus and Galgan.
“However…”
“Well, I’ve got my own thoughts, I just want to prioritize others,” Beadolla said so, leaving Kyle with nothing else to argue about.
Hearing more and more information from the source, Beadolla, directly, Kyle and his friends were starting to realize the gravity of the situation. As if to break through this, Beadolla spoke up.
“…We have good news, too. His Majesty has woken up not too long ago.”
“Father did?!” Angela shot up, showing an expression of delight.
“Kordes should be explaining the circumstances to him right about now. Though I’m sure it must be heavy for his heart to hear that after his awakening…”
“I’m so glad…” Angela seemed genuinely relieved for once. “Then we cannot stay here! I should meet my father right away!” Angela stood up.
“Are you sure?” Kyle asked for confirmation once.
She had been hiding for a while now, but if she goes to meet her father now, it would raise the risk of being targeted again.
“Of course! I’m sure everything will be resolved then!” She said and prepared to head out with Beadolla, when Kyle spoke up.
“Would it be okay…if I joined you?”
He could add a million reasons for this, but as he was genuinely curious to meet Benedix, that request left his mouth naturally.
“Hm…Normally, only the closest people to the Emperor would be allowed in his private rooms, but…” Beadolla looked over at Angela, who nodded. “Very well. But we can’t bring all of you with us. I suggest you’re the only one who…”
“Then let us take these two with us,” Angela interrupted Beadolla.
Seran felt a cold shiver run down his back, but before he could run, Angela immediately clung to his arm and kept him locked down.
“Let us go right away!” Angela declared with vigor in her voice, as Seran just dropped his head in resignation.
With everything decided, Angela, Kyle, and Seran were about to meet the Emperor, as Minagi wanted to check out Eldorand’s corpse at the imperial palace. Lieze and the others would be staying in Beadolla’s residence. Kyle also asked Lieze to look after Seraia after she’d woken up, and was about to leave after Seran who just got dragged out of the room, when he caught Minagi’s odd look in his eyes.
“What’s wrong? Something on your mind?”
“Regarding Prince Eldorand’s death…I don’t know who did it, and I don’t care. However, the way it happened sounds familiar,” Minagi said with a stiff expression.
“What do you mean?”
“Assassinating the first prince of the Empire this easily without being found…There’s only one person who could do that. Other than me, at least,” Minagi seemed semi-confident as she said that, to which Kyle figured out what she tried to say.
“No! You don’t mean…this was Souga’s doing?!”
“I don’t know, but I should be able to tell if I see the body. This reeks of Souga, at least.”
Souga was the one teaching Minagi, acting like her parent, and Kyle knew him in his previous life, so he could vouch for his skill.
“…”
If Minagi’s assumption was correct, then that would mean Souga is involved in this case, and that would make them enemies. Imagining that, Kyle couldn’t help but grit his teeth.
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