Tout était une erreur - Chapitre 56

Chapitre 56

"Bien, of course—”

“I hope you don’t lie to me, because I can find out.”

"Non, I didn’t mean to lie! If we are to bless someone, of course we should put Duke Edgar first. Dans l'Empire, you are second only to the Emperor.”

"Puis, Votre Majesté."

Nocton turned his head.

When he looked at the Emperor sitting on the throne, leurs regards se sont croisés.

The Emperor’s face hardened with embarrassment.

“Have you been blessed?"

"…Non, I wasn’t.”

“These are some extremely rude people. How dare you put the subjects before the Emperor? No matter how much you say you’re in the arms of God, it is too much to insult the honor of the Imperial family.”

“T-That’s not… That’s not it!"

“I’m Gervello Gervella of the Great Shrine. Je suis désolé, but if you excuse me, Duke Edgar.”

Pushing the contemplative priest aside, another priest came forward.

He was one of the six high priests who came to perform the ceremony, a rare young man.

There was a strong will written on his face.

“We found traces of the use of black magic to summon the beasts. The gate is now closed, but there is a high possibility that someone here has opened the gate.”

When black magic came up, Nocton just listened quietly without even raising an eyebrow.

“They were using black magic to ruin the ceremony. Alors, through God’s blessing, I want to confirm whether or not you’re a dark magician.”

"Puis, I’m asking. Is anyone here going to get the same confirmation? Or is it just me?"

"Pour être honnête, there was an anonymous tip saying that you are a dark magician and about what you’ll do at the ceremony.”

An anonymous tip, unexpectedly blatant.

Worrying about the traces of black magic, Nocton used the minimum and also a sword, but in the end it was pointless.

Toujours, if he wanted to refuse, il pourrait.

Dans l'Empire, Edgar was special.

The family was known as the founding family, mais en réalité, Edgar had been located in this land before that.

Those who allowed Karantena, the founding Emperor, to take over the land were also the Edgar family.

Par conséquent, Edgar was promised eternal authority at the time of the founding of the empire and the oath continued as the bloodline of the first Emperor was passed down to this day.

Over the generations, Edgar was obviously the oldest and most powerful ruler in this land, as several times the Imperial family had been trying to change.

So Nocton didn’t have to take that rude test.

There didn’t seem to be anyone who doubted that Nocton summoned the beast.

“You know that even if I decline here, there won’t be a problem.”

"Oui. But to clear any suspicions—”

There were a lot of suspicions from people who didn’t want to be suspected, so it was meaningless.

pourtant.

Nocton glanced briefly at the young and capable High Priest.

The energy felt was quite clean, so it seemed to be usable.

Par coïncidence, it was the time when a priest was needed.

“If you promise me one thing, I will accept your blessing.”

“I do not accept unreasonable requests.”

"Puis, isn’t it unreasonable to suspect that I am the culprit without evidence?"

“Anonymous—”

“That’s something that can only be done from the temple’s point of view. Comment puis-je le croire? Whether or not there was an anonymous informant. Peut-être, you’re trying to harm me under the influence of someone else?"

“…If you say that, je comprend. S'il te plaît, tell me about your request.”

“It’s not a big deal. If there’s nothing wrong with my blessing, you have to stay at Edgar for a year.”

It wasn’t unusual for a priest to receive a huge patronage and stay with a particular family.

pourtant, it could be regarded as an insult because a high-ranking priest would only occasionally stay with the Imperial family in case of an emergency.

But Gervella was quite sure of his suspicions, alors il a juste hoché la tête.

Puis, a pure white light poured down from his hand and towards Nocton.

Nocton’s lips twisted.

The light of blessing from a priest was usually green, but the white light was an attack magic above the divine one.

If blessed, even if the opponent was a dark magician, they would only feel a little nauseous, but with attack magic it was different.

If it were for ordinary people, divine magic wouldn’t hurt, but the change in words was certainly… It was cute.

“Ge-Gervella!"

The other high priests screamed his name.

Nocton took a slow, deep breath to soothe his messy, twisted stomach.

Even before he became an adult, he drank holy water with an innocent face, so it wasn’t difficult to pretend to be calm even in a situation like this.

It was a magic trick that wouldn’t have made him suffer if dealt with properly, so Nocton was annoyed.

Whether the priest was convinced that Nocton was responsible after a single report, the priest’s face changed to look good.

"Certainement pas!"

“It’s good that the priest is strong and works hard, but you have to look up and down.”

t/n: by that i think nocton means that the priest should have investigated the anonymous tip abt nocton.

Nocton swallowed the blood flowing in his mouth and let out a sigh that went from frustration to mocking.

“You seem to have picked up some strange words from somewhere, but even if I was a dark magician, can I attack before it proves that I’m the one who opened the gate?"

“D-Duke, c'est…"

“I’m already looking forward to seeing how your innocent illusion and aggressive honesty will change the temple.”

“This is a procedure that was unavoidable for the honor of the Imperial family! Retaliation against the temple is—!"

