Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 372

Perhaps because it was quite late at night, the palace was quite quiet.Because of the commotion that had occurred during the night, the security was much tighter than before. Arendt pulled his hood down even lower and moved slowly, trying to make no sound.

Before he could even take a few steps, a response came from the communication port in his bosom.

It was Llewellyn.

As soon as the call connected, Llewellyn grumbled in a small voice.

-I’m starting to get confused as to whether you are a knight or a thief.

“Either way, there’s no denying I’m handsome.”

-…

All it took was a single sentence of nonsense to silence Llewellyn.

Arendt walked quickly though the deserted garden. It was a cloudy night, so much so that not even the moon could be seen properly.

Thanks to that, Arendt was able to hide in the shadows without difficulty.

-What are you going to do anyway?

“I just wanted to get a read on the servants.”

Thanks to Seton, Enoch, and Rosie telling him all the details, he had a rough idea of ​​what their daily routine was like.

Even if it were the Lucain Palace, it probably wouldn’t be much different.

“They’re probably still hard at work. They have to prepare for tomorrow morning’s schedule. Isn’t it the perfect time to rob an empty house?”

-Don’t call it robbery. It makes me feel ashamed to be on the same side as you.

“If you’re annoyed, go to sleep. If you keep nagging, I might cut off the communication.”

Llewellyn became quiet again. Arendt, who had subdued him so effectively, hurried on again.

“Usually, does the chief chamberlain also stay in the same dormitory as the servants?”

-Probably. The Everan Kingdom has a servants’ quarters near the main palace. Maybe it’s similar here?

“Okay. So you’re saying it’s close to the main palace.”

Arendt found his bearings without difficulty.

As he moved in the cold air, the nausea that had been rising settled back down.

‘Goddamn bastards.’

In the shadows and in the dim moonlight, their gazes seemed almost too vivid.

A genuine malice that seeked to remove obstacles, and a cruel innocence that seemed to be dealing with toys that can be broken at any time.

The moment when they suddenly revealed their presence was something he couldn’t get used to.

“Tsk.”

But Arendt brushed it aside as if it were nothing special.

At this point, he was starting to get an idea of ​​what was going on.

‘Perhaps this was the hero’s karma.’

He remembered a conversation he had with Lexion one day.

The reason why the hero Khan was unfortunate was because he had become too close to God in a human body.

‘Living as Luce’s puppet, saving the world, and endlessly killing and slashing enemies…’

It would have been strange if he hadn’t gone crazy.

Did the hero Khan really know the truth about the world?

His thoughts naturally flowed in that direction.

Perhaps the hero Khan realized that Luce was quite far from absolute good or justice.

But there would have been no other choice to save the world right away.

The hero Khan saved the world by borrowing the power of God Luce, in exchange for making him the embodiment of absolute good.

‘It’s originally a pressure that a hero should bear… but somehow it came to me.’

There was nothing particularly strange about Laius, and Lexion didn’t say anything either, so it was okay to think that way.

It felt like hell being on the receiving end, but thinking of it that way, it wasn’t all that bad.

‘I’m better than that idiot.’

If someone had to accept it anyway, it would have been more reasonable for the one who could endure it better to accept it.

This place was a world of its own, and it was also an endless stage for him.

The pressure from the audience’s gaze was something familiar to Arendt.

“Phew.”

It was a little easier to breathe than before.

Arendt came to his senses again and focused on his current role.

He was now a thief, as the prince had called him.

-Did you find the building?

As the silence grew longer, Llewellyn became impatient and asked in a whisper. Arendt snapped at him.

“If you don’t want to get caught, just keep quiet. I’ll talk to you when I have to.”

-Ah, you really are a shameless bastard.

Llewellyn, who had been muttering curses, soon became quiet.

Arendt completely ignored him and snuck to the main palace, avoiding the knights’ gazes.

Soon, a building with almost all of its lights out came into view.

Compared to the main palace, it had a rather plain appearance, but it was a building encompassing a fairly large area.

It was today’s destination.

‘It seems like there’s no one specifically guarding it.’

There were a few people patrolling, but they didn’t seem particularly wary, perhaps because they were near the servants’ quarters.

At this point, infiltration was a piece of cake.

Arendt first checked that there were no human presences around.

Then, taking advantage of the darkness, he hid himself and approached the building, sharpening his senses even more.

‘The first floor was almost empty…’

The building had three floors.

The lower floors seemed to be used by relatively young, low-ranking servants, and the higher the floors went, the more managerial-level servants seemed to use them.

“I’m going in now.”

-Be careful.

Llewellyn responded to Arendt’s brief report with a worried voice.

He easily entered through the open window and landed softly soundlessly.

The simple room contained only four small beds, a desk, and a small closet for shared use.

It seemed as if he had entered a room shared by lower-ranking servants.

