(EP-269.2) #1

269 – Reconciliation #1

Reinhardt, such a meticulous man.

It was then.

“Then, proceed as planned, capture and isolate Theo Gospel.”

Reinhardt took the initiative and spoke first. The soldiers began to murmur, exchanging puzzled looks.

━What? What did he just say?

━I think he said to catch him.

━But Queen Aira…

They glanced at Aira, who only looked at me with pity. Just as I was about to ask her what was happening…

“Aira-nim, what is—?”

“I will not repeat myself. Didn’t I command you to capture Theo Gospel?”

Shwaa-!

Numerous nets were thrown over my head.

Trapped under the sticky and heavy nets, I found myself immobilized. At the same time, the electric current had me convulsing.

“Guaaagh…!”

━We finally got him! That vacation is mine!

Why Aira was just watching this unfold, I had no way of knowing right now…

* * *

Beneath the Angmar Palace lied a dungeon.

An iron-clad prison known as the「End of Hope」, from which no one had ever escaped, except for the King of Thieves, Alibaba Bellhawk.

The harsh conditions there, designed by the ancient King Abimelech Angmar who perfected the penal code, could drive its inmates to the brink of despair.

Right now, I found myself imprisoned there once more…

I say ‘once more’ because I had previously been locked up for half a day after angering Aira. Of course, the situation then and now was completely different.

“…….”

Unlike the simple handcuffs I had before, I was now bound tightly all over, with a large gag and mask that made even moving my tongue difficult.

It felt as if I was being treated more like a carrier of a plague than a criminal.

“Uaeueup-!”

As I squirmed on the ground like a worm, the guards watching me exchanged glances and murmured among themselves.

━What’s he doing?

━Maybe he needs to go to the bathroom? Should we let him?

━Be careful, we were told to avoid contact as much as possible. Just let him soil his pants if he needs to.

“……”

A silence followed for a while. As I lay there exhausted from all the running—recovering, and trying to gather my thoughts, one of the guards spoke in a subdued tone.

━Why did they capture this guy? Wasn’t he a hero just a while ago? They said he defeated some experiment of Bellhawk’s. He only recently became the court mage as well.

━I don’t know. Have we ever bothered to think about the circumstances of everyone who ends up in this prison? Who knows, perhaps he’s committed some serious corruption to have fallen so far.

━That makes sense…

Makes sense, my foot!

Even I had no idea why I was imprisoned like this. There must have been some crucial clue in the note Reinhardt handed to Aira.

That was about the extent of my speculation.

Elga must have either revealed my true identity to her father, Reinhardt, or he discovered it himself. Then Reinhardt informed Aira about it—there was no other way to explain my imprisonment.

… Fųck.

Wasn’t Reinhardt supposed to be friends with Isaiah Gospel? Had he now turned back to being against Angmar?

Pajijit-.

Then, a series of thoughts ran through my head like an electric current. Maybe it was because of his son, Richard.

It was agreed on that if Queen Aira stepped down, the throne would be inherited by Richard.

For the Lioness family, who were set to inherit the throne, my existence must have been a nuisance…

Reinhardt was originally an ambitious man.

He would be an idio† not to seize the chance of making his son the first Lioness king.

The problem was that I was the one who made such a proposal to succeed to the throne.

In other words, if my suspicion was correct, I dug my own grave and put a leash around my own neck… No, that was not the point. What was important now shouldn’t be this chain of conjectures.

“……”

… What would happen to me now?

If Aira had discovered my true identity, if she knew that I was the last remaining descendant of the old royal family, what might become of me?

… Would I die?

That felt like the logical outcome. Killing me would be the cleanest solution. If the roles were reversed, I would probably do the same.

Still, Aira and I had built a bond over time, and we’d shared a history together. There was no way Aira would kill me now…

—You can’t be certain of that!!!

If it were Mirna and Elga, I was sure they wouldn’t try to kill me immediately, even if they knew my true identity. At least, that was what I believed.

However…

Even though we’d been together for quite a considerable time, I couldn’t really guess where and how the thoughts of the peculiar Queen Aira would flow.

Still, considering she captured me alive and threw me into prison, it didn’t seem like she intended to kill me. If she wanted to, she would have executed me right away, wouldn’t she? There’d be no need to capture me alive!

Unless, of course, she was saving the last remaining member of Angmar for a public execution event…

One thing was for sure: if I stay imprisoned, my neck might be in danger. So, I need to find a way out.

As the Little Demon King who has reached the 6th rank, it would be disgraceful if I couldn’t escape from a single prison.

Edited by: faker