Second Life, I’m Dying Soon Chapter 56

Chapter 56

 

Cecil ran straight to the Peridot Palace the moment he could. The very first thing he did upon arriving was search the study. He tore through it frantically, until a sigh of despair finally spilled out.

The ‘Luminous Sword’ was truly gone. With even the possibility of the evidence being fabricated erased, all the strength drained from his body, and his vision swam.

Cecil rubbed his face roughly. He considered the possibility that someone from the Empress’s faction had secretly broken in and taken the sword. No matter how he thought about it, it made no sense.

They had more than enough motive to harm Yuria, but no reason whatsoever to frame Cecil’s attendants. What could they possibly gain from that?

“Damn it.”

Cecil clutched his head, thinking, and thinking again.

Just then, Johannes knocked and entered the room. Noticing the wrecked state of the study, he swept his gaze over it once before cautiously approaching and speaking.

“…I heard all the attendants were arrested.”

“Johann, I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to talk to you right now.”

“What’s going to happen to them? They won’t be… executed, will they?”

Cecil let out a sigh and raked his fingers harshly through his hair. His mind was already a mess, and Johannes adding more words only grated on his nerves. Without realizing it, he shot Johannes a sharp glare.

Seeing Cecil’s hostile gaze, Johannes flinched and lowered his head, avoiding eye contact.

Johannes clenched his sleeves so tightly that they wrinkled, fidgeting like a guilty man. In the end, he opened his mouth on his own.

“…Actually, it was me.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, Cecil.”

“…That’s impossible.”

Cecil’s face drained completely as he heard Johannes’s confession. His already pale complexion lost the last trace of color, to the point it wouldn’t have been strange if he collapsed on the spot.

Cecil grabbed Johannes firmly by the shoulders.

“You tried to kill Yuria?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Have you lost your mind? Why would you do something like that!”

“Ugh… hngh.”

Johannes burst into tears he had been holding back. There was no way he could feel at ease about this situation.

He had always been a weak, timid man who couldn’t even kill an insect. In a moment of greed, he committed something he never should have, and it caused consequences far greater than he could bear.

“I just thought that if I obtained holy blood, my illness might heal, even a little.”

Trembling violently, Johannes confessed everything. Why he had done this. How he had sneaked into the Peridot Palace late at night and stolen the robe and dagger. How he had infiltrated Yuria’s residence. Even how he had attacked her—he told it all.

“Johannes!”

“I swear I never meant to kill her! I only wanted a little blood! But the Saint screamed so loudly that I panicked!”

“You really thought that kind of low-grade superstition would help you? Even though you knew it was useless?”

Johannes wailed in despair.

“What do you know! I wanted to live! I wanted to live so badly that I was willing to grab at any straw!”

“Because of what you did, my attendants are about to die!”

Cecil grabbed Johannes by the collar. He was so furious that tears threatened to spill from his own eyes.

Grinding his teeth, he swallowed the cruel words clawing their way up his throat. Still clutching Johannes’s collar, he yanked him forward.

“Go. Right now. Go and tell them the truth yourself.”

“Ah—Cecil, no! Please!”

Johannes clung desperately to Cecil’s arm. He even dropped to his knees and began begging shamelessly.

“If it comes out that I did it, I’m finished. I’ll be investigated by the Verka Empire for a long time, and even if I return to the Kingdom of Themion, I’ll be condemned by countless people. I can’t spend what little life I have left like that!”

“So what, then? Should my attendants take the blame for your crime? Innocent people should suffer in your place?”

“Cecil, please!”

Johannes grabbed onto Cecil’s ankle, pleading.

“Just once… please, just this once, turn a blind eye. For a friend who’s going to die soon. Please?”

It was a pitiful plea, but to Cecil, it only felt suffocating and hopeless.  Cecil covered his eyes with his palm, trying hard to look away from his friend’s pathetic state.

“Johannes. Everyone dies eventually. You. Me too.”

“…….”

“You pay for the sins you committed. There’s no reason my innocent attendants should take your place.”

As Johannes sniffled, tears and snot running down his face, a sudden thought crossed his mind. Still flattened on the floor, he lifted only his head and looked up at Cecil.

“Then… could you say it was you?”

“What? Don’t say something so ridiculous!”

“You’re royalty. I heard that in the Verka Empire, royalty are effectively pardoned unless they commit a truly grave crime. You’d just receive some light punishment and that would be it.”

