Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 247

Cantares, Duke Lancelot, Arendt, and Laius, who felt guilty about this situation, all gathered in one place.“…”

“….”

As the awkward silence continued, Jereon carefully placed tea and snacks in front of them.

He didn’t forget to pack the headache medicine and stomach medicine that he had prepared in advance.

Cantares, who had been pressing his temples, finally opened his mouth.

“…Hey.”

“Why?”

Without the slightest hesitation, a bold answer came back.

Cantares lifted his head and looked at Arendt with empty eyes.

“Why? Why is the question ‘Why?’ coming out of your mouth right now?” Latest content publıshed on novel·fiɾe·net

“Did it come out?”

But Arendt was shameless.

Feeling a surge of emotion, Cantares instinctively reached out for something to throw, but soon realized that Duke Lancelot was with him, and barely managed to hold himself back.

Instead, he clenched his fist tightly, unable to direct it anywhere, and snarled.

“…Hey, what are you trying to do? Do you know what kind of rumors are spreading in the Imperial Palace right now?”

“Of course I know. So what? Isn’t it amusing?”

“Amusing? Do you think this is amusing?”

However, despite all his patience, the Crown Prince eventually exploded.

Cantares stood up and started shouting.

“What the hell are you trying to do by gathering all this attention, you crazy idiot!”

“Wait a minute, Your Highness. Calm down. Someone else might be listening…!”

When Duke Lancelot hurriedly tried to dissuade the Crown Prince, Jereon quietly intervened.

“It’s alright. I anticipated that something like this might happen soon, so I recently added an extra layer of soundproofing magic.”

“…”

For a moment, Duke Lancelot had a puzzled expression on his face, not knowing how to react to those words.

A moment later, the Duke quietly withdrew the hand he had intended to grab the Crown Prince with.

He realized that if the Crown Prince didn’t get angry, his stomach would likely be torn apart before even inheriting the throne.

“I can hear that the East Merchant Group and the Khan Union are at each other’s throats! Are you advertising to the Empire that you are not on good terms?”

“Why have you become so timid? You used to be so sincere about screwing over the nobles.”

“Screwing over others, sure, but if I’m not careful, I’m the one who’s going to end up screwed.”

As the Crown Prince and the apprentice knight argued, Duke Lancelot and Laius simply stared into space with unfocused eyes.

Laius muttered quietly.

“Aide.”

“Yes?”

“Well done.”

Jereon smiled bitterly at the sincere compliment.

If this conversation were to leak out, it would have caused great harm to the Crown Prince’s reputation before the secrets of the Khan Union were revealed.

“In that sense, please give me some money. The union leader is worried that the loss will be enormous.”

“You’re going to take it and stuff half of it into your pocket! Do you think I don’t know?”

“Don’t you know about compensation?”

As the situation worsened, Laius let out a short sigh and clenched his fists.

!

“Ugh!”

Only after receiving a solid blow to the back of the head did Arendt finally shut up.

Thanks to Laius punishing him, Cantares also seemed to have calmed down a little.

Without missing the opportunity, the Duke quickly changed the subject.

“I agree with His Highness, Lord Arendt. This is too dangerous. The East Merchant Group is not an easy opponent, and it is not desirable for the Union to surface in this way.”

“Ugh… Why do you think so?”

Arendt raised his head in discontent, rubbing the spot where he had been hit.

“I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before. The more attention gathers, in any form, the more valuable it becomes.”

It certainly succeeded in attracting attention.

Starting with the spies who infiltrated the Khan Union and were caught stealing, then humiliated and kicked out, the mudslinging battle between the Union and the East Merchant Group had become the biggest topic of interest for people recently.

That much was within the realm of what the others had anticipated.

But when it became known that they were not thieves and that Arendt had been present at the scene, public opinion began to take a somewhat strange turn.

There was a rumor going around that was quite close to the truth that Arendt deliberately framed them as thieves and took revenge on the East Merchant Group.

Perhaps because of Arendt’s usual personality, everyone seemed to accept it with a certain level of credibility.

That was the very thing that was grating on Cantares’ nerves.

It was he who, upon hearing the news from someone else, was horrified and immediately called for Arendt.

Likewise, Duke Lancelot, who had heard about the Union from his subordinate, hurriedly visited the Crown Prince’s office, and Laius, who felt responsible for all of this, accompanied Arendt, and a meeting of this unusual group was established.

“Ha…”

Cantares sighed deeply and frowned.

“The East Merchant Group must have deliberately leaked the information.”

“They probably also had the goal of tarnishing Sir Arendt’s honor. But…”

Duke Lancelot glanced at Arendt, trailing off.

Arendt met his eyes and shrugged.

“Let them try.”

No one was surprised that the son of a bitch was acting like a son of a bitch.

It was a similar situation to the fact that the East Merchant Group had sent spies and that didn’t cause much of a problem.

“Why do you think the quality of the Khan Union tea suddenly dropped? It must have been something done by the East Merchant Group. Everyone, unless they were stupid, would have noticed it.”

Arendt continued, picking up a snack.

“It’s not bad since we both took a hit. When you think about it, it’s similar to a card game.”

“Are you saying we’re each showing one card?”

The Crown Prince, tired of getting angry, asked weakly.

Arendt nodded, stuffing a snack in his mouth.

“That’s right. I guess you could say it’s a gamble where everything is ruined the moment you make a wrong move.”

“It sounds fancy, but it just looks like they’re grabbing each other by the hair and fighting like crazy.”

Duke Lancelot added with a laugh.

The knight framed the spies, and the angry merchant began to seriously interfere with the young men’s business.

