Chapter 88
Silbert’s request brought an instant silence to the conference hall.
Surprisingly, the first person to react to Sonette’s return was not Dylan—whose emotions had been unstable—but Cattleya.
Her earlier admonishment to Dylan to restrain himself became laughably meaningless as she raised her voice far louder than before. Her face went pale for a moment, then quickly flushed red from her neck upward.
“High Priest! What exactly are you saying?!”
Silbert didn’t so much as flinch and smiled as he always did. Seeing that expression made Cattleya raise her voice even more.
“No matter how much she was brainwashed, she was controlled by a black mage and tried to perform an ominous ritual! She even dragged a corpse covered in demonic energy into the imperial palace! Do you have any idea what would’ve happened had His Majesty not discovered it in time? How can you speak like this?!”
That was precisely why Sonette had been forced to leave without receiving even the slightest service or support from anyone.
Sonette had secretly brought a demon-tainted corpse into the imperial palace to perform a ritual. And it happened not just anywhere, but in the Palace of Stars—the residence Dylan had once given her when he treated her as the future crown princess. Unfortunately, the crown prince’s palace was nearby.
Had it occurred within the temple, she would have at least received the final honors due to a saintess. But because it happened inside the imperial palace, the imperial family’s backlash was extreme. The strained relationship between the temple and the imperial household prior to Dylan’s coronation worsened the situation. And Marquess Tania—who had attempted to make Cattleya the crown princess—pushed the claim that Sonette had tried to assassinate the crown prince and attempted to charge her with treason.
Fortunately, Silbert uncovered evidence of Sonette’s brainwashing, sparing her from being executed as a traitor. However, crimes involving black magic were treated nearly on par with treason. Most were sentenced to death or imprisoned in the temple’s underground cells for life under constant surveillance.
The thought that the child he had raised and cherished since childhood had been brainwashed was heartbreaking enough. Silbert could not bear the idea of letting her die in an underground cell. After long negotiations, he managed to reduce the punishment to exile. In exchange, she was forbidden from receiving attendants, honors, or the retirement privileges normally granted to a former saintess, as well as any compensation or financial support.
Even then, Marquess Tania had argued to the very end that she should be executed. And now, his daughter—Empress Cattleya—was again invoking Sonette’s crimes.
“I still remember it clearly. Those sorcerous symbols smeared with sticky monster blood… the stench of that rotten corpse… Honestly, I still doubt whether she was truly brainwashed. For all we know, the temple made up that excuse to protect their precious saintess.”
“…”
“And if she truly were a saintess, shouldn’t she have resisted the black mage’s attempts to brainwash her? Instead she was completely controlled and committed something so horrific against the imperial family.”
The veins on Duke Linda’s forehead bulged sharply.
“The empress has finally gone mad…!”
“Duke Linda!”
“Don’t stop him, Count Rosanak. This time, Her Majesty truly crossed the line.”
Marquess Blanche glared coldly at the empress. Her remarks were blatant mockery of the High Priest and the temple.
If Silbert had intended to protect Sonette blindly, he could have insisted her brainwashing was unquestionable, publicly executed the black mage behind it, sent Sonette to a monastery for a few years, then quietly reinstated her.
Yet he agreed to exile because he understood the consequences of turning the imperial family into enemies.
Moreover, the curse of brainwashing was high-level black magic—akin to creating monsters. Even seasoned holy knights struggled to endure it, and purifying it required several priests working for long hours.
Cattleya certainly knew this. Yet she mocked Sonette openly. The hostility in her tone was not imperial concern—it was personal hatred. Silbert stared at her with an icy gaze.
“I understand your concerns, Your Majesty. But even black mages do not perform rituals using the corpse of their own dead sibling.”
The offering Sonette had attempted to use during the ritual was her only living family—her younger sister, Sabina. Her corpse had been so mutilated that identifying it took a long time. The discovery was made while the High Priest and the previous emperor were debating Sonette’s punishment.
It was this revelation that caused the emperor to accept Silbert’s proposal of exile. But Sonette fell into such despair from realizing what she had done that she tried to take her own life. Silbert, who witnessed everything, could not tolerate the empress’s hostility toward her—even if that meant being suspected of bias.
“It seems Her Majesty still views being brainwashed as Sonette’s own crime.”
Silbert exposed her true thoughts without hesitation.
“At that time, Sonette was staying in the Palace of Stars when she was brainwashed. If Your Majesty had been there instead, you would have been the one brainwashed. Do you truly believe you would have fared differently? Does the curse of brainwashing seem so trivial to you?”
