Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 217

Logan stood still, a bottle of liquor in his hand.

All eyes in the room turned to him. It felt as if time had stopped.

“Your Majesty!”

Ministers, including Cleo, rushed towards the King.

“Seize Lord Logan!”

The royal guards shouted and then moved, breaking the silence.

Amidst all this, Logan’s dazed eyes quickly regained their focus.

‘Ha, this is….’

He was utterly dumbfounded.

He had considered that the King might be up to some new trick, but he had not anticipated such an extreme measure.

Self-harm?

By the King?

‘Bloody hell.’

He felt betrayed.

‘If I use force here….’

He would be branded a traitor.

As Logan was racking his brain, watching the approaching royal guards, his bewildered master’s voice reached him.

“Logan, what on earth is this…?”

“It wasn’t me. You know that, don’t you?”

Logan shook his head in response to his astonished master’s gaze, then smirked as he looked at the swords of the approaching knights.

The knights, tensing up, began to gather their strength.

“Get out of my way. I’ll go on my own two feet.”

With a cold expression, he brushed aside the royal guards’ swords and once again looked at the fallen King.

The face of the once vibrant young prince he had made king.

‘How did he change so much?’

A sigh escaped him, filled with bitterness.

‘Did you hate me so much that you would resort to self-harm? Why?’

An incomprehensible level of hatred.

The surge of irritation and anger naturally turned towards the minister who was shouting at the top of his lungs next to the fallen King.

‘Is this your doing as well, Cleo?’

Words he couldn’t voice in the current situation.

Logan suppressed the rising murderous intent and forced himself to turn around calmly.

“Where do I go now?”

“W-Well… that is…”

“You must go to the underground prison for now.”

“……Lead the way.”

Logan left the King’s office, surrounded by the knights as if they were escorts.

Logan McLaine tried to kill the King.

The rumour that suddenly began to spread throughout the capital was initially dismissed as nonsense.

“That Logan McLaine? Why?”

“Don’t talk such rubbish.”

“Stop spreading such nonsense if you don’t want to be punished.”

However, the moment it was confirmed that Logan McLaine was imprisoned in the royal castle’s underground dungeon, the rumour spread uncontrollably.

– How on earth did this happen?

At that moment, when the majority of the kingdom’s nobles were plunged into panic.

The actions of the major nobles, who had no choice but to take this incident most sensitively, were divided into two categories.

“This is a disaster. How could such a thing happen!”

Count Roberts Floyd paced anxiously around the living room, deep in thought.

‘Everyone knows about the conflict between His Majesty and his son-in-law. Whether it was really the son-in-law’s doing, or His Majesty’s, this will never end well. If that happens, I….’

Roberts, having made up his mind, shouted at the butler.

“Connect me to McLaine! And prepare to leave the capital immediately!”

“Y-Yes?!”

“Quickly! Hurry!”

The Count, ignoring the surprised butler’s question, quickly began to pack the mansion’s valuables.

Like him, a small number of nobles who sensed an ominous atmosphere hid deep within the capital or returned to their territories, while other nobles chose to hold their breath and watch how the situation unfolded.

Even though an unexpected event had occurred, the real power in this country still lay with Logan and the Sword Master, and since the two were master and disciple, many judged that the current situation would not escalate further.

However, the reaction of the McLaine territory was bound to be far more extreme than that of the majority.

“The Grand Duke?”

“Nonsense!”

“What does our young lord lack that he would do such a thing!”

Most of the territory residents of the McLaine territory who heard the rumour instead denounced the King.

“We absolutely cannot just stand by! We must turn the capital, no, the kingdom upside down to free Lord Logan!”

“Of course, Miss!”

Logan’s fiancée and personal attendant ran to their lord with furious faces.

And immediately, the McLaine family’s council of retainers was convened.

Bang!

The retainers who had gathered in the great hall fell silent at the roar of anger that Patrick McLaine unleashed.

Soon, their gazes converged on one spot, and Dwaine, who could be said to be the representative of the retainers, stepped forward.

“It seems that it is true that the young lord is imprisoned. His Excellency the Sword Master has sent word that he is trying to understand the situation and persuade the King, so he has asked us to wait a little longer, but….”

“Wait? Wait for what? Are you telling me to wait for my son to be executed?!”

An angry shout that instantly crushed Dwaine’s tense voice.

As the murderous aura of a top-tier knight spread from the head seat, the great hall became even colder.

However, Dwaine was the only one who could stop Patrick in that state, so the hairy administrator suppressed his trembling heart and barely mustered the courage to speak again.

“P-Please calm down, Lord. If the King has any sense, he won’t easily harm the Grand Duke. Frankly, the situation is too strange for anyone to see.”

“Of course, it’s strange! If my superhuman son had tried to kill the King, he would have cut off his head on the spot, why would he use poison!”

“So, please wait a little longer. No matter what, there is such a thing as common sense….”

“Still, I can’t just sit still. Gather all the troops! Prepare for war!”

“Lord!!”

The faces of all the retainers, including Dwaine, changed drastically at Patrick’s extreme command.

“If the fact that we are preparing for war reaches the King’s ears, the Grand Duke may be in more danger!”

“No! Even if something happens, Logan is not someone who will be easily defeated. So, do as I say!”

“Lord!!”

“This is a warning to the King! A warning that if anything happens to my son, I will turn the kingdom upside down!”

