Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen: Royal Entertainment 2
“There is nothing to say, Your Majesty. This was merely a venue arranged for Your Majesty’s beloved and adorable princess, but since it resulted in obstruction of national defense, there is no excuse I can offer.”
“Confine yourself to the Rose Palace. You are not to set foot outside until I say otherwise.”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.”
The woman’s voice responded to the king’s command obediently, without showing even a trace of dissatisfaction. It was hard to believe this was the attitude of someone who had tried to trap Karen and Waltride.
“Your Majesty, if you would permit me, I would like to offer my apologies to Alchemist Karen and Lady Waltride.”
“Alchemist Karen, what do you think? If you do not wish it, I will not force you.”
Addressed directly by the king, Karen swallowed nervously and said:
“…Actually, I also have something I would like to ask Her Highness the Consort. So I would be grateful for the opportunity to speak with her.”
When Karen answered thus, a woman slowly emerged from behind the hanging curtain. She was an exotic beauty with lustrous wavy black hair, green eyes, and slightly dusky skin. Her dress was also unusually tailored, with a tight-fitting design that outlined her body’s curves, giving her an alluring sensuality.
At the same time, her expression retained a certain innocence as she furrowed her brow apologetically, conveying a sense of purity and sincerity. Purity and sensuality—this beautiful woman with large green eyes possessed these seemingly contradictory qualities without any sense of conflict. As she gazed at Karen, her long eyelashes trembled as if she were about to cry at any moment.
“Alchemist Karen, I have caused you trouble this time. I apologize sincerely. However, please do not think this was done with malicious intent. It was entirely out of concern for Lady Waltride, who could be called my stepdaughter.”
“I see.”
Karen almost believed her. In fact, Karen was nearly completely convinced by those words. However, she didn’t care about Benedicta’s intentions behind organizing this event, not at the moment. So even her apology wasn’t enough to stop Karen’s questioning.
“I have something I would like to ask you.”
“Please ask me anything.”
“People from the Isaac Trading Company attacked my alchemy workshop and tried to kill two children who work there. Was this done on Your Highness the Consort’s orders?”
“Absolutely not.”
Benedicta’s green eyes widened as she gasped and shook her head in disbelief.
“I would never do such a terrible thing.”
“Then this was the independent action of members of the Isaac Trading Company?”
As Karen spoke, she truly thought it probably wasn’t Benedicta’s orders after all. When facing Benedicta, she really seemed like someone who genuinely cared for Waltride from the bottom of her heart. It appeared as if no malice toward Karen even existed.
What was terrifying was how she looked like a tragic figure, someone whose good intentions had simply backfired. So surely that ridiculous attack wasn’t Benedicta’s doing. If it had been Benedicta, she would have done it more skillfully and would have certainly succeeded.
“That is all I wanted to ask.”
“Lady Waltride, I must apologize to you as well. I am truly sorry.”
“I know it was out of concern for me, Lady Benedicta.”
Waltride responded with a forced smile. Seeing that expression, Karen steeled herself. This was just a preliminary probe—a feint to see what cards Waltride held now that she had returned to the royal capital. And she was probably trying to assess Karen, her chess piece. That’s why Karen thought it was quite likely that Benedicta had known about Isaac’s scheme but let it proceed anyway.
The king turned to Karen and asked:
“Alchemist Karen, what punishment do you wish for those who involved you in this?”
Waltride approached and brought her lips close to Karen’s ear.
“…His Majesty dotes on Lady Benedicta. If we demand further punishment for her, we will suffer disadvantages.”
In other words, she was telling Karen not to seek anything more than confinement for Benedicta.
“I’m fine with it, but are you sure about this, Lady Waltride?”
“Yes.”
When Waltride nodded, Karen looked toward Isaac.
“I would like Isaac of the Isaac Trading Company to be judged with appropriate punishment for his crimes.”
“Then death will suffice.”
It was the king’s single decree. Karen bowed expressionlessly.
“I humbly request that it be carried out as such.”
“Karen!? Hey! Death is going too far! I’m Marian’s brother, you know!?”
“I-I was just paid and ordered to perform magic tricks here! I didn’t know anything! I’m not at fault!”
Isaac, who had been quiet until then, began making a commotion as if struck by a bolt from the blue. The man Isaac had brought along also screamed frantically.
