“Bern... wake up... Bern!”

“Mm...?”

At the sound of someone calling him, the giant rubbed his eyes and sat up.

“What’s going on, Sylvia  ?”

The silver-haired mage, Sylvia, spoke in a panicked voice.

“Koel, Gail, and Frone are dead. We haven’t heard from Mitchell, Nora, or Boyle either.”

“What?”

Sylvia mentioned six nobles of the Empire.

All of them were from the eastern nobility, and they were also members of the same organization they belonged to.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden? Why are they dead?”

Even though they were lower-ranking nobles, they were still nobles of the Empire.

Killing an imperial noble was considered a direct challenge to the Empire itself.

Even most seasoned Masters wouldn’t dare to kill a noble of the Empire. And now, three—possibly even six—nobles were dead?

“It must be the royal family!”

‘They’ve probably started investigating every noble in the Empire.’

‘That’s how the royal family operates.’

Bern recalled something Jer Giore had told him not too long ago.

“Damn it...!”

“This isn’t the time to be sitting around. We could be next.”

“What should we do?”

“First, we need to reach out to the Marquis of Giore and get ourselves out of here. I didn’t expect the royal family to act this quickly.”

The plan had gone too far off course.

First, only the Marquis Giore among the high-ranking nobles had agreed to cooperate. Then, the royal family moved far faster than expected.

At this point, they had no choice but to escape and wait for the next opportunity…

“Why don’t we just fight here? If they’ve already made a move, it’s probably the Imperial Knights, and I’ve already dealt with most of them. I took down five of them recently, so there can’t be many left,” Bern suggested.

Sylvia paused, considering his words.

It was true that the majority of the Imperial Knights had been killed during the war.

Even the deputy commander, a Master, had died, leaving only the commander and a few scattered knights.

No matter how powerful that commander was, wouldn’t they be able to kill him if she and Bern joined forces?

If they took down the commander of the Imperial Knights, their escape would become much easier.

After making up her mind, Sylvia spoke.

“Alright, let’s get ready. Still, just the two of us won’t be enough. I’ll request support from the Marquis Giore.”

“I don’t like it, but there’s no other choice. What about the others?”

“They’re sleeping. Let’s leave them for now. We’ll gather them when it’s time to move.”

“Fine, let’s do this.”

Even an Imperial Master wouldn’t be able to withstand his sword.

Bern, the knight of the ‘king,’ made up his mind as he drew his blade.

“I greet you, Marquis.”

One of the remaining two Masters of the Imperial Knights, Frio, walked confidently into the Marquis’s office.

He hadn’t bothered to request a formal audience, nor even asked for the master’s permission, yet no one dared to stop him.

“So... you were the First Captain, correct?”

“I am now the Deputy Commander, Your Excellency.”

The Marquis of Giore sighed as he looked at Frio, standing before him in full armor with his sword at his side.

“What brings you here?”

“His Majesty has recently expressed great disappointment and concern over the events in the east.”

“The recent events in the east... Are you referring to the incident in the Viscounty of Fior?”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“It’s true I failed to prevent the rampage of those Demon Cultists, and I take full responsibility. However, His Majesty knows well that it is not easy to detect and handle such matters in advance. So, why has he sent you?”

While admitting fault, the Marquis questioned whether the situation warranted sending the Imperial Knights.

Frio responded calmly, unfazed by the Marquis’s probing.

“Your Excellency, you may or may not be aware, but before the massacre in Fior’s domain, five of our Imperial Knights were sent to investigate and were killed.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, Your Excellency. Our knights are not weak. For all five to have been killed, it was undoubtedly the work of a Master.”

“Hmm, did they fall to the same one who burned down the Viscounty of Fior?”

The Marquis’s nonchalant response was met with an equally composed reply from Frio.

“Yes, Your Excellency. Both the one who razed the Barony and the one who killed our knights are believed to be the same individual, according to both our investigations and the Imperial Intelligence Agency.”

“I see. But if this is an investigation, shouldn’t the Intelligence Agency be handling it, not you?”

