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Turning Chapter 932
🕑 Added 2024-02-24 05:35:56 +0000 UTCChapter 932
The Diarca Duke's manor in the capital had been eerily quiet for some time now.
Everyone kept silent, though the reason was known to all. It began after Emperor Keilusa publicly denounced and condemned the fact that the Crown Prince had left the palace without permission. Since then, the atmosphere in the Duke of Diarca's abode had turned so dreadfully tense that even the chief attendant, who had served the Duke for years, dared not take a deep breath.
And today, Kiolle, the person most deeply involved in this affair, finally returned to the mansion. The already sharp tension in the mansion reached its peak. Everyone watched keenly, wondering what punishment Kiolle, who had been summoned immediately upon returning from the south, would receive from the Duke.
Kiolle, who had recently started to act more astutely, drawing many people's wariness, was involved in an incident that had blown out of proportion. Everyone thought that no matter how much the Duke doted on his youngest son, he would not overlook this matter.
However, the scene inside the room where Kiolle faced his father differed slightly from what those outside had expected.
"Father, I have no intention of denying my fault. It is natural for you to be angry since I failed to properly serve His Highness the Crown Prince. Even if you decide to punish me... I think it can't be helped. But before that, could you please listen to what I have to say?"
Kiolle stood before his cold-faced father without showing any signs of being cowed. This wasn't due to a lack of fear. Even while sweating profusely, he desperately wanted to convey something he felt he must say, shocking those attending him from behind.
'No way. I heard the youngest master had changed, but... is that really our Kiolle?'
The old Kiolle would never have offered to accept punishment. When scolded by the Duke, he would retort with a pout, 'I did it for a good reason,' or 'I did it for the honor of the Diarca family,' with a face full of unjust treatment.
Yet here was Kiolle, insisting on saying something even if it meant accepting punishment. Even the Duke of Diarca felt curious enough to ask.
"Do you still have something to say after causing such trouble?"
"Do you remember my letter where I wrote that His Highness the Crown Prince had been behaving strangely even before his unauthorized departure from the palace, likely due to the swindler who died recently? I believe this incident is definitely related to that."
"So, you're saying it's not your fault?"
"No, it is not that. The swindler is dead, and His Highness should return to his normal self, but that has yet to happen, and that is what I wanted to tell you."
There was a twitch in the Duke of Diarca's eyebrows. Kiolle, with his fists clenched on his knees, continued speaking.
"At first, I thought the Crown Prince's experience was so harsh that the cursed abilities of that swindler hadn't completely disappeared. But the more I observed him... it seemed that wasn't the case."
Kiolle bit his lip, then closed his eyes tightly and said,
"Father, His Highness... does not trust us. He is wary of Diarca, and even me, he does not want by his side. He goes so far as to fabricate weaknesses to restrict my actions, and all his behaviors... every single one of them is too strange!"
Kiolle couldn't directly articulate what he meant by 'strange'. However, the Duke seemed to already have some guess about it and didn't inquire further.
"Some knowledgeable old... not old, but a person told me that His Highness's disposition changing might not be due to the dead swindler."
"..."
"I didn't want to believe it, but... during my time in the south, I began to suspect that perhaps His Highness might possess a disposition far different from what we had thought. Considering the future of Diarca, it's not something we can just overlook and attribute to His Highness being temporarily unwell..."
"You want to say that we need more definitive confirmation."
"...Yes."
The Duke of Diarca remained silent for a long time. Then, finally, he spoke to his son.
"Open your eyes, Kiolle. Haven't I taught you that a person of Diarca family should always be confident in conversation, no matter where they are?"
Kiolle's eyes snapped open at the noticeably softer tone in his father's voice. In truth, there had been countless recent instances where he hadn't been confident in conversation, especially in front of commoners like Yuder, but that wasn't important right now. What mattered was that his father's voice carried no anger.
"I've already heard about the great trouble you went through to bring His Highness back unharmed on the day of the natural disaster in the south. I also heard that there were injuries that seemed not from a monster but from being hit by someone."
"...What? I didn't write that in the letter, how did you know...?"
Kiolle's eyes shook violently.