Cecil swallowed a hollow laugh. Johannes wasn’t entirely wrong. Royalty were, by nature, beings who enjoyed privilege.

“I can’t. No—I won’t.”

Without giving it much thought, Cecil turned away coldly. Johannes was left alone in the wrecked study, soaked in tears.

Not long after, the Emperor’s approval came through, and the full investigation began. The attendants who had been imprisoned underground were all dragged out and forced to stand before Crown Prince Alexis.

They insisted on their innocence, but the evidence was overwhelming. With everyone denying guilt, there was no choice but to conduct a coercive investigation to identify the culprit.

In the end, brutal torture followed one after another. Cecil remained present, yet he couldn’t bring himself to watch the horrific scene. He knew all too well how unbearable that pain was—he had experienced it himself.

Turning his head away, Cecil listened to the attendants’ cries and screams. His tightly shut eyelids trembled.

Johannes showed no sign of turning himself in. As the head of the delegation, he was busy fulfilling his duties, making it difficult to even see him. Whether he was truly that busy, or deliberately avoiding Cecil, only Johannes knew.

Yes. This was all my fault. I never should have told Johannes about the future.

The price of his arrogance was paid by innocent attendants, while he stood by, perfectly unharmed, watching their suffering. It was wrong. Completely wrong. He had to set things right, even now.

“Please… stop the investigation.”

Cecil spoke with difficulty. His voice was faint, but Alexis immediately recognized the plea. When Alexis raised his hand, all actions ceased.

“I did it.”

“What?”

“I’m the one who attacked Yuria. I did it.”

Alexis rose from his seat and strode toward Cecil. Just standing before him was enough to freeze Cecil to the bone with pressure. That was how clearly Alexis’s fury radiated.

“There’s no way it was you.”

“No. It was me.”

“…….”

“At around eleven o’clock the night before last, I went to Yuria’s residence and told the knight guarding the door that I had brought something from the Peridot Palace. I met Yuria, who had already finished preparing herself. She approached without suspicion, but when she saw the knife I drew, she screamed loudly. I intended to harm Yuria—”

“Enough!”

Alexis glared at Cecil with piercing eyes. Had that gaze been tangible, Cecil might have been torn to shreds.

Alexis expanded his chest, then let it fall as he steadied his breathing. Even so, the trembling did not subside.

“If it were really you, the knight would have recognized you.”

“It was pitch-dark, and I was wearing a hooded robe. As for my voice, it can be altered.”

“Ridiculous. Do you think I’d fall for such a crude lie?”

“I can provide as many details as you wish.”

Cecil continued confessing in his own voice. All he had to do was replace the subject of what Johannes had told him.

“Cecil Adrian. Shut your mouth.”

“Release all the attendants. I’m the culprit, so you should be detaining me.”

“Didn’t I tell you to be quiet!”

Alexis’s rage-filled voice echoed through the interrogation room once more. He was unusually agitated.

Since Cecil had confessed in front of everyone, his words became an official statement.

Worse still, his confession matched the incident precisely. It contained details only Yuria and the true assailant could have known.

Yet Alexis refused to accept it to the very end. He couldn’t tolerate the idea that Cecil Adrian—who had sworn loyalty to him—had betrayed him.

“I’ll ask one last time. Did you truly try to kill Yuria Beatrice?”

“Yes.”

Cecil answered without hesitation. There was no trace of guilt in his dry reply. He also never once met Alexis’s eyes.

“…….”

A brief silence passed.

As time went on, Alexis’s anger cooled into something frigid. The tension pressing down on the air was so thick that no one could breathe easily.

“Investigate Cecil Adrian. Imprison him in the underground dungeon, and release all the attendants.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

After issuing the short order, Alexis kicked open the interrogation room door and left. Before the murderous aura fully dissipated, the knights hesitantly approached Cecil.

“Please… place your hands in front of you.”

Cecil extended both hands as instructed. Thick rope was wound tightly around his wrists, and his arms were bound by the knights. He was treated like a criminal without question.

“Lord Cecil!”

“Lord Cecil! No! We’ll accept the punishment in your place!”

The attendants cried out after Cecil as he was dragged away. Even if Cecil truly were guilty, they were willing to suffer in his stead.

But the knights were already pulling Cecil past the threshold of the interrogation room. Without exchanging a single word with the attendants, he was taken away. Only the dark path leading to the underground dungeon greeted him.