It was a perfect dogfight, with both sides sparing no effort in tearing and biting each other.

“That’s right. In fact, you should see it as the essence.”

Arendt nodded lightly.

“The more you play, the more you bury your head in the mud, competing to see who is dirtier and more lethal. The loser gets to be torn to pieces by the world. How about that? Sounds fun, right?”

“…”

It was a thought that occurred to three people at the same time.

“…The problem is, as His Highness said earlier, is that too many eyes are focused on the Khan Union.”

Laius let out a short sigh and changed the subject.

“It’ll be fine for the time being, but if anyone notices anything strange, things will definitely get tricky. The leader of the East Merchant Group is definitely not someone to be taken lightly.”

The loss or damage to their reputation was a secondary issue.

The moment the East Merchant Group realises the true identity of the Khan Union, everything they had built up until now might be shaken.

Laius glanced at Arendt.

“I think that given your personality, you would have taken this into consideration as well.”

“That’s why we have to fight even dirtier. I hope that it won’t be discovered that His Highness the Crown Prince’s treasure vault is at stake behind this dirty and deadly fight.”

A playful smile appeared on Arendt’s lips as he answered frankly.

“Well, you’ll know when you see it.”

“…”

Those who were watching him all fell silent.

It was a smile that could be seen occasionally, when planning a nasty prank.

And Arendt’s ‘pranks’ always had huge repercussions.

Arendt added, humming.

“There’s still a long way to go. Not a single snake has come out of its burrow.”

Until then, he planned to enjoy this moment a little more.

The Crown Prince let out a quiet exclamation.

“What a really bad-tempered bastard.”

“Well, it’s nothing new.”

Then Laius also looked at Arendt and nodded quietly.

Arendt noticed the gazes on him a beat later and turned his head.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…It’s all fine, but take it easy.”

Laius, who had been silent for a moment, spoke as if making a request.

At the familiar words, Arendt didn’t respond but merely shrugged his shoulders.

When he returned to his room, there was a huge pile of documents sent from the Neumann Merchant Group.

Upon seeing the stack of documents piled up next to the desk, Arendt let out a brief exclamation of admiration.

“As expected, they’re fast.”

It seemed that Neumann, too, was busy working non-stop.

But, given the circumstances, it couldn’t be helped.

Arendt took off his outer coat, tossed it onto the sofa, and immediately sat down at his desk.

Silence filled the room.

Occasionally, only the sound of Arendt turning the pages permeated the quiet air.

It was well past bedtime, and there was no sign of life outside.

At that time, he was naturally focusing all his attention on analyzing the documents.

Arendt looked up in surprise at the knock that broke the silence.

Then, without waiting for an answer, the door opened and Laius suddenly appeared.

“As expected, you weren’t sleeping.”

“…”

Arendt raised his eyebrows as he confirmed the identity of the intruder.

“That’s what I was going to say. Why are you barging in all of a sudden?”

“I told you to take it easy, but it looks like you’re not even listening to me.”

This time as well, the answer he got was unexpected.

Did Laius ever say such a thing?

Arendt, who had been pondering for a moment, soon recalled the brief conversation he had had in the Crown Prince’s office.

“…Was that something you said to me?”

“Then what do you think it was?”

“I thought you were telling me to beat them gently.”

Arendt responded with a pout to the captain’s absurd question.

Laius swallowed a sigh, closed the door, and strode inside.

“I never allowed you to come in.”

“It’s the captain’s choice. What’s all that?”

The familiar scolding was now just casually brushed off.

Arendt gave his answer with a look of dissatisfaction on his face.

“The list of the merchant groups who suddenly cut ties with the Khan Union, and the background check on those guys… and so on.”

Laius picked up a folder and looked through it roughly.

In addition to the basic information at the top of each page, all sorts of trivial information was also recorded.

Laius took his eyes off the small letters and looked at Arendt again.

“Are you planning to strike from the inside?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll decide depending on the situation, but for now, I think that’s the most effective method.”

“I see.”

Instead of saying anything, Laius simply returned the folder to its original spot.

His blue eyes scanned the room.

It was his first time looking properly at Arendt’s room.

As expected of a neat person, he rarely saw anything other than the bare necessities.

‘It seems like you used to really like luxury items.’

Lately, it seemed like his hobby had changed from collecting jewels to collecting oddities.

It was not really clear which one was more beneficial or harmful.

“So what’s your business?”

He was lost in thought for a moment when Arendt’s irritated voice brought him back to reality.

“If you don’t have any business, please leave now. I’m busy.”

“I’ve got something to discuss.”

Laius briefly muttered to Arendt, who was looking up at him with defiance in his eyes.

“Sleep.”

“Yes?”

Arendt arched an eyebrow, momentarily doubting his ears.

Laius added calmly.

“I know you’ve been barely getting any sleep, just dozing off for short moments on the sofa, pulling all-nighters for days now. Rest.”

“…Didn’t you hear that I was busy?”

“I’ll give you the day off tomorrow, so sleep.”

Arendt spoke questioningly, but Laius pretended not to hear him.

To make matters worse, he reached out and blew out the candle on the desk.

“…?”

Laius didn’t stop there, he even turned off the lamp that had been lighting the room.

In an instant, the room was plunged into darkness.

Only then did Laius, satisfied, say a few words plainly.

“Sleep well.”

Then he left the room without even saying goodbye.

.

The door slammed shut, and Arendt was suddenly left alone in the darkness.

“…”

It was as if he had been taken by surprise.

Arendt could do nothing but stare in disbelief at the spot where Laius had been.