# 75
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“Your Excellency!! Who is the owner of that dagger embedded in Flora’s chest?! Please tell me why this powerless woman was forced to meet such a death here!!!”
The Marquise, who had been wailing, also stopped crying and stared at the Duke.
Ares spoke to the soldiers who were scrambling to put out the fire originating from invisible things.
“Watch out for it not spreading. It won’t go out until it’s completely burned down.”
"Well… I don’t know what’s burning, just the flames are shooting up."
Ares muttered while glaring at Ivanka.
“Of course. Because they are invisible.”
Ivanka stealthily rolled her eyes to avoid Ares's gaze, and the nobles stared at the fire burning the carpet with dumbfounded expressions.
Flora Rinco entered the office accompanied by invisible things.
The Marquis had a seizure at Ares's calm voice.
“What are you talking about?!!”
“But their target was Flora Rinco. They wanted it to look like she died at Grace’s hands. Isn’t that right, Edward Rinco?”
“…….”
Grace shielded Flora Rinco from the attack with her body. When I entered this room, Flora Rinco was attempting to stab Grace in the back, as she was protecting her from the unseen.
"dismissal!!!"
The Marquise sprang up from her seat as if she could no longer bear it.
“Please, speak with some sense!!! How can Your Excellency treat the Marquis Rinko family like this?!!”
“…….”
“Why did Your Excellency cast Rwen out?! Flora is the daughter of Count Rwen, who was hell-bent on finding the Invisible Ones by any means!! But Flora is joining hands with them? How could she!!”
As the Marquise, who had been thrashing about like a madwoman, staggered as if she were about to faint, the Marquis supported her.
“You cannot do this. You cannot do this. Even if you intended to frame our family through Flora, this is not right. Hahahah. Is this the price of loyalty, Your Excellency!”
As the Marquise began to sob, the Marquis also shouted at the Duke.
“I cannot accept this, Your Excellency!”
Ares shook his head slightly.
“This is not a matter that requires your family’s approval.”
The Marquis let out a rough, gasping breath and shouted at Ivanka.
“I ask the Inspector General, the representative of His Majesty the Emperor, to mediate!!”
The moment Ivanka turned to look at him with a 'Hmm,' Ares laughed. Everyone was struck by his hot and vivid smile, like the red blood flowing from a pounding heart. After laughing for a moment, he ran his hand across his face. Grace's blood stained his face red.
“Get out. I won’t stop you.”
The Marquis paused.
“As you say, isn’t the reason we staged this ridiculous play to create an excuse to get out of the city?”
Edward's grayish-brown eyes trembled very slightly. Ares, standing at an angle with his hands in his pockets, turned to look at him and coldly rebuked him.
“Why didn’t you just ask me? Ask me to let you out.”
“…….”
“Crimson. Open the eastern gate.”
At the mention of the eastern gate, all of Edward's movements came to a halt. Ares laughed cruelly as he watched him.
“Why are you so surprised? You need to go out there to 'accidentally' encounter the reinforcements who 'just happened to' appear through the Samer tunnels, and carry out 'revenge' for your dead adoptive brother.”
The big, black tiger that saw through everything finally bared its teeth.
"Isn't that so?"
The tension that had been building up intensely turned into fear and consumed Edward's entire body.
"no."
“…….”
"no."
Edward walked toward his father and mother, repeating the same words. "Don't be shaken by the unexpected, walk calmly," he muttered to himself to compose himself just then.
“Are you planning to leave your brother’s body here?”
“…….”
I should take you.
Is the wind blowing beyond the wall of death like that?
Not only Edward, but all the gathered nobles held their breath. Ivanka Tyrien swallowed hard, and the Marquis bit his lip.
The acrid smell of burnt wood and a fishy stench, and the pitch-black soot spewed from the unextinguished flames. Against a backdrop resembling a cross-section of hell, Ares opened his mouth toward the nobles.
“Those who disobey my orders, too, leave the castle immediately with Marquis Rinko. I will not stop you.”