“Yes?!”

The retainers’ gazes all turned to Patrick.

In particular, the eyes of Dwaine and Heinkel, who had spent a long time with him, were almost twice as wide with astonishment.

Honour and chivalry.

The more they knew that Patrick McLaine had pursued that value throughout his life, the more surprised they were by his words.

Moreover, wasn’t loyalty to the King the basic ideology underlying that value system?

But.

“If the King attacks my son, from now on, I have no King!!”

To a father who saw his child in danger, everything else was secondary.

“Prepare for war!”

Patrick’s roar of anger filled the great hall, and the troops of the McLaine territory began to show rapid movements.

The King, who had fallen into critical condition, quickly rose from his seat without any problems thanks to the divine power of the bishops.

However, that news instead drew suspicious gazes from the public.

“The hero used his hand?”

“Isn’t it too strange?”

“What on earth is going to happen to the kingdom….”

Anyone with a sense of awareness couldn’t help but find this series of events suspicious.

But the King, regardless of that, ordered a purge as soon as he got up from his seat.

– Arrest all those related to the traitor Logan McLaine!

At the King’s command, the royal guards moved, and soon the majority of the ministers who had bases in the capital were taken away by the guards.

Of course, there were cases like the Floyd County family, who had fled to McLaine as soon as Logan was imprisoned, but the remaining ministers had no choice but to be imprisoned.

People thought the ministers were only in prison because the Sword Master stopped the King from killing them right away.

It had become an open secret that the King’s screams and the Sword Master’s voice stopping him continued to be heard from the royal castle’s office.

In the meantime, as the troops of the McLaine territory showed unusual movements, all the nobles of the kingdom had no choice but to be on edge about the future situation.

– Another war might break out.

– If McLaine turns into a rebel army now….

– The worst civil war could break out.

During that period when an ominous atmosphere was permeating the kingdom.

The protagonist, who was the cause of all the incidents, was in a place where he could not hear any news.

A spacious room, a bright lamp emitting a subtle fragrance.

A bed with silk blankets, a decent desk and dining table, and even a toilet with a door on one side so that he could take care of his business separately.

Except for the fact that sunlight did not enter and that everything was inside iron bars, it looked like a high-class accommodation exclusively for nobles.

‘Well, it is exclusively for nobles.’

Logan opened his eyes with a hollow laugh.

He could have stayed in the same meditation posture all night for days, but he felt a familiar presence after a long time.

“Are you awake?”

“How can I keep my eyes closed when my master has come?”

A familiar face visible through the dim light of the lamp.

“Can you guess what happened?”

Logan let out a small sigh at his master’s face, which had noticeably more white hair and wrinkles in the meantime.

“What I guess is probably similar to what my master guesses. No, if you look at this situation, it’s an inference that most people can make.”

“……His Majesty’s self-harm, you mean.”

“So, you knew.”

The Sword Master wore a bitter expression at his disciple’s words, as if he were treating him like a fool.

“How could I not know?”

“Blind faith sometimes completely obscures one’s vision. And my master is the most faithful person I know.”

Logan smiled bitterly and expressed himself indirectly.

How could Felix Esperansa, the kingdom’s strongest Aura user, be a fool?

Nevertheless, the reason why he sometimes seemed frustrating and dull was because his faith obscured his own vision.

Especially when it came to the King and the royal family, he had an even stronger tendency to do so, so Logan was also assuming that his master might think differently about the situation.

The Sword Master, staring intently at his disciple’s eyes, continued with a sigh.

“But the situation is not good, Logan. There were so many people who saw it, and the timing was too bad. So was the poison.”

“……I guess he planned and prepared for this opportunity.”

The master groaned at the sarcastic tone.

“It is a highly toxic substance that pierced through the magic of the ruler’s crown that His Majesty possesses and inflicted serious injuries. His Majesty could have died.”

“But he didn’t die. If I had really tried to assassinate His Majesty, I would have used Aura there. Not poison.”

And no one would have stopped me.

Even if you were there, Master.

The last sincerity was not spoken, but the master nodded with a heavy expression.

“……Yes. That’s right. But as dangerous as it was, there are those who are sympathizing with His Majesty’s claims. Including that guy named Cleo you mentioned before.”

“Ha……. So, it was him…….”

“And His Majesty is very strongly advocating for your punishment.”

“Of course, he would. So, how long do I have to stay here? I need to know the conclusion quickly so I can decide what to do.”

Not punishment, but conclusion.

The master’s expression darkened at the blatant expression of his intention not to accept even if the King insisted on punishment.

“……I am persuading His Majesty, so please wait a little longer. Please bear with the inconvenience.”

Can you really persuade him?

He is the King who set a trap for himself by even resorting to self-harm.

And even if he is released here without punishment as his master claims….

‘I won’t stand it anymore, Master.’

Anger was boiling in his heart, but when he saw his master’s face, which seemed to have aged again in a few days, he couldn’t bring himself to say such words.

“……I will wait.”

“Okay. Please…… No, it’s nothing. I’ll come again later.”

The master turned around with a deep sigh, as if he was about to say something more.

‘What were you trying to say?’

A question arose, but soon the question was eaten away by the rising anger and disappeared.

And.

“Aaaaargh!”

Rumble!

Logan’s angry shout, unable to bear the rising anger, echoed through the dark underground prison as if to break it.