novelraw Chapter 89 : Edel Ribenia (3)
Chapter 89 : Edel Ribenia (3)
Chapter 89: Edel Ribenia (3)
“This bastard…!”
Edel, who had already pulled out a potion from her coat, was stopped by me.
“He’ll never talk.”
“Even so, we should check! If we just keep him alive—”
“In a situation where he’d rather choose suicide than capture, do you think torture would make him confess? He’ll bite his tongue or do something the moment we give him a chance.”
The man’s face, flushed red a moment ago, turned deathly pale in an instant.
The froth that had been spilling from his mouth subsided, and blood began to flow in its place.
He didn’t last even a minute before he died on the spot.
All around us lay six corpses, sprawled in different positions.
“……”
I silently examined their appearances.
I was hoping to find at least one clue, but as expected, there was nothing of note.
“If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve gone easier on them….”
Edel muttered in open regret.
“I doubt it would’ve made any difference. They wouldn’t have talked anyway.”
Anyone who dared to target Edel Ribenia’s life must’ve belonged to a formidable organization.
And precisely because of that, they would’ve done anything to conceal their identities.
Letting out a faint sigh, she wiped the blood off her weapon using one of the dead men’s clothes.
“You don’t have to worry about this, Colonel Carter. I’ll take charge of the case myself.”
“If you insist, then I’ll gladly leave it in your hands….”
I was just giving a formal reply when something caught my eye—something that shouldn’t have been visible.
Immediately, I pried open the leader’s mouth and pulled his tongue forward.
Then, I flipped it over.
“…The Platinum Dawn.”
On the underside of his tongue was a sigil—two overlapping sets of three triangles.
While I still had my hand in the dead man’s mouth, Edel approached me.
“Did you find something?”
“Have you heard of the Platinum Dawn?”
“Of course I have.”
Seeing is believing.
The moment I showed her the mark, her expression darkened drastically.
“So the Platinum Dawn tried to assassinate me, huh.”
“…Does it ring any bells?”
“I’m not sure… there are too many reasons, if anything.”
Edel scratched her head as if it was giving her a headache before fixing her sharp gaze on me.
“How much do you know about them?”
I laid out what information I knew—
That it was an ancient secret organization within the Empire, that it consisted of numerous independent cells, and that unlike in the past, its current goal wasn’t solely the fall of the Imperial Court.
Of course, I omitted the part about my connection to black magic.
Edel wasn’t the type to be swayed by prejudice, but it was better to be cautious.
After listening to everything, Edel brushed her golden hair back with a sigh.
“Among the groups working behind the Empire, they’re the largest and best-informed. I even tried joining them once since I thought they’d be worth infiltrating….”
“Joining them?”
“But apparently, you can’t become an official member without being granted a personal code. So I had to give up.”
She really had nerves of steel, this woman.
Even if their ideology had broadened, plenty of their members still wished for the downfall of the Imperial Court.
Suppressing my amazement, I rubbed my chin.
Then a few names came to mind, and I spoke carefully.
“…It might be possible to recruit some insiders.”
“Recruit, huh….”
Edel didn’t look very convinced.
“I tried bribing them once myself. Just wasted money. Not that I expected much—after all, their own lives are on the line.”
“Not everyone values life more than money.”
Of course, such people wouldn’t last long within the Dawn anyway.
They’d be filtered out quickly—perhaps a smart move on the organization’s part.
“But… things change when there’s no risk to their lives.”
“What do you mean?”
“You saw it yesterday.”
With a smile full of confidence, I turned my gaze toward Francia’s lodging.
“The Exorcist’s Sword that can even sever the curse engraved within a code.”
Edel’s eyes widened slightly, as if realizing whom I meant.
“You think she’ll lend us her strength?”
“I’ll have to convince her.”
Without knowing Edel’s true objective, I couldn’t recklessly involve Francia.
Whether the Halenber family’s downfall had been orchestrated by Halenber himself, the Bernhardt Family behind him, or if both had merely been pawns—none of it was clear yet.
Fortunately, the head of Halenber, Jeff, had already defected and aligned himself with the Imperial side.
He was good at surviving, that one. At least, I doubted he’d side with Abel Ribenia.
The odds of him siding with the Second Princess weren’t very high either.
Rachel Ribenia already had plenty of nobles to look after.
No matter how things turned out, Halenber wouldn’t even make the top four on her list.
Edel, on the other hand, had every reason to court him.
As long as the Bernhardt Family retained its power, Edel could never become Empress.
By the same logic, as long as Bernhardt remained, the Halenber family had no chance of regaining its former influence.
If he joined Edel, at least he could maintain the title of “resister against Bernhardt.”
Even knowing he’d be discarded once he’d served his purpose, he’d have no choice but to take that deal.
Of course—
Whether Francia or Eric would accept that was another matter entirely.
‘Well, even if it’s not Jeff, there’s no shortage of people we can use.’
Meeting Edel’s gaze squarely, I said firmly,
“If it comes to involving Francia… you must at least guarantee her safety.”
“…That’s quite the difficult request.”
“Only if she refuses to cooperate of her own will.”
Anyway, that was a discussion for another time.
“For now, they’ll be lying low.”
Right now, the Platinum Dawn wasn’t Edel’s greatest threat.
