Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 371

An eerie silence fell over the room.No, it seemed only Llewellyn who found it eerie. Arendt was just casually flipping through the next document.

Llewellyn, unable to overcome his frustration, finally managed to stammer out his words.

“Hey… are you saying that His Majesty has become a ghoul…?”

“Maybe he was trying to hide something else. If the King was in such a miserable state, it would’ve thrown the entire kingdom into chaos.”

Arendt replied indifferently. But Duke Middleton intervened at just the right moment, and the information was blocked, so no uproar had yet broken out.

“Duke Middleton’s judgment may not have been entirely wrong. And His Highness the Crown Prince’s actions were also not entirely wrong. After all, before the Lucain Kingdom fell into chaos, he was able to seek help from outside.”

Arendt continued, resting his chin on his hand.

“I don’t know if this is related, but there’s been a lot of talk about this recently.”

Llewellyn asked, looking bewildered by the sudden change of topic.

“What is it?”

“There has been a strange increase in the number of missing civilians. The number of requests for the informants to find people has been steadily increasing…”

Arendt handed Llewellyn a piece of paper with statistics on it.

It wasn’t long before he realized what Arendt was talking about.

“The requests… there are a lot of them from the Lucain Kingdom?”

“There are only a few cases that have been officially reported missing, but that doesn’t mean the number can be ignored. There have been similar reports from within the Caerleon Empire as well…”

Neumann, who had been monitoring the situation, submitted a separate report to Arendt.

“I informed His Highness right away, but it seems the Lucain Royal Family has not yet figured it out.”

“…Why didn’t you report it?”

“There is no definitive evidence, but there are some speculations.”

At Llewellyn’s question, Arendt rolled his eyes around restlessly.

“His Highness and I had been considering the possibility that it had something to do with the Chernion Cult.”

“…”

“The anomaly was actually happening outside the royal palace, not within. When you try to force all the pieces together, no matter how you look at it, you can’t help but picture the worst-case scenario.”

What had started as a merely indifferent tone now carried a hint of irritation. Arendt’s gaze settled on Llewellyn.

“What do you think? Am I just letting my imagination run wild?”

“…No.”

Llewellyn, who had been silent for a moment, continued speaking slowly, as if trying to convince himself.

“So, to sum it up, it’s something like this, right? The reason people couldn’t report the missing persons was because signs were found linking them to the Chernion Cult…”

If they were to be discovered, they would be punished as traitors. Llewellyn swallowed hard.

“The reason His Majesty is in that state is to cover up the disappearances that are happening outside. And the culprit is still inside the palace, and it’s highly likely they’re a member of the royal family… is that right?”

“Even if they are not necessarily seeking power or seeking rebellion, only the royal family can get close enough to harm His Majesty.”

Arendt shrugged.

“If this is the case, it is highly likely that one of the people we have identified as suspects has joined the Chernion Cult. There must be more than one or two who sympathize with the Cult.”

“…”

Unable to say anything, Llewellyn lowered his gaze. Arendt continued speaking slowly.

“And considering that Lexion still hasn’t returned, we can assume that something far more serious than mere disappearances is unfolding outside, something so massive that it couldn’t possibly be covered up unless it were on the scale of, say, the king turning into a ghoul. Don’t you think this might have all been leading up to something that catastrophic?”

“…”

“But the timing was pushed back a bit because Duke Middleton hid the King.”

Arendt’s voice remained calm.

“And I attacked Duke Middleton while impersonating Roger. It wasn’t my intention, but it would have made the Chernion Cult members hiding within the royal family hesitate.”

Judging from how Lexion said that he could not feel Chernion’s divine power, the cultist of the royal family must not have been baptized by the saintess… or by the Breath of Mnemosyne.

‘Perhaps the baptism was postponed simply to avoid Lexion’s eyes.’

In that case, their status in the Kingdom of Lucain might not be of much use, and they might not be trusted within the religious order.

They couldn’t immediately be sure whether the person who had come in claiming to be Roger was a real member of the Chernion Cult or an imposter.

Even if it was something that can be easily found out with just one communication, the Evil Cult would not be able to answer that easily.

There would be no way to know who impersonated Roger.

‘Arendt von Eckhart was supposed to be in the palace…’

If the role of ‘Arendt’, which was temporarily entrusted to Arthur, had been performed well on that stage, it would have succeeded in confusing them for a while.

As long as there was a possibility that Lexion was the one impersonating Roger, they wouldn’t be able to make any hasty moves.

‘The problem is, we don’t know how far they have infiltrated the royal palace…’

There must surely be one person within the royal family who leads the Chernion faith in the palace, along with followers who obey them.

On the stage where Chernion was set as evil, they would never reveal their faith and would remain hiding secretly.

Like two gods of light and darkness who exist everywhere in this world, the enemies are likely lying low not as individuals, but as members of the Cult.

Like air or shadows, they concealed their presence, and in their hands, the king of this kingdom became a sacrifice for the God of Darkness.

“Hey, hey.”

At that moment, Llewellyn’s voice woke him from his reverie. Suddenly, Arendt raised his head and realized that Llewellyn was looking at him strangely.

“What, why are you looking at me like that?”

“No. That…”

Llewellyn, who had been mumbling for a moment, asked.

“Are you itchy?”

“What? Ah.”

Only then did Arendt realize that he was scratching his neck without thinking. When Arendt removed his hand, Llewellyn’s eyes widened.

“Wow, it’s really red! Did you get hurt or something?”

“Would something like this hurt? Maybe there was a bug in here.”

As the complaint slipped out naturally, Llewellyn didn’t seem to find it all that strange either.

