A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

292 – Bloody Engagement Ceremony (3)

It is a hasty decision to judge the whole based on one extreme example.

Just because one out of 100 Nostrum people tries to kill me, doesn’t mean all the other 99 are potential assassins.

But what if there are 100 out of 10,000?

What if the number doubles and reaches not just one or two, but hundreds and thousands?

There have been hundreds of assassination attempts against me since I ascended to the position of Governor of Barcelona and was branded a traitor by St. Gio Nostrum, or even before that.

When I was young, there was no particular threat of assassination.

At that time, he was acting somewhat incompetent, and there was no reason for him to be assassinated by presenting Noir as his ostensible successor.

Since he felt inferior to his younger brother and was perceived as an idiot who could not come to his senses because he was possessed by the imperial princess, he had no reason to try to kill me.

But what about now?

There are so many reasons to kill.

You may wonder why they are trying to kill him, but the basis for all assassinations so far has been based on jealousy.

There are too many problems to point out all the reasons one by one, so a paper needs to be published, and it is just an act of someone else committing the assassination that has occurred so far in a new form.

Even if you look at the mystery novels published in the Imperial Newspaper, even though the method of murder is different due to a secret murder, the person dies in the end is the same.

What people are curious about is who the culprit is.

And, why did they kill him?

If you recognize the method of murder and know who the culprit is, you are bound to wonder why he was killed.

On the other hand, I would like to ask.

Why are you trying to assassinate me? What is the motive?

There are many reasons, but one new reason has been added this time.

“So, you tried to kill me because I was behaving differently from the dream world?”

“…”

The morning of December 22nd, Imperial Calendar.

I am holding and interrogating an assassin on the rooftop of a building.

“You know who I am. I am one of the people selected as a Gorge Scholarship student.”

“…!”

The assassin is a woman.

“I don’t remember her name, but she was definitely the daughter of the Virgo family. She had a talent for swords.”

She is officially 19 years old, but in reality she is 21 years old and is the eldest daughter of Baron Urgo, who lied about her age and entered the school.

Her skills appear to be that of a low-level knight, but in reality, she was a middle-level knight from the time she entered school and has now reached the level of a high-level knight.

“I remember it was widely said that if he had been born a man, he would have been chosen by the Knights of the Golden Dawn.”

And in the future, before his return, he briefly played a part as a member of the revolutionary army.

He was one of the Old Kingdom nobles who was executed by my hand.

A loyal soldier.

“I ask you. Did you come to kill me on the orders of St. Geo Nostrum? Because I am the eldest son of the Gibraltar family that rebels against the Nostrum royal family?”

“No…”

Urgo’s eldest daughter shook her head.

“I am not a fool to follow the orders of such a madman.”

“You fool, you are. It’s foolish to have already come to assassinate you.”

“B-but…!”

“The questions are not over yet.”

I aimed the tip of her wand at Urgo’s eldest daughter.

“Let me ask you. Why did you bring a poisoned dagger here?”

“…”

“Are you saying you won’t answer, or are you afraid that I will kill you if you do?”

“…”

It was the same even during the time of traitor Gray, but when interrogating revolutionaries or criminals, it was rare to get an answer at least once.

So, I always had to infer their inner thoughts, and as I gained a lot of experience, I have now reached a point where I can infer their inner thoughts with just their eyes, actions, and a few clues.

“You are addicted to false gold.”

“…!”

Close your eyes momentarily.

My gaze quickly rolls from side to side, and my fingertips twitch.

“Maybe you were more glamorous in your dream world than in reality? How and what kind of life did you live?”

“Well, that is…”

“Why can’t I answer?”

“…If I answer honestly, will you spare my life?”

“I saw it.”

I’m curious.

He has been doing well so far and has shown outstanding ability to the point where he was selected as a Gorge Scholarship student.

But why did someone suddenly turn 180 degrees and come to commit an assassination that would never work?

“…I had a dream.”

“Yes. After eating the false gold, you must have tasted the gold that the golden dragon thrust into you with its tail stuck in.”

If you think about the body of a real dragon, what goes into the body is not a tail but something closer to something else, but since I have experienced it once, I can say it as it is emotionally.

“Was the dream shown by the golden dragon that happy?”

It would be better to just say that it is another organ that allows you to experience dreams.

“Is the warm milk of dreams squeezed by the golden dragon so sweet?”

Or maybe it would be better to call it the dragon’s nipple that pours out golden milk.

Maybe that’s right.

Dreaming by licking false gold like mother’s milk, the gold enters the body and ‘sublimates into mana’ is the tentative conclusion reached by the Empire’s Magic Engineering Research Institute.

“I can’t bear the gap between fantasy and reality, to the point where I resort to assassination.”

“It’s not an illusion!!”

