Chapter 175
“What on earth is going on?”
The inn’s owners glared at each other. Suspicion filled their eyes: Where on earth did it go so wrong for so many knights to come rushing here?
They had always prided themselves on living a life without shame…
“What have you been doing? Apologize immediately!”
The husband raised his voice at his wife first.
But the wife shot back, equally defiant.
“Hah! Who are you to talk! You’ve been wandering outside recently—who did you mess with this time?”
Even to their untrained eyes, the knights surrounding the inn were not ordinary.
They’re not the kind of knights you see in a rural territory…
Occasionally, travelers passing through the forest would stay at the inn. Even the inexperienced owners had been impressed by their poise and movements.
Now, however, it was clear even to them that these knights were far more disciplined and formidable than any they had seen before.
The husband bowed his head, pleading.
“Knights… please! We truly don’t know what we’ve done wrong. You must be mistaken…”
“Do you really think so? You think you’ve done nothing wrong?”
An older-looking knight glared at him.
The husband shrank back, speaking in a trembling voice.
“Well… everyone makes mistakes in life… but we haven’t done anything that would warrant such distinguished visitors coming here…”
He thought of all the little misdeeds in his life.
Tricking naive guests into drinking more than they should, making them pay several times over…
Cooking food with ingredients starting to rot…
Shortchanging people and then pretending he hadn’t…
But in his eyes, none of these counted as serious offenses.
Running an inn isn’t easy! And rebuilding after leaving the old village cost a fortune! Surely this is fair game!
Yet he knew better than to voice such thoughts.
Besides, dozens of knights wouldn’t have come for such petty matters.
If that were the case, half the villagers would have been dragged away already.
Just then…
“Oh!”
Another villager was dragged from the village and tossed beside the inn owners.
Still half-asleep, the disoriented villager crawled toward the couple in panic.
“What’s going on here?”
“We don’t know either!”
They shot resentful glances at the knights, but received only cold stares in return.
More villagers were dragged from their homes and thrown in front of the inn.
Looking around, people began to notice a pattern.
All the dragged villagers were immigrants who had moved here together from another village.
But not all immigrants were taken.
Then what was the criteria…?
When a knight shouted, “This is the last one!” and another villager was thrown down, they finally realized the common link.
They were all people who drank daily at the inn, friends of the owners who often got drunk together.
“Could it be… one of the guests we swindled for money was important?”
“Important people wouldn’t come to a place like this! The food is awful and the rooms are like a dump!”
“What? You’ve been eating here all this time and you say that?”
Voices rose in protest.
Then one man saw the knights’ emblem and hurried to stop the arguing villagers.
“Everyone, stop! Don’t make a scene—just bow your heads!”
“Let go! Knights or whatever—I don’t care! Just—!”
“They’re the Royal Knights! Quiet, all of you!”
Royal Knights.
At those words, everyone froze.
“W-What? The Royal Knights are here…?”
“No doubt about the emblem. It’s the Royal Knights. I remember clearly—someone from my family joined them years ago!”
The man knelt properly, and the fighting villagers followed suit, calming their fists.
Even a local lord’s knights were intimidating—but the Royal Knights? They were the ones who pursued traitors that harmed the royal family.
“Knights, there must be some misunderstanding. The Royal Knights… how could we even meet anyone of royalty?”
“Yes! Someone must have framed us!”
They felt genuinely wronged.
Most of the royal family had died during the succession war, leaving only the current emperor. How could someone so important possibly pass through this small village?
Then they remembered the recent rumors that the princess, thought dead, had returned alive.
Even so… what do we have to do with it?
At that moment, the sound of a carriage approaching reached them.
The knights immediately lined up and bowed their heads.
The villagers, sensing the tension, also fell silent and bowed.
Soon, a grand carriage bearing the imperial crest entered the village.
The villagers, having never seen such a luxurious carriage, bowed and knelt before it.
The carriage stopped in front of those who had been dragged out, and the door opened.
A young man stepped out.