Then, someone from the crowd, who had been motionless like an ice crystal, knelt before Ares. It was the point where the ice began to melt. As one person knelt, another knelt.
Their actions placed a tremendous burden on Marquis Rinko. The Marquis turned around hurriedly with a pale face.
“Get out of the way, get out of the way!”
The Marquise, too, hurriedly turned to follow her husband, and the nobles who had pledged their loyalty to the Marquis were thrown into a panic as they followed him. Pushing their way through the kneeling crowd, they looked like weeds of varying heights sprouting up on the grass.
“Honey! Let’s go together!”
The Marquis, who had hurriedly descended the stairs as if fleeing from an evil spirit regardless of who called him, stopped abruptly at the silhouette standing motionless in front of the castle's main gate.
With six ladies-in-waiting behind her, Eliza Richmond stood upright and gazed at him. She neither showed anger nor asked what was wrong. She simply stared blankly, as if she were someone who could see through all of his time with her pitch-black eyes.
As the Marquis hesitated, several pale nobles behind him came to a halt.
Eliza scanned them all over and stepped back. Ares appeared behind them as they brushed past her and ran outside as if they had been waiting.
Please stay. I'll be right back after I finish tidying up.
"no."
Ares, who had been brushing past, stopped in his tracks. Eliza turned and stared at the backs of those running toward the outside of the castle.
I want to sort it out myself.
Ares let out a barely audible sigh and added a remark in an indifferent tone.
Then please dress warmly.
Eliza walked behind Ares.
The sky turned black and spewed out sleet, and a wind colder than the daytime scorched my face.
Grace stood by the window and watched Ares and Eliza cross the darkness. While Jesse was busy treating her hand, Eric whispered the information he had found out.
It is estimated that approximately 2,000 troops entered stealthily through the Samer tunnels. Half have come out of the tunnels, and the other half appear to be waiting inside.
It is known that in a siege, the attacking side requires three times the number of troops as the defending side, provided there is no qualitative difference between the two.
Knights in black armor began to gather behind Ares, one by one. He put on the armor the knight had brought as he walked.
Baron Rexton approached Grace from behind and reported on the status of the documents.
I have checked all the documents you mentioned. Nothing was burned or lost.
"Thank you for your hard work. And..."
Grace stared at Flora's body left on one side.
"Please retrieve it and take it to the underground morgue."
Baron Rexton nodded with a grim expression.
"yes."
* * *
The Duke's castle was vast.
Outside the Duke's Castle, which served as both the Duke's residence and administrative district, a more extensive residential area stretched out where the people of the Duke's territory lived. One had to cross that area to reach the castle walls, and only by crossing the walls could one truly be said to have left the castle.
Marquis Rinko galloped on his horse. As he raced down the road leading toward the eastern gate of the castle, the people passing by screamed. However, the Marquis did not slow down. He had to leave the castle as quickly as possible to shake off the fear clinging to his back.
“Get out of the way, get out of the way!!”
As if the Duke's order to leave had not been a lie, nothing stood in his way. Even when he reached the eastern gate, it was wide open.
We're here, we're here!
The Marquis fled the Blue Eagle Castle, which he had always desperately clung to. As he passed the massive walls and deep moat, it felt as if something that had been weighing heavily on his lungs was vanishing.
A dense, thick forest stretched across the eastern region of the Duke's castle. It was the perfect terrain for stateless mercenaries, who handled covert operations, to hide. After crossing the meadow for quite some time amidst the snow-like sleet, eyes assimilated into the darkness spotted the movement they had been eagerly awaiting.
“That’s it, that’s it!!”
The Marquis let out a sigh of joy and relief.
Murderers who chased only the god of money appeared before the Marquis. It was a mercenary group known for showing up wherever a territory battle took place without fail. A man covered in thick gray stone dust spat on the ground and lashed out in anger.
“This damn tunnel is long and narrow. And the dust, damn it, is unspeakable. Ah, why are all the words you prepared for me so terrible?”
The Marquis turned around like a fearful person and spoke quickly.
“Get ready. Hurry!”