“Apologize to you? Don’t make me laugh. Honestly, your stupidity is exhausting. Gilles is ten times more cunning than you. Maybe you should’ve asked him for tips.”
“Why, you insolent little...! You’d better watch who you’re talking to!”
“And who exactly is that? Because the title of Marquis Louboutin has already been passed on to me. You’ve been cut off from the family. So now, you’re just...Albert.”
Despair filled his eyes. “What...?”
The title of marquis was everything to Albert. He had nothing without it.
“You were barely gifted with any mana to begin with, and yet you still had the nerve to fool everyone for all this time.”
“What?! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
This was the important part. I smiled confidently at him.
I know your secret.
“If you don’t have it, steal it, right? You had the audacity to steal from the king himself. You really must’ve lost your mind.”
“H-How... I mean, no! I don’t know who told you that or what lies you’ve heard, but you’ve been deceived! I haven’t done anything!” he shouted.
“Why is it that Gilles’s body has always been so weak, then?”
He didn’t answer me.
“Poor Gilles. The only comfort he had his whole life was thinking you loved him more than anyone else. How do you think he’d react if he found out it wasn’t love at all?”
There was no way he could deny it anymore. I would tell him I knew everything. I took a step toward him, and Albert immediately backed away, looking frightened.
“You offered up your own child as a sacrifice. You’re a devil.”
Gilles was his own flesh and blood. But he gave up his own son as a sacrifice without even blinking. He’d treated him like livestock.
“How dare you act as if you understand! I’m not even of noble birth! How do you think I survived in this world of cutthroat aristocrats?! I needed power!”
“So you stole mana from the king and sacrificed your child to do it? Why don’t you go ahead and explain that to the nobles yourself and see how many of them take your side.”
Albert’s face had been flushed with rage, but now he turned pale. If this got out, he wouldn’t just lose everything—he’d be executed on the spot.
“W-Wait, Kreis. Where did you hear all this? Are you the only one who knows?!”
“What if I am?”
“Then let’s make a deal. I know everything about House Louboutin. I’ll tell you everything and anything you want to know. Just keep this secret!”
“No, thank you. My butler’s very capable. He’s already swept through the estate and found everything you were hiding—including the jewels and the ledgers.”
“You ransacked my room?!”
“Well, it’s not your room anymore.”
Albert looked like he was ready to punch me, but he stopped himself, probably because Professor was still sitting behind me. If I were alone that’d be one thing, but if he ended up fighting with Professor, he couldn’t avoid a commotion, and the royal guards would be alerted if he caused any problem inside the castle. And if Siegfried caught wind of it, Albert would be completely destroyed.
I didn’t think Professor would fight him anyway, but just having him by my side was enough of a deterrent.
“It’s over. I know everything. I won’t let you steal any more of Siegfried’s mana.”
“You don’t understand! I did all of this for you! I needed that power to protect you! I didn’t make you the sacrifice because you’re important to me! That’s why I took in that useless child, who had no skills at all, and offered him up instead! Can’t you understand a father’s love? Can’t you see how much I care about you?!”
It was really unbelievable that he could lie with such a straight face. If I’d really meant something to him, he never would’ve treated me the way he did. “A father’s love”? I didn’t want it or need it from a man like him.
“No, I can’t see that. All I see is a man who always puts himself first.”
I stared down at him coldly. The more pathetic he looked, the calmer I felt. I wouldn’t let this man shake me anymore.
“Trying to talk me out of this won’t work. The only thing you can do now is end the contract that’s draining Siegfried’s mana and destroy the evidence. Do that and maybe I’ll keep my mouth shut about all this. Consider it a final courtesy to someone who used to share my name.”
“I-I can’t. The contract doesn’t end until I die.”
“I figured as much.”
It may have been a deal with a fallen angel, but it was basically a deal with a devil. According to the records, pacts with devils were sealed with life itself. Unless there was some special clause, the contract was binding until death.