It was the Emperor—Clois.
As he stepped down, he coldly addressed the kneeling owners and villagers.
“Are these the ones?”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
At the words “Your Majesty,” everyone held their breath.
The emperor himself came to punish us?
They trembled in fear, realizing how serious the situation had become.
Clois approached the kneeling couple, immediately recognizing who they were.
He had asked Evi to explain the events at the inn, and she had described them tearfully.
“Do you know why this is happening?”
The husband raised his head.
“Y-Your Majesty! I really… ugh!”
“Bow your head. You have no permission to speak.”
Sir Rommel, standing nearby, struck the husband’s head with the end of a soldier’s pike.
Even without much force, the husband collapsed to the ground with a thud.
“Yes… yes… forgive us! W-We have committed grave sins… please…”
“Then speak of these sins yourself.”
The husband could barely speak.
What could the emperor himself want to punish us for?
“Your Majesty, though we live in a remote village, we are not so ignorant as to forget your benevolence. We paid taxes faithfully and never colluded with rebels. In fact, we have never even met anyone suspicious! Someone must have falsely accused us…”
“You really do not remember, do you?”
Clois clicked his tongue at their pleas.
“Seven years ago, you accepted a newborn child from travelers passing through the forest in place of payment for alcohol.”
“…!”
The couple exchanged shocked glances.
That had been so long ago, they barely remembered it. How could the emperor know?
“You then left the child with an old woman in the barn. Once the child learned to walk and speak, you made them do chores at the inn.”
Yes, they had done that—but how did it concern the emperor?
“All orphans were supposed to be reported to the local lord, but you offered drinks and meals to the inspectors instead, escaping the report.”
“That… that…”
The wife stammered.
“No! It’s a misunderstanding! We simply failed to register them! And we raised the child diligently! Isn’t it natural to pity war orphans? We may not have had much, but we raised them with love!”
Once she started, the lies flowed easily.
The emperor could never know the truth anyway.
The villagers, sensing the urgency, added their voices.
“Yes! They raised the child with such effort!”
“We also brought food and helped care for them!”
They thought that together they might make the emperor hesitate.
“…You cared for the child?”
Clois’ voice was colder than a winter wind.
“That is not what I have been told.”
“Who gave you such a false report…?”
“Riden, was your report false?”
Riden? Who is that?
The people looked around, and Riden stepped forward from behind the knights.
“No, Your Majesty. I deliberately recorded their words with the help of Headmistress Seraphina.”
“You… you are!”
Those who recognized Riden turned pale.
Months ago, he had appeared at the inn, joining their drinking and gambling because he seemed wealthy.
They had mocked him in secret, calling him a fool, but he had never suspected.
He had even asked about running an inn, prompting stories of past actions to emerge.
“The best thing is to take an orphan and make them work. Teach them only their chores, nothing else—they cannot escape and will work like a slave. We had such a child… ah, now I think we let them go too cheaply.”
They had told him everything in a boastful manner.
“Never give them more than one meal. Raise your hand if they complain. Threaten to throw them out daily…”
Everyone had admitted to how they treated the child.
“Ah, but what does one child matter…”
“One child? What does it matter?”
Clois’ voice now could cut like a blade.
He bit his lips, restraining his anger, then called into the carriage.
“Evi, can you come out?”
Moments later, the door opened, and the girl quietly crying inside stepped into Clois’ arms.
He carried her down, and Evi slowly walked before the inn owners.
“That’s not all,” she said.
“…?”
“You bet on me—saying I wouldn’t be eaten by the wolves. Then you sent me into the forest at night to fetch branches from the warm spring. You told me to bring warm water too…”
Evi wiped her tears and continued.
“If I failed, you said I’d be beaten the number of coins people had spent…”
Everyone who had dragged her out turned pale.
Evi.
The one whom the emperor personally cared for like this.
Evi Bien Alden Shell Harkia.
The most cherished person in the empire.
The child they had kicked, bullied, and sent into the forest was… the princess of the empire.
