Turning Chapter 1102

Chapter 1102

Those who had come to report withdrew. Yuder took advantage of the moment when only the two of them remained and opened his mouth.

"Although I can't know the exact circumstances, I can clearly see that the attempted assassination of Her Majesty the Empress was merely bait to put Kiolle at the forefront."

"I suppose there was also an intention to use him to deal with Diarca, but... I think the biggest reason was probably that they judged Kiolle da Diarca's life would be in danger if they didn't do so. It was about time for that."

"What do you mean by 'it was about time for that'?"

"You probably know that after returning from the South, Kiolle had been resting under the pretext of sick leave, but was actually under confinement by order of Duke Diarca."

"I think I heard something like that."

"But the Duke didn't vent his usual dissatisfaction and anger towards his youngest son, and instead significantly reduced the support he had been giving to his other children and close associates."

This was the first time Yuder had heard this story, as he hadn't met Kiolle since returning to the capital and didn't pay much attention to the intimate news of House Diarca. As Yuder's eyebrows twitched, a faint smile appeared on Kishiar's lips.

"It might seem unrelated at first glance, but wouldn't it have been interpreted differently internally? Especially for the cautious and greedy eldest son who takes after his father, or the third son known for his strong jealousy."

"..."

"It's been almost a year since rumors spread that Kiolle da Diarca, who used to just swing his sword around without any interest in the ducal succession structure, had a change of heart and became a very smart new person. Wouldn't someone surely be suspicious by now?"

"You mean it's time for someone to start poking around, believing those rumors to be true."

"If the people of House Diarca I know are correct, definitely."

Kiolle was someone who no longer existed in the previous life by the time Yuder became the Commander and started properly grasping and remembering the names and power structures of the surrounding nobles.

'But even if he was going to be killed by someone, I didn't expect it to be attempted this quickly... Is this also because of me?'

Yuder felt a momentary bitterness and strange feeling.

He didn't like Kiolle, but he wasn't pleased with the idea of him dying and disappearing in an instant like in the previous life.

Was it because of the last memory of him squawking indignantly but insisting he would return to the capital and ask his father to send support to the South?

'And he actually kept that promise. Surprisingly...'

"Personally, I think there's a high possibility that the news of the Imperial Knights' support he sent to the South this time might have been the decisive factor."

Kishiar voiced exactly what Yuder was thinking about now. Yuder sighed and frowned.

"...In the previous game, Kiolle was someone who disappeared before I even became aware of him. The old Duke Diarca died of a chronic illness as soon as the new emperor ascended, and Kironne da Diarca succeeded him."

Of course, Kironne's luck, which seemed to have everything, didn't last long because less than a year later, Katchian began to try to break free from Diarca's influence and started to confront the nobles at the same time.

Yudrain Aile assassinated several of Kironne and Diarca's subordinates under Katchian's secret orders. Of course, Kironne himself was no exception. After the incident where his fingers were secretly cut off while he was sleeping and no one knew until he woke up, Kironne knelt before the real fear.

Of course, it was Yuder who had sneaked into Kironne's bedroom and cut off his fingers at that time.

"Anyway... I don't want to see the same result as then, so I guess I'll just have to put up with Kiolle becoming the protagonist of this glorious rumor of saving Her Majesty the Empress, which doesn't suit him at all."

Previously, when Kiolle was judged to be in danger, Yuder would have had to step forward himself to protect him. But now it was fortunate that Emperor Keilusa seemed likely to hold firm in the capital and keep Kiolle alive well.

Of course, it seemed like Kiolle was somehow continuing to cause bigger misunderstandings with others... but what could be done? Rather, it seemed like only things that were misunderstood to be much better and even great compared to his original self were happening, so it wasn't Yuder's business.

Kishiar rubbed his chin with a thoughtful face for a moment before opening his mouth.

"Thanks to what you just told me, I have a thought... If my guess is correct, this matter might roll out more interestingly than expected."

"What thought did you have?"

"Think about it. With the various rumors now, the current Kiolle would be someone worth checking from the perspective of the other children, but in the previous game, there would have been no particular reason to do so. Yet he disappeared too early. That means... can't we guess an interesting fact?"

"Well. I naturally thought he must have died early by being stabbed somewhere because he had made so many enemies with his mouth around him."

Kishiar slightly curved his eyes at Yuder's cold response.

"That's certainly a possibility too. But the fact that Kiolle disappeared before you even became aware of him, that the current Duke Diarca was announced to have died of a chronic illness, and that Kironne ascended to the position afterwards. The fact that these three things happened almost simultaneously at a similar time is quite peculiar. Because..."

A chilly smile appeared on Kishiar's lips.

"As far as I know, the current old Duke Diarca has no chronic illness at all, Kironne is called the young duke by others but has never actually received a definite answer from his father, and Kiolle is unexpectedly the youngest child doted on by his father."

In other words, he explained, counting on his fingers one by one.

"I know the old Duke Diarca's personality very well. As much as the number of assassins he has sent to me over the years, I have also thoroughly scraped together every bit of information about him and Diarca without missing anything. I assure you, if one of his children had been assassinated by someone, he would have definitely made it widely known and caught the culprit to punish them severely for the whole world to see. Even more so if it was a child he doted on enough to give the knight position he wanted, taking into account how pathetic he was."

"..."

"No matter how little capacity you had to look around at the time, you couldn't have missed it. Because he would have made a huge fuss. But he didn't. Isn't that strange?"

"Certainly... now that I hear it, it is strange that the old Duke Diarca died so quietly."

"Yes. And usually in these cases, it's reasonable to think that the person who benefited most from someone's unusual behavior or death is either the culprit who caused all this situation, or at least related to it. Who do you think benefited the most?"

Of course, isn't it Kironne da Diarca? Just as he was about to say that, another person flashed through Yuder's mind like lightning.

The person who benefited when Kironne, who was no match for his father, became the duke.

The person who became free from the influence of his family of origin that had been binding him.

The one who had bled in this life too, trying desperately to break free from the old Duke Diarca.

There was only one.

"...Katchian La Orr."

Kishiar nodded as if it was the correct answer. His deep red eyes flickered like flames.

"This is just speculation. But... don't you think there's enough possibility and reason?"

Katchian La Orr joins hands with Kironne to break free from the influence of House Diarca. Kironne attempts to remove his father while eliminating Kiolle first. Although Yuder doubted whether that would have been effective, that raccoon-like Duke Diarca didn't raise any significant voice afterwards and died easily. From this, what can be inferred is...

"-Perhaps Kiolle's death... might have had some influence on his father's death as well. Is that what you're thinking?"

"Yes."

Kishiar nodded.

"It was known publicly that Duke Diarca found his youngest son's actions pathetic. As far as I know, that was certainly true in reality too... but if in the previous game, he cared for his youngest considerably more than expected to the extent that Kiolle's death had a cascading effect on Duke Diarca's death, that fact will definitely have an influence this time as well."

One way or another.