“What did you just say?”
Silbert spoke like a man with a blade hidden beneath his tongue.
“I can understand why you might think so. While Sonette was fighting alongside holy knights to defend the empire from black mages and monsters, Your Majesty—as a candidate for the crown princess—were leisurely attending lessons and being served by others.”
“High Priest!”
If Cattleya had thrown ten daggers with her words, Silbert returned only two—but they struck far deeper. Her face froze cold. She had expected the ever-courteous Silbert to bow his head and apologize as usual. She never imagined he would retaliate so sharply. The shock left her speechless, though anger was steadily rising in her eyes.
But she couldn’t let it erupt.
“That’s enough, Empress.”
Dylan warned her in a low, calm voice.
“You may not have known it then, as you were only a crown princess candidate, but I saw with my own eyes my father—the previous emperor—purify the curse on Sonette. And the decision to exile her was reached after long discussion between my father and the High Priest. Are you suggesting my father made the wrong judgment?”
Cattleya trembled, fist clenched, as Dylan pressed on.
“You seem more emotional than I am. Control yourself. High Priest, please pay Her Majesty’s words no mind.”
Dylan did not take Cattleya’s side, even though she was his empress. Silbert, who had behaved somewhat discourteously, was also not reprimanded.
Silbert calmly smiled again. Though his usual gentle expression returned, the cold condemnation in his eyes did not.
“I understand Sonette committed acts that brought great harm. However, afterward she voluntarily went to the North and helped maintain peace in Nostrim. She even supported Duke Valiant in preparing against monster attacks. Her abilities will be invaluable in establishing efficient defense strategies.”
Silbert then emphasized the potential of her prophetic ability.
“A disaster even greater than Nostrim may occur. Sonette’s prophecy will be of tremendous use, and I believe she may be the key to solving the unanswered mysteries.”
At that moment, Marquess Blanche, who had been quietly observing, spoke.
“I agree with the High Priest.”
“Marquess Blanche. Surely now is not the time to defend her out of personal favor.”
Cattleya tried to stop him, but he was not speaking from sentiment. He was the most objective person in the room.
“As the head of House Blanche, which has produced generations of holy knights, and as the former commander of the Holy Knight Order during Leopold’s reign, allow me to speak.”
Dylan gestured for him to continue.
“The multiple monster appearances and attacks in Nostrim… In my experience, similar incidents are certain to occur elsewhere. Nostrim had Duke Valiant and the Ice Mountain trackers, so they managed without the holy knights’ support. But if this happens in another territory, we must station forces in advance and monitor the situation.”
“That seems likely.”
“Then what of the other deployments, scouting missions, reinforcements, and subjugation operations?”
Marquess Blanche pointed out a problem he had seen since his youth.
“The Argent Empire is vast. Black mages and monsters appear everywhere. Holy knights are dispatched each time. Additionally, subjugation missions—like the one Sir Arvelche led—may take months or even years. But the number of holy knights is limited.”
In truth, they were too few for the number of incidents.
The holy knight exam was harder than the regular knight exam, but easier compared to the past. It only tested the basic requirements needed to fight black mages and monsters—yet even then, few passed.
Had it been an actual battlefield, many would’ve been slaughtered instantly or sacrificed to black magic.
“Do you remember the Third Holy Knight Battalion incident four years ago? That year we recruited an unusually large number of holy knights. But the battalion of fifteen encountered a group of over a dozen black mages and nearly a hundred monsters. They lasted three days but were annihilated.”
“…”
“If reinforcements had been sent sooner, they might have lived. But we could not. Too many knights had already been sent on scouting missions elsewhere. I, long retired, had to return temporarily to resolve the aftermath myself.”
Marquess Blanche had always thought:
If only they could know in advance when and where black mages or monsters would appear, they could prevent wasted resources and casualties.
Often, by the time the holy knights arrived, the enemy had already fled or hidden. Other times, forces were sent without knowing the enemy’s numbers and suffered major injuries as a result.
“Lady Sonette’s prophetic ability allows us to predict where monsters will appear and plan accordingly. It will prevent needless deaths through proper troop allocation. During my granddaughter’s testimony, the topic of tracking units came up. Creating such units demands enormous manpower. But if we use Lady Sonette’s prophecy, we won’t need to send large tracking teams across the empire. We can dispatch forces directly to predicted locations.”
His words, coming from a former commander, gave perfect legitimacy to Sonette’s reinstatement.
But Cattleya could not accept it easily.
“But Duke Valiant said her predictions weren’t clear, didn’t he? They were—”
