Chapter 35: Judgment of Hilton Part 2

Heres made her way to Hilton’s room.

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Hilton hadn’t come out of his room.’

‘He either had his meals brought to his room to eat alone, or refused to meet anyone at all.’

‘It had already been three days like this.’

‘I need to take care of Evan’s matter.’

Knock, knock.

Heres rapped on the door.

“Hilton! What on earth are you doing in there? Open this door at once!”

But no matter how loudly she yelled or how furious she became, only silence answered her.

What on earth had happened for her son to change so drastically overnight?

Heres’s face began to twist in frustration.

“I have my limits too! If you don’t open this door, I’ll have it forced open!”

Breathing heavily in anger, Heres called for the Guard Knights nearby.

“Break down this door at once!”

“What? Madam, if we do that…”

“Do it now!”

The Guard Knights were flustered by her unusually fierce expression.

Still, after scratching their heads, they followed her command.

Thud!

Crack!

The Guard Knights broke the doorknob and forced the door open.

There, on the bed, Hilton was bundled tightly in his blankets, trembling.

“Hilton?”

Heres was so dumbfounded by the sight that she was at a loss for words.

“What are you doing?! Get out here this instant!”

As she shouted, Heres noticed the Guard Knights’ glances.

She gestured for them to leave the room.

Turning back to Hilton, she approached the bed with a look of utter disappointment.

“Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? With you like this, your mother is left to—”

Heres stopped mid-sentence.

Seeing Hilton up close, she realized he wasn’t normal.

His body was shaking with fear, and heavy dark circles shadowed his eyes.

“Oh my, what happened to you?”

Heres sat on the bed and examined Hilton closely.

“Are you sick? What’s wrong? Tell me, please.”

Hilton didn’t answer.

He just kept trembling.

Heres sighed, then asked again.

Finally, Hilton slowly parted his lips.

‘…I can’t say.’

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“They told me not to tell anyone.”

“Who? Who would dare say such a thing to you!”

Heres’s voice grew sharper.

But Hilton only blinked, refusing to say another word.

“This won’t do. You need treatment. We’re going to the temple.”

Heres tried to pull Hilton out of bed, but he wouldn’t budge at all.

“…They told me not to leave the room.”

In the end, Hilton shook off Heres’s hand and hid himself back under the blanket.

“Why is he acting like this!”

All Heres could do was clutch her throbbing head in frustration.

In Heres’s room, the maids had gathered.

She’d called them urgently.

“You don’t know? Is that what you call an answer?”

Heres snapped, pointing accusingly at the maids.

Then she strode up to the one nearest her.

“Useless vermin!”

She raised her hand high and slapped the maid hard across the face.

Slap!

“Kyaa!”

The maid let out a cry and stumbled backward.

Ignoring her, Heres kicked at the maids and shouted another warning.

“Are you all insane? How can you not know what happened to Hilton? Worthless fools!”

She poured out her anger, venting without stopping.

It was only when she was exhausted from nearly beating the fallen maid half to death that she finally stopped.

Breathing heavily, Heres ground her teeth and sat at her desk.

The other maids quickly carried the bloodied one away.

A heavy, oppressive silence filled the room.

No one dared make a sound—not even their breathing was audible.

“Get out!”

At Heres’s shout, the maids fled the room in panic.

Once she confirmed they’d all left, Heres quickly picked up a pen to send a message.

‘There’s a problem. I’ll have to postpone all appointments.’

She sighed deeply, troubled.

Just then, someone knocked at the door.

“Madam.”

“Hm? Who is it? Come in.”

With Heres’s permission, Ayra entered the room.

***

Ayra’s heart was pounding, but she forced herself to remain calm.

She walked up to Heres.

Heres frowned and asked, “Why are you only just coming now?”

Ayra bowed her head deeply and replied cautiously, “I’m sorry, Madam. Evan had me cleaning his room today, so I was delayed.”

At her answer, Heres seemed to recall something and nodded.

“I see. You’re still carrying out your duties well. Keep maintaining your relationship with him, just as you have.”

It seemed she’d gotten through safely.

She’d insisted she didn’t know about Hilton’s incident because she was busy preparing Evan’s medicine.

That was enough to satisfy Heres.

“Wait here for a moment.”

Heres spoke briefly, then began writing a letter.

Ayra, watching for an opening, carefully asked,

“Madam, shall I bring you some tea?”

Without even glancing at her, Heres nodded.

‘A new message? I’d better hurry.’

Ayra left Heres’s room and hurried off.

She quickly prepared tea and brought it back in.

Doing her best to remain composed, she set the tea on the desk and watched Heres write, memorizing every detail of the stationery and the cursive writing as if taking a photograph.

She was faithfully carrying out all the instructions Evan had given her.

***

A little over a week had passed since Hilton had been dealt with.

Hilton did exactly as he was told and never left his room, but the entire mansion was thrown into chaos because of it.

Priests had come personally to treat Hilton’s deranged state.

Of course, they left saying they couldn’t determine the cause.

