Chapter 91
His eyes only darted around anxiously, scanning his surroundings. He genuinely seemed not to know why he was here. It didn’t seem like I was the only one who noticed that, but the Grand Duke deliberately raised his voice.
“Did you say you testified falsely?”
“F-falsely? M-me?? N-no, that’s not true. Who would I dare lie to? No, more than that, I haven’t even reported anything today.”
But the guard had already been thrown to the floor by the knight who had dragged him here.
“I heard you gave testimony?”
“Y-yes…? T-testimony…?”
“You said you saw Rex go outside. A few hours ago.”
“D-did I give that testimony?”
The guard widened his eyes as if he truly knew nothing.
“Did you not?”
“Y-yes… I have never given such testimony.”
“Then have you seen the knight who brought you here?”
“I know that gentleman. He’s a knight, after all. But I haven’t seen him today.”
At that moment, the knight’s complexion hardened.
“That’s not true, Your Grace. That guard is lying.”
“He was dragged here without knowing anything—what lie is he telling?”
“Earlier, he clearly told me… that he saw Rex go out.”
Truly, both sides were full of lies.
“Who is lying? Is it the guard, or was it the knight who lied from the start?”
The Grand Duke slowly walked around them before stopping in front of them.
“A knight who appeared at the exact timing when speaking with the Grand Duchess. And a guard who told that knight a lie. Who do you think is lying?”
“I-I really am not. I don’t even know what you’re talking about. Who would I dare lie to?”
“He’s lying about not having seen it. Earlier, right in front of me, he definitely said that. Your Grace. Would someone like me, who has devoted himself to the Grand Ducal House, dare lie?”
He was no different from the Grand Duchess. As if he were repeating exactly what she had said, he busied himself denying the situation.
“Right. Someone who has devoted himself to the Grand Ducal House wouldn’t lie.”
“Exactly!”
“But that guard has also devoted himself to the Grand Ducal House. Then whose words should I believe?”
“T-that—!”
Once again, the knight tried to speak first, but the Grand Duke stopped him.
“Why. Are you going to say we should believe the words of the one with higher status? Just like the Grand Duchess did? That a guard of commoner origin isn’t trustworthy?”
“T-that is…”
“Just as expected of the Grand Duchess’s people, you’re identical to the very end. Aisha, and Rohen, Lari. Close your eyes, cover your ears, and count to ten.”
The children didn’t understand and only stared at me with wide eyes. I turned toward them, making them cover their ears and close their eyes. Only then, as if reassured, did the Grand Duke release a chilling killing intent.
After looking at us for a moment, he drew the sword from his waist. With a cold shing sound, the Grand Duke approached the guard and the knight.
“I feel like I already know who the culprit is……”
The blade of his sword pointed toward the knight.
“But without physical evidence, we shouldn’t suspect anyone. Then what would be best? How can we find out who dared to lie before the Grand Duke and obstruct the investigation?”
From his calm tone, I could feel that he was not in his right mind. In the novel, the twins were called mad children, and listening to his voice now, it felt as though that bloodline had come straight from the Grand Duke himself—it was that different from before.
“No one’s answering. It’s very simple. We just kill them both.”
“W-what…?”
“W-what? N-no, I really don’t know anything.”
The guard continued to protest his innocence, while the knight widened his eyes in shock.
“There is someone who dared lie to me, the Grand Duke. And if they won’t speak and only persist in lies, then we should just kill them both. We don’t even know who the culprit is, so how can we let either live? What if I spare one side and that person turns out to be the culprit? So killing them both is the best solution, wouldn’t you say?”
It was almost impressive how he arrived at that conclusion.
This isn’t good for the children’s education.
Even so, perhaps he himself thought it wasn’t good for them, which was why he had told the children earlier to close their eyes and ears. But if this were the novel, it was easy to imagine how their education would have gone.
No wonder the kids are said to be insane beyond just being the hidden villains. They’re actually such good kids.
The purer and kinder one is, the more easily they become tainted.
In the meantime, the Grand Duke’s sword stabbed into the floor between the fingers of the guard, who was lying flat on the ground.
“Gah!”
