Chapter 81
“Yes. Thanks to you…”
“Do you remember what I said earlier?”
“Yes.”
The captain of the Imperial Guards’ eyes blazed fiercely.
Ravian patted his shoulder lightly.
“Stay strong, Captain. I’ll handle the after-service.”
The emperor had ordered the captain to keep the disappearance of the First Princess strictly confidential.
If obeying imperial commands was the duty of the Imperial Guards, then upholding the dignity of the imperial family was also their duty and mission.
Punishing the members of the First Princess’s Palace who had long mistreated her, and holding the palace guards accountable, was part of that mission.
As part of carrying out the earlier imperial order, the captain intended to quietly expel all personnel from the First Princess’s Palace.
Irene believed that if she came forward as a witness, she would be spared — but that was nothing but a delusion.
Ravian had no intention of letting even a single parasite from that palace survive.
“Sir Ravian…”
A worried expression emerged on the captain’s face.
From this point forward, what the captain intended to do and what Ravian planned to do were fundamentally on completely different scales.
Even if one was the leader of the Continent’s largest crime syndicate — to pull off something of this magnitude…
“If someone slips up and it’s revealed that Sir Ravian is behind it—”
“Sir Revorns.”
“…Yes?”
“Do you know where the tail is in a cell-structured organization?”
Having spent his entire life only within military structures, the captain blankly shook his head.
“There isn’t one. That’s why I love the capital.”
“Ah…”
“Besides, I’ve got insurance.”
With that, Ravian left the imperial palace and headed toward the streets, where the carnival was in full swing.
The sudden downpour of winter rain had long since stopped.
In the rain-cleared night streets, dogs were beginning to swarm in from all directions.
For the dogs, too — it was time for the carnival to begin.
4. The Hidden Time
The telegram sent by the Anubis Imperial Capital branch chief to the Rohas branch arrived at 7 a.m.
“What the hell…?”
The moment Smokey received the telegram and read its contents, he immediately smacked the sleeping Keith awake and dragged him down to the conference room below the penthouse.
“Look at this. Did the Boss or Merci tell you anything about this?”
Keith, still rubbing his sleepy eyes and grumbling, quickly sobered up as his expression grew serious.
“What is this… What the hell is this? Are they joking? Suddenly a summons? What business do they even have summoning people?”
“So you didn’t know either, huh?”
“Not at all. You got any guesses?”
Smokey tossed the newspaper he had brought onto the table.
“Look here — the Imperial Capital Carnival Roast Serial Murders. And here too. All these cases of people burned to the point of being unidentifiable — they all happened near the capital.”
Keith’s face twisted.
“What the hell is going on during a festival? Did you ask Mira? This is the kind of thing she’d love.”
“Are you stupid? If Mira knew, she’d already be there by now!”
“Why are you yelling, you psycho?!”
“Did that brat, Merci’s little brother, say anything?”
“You wanna pry into something like this from that kid? Are you the idiot here? Why would Merci ever tell his kid brother something like that—”
“What am I supposed to have said?”
“Holy—!”
At the sudden voice, both Keith and Smokey jumped in perfect unison.
Turning their heads blankly, they saw Merci leaning against the conference room door with his arms crossed.
He was always popping up out of nowhere without a sound, but this time he nearly made their souls leave their bodies.
“Yo, what the hell? Merci, weren’t you supposed to be in the capital with the Boss?”
“No. I was on another job and just came back for a bit.”
“…”
“So what’s with the commotion?”
As Merci asked leisurely, Smokey snapped out of it and pointed at the table.
“Good timing. What’s this? They’re saying human barbeques are popping up everywhere for days now, and the whole eastern region’s in an uproar. Did you hear anything from the Boss about this?”
Merci stepped between them and silently looked down at the newspaper.
“What the hell is this…”
A muttered groan slipped out of him.
Keith looked surprised.
“You didn’t know either, Merci?”
Silence hung between them.
Then Merci lifted his head, shrugged with a calm face, and said,
“As if I’d know about something like this. It’s a gruesome case, sure — but what about it?”
“What do you mean, ‘what about it’? If you look at the rest of the telegram—”
“So you guys think the Boss ordered the capital division to do this?”
“We were gonna ask you that! If the Boss did it, what the hell would his reason be?”
The Ravian they knew was a monstrous piece of trash — but not the kind to waste manpower or commit pointless slaughter.
No matter how it appeared on the surface, Ravian always had a reason behind his decisions.
Realizing the three of them wouldn’t reach an answer on their own, Merci shifted the topic.
“Is there anything else in the message?”
“Yeah. Says a runner is coming on the cargo line at six this evening. Who do we send?”
Scratching his head, Smokey glanced between them.
Surprisingly, Keith volunteered.
“Did the Boss get shaken down? I’ll go. Just in case.”
“Got it. Then I’ll send these guys to write the reply.”
Once Smokey and Keith left, Merci stood in place, staring alternately between the spread-out newspaper and the telegram.
There was no doubt.
Others might be fooled — but nothing escaped Merci’s eyes.
“Why is he this angry?”
In his low whisper, something eerie stirred within his golden eyes.
“What the hell did they do to piss you off this badly, Ravi…?”
* * *
While the Imperial Capital was in utter chaos due to the serial burning incidents during the Carnival Festival, the Emperor arrived at the famous Viner Hotel at 7 a.m. Capital Time.
He was dressed like an ordinary citizen, but since he had contacted them in advance, he immediately received a key and headed straight for the top-floor suite.
Contrary to his expectations, no one stood guard outside the suite Ravian was said to be staying in.
Instead of fleeing silently to Rohas as the Emperor had assumed, Ravian remained here — as if boldly inviting him to come if he dared.
Feeling no desire to knock, Leopold kicked the door open and strode inside.
Ravian was seated casually on the couch in the center of the room.
He must have heard the door opening — yet he didn’t even turn his head.
As though he had been expecting this.
This brazen, shameless attitude was so absurd that Leopold could only laugh in disbelief.
This was practically a voluntary confession.
To burn humans to that extent in an instant — such firepower. Or was it pure military force?
“So it was your doing?”
“…”
“Are you insane?”
Ravian didn’t even pretend to listen, simply staring forward blankly.
Leopold’s red eyes flared like embers.
“I humbled myself — begged you to do that job for me — and you used it to satisfy your sadism? You stirred up the Imperial Guards until they went on a rampage, and when that wasn’t enough, you figured you hadn’t screwed me over hard enough?! Did you think I wouldn’t recognize the ones you burned alive?!”
After the chain of events over the past few days, Leopold was on the brink of losing his mind.
Externally, there were the human roasting incidents. Internally, the rift caused by the Imperial Guard’s unilateral actions had set the Royal Guard and the Duchy of Cherny on edge — it was chaos on all fronts.
To make matters worse, the young guard who had gone berserk on behalf of the Imperial Guards and leveled the First Princess’s Palace — was rumored to be the illegitimate child the Duke of Cherny had fathered while studying abroad.
Ravian had managed to screw not only Leopold but also the Duke of Cherny in one stroke — and Leopold couldn’t help but marvel at the audacity.
“No matter how much you’re my brother—”
“What’s that?”
Ravian suddenly spoke, jerking his chin toward something behind Leopold.
“What?”
