Please Vote for Your Knight! – Chapter 44

Author: Asternkm

“That’s overwork.”

The physician who had examined Dmitri spoke.

“You don’t seem to sleep properly, and I doubt you’re eating properly either.”

He looked strangely at Dmitri, who was lying on the wide, soft bed.

“His condition is almost like that of someone undergoing penance. As if he’s punishing himself.”

“Punishing himself?”

David asked in surprise.

The physician nodded.

“He’ll recover if he eats and rests well, but if he continues living like this, something serious will happen sooner or later.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.”

“Not at all, Your Grace.”

After the physician left, Kusto muttered bitterly.

“So that’s why he makes his food like that, too…”

“I don’t think that’s the reason…”

David whispered quietly.

Just then, Dmitri’s lips began to move.

“Dmitri, what did you say?”

Kilian hurriedly leaned closer.

“No… I don’t want to… I don’t want to do it…”

Dmitri’s barely audible voice pierced the ears of the three men.

“But… I have to… Because if I don’t, there won’t be anyone else…”

The three of them froze like statues.

“I have to… bring Beauvoir down…”

Then Dmitri shed tears of pain before falling silent again.

Kilian, who had been frozen with his back bent, slowly straightened.

“What the hell does all this mean?”

“If what I just heard is correct, Dmitri is trying to bring down the tyrant Beauvoir…”

Kusto couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.

David spoke with a cold look in his eyes.

“Apparently, Dmitri has a secret we know nothing about.”

***

The next day, somehow having heard the news, Olivier Morty came to David’s estate.

“I heard that Sir Dmitri collapsed from overwork. So I brought some medicine.”

He had even made it himself.

“You know how to make medicine?”

Kusto asked in surprise. Olivier proudly nodded.

“As you know, I graduated at the top of the academy.”

“But what does that have to do with—”

“The academy has a pharmacology course,” David whispered to Kusto.

Apparently having heard him perfectly, Olivier smiled confidently.

“I was also first in my pharmacology class.”

“He sure has a complicated way of saying he knows how to make medicine.”

Kilian muttered sarcastically.

Olivier wasn’t discouraged in the slightest and handed over the medicine.

Dmitri had slept through the entire day and finally woke up early that morning. He was delighted when he saw Olivier entering his room.

“Olivier!”

“Sir Dmitri, I’ve come to visit you.”

“You must be tired. You should have rested. You didn’t need to come all this way.”

“How could I do that? Sir Dmitri, you’re the benefactor who chose me over the Emperor’s Sword.”

“Olivier, didn’t you say you were the Emperor’s Sword yourself?”

In the middle of their heartwarming conversation, a servant came in carrying the medicine in a bowl.

“What is that?”

Dmitri asked.

“Medicine I made myself. For the record, I ranked first in pharmacology at the academy.”

“So you’re saying I can trust it and take it.”

Dmitri understood perfectly and drank the medicine.

“But how did Sir Dmitri end up being cared for at Duke David’s estate?”

Olivier asked.

“Yesterday, I was taking Dmitri home in my carriage when he collapsed. But the state of his house…”

When Olivier heard that there wasn’t even a single servant working at Dmitri’s estate, his face turned pale.

“No… How could that…”

But soon, his expression became gloomy.

“Well, I suppose that’s true. If it had been in the past, even if someone offered me ten million gold coins, I wouldn’t have worked under Sir Dmitri.”

“I didn’t know he was this kind of person.”

Kilian replied.

Dmitri cleared his throat awkwardly.

But Olivier simply nodded.

“I heard that during this evaluation, every team before ours abandoned one of their teammates.”

Kusto nodded.

“They did. And I heard the same thing happened after our team as well.”

In the end, only two teams had rescued teammates who had been eliminated during the team competition.

Dmitri’s team, which rescued Olivier, and Denny’s team, which brought Kilian along even though they had to tie him to the boat.

Moreover, unlike Denny’s team, which managed to bring back the Emperor’s Sword as well, Dmitri’s team had boldly abandoned the sword to save Olivier.

For Olivier, it was practically the same as owing Dmitri a debt.

Dmitri, embarrassed, said awkwardly,

“I only did it because we needed to win.”

Kusto stared at him before speaking.

“You always say things like that. Is that why you hid the fact that you brought down the tyrant, too?”

“!”

Dmitri’s eyes widened.

But he soon spoke as if he had no idea what Kusto meant.

“You think too highly of me. I only entered Cartamen because I wanted to reclaim the honor I threw away myself. My motives were selfish.”

“Then why did you cry alone?”

David asked.

“Cry…?”

“I’m sorry I overheard you. But while you were unconscious, you were talking nonsense and clearly suffering. You kept saying you had to bring down the tyrant Beauvoir. That you had to be the one to do it.”

Olivier, who had been listening to the conversation, was stunned.

“You don’t mean…!”

Then he voiced the question no one else had dared to say aloud.

“Then… did you pretend to be ‘the Tyrant’s Hound’ so that you could bring him down?”

“That’s a misunderstanding. Why would I do that? There’s no evidence, either.”

“We have evidence. The fact that Her Highness cares for you is proof enough.”

David spoke firmly.

Kilian nodded as well.

“Her Highness played a major role in the revolution. And seeing how she’s running Cartamen, she’s clearly an extremely cold and calculating person.”

“She must have had a reason for keeping Dmitri at her side and even allowing him to participate in Cartamen.”

Kusto added.

Dmitri shifted his eyes restlessly before lowering his head.

“No matter what you think of me, I’m a sinner. I killed innocent people to become the tyrant’s right-hand man and win the Bloodbath.”

“Then reveal the truth. Tell them that those innocents weren’t killed by ‘the Tyrant’s Hound,’ but were sacrifices made by ‘the man who brought down the tyrant.’”

Kusto said.

Dmitri gave a cynical laugh and shook his head.

“Worry about yourself, Kusto.”

“What?”

“If you don’t become the final survivor of Cartamen, you’ll die.”

————————————————————————————————————————-

Just came back from the 2nd evaluation (spoilers maybe)

This mission was seriously amazing.
The Slave Team and Traitor Team…
I actually cried watching them.
So damn cool, and their bodies are insane lol.

– Isn’t this a spoiler? They specifically announced no spoilers before entering the 2nd evaluation.
ㄴ How is this even a spoiler? lol
– I thought the Traitor Team was way too contrived lol. They seemed to be pushing the traitor way too hard, and Joan was practically deliberately trying to kill him.
ㄴ That’s because you—
ㄴ That’s because you—
ㄴ Is that a Joan bug?
ㄴ Don’t use fandom slurs, please;

– This really felt like the spirit of Cartamen to me… Especially Dmitri and Kusto. I see them in a completely different light now.
– Am I the only one here who hasn’t seen the 2nd evaluation? ㅠㅠ
ㄴ 2222
ㄴ 3333ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
– Damn, I’m curious. They’re going to broadcast this over Episodes 5 and 6, right? I can’t wait to see it.

————————————————————————————————————————-

Watching the reactions through the tablets installed in the Imperial Palace, Duke Frederick spoke.

“The response to this evaluation has been extremely positive.”

He was the Emperor’s aide and had recently begun taking an active role in running Cartamen.

Beside him, the Emperor, Edith’s father, nodded as well.

“Sir Dmitri’s reputation has improved considerably. It fills my heart with pride.”

Edith and the two men were monitoring the audience’s reactions to the second evaluation.

Edith nodded.

“Kusto’s popularity has gone up tremendously as well. I never expected someone from a slave background to become this popular.”

Duke Frederick cautiously asked,

“Which brings me to the matter, Your Highness.”

“Hmm?”