Chapter 178
“How could something like this happen…”
The Chief of Security clutched his head and let out a deep sigh.
Two well-known figures he personally knew had suddenly become traitors, and the fact that he had to arrest them alone was already a massive headache.
But now…
Those wanted criminals had vanished without a trace.
“There’s no choice. We’ll have to raise the alert level even further… And the Imperial Knights are being deployed in full force…”
The fugitives had subdued the security forces using holy magic and escaped, meaning the ordinary guards were clearly out of their depth.
That was why the Chief of Security was counting on the Imperial Knights, along with the mages and clergy they would bring.
But then…
Before anything could even properly begin, disaster struck.
“What did you say? A corruption scandal involving the Imperial Knights?”
“Yes! Evidence has surfaced that they accepted enormous bribes and manipulated exam scores to allow sons of noble families into the order! Apparently, the broker who handled these dealings was bought off by someone and handed the documents over to our bureau, but… none of this makes any sense…”
“Seriously, what kind of bribe is that? A bribe for the sake of exposing the truth? Ridiculous. Anyway—what exactly is going on?”
“I don’t know! All I know is that instead of receiving the Knights’ cooperation today, we’re being told we have to investigate them! Former and current commanders are involved one after another!”
Both the Security Bureau and the Knights fell into chaos.
And that wasn’t the end of it.
Soon after, it was revealed that an old and prestigious rare-book research foundation was involved in “suspicious flows of untraceable funds.”
The newspapers began attacking the Security Bureau for responding too slowly, so the Chief had no choice but to urgently issue search-and-seizure orders there as well.
With things spiraling like this, their plan to intensify the capture operation against the fugitives was temporarily derailed.
“What is the meaning of this?!”
The clergy who were supposed to be mobilized for the operation protested in unison.
“Corruption? Corruption, you say?! The Imperial Knights aren’t exactly innocent themselves, so who are they to give orders? And there’s no definitive proof that His Excellency was involved in any crime—what is this supposed to be?!”
While chaos erupted on all sides…
“…Huh?”
At a bank counter in the capital, a man stared blankly at an account in midair.
It was Count Reno—the self-proclaimed detective who had accused the former Duke of Lacroix.
With a flustered expression, he questioned the clerk.
“Are you sure there’s nothing wrong with this account?”
“Yes, sir. There are no issues with your account.”
“But the money that was supposed to come in yesterday still hasn’t arrived…”
“I’m sorry, sir. You’ll need to confirm that with the sender.”
Count Reno kept pestering the staff with questions until closing time, when he was practically pushed out the door.
‘Why hasn’t the deposit come through?’
A bad feeling crept over him. He grew increasingly anxious.
Because…
He had something to feel guilty about.
To drown out his unease, Reno drank late into the night.
Eventually, even the tavern closed, and the drunken Count staggered toward home…
Then he noticed something strange.
Footsteps.
Someone was following him at a distance.
So obvious that even in his drunken haze, he couldn’t miss it.
And it wasn’t just one person.
“…?”
Startled, Count Reno began running.
But his pursuers quickly closed in.
Before he knew it, he had cornered himself in a dead-end alley.
“Huff… huff…”
His mind went blank.
And then—
“…?”
A man dressed in black suddenly appeared silently atop the wall before him.
Before Reno could even speak, the man lunged forward, clamping a hand over his mouth.
With shocking strength, he lifted the Count and leapt over the wall.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
A cold voice whispered in his ear.
“Stay quiet. I’m trying to keep you alive.”
The murderous intent beneath that voice drained all strength from Reno’s body.
The mysterious man moved effortlessly through the darkness, dragging him to a carriage and tossing him inside.
A woman sat in the seat.
Black hair. Red lips. Eyes lifted in icy sharpness.
She was breathtakingly beautiful—
But meeting her gaze made his legs tremble.
It felt like escaping a wolf’s jaws only to fall into a lion’s mouth.
The Count stammered.
“W-Who are you…?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
She cut him off instantly.
And then began interrogating him right there in the moving carriage.
“We know. You lied before His Majesty the Emperor. Everything you said about the former Duke of Lacroix was false.”
