I Stole The Duke - Chapter 119

“His Excellency has regained consciousness. That means there will soon be a reaction from him as well.”

After ensuring that none of the servants could approach the cabin, Joel made his way to the winery.

“⋯⋯.”

In the front yard of the winery, workers were in the midst of pouring freshly harvested grapes into large vats and stomping them barefoot.

“I saw nothing. I didn’t see a thing.”

He kept his lips tightly shut and walked straight ahead, eyes fixed forward. After all, wine always tasted better when you didn’t know too much about how it was made… In any case, only the finest grapes among those would become top-tier, deep-sea-aged wine. The rest would be made into mid-range wines sold across the empire.

“You must be the foreman. Have you made sure no one can access the wine cellar?”

Joel stopped a man who was rolling an empty oak barrel across the yard and asked.

“Yes, Sir Knight! Of course! We’ve secured the underground area—no one’s getting down there.”

“Good.”

Deeper inside the winery, where piles of empty oak barrels were stacked, stairs leading to the underground appeared.

“Sir Concerto. Is there still no reaction?”

In the wine cellar, a line of heavy oak barrels stood in rows. Dim magical lights cast a soft glow in the dark natural cave.

“Still unconscious,”

As Iadis said, the green-haired man was tied tightly to a chair, completely passed out.

“Sir Terius.”

When Joel approached and stood beside him, Iadis cautiously opened his mouth.

“I lost my composure earlier.”

He offered his junior a sincere apology. At dawn, he had truly believed their lord was going to die, and had nearly lost his mind.

“It’s all right. Given the circumstances, I understand. Please, just call me by name.”

“Ahem, very well then… Sir Joel.”

Considering how roughly he had treated him earlier, it felt a little silly to now suddenly be so formal.

“How is His Excellency?”

“He just regained his strength a moment ago.”

In fact, he was now more than fine—he was remarkably vigorous.

“Is that so? Then I must go see him at once.”

Brightening up, Iadis immediately turned to leave. A man who lived only for his lord, he needed to see for himself that His Excellency was healthy.

“You can’t go right now!”

Joel quickly grabbed Iadis by the arm before he could take a step.

“What do you mean I can’t go? Is His Excellency’s condition still unstable?”

“Ah… it’s just that… Now isn’t the right time for a visit. For many reasons, you absolutely cannot go right now.”

“Absolutely?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

No further explanation would be offered.

“⋯⋯.”

“Ugh…”

Just as Iadis stiffened for a moment, the man tied to the chair let out a groan.

“Is he waking up?”

“What the hell is going on here?!”

At Iadis’s voice, Olive snapped fully awake.

“Do you even know who I am…?”

“You’re the Master of the Tower, aren’t you?”

“And yet you treat me like this? Ugh…”

Olive winced in pain mid-sentence. Every breath felt like his abs were tearing apart. There wasn’t a single part of his body that didn’t hurt.

“You flour-haired bastard… Did you torture me while I was unconscious?”

He glared at Iadis like he was ready to kill, biting his lip in fury.

“Just because I gave you a little grief, you tortured me?”

“Flour…?”

Is he talking about me?
Iadis was slightly shocked by the nickname Olive had given him. It had been since he was ten years old that he’d last heard such a crude expression.

“I didn’t torture you.”

He barely held back the urge to smack Olive upside the head and had even waited patiently like a gentleman—and this was the thanks he got?

“Then why does my whole body hurt like hell?”

Judging by “Flour’s” expression, he didn’t seem to be lying. But the pain Olive felt was beyond words.

“It’s probably just muscle soreness.”

Unable to watch Olive groaning any longer, Joel finally stepped in.

“Muscle soreness?”

It was a completely foreign concept to Olive, who had never done strength training in his life. This was the aftermath of the insane physical exertion forced on him by Michalis the day before.

“And I’ve got a mana suppressant on! Isn’t tying me up like this going too far? Untie me! I said untie me!”

After taking in his surroundings and the condition of his own body, Olive began shouting furiously. He wasn’t in a state to be tied to a chair—he should’ve been lying flat on the ground, moaning for several days.

“It’s getting noisy. I think we should gag him for now.”

Because the cellar used a natural cave, Olive’s loud protests echoed painfully in their ears.

“Oh, look at this—perfect.”

“You flour-haired bastard! You son of a—mmpf!”

Iadis picked up a cork that had been rolling around nearby and stuffed it into Olive’s mouth.

“Mmgh! What the—mmmpf…!”

By the third cork, Olive finally went silent.

“As expected, cork stoppers from Plencia seal exceptionally well,” Joel commented, removing the decorative cord from his uniform and wrapping it tightly around Olive’s mouth so he couldn’t spit them out.

You flour-haired freaks… fox-faced monsters… I’ll make sure neither of you walks away from this.

The moment Olive regained his freedom, he vowed to rip the two of them to pieces. He had the power to kill them both with ease and turn the entire dukedom into a sea of fire.

How much power does this mana suppressant have? If I can just contact my master…

He had hidden a magical communication orb in a personal subspace, ready to retrieve it at any moment. All he needed was one shot. If he could endure the electric backlash long enough to open the subspace when no one was watching, this entire situation would be over.

