The Mastermind Revealed
Lady Alyssa tried desperately to stop Lord Daren from forcing through his plan.
As I circled behind the two of them, I drew my holy sword at just the right moment—
“Mmgh!?”
“Lord Daren!?”
“Brother!?”
Daren suddenly collapsed to his knees, and both Lady Alyssa and Lowell rushed to his side in alarm.
A moment later, he slowly rose, pressing his temples as if fighting off a sharp headache.
“L-Lady Alyssa…?”
“Are you all right, Lord Daren?”
“I… I suddenly felt dizzy… But this place… where are we?”
“This is the McCreed family estate.”
“The estate? Why am I at the estate…?”
“What? You don’t remember?”
Daren was clearly in a state of confusion—and panic began to spread across Lowell’s face.
He looked ready to bolt.
But of course, I wasn’t about to let him go.
“Going somewhere, Lord Lowell?”
“Gah!? G-Get out of my way! I’ve got urgent business to attend to!”
He snapped, trying to push past me, but his eyes kept darting to the floor.
… Subtle as a brick, this one.
“Looking for this, are you?”
“Wha—!? Y-You bastard! Why do you have that!?”
I held up the pendant Lord Daren had been wearing.
The moment he saw it, Lowell’s entire demeanor changed—his tone, his posture, all grew wild and frantic.
He really is an open book.
“It was giving off a strange magical aura. I suspected it might be the source of Lord Daren’s behavior, so I took the liberty of severing it.”
“S-Severed!? Don’t lie! You never even moved!”
“I may just be a humble Holy Knight, but speed is one of my specialties.”
“H-Holy Knight!?”
So he didn’t know.
Just like those crooked merchants from before, he’d mistaken me for a mere provincial knight.
“Given Lord Daren’s reaction, I’m confident this pendant was the cause. I’ll be turning it over to the Magic Corps for analysis, and we’ll be tracking down how it came into your possession.”
“W-Wait! That belongs to—!”
“Lowell.”
Just as he reached out to snatch the pendant, a voice behind him froze him in place.
He turned slowly.
There stood Lord Daren—arms crossed, expression thunderous, eyes full of fury.
What do you think about this chapter?
