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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: The Dark Fantasy Hero Possessed a Romance Fantasy (5)
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"Excuse me, but... who might you be?"
The butler had been curious about him from the start, but in the ensuing chaos, he hadn't had a chance to ask.
"Ah, I'll explain, Instructor."
As Zeke stepped forward, Serena introduced him to everyone.
"This gentleman is Zeke Kleiman. He's the one who saved me when I was captured by goblins and in mortal danger."
"Ooooh!!"
"He was on his way to his new post as a swordsmanship instructor at Ramieli Academy when he rescued me and brought me all the way here."
"Good heavens!!!"
Gasps of awe rippled through the knights and servants.
"The Johaidens are a family that repays its debts twofold. From now on, I intend to let him stay here for as long as he wishes."
"Oh! Thank you so much! Truly! To think you saved Lady Serena! From now on, I will do my utmost to serve you!"
At Serena's words, the butler stepped forward on behalf of everyone to express their gratitude.
Then, remembering that Zeke had just interrupted the trial, he asked.
"Um, Sir Zeke... if you don't mind my asking."
Zeke glanced at the maid named Ciella, whose eyes were narrow and slanted.
'This one's a backstabber.'
He could smell it.
He couldn't use the Eye of Judgment again yet, but even without it, Zeke was certain.
Just looking at Ciella's face made the back of his head itch.
A gut feeling, on an instinctual level.
'Even if I were to use my 'eye,' making others believe what it shows is another matter entirely... What to do...'
Zeke took a moment to gather his thoughts.
'Hmm, that should work. I'll just consider it payment for my stay.'
"I was listening, and something seemed a bit off. In any case, I'm also one of the key witnesses who discovered the scene. The coachman who was with me has already left the capital, so I suppose that makes me the last witness."
"Ah, that's true... When I was unconscious, you were the one who saw what happened, Instructor."
Serena nodded.
"Right. Serena, let me ask you one thing. Before, when you said you wanted to reward me, didn't you say you couldn't because that woman, Ciella, had taken all your money?"
"Yes."
"Butler, have they been searched?"
Zeke asked the butler.
His intuition was screaming that she was lying, but he needed confirmation anyway.
Just in case, the bald guy could actually be the real villain.
"Yes, we did yesterday. But nothing was found."
"Then that means one of them has hidden the money. And the probability is high that it's the woman named Ciella."
'Of course. It had to be you.'
Ciella broke out in a cold sweat.
"That's...!"
"Right, this was actually just a minor confirmation. To be honest, it has nothing to do with the current situation."
Zeke immediately diverted their attention, saying it was unrelated to the case.
But she didn't know.
The moment she failed to deny his words immediately, she had already fallen into the trap.
'Serena, I told you to watch your back.'
It seemed Serena had a soft spot for her.
So, by planting the suspicion that Ciella had stolen the money, he also created the effect of preventing Serena from stepping in to defend her.
'In a public trial like this, you have to lay the groundwork by agitating the crowd.'
"First, I'll state three facts. One, when I first saw the carriage, the horses were already gone."
"Two, the horses didn't run away on their own to escape the goblins; there were tracks showing they had been ridden away at a steady pace."
"Three, I treated Serena and left immediately in the carriage."
Zeke said, folding his fingers one by one.
"Do you understand what this means?"
"..."
"You all arrived a day early. You lot rode the horses and galloped straight here."
"Yes! That is proof of my innocence! As soon as Lady Serena was in danger, we rode here immediately to report the danger!"
"I see. This time, I'll ask that man. What did Ciella say on the way here?"
It was a clever use of words.
Zeke steered the situation as if the incident had been orchestrated by Ciella from the start.
"She... said she would show us a way to survive..."
"How? Didn't you think of running away?"
"A-actually, at first, we were going to run away... But Ciella... said that if we ran now, we'd be hunted by the knights for the rest of our lives..."
"I see. But even if you told them Serena was kidnapped by bandits, you still wouldn't have been safe, would you?"
Thinking this couldn't go on, Ciella tried to cut in from the side.
"That's—!"
Zeke stared at Ciella expressionlessly.
*Flinch.*
Her entire body was instantly paralyzed with a terrible fear, rendering her speechless.
'Who the hell is that man, showing up out of nowhere and doing this!!!'
Ciella felt like she was going insane.
There were certainly no flaws in her plan.
She had been flustered when the Duchess, whom she thought had been dragged away by goblins, reappeared, but she realized that this could actually make her plan even more perfect.
Ciella was confident she could somehow sweet-talk the kind and foolish Lady Johaiden.
So she had been carefully choosing her words, slowly building the atmosphere in her favor.
But because of the man who suddenly stepped forward, the situation had taken a strange turn.
'What! Who the hell is that guy!!!'
The strange pressure he emitted forced her mouth shut, even when she tried to speak.
"*Ghk.*"
Zeke turned his gaze back to the man.
"Speak. Why did you lie and say bandits kidnapped her?"
"She said being taken by goblins is different from being kidnapped by bandits..."
"How is it different?"
"If it's a kidnapping, the Duchess isn't dead, and there's room for negotiation... She said we could say it was Lady Serena's fault for secretly leaving the academy, that she was the one who caused the problem..."
Zeke found the bald man before him ridiculous.
If he'd just thought about it for a moment, he would have known.
There was no way such a flimsy excuse would keep them safe.
Zeke decided to play along for now.
