Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 147

“…Heh!”Alois couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the reply.

Beneath it, the time and place were written in small letters.

It was clear that the bastard had already figured out that the sender of the note was not Matthias.

“What a clever bastard.”

He thought he wouldn’t fall for such an obvious trap, but who would have thought he would come out like this?

“Brother, Brother. Are you okay?”

“Shut up. You just have to listen to me.”

Alois snapped at Matthias, who asked anxiously, and then went back to his own thoughts.

‘They won’t be able to attack first anyway.’

Since they still had no evidence, they couldn’t just blindly act and touch the Crown Prince of another country.

Besides, they didn’t know that this might be his last chance.

He had been monitoring them for several days using Lexion’s subordinates.

Despite his vicious nature, Arendt von Eckhart surprisingly was surrounded by people, making it difficult to find an opportunity to kill him.

‘If he’s talking about people I hang out with, he’s obviously talking about people from the evil cult.’

It was clear that the apprentice knight wanted to dig up information.

‘Then it might be possible…’

Does that mean that, regardless, he was just a naive, foolish kid?

A deep smile appeared on Alois’ lips.

Besides, he still had the monsters that Lexion had given him.

He had personally assigned them to him to use when the time came, as he thought it would be difficult for an ordinary assassin to deal with a guy with a ‘holy relic’.

Even if Arendt von Eckhart broke his promise to meet alone and called the other knights together, there would have been no major problem.

Because the problem could be solved by just killing that bastard, while hiding the fact that he was behind it until the very end.

Alois made up his mind.

“I asked Crown Prince Viktor. He said that there was no servant named Stellar.”

That was the first thing Cantares said as soon as Arendt entered the room.

“I knew it. Your Highness, are you ready?”

“For now, everyone readily accepted it.”

Cantares narrowed his eyes as he looked at Arendt, who was sitting across from him naturally.

“By the way, why are you suddenly here? Did something come up?”

“I won’t tell you.”

The way he responded so naturally was just shameless.

“You haven’t even told me how you’re going to move yet.”

“Not everything in this world goes as planned. Things can go wrong.”

“If things go wrong, does that mean you’re going to get your throat cut by that bastard Alois?”

“Well, is that possible?”

Arendt, who was laughing and snickering, didn’t look like a young man in his early twenties.

“First of all, I have something I want to ask you.”

“Is there anything you want to ask?”

“I guess I feel a bit uneasy.”

Arendt grumbled, crossing his arms.

At first it sounded like a casual remark, but Cantares didn’t just ignore it.

“So what makes you feel uneasy?”

“There’s a saying that everyone, whether human or beast, should live as they were born.”

He finally asked, but the answer he got was somewhat odd.

“Well… that’s right.”

Just as Cantares was the Crown Prince, Laius was the captain of the knights, and Arendt von Eckhart was the unparalleled scoundrel of the knights.

Arendt frowned as he paused for a moment, choosing his words.

“Without going into too much detail, I just feel a sense of discomfort in the current situation. I guess you could call it the atmosphere, but it’s not like usual.”

“Didn’t you say something similar before?”

“Yes.”

Arendt nodded, his face looking uneasy. Cantares, who was also feeling uneasy, changed the subject.

“What did Prince Llewellyn say?”

“He notified me that he would be visiting the Nephele Kingdom as the prince of the Everan Kingdom. Warren decided to wait somewhere else because the evil cultists might be involved.”

“The Nephele Kingdom didn’t reject him?”

“I heard that he was welcomed in the name of the princess.”

For the princess who was left alone in the palace, Llewellyn’s visit may have felt like the last lifeline.

“He’ll arrive today. He’ll let us know as soon as he finds out what’s happening.”

“I should be grateful to Prince Llewellyn. He willingly volunteered for such a dangerous task.”

“…Well, he did put forth a strange condition.”

Cantares didn’t miss the moment when Arendt’s face fell.

“What is it? What happened?”

“It’s nothing. Anyway, let’s wait for the time to come.”

But Arendt soon changed his expression and shrugged his shoulders as shamelessly as usual.

“What a wonderful stage His Highness Alois will show us.”

After all, life was just a stage, so he was looking forward to the climax he would show.

As the sun set, the noisy palace became quiet.

The Lucain Kingdom was investigating the assassins on its own, but had yet to make any significant progress.

Of course, as more time passed, the more anxious Alois became. He had already given instructions to Lexion’s subordinates.

“Matthias, get ready.”

“…”

At his command, Matthias rose reluctantly and grumbled.

Arendt von Eckhart wanted to meet with him alone, but he had to at least be present so that he could have a basis for framing the guy.

After getting ready to leave and opening the door, Alois encountered an unexpected person.

The silver-haired, young apprentice knight, who had been there for some time, smiled brightly and greeted him as soon as their eyes met.

“Good evening, Your Highness Alois. Is Prince Matthias accompanying you?”

“…”

“…”

For a moment, he was at a loss for words.

