Chapter 96
After sending Tristan away, Maya fell into thought.
“Riserfield is not someone who will just let this go.”
To perfectly prepare for the moment Riserfield rose up again, she needed a separate culprit who had supposedly tried to harm the Emperor.
“I should move quickly.”
If it were discovered that an intruder strong enough to lay hands on the Emperor had slipped in, it would obviously become a serious problem.
“Maya.”
Before she could say anything, Tristan threw down an unconscious man.
“…Who is this?”
“He was threatening the children. It’ll be fine to pin other crimes on him.”
Even the capital had its underbelly. In the back alleys, beggars and orphans suffered the harshest of conditions.
“He was infamous in the slums. A man who lived however he pleased, so it won’t be strange for him to show up here.”
“You know him well.”
“I’ve often scouted the capital with my wyvern, so I’ve learned its ways.”
His past habit of patrolling with his wyvern and studying the city was paying off.
“It would be best to say that after a spar, Arthur, exhausted, was nearly killed by this thug and had to be quickly carried to the Grand Duke’s estate.”
Arthur, knocked unconscious and badly wounded by a thug, would naturally be taken by the North’s knight order, the Bearden Duchy.
“That explanation should halt further questioning.”
The ceremony was something that had to proceed smoothly—for Maya’s sake, and more importantly, for Riserfield’s.
Riserfield, who was meticulous when it came to his own affairs, had ensured strict security. Thus, petty thugs and riffraff had been driven away.
The man Tristan had dragged in was one such outcast.
“Won’t people find it strange that a mere thug could harm the Emperor?”
“You could frame it as the knights being so incompetent they couldn’t stop even a thug, which in turn would raise your standing.”
If Riserfield had to punish someone, it was fairer that it be a wicked man.
For Tristan to judge all this in such a short time and even bring in a scapegoat—his quick wit was astonishing.
“Impressive.”
“It was my mess, so cleaning it up is only natural.”
“What exactly did Riserfield say to you?”
Maya couldn’t hold back her curiosity any longer.
“Nothing of importance. Only that it was my inadequacy.”
It was the plain truth.
When it came to Maya, Tristan lost all sense of restraint. Logic and instinct clashed within him.
“I must think harder about what path is truly best for Maya.”
Sighing, Tristan resolved to be more careful from now on.
Uncharacteristically, he deflected the question. Maya didn’t press further—just nodded.
“He’ll tell me eventually.”
Just as Tristan never pried into Maya’s suspicious matters, Maya wanted to respect him in the same way.
The thug, branded as the culprit, cried out his innocence. But in his pockets and bag—knocked out by Maya herself—were found the very ornaments Riserfield had been wearing.
The conclusion: the thief had broken in to steal and, failing to recognize Riserfield’s face, had attacked him.
Though uneasy about the shadow of the face he had glimpsed before fainting, Riserfield ended the matter publicly with the man’s execution.
At least outwardly.
He knew scratching at this wound on such a good day would only harm him.
And for the Emperor to be nearly killed by a mere thug? It would mean the imperial guard system was a shambles—an unbearable crack to his pride.
An Emperor almost assassinated by a street rat—he would have been recorded as history’s laughingstock.
But suspicion toward Maya and the Bearden Duchy only grew heavier.
That the thug happened to be in Arthur’s quarters was too convenient.
Maya vouched for Arthur, and since Riserfield hadn’t yet wrung enough information from the Duchy, he let them be. But another incident, and execution would follow.
“I can’t use the North’s people alone.”
Riserfield thought he needed more informants, like the mage Kendrick.
“I need to dig deeper.”
He couldn’t shake the sense that the face he glimpsed before fainting was tied to the Bearden Duchy.
All he could recall was a noble, black-haired man….
“Why does the Grand Duke come to mind when I’ve never even seen him?”
Was it really true that the Grand Duke hadn’t come up to the capital?
“I’ll send someone to find out. The fact he’s a descendant of dragons is troublesome, but….”
It was also the perfect chance to test how keen a dragon’s senses really were.
If discovered, he would simply find another way.
