How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love Chapter 311

It took a full day to search the inside of the dungeon.

 

As a result, Khalid’s knights were able to secure complete evidence of the various unethical experiments that took place within the tower.

 

They also attempted to use the list compiled from interrogating the captured wizards to track down those still at large, but this didn’t prove easy.

 

There were so many corpses that were so damaged that their identities could not be determined, and the number of those who died without even leaving a corpse after being eaten by monsters was impossible to determine.

 

Fortunately, the teleportation circle inside the tower was found intact.

 

If not, they would’ve had to assume that some of the missing wizards had escaped and continue the search indefinitely.

 

“It doesn’t seem to have been used recently.”

 

Based on Felix’s testimony, it was concluded that no other wizard escaped from the tower.

 

And just before the dungeon was sealed, Felix made one final, tremendous discovery while sweeping the tower.

 

“L-Let go of me! Don’t you dare touch my body with those filthy hands!”

 

They found Onyx’s master hiding in a secret room, in a pitiful state.

 

At first, Leonhard did not recognize the old man, even though he had encountered him before.

 

Perhaps because he had been hiding for a few days, his energy had depleted significantly, and his already small body had become even more gaunt; his complexion had become sallow, and his expression had changed.

 

“You—! You bastard, what have you done with Kana?! Give me back my daughter!”

 

If the old man who recognized him first had not shouted and gone mad, Leonhard would never have been able to recognize the old man’s identity.

 

“What do you mean, ‘what have I done’? The child you kidnapped was safely returned to her real parents.”

 

“Real parents, my ass! I raised her from birth! They didn’t even know she was born— AARGH!”

 

Duke Khalid, who had been trying to endure it in front of his knights, finally lost control and kicked the old man.

 

“How dare you—right in front of me—run your filthy mouth about that child?!”

 

“Duke Khalid! Restrain yourself!”

 

“Ka-Kana is my daughter! My daughter—ack!”

 

“Your Highness! If you do this, he will die!”

 

“A daughter? A daughter? I heard everything you did to her. You drained her blood and experimented on her, and you still call her your daughter!”

 

If Leonhard and the knights hadn’t intervened, Duke Khalid would have really beaten the old man to death.

 

To be honest, it was Leonhard who had as many ill feelings toward the old man as Duke Khalid.

 

But seeing him so weak and pitiful after being beaten, all his motivation to act simply evaporated.

 

“Take him away…. His Highness the Second Prince will interrogate him personally—make sure he arrives in the capital alive.”

 

“Yes, Your Highness.”

 

All the evidence found in the dungeon and the survivors found inside the tower were sent to the capital.

 

* * *

 

From repairing the collapsed city walls to the ruined imperial palace, to drafting compensation plans for the victims—the Second Prince barely had a moment to breathe. Even ten bodies wouldn’t have been enough to keep up.

 

Nevertheless, he went to the underground prison to personally interrogate the additional wizards who had been sent there.

 

Regardless of who sat across from him, his first question was always the same.

 

“Did you go in knowing what your group was doing?”

 

They killed countless people in an attempt to transplant the power of specific monsters into humans; they injected people with the blood of those blessed with Authority, trying to artificially awaken symbols, killing even more.

 

And that’s not all. They even brutally murdered an innocent man, using the bloodstones they used to control monsters to test the power of the chimeras they created.

 

Half of the murders and disappearances that occurred throughout the empire were related to them.

 

Half of the people answered that they did not know that, and the other half answered that they knew it.

 

Most of those who answered the former were orphans abandoned by their parents or had lost their homes and families, and were wandering around with nowhere to go when they entered the tower.

 

They were drowning, and a rope was thrown in front of them—only to realize too late that it was rotten.

 

This was because once a wizard entered the tower, there were restrictions, and even if they left the tower, there was nowhere to go.

 

“You, who were in that tower, should know better than anyone that this isn’t a crime that can be absolved by saying you had no choice. There will be no leniency. You will have to work for those who suffered because of you until the day you die.”

 

Two hundred years. In other words, a life sentence—merciless penal servitude.

 

Some cried and pleaded that it was unfair, but most of them accepted it silently, as if they had foreseen this future.

 

But those who entered the tower, even after learning of Onyx’s evil deeds, were different.

 

Even before the Second Prince, they showed no sign of shame and brazenly shouted:

 

“It was a great work for the future! Do you have any idea how limitless a monster’s power is? If humans could harness it, disease and death would become a thing of the past!”

 

“Your Highness, the Prince, can criticize us because you were born with the blood of power and bear the symbol. After all, didn’t both Your Highness and Her Highness also give us their blood to bear the symbol?”