“I was hoping there’d be another way, but I guess not.”
“Wh-What are you doing?!”
I pulled out the dagger I’d hidden under my cloak, and the color once again drained from Albert’s face.
“Y-You’re going to kill me?!”
“Well, it’s not like I have any other choice, do I?”
If I didn’t kill him, Siegfried wouldn’t get his full mana back, and if we didn’t get his mana back, then we couldn’t beat the fallen angel.
I tightened my grip on the dagger. Albert tried to back away, but I used Earth magic to bind him. The ground surged up around his feet and locked him in place. He struggled, lost his balance, and fell hard. I stepped in front of him.
The guards had told me his mana had already been sealed—I didn’t even know that was possible. Regardless, without his powers, the gap between us didn’t matter anymore.
“You realize what you’re doing, don’t you? Killing your own father is a sin no god would forgive!”
He wasn’t wrong. Even Professor had been watching me with a quiet pleading look in his eyes since I pulled my dagger. But I couldn’t back down. I had to do it.
That was why I’d come here, after all. So then why were my hands shaking? Albert had tormented Kreis for years. He deserved to die. I knew that, and I believed it from the bottom of my heart. But deciding to kill someone with my own hands and actually crossing that line took a different kind of resolve.
I steadied my breath and tightened my grip on the dagger. I had to get it together. I had to do this. There wouldn’t be a future left if I didn’t.
“L-Let’s just say Gilles made the contract on his own! We’ll pin it all on him! If he dies, the contract ends, and you and I can start over! I don’t have to die!”
“How selfish can you be? First you sacrifice his health for your own ambitions. Now you’re ready to kill him just to save your own neck? I don’t pity him. Not after everything he’s done, but the least you could do is face the end with him.”
Suddenly, the door connecting to the next room burst open. “You must be kidding. Who said you could speak for me? It’s disgusting!”
It was Gilles.
I hadn’t expected him to come here, of all places. The surprise caught me off guard, and he took that split-second opportunity to snatch the dagger from my hand.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I demanded.
“It’s all because of the generous heart of our lovely future queen. She decided I was too pitiful for a cell and gave me a nice little room with a guard instead. Isn’t sympathy from nobles just the most nauseating thing?”
“Gilles, Lady Risthea is very worried about us.” Claude came in after Gilles. They’d been in the room next door to Albert this whole time? What were the guards thinking? No, they’d most likely been put there by Risthea.
“Well, thanks to her, we got here just in time to catch a very interesting conversation. Maybe I should thank her after all,” Gilles said with a wicked grin.
Gilles pointed the dagger at me, but his eyes were on Albert. And judging by the way Albert’s face twitched, he hadn’t known Gilles was nearby either.
“G-Gilles, surely you realize it was all a lie, right? Just something I said to calm Kreis down. It wasn’t how I really felt. You’re the one I—”
“You really are sloppy, you know.” Gilles ignored Albert as he turned back to me. “You showed up here all on your own. If it were me, I’d have cried to Siegfried and dragged him along. But I guess this is the kind of naive move only someone like you would make.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Why what?” he sneered.
“You were in the next room. You heard everything, so why are you still defending him?”
“You really don’t get it, do you, Kreis? I was safe as long as I was useful, even if it meant I was a sacrifice. I was a hell of a lot more valuable to him than you ever were.” His words were dripping with mockery, but his face betrayed him. His smile faltered and crumpled.
And for the first time, I felt a little sorry for him.
He was bluffing. Believing he was loved had given him confidence, and now that illusion was gone. He couldn’t possibly stay calm after hearing the truth.
“That’s enough,” I said.
“Shut up.”
“You’re only making things worse for yourself,” I warned.
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Gilles lunged at me, brandishing the dagger, his face contorted with anger. But before I could use Earth magic to stop him, Albert grabbed me from behind and locked my arms in place.
“Let go!”
“Gilles! Do it now!” Albert shouted.