What happened? Did someone smuggle a scandalous novel into the Royal Magic Tower?
If you brought it in, why didn’t you just read it quietly? Now look what’s happened because you were caught reading it at inappropriate times.
Jenkins also seemed quite embarrassed, his face turning red with shame.
Diorica held up a book towards the two offenders.
“This is the novel confiscated from Lady Alesya.”
[The Corrupt Knight and the Villainess Lady]
Ray let out a hollow laugh.
There was no denying the evidence now that Diorica had the book in her hands.
A few years ago, Ray got caught with something similar and was confined to his room for days. Apparently, his habits hadn’t changed completely since then.
Who would have thought he’d bring novels even to the Magic Tower and cause such trouble?
As Ray muttered curses while looking up at the sky in resignation, Alesya burst out of the classroom.
“This is a setup!!”
“What?”
“I only ever read the book in my quarters!”
“If you only read it there, how did this end up in the Mage’s possession?”
“The book was borrowed by Melly, and I never got it back!”
Alesya’s claim made Angelo, who was accompanying Diorica, bristle with anger.
“Have some shame! You’re trying to pin your own sins on someone else! Do you think there are only one or two witnesses?”
“Ugh…! When you offered desserts in exchange for borrowing the book, where was this attitude? Now you’re shifting all the blame onto me!”
Ray looked at the trembling Alesya and understood the situation.
“So… you got caught passing around the scandalous novel and decided to pin everything on Lady Alesya, right?”
The directness of Ray’s statement caused a moment of silence.
Alesya stomped her foot and cried out.
“It’s unjust!”
“Lady Alesya, give up.”
Ray shook his head.
“The higher-ups seem to already have their stories straight, and there’s no concrete evidence against you anyway, right?”
Objectively, it was a difficult situation to overturn.
If Alesya had confessed earlier and consulted with Ray and Jenkins, they might have been able to handle it. But now it was too late.
The noble young ladies who had borrowed the book wouldn’t risk their reputation to protect Alesya’s honor.
But Alesya declared confidently.
“There is evidence!”
“…Pardon?”
“Didn’t Ray tell me to always keep records when making material transactions?”
“?”
Indeed, Ray had advised her to do so.
He remembered teaching children about the importance of “record-keeping” after seeing Jimmy diligently maintaining ledgers.
An excited Alesya dashed into the classroom and soon returned with a notebook, handing it over.
“Here it is!”
“Let’s see…”
[Book Lending Register – Written by Alesya Philips]
(PS*) Keep this in your bag except during writing.
(PS*) Protect this primarily, but if things get tough, burn it immediately.
“You’ve certainly picked up some good habits…”
It was an exact copy of the format Ray had taught her long ago.
With a groan, Ray flipped to the next page. Florya’s name was listed first.
“Oh dear…”
Florya quickly averted her gaze as Ray noticed her name.
Ray felt deeply irritated that Florya, as the elder sister, not only failed to stop Alesya but was the first to borrow the book joyfully.
“Let’s move on…”
“…”
Ignoring Florya, Ray sighed again and began reading through the register.
It meticulously recorded who borrowed which book, when, and how many desserts were exchanged for it.
There were even occasional seals stamped throughout.
As Ray read further, the expressions of the nobles accompanying Diorica grew increasingly grim.
‘This is essentially the Alesya Gate.’
If the contents of this register leaked outside, the young ladies listed would be utterly disgraced.
Though punishable offenses weren’t necessarily involved, for nobles who valued honor above all, this was clearly a grave insult.
Ray closed the register.
“With evidence like this still intact… Let’s just quietly sweep this under the rug, shall we?”
Ray waved the register around casually.
Though unspoken, it was clearly a threat.
Let’s all agree to forget this and avoid tarnishing our young ladies’ reputations before their weddings, right?
That was the gist of it.
Angelo spat angrily.
“How dare you defile my innocent younger sister’s soul and then act so brazenly…!”
“Hehe, teenagers sometimes pass around scandalous novels among friends. Why be so strict? If you lock them up too much, they might rebel later.”
“Y-you madman…! Do you know who I am to speak such nonsense…!”
Shaking violently, Angelo ordered the knight.
“Take down that arrogant brat immediately and seize that register!!”
“Hmph!”
Seeing the atmosphere becoming hostile, Diorica intervened.
She didn’t want sword fights breaking out inside the Royal Magic Tower.
“Hand over that book to me.”
“Why should I?”
“Isn’t it evidence in this case? I’ll return it once the investigation is over.”
“No thanks.”
“…?”
“How can I trust someone will burn a perfectly fine book?”
Ray, who had been staring off into the distance, now gestured dismissively with his hand.
“Let’s just put a lid on this. Before the contents here get spread everywhere.”
Bang!
Angelo slammed his foot on the ground and shouted.
“Seize that insolent brat immediately!!”
The nobles and knights present locked eyes.