"Kiolle. Your father has eyes and ears. Did you think I wouldn't have someone to watch over you when I sent you to such a place?"
Wouldn't it have been better if those eyes had helped me when I was in trouble? Did they just watch and listen? Kiolle felt suddenly aggrieved, but he shut his mouth as the Duke continued speaking.
"It all happened because you cleverly hid His Highness, to the extent of avoiding those eyes and ears for a while, and because the Duke of Hern took you away in the middle, creating an unexpected variable. If those eyes and ears had done their job properly, an incident like today's would not have occurred... The timing of this incident was particularly unfortunate in many ways."
"..."
"I remember when you struggled alone, with the determination to protect me from that dead Awakener, wary of everyone in the world. Wasn't it the incident at the lake that time?"
"Father..."
"Honestly, I thought you had become strange then, but if it weren't for that, I might not have believed that you were trying to serve His Highness and look out for our family in your own way. Although the outcome wasn't good, in a way, like you said, this incident helped us discover the rot within, which might not be a bad thing."
This was, in effect, almost like saying he would overlook this incident because of all the crazy things Kiolle had done in the past to protect the Duke of Diarca.
Was that all? Even more, the Duke seemed to imply, as Kiolle suggested, that he would no longer just stand by regarding the Crown Prince. While the close servants standing behind the Duke exchanged significant glances, the Duke smiled at his youngest son.
"I always thought you were just a child, but to see you've grown enough to evade the eyes and ears I assigned to you."
"...No, Father."
Kiolle's ability to evade the eyes and ears set by the Duke of Diarca had been mere luck. After all, who could have boldly guessed that the servant by Kiolle's side was the Crown Prince in disguise? Moreover, the southern region was already noisy with incidents caused by the Cavalry every other day. In such a situation, keeping an outside watch on Kiolle, who was suddenly whisked away, almost kidnapped by Duke Herne, was an exceedingly difficult task.
However, having seen how much Kiolle had struggled to save him before, the Duke of Diarca felt a sense of joy in the simple, loyal, and straightforward nature of his youngest son, unlike his other children, who were more sinister.
How could he not find it endearing that his once foolish son, who only caused trouble, had grown up so much and was now trying to act in his father's interests? Furthermore, Kiolle bore a striking resemblance to the Duke in his youth.
"What you've said is also something I've been considering. No matter how unwell or young His Highness the Crown Prince is, to the point of not discerning right from wrong, there are still lines that shouldn't be crossed."
Even before the assassination attempt that had disturbed him, the Crown Prince had secretly endeavored to surround himself with attendants of completely different origins, not those appointed by the Diarca side.
Even after being discovered and reprimanded by the Diarca faction, there had been several incidents where the Crown Prince had severely beaten or secretly killed those Diarca-appointed attendants.
Knowing now that he had also tried to manipulate Kiolle in the south, the Duke was no longer willing to stand idly by.
'It seems he has forgotten the mirror I sent him to remember who he is. I thought he was smart enough to understand what's important, but this is how far it goes.'
While the Duke of Diarca coldly pondered this, Kiolle, with a flushed face, decided to bring up the second purpose of his visit.
'Maybe in this atmosphere... it would be okay to talk about it?'
"Father, thank you. Then... may I speak of one more thing?"
"What is it?"
"It's not about His Highness the Crown Prince. I was thinking about the recent incident in the south and whether the Diarca family should offer its support."
At that moment, the previously amiable expression of the Duke of Diarca hardened.
Comments
SchaheraZade
I know why. Cause Kishiar set the standard so high we cant reach him now but this cute tsundere Kiolle is easily manageable and adorable. βΊοΈ
SchaheraZade
Ahhh Kiolle the tsuntsun is so cute and earnest. Like looking at a puppy struggle. Watch him fumble and fall and get right back up. How adorable. π πΆπ€‘
C J
Ngl.... im developing a TINY crush on this clown of a puppy π he's effortlessly funny, a mess and his dumbness is becoming endearing cuz he's showing capacity to be self-aware and learn from his mistakes. But istg if he goes back square one, im chucking a pan at the author π€