“Next time, you won’t be able to dodge.”
“P-please, wait. I really don’t know anything.”
“Fine. Then how about this side?”
Smiling faintly as he looked at the guard who continued to claim ignorance even in this situation, the Grand Duke shifted his gaze to the knight.
This time, he was even more violent. As soon as Rex realized that I had opened my eyes and was watching, he blocked my view, but I strained to look through the gap between his legs.
The Grand Duke pressed the blade to the knight’s neck.
“You’re going to say you don’t know anything either, right?”
“T-that is—”
“No. Don’t say it. I don’t want to hear now that everything was a lie and that you want to be spared. I’m sick of hearing that kind of nonsense.”
“W-what…? Then you’ll spare me?”
“No. I’ll just kill you, so don’t say anything pointless. It only dirties my ears.”
The Grand Duke waved his hand, as if truly ordering him to say nothing.
“Y-Your Grace…”
“What’s the point of making excuses now? Just die. That’ll at least let you keep your last shred of dignity.”
He stood up and raised his sword high, as if to execute the knight. Sensing that the situation had turned dire, the knight finally threw himself flat on the ground.
Because of that, the Grand Duke’s sword swung through empty air instead of striking him.
“S-spare me. I was acting under orders. S-so… so please.”
“Don’t dodge. Next time I’ll kill you properly. I’ll at least grant you the mercy of ending your life in one blow. Of course, if you dodge again, you might die in pain, so it’d be better to stay still.”
“Y-Your Grace! It was the Duchess— the Grand Duchess—who ordered it. I-I’ll tell you everything. Just please spare my life!!”
The sword that had been swung once more stopped in midair.
“The Grand Duchess ordered it?”
“Yes. I… I only did as I was told. I was told to wait… and when the signal was given, to appear at the right moment. And there… to say that Knight Rex had escaped……”
“Then why did you bring that man here?”
“T-that was… I brought just anyone. Still, before Your Grace… I thought he might confess even to a crime he didn’t commit, so I just brought the most weak-hearted one.”
The knight, who was spilling the truth without pause, kept alternating his gaze between the Grand Duchess and the Grand Duke. It was obvious to anyone that he was watching their reactions.
“So, what you’re saying is that this was all done on the Grand Duchess’s orders?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“T-that’s a lie. That’s just another trap to frame me.”
“Then who do you say ordered this knight? Are you going to say it was me again, like earlier? Or are you going to say it was an eight-year-old orphan girl? Or if not that… then who will you say did it?”
“T-that… that…”
“Go on, Grand Duchess. Who are you going to say did it?”
Her hands trembled violently. What excuse would she make this time? Would she say again that she knew nothing? Curious myself, I clung to Rex’s leg and watched them.
“T-take him away and investigate him. Then… then later he’ll tell the truth. Right now he’s just panicking and saying whatever comes to mind.”
“Why. So you can take him away and make him say something else? Or threaten him?”
The Grand Duke twisted the corners of his lips upward in an eerily chilling smile, approached the knight, and without hesitation cut him down.
“Ghk… Y-Your Grace……”
“What should we do now, Grand Duchess? There’s no one left to take away and investigate.”
“W-why are you going this far?”
“I’m saying this so you’ll come to your senses too. You see, I’m very angry right now. I almost lost Aisha.”
“T-that… that’s……”
“An innocent child was put in danger. I’m angry that I couldn’t protect that child, and I was already angry listening to the Grand Duchess speak such nonsense. And then that knight said something that made me even angrier. He made me angry, so I killed him. Isn’t that right?”
The Grand Duchess shook her head weakly.
“S-still, how could you……”
“So you’d better be careful. Right now, it’s only one knight who lied to me, but next time, the one lying flat on the ground like that might be you, Grand Duchess.”
“……”
“And tell me— you don’t think I truly don’t know anything and am being fooled by you, do you? I hoped until the very end that you would tell the truth. But trying to cover the sky with the palm of your hand… you’re unbelievably foolish.”
“……I didn’t do anything.”
“Still saying that. Really… I’m starting to wonder whether you’d keep saying that even as you were dying. I’m genuinely curious.”