 

“Yes, we sinned. But were we the only ones who did? The high-born nobles who treat lives like insects are no different from us—so why are only we thrown into prison?”

 

“If this experiment had been completed, I might have been able to save my dead daughter! Just a little more work was all I needed!”

 

The reason why the wizards of Onyx performed all kinds of experiments without hesitation was to sacrifice human lives.

 

Some want to live longer. Some want to gain greater power. Some want revenge on those who ruined their lives. Some want to bring back their dead family members.

 

Their excuses were as numerous as their living bodies.

 

But none of them could shake Julius’ heart.

 

“No matter how unjust you claim it is, can it compare to the injustice of lives taken without cause? Whatever your motives, what you committed was slaughter. You are nothing but murderers!”

 

To steal countless lives, show not a shred of remorse, and still lift their shameless faces—such brazen audacity was the greatest of sins.

 

So Julius went to the emperor and told him this.

 

“I wish to reveal their crimes publicly before all, then place them on the gallows and execute them before the people.”

 

What did the Onyx wizards do? How many were there, what was their purpose? How many people were sacrificed?

 

The Emperor skimmed through the report Julius had compiled—its contents enough to send him into rage dozens, hundreds of times—and yet all he said, without much expression, was:

 

“Good job.”

 

Even after reading the contents that had enraged Julius and his entourage dozens, hundreds of times, that was all the Emperor said.

 

Julius showed no sign of disappointment when the Emperor asked him.

 

“How did the interrogation of the Marquis of Calvin go?”

 

“That too is over.”

 

Unlike a little while ago, the Emperor took his time reading anything related to the Marquise of Calvin.

 

Following his busy gaze, his pale, bloodless face gradually becomes distorted.

 

“So many people… enchanted by a single barbarian…!”

 

There were literally many men who fell for the Marquise of Calvin.

 

It simply went unnoticed because most encounters had been one-time affairs.

 

From the wealthy she took money, from the well-connected she took influence, from the militarily powerful she took knights to protect her.

 

She even got monsters from the Onyx wizards.

 

What was astonishing was that even this was the result of her being careful not to reveal her abilities.

 

If Marquis Calvin had been determined to spread her power of charm, the entire imperial leadership might have been swayed by her alone.

 

Of course, there were men immune to her power, so perhaps it wouldn’t have gone that far.

 

“You said you would make public the crimes of the Onyx wizards and have them hanged.”

 

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

 

“Then what punishment do you intend to give to Marquise Calvin?”

 

“She, too, deserves execution.”

 

From conspiring with Onyx to bring monsters into the capital, to seducing the Emperor and other high nobles, and manipulating state affairs…

She was even guilty of murdering her former husband. With so many heinous crimes to her name, execution was inevitable.

However—

 

“Each of the sins they have committed is so great and deep that I am afraid that if I were to make them all public, people would become confused.”

 

Although he was speaking indirectly, what he truly meant was this:

 

– Are you sure it’s fine for the world to know that you, the Emperor, were bewitched by a barbarian and gave her everything?

 

In fact, requests—bordering on blackmail—had been pouring in from several nobles, including Duke Kereis, who had likewise been enthralled by her power.

 

They begged him to conceal the fact that they, too, had fallen under Marquise Calvin’s spell.

 

If exposed, it wouldn’t just disgrace them individually—it would drag their entire families into the mud.

 

Julius considered the behavior of the nobles who dared to intimidate him to be utterly despicable.

 

However, since the person most severely affected by Marquise Calvin’s power was the Emperor himself, he did not respond.

 

Even though he was delegated full authority, in the end, it is the emperor who makes the final decision.

 

If he ordered it buried, then buried it would have to be. There was no helping it.

 

‘Not that I plan to bury it, though.’

 

The conversation with Kairos and Mariette had already ended.

 

Julius, with renewed resolve, awaited the Emperor’s response.

 

“I have a question.”

 

“Please inquire.”

 

“If a symbol can be artificially manifested… does that mean it can also be erased?”

 

Julius wondered why the emperor was asking such a question at this time, but Julius answered that it was possible.

 

“There’s a potion created by the Sage of Water and Ice. It’s said that using it can erase an artificially created symbol.”

 

“How long does it take to make the potion?”

 

“There is already a completed one.”

 

“I see… That is good.”

 

‘Good? What is?’

 

“Just in time, Duke Daphne has also arrived in the capital. Butler, listen up!”

 

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

 

“Summon the prince and princess, along with the three dukes, immediately.”

 

Julius’s eyes widened as he guessed what the Emperor would say next.

 

“Tonight, I will conduct the test of Estroa!”

 

* * *