For the first time, Virgo’s eldest daughter raised her voice.

“It is history as it should have been!”

“I guess so. I also think that is better from Nostrum’s perspective.”

A world where Queen Carmen has a maternal instinct that rivals that of our mother.

It’s not that it’s better than my mother, but at least the beginning of all the distortions that Gibraltar had 10 years ago is a world that never existed.

“What did you see in that dream?”

“…”

“Answer me. If you don’t answer I will kill you.”

The moment when I created an aura on the tip of my wand.

“The family… Was ruined.”

Virgo’s eldest daughter slowly opened her mouth.

“The empire went to war, and all the family members died. I headed to Gibraltar, the final holy land, with her sister. And there I was …”

Urgo’s eldest daughter raised her head, her beautiful eyes shining.

“I met you.”

“…”

“Even though you inherited the earldom after the assassination of the current Marquis, the Margrave of Crimson, you fought against the Imperial Army. You personally led the Knights of Illusion and thoroughly protected Gibraltar from the Imperial Army.”

Father’s assassination.

Welcome Knights.

War with the imperial army.

This is a common saying among those who dream with false gold, and it is clearly a story that is very far from reality.

“I see. So?”

I would like to say, ‘Screw this nonsense,’ but I was curious about this woman’s motivation for becoming an assassin.

“Did you do it like other women?”

“…”

“Are you one of those who wanted to join the welcoming knights I lead and become the companion of the Margrave of Gibraltar?”

“I was not one of those simple maids…!”

Urgo’s eldest daughter raised her head stiffly.

“I was one of your twelve wives…! I was Eusalina Virgo…!”

“Really?”

I can’t help but sigh.

“You also know that you are not the first woman to make such a noise, right?”

“I am…!!”

“So you tried to assassinate me?”

Newly added motivation for assassination.

“In my dreams, I whisper love to you, but in reality, that love is directed to someone else.”

“Wrong!! I…!”

“If this is enough, you won’t have to listen to any more bullshit.”

“Count!!”

“I am the governor.”

As if someone had feelings for the princess of the empire and tried to kill me.

“There is only one reason you die.”

Some people have the opposite case.

“I tried to kill Astasia.”

Phu-uuk.

“Ah… “

“Let me just say this one last time.”

“Please, I love you…”

“Dream. Wake up.”

I killed Virgo’s eldest daughter.

Before her her return to her, she died cursing me as a member of the revolutionary army, but in this life, she dies whispering her her love her to me even though I have never met her.

“…It’s just so unpleasant.”

Whisk.

“Collect the body.”

I wiped the blood splattered on my cheek and immediately turned around.

Sussssseu.

With the sound of moving shadows, the assassin’s body is quickly recovered.

It wasn’t someone who tried to kill me, but someone who tried to kill Astasia.

“…Tsk.”

Something amazing happened.

The blood will splatter, but when I think about what happens next, that’s what worries me the most.

“Nidhogg.”

Purr.

He grabs Nidhogg’s ankles and takes him from the canyon and quickly flies from the roof of the building into the sky.

In the sky of Orosol Academy, there were some flying dragon knights even in the middle of the night, and among them there were some who had Morgania’s black rose engraved on their hearts.

Nodding.

They slightly bowed their heads and turned towards me.

It’s probably a gesture to pretend not to know what happened on the rooftop, but also a promise to pay more attention in the future.

But they wouldn’t expect it either.

A madman who secretly infiltrated the Imperial Student Building by befriending an Imperial student, and then used that to assassinate Astasia.

This is especially true if a person who had been fine for 2 years and 11 months, including before entering the academy, suddenly changes in person in just one month and becomes someone who is trying to kill the imperial princess.

“You worked hard, Nidhogg.”

Purr.

Nidhogg lands gracefully on the golden airship.

As soon as I got off the airship, I went down the airship and headed under the roof of the building to the scholarship foundation’s chairman’s office and quickly took a shower.

To completely erase the smell of blood on my body and any traces of other women.

After changing into the new clothes I had prepared on the airship, I headed down the secret passageway and headed underground.

Weeeing.

Following the magic elevator with no problems, I arrived at the 4th floor of the new building.

Knock, knock.

I knocked on the door carefully.

There are already people inside, but she doesn’t open the door.

“Astacia.”

Squeak.

When I call her name, only then does the door to the room open.

“…Why are you so late?”

Astasia calls me in a brusque voice from inside the room.

“Did you wash up?”

“Yes. Because blood was splattered… “

“Ah, that’s a shame.”

Living room.

“I was preparing this so I could wash it myself.”

Astasia was waiting for me wearing her maid uniform.

“Would you like me to wash you?”

“…I thought about it.”

I quietly headed to Astasia.

“I think I might have sweated a little because I was running so quickly.”