Laslo was unable to speak easily. Reading the confusion in his eyes, Sebastian laughed loudly.
“Haha! I thought you were on good terms with Agnes, I guess you’re not.”
“Let me, let me talk to Agnes. There must be some misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding? Everything is so clear.”
Laslo appealed to the king, putting the stacked documents aside.
“Sir, if you’ll give me a chance…….”
“Do you know why I didn’t do anything even though I knew all this?”
Sebastian stood up very slowly. His eyes sparkled like a snake.
“Rebellion? It’s easy to say. In the meantime, if all the rebellions caused by an ignorant royal family member had been successful, this dynasty would have been destroyed hundreds of times.”
“…….”
“I’ve waited a long time for this moment. Duke Arpad. The day I can strangle her to death.”
“Your Highness!”
Laslo raised his head and voice without realizing it.
“That way, Ilona would understand me.”
Sebastian spoke softly and affectionately, like a dreamer.
“Your Highness. Agnes is your sister and the princess of this country.”
“Yes, I couldn’t stand her since I was very young. I couldn’t stand her, Vivian and Chavolti…….”
Laslo was speechless. The king’s voice was filled with immeasurable contempt and murder. Sebastian rose from his seat slowly.
“What are you going to do? Which way are you going to stand?”
His neck burned. He couldn’t answer easily.
Although Laslo was not loyal enough to dedicate his bones to the royal family, he was not in an extreme relationship to easily talk about the rebellion. However, there was only one answer Laslo could answer in this situation.
“Even if she wasn’t loyal, I can’t abandon my wife.”
“Is that so?”
“Give me one more chance. Let me convince Agnes. Maybe it’s all a misunderstanding.”
Laslo knelt before the king without hesitation. Sebastian stared down at Laslo’s hair whorl.
“Yes, I understand what the duke feels.”
“Sure.”
“You’ll find out if it’s really a misunderstanding or not. In the meantime, let the duke stay in the palace and cool off.”
As soon as the words were finished, several of the guards who were waiting ran and pressed Laslo’s back and grabbed both of his arms. The king walked slowly and grabbed Laslo’s hair without hesitation.
“Ugh, Your Majesty.”
“Stay still.”
Then he pulled out a dagger and cut off some of his hair. A few dark blondes fell to the floor with a rustle.
“Take him away. Lock him up in an abandoned palace and don’t neglect his surveillance.”
“Yes.”
“Your Highness, please have mercy!”
Laslo struggled as he was being dragged. With his force, it is also possible to pass the guard. But he was afraid how one of his actions would affect Agnes.
There is no truce. The Duke of Arpad’s disloyalty is very distressing, so take him away.”
Sebastian was sitting in a chair, flicking his fingers. Soon Laslo was completely out of his sight.
“I’ll write a letter to my sweet sister, so get ready.”
“Yes.”
The attendant bowed politely and went out. Soon after, the Marquis of Devorsen asked for an audience.
“Your majesty, the king of Devon sent a messenger again.”
“Again? He can’t seem to understand my words. Cut off his limbs and feed it to the dogs.”
“What? Me, Your Highness.”
The Marquis of Devorsen stammered in surprise.
“The timing, the timing is bad. Due to the plague, the morale of the military is gradually decreasing and the supply is not smooth, so the number of deserters is increasing. It would be better to make a truce and try to…….”
“Deserting? Are they not aware that if they are caught it will be death penalty that awaits them?
“Your Highness, they are just frightened people. Please have mercy.”
The marquis bowed his head and asked the king for mercy. The word mercy was once again irritating to Sebastian.
“The deserters will be hanged without exception. Cut off their heads and hang them on a pole. Does that make you want to desert?”
“……Yes, I will.”
“What’s the problem with distribution? Didn’t you recently send 400,000 bags of wheat to the South?”
“That’s not enough to cover the entire front. Because the food situation is not good even for the lords…….”
“Tsk, tsk.”
Sebastian pressed down on his temples and clicked his tongue.
“How much food is left in the palace?”
The finance minister, who was standing far away, ran over and said politely.
“You have already sent the maximum. If you want to send more, you need to buy wheat, but the price of wheat has skyrocketed and you need a lot of gold.”
“What if we pull all the rest of the budget together?”
“But it won’t be enough to buy as much as you want.”
Anxiety sprang up. As it should have been, the war should have ended a long time ago. Everything was distorted by the plague that suddenly started from the south.
The Marquis of Devorsen, who was listening to the conversation between the two, opened his mouth.