For now, I’d better just behave and avoid provoking them.

If he played along, maybe they’d at least remove the damn corks that were killing his mouth.

“Sir Joel, what do you think His Excellency intends to do with this man?”

“Since His Excellency chose this place… I imagine he’ll end up as fertilizer for the vineyard, don’t you think?”

“More likely, someone might attempt a body trace… We’ll need a method that leaves no evidence behind.”

By now, the staff at the adjutant’s office would be in Wespa, carrying Olive’s robe and creating a false trail. The Master of the Tower’s demise must not be traced back to the ducal territory.

“So in the end, dumping him far out at sea is the safest bet?”

“Hmm. That’s certainly one good option.”

“⋯⋯.”

Why is “let him go” not even on the table in these conversations?!

As the two men continued their casual, almost friendly discussion, Olive grew increasingly pale.

“Sir Joel, do you have any good ideas on how to end this man’s life?”

As the tactical officer, Iadis naturally took the lead in the planning session.

“A direct kill leaves too much room for tracing… It’d be better if someone else handled it.”

“So you’re thinking of disguising him and having him die at the hands of an assassin in Wespa?”

“Now that you mention disguise, I’ve just thought of a perfect idea.”

In front of Olive, the two continued their strategy meeting. When it came to the Master of the Tower, the only options were covert elimination.

* * *

“How’s he doing?”

Much later, after the meeting had ended, Michalis walked into the wine cellar and asked.

“Your Excellency, I report that the current condition of the Tower Master shows no significant issues.”

“Are you all right, Your Excellency?!”

“I heard I caused you all a great deal of worry this morning. But I’m feeling perfectly fine now, so there’s no need to be concerned.”

In truth, not only was he fine—he felt so refreshed it was as if all his stress had melted away.

“Your Excellency! How could you do such a thing?!”

“Sir Iadis, I’m sure you have many questions for me.”

Just as Iadis was about to unleash a flood of reprimands, Michalis quickly clamped a hand over his mouth.

“Yes… I do, indeed…”

Iadis looked at Michalis with eyes full of hurt and frustration. How could he carry out such a reckless operation without any consultation? Why was Joel informed while he was left in the dark? What were all those cards the Duchess had hinted at?

“We’ll set aside time later to go over everything in detail.”

“Understood.”

With that, Iadis swallowed his disappointment—for now.

“Is there anything you want to say before the end?”

Michalis stepped in front of Olive and asked. After having glimpsed his memories, Michalis was certain—this man could never be allowed to live. The highest mercy he could offer was granting a final word.

“⋯Mmph!”

Olive nodded furiously, not missing his chance.

“Sir Joel, remove the gag.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Ptoo! Let me go! If you release me now, I’ll forget everything and return to the Tower. I swear I won’t seek revenge! I’ll even bind myself to an oath spell if you want!”

Olive spat out the corks and shouted, wearing the most pitiful expression he could muster. Of course, it was a lie. The moment his mana restraints were removed, he planned to reduce the ducal estate to ashes.

“You still haven’t grasped your situation or surroundings.”

This wasn’t the kind of street where you had to lie just to earn a piece of bread.

“If you kill me now, do you think there won’t be any consequences?”

Since lying didn’t work on the Duke, Olive quickly switched from pleading to threats.

“⋯⋯.”

“Time will turn back, and a curse will befall you!”

His words sounded more like a prophecy than a threat. Olive hurled curses at Michalis, who stood in silence, unmoved.

“Duke! Not even your powers can stop it! If you think you can handle it, go ahead and kill me!”

He was the one and only disciple of the Archmage Karahan, master of time magic. If he died here, his master wouldn’t sit idly by. Though he constantly called Olive “bratty” and “useless,” Olive knew just how deeply Karahan cared for him.

“I can handle it. That’s why I’m going to kill you.”

Once this was done, Karahan would be next.

“What? Do you even know who’s backing me?!”

If the Duke had read his memories with magic, there was no way he didn’t know about his master. And yet he was confident?

“Sir Joel, gag him again.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

There was no need to hear any more of his final words.

“The accused has attempted the assassination of the Supreme Commander of the Southern Navy and made a move to usurp military authority. I, Michalis Acher, hereby sentence Olive to death under military law.”

Michalis looked down at Olive as Joel gagged him once more.

“I don’t even care about military power! Mmmph!”

Michalis knew well enough that Olive had no interest in military authority.

“To steal something that belongs to someone else, you must also be prepared to lose everything you have.”

All of this had begun with his blind obsession to take Eliana for himself.

Why did he covet what he couldn’t have, even with all that overwhelming talent?

In a way, he was just a pitiful child. Had he not desired Eliana, he could have become the greatest archmage in history someday…

“Your Excellency, how would you like the execution to be carried out?”

“I’ll think on it for a moment before deciding.”

“Would you like to hear the method Sir Joel and I discussed earlier?”

“Go ahead.”

“Mmmph…!”

Olive’s eyes widened in horror as he was forced to listen to every detail of how they planned to dispose of him.

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