“That’s not true!”
“Silence! It isn’t widely known, but in your youth, you pursued the Duchess, were humiliated by the Duke, and held a grudge ever since. Then when someone told you to frame him, you eagerly joined in. Am I wrong?”
“No! Absolutely not!”
“Hey.”
The brutal man who had captured him growled low.
“Do you not realize they’re trying to kill you to shut your mouth? If you want to live, you’d better tell the truth. We survive, and so do you.”
“….”
“Or should we just hand you back to them?”
“I—I confess! I was wrong!”
The Count collapsed in terror.
“I only did what I was told! I don’t even know who they were! They said if I framed the former Duke of Lacroix, I’d receive a safe payment of one hundred million!”
As he trembled and spilled everything, the woman threw paper and a pen at him.
“Draw the person who brought you the offer.”
“Yes…”
As Reno sketched, the terrifying pair questioned him closely, refining the drawing.
Then they hauled him upright again.
“You’d better testify properly in court later.”
With that cold warning, the man lifted Reno effortlessly.
Then—
He flung open the carriage door.
“…!”
Another carriage was racing toward them from the opposite direction.
For a brief moment, the two carriages overlapped.
The other carriage door opened—
And Count Reno was thrown straight inside.
A white-haired old man sitting within looked down at him with cold eyes.
“This drunkard is extremely important to my benefactor. Guard him with your lives.”
“Yes!”
The burly men waiting inside answered in unison.
‘Oh my god…’
Count Reno could endure no more.
He blacked out.
The carriage carrying the key witness, Count Reno, disappeared into the distant darkness.
It was being driven by the leader of a certain underground guild.
Apparently, he owed Ruelian a debt from the past and had sworn loyalty. In any case, he was considered trustworthy.
“But given who we’re dealing with, we can’t afford to be careless.”
Ruelian murmured as he watched it vanish.
“We managed to extract Count Reno, but we can’t keep him hidden forever. Before that, we need to meet Grace—the decisive witness—and bring her to court.”
“That’s right.”
As the scenery rushed past the carriage windows, I sank into thought.
“No matter how I think about it, Theseud should’ve killed Grace long ago. There has to be a reason he hasn’t—or can’t. But if we move like this, they may cross the line at any moment.”
We had to secure Grace before it was too late.
That was why we stirred trouble within the Imperial Knights, Theseud’s obedient tools, and cut off the financial lifeline of the foundation he secretly controlled.
The moment we entered the capital, we severed both his right and left hands—if only temporarily.
Now we needed speed.
‘We have to infiltrate the Imperial Palace quickly!’
The carriage sped forward as if echoing our urgency, circling around until it arrived at a grand mansion.
It was the residence rented by the young tycoon couple, Count and Countess Caliente, for their stay in the capital.
“Welcome, Master. Welcome, Madam.”
The servants who greeted us were all members of the underground guild.
It was ironic—at a time like this, the most reliable people were criminals.
Ordinary citizens couldn’t be trusted, because you never knew what connections they might have.
In any case, to outsiders, they looked like perfectly competent servants.
Still receiving admiring gazes in the capital, we immediately went to the palace and submitted a request for an audience.
The pretext was that we had returned after a long time and wished to greet the Empress.
But then…
Contrary to our urgency, something unexpected happened.
“You have your entry confirmation document, correct? The law has changed. You must submit it.”
At the attendant’s words, I froze.
We didn’t have anything like that.
Because we hadn’t officially “entered” the country.
Had Theseud anticipated everything and even arranged this?
As we stood there unable to respond, the attendant stared at us suspiciously.
“I mean the document distributed to passengers aboard the ship. You must have filled it out.”
Our minds were packed with preparations for everything that could happen inside the palace.
But we never expected an obstacle at the entrance.
No matter how perfectly we forged our identities, how could we have known palace entry regulations had changed?
The attendants began glancing at us one by one.
‘What do we do?’
As I exchanged looks with Ruelian, searching desperately for a solution…
“Here it is.”
Someone suddenly appeared behind us and handed two sheets of paper to the attendant.
I turned around—
And gasped in shock.
