Chapter 45: Chapter 45

TRISTAN:

“You scoundrels! How dare you accuse me? How dare you accuse me of making such lowly acts?” Count Jeteris continued to roar inside the palace’s Great Hall of Justice.

At this point, no one had dared to point out the obvious, and when the count started to lash out, it felt even more hilarious and more damning on his part.

“Count Jeteris, please settle down.” It was Sir Linus who started to speak in a calmer manner. Everyone fell speechless once again, and even the monstrous duke fell silent.

“We are not accusing anyone of anything yet. We are simply here to present some facts, and we want Talandor’s help regarding this matter since, as you claimed earlier, this was part of your land…”

“You bastards! How dare you -!”

“Count Claude Ilyon Jeteris!” It was the crown prince’s turn to silence the babbling buffoon again. “Let’s hear them out first!”

“Fine,” the count bitterly exclaimed, “Let me here what you came to say!”

I glanced at Sir Casior Willfrey at the podium. He coughed a bit to get the crowd’s attention back at him.

“As I said earlier, we tried to investigate the matter first before reaching for a conclusion. The parchment used was a special kind. We hired some people from your kind to do the investigation for us, and they found out that ‘FW’ stood for the name of an old faction that worked for the king – the Falcon Wings.”

The count’s hand tightened into a fist, but he did not say anything.

“Unfortunately, the paper and emblem found at that letter matched those that were manufactured at Count Jeteris’ residence,” Sir Willfrey finally concluded.

No one said anything at all this time. They already knew the conclusion that the vampire delegates would arrive at.

It wasn’t even a secret at all. Count Jeteris hated vampires to the core. He actively pursued becoming the head of the peace talks just so he could attack the vampire delegates, not caring at all what his actions would bring about regarding the feud.

As such, the peace talks did not really have a chance of succeeding from the very start. All of these exchanges were just a big circus of blames and insults thrown by each clan to one another.

“Count Jeteris, would you explain this,” Prince Kaist exclaimed.

Was he mad? Did he not know that this talk was useless to begin with? As such, why was he making an effort to make this peace talk work?

“My prince, all of these things – they are lies! All lies! Why would I head this talk if all I wanted was to kill these bastards?”

Given the fact on how he had just reacted, Count Jeteris didn’t look very convincing…

“Then, you have to prove it, count! We have to make a thorough investigation –“

The count’s wild thumping on the podium cut the prince’s words out. “My prince, this is preposterous! Why must I undergo such a humiliating act of being investigated?! I am telling you, my house is not to be blamed for this! We didn’t launch that attack!”

“I hear you, count, but this peace agreement that we are trying so hard to protect won’t hold without trust. Do you not agree, King Helion?”

The crowd fell silent. The vampire king, who never breathed a word despite the chaos, was now being asked by the prince a direct question.

What would he say? How would he react? Surely, this king, who had always stayed silent this whole time despite the ruckus, wouldn’t embarrass the prince himself?

There was a long silence. Finally, the fabled vampire king opened his lips.

“Carry on, with your plans. Trust is a matter of utter importance to vampires too… more so than power,” he exclaimed.

The king of Apricus waved a hand and immediately, an attendant stepped in, and his highness whispered something to him.

“I’m afraid our delegation must leave. There are far more important matters we needed to attend to. Let’s set up another meeting soon.”

“Very well, King Helion. We hope you could grant my knights access to your lands so that we can investigate this matter more thoroughly.”

A short bow was exchanged between the two, and as sudden as they arrived, the king and the delegation of vampires marched out of the hall in utter silence.

The man in the podium, Sir Casior Willfrey, gave me a quick bow as well. I pretended not to see him so as not to incur any suspicions from my peers inside the hall.

Even though the other party left, Prince Kaist did not dismiss the nobles of Talandor.

He sat for a while holding his temples in his hands, his face looking quite irritable.

“Prince Kaist, why did you bow down to those rascals? Did you not know that what they did was a great mockery to our kind?”

“Count Jeteris, enough! I was hoping that the rumors that this peace talk was nothing but a hoax were wrong, but I guess I was the one proven wrong! How could you disrespect the delegates like that, and even in the presence of their king?”

“Young prince, that king is nothing but a mere decoration. I bet that isn’t even their real king! That Apricus king was a fake! The real king of Apricus could never attend such a meeting because he is a fool!”

“And how did you know if he is the real king or not? Aren’t you just justifying your rude actions?! How can we really achieve peace with the vampire clans if we all acted like you just did?!”

Count Jeteris continued his faulty argument. “Do you really think we could strike a deal with those fools? They are nothing but savages! We ought not to associate ourselves with them!”

“Stop this slander, count! No wonder they see you as the threat! Because of how you are behaving, I’m starting to think that those rumors about the Falcon Wings weren’t at all baseless!”

Count Jeteris’ face shook in extreme anger. “Don’t cross the line, young prince! My loyalty to this kingdom is unquestionable! Not even the king has even doubted me!”

“Let’s see to it! Count Claude Ilyon Jeteris, from now on, you are banished from this council. You will be temporarily relived of your duties as head of the peace talk agreements until further notice. Count Leer shall be taking over your post for now.”

“No need to remove me, your highness! I absolutely and irrevocably quit!”

At this, Count Jeteris bowed down sarcastically at Kaist, declaring his allegiance to the throne, “Hail the King of Talandor and the royal seat now and forever.” He never mentioned the prince in his declaration. He then abruptly walked away from the council.

I pursed my lips into a half-smile. I didn’t even have to lift a finger for this one. Count Jeteris just dug his own, deep grave. I just have to fill it up with his breathing body, so I could bury him.