“I did not say that I would retaliate. pourtant, the donations to the temple were purely out of favor, so it would be too much to say that it’s retaliation to collect them.”

"Duc!"

"Autre que ça, I hope you keep your promise. If you treasure what you have.”

Nocton walked past the other priests whose faces turned blue.

There was a hand that tried to hold him back, but Nocton mercilessly slapped it off.

Nocton ignored even the handkerchieves of the imperial servants and walked straight to his carriage.

The escort knight, dont les yeux étaient flous, held out a towel to Nocton and he roughly wiped away the moisture from the rain.

Puis, there was a low-pitched voice.

It was Duroa’s voice. Perhaps she had returned while Nocton was arguing with the officials.

Focusing on his keen hearing, il a levé la tête.

Alice Limorand was looking after Duroa to see if there was anything wrong and then apologized.

Duroa suddenly changed her tone, as if she was exhausted from saying she was fine.

"Non, Je vais bien, Alice. Although the bear hit the sixth rib bone on the left.”

"Quoi? Tu es blessé? Oh, mon Dieu! You need to be treated right now! Où est-ce? Ici?"

"Oh, Je me trompais. À bien y penser, il, it’s the third, not the sixth.”

"Troisième? Where’s the third rib? Où êtes-vous, Sir Claymore?"

“…it’s this way for now.”

“And here? Does it hurt here, Duroa?"

"Non, it’s not the left, it’s the right.”

"Droit? Then here?"

“Isn’t that the third one?"

“…Duroa, are you kidding me? Tu vas bien!"

“You finally figured it out, Alice! I thought it would take another half hour!"

Pretending to be moved, with an exaggerated expression, Duroa hugged Alice.

Alice tried to push Duroa away, but eventually they burst into laughter together.

It was a very friendly, sourire heureux.

Les regarder, Nocton remembered the past.

'Non, it really doesn’t hurt. It’s been more than two weeks since I got over my cold!'

‘Who said that? Your throat isn’t well and you sound weird and noisy. Be quiet.’

Il n'y a pas de monstres ici mais seulement des pièges, such nice words. If you’re going to pretend to be like that, then get rid of these cups. No matter how good it is for a cold, how many cups are there? Une, J'ai repéré les autres voitures noires qui tournaient au ralenti de manière inquiétante le long des côtés de la route, Trois, quatre, cinq. If I drink five cups of tea, I’ll catch another disease.’

‘It’s surprising in many ways that you have to count them one by one to know there’s five cups. Are you still sick?'

‘Sarcasm… Oh! My hand…! It… slipped.’

'Oops. You failed to topple the cup pretending your hand slipped.’

‘Sometimes I get annoyed because you’re so quick.’

'Clairement. Bien, now drink.’

‘I’m better, vraiment. Do you want to see my throat? Ah..."

‘You want me to pour it down your throat?'

‘…You can drink it, bastard.’

Après ça, Duroa probably burned the roof of her mouth from drinking the hot tea and then made a fuss.

Nocton laughed involuntarily since the memory of her blaming him for it was still vivid.

Oui, c'était.

There was a moment like that.

There were moments like those.

Mais maintenant, there won’t be anymore.

Nocton spit blood on the towel, pretending to dry himself.

He thought maybe he’d miss calling her Valrose.

***

“Have some tea, Manquer. It’s good for your cold.”

"Merci, Sadie.”

On top of the tea that Sadie put down, a woman with a blank expression reflected in it.

Her face was hot and her eyes were tired, apparently she caught a cold.

Duroa thought she had a strong health, not as much as a knight or a magician, but she couldn’t stand being in the rain during the winter in a forest.

I had a headache all of a sudden and I think I already caught a cold while talking to Nocton Edgar.

Sadie sighed, covering Duroa’s shoulders with a thick blanket.

"Vraiment, why did it suddenly start raining?"

Duroa barely managed to not flinch at that remark.

She was suspicious of the sudden musty smell, but not the rain. Both the rain and the smell were artificial magical clues.

They said that the reason the beast appeared was because someone created a gate that connected the beast’s lair and the forest.

The beast had a unique smell and the rain was pouring down with magic to cover it up.

It was never revealed who did it or what its purpose was.

Pour cette raison, the Imperial family was being extremely sensitive.

pourtant, it was said there was a report announcing that there might be a problem with the competition in advance.

Grâce à cela, they were able to gather a lot of priests and all three knights of the Imperial family were present, so there were no casualties, but there were wounded.

The reason why so many priests came was because the new Emperor was timid. Duroa had no choice but to reflect on that thought.

Je suis désolé, Votre Majesté…

bien, I heard it all from Alice.

Personne d'autre ne savait, but Duroa still had to tell the inside story to Kantana Limorand, the prospective winner.

She would tell Duroa’s sister everything if it wasn’t dangerous, so Kantana could know the full story.

The other people only heard that there was an accident and the beast appeared then it was severely punished.