get-shopping Chapter 366
Chapter 366
Putting aside their quarrel for a moment, the two first shared the information with each other.Arendt frowned slightly when he heard about the King’s condition from Llewellyn.
“So, we must assume that His Majesty became a ghoul a long time ago and His Highness witnessed the plot to hide His Majesty’s appearance.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Llewellyn nodded with a stiff face. Victor, who had been staring blankly until then, repeated stupidly.
“So… Sir Arendt von Eckhart? That’s you?”
“Yes, it is. Do you have any complaints?”
Arendt, who had looked like a servant, shrugged his shoulders.
“My appearance was only temporarily changed by magic. There is an outstanding magician here.”
Seeing that, Victor became even more shocked.
Victor vividly remembered Arendt’s appearance at the meeting.
A young knight who, despite his status as an apprentice, served the Captain and the Crown Prince right next to him, and confronted Alois head-on when he caused a commotion by becoming entangled with the Evil Cult.
As the fight against the Evil Cult continued, Arendt’s reputation grew along with his notorious temper.
And recently, his reputation became even greater after the incident where he risked his life to save Laius.
“…Then, were you sent by His Highness Cantares?”
When Victor, who had been staring blankly, barely managed to ask a proper question, Arendt simply nodded.
“Because Your Highness delivered the news of the King’s death, there was chaos. Since he couldn’t move without warning, we moved the advance party to first assess the situation.”
Victor looked noticeably relieved at his answer.
“I see… I am sorry to His Highness for causing trouble. I have also caused trouble to the Nephele and Everan Kingdoms.”
“You should be apologizing to me. Thanks to you, I’m going through a lot of trouble that I didn’t have to go through…”
.
Llewellyn quickly moved and covered Arendt’s mouth.
Llewellyn smiled awkwardly as Victor’s eyes widened.
“Just ignore what this bastard says, brother. He’s a rude little punk, just let it slide.”
“! Disgusting. Where do you think you’re touching?”
Arendt glared fiercely as he slapped Llewellyn’s hand away.
He was dressed plainly like an ordinary attendant, but something in his expression unmistakably brought to mind the sharp-featured, silver-haired apprentice knight.
Before anything harsh could be said, Llewellyn quickly changed the subject.
“By the way, what happened? What did you do to get into a fight with the Duke?”
“I just took a quick look. And seeing that His Highness is here…”
Arendt’s eyes moved silently and landed on Victor.
“It seems that His Highness is innocent. That’s good. This is going to make things even more difficult.”
“…I beg you, please don’t say something like that so casually.”
Letting out a deep sigh, Llewellyn rubbed his kicked shin once more and changed the subject.
“What are you talking about? Wasn’t the mastermind Duke Middleton?”
“I don’t think so. And besides, he was the one suspicious of His Highness.”
Arendt shrugged again.
“He asked if it was I who lured the innocent Crown Prince and made His Majesty suffer like that.”
Victor flinched as he met Arendt’s eyes. Llewellyn asked again.
“How did you find out that the Duke was innocent? Didn’t you just go there to fight?”
“That’s true, but there are different types of fighting.”
Arendt, looking away from Victor, answered calmly.
Llewellyn, who had been staring blankly for a moment, asked back, doubting his ears.
“Wait a minute, what the hell have you done?”
“It’s nothing much. I just attacked him while pretending to be a member of the Evil Cult.”
Arendt shrugged. Llewellyn became even more dumbfounded.
“I really don’t know what to do with you…”
“Just enjoy it. It’s fun. Since you were the one who asked me to be your friend, you should definitely be able to handle this much.”
It was such shamelessness that he couldn’t even think of what to say in response.
“Your Highness, the Duke will likely request an audience with you soon. He’ll accuse you of orchestrating the attack using the Evil Cult and threaten you, saying that you harmed His Majesty.”
“…What?”
Victor, who had been standing there blankly, made a stupid sound. Arendt responded kindly.
“The Duke asked me if I was the one sent by His Highness the Crown Prince. I didn’t really refute him. I think he’s probably completely convinced by now that Your Highness is the one who did it.”
“…”
Victor and Llewellyn were left speechless once again.
“…Is this guy seriously insane…?”
After a while, Llewellyn muttered in a dazed manner, seemingly unaware that he had said it out loud.
Victor suddenly came to his senses and shouted.
“No, why did my uncle…! Rather, it was you who was acting suspiciously?”
“Why would he? It must be the same reason why Your Highness found the Duke suspicious.”
Arendt responded bluntly.
“You didn’t like seeing each other, but it was a bit awkward to talk openly because of their status. But it was also annoying to just pretend not to know each other.”
“…”
As the boyish voice continued, Victor’s face gradually paled. Unfazed, Arendt kept speaking, hands shoved deep into his pockets.