"Hmm, I suppose so. So you were forced to go along, and if we assume the Duchess was unfortunately kidnapped by bandits..."
Zeke glanced at Serena.
"You wanted to rescue the Duchess, but lacking any strength, you had no choice but to rush here and report the danger. That would be the story..."
"Yes..."
"And doing so would save you from being hunted for the rest of your lives? I'm not so sure. But let's move on. Why was it you, and not someone else, who said it was bandits? There would have been no reason for that."
"C-Ciella promised to give me money if she was released..."
As Zeke's gaze was fixed on the man, the pressure enveloping Ciella weakened for a moment.
Ciella cut in, shouting hysterically.
"I-It's a lie!!!"
Zeke scoffed inwardly.
"Alright, Ciella. I'll give you a chance to make an excuse this time. You were planning to tell the butler separately, weren't you? The truth that it was goblins, not bandits, who attacked Serena."
"That's right! I thought I had to report Lady Serena's real danger, so I had a change of heart!"
Feeling desperate, Ciella affirmed Zeke's words.
'Hey, what am I supposed to do if you take the bait this easily?'
"No, you were going to sacrifice them all to find a way to survive alone."
Zeke grinned.
"You're all fools. You've all been deceived. Room for negotiation if you say it was bandits instead of goblins? What a joke. Whether it was goblins or bandits, the fact that you all abandoned Serena in her time of need doesn't change. Isn't that right, Serena?"
"Yes..."
When Zeke suddenly asked, Serena nodded.
Zeke now took a step forward to deliver the final blow.
"Then why did she have to deceive you all like that? It must have been to secure the fact that she alone told the truth."
"That's speculation!!!"
Ciella shouted, but her voice sounded hollow compared to Zeke's.
Everyone gathered in the courtyard was hanging on Zeke's every word.
"When everyone else is saying the Duchess was kidnapped by bandits, she alone says she was taken by goblins. And the knights would easily discover it was a goblin attack just by visiting the scene of the crime."
Zeke approached Ciella, one step at a time.
'*Hic!*'
She twisted her body, trying to back away.
"If Serena was lucky enough to be rescued from the goblins, you'd probably even receive a handsome reward. Of course, the rest of you would all be dead."
*Thud.*
Still bound by ropes, Ciella fell backward.
"Even if the others belatedly figured out the situation and said it was your plan, Ciella, would anyone believe them after they already lied about the bandits? I think not."
'How on earth!'
Ciella's face turned deathly pale.
Zeke looked at the other bound individuals.
As if asking if they were really going to let this woman get away with it,
they listened to Zeke's words in a daze before glaring at Ciella with bloodshot eyes.
'It's just a shallow plan, hastily put together. Will a bond hastily glued together with money, something more trivial than life itself, really protect you?'
"The others will provide the evidence now."
And with that, Zeke drove the final nail in the coffin.
Lying on the ground, Ciella averted her eyes.
The knights' hands, gripping their swords, twitched.
The servants and maids didn't hide their contempt and disgust.
And Serena Johaiden was staring daggers at her with reddened eyes.
Just then.
"I know where Ciella hid the money!"
"She told us to sacrifice that man and that only we would survive!"
"She said she'd divide the money evenly among us if we were released!"
"Ciella planned everything!"
Zeke nodded.
"Ciella. So it comes back to the money. The money you failed to deny at the beginning is now coming back to bite you. Why did you hide it?"
"Th-that's!"
In truth, Zeke's words weren't conclusive proof that Ciella was the culprit.
It was merely a deduction pieced together from circumstantial evidence.
Zeke was convinced she was the culprit, but
he couldn't present irrefutable evidence.
However, it was so close to the truth that Ciella likely didn't notice this.
'In a romance fantasy world where they ride medieval carriages, what, scientific evidence? Like hell that exists. The powerful just push their way through and win.'
Serena, who had watched the trial to the end, trembled with an immense sense of betrayal.
She had wanted to believe in her until the very end. But Ciella had tried to deceive her until the very end.
'Was I too soft on them?'
All this time, she thought she had treated her subordinates with kindness and built mutual trust,
but it seemed that was just her own delusion.
She looked at the butler.
His face was twisted like a demon's.
"Alfred."
"Yes..."
"I must know the truth."
"Yes! It will... it will absolutely be done!"
"I'll leave what to do afterward to you. Just tell me the result."
Alfred glared at Ciella, his fists trembling.
At that, she realized her cruel fate.
No amount of struggling or pleading would help her now.
All she could do was accept her destiny.
The torture she would face, and the slow death that would come at the end of it.
Her whole body trembled.
'H-how. How did it come to this...?'
Ciella's eyes landed on Zeke one last time.
On his expressionless face, the corners of his mouth were slightly raised.
"Butler."
"Yes, Lady Serena."
"Assign a servant to the Instructor."
"He will be treated as an honored guest."
The butler bowed his head deeply.
Serena glanced at the sky for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.
"Right, I'm tired. I'm going inside to rest. Ah, if you haven't contacted my father, please keep this a secret. Things will get complicated if he finds out."
"We sent a messenger yesterday, but I will send a faster man to have him return."
"That's a relief. I'll have to write to Father myself."
'He probably knows I came here, but if I don't tell him I arrived safely, he'll come looking for me out of anxiety.'
Leaving behind the sound of Ciella's cries as she was dragged to the dungeons by the knights,
Serena headed for the mansion, assisted by her servants.