Chapter 4

Betrayal

Sernil, neatly dressed in priestly robes, hesitantly stepped in front of me.

“Hwarin. Are you going to see Lord Carniel? You can't. Lord Sieghart told you not to go.”

“But... the vision I saw keeps bothering me.”

“The vision you saw a little while ago could be wrong. If it were right, Lord Carniel would've told us in advance, wouldn't he?”

“I know, I do... but I have a bad feeling.”

“Hwarin... if you fall out of Lord Sieghart's favor, you'll be in danger too. Didn't you see what happened to Lord Carniel?”

“...”

“You have to be careful even if we're all members of the same Hero's Party.”

“...”

Sernil's words made enough sense.

So I thought about it for a moment.

Carniel.

An overwhelmingly powerful man capable of defeating the Demon King alone.

But right now, he was bound by mana restraints.

He was practically no different from an ordinary person.

On top of that, Mahodelne had disappeared, and Marina had succeeded her as master of the Magic Tower.

He had absolutely no faction left to back him.

Sieghart.

He was the second prince of the Kingdom of Helicion, the number one kingdom on the Solios Continent.

On top of that, he was also the Hero.

The power of royalty.

The honor of being the Hero.

He wasn't necessarily someone you had to be close with, but he was absolutely someone you must never make an enemy of.

However.

“As a spirit mage, I can't ignore the spirits' advice. I need to talk to Carniel.”

“...Do you really have to go?”

“I think the demons may appear again. We might have to go to war again.”

“...Even if demons do appear, isn't what's happening right now more important?”

“Sernil.”

“...Yes.”

“Move.”

“...You're really going?”

“I need to ask Carniel to use his prophecy magic to confirm whether the vision I saw is really true.”

_____________

Cheliana was walking with her head hanging low and a gloomy expression on her face.

“Something wrong? Is it because Carniel's locked in prison?”

“Ah. Uncle Bragan.”

Cheliana let out a sigh.

“That's part of it, but... sigh... nothing in life ever goes the way I want it to.”

“Hahaha! A young lass already sighing like a dwarf who's lived through everything the world has to offer!”

“...Uncle. I'm in a bad mood right now. Don't make fun of me.”

“Don't worry too much. Someday Carniel will realize that Cheli likes him and accept your feelings.”

“L-like him? I-I've never had feelings like that.”

“Affection isn't something to be ashamed of. Besides, I'm pretty sure everyone in our party except Carniel already knows.”

“O-only the person themselves knows what's in their heart...! Don't make assumptions however you please!”

Cheliana's face turned as red as a cherry.

She hurriedly changed the subject.

“Where are you going? Are you going to see Master too, Uncle Bragan?”

“Why would I go see another man's face when we're not lovers? Besides, I'll see him at the trial anyway.”

“That's awfully cold of you.”

“Ahem! Men can be like this with each other.”

“I think Master would feel hurt by that.”

“Hurt, my foot! He's not some little girl... Oh, right!”

“...?”

“Cheli.”

“Yes. What is it?”

“Finding people is my specialty, you know.”

“...That's true?”

“Princess Ardel asked me to find you. Said she had something important to talk about.”

A faint shadow fell across Cheliana's face.

“It's none of my business, but... weren't you two always at each other's throats? Did you make up behind my back or something?”

_____________

If it had been the old me, I would've returned to my kingdom immediately after exterminating all the demons.

Maybe it was because I'd spent so much time mingling with humans and dwarves.

Without realizing it, I'd grown attached to people I never had any interest in before.

How ridiculous.

If Her Majesty knew I hadn't returned home yet and was still sitting here with the Hero's Party, she would surely click her tongue.

“Didn't I tell everyone to gather before the trial? Sernil. Where exactly is Hwarin?”

“...She went to see Lord Carniel.”

“Sigh...”

Sieg frowned and sighed.

“Whether Hwarin is here or not is her own choice.”

“...Lunaelin.”

Sieg glared fiercely at me like a beast that had lost its mate.

‘As the Hero, haven't you always embraced your comrades? Why...’

The sight of Sieg reporting to King Walter that Carniel and Ardel had been in the same bed.

It was quite ugly to watch.

‘And as a result, our comrade is imprisoned... Would the person you are now actually be pleased with this situation?’

Of course.

I knew.

That Carniel had promised to bring Ardel and Sieg together.

However.

‘Ardel has absolutely no interest in Sieg... so why is he the only one who doesn't realize it?’

Ardel is not an object.

She's a person capable of deciding for herself whom she likes and what choices she makes.

Drinking with Carniel was Ardel's choice.

The same was true of the two of them being in the same bed.

Ardel had no intention whatsoever of accepting Sieg.

So did Sieg have any right to be angry?

Was that what Ardel wanted?

Was he so intoxicated by his own love that he thought he had the right to interfere with Ardel's actions?

How absurd.

Stupid Carniel.

