The Explaining Lady
The nobles sitting in the seats of honor were frozen. Their thought process couldn’t follow the slaughter happening before their eyes.
(J, just what is happening? Emilia should have been dead. No, why are the people of Salbuveir moving?)
Altos was at the peak of confusion. After eliminating Emilia and her clan who were his biggest obstacle, there shouldn’t be anyone who could obstruct him.
However, not only Emilia, but the entire Salbuveir that should have been destroyed got revived and brought death to the Imperial Capital.
“E, even the Knight’s Order.”
“R, run away!”
Witnessing the death of Todd, the Commander of the Knights, the nobles were trembling in fear. Hearing someone among them shout to run away, their consciousness returned to them as they quickly flooded towards the exit.
“Hiii!!”
“Go, quickly!! What are you doing!”
The nobles were shouting and pushing each other at the exit. They have already forsaken their court ranks.
“My, oh my, how unsightly.”
“It cannot be helped. These people can’t carry their arrogance unless they are somewhere safe, after all.”
“Fufufu. Death isn’t that bad once you experience it.”
Carefree voices resounded in their ears. Some of the nobles looked back to identify the owners of the voices, but their faces froze in fear when they did.
The members of the Salbuveir family stood before them. The head of the family Ortho, his wife Elsapia, and the only son, Kulm.
These seats of honor at the execution grounds were considerably high. They should be as high as a three-story building. And yet, the three were standing among the seats of honor without using any tools.
“Hiiiii!!”
“Lord Salbuveir, please forgive me!”
“Mercy!”
The nearest two Barons and a Viscount kneeled in panic. Although nobles, they were of the lowest rank, who have always survived by clinging to the strong. Kneeling in front of Ortho wasn’t anything new to them.
“Hii.”
“Hieh.”
Kulm grabbed the kneeling nobles by their heads and threw them behind him. The three were thrown out of the seats of honor and fell down on the execution platform. Dropping from more than ten meters and leaving unharmed would be impossible.
“Waaaaaaah!!”
“Hiiiiiiii!!”
Thud, splatter…
The screams of the three nobles ceased the moment their bodies reached the platform. This incident further increased the panic among the nobles.
“Get off your feet properly.”
Kulm grabbed the head of another noble and threw him out too.
Thud…
Another thud could be heard from outside.
“Sa, Salbuveir!! Do you bastards know what you are doing!?”
Altonius II shouted at Ortho’s group with a shaky voice. As expected of the Emperor, he had a certain amount of courage.
“Naturally, it’s treason. Isn’t that obvious? We are trying to destroy our enemy, the Empire. Didn’t you scum accuse us of precisely that?”
Altonius II choked on Ortho’s words. It was the nobility of this country that turned them into traitors.
“The traitors are simply acting like traitors. If you want us to stop, why not do it with your own power?”
Hearing the mocking tone in Kulm’s voice, Altonius II shouted at the nonchalant members of the Salbuveir family.
“Stop slaughtering the innocent!!”
Altonius II yelled out loud. Each and every single member of the Salbuveir family scorned Altonius II’s words.
“We were innocent too. However, you still slaughtered the innocent citizens of our fief. And you are asking us to not kill the innocent?”
“Ugh…”
“There are no innocent people in this country!! They will be all killed without exception!”
Those who heard Ortho’s words trembled. There definitely were flames of hatred dwelling in Ortho’s eyes. Altonius II realized that “citizens are innocent” wasn’t an excuse he could use.
“Fufufu, Father. You shouldn’t blame him too much.”
Emilia made an appearance at the seats of honor. She jumped up from the platform, crossing over ten meters of height.
“Emilia.”
Altos looked at his ex-fiancée in bewilderement. Emilia looked at Altos with a deeply disdainful expression.
“Oh my? Altos-sama, you have not escaped yet? You are stupid as ever.”
“Wha-”
“Fufufu, still, what a stupid bunch, these guys.”
“J, just what are you guys?”
Altos asked Emilia.
“It’s simple. We had prepared means of retaliation in advance in case we were killed.”
“Preparations?”
“Yes, our entire family cursed ourselves to turn into ‘undead’ in case of unnatural death.”
Not only Altos, but even Altonius seemed stunned by Emilia’s words.
“Dear Altos, are you aware that undead are created by miasma?”
“… Yeah.”
“To put it simply, miasma is ‘hatred’. You all have reeled the hatred our family feels for you to unbecoming amounts.”
Altos fell into silence. No one defended the Salbuveir family from the moment of Emilia’s engagement cancellation to the time of their death. They knew it would rebound back at themselves if they helped, so they all dealt with the Salbuveir family more harshly than necessary and trampled upon their dignity.
“The initial slaughter of our fief’s citizens, the execution of our retainers, and lastly the execution of my family members… there is so much hatred we feel for you it would be impossible for us to not turn into undead.”
Emilia’s words froze the nobles who were trying to escape in place.
“Oh my… there’s a fire blazing over there.”
The nobles turned where Emilia was looking and their expression froze even more. There were flames blazing in the noble district where the nobles have their mansions. In short, their own families were under attack.
“Lord Salbuveir!! I beg you, please spare my family!”
“I will do anything! Please spare my daughter!!”
“Please show mercy!”
Once the first noble started begging for mercy, the remaining nobles kneeled down to the Emilia and her family one after another. Seeing that, the Salbuveir family only watched on coldly.