This was just probing.
Riserfield immediately sent a man. But Tristan detected it at once.
“A spy sent by Riserfield, huh.”
Even though the man was hidden inside a tree near the Bearden forest, Tristan picked up his presence like a ghost.
(Maya, meanwhile, had returned home and was blissfully enjoying a long, happy meal.)
“Did the Emperor send you?”
Tristan subdued the man with his bare hands, shoving his arm in to keep him from biting his tongue.
“Ghhk—!”
Knowing the man would surely have been ordered to commit suicide, Tristan stopped him.
“There’s no need for that. Just deliver the message I give you and—”
Suddenly, the man’s body went limp. Tristan checked quickly—his skin was blue.
He had already taken poison.
“So he meant to die no matter what.”
Then why send him at all?
Searching the corpse, Tristan found a small magic orb hidden by his chest.
When pressed, it only lit briefly and then dimmed.
If it was a signal, it could have carried only the simplest of information.
What was the purpose?
Did Riserfield truly know so little about Bearden and Pendragon that even such scraps of intel were worth the risk?
“That makes no sense.”
Since the founding, the Imperial House and those two Duchies had stood together. For them to know so little of each other was absurd.
“I’ll need to reenter that chamber.”
Whether Maya went or he did, the room had to be investigated.
“I’ll ask about it at the wedding.”
The magical orb and the wards around that room showed just how entwined the Crown and the Tower were.
“Kendrick will return as Tower Master.”
Even Tristan, who knew little of magic, had been awed by Kendrick’s power.
And the determination in Kendrick’s eyes when he spoke—it was no fleeting whim.
Tristan knew instinctively: Kendrick Akisia would become Tower Master, no matter what.
To stand tall before Maya.
A rival like that was unwelcome.
But the severing of ties between the Tower and the Emperor—that was good news.
If the Duchy and the Tower united, it would provide both the strength and the pretext to topple the Emperor.
The fall of Count Baker had already begun—ever since Seren Baker’s name had surfaced, and Riserfield could no longer deny it.
Now the shadows of the past he had long covered were creeping up to strangle him.
And with Maya and Riserfield’s relationship settled, his strongest shield was gone.
“Doshen is preparing too.”
With Robert returning to share the workload, Doshen now had the freedom to focus fully on his revenge.
Tristan buried the body deep in the forest, bowing his head.
A nameless life, gone without recognition. May you at least find peace, having paid your due.
Returning to his office, Tristan checked the arrival of the fresh flowers and lighting he had personally ordered.
White roses, evoking Pendragon. Warm golden lights and chandeliers. Together, they formed the image he saw when he thought of Maya.
At times as pure and clear as a white rose, at others as warm as golden light—he wanted to weave that vision into their wedding.
It was a wedding for the two of them, but he wanted Maya to shine most of all.
With little time left before departure, preparations advanced quickly.
Maya, meanwhile, headed to the palace for her first—and last—day as Commander of the Imperial Knights before departing east.
Wearing the uniform and standing before the knights was no easy task.
She still carried memories of the bullying she had suffered from them.
Though hazy, the feeling of pain remained sharp.
“As you know, I am Maya, appointed today as Commander of the Imperial Knights.”
She finished her introduction quickly.
Like at the banquet, there was no contempt in their gazes.
That in itself felt strange.
“I thought I had to avoid repeating the past at all costs….”
She had once believed she had to live quietly, burdened by a criminal’s past.
But living with Tristan, who always trusted her, her life had gradually changed.
Similar—but different.
She was now Commander, but not the Emperor’s dog.
She had people by her side: Tristan, Doshen, Robert, Alec, Seren, and now also Kleine and Haydn.
Her life, once empty without her Swordmaster status, was now beautifully colored like a rainbow.
“Don’t be afraid.”
Not everything went as planned, but the outcomes always turned out fine.
No—that was because she made them fine.
“Another way will always appear.”
Maya chose to see the positives in the life she had been given.
“Standing here before them is also an opportunity.”
Yes, this was her chance to take revenge—legitimately.