Making promises beyond his authority that he couldn't possibly keep, while failing to realize that his own feelings could change completely from even the smallest trigger.

‘This is the result of a mage overestimating his own knowledge and judgment.’

Only today did I realize once again why Her Majesty had told me not to associate with humans.

“...I'll speak with Hwarin separately later. First, I'll explain why I asked everyone to gather.”

Sieg spoke heavily.

“Carniel broke the promise he made with me and even tarnished the honor of the Fernia royal family. As a fellow royal, I cannot simply let this matter pass. He must pay an appropriate price.”

There was no trace of Sieg's usual gentle and warm expression on his face.

“I'm saying this not as your friend, but as a prince of Helicion. It would be best if none of you spoke in Carniel's defense during the trial. Especially you, Cheliana...”

____________

The trial began.

Perhaps because this was a trial to judge the crimes of a hero who had saved the continent, it was reasonably formal despite having been arranged in a hurry.

King Walter and the ministers of the Kingdom of Fernia.

The members of the Hero's Party, excluding Hwarin, were also seated as representatives of their respective kingdoms.

Marina, dispatched by the Magic Tower that maintained neutrality, was also present.

At least on the surface, it looked like a fairly proper trial.

‘Ardel isn't here.’

I hadn't expected her to come.

The Ardel I knew would've come to visit me even if she had to avoid the king's eyes.

If she hadn't come, King Walter must have completely confined her movements.

“Defendant Carniel.”

“Before we begin the trial, I'd like to discuss Hwarin's vision that demons may appear...”

“Silence!!”

The judge shouted as though rebuking me.

“From this moment onward, we will begin the trial regarding your crime of ‘forcibly engaging in sexual relations with Princess Ardel against her will and impregnating her.’”

I'd roughly expected the trial to be rigged.

But I hadn't expected pregnancy to be brought up too.

It was so absurd that.

“Wait. Pregnancy?”

The words came out of my mouth on their own.

“The criminal has not been granted permission to speak, so do not insult this court by opening your mouth without authorization!”

The judge shouted at me again in rebuke.

—Shhk!

The knight beside me pressed his sword against my neck.

It became a literal sword-at-my-throat situation.

“Lady Sernil, acting on behalf of the Holy See, will personally testify before everyone present to what she confirmed.”

Sernil rose from her seat.

I looked directly at Sernil.

Sernil avoided my gaze.

“...I, Priestess Sernil, swear before the Goddess that I will not speak falsely.”

Sernil continued with an extremely stiff expression.

“Traces of distorted mana were found within Lady Ardel's body. And after examining her with my divine power, I also confirmed that a new life has taken root within her.”

It was true that there were traces of distorted mana.

I had personally examined Ardel's condition before they put the restraints on me.

However.

Pregnancy couldn't be confirmed.

Even if she really was pregnant, not even a full day had passed since the intercourse.

At this point, determining whether she was pregnant was impossible.

That you needed at least several weeks before you could know.

That was common knowledge to everyone, including the Hero's Party.

Yet no one contradicted Sernil's statement.

‘She's even swearing to the Goddess while blatantly framing me. I thought she only knew how to play things straight.’

The Holy See was located in Sieg's homeland, the Kingdom of Helicion.

So it was easy enough to imagine Sernil, who belonged to the Holy See, being conscious of Sieg's displeasure.

‘...Everyone's staying quiet. Feels a little bitter.’

At the very least, Lunaelin should have frowned at such an obvious lie.

Uncle Bragan was the type who'd fly into a rage before ever staying silent.

Cheliana even more so.

She was the disciple who had smiled and said she'd respect my decision not to escape.

There was no way she'd stay quiet while her master was being falsely accused.

‘It's one of two things.’

Someone had something on them.

Or they fucking hated me.

‘...I don't really care about the latter.’

I didn't expect everyone in the world to like me.

‘Whatever you say about his personality, he was GOAT-tier at soccer...’

It was impossible to be loved by everyone in the first place.

There were even bastards who hated on Shindoo-hyung.

Even so.

I had no intention of forgiving people who remained silent while I was being falsely accused.

Understanding something with your head and forgiving it with your heart were two different things.

The most important thing right now was.

‘What kind of weakness did they get hold of to make them act like this?’

When I woke up in Ardel's bed, I'd been too flustered to notice.

After Sieg passed out, I explained the situation to Ardel, and only then did I check my own physical condition.

And I discovered traces of distorted mana in my own body as well.

‘It was definitely not magic.’

No matter how pleasantly drunk I'd been, I would've noticed if someone had cast magic on me.

Then only one possibility remained.

Someone had mixed a potion into the alcohol Ardel gave me.

‘It could've been Ardel herself...’

Or it could've been someone else.

Cheliana, being an alchemist, was the most likely suspect, but...

The other party members were also capable of producing potions in their own ways.

‘Demons, stay out of this unless you want to die. First, I need to find out who the hell tried to pull this shit on me.’