‘There’s probably still a long way to go before I can return…’

Since they were probably busy cleaning up right now, Arendt decided to take his time. Fresh chapters posted on N0v3l.Fiɾe.net

After Victor granted his permission, Louis and Rieta entered the room together.

“Brother, I heard you skipped dinner tonight. Is there something wrong?”

Louis asked worriedly, with a face that still held traces of youth. Victor tried to smile naturally and waved his hand dismissively.

“No. I just didn’t have any appetite, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Even so, you shouldn’t be skipping meals. You’re busy enough as it is.”

Rieta, sitting next to Louis, tilted her head and spoke scoldingly.

At that tone, some of the tension in Victor’s body was relieved.

“No, I’m really fine. I had a drink with the guest who came yesterday night, so I don’t feel well.”

“Have you been drinking too much? That’s not like you, brother.”

Louis blinked curiously.

“The guest… he must be Prince Llewellyn from the Everan Kingdom. I’ve heard a bit about it too. It is said that during the trip, his servant suddenly fell ill and he came to see you urgently.”

When the topic of the servant came up, Victor almost lost control of his expression for a moment.

But somehow Victor managed to pull himself together.

“Oh, that’s right. The servant is fine, but he said he wanted to go around the kingdom. I advised him to stay in the palace for a while and take his time looking around the castle.”

“Indeed, they said that he enjoys adventures, and it really is true. I heard he hasn’t been moving much within the Caerleon Empire lately.”

Louis’ eyes widened. Then, Rieta, who had been listening from the side, intervened.

“I’d like to meet him sometime! I heard he visited the Elf Kingdom often. I’d like to hear stories about his travels.”

“Me too. Of course, as long as it doesn’t interfere with Prince Llewellyn’s schedule.”

Louis quickly said the same thing.

He was pretending to be polite, but judging by the way his eyes sparkled, he seemed quite sincere.

“If that’s what you want, I will ask him….”

Victor, who was about to answer naturally, hesitated.

Setting Prince Llewellyn aside…

Could he really show his innocent, sparkling younger siblings to that viper-like apprentice knight?

For a moment he wasn’t sure.

“Brother?”

Victor came to his senses suddenly at Rieta’s questioning voice.

“Oh, yes. Okay. I’ll try to make time. I was thinking about something else for a moment.”

“Then, should I prepare a gift for the prince? Do you know what he likes?”

Then Rieta immediately smiled. Victor smiled awkwardly and scratched his cheek.

“Well, I’m not too sure. Why don’t you go and ask him in person?”

“Should I?”

“I worry that I might be needlessly bothering him.”

Victor swallowed hard as he watched Rieta clapping her hands and Louis furrowing his eyebrows in concern.

‘These kids probably have nothing to do with it.’

It had to be that way.

His mouth started to dry out again.

How could he prove the innocence of such utterly innocent children?

As he was pondering, Victor suddenly had a realization.

‘No.’

That was a matter he could not judge. From the very beginning, the very act of trying to find evidence that they were innocent was proof that he had already lost all sense of fairness.

“…”

Victor felt even more miserable.

But he couldn’t show that kind of expression in front of his two younger siblings, so he forced a smile.

The image of the King, who had been miserably transformed, came vividly before his eyes again.

Until he figured out who the culprit was, he couldn’t trust anyone.

That included his two beloved younger siblings.

The moment he realized that, his mind went cold.

“Then it would be better to just prepare a meal.”

Though it was a humiliating situation, he was the first to reach out for help.

By calling them here, he had effectively given up his authority as Crown Prince, at least regarding this situation.

He was wracked with intense self-loathing and humiliation.

He felt like he was about to throw up everything inside him at any moment.

Yet, a voice that sounded noticeably more natural flowed out from his lips.

“Actually, I thought that I should treat him properly at least once. I can introduce him to you two then.”

He might not have been able to help, but at least he didn’t get in the way.

‘Arendt von Eckhart doesn’t seem to trust me yet…’

At the very least, he had the duty to trust them.

To fully support them in whatever they did within the Lucain Kingdom, and calmly accept all the results.

That was the least he could do as the one who dragged them in.

‘Even if I lose my loved ones…’

That too was something that had to be endured.

Because that was all he could do as an incompetent person.

It felt like a burning pain deep inside.

Arendt’s eyes, looking into the fireplace, were unusual.

“…I knew this would happen.”

Arendt muttered softly.

The place he was in was a small private room in the corner of the second floor.

Arendt found small pieces of paper in the ashes that remained.

‘It looks like they burned it in a hurry and left.’

It was torn, half-burned, and covered in soot, but the traces of something written on it were clearly legible.

Arendt scraped the pieces of paper with a poker and picked them up one by one carefully so as not to get ash on his hands.

It wasn’t in a readable condition, but he wasn’t particularly disappointed.

Because the most important evidence remained.

“Anyway, those rat bastards.”

A cold smile spread across Arendt’s lips.

Traces of a familiar pattern were visible on the half-burned pieces of paper.

It was evidence that their reach had reached deep into the palace.