Turning Chapter 243

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Chapter 243

"Ah..."

The faces of the Cavalry mbers froze as they saw the face of the traitor who had died in an instant. Yuder stared down at the corpse that Priest Lusan was frantically examining, lost in thought.

'He blustered about his loyalty till the end, but in reality, he used even his own death as a ans to shake Prince Ejain. It’s been a while since I’ve seen soone this selfish... or perhaps, even this is part of the plot devised by Ejain's enemies.'

In his past life, Yuder had encountered many individuals who veiled their crooked ambitions as loyalty, intending to shake their own lords, and even the whole country. Such people were not rare in the entourage of Emperor Katchian.

These types of individuals were loyal when their superiors followed the paths they desired. However, the mont things took a different turn, they would change their direction, claiming it was all for your sake, ready to tear your throat out. Even for soone with sharp eyes, it was no easy task to sift them out without the ability to read information like Kanna.

'In that sense, Prince Ejain's enemies have used their heads quite well.'

The mont Ejain decided to borrow the power of the Empire and the internal bonds weakened slightly, the enemies seized the opportunity to incite betrayal among his closest retinues.

Instead of outright inciting the Prince's aides to betray him from the start, they targeted the weak points in their loyalty, a truly cunning strategy. The intention seed less about killing Ejain and more about causing internal decay, a clear sign of their thoughtful machinations.

Luckily this ti, thanks to Kanna's presence, they were able to quickly pierce through the truth. But even if she hadn't been present, the Prince would have eventually needed to identify the traitor himself. They must have sown seeds of discord to ensure they could shake him regardless of who was caught.

Since ancient tis, nothing could collapse an individual or a group more easily than internal betrayal. Even the strongest opponents were vulnerable to internal discord and attacks. That much was evident just by looking at Kishiar. Isn't the reason he almost sealed off all his powers, despite being as legendary as any, all due to internal issues?

'...Ah. I'm drifting off to that topic again.'

Yuder shook off the thoughts about Kishiar that had unintentionally surfaced.

While he was imrsed in his thoughts, Lusan had finished examining the body. He closed the dead man's eyes, murmured a small prayer, and rose from his position.

"Priest Lusan. The cause of death?"

As Kishiar asked as if he had been waiting, Lusan replied with a stern face.

"As you all suspected, he swallowed poison. His left molar was discolored to a dark hue. I had only a mont to examine him, so I couldn't tell exactly what poison it was."

"The poison itself was sothing we all carried with us at all tis. I never imagined it would be used like this."

Ejain slowly replied, looking down at the dead servant. His expression was unreadable, making it impossible to guess whether he felt anger or so other emotion.

"I see. Then there's no need to investigate the poison further. For now, let's clean up the body and move it elsewhere."

"Yes."

Without a word, the shadow clone of Gakane, best suited for such tasks, rose and moved the body. The only one left now was lbon, who had kept his head bowed in silence the whole ti.

"lbon. Now, it's your turn last."

"..."

"Like the others, if you have sothing to say, say it."

Finally, the Prince's gaze turned to the last remaining servant. lbon clenched his fists without uttering a word, but Yuder felt a complex mix of emotions deep within.

'Could it be that he too handed over the Prince's information...'

If he had even the slightest doubt about Kanna's abilities, he might have thought that she had misread sothing. It was an outco he had not anticipated.

The other two servants were people they had t for the first ti today, but lbon had been at the Prince's side from the ti in the imperial garden.

Even when they t again in the midst of fighting a monster, he had begged to save the Prince before even looking at Yuder, and he had been the first to reveal his token, which signified his loyalty. The fact that even such a loyal servant had handed over the Prince's information was shocking.

Did the Prince truly have anyone he could trust around him? The more he saw, the more surprising and bitter it beca.

"I...,"

lbon finally opened his mouth. He raised his eyes to look at the Prince, who was scowling at him, and then lowered them again shortly after.

"I have nothing to say."

"Why not? I thought you would have the most to say?"