Regardless of the outcome, Alesya’s register was a document that needed to be destroyed to protect the young ladies’ honor.
Thanks to Ray’s obstinacy, they now had justification to draw their swords.
Watching the approaching knights fidget with their sword hilts, Jenkins whispered to Ray.
“What exactly are you thinking? Why provoke them like this?”
“Why provoke? I’m just being backed and provoking.”
“…Give me the register. I’ll keep it safe.”
“No need. Don’t worry about me. They won’t take it.”
Clang!
The approaching knights unsheathed their swords without hesitation.
In an instant, every vital point on Ray’s body was targeted by a sword tip.
“How disrespectful.”
Some of the knights recognized Ray as the one who fearlessly knocked out another noble’s squire a few days ago during a conference.
The knight aiming for Ray’s neck tightened his grip on his sword.
“Hand over the register.”
Ray shrugged.
Infuriated by Ray’s cocky demeanor, one of the knights roughly grabbed Ray’s arm.
Crack!
“Ugh?!”
The knight’s shoulder was crushed like paper in someone’s grip.
A chilling voice whispered in the knight’s ear.
“Step aside.”
Boom!!
The knight was hurled into the wall.
“What?!”
The swords pressuring Ray were redirected toward the woman who suddenly appeared.
Despite this, she calmly brushed aside the blades and extended both hands toward Ray.
“Nephew!!”
“Aunt!!”
Ray grinned and jumped into Saria’s embrace.
Diorica Alstein, observing the scene, widened her eyes in shock.
*
Setha took a deep breath to calm herself as she requested an audience with the Emperor.
This wasn’t the first time such an incident occurred; rather, it happened quite frequently.
The Crown Prince had always been reckless since his youth.
Although he was the eldest son and politically positioned as the Crown Prince, his behavior showed no signs of improvement over time.
The Crown Prince often abused his position to interfere with the empire’s administration, and whenever it became excessive, the Emperor would intervene.
Setha was one of the mechanisms the Emperor had established to restrain the Crown Prince.
Gaining the enmity of someone destined to become Emperor was indeed terrifying.
However, Setha remained loyal to the Empire, and since the current Emperor was still in good health, she willingly took on this challenging role.
The Crown Prince had claimed that hiring Ropheiren from the Royal Magic Tower challenged the royal authority and demanded that the family responsible be shown an example—this was absurd.
Of course, poaching someone from the Royal Magic Tower was unpleasant for the royals.
Thus, when such actions crossed the line, the royal family would either issue indirect warnings or outright eliminate the target.
If a noble refused to change their stance after receiving these warnings, conflicts would begin.
Without going through these intermediary steps and directly attacking a noble for supposedly challenging royal authority would lead to unimaginable repercussions.
While the royal authority was formidable, mutual respect between the royalty and nobility was essential.
Countess Philips was the sole legitimate successor of the Count’s family.
The Floria family was one of the most powerful noble houses in the empire’s frontier regions.
Moreover, recent intelligence revealed that Seria Alstein’s cherished kin was part of Alesya’s group.
‘And yet, they intend to punish them without any warning process?’
Just because they upset the whimsical Crown Prince?
Not worth considering.
‘How to deal with that reckless prince?’
Setha wasn’t overly concerned about the immediate matter.
The Emperor would appropriately intervene in this situation as well.
Either through verbal warnings, convincing the Philips and Osiris families to leave Ropheiren alone, or simply turning a blind eye to his recruitment, the matter would be concluded.
As Setha waited with her head bowed, the Emperor finally spoke.
“I feel my body growing old.”
“?”
“The competition among those beneath us to gain the trust of the next emperor isn’t unusual at this stage.”
Unexpected talk of loyalty competitions.
Setha’s mind raced rapidly.
“They’re all eagerly trying to curry favor with the Crown Prince.”
“…”
“Just like how you haven’t come to me.”
‘Damn it…!’
Setha’s eyes flickered restlessly.
The Crown Prince’s period of reckless behavior had been too long.
Instead of improving, it had remained stagnant for years.
Finally,
The Emperor had given up on Carinus.
Setha realized the Emperor’s intentions.
The Emperor intended to strip Carinus of his position as Crown Prince.
However, with the considerable power aligned with Carinus, including his maternal family, removing him solely due to incompetence carried too much political burden.
A decisive event would be needed to remove the Crown Prince.
‘Is the Emperor asking me to orchestrate this…!’
The Emperor’s intentions were clear.
Since there already existed competition for loyalty towards the reckless Crown Prince, painting the picture the Emperor desired wouldn’t be overly difficult.
The question was whether Setha could ensure her own safety.
Even if the Emperor shifted the responsibility for the Crown Prince’s failures onto Setha, she would have no grounds to argue.
“…”
Torn with turmoil, Setha took a step back in the audience chamber.
Until Setha closed the door behind her and left, the Emperor never once looked at her.