Seeing Hilton’s condition, Heres also judged that handling him through judgment would be too much.

But Evan didn’t care.

There were plenty of other ways to take care of Heres.

‘There are quite a few people I’ll have to deal with later. What a hassle.’

Evan leisurely sipped tea in his room as he read through Ayra’s reports.

She had gathered a considerable amount of information while staying by Heres’s side.

Lists of nobles involved with Heres, details on how they embezzled money, and even the ledgers showing how the stolen funds were used.

‘I never imagined Ayra’s memory would be this incredible.’

It was Heres and Hilton’s mistake not to make full use of her talent.

Of course, that was only natural.

Ayra would never reveal such things on the surface.

And Evan could confirm everything in detail through his spiritual sight.

It was a method only Evan could use.

“Once I finish preparing these, everything will be done.”

Ledgers and letters were stacked high on Evan’s desk.

All of them were perfect copies made by Ayra, identical to the originals in every way—handwriting, stationery style, color, texture.

She’d reproduced them based on her photographic memory.

They were, for all intents and purposes, the real thing.

Even Heres’s seal had been copied perfectly after Ayra saw it just once.

The copied letters now bore Heres’s replicated seal.

No one would ever suspect they were fakes.

‘Even if these are forgeries, proving the originals will be just as problematic for them.’

It had taken a long time to prepare all this, but it didn’t matter.

If it meant taking down Heres, it was worth every moment.

“It’s about time I got moving.”

Evan rose from his seat.

It was time to secure evidence based on the information Hilton had revealed.

‘For this case, it’s better to act through Darwen rather than step forward myself.’

It would give Darwen a chance to make achievements and earn more of Clyd’s trust.

Evan headed to the guild base where Darwen was stationed.

He’d already asked for Darwen’s cooperation several days ago, so they could meet at any time.

Evan spoke first.

“Thank you for making time for me. I know you’re busy, but I think this is the most important matter right now.”

“Not at all. Just say the word. I’m always ready to help you.”

***

After a brief pause, Evan took out three rolled-up scrolls from his coat and handed them over.

“What are these?”

“These are the results of my investigation. Lists of illegal fencing markets and the organizations and guilds involved in embezzling money from the Count’s household.”

“My, my. How did you even find out about this? You’re really thorough.”

Evan grinned brightly and replied, “My life is on the line. I’m just doing everything I can.”

“Well, I like that about you.”

Darwen chuckled heartily and unrolled the scrolls to check the contents.

“Hm…”

He stroked his beard, deep in thought.

Evan continued as he watched him.

“Given the scale, this won’t be easy.”

“This is unbelievable. There are so many—handling it on my own would be a burden.”

“Yes, but don’t worry about that part. First, if we secure evidence for three of the items on that list…”

Evan opened his inventory and took out the copied letters and transaction ledgers he’d prepared.

Piles of documents and letters were stacked on the desk.

Darwen looked at Evan in surprise.

“And what are these?”

“These are transaction records and correspondence. I secured them separately. Once you’ve confirmed the evidence, please submit these to my father.”

“Goodness. You even prepared all this…”

Darwen picked up a stack of documents, eyes wide.

Evan explained further, “If you show him the evidence first and then these, my father will have no choice but to believe you. That will prompt him to take action himself. All you have to do is set the fire.”

“Understood. This should be more than enough.”

Evan had decided to use Darwen to get Clyd moving.

He would leave dealing with Heres to Clyd directly.

All Evan needed to do was give a little push.

Then Darwen, looking a bit concerned, spoke up.

“But what about the source of all this? If I claim I investigated it myself, it might look suspicious.”

Evan nodded.

“Of course, I’ve considered that too.”

Evan picked up one of the document bundles from the desk and pointed to a particular list.

“If you look here, it seems they were involved in slave trading as well.”

“What? Isn’t slave trading illegal in the kingdom?”

“Yes. They did it knowingly. And here, these were special products—slaves meant to be used as sacrifices by a certain cult.”

Darwen’s face twisted in disgust.

“May I take a look?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

Evan continued, “They weren’t just trading slaves. There are reports of some kind of magical rituals as well. You could say the Marquess happened to sense something strange and began investigating. Then, hand these over as evidence of what you found.”

As Evan explained, Darwen nodded—then suddenly shouted as if he’d discovered something.

“These lunatics! They were dealing with the Nervan Cult!”

“Do you know them?”

“Of course! They’re a fanatical cult—vicious scum scattered all across the continent. Just this alone will enrage the Count. Looks like they planned to use the cult’s power to do something to the entire county.”

“I see. If we don’t deal with Heres quickly, it’ll be dangerous.”

“They never move until their transaction goals are fully met. We have to stop them before then. This can’t wait! I’ll get moving right away. I need to inform the Count as soon as possible.”

Darwen jumped to his feet, urgency in his voice.

The signal flare had been fired.

“Yes. I’ll keep monitoring Heres’s movements.”

Now all he had to do was keep a close watch on Heres.

Evan also stood up, preparing to return to the mansion.