Deciding that further thought was not advisable, Arendt changed the subject again.

“Anyway, just take a break. You never know what might happen soon.”

“Well, I guess that’s true. Although in a situation like this, I’m not sure if I can really afford to be so laid-back and conserve my energy…”

Llewellyn, whose words trailed off, frowned.

“You should take a break too, even if it’s just for a little while. You’ve been on the move nonstop.”

“Unfortunately, I still have work to do.”

Arendt shrugged.

If he were to listen obediently, that wouldn’t be Arendt von Eckhart. Although right now, he was playing the role of servant Ren.

“No, what are you trying to do now…?”

“Since there’s an opportunity, I’m going to make the most of it and move around as much as I can. Don’t worry, there’s no way His Highness Victor would scold me now.”

Llewellyn, muttering incredulously, fell silent.

Victor was further weakened by the shock of being tortured by Arendt all night long and witnessing the King in such a miserable state.

He had become reluctant to even make eye contact with Arendt, so he could not even think of scolding him for anything he did.

In other words, that bastard was given an indulgence that allowed him to do whatever he wanted.

“…Hey, please. I really beg you, please hold back. I feel like my stomach is going to burst. How on earth does Captain Laius put up with you?”

“That’s his problem. Didn’t I tell you? You just have to endure it. You’re the one who begged to be friends, not me.”

Rising to his feet, Arendt casually threw the cloak he had carelessly tossed on the sofa back over his shoulders.

“So you have to handle it yourself. That’s not my concern.”

“This fucking bastard, seriously…”

A sigh, almost like a groan, escaped from the prince’s lips, but Arendt paid it no mind.

“You should be able to take care of yourself, but if you’re going to sleep, make sure to lock the doors and windows well. You never know what might happen.”

“I won’t sleep until you get back, so just know that, you son of a bitch. Just wait a minute.”

Llewellyn called him over, his voice irritated. Just as Arendt was about to turn around, something flew right in front of his eyes.

Arendt picked it up reflexively.

It was a communication crystal.

“Connect to my communication port and move. That way, I can also understand the situation.”

Llewellyn said bluntly.

Arendt had a look on his face that said he didn’t like it, but that didn’t mean he refused.

Arendt, who put the communication crystal in his pocket, made his last request.

“Let me know when Lexion arrives.”

“Got it. Just be careful out there and don’t cause a scene by getting caught for no reason.”

Arendt, as usual, let the nagging wash over him without much thought and headed straight to the window, opening it without hesitation.

And without so much as a farewell, he leapt down from the second floor and vanished into the bushes below.

He couldn’t get anything done all day. At first, he resented his uncle’s judgment, but the moment he realized that it was right, he was overcome with a terrible sense of helplessness.

In the end, it was as if he had done nothing at all while things spiraled this far out of control.

Especially when he thought that the reason Duke Middleton had to step forward was because of his own incompetence, the self-loathing that he had been suppressing came rushing back to him.

“Haa… Father…”

Victor sat on the sofa, curled up with his head in his hands.

He couldn’t calm down at all.

The King’s condition was more dire than when he last saw him.

His arms and legs that had been rotted and blue were now nothing but skin and bones, like a dried and twisted corpse.

His fingernails were all gone, and dried, twisted blood vessels were clearly visible beneath the torn skin.

His once thick, gray hair had almost all fallen out, and his eyelids were sunken.

His eyes that always shined with determination had become clouded. Read full story at novel_fіre.net

‘And the way he was greedy for food like an animal…’

The image burned into his mind refused to fade: .

Victor’s hands began to tremble.

Just the thought of the King, whom he had revered his entire life, being locked up in his chambers like that was enough to drive him crazy.

‘What should I do?’

The fate of the kingdom rested in the hands of the Crown Prince.

And yet, they were still in the dark about who, or what, was behind turning the king into such a monstrosity.

Because of this, Victor couldn’t help but feel anxious.

‘What should I do now…’

Even the fact that Duke Middleton was not the mastermind was only discovered with the help of a foreign prince and an apprentice knight.

At that time, .

Suddenly, a polite knock was heard from outside.

Victor jerked his head up in shock, as if he’d been burned.

“Who, who is it?”

“Brother. It’s me, Louis.”

From beyond the door came the voice of his younger brother, still carrying a hint of youthful innocence.

Only then did his pounding heart calm down a little.

Louis continued speaking.

“I heard you skipped dinner tonight. I was worried, so I came to see you with Rieta.”

“If you are very tired, we can just leave!”

Next to him, the voice of a slightly younger sister could also be heard.

He didn’t have the confidence to greet them with a smile right now.

Victor briefly considered telling them to leave, but quickly changed his mind.

‘…Did you tell me to have a conversation?’

It was because the words of the apprentice knight in the guise of a servant came to mind.

It was a bitter remark, suggesting that things might have been better off if only he had gotten into a proper fight, even grabbing Duke Middleton by the collar.

‘That’s definitely true.’

There were few people in the palace that could be trusted right now.

He needed to personally find out, first and foremost, who among them was truly innocent.

‘I don’t know if I can figure it out, but…’

Victor sighed slowly and rubbed his face.

In this situation, he had to try his best.

Because he was the Crown Prince of this kingdom, and those two people were his beloved family.

His trust in them breathed a faint but vital spark of courage into Victor.

“No, it’s alright.”

After a while, a voice of permission, pretending to be calm, spoke.

“Since you’ve come all this way, it makes no sense to send you two back now. Just come in.”

If he wanted to prove their innocence, he would have to step forward himself first.