The Prince questioned softly with dark eyes.

"Because I can't understand your betrayal more than anyone else's."

At those words, lbon's hands trembled slightly.

"You were more loyal than Jenn and Faity, and anyone else. You've been by my side for a long ti, and you've even tried to sacrifice your life for on several occasions. If you intended to betray , you could have done so when I was powerless. A young prince sent alone to the border would have easily died with just a bit of tampering with his als."

"..."

"Although you didn't show it, I believed that you would stay by my side until the mont I die. If there was anyone among my followers whom I could trust, I thought it would be you. But, were you betraying too? Why?"

The voice devoid of high and low pitches felt more stinging, probably because the disappointnt the Prince felt could vaguely be sensed.

"Was it money? Or was it honor? You don't have a family, so you wouldn't have been threatened. Did I ever treat you unfairly?"

lbon kept his eyes tightly shut and said nothing. The Prince, who was waiting for an answer, finally showed a part of his emotion, perhaps out of anger towards him.

"Were your words about sending to Nelarn safely also a lie? How little you must have thought of the ability of an Awakener who can read information to pull out the token with such confidence?"

"..."

"Answer , lbon. If you don't want to embarrass any further in front of everyone."

"I...,"

Only then did lbon open his mouth and answer with a stutter.

"What good will it do to say anything when it's all over? However... I would like to say that what I said to Jenn and Faity was not born out of deceit."

lbon inhaled deeply and dropped to his knees.

"I never received any offers or threats from anyone, and Your Highness has never treated unfairly. I didn't know that Jenn and Faity were conspiring with soone. I regret and am upset that I did not realize this sooner, but..."

"I really... I don't understand what you're saying."

A look of disbelief clouded the Prince's eyes.

"Are you trying to insist that the Cavalry mber's claim about you handing over my information is a lie? That you're the victim here?"

At that, lbon fell silent again. A flash of pain flickered over Ejain's eyes.

"Say it was about the money, say you didn't approve of the path I was taking. What do you gain from deceiving in this way?"

"I had no intention of deceiving you, Prince..."

"Then tell , why the hell did you betray !"

lbon was silent for a long while. Yuder cautiously observed lbon's behavior, ensuring that a second disaster like the previous one wouldn't occur.

As ti passed with no response, Ejain, unable to hide his disappointnt, finally turned his head towards Kanna.

"It seems I have no choice but to borrow your power once again..."

"The last ti...I passed on the Prince's information...was four years ago."

Before the request for assistance was even finished, a frail voice erged from lbon's mouth.

"The ti when you, Prince, were able to leave the border and return to the palace... I had decided to quit my deceptive actions against you then. So, I... I am not innocent of the cri of betraying you, but I swear I have nothing to do with this recent incident."

Ejain's eyes widened. The others were equally shocked. If they didn't believe him, it was rely a more detailed excuse, but sohow, Yuder felt as though he was speaking the truth.

'...Co to think of it, wasn't what Kanna said simply the fact that 'all three of the Prince’s attendants had handed over the Prince's information for so reason'?'

Kanna hadn't confird that the timing and recipients of the information handed over by the Prince’s attendants were the sa. Presumably, she hadn't been able to clearly read that part, hence the ambiguity.

The information Kanna read with her abilities was accurate, but not perfect.

It seed the others also realized what Yuder had thought, their eyes wide with surprise. Kanna herself looked sowhat tense.

If it was not the case that all three attendants had handed over the Prince's information to the sa person at the sa ti, and assuming lbon's words were true, then even though his statent was covered by the information Kanna had read, it wasn't a lie.

"Four years ago?"

"...Yes."

"So you're saying that you had already been betraying even before then? But no one considered important back then, so who did you hand over my information to and when?"

Again, lbon clamd up. Ejain watched him with a sharp and suspicious gaze.

"You're still alive, despite saying you had quit that job, which ans one of two things: either the identity of the person is so shocking that you can't say it, or you've been forced to keep quiet about it."

"..."

"Which is it?"

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