“He didn’t want to openly try to control you, because he was afraid he would look like a dog guarding its rice bowl. Still, they’re not entirely useless, so you two just kept quietly getting on each other’s nerves, and that’s what led to this mess.”
“…”
Llewellyn, who had been awkwardly looking between the two, quietly stepped back. Then Arendt strode closer to the Crown Prince.
“If the two of you had grabbed each other by the collars first or had a conversation, this could have been resolved long ago, but you’ve been dragging it out until now, right?”
“That…”
“You must have received reports on ghouls regularly. The moment you found His Majesty in that state, you must have already had a sense of what had happened.”
Arendt, standing right in front of Victor, spoke bluntly.
“There must have been a way to resolve this issue within the Lucain Kingdom. Wouldn’t it have been better to first end the family feud, come to a conclusion, and then ask for help?”
The Crown Prince froze stiffly, momentarily forgetting his own position, as he was met with an emotionless, cold gaze.
“If only the two of you had just sat down and argued, this could have been resolved long ago. Because of this, three knights got beaten up out of nowhere, the healer passed out from the sleeping herbs, and the knights who were on guard shift were left working overtime all night searching for the pursuer. You did a great job.”
“…”
Victor’s face turned black like a corpse from the continuous harsh words. Llewellyn looked at him sadly.
He bet that the ghouls that Jin had made would be more lively than the current Crown Prince.
Arendt continued:
“And it is not a good idea to believe in the good intentions of others too easily. I do not know what you believed in from the Caerleon Empire, but what would you have done if His Highness Cantares had some evil plan?”
“An evil plan, how could that be… the Caerleon Empire is under Lord Luce’s righteous…”
Victor, who had barely come to his senses, tried to protest, but even that was cut off by the apprentice knight’s cold voice.
“Righteous? Lord Luce?”
“…”
“If we pray and wait quietly, will that damn god help us? That god just watches, while we are the ones who suffer. Whose name are you invoking right now?”
“…”
“It’s fortunate that our Crown Prince is a bit of a pushover. If he had been a little more cunning, he would have used this incident as an excuse to bleed you dry.”
“…”
Victor’s face turned pale.
He was left in a state of confusion due to the constant torrent of abusive language, the occasional horrifying blasphemy, and even the lunatic behavior of subtly calling the Crown Prince he served a fool.
“So go clear up the misunderstanding with Duke Middleton yourself. Either go find the Duke right now or drag the King-turned-ghoul out of his bedroom. And, I’ll give you one last piece of advice…”
, Arendt’s finger stabbed the Crown Prince in the chest.
“If possible, resolve your own business. Don’t forget that you are the Crown Prince of this kingdom, if you don’t want to be treated this way by a foreign apprentice knight.”
“…”
It was such an irreverent act that he could be arrested for lèse-majesté immediately. But Victor didn’t even dare to point it out, because every word had been right on the mark.
The air in the infirmary was freezing cold. Victor kept silent, his head bowed, and said nothing.
“…”
Llewellyn also couldn’t open his mouth. He fully understood Victor’s feelings, but Arendt’s words were also correct.
In this entire situation, Arendt was the only one unfazed, unbothered by the tension around him.
Arendt turned away from Victor as if nothing had happened and spoke again.
“By the way, why is it taking so long, Lexion…”
But he couldn’t finish that sentence. When Arendt suddenly stopped speaking, both Victor and Llewellyn froze.
“Ugh…”
At that moment, a groan came from the side of the bed where the healer was lying.
Llewellyn had untied the man Arendt had thoroughly bound before leaving, laid him on the bed, and then completely forgot he even existed.
“…!”
Victor’s face turned horrified, and Llewellyn also froze in confusion.
But then, the two heard an unfamiliar voice again.
“I-I swear, it’s true! The healer suddenly collapsed, and then some stranger barged in, shouting and demanding to know where the main palace was!”
The source of the voice that seemed to be half-crying was, of course, Arendt.
The two people who reflexively turned their heads had no choice but to be struck speechless again.
“But they say there was chaos in the palace, I was scared…”
Arendt, who had been wearing Len’s shell, looked up at them with tearful eyes and a look of terror.
“…”
The soul left Victor’s eyes once again, and Llewellyn felt like biting off his tongue at that very moment.
“Ugh, my head. What is this…”
The healer, who had just regained consciousness, sat up and looked around.
Without missing the gap, Arendt reached out and grabbed Llewellyn’s sleeve.
“Lord Llewellyn, is nothing wrong with you? Are you hurt? Are you really okay?”
“I’m having a really, really, hard time…”
Avoiding his gaze, Llewellyn muttered to the air. It was a lament full of sincerity. Victor, meanwhile, seemed too drained to even wallow in self-pity, his hollow eyes fixed on the ceiling as if his soul had already left him.