When the two people, frozen stiff, did not respond in any way, Arendt snickered and curled his lip.

“I came to fetch you myself, just in case you were too scared to come. Let’s walk together for a bit and chat. If you need anything, you can call the knights.”

“…This is really absurd.”

The more he thought about it, the more absurd he felt the situation was.

Alois rubbed his temples and then let out a hollow laugh.

“Okay. Let’s just go. I’m curious to know what the heck you are up to.”

“Yes, I have seen you trying to act cool. It seems like Your Highness doesn’t have much talent for acting.”

“…”

Alois’s face hardened at the answer that came back without a moment’s hesitation. However, Arendt had already turned around and was walking ahead.

As he followed, he noticed that the Imperial apprentice knight was walking along the strangely quiet corridors as if he was taking a stroll.

For some reason, Alois couldn’t take his eyes off that back.

Thanks to that, no one spoke first until they left the palace and reached the quiet garden.

The only sounds that occasionally tickled his ears were the chirping of cicadas and the rustling grass being stepped on.

If he pulled out the sword hanging from his waist and stabbed the apprentice knight in the back, would he be successful?

At the moment when such an absurd impulse was occurring, Arendt spoke first.

“I am sorry to say this to Your Highness Alois, but I heard the general situation from Prince Matthias.”

Matthias flinched when his name was suddenly mentioned.

“Anyways, I heard you’ve been hanging out with an unidentified man recently. Do you know who he is and could you tell me why you’re hanging out with him?”

“…”

There was no specific person mentioned, but the unidentified man was definitely referring to Lexion.

Alois twisted the corners of his mouth, which he was reluctant to move.

“Do I have any obligation to answer that?”

“I think it’s because Your Highness wants something. Then, it’s only natural to wonder. What kind of person would he be if he could give the Crown Prince of a country his desire?”

Even as he spoke about his own life, his tone was plain, as if he was talking about someone else.

“If he can give what Your Highness desires, then it is easy to guess the man’s identity.”

“…”

“Is he a member of the evil cult?”

Alois bit his lip and then replied briefly.

“What if he is? Is there any big problem?”

“It is a big problem, after all. The fact that the Crown Prince, who is supposed to lead the country, listened to those guys.”

Arendt finally reached a deserted place and stopped walking.

“This is truly absurd. How many people did you bring here?”

Unlike the assassins they dealt with at first, these guys were real.

Just like Arendt felt when he came to the Lucain Kingdom.

He could clearly see that he was now like a rat trapped in poison. He was completely surrounded by unidentified enemies hiding in the darkness.

“Before we start fighting, can I ask you a few more questions?”

“You cannot.”

“If you fail, what are you going to do then?”

The golden eyes of the apprentice knight who was asking questions in a flat voice sparkled as if they were shining on their own under the dark moonlight.

As Alois stared at them, his throat felt like it was burning for some reason.

“…That won’t happen. You’ll die here.”

“You didn’t think about it. I understand. Well, who would believe me, a mere apprentice knight? I should be glad I didn’t get dragged away for lèse-majesté.”

But Arendt, whose life was in danger, simply shrugged his shoulders.

“And the second question is.”

“Speak.”

“Are you not planning on sending Prince Matthias out of this place?”

The golden gaze briefly glanced at the stiff Matthias and then dropped.

“No. That guy is useless, so it would be better to deal with him together. He even dared to think of betraying me.”

“Brother, brother!”

Matthias, his face turning pale, let out a shrill scream.

Hmm, Arendt, who was standing awkwardly and making a noise, turned his gaze to Alois again.

“And the last and most important question.”

As soon as this meaningless Q&A ended, chaos would break out.

Alois tensed his body even more.

“I’ll listen.”

“Your Highness, do you happen to know the name Chernion?”

“What?”

But what actually came out of his mouth was a rather unexpected word.

When Alois frowned, doubting his ears, Arendt clicked his tongue.

“Somehow, something felt a bit strange.”

But there was no room for further conversation.

A shadow suddenly appeared behind Alois and rushed towards Arendt.

A smoothly drawn blade reflected the moonlight and sparkled white, and the shadow that had appeared rolled around on the lawn, split in two.

“…”

Only then did Arendt’s eyebrows furrow slightly as he confirmed the enemy’s true identity with his own eyes.

They were neither human, nor ghoul, nor any other race.

In the first place, it was impossible to tell if it was a living creature.

It looked like a wild beast carved out of a corner of darkness.

The beast that had been slashed with a single sword and was trembling as if it was having convulsions soon dispersed and melted back into the darkness of the night.

“Yeah, this is how you should do the concept.”

It seemed like he wanted to serve the god of darkness until the end, but Arendt could tell.

The essence of that black beast was not darkness or divine power. Rather, it would be more correct to say that it was a mass of pure magical power, similar to a magic stone.

In that case, he had a rough idea of ​​the identity of the person behind Crown Prince Alois.

“It’s a giant lizard.”