Chapter 186
.
“What?” Cox asked. He stared at the pair of beautiful blue eyes staring at him. He was obviously confused by Icarus’ accusation against him.
“What kind of bullshit are you talking about? You just arrived here, and you already have the gall to spout nonsense?!” Baron Ashbal raged and gnashed his teeth. “What do you mean the rat is Count Cox!? Do you have any idea how much he’s done for the family? We’ve been patient with you so far because you’re a guest, but you’ve crossed the line!”
Baron Ashbal glared murderously at Icarus. If he were holding a sword, he would have already pointed it at Icarus. “This time, you dug your own grave. Do you really think that we’re too dumb to notice your plan of causing chaos to save yourself?”
“...”
“Where are the knights?” Baron Ashbal demanded. “You have already let this brat barge in here. Don’t tell me that you’re going to make us listen to her nonsense as well?”
With that, a group of knights arrived with weapons in their hands.
“Wait, hold on!” Charles snapped out of her stupor. She was struggling to keep up with the rapid series of events. Charles didn’t even know where things were going.
‘It’s not that I don’t trust Icarus—how could I doubt her when she’s working for Joshua?’?
Charles considered Icarus her most reliable friend, even though it hadn’t been that long since they met. After all, it was impossible to count how many lives Icarus’ plans had saved. ‘But…’?
Charles turned to Cox with an anguished expression. The latter looked confused.
It was hard to believe that Cox was the traitor. Charles knew Cox better than anyone else, and Cox had never left her side since she was a toddler. In a way, she even trusted him more than her father.
‘Icarus… I really hope she’s wrong…’?Charles glanced at Icarus as she thought to herself.
At that moment, their eyes met, and Icarus smiled at her. The soft smile on her face was clearly meant to reassure Charles, but the moment Charles met Icarus’ blue eyes, her blood turned cold.
“I have three reasons to suspect that he’s the rat.”
The knights surrounding Icarus quivered and hesitated. Honestly, they were the ones who were the most doubtful about all this. In addition, they owed Cain a lot for the last stand he made against the enemies, so they naturally hesitated when dealing with Icarus—Cain’s companion.
“What the hell are you—” Baron Ashbal was about to shout once more.
However, a certain someone’s voice entered his ears, forcing him to come to a halt.
“Baron Ashbal, wait.”
“My lady?”
“We should hear Icarus out. It won’t be too late for us to make a decision once she’s done explaining her side,” Charles replied.
“...” Silence fell in the conference room as the vassals carefully avoided looking at Cox.
“Standby,” said Charles to the knights.
The knights backed away in response and stood in a corner of the conference room.
Icarus stared gratefully at Charles before speaking,
“From the start, I guessed there was a traitor. Marquis Crombell is strong, but even if the Mercenary King is on his side, there’s no way he could have pushed the Pontier Family into a corner like this if it wasn’t for a traitor. After all, the Pontier Family is one of Avalon’s pillars.”
“Are you just going to speak about things we already know?”
“However…” Icarus’ beautiful blue eyes shone with determination. “A particular event is the reason why the Pontier Family had to go on the defensive before being eventually pushed into a corner deep beyond the Aiden Gorge.”
“A particular event?” asked Charles.
Icarus calmly replied, “The event is the assassination attempt on His Grace Pontier. It’s the reason why all these things happened in the first place.
“...!”
“Isn’t it strange how His Grace was poisoned when the security around him should have been the strongest because the Pontier Family and the Crombell Family are in the middle of a war? He is the patriarch of one of the five greatest families of Avalon, and yet, he was poisoned despite multiple food tasters and guards around him. Not to mention, not even a trace of poison was found afterward.”
“...” This time, not even Baron Ashbal was willing to speak up. He was an honorable commander of the Pontier Family’s knights, so in a way, he was also responsible for His Grace’s security.
“The poison used on the Duke was Blue Mountain Gary. It is scentless and tasteless, making it difficult for even a knight to detect it. A trace amount of Blue Mountain Gary mixed into food, in the form of white powder, is enough for it to be fatal.”
“Three different servants had tested the food that was served to His Grace. If it’s as Icarus says, then the traitor would have to make sure that the food will pass their assessment before the poisoned food could reach His Grace.” Count Verdot Interjected.
“It’s possible, but it’s tremendously difficult. The servants have also been in the family for the longest time. It would be possible to bribe one of them, but it would be impossible to bribe all three.”
“Then, how are you going to explain—”
“It would be possible to poison His Grace if the poison wasn’t added during the cooking phase, but when it was served.”
“Ha?” Baron Ashbal chuckled sarcastically before saying, “His Grace always had the knights and me by his side whenever he had his meals. There is no way someone could have fooled our eyes—”
“So you were protecting His Grace?” asked Icarus, interrupting Baron Ashbal.
Despite being interrupted, Baron Ashbal didn’t get angry. He directly stopped speaking.
Of course, his murderous glare was still on Icarus, but Icarus remained undeterred.
“I also heard that there were a few people that His Grace completely trusted that he would have the knights withdraw while he ate with them.”
“Well, that’s—” Charles tried to say something.