“I recently contacted a merchant who bought spices and resold them in the Arahan archipelago, and this time they were sailing five ships.”
“How many servings does five servings make?”
“If you sell all five spices, thousands of boxes of gold can be easily earned.”
“Hmm.”
Sebastian’s eyes shone. With that, they can solve the urgent problem immediately and continue the war without financial pressure.
“When I met the merchant, he said he was very skilled, but he had debts and lacked the funds to fly the ship. If we pay the debt and fund him, he’ll give us three out of five spices.”
“Why at this time?”
“What?”
“Isn’t it suspicious that he just showed up at the right time when I needed money?”
“Oh, it was a few months ago that this merchant asked for someone to fund him. But I’ve been preparing for the war. It seems that he could not easily find investors because he needed so much money.”
The Marquis of Devorsen gave an unstoppable explanation. But Sebastian could not easily hide his suspicious eyes.
“I’ll have to see him in person for now.”
“Yes. I’ll try to make room for you.”
“If you’re done talking, go away. I’m tired.”
“Sir, I have one more thing to tell you.”
The marquis spoke much more carefully than before.
“The plague in the capital is spreading more and more. Throwing the body beyond the walls is too much to handle.”
“So what?”
“Why don’t you come to the temple and pray to heaven personally? Then the people will be relieved.”
“If it was a plague that would disappear by praying, my knees would have worn out sooner.” Sebastian said bluntly, with great coldness. The Marquis of Devorsen could not refute it, but only his lips were fluttering.
“Anyway, I ordered some doctors to find a cure. There will be news soon.”
“……Yes.”
“Oh yeah! How is the Count? Is she still in the barracks, holding onto the coffin and crying?”
“I hear she’s regaining herself and taking command of the army again.”
“Yes, she has two more grown-up children, so, I don’t care about the first.”
There was no sympathy or pity in Sebastian’s voice. It was so cold that bhe wondered if he was still a human.
“Then I’ll be on my way. Your Highness.”
The marquis bowed deeply and left the audience room. Walking down the hall of the palace, he ran into Roland Sandor.
“The Marquis of Sandor.”
“What’s the matter? Marquis of Devorsen.”
“You’re so… I told you to talk comfortably.”
He patted Roland on the shoulder a few times pretending to be friendly, but Roland didn’t budge. The Marquis of Devorsen began to chatter to himself.
“I’m just on my way after meeting his Majesty. They want me to cut off the limbs of the messenger from Devon and throw it as dog food. I almost sat down because I felt numb listening to it.”
“Didn’t you know? Your Highness was originally a cold-hearted person.”
Roland smiled with one corner of his mouth raised. Devorsen looked around and lowered his voice even further.
“And I happened to see the Duke of Arpad, who was captured by a knight and taken somewhere.”
“Huh? Is the Duke of Arpad at the palace?”
“He’s here. I’ve even seen him being taken away by the knights.”
“What the hell is going on?”
As Roland, who always showed a sour attitude, actively pushed himself in, the marquis of Devorsen excitedly opened his mouth.
“I didn’t hear the details, but the Duchess must have done something. Tsk tsk. If his Majesty has shown mercy and saved her life, she should have lived in silence in that land.”
“……I see. Your Highness must be very worried.”
Roland was a companion to the Marquis of Devorsen in a more relaxed tone. Perhaps he liked his favorable attitude, the marquis held Roland for a long time afterwards and told him everything about the conversation he had with the king.
“Woah. It’s already late. I’ll go ahead. Marquis Sandor.”
“Go ahead.”
“Haha. Yes. It’s so nice to see a person smiling like this.”
Roland saw the Marquis of Devorsen out of the palace. It was not until the marquis had completely disappeared in the carriage that the smile was erased from Roland’s mouth.
“Bring me the fastest carrier pigeon. And find out why the Duke of Arpad is locked in an abandoned palace.”
“Yes, master.”
* * *
“Madam, a bigger fish took the bait.”
Andrassy came to Agnes with an air of excitement. Agnes, who was examining the letter from Roland, jumped out of her seat.
“Laslo was detained in the palace.”
“What?”
“How dare he detain a duke of a country without a fair trial…….”
Agnes gnashed her teeth. The letter in her hand lost its shape and was crumpled. It was clear what Sebastian wanted.
“Oh, how did he end up like that?”
“It must have been about the rebellion.”
“Ugh! It’s not ready yet, how does the king already know that?”
“That’s not what’s important. Rather, Sebastian would welcome me with open arms if I were to rebel.”