“Your Excellency, His Majesty harbors many suspicions about this incident, particularly regarding why the leader of the Demon Cultists has suddenly resurfaced after all this time.”

“I couldn’t understand it either. I tried to conduct my own investigation, but the Imperial Intelligence Agency acted before I could make any progress.”

Frio nodded and continued.

“During their investigation, the Intelligence Agency found several items tainted with demonic energy at the scene. While closely examining these items, they uncovered something quite interesting.”

“And what might that be?”

“They discovered that two years ago, the Marquis Giore led a campaign to eradicate a group of Demon Cultists and, during that operation, acquired spoils of war—spoils that were never reported to the Imperial family.”

The Marquis Giore let out a dry laugh.

“So, they caught me. I thought I was being clever.”

“Are you admitting to it, Your Excellency?”

“You came down here with your mind already made up, didn’t you?”

“That may be true, but…”

With a weary expression, the Marquis looked Frio in the eyes and spoke in a serious tone.

“Since things have come to this, would you care to hear my side of the story?”

“I’ll listen, Your Excellency.”

Frio responded with a calm demeanor, and the Marquis straightened his posture, lowering his voice.

“Do you remember Duke Triell? Not the current young one, but Derman Triell.”

“Of course, I remember.”

“He was quite the remarkable figure. The noble faction... ha, it’s been a long time since I’ve said those words. He was the leader of that faction, and also the Speaker of the now-defunct Imperial Council.”

Frio gave a slight nod, encouraging him to continue.

“As ambitious as he was capable, he filled more than half the council with his own people, using that base of power to pursue various agendas. Sometimes he aligned with the late emperor, other times he opposed him, thwarting his will.”

The Marquis spoke as if recalling fond memories of that time when Derman Triell was still alive, eyes closed in reverie.

“But one thing was certain: he was undeniably a noble of the Empire. Ambitious, yes, but never treasonous or disloyal to the Empire.”

Ha.

This time, it was Frio who chuckled. But unlike the Marquis’s earlier laugh, this one carried mockery, not amusement.

“That man tried to assassinate His Majesty.”

Frio’s cold tone was a stark contrast to his previous respectful demeanor. There was no honorifics now, just sharp words of disdain.

“You remember what His Majesty was like back then, don’t you? Acting like he had no memory, spouting strange nonsense, cursing Kiriya out of the blue—even in the midst of war. How could we leave someone like that on the throne? It was a choice made for the good of the Empire.”

Looking back now, it was an unnecessary concern.

The Marquis muttered this under his breath before continuing.

“In any case, that was the end of Duke Triell. The Empire’s second-most powerful man had his head cut off in a single day. No formal trial, just an assassination disguised as an accident. And was that the end of it? No. The entire noble faction that sought to keep the imperial power in check, those who supported Princess Rael—every last one of them was eliminated. If the emperor deemed you a threat to his rule, it didn’t matter who you were, he’d show no mercy.”

“They dared to challenge the imperial power.”

Frio, no longer interested in hearing any more, slowly drew his sword and advanced toward the Marquis.

“Yes, those who challenged the imperial power. So many nobles perished for that very reason. Back then, we survived because we bowed our heads, but now, with the war over, who knows what whims the Emperor might act on next?”

“So, you dreamed of rebellion?”

“I wasn’t going to sit idly by and wait to be killed.”

“You know the strength of the imperial family. Did you truly believe your rebellion would succeed?”

Frio’s tone was full of disdain, and the Marquis shook his head as he replied.

“Of course not. Those who genuinely plotted rebellion sought to weaken the imperial family’s power. Our plan was to declare independence during the chaos. If we could form alliances with other kingdoms while the imperial forces were occupied with the rebels, the Emperor wouldn’t be able to act so easily. But those fools were caught far too quickly, and the plan failed.”

By the time the Marquis finished speaking, Frio had reached him, raising his sword high.

“Jer Giore, for the crimes of murdering imperial subjects and plotting treason, I hereby execute you.”

As Frio swung his sword, infused with powerful aura—

-KA-BOOOOM!

A deafening crash rang out as aura clashed against aura, and in that moment, Khan, who had been hiding, revealed himself.