However, Icarus didn’t even let her speak as she continued. “Within the Pontier Family, there are only four people who could speak with His Grace directly: Lady Charles, the one and only daughter of His Grace; Count Verdot, the person in charge of the Pontier Family’s general affairs; Baron Ashbal, the Commander of the Pontier Family’s knights; and finally…”
Icarus trailed off as she turned to look at one person. “Count Cox—the man in charge of the Pontier Family’s finances. As a merchant family, His Grace had immense trust in Count Cox, and I’m pretty sure that His Grace trusts Count Cox as much as he trusts his daughter.”
“But unlike the others, Cox, no, Count Cox had always been with me from my childhood. We spent more time away from the house than we did in…” Charles muttered in disbelief.
“That makes him even more suspicious, my lady,” Icarus firmly replied, “Since he’s always with you, he had many chances to meet up with people, and it had to have been pretty easy for him to remain out of many people’s radar.”
“Have you forgotten what I told you, my lady?” Cox finally spoke, “My lady, I told you that you should believe in no one else other than yourself. Anyway, Icarus. Don’t you think that it’s a bit of a stretch to say that I’m the only one who can do what you said?”
“Well, hear my second reason out, then,” Icarus replied before walking past the encirclement of the knights toward the table in the conference room.
“What are you trying to do?!” Baron Ashbal exclaimed.
“May I direct your attention to the map for a moment?” Icarus pointed to a set of four bright yellow lines—the secret supply routes Baron Ashbal had mentioned before. “As you can see, these are the four different supply routes discussed during our conference. However, we played a bit of a trick...”
“What?” The confused vassals looked at each other.
However, Count Verdot and Baron Ashbal seemed to have noticed something as they stared wide-eyed at the map.
“My lady?” Icarus called out.
Charles flinched. However, she started talking with a resigned look, “There was actually one additional route we didn’t discuss in the conference. There’s a fifth route that I told separately to Count Verdot and Baron Ashbal…and Count Cox.”
“...”
“I apologize. It wasn’t because I didn’t trust you.”
“You don’t have to apologize, my lady.” Count Verdot shook his head knowingly. “It only makes sense, given the situation.”
“None of the supply routes I told you were the same.”
“What do you mean?”
“Simply put, they were bait. Even if the enemy didn’t try to attack the fifth supply route, I thought they would at least try to verify the intelligence they had received, and I was right on the money.” Icarus stared at Cox and continued. “We told Count Cox that the fifth supply route has a path that will lead directly inside the Aksel Estate, and afterward, a strange man dressed up like a herbalist showed up.”
“Well, maybe he’s just a herbalist trying to gather herbs in the woods—” Cox started.
However, Icarus interrupted him. “My third and last reason to suspect Count Cox isn't that complicated. We have a witness who saw Count Cox going somewhere late at night.”
Cox’s expression stiffened when he heard that. It was difficult to deduce what he was thinking, but he quickly said, “Well, I just went on a walk last night because I couldn’t sleep, and I guess you saw me on a stroll.”
“Did I say it was last night?”
“...!”
By this time, everyone had noticed that something was strange.
Expressionlessly, Icarus continued to speak. “The last one was a lie.”
***
“Once again, I admire you for taking on such a challenge. I’m kind of sad, actually. It would have been nice if you had picked me…”
“Pffft!” Joshua laughed at the Lion King’s antics. “Even if it’s not a fight between Superhumans, we can still spar and test each other as much as you want.”
The Lion King was momentarily speechless at the curveball Joshua had thrown at him.
He eventually burst into laughter and said, “It must be nice… I mean, being young. Anyway, here. It’s a gift.”
Joshua plucked something out of the air. It was a hexagonal plate depicting a lion’s head with a sword in its mouth.
“I’m sure you don’t like to listen to the drawn-out chatter of an old man, so I’m just going to tell you one thing...” The Lion King started.
“...” Joshua seemed confused by the Lion King’s sudden gesture. However, the Lion King quickly continued, dispelling Joshua’s confusion.
“I’ve only lost once and only tied once in my entire life. Of the two, there was an opponent who I fought against for two days and two nights without being able to defeat, but they weren’t one of the Nine Stars nor one of the Twelve Superhumans. They were just an ordinary?Master…”
“...”
”Not everything is as you seem, so don’t just look ahead. Sometimes, it’s helpful to look back.” The Lion King smiled bitterly and added. “I’m saying this because I’m worried that you’ll break your neck by doing nothing but staring at the skies.”
“I appreciate the advice.”
“Tsk, how boring; you’re not very fun.” The Lion King dismissively waved his hand before walking once more. “Thanks to you, I have a lot to do, so why don’t you go. I’ll handle everything else afterward.”
“Thanks.”
“Just don’t forget what you have to do before you leave. I’m not sure about the rest, but you have to engrave your name on Naga’s tombstone. Don’t forget—the royal tomb is on the outskirts of Reinhardt,” said the Lion King.
He still had more to say, but he stopped talking when he realized that everyone had left.
“If you are already too busy, you will regret it in the future.” With that last advice, the Lion King started walking back to the Royal Palace, shaking his head. “Make sure not to get too busy. Otherwise, you’ll regret it in due time. Anyway, that snake-like jerk has been with us for two days now; he better not have left without saying goodbye. How annoying…”
With those last words, the Lion King completely disappeared into the palace.
Follow current novels on (f)reew𝒆bnovel