It was the other royals—Abel and Rachel Ribenia—and the powerful noble houses led by the Bernhardt Family.
Unless she crushed them all, she could never reach the achievement of becoming the Empire’s first Empress.
That was precisely what puzzled me.
“Still… I have one question for you, Your Highness.”
Was Edel Ribenia’s true goal really the throne?
“I don’t mind being used. Even if our paths differ, as long as we pursue the same goal, I won’t stop moving forward.”
But if the goal differs, that’s a different story.
“What is your goal, Edel Ribenia?”
At my resolute gaze, she answered without a trace of hesitation.
“World peace.”
Her clear eyes shone naturally as they looked past me, toward something beyond my back.
Just past midnight.
After parting ways with Eugene Carter, Edel safely arrived at the Imperial Palace.
The moment she reached her residence, her lady-in-waiting, Katrin, greeted her as though she had been waiting.
“Welcome back, Your Highness.”
Edel handed over her cloak, stained with dust and blood.
“Clean up the area near District 5, around Slubis.”
“Something happened again, didn’t it?”
“Assassination attempt.”
“……”
She spoke of nearly losing her life with a calmness that bordered on indifference.
“Have the cleanup done by tomorrow morning and submit a report during lunch.”
“…Understood.”
Leaving behind Katrin’s worried expression, Edel washed herself briefly with lukewarm water.
Then, entering her chamber alone, she lay on the soft bed and closed her eyes.
The last conversation she had shared with Eugene echoed in her ears.
“World peace… is it?”
“I know. It sounds insane.”
“…Well, yes. Trying to pacify this chaotic era and achieve peace—it does sound insane.”
“I don’t expect you to understand, nor do I expect you to agree.”
“……”
“But now that you’ve heard my goal, you should give me your answer.”
“Whether to walk with you—or not, is that it?”
“If you need time to think, say so in advance. We still have a month or two to spare.”
“I appreciate the concern, but that won’t be necessary.”
“…Are you sure about that?”
“Strangely enough, I think we’re dreaming the same dream.”
“……What?”
“World peace. That’s my goal too.”
“W–what did you just….”
“Then, until next time. I hope our next meeting will be an official one.”
“…We’re dreaming the same dream, huh.”
The words they exchanged kept intruding into her thoughts, and Edel bit her lip tightly.
They had laughed.
Countless people had.
They had shaken their heads.
Most of those who had once chosen to stand beside her.
They acknowledged her life but said they could never agree with it.
Because they knew all too well how harsh that path would be.
A few had both acknowledged and agreed.
But the fate of those powerless souls had always been miserable.
She was the only one who survived.
After thousands of sneers, thousands of denials, and thousands of moments of despair,
Her consciousness had reached one conclusion.
Despair exists only when there is expectation.
If one never expects anything, there is no despair to be had.
She thought this time would be no different.
No matter how smoothly things went, no matter how much the situation exceeded her expectations, she believed the outcome would remain the same.
Even when she learned that Eugene Carter could wield Illusion Swordsmanship.
Even when she heard that he had seen through her identity the moment Lea met him.
Even when they struck back together at their enemies during the Imperial Summit.
Even when he came directly to their meeting place, calm and composed as ever.
Even when he didn’t flinch in the face of a sudden ambush and even managed to identify the enemy’s affiliation.
Edel Ribenia crushed the faint hope rising within her.
Impossible, she told herself.
There’s no way the man she thought capable of watching her back would choose to walk beside her.
You already know what lies at the end of this path.
Surely, you’re not planning to despair again, are you?
And so, to Edel, who had buried her emotions and desires deep within herself, it was the first time she had ever felt such bewilderment.
“…This is a first.”
A man who spoke of the exact same goal as her.
She pulled the blanket over herself, hugged the pillow tightly, and whispered softly.
“This time… will it really be possible…?”
To save everyone, and eradicate the beasts from this world.
To accept, with pride, the peace born from that result.
Could such a future truly be attained?
In Edel Ribenia’s mind, countless scenes of the past and future flashed by like a panorama.
And at the end of every scene—there had always been death.
But this time—
If this truly was her final chance,
Then the scene awaiting her now would surely be life.
That thought stirred her emotions, and Edel hastily wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks.
“…This isn’t the time to be lying around.”
Starting tomorrow, a great upheaval would sweep across the entire Empire.
The noble families, including the Bernhardt Family, would move in earnest to influence the succession.
The Imperial Army, too, would engage in its own power struggles to protect its interests.
The Academy and the Magic Tower faction would be no different.
Even the aloof monastic orders would not escape the aftermath of this conference.
Meanwhile, unknown forces like the Platinum Dawn would extend their claws across the Empire to pursue their own goals.
The more blood spilled among those on the stage, the more the struggle of all against all would continue.
Before that sea of blood reached the conclusion of the Empire’s collapse—
She had to rise as its new ruler.
That alone was the only way to preserve the Ribenia Empire.
Leaving her bed, Edel retrieved a white envelope from the corner drawer of her large desk.
As she released a faint trace of mana, letters began to appear densely across the envelope and the stationery inside.
It was a letter she had long postponed finishing.
Edel carefully wrote the sender’s address and signature, then smiled with determined eyes.
It was a letter to the one remaining supporter who had since departed—
To Queen Elisabeth Leopold von Victor of the Kalte Federation.