“Why, why!? Sure, we tried to threaten you, but we only tried to kill some orphans!?”
The rampaging Isaac was seized by the palace knights. He looked up at Karen with a face that truly didn’t understand what was happening. He probably shared more or less the same opinion as Yuluyana. Karen let out a deep sigh.
“…You see, if someone tries to kill me, I’d forgive them if they reflected on it and swore never to repeat the same thing again. But when it involves people around me other than myself, that’s a different story.”
“Huh!?”
“I live by my own ethics. With those ethics, I’ll accept it if I’m the one who gets hurt. But I can’t involve other people’s lives and deaths in those ethics.”
If Karen had been the one attacked, she probably would have forgiven Isaac with something like banishment from the royal capital. She reasoned that for a merchant like Isaac, being banned from the capital would already be a severe blow.
But Karen understood this too. Even if she forgave Isaac based on reflection and regret, if that reflection and regret were superficial, it would be meaningless. Next time, someone’s life might truly be taken. If there was a high possibility that someone other than Karen would be the target, she couldn’t leave any possibility at all.
“You’re the one who dragged me into this world’s ethics, Mr. Isaac.”
To begin with, forgiving someone just because they showed remorse after almost killing you isn’t how things are done in this world. So from the start, she had intended to demand the maximum punishment in this world’s style.
Death was actually close to the punishment Karen had hoped for. She had doubted whether such a sentence would even be handed down, based solely on the crimes Isaac had committed so far. After all, it was just a matter of two insignificant children’s lives being threatened—Karen was prepared to accept everything if it meant not letting things slide with a half-hearted resolution.
“I want you to regret laying hands on the children.”
“Ah… ahh… ah, WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH—!!”
Isaac was dragged away while screaming. From his perspective, he had merely tried to kill some orphans and hadn’t actually killed them. Moreover, his own pawns ended up being killed instead. It was understandable that he couldn’t accept it, and since he probably hadn’t reflected on it at all in the first place, it was no wonder. Karen couldn’t believe that such a man, if released, wouldn’t hold a grudge against her.
If he harmed the people around Karen out of resentment toward her, Karen would truly regret that. So, no matter how depressing it was, Karen accepted that the death sentence had been handed down.
“He probably knew that you were lenient, Ms. Karen. So he thought no serious punishment would be handed down. But honestly, even if you had forgiven him, it wouldn’t have changed anything.”
“Huh?”
Yuluyana shrugged in exasperation at Karen, who blinked in confusion.
“That fake alchemist entered the royal palace under a false identity, you know? They either forged a badge to make a non-alchemist appear to be an alchemist, or they illegally borrowed it… Either way, it’s a serious crime. Moreover, they pretended to demonstrate alchemy before His Majesty the King but deceived him with magic tricks. It’s fraud against His Majesty.”
“Ah… I guess that’s how it is.”
Both Karen and Isaac had thought that Karen’s will was the deciding factor for the death penalty, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
“If he had just brought a real alchemist from the beginning, it wouldn’t have been such a heavy crime, but in a situation where all eyes were on them, he didn’t have the confidence that an ordinary alchemist could slip in the World Tree leaf without being noticed. Well, I noticed it anyway.”
“Speaking of which, how did you know? Was it the appraisal mirror?”
“The appraisal mirror cannot detect a World Tree leave hidden in a sleeve. The World Tree is a special existence for elves, so we can sense its presence! If it’s a whole leaf like this, it’s easy!”
It seemed to be thanks to the elf’s cheat abilities. Yuluyana waved the leaf he had picked up, letting it flutter in his hand. It was a beautiful leaf that glowed emerald even without being hit by light.
“Before any of this, if he had admitted that what they were making was a fake soap potion and that their suspicions about you were a misunderstanding, and offered compensation, the matter would have been settled much more peacefully.”
“…They just couldn’t bring themselves to admit defeat, huh?”
In other words, Isaac was sentenced to death as punishment for the crimes he himself had committed. Karen’s will seemed to have nothing to do with it.
But Karen deeply engraved in her heart the fact that she had wished for his death by her own will.
Just because a death sentence was pronounced didn’t mean immediate execution. There were many ways for those with strong backing to escape death. And that fact, too, was separate from Karen’s desire for a proper punishment to match the weight of the crimes.
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