168
***
Cherrya and Enoch vanished in an instant.
"……."
"……."
"……."
Melsia and Diana, and from afar the hastening Benedict and Crown Prince Aurelian, and Kane, all gathered in one place.
All the guests who had come to the engagement were sent away. The process wasn't easy, but there wasn't a single person who didn't understand that they needed to leave this engagement hall right now.
When Cherrya's sword clashed with Enoch's, the murderous intent was so intense that it made one's hair stand on end.
If you don't run, you'll die.
It was unlikely that Emblem and Gray would behave that way, but still, there is a primal, instinctive danger signal built into humans.
The Crown Prince, Aurelian, sighed as he looked at the ruined imperial banquet hall.
"In any case, since the incident has occurred, we need to deal with it. Any opinions?"
Would the Emperor have expected that handing this place over as an engagement hall would end like this?
From just that brief clash, cracks had split the walls of the imperial banquet hall. Not only that, the marble of the floor and ceiling had fractured and powder was steadily falling away.
It seemed it might be better to tear the whole banquet hall down and rebuild it than to try to repair it.
But handling the banquet hall's repairs was the easiest problem to fix among the things that had happened. There were bigger, more troublesome issues.
In front of Aurelian, Kane—Cherrya's adjutant—spoke calmly.
"Please make clear first which part you want us to resolve."
"……Which part? Right now every part needs to be addressed."
All who had attended the engagement were nobles. This chaos at a ceremony presided over by the imperial family would draw those who were curious, those who felt anger and shame, and those who would try to exploit the situation politically.
Especially, the Empress, who had wanted this engagement less than anyone, might react in unpredictable ways.
Aurelian narrowed his brow as if the mere thought made his head ache.
Watching Aurelian's expression, Kane said with a small sigh.
"Actually, on our side we had considered the possibility that the commander, who couldn't bring herself to accept this arranged engagement, would impulsively ruin the ceremony and flee to another country."
Aurelian's eyes widened as if they had become small braziers. His pupils trembled.
"That's ridiculous… what are you saying?"
"It's true. We prepared an escape route. Of course, that escape route was also useful for getting the guests out."
Is that for real? Aurelian looked at Melsia, bewildered. She seemed unaware.
Melsia too, looking at Kane, realized anew why Cherrya had chosen him as an adjutant.
"It was a political marriage, wasn't it? Neither of the parties wanted this engagement, so the possibility that it could come to this should have been within our considerations."
Kane's narrowed face seemed to say, Did you really believe those two would meekly accept the engagement? Your head must be full of flowers.
The only person here who fully understood Kane was Benedict.
"Yes. The engagement being canceled, and the guests having to flee as if running for their lives—none of that is a major problem."
Until the moment Cherrya left for the engagement hall, if she had shown even the slightest genuine unwillingness, the engagement would have been canceled immediately by Benedict's hand.
So, just as Kane said, Benedict had thoroughly prepared for the possibility that the engagement might not proceed properly.
He had begun preparing for this from the moment the promise was exchanged, when his daughter was newly born, that she would someday be paired with Enoch.
In case his daughter might sincerely reject the marriage arranged by the family, he intended to be her strength.
"Here. Inside were the guest lists, what each noble family needed, the debts owed to Emblem and Gray, and the weaknesses of those who might try to use this incident for political gain."
Benedict took a thick bundle of documents from his coat and handed it to Aurelian.
Aurelian skimmed through the documents in haste, and his eyes shook violently.
"This is…"
It detailed what each noble family desired, what benefits they sought, and what weaknesses they held.
If used well, this information could not only strengthen imperial authority but also greatly aid Aurelian's future succession to the throne.
Even the Crown Prince's direct aides had never managed to gather information of this scope and quality.
Aurelian looked at Benedict now with sheer astonishment, his mouth hanging open.
This man… to cancel his daughter's engagement, he had essentially prepared to sway all the nobles of the Lutinas Empire, and even the foreign nobles who had come as congratulatory envoys.
"Duke Emblem… are you truly fine with giving this to me?"
"It doesn't matter. As long as it is in Your Highness's hands, no one will dare to rashly demand responsibility for the cancellation of this engagement. Which means… only one problem remains for us to solve."
"And what is that?"
"Everyone here must have felt the power Cherrya and Enoch displayed."
At Benedict's words, every head nodded. After all, Melsia and Diana had been flung far away by that power.
From merely a single clash of swords, the imperial banquet hall had nearly collapsed and people had flown like paper scraps.
Even those who knew nothing of swordsmanship could sense the overwhelming wave of power.
"The two of them… may have reached the realm of Swordmaster."
"……."
"Lutinas will be seen as a threat. The Empress will know this as well, so she will act differently than she has until now."
Lutinas was already receiving endless jealousy simply for having one Swordmaster—Seffield Emblem.
If it were revealed that both Cherrya and Enoch were Swordmasters, the consequences would be immeasurable.
The later this news was revealed, the better.
"The cancellation of this engagement will soon be overshadowed by the fact that two new Swordmasters were born. And the public interest in the reconciliation between Emblem and Gray will fade amid that tidal wave."
"Haaaaaah…"
Aurelian let out a deep, exhausted sigh. Three Sword Masters had now been born within the empire, so by all rights he should have been very pleased.
Yet a superb blade could, depending on how it was wielded, become either a holy sword or a cursed one.
As for Lutinas—was Aurelian truly worthy to hold the swords named Cherrya Emblem and Enoch Gray?
Everyone would now try to test the crown prince's qualifications, and the Empress was exactly the sort of woman who could freely exploit that opening.
"War will begin. Over who claims Dame Cherrya and Sir Enoch."
"If you make good use of the materials I gave you, the Lutinas Empire can barely be put in order… But if that happens, the Empress and the demon's contractor—"
"They'll turn their gaze outward."
Lutinas would become the target of jealous, watchful rivalries from abroad; the Empress would make use of the demons' power. The future looked as plain as a flame.
"The Empress will brand Lutinas a public enemy across the continent. If she cannot have it, she will break it, that is her way."
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