It worked.
Lezamer could tell his words had had a definite impact. As proof, Lord Gryphon had stopped in place, unable to ignore him.
Heh heh... That’s right, fall prisoner to my words! The moment you let your guard down will cost you your life!
Everything from there was Lezamer at his very best. Secretly making preparations to unleash Dragon’s Roar, he continued to speak to avoid being discovered.
“Hmmm? And just why is it you took up your blade in the first place? Oh, that’s right—you said you’d offer your sword in Anna’s service, didn’t you? And yet...that’s all founded on the assumption that Anna is your real daughter, is it not?”
Watt didn’t offer up any response, but Lezamer didn’t mind at all. He knew that the more Watt listened to him, the further his venom would seep into Watt’s veins.
“You foolishly believed every last bit of it, just because Anna herself told you so, didn’t you? But have you ever stopped to think any more upon it? To consider if that was indeed the truth? You don’t know, do you? Certainly, Anna might have been led to believe it from what she was told...but she herself has no way of ever ascertaining the truth. Everything she claims is nothing more than the result of what others have told her!”
“Th-That’s...! I...!” Anna stuttered.
It was Anna who fell victim to Lezamer’s venom more quickly than anyone. Unable to contain the shaking that surged throughout her body, she instinctively wrapped her arms around herself.
Anna wanted to speak up and decry it as a lie that very moment, but at the same time, she also understood that it was impossible for her to completely deny the allegations. As clever as she was, she couldn’t remember things from when she’d been born with any sort of clarity. It was just as Lezamer had said: It had all been nothing more than what she’d been told after she’d grown and begun to understand the world around her.
Even if deep down Anna realized that it was only a last-ditch lie from Lezamer that she mustn’t succumb to, a surge of unease sprang up at the back of her mind. If, on the one-in-a-hundred—no, one-in-a-million chance that Lezamer was actually telling the truth, then what? Anna could almost hear the foundation that had supported her until now crumble beneath her.
She wanted to see how her father was reacting—how Watt was reacting. But if he thought she wasn’t his real daughter, her greatest—and only—ally might very well abandon her. The mere thought of it robbed Anna of the courage to see his reaction for herself. She could do nothing more than clench her hands and shake.
“Where do you get off bringin’ that up now?” Watt said. “You think that’s the problem here?”
“What?!”
Watt spoke with such indifference that Lezamer could only pause in absolute bewilderment.
“You got it wrong straight outta the gate, Lezamer,” Watt said. “It never mattered one bit whether Anna was my real daughter or not, right from the very start.”
At that very moment, Lezamer happened to realize he was struggling to breathe. It felt as if something were blocking his breath—as if the very air had grown heavier. That was when he realized that the cause was the waves of deep anger emanating from Lord Gryphon.
“Anna is Cullinagemia’s daughter—the daughter of the woman I loved more than any other my whole life. I don’t need a single other reason to offer my blade to keep her safe!”
The lump of unease that had taken abode in Anna’s chest suddenly fell away. That’s right. Now that she thought about it, Watt had lent her his assistance without an ounce of hesitation from the day they’d first met, hadn’t he? There was no way he’d be swayed by what someone like Lezamer had to say at this point. In that case, all she could do was continue to believe in him, right until the very end.
With the venomous words that had been his last desperate measure tossed right back in his face, Lezamer now found himself even more hopelessly cornered. He racked his brain for any other approach before just barely managing to cobble something together.
“Ah, y-yes, that’s it! I’ve already claimed Cullinagemia as my wife! How shameless can you be to still cling to her even after you were defeated!”
Watt fell silent for a moment. “I know that. That’s the path we chose back then. That’s why it’s my own reason... A reason all my own. It’s just me bein’ stubborn. Nothin’ more than that.”
All of Lezamer’s efforts had been in error, and all of them had fallen flat, making no impact at all.
Lord Gryphon gave off a burst of steam as if the Mechsteel itself were roaring in anger. Mechsteels harmonized with the emotions of their Steelriders, leaving Lord Gryphon now brimming with anticipation to resume the battle.
“You can say whatever the hell you want about me, Lezamer. But you had to go and put down Anna too. ’Bout time you shut that filthy mouth of yours. You can’t have anything left to say now.”
The feeling radiating from Lord Gryphon had now unmistakably transformed into bloodlust. It was a feeling of overwhelming pressure like a sharpened blade—all stemming from the warrior who’d once stood at the very tip of the Royal Knights’ sword. Having lived his whole life in a position of power, Lezamer had never felt anything like the terrifying threat of death that accompanied this pressure. He didn’t have the mettle to endure the thought of his own demise.
Fearing he might begin trembling any moment, Lezamer forcibly held himself back before letting out a desperate shout. “And besides! C-Cullina’s in here with me! She was the woman you loved or something like that, wasn’t she? And now you’re going to turn your blade on her?!”
“It’s no use, Lezamer... He’s going down the path he believes in. And now, I can’t help but start to believe him too.”