“Don’t interfere, Dale,” Eric said. “Duke Algrene has taken poison. He will die very soon.”
“The duke will not confess, Brother. And besides, he did not take poison, you did.”
“What?! Urgh!”
Wh-what is the meaning of this?
Dale said something under his breath, and Eric’s face suddenly contorted into a mask of pain as he collapsed to the floor.
Did Dale Poison Eric? Eric, who is always cautious?
“I know you had it tested for poison—I’m terribly sorry, but I had the ice cream artisan use ice magic to freeze the poison so that it would melt later.”
“Nnngh… D-Dale…you traitor!”
“I’m going to eliminate everyone standing in my way, here and now. Farewell, my dear brother.”
Wh-what in the world was happening? Leia and the king had both collapsed too!
Did Dale orchestrate all of this? It couldn’t be… Did he lay in wait all this time? Hiding until the last moment when he would bare his fangs?
“Duke Algrene, I’m terribly sorry, but it appears I’ve achieved your goal before you.”
“What do you mean?”
Dale chuckled. “Thanks to your transparently suspicious behavior, I could maneuver with ease. After all, you sent your own mercenary company into the royal guard to assassinate His Majesty. That got my wretched brother to focus his energy entirely on you.”
He knew everything.
Yet he feigned cluelessness, all while plotting the assassinations of his brother and father.
“Everyone trusted me. This makes all those years of stupid, innocent smiling worth it.”
“Well played, Prince Dale. Now you will be king.”
“I am humbled and honored that you would choose my ice cream to strike the winning blow,” the shopkeeper said.
Just then, a crowd of people entered the parlor.
Who the hell are these guys? What the hell is going on here?
Baron Almer came in, and he congratulated Dale on becoming king. I recalled that he was one of Berklein’s minions.
“Thank you so much for avenging Lord Jade!”
“Leia Westoria! Eric Elshaid! How dare you! How dare you humiliate our Lord Jade!”
This was a mob of Jade Berklein’s allies.
Now I see. He used the resentment of this angry mob after their leader was imprisoned in order to carry out the assassination.
I remembered that Berklein had tried to turn Dale into his puppet, just like me. Berklein could easily brainwash his supporters into worshipping Dale. And since Eric and His Majesty both believed that Dale was their ally, their guards were completely down.
It was perfect. Credit where credit was due. It was a flawless plot.
“Prince Dale, I underestimated you. You truly are most worthy to be king.”
“Thank you very much. But you’re not bothered? Your own plot was foiled.”
“Ha ha ha! I don’t care about my plots to kill the former king and Eric anymore. When you ascend the throne, Prince Dale, I vow to back you wholeheartedly.”
I had only one option now: to pledge my loyalty.
It didn’t matter that my own plots had failed; my joy in serving such a great king outweighed any bitterness I might have felt.
All the vermin in my way were eliminated. Originally, I merely wanted for the dukes to retain their special rights, and it was best that I forget any other aspirations I might have had. I needed to maintain my own power; that was enough for me.
“Oh, that won’t be necessary, Algrene.”
“Bwuh?!”
I had never seen him smile like that before.
Dale Elshaid—what the hell are you saying? How much of it is sincere? I never exactly hid my ambitions to rule this kingdom as a puppet master—
“We got everything on record, Duke Algrene. You openly confessed that you tried to assassinate me.”
“You know, playing dead is harder than it looks.”
“Yes, I hope I don’t have to play a role like this ever again.”
The king, Eric, and Leia rose from the dead.
Damn it all! They tricked me!
At that moment, I realized that the trap I fell for was completely unlike the one I envisioned.
They were all in on it. That’s impossible! When did that worm Dale team up with Eric?
I don’t get it. When did it happen? Where did I go wrong…
-Leia’s Perspective-
DUKE ALGRENE WAS INDEED a careful man. Just like Eric had said, tricking him required that he think he’d already won. That’s why Prince Dale helped us with our assassination charade. It was a strategy that took full advantage of his impeccable poker face.
We had to go all in. I was worried that our feigned deaths wouldn’t be convincing, of course, but I was most worried because this strategy would fail if we didn’t fully trust Dale.
In the end, everything worked out exactly as Eric had planned. Algrene confessed to his own crimes, and he was now being carted off to the dungeon.
“So, you had two assassination plots: one for His Majesty and one for me. Is that correct, Duke Algrene? It sounds like a rather amusing conspiracy—can’t you tell us more?”
“Ngrrugh…! Mm-mmrrrggg. Your Majesty! Please forgive me!”
Duke Algrene fell to his knees and groveled before Eric, who did not deign to answer his question. He had fallen from his pedestal of supreme arrogance and now pressed his head to the ground, desperately, tearfully apologizing and begging for mercy from His Majesty.
“I have always—that is, my house has always, always, through all the generations, and even longer than that—done everything in our power to bring wealth and prosperity to the kingdom of Elshaid! I don’t need any special rights! I swear my eternal loyalty to the royal family of Elshaid, until I draw my final breath!”
It’s too late to beg for forgiveness. Duke Algrene should know that. What is his game here?
His desperation was obvious. It was true, the Algrene family had worked very hard for Elshaid. But the same could’ve been said of Berklein, the house that had fallen just before. What’s more, Algrene had plotted to murder the king—a much heavier crime.