Even though I had stopped walking, Karl said nothing.

As that silence began to feel ominous, Karl’s lips finally parted.

“Actually, there’s one more thing I was hoping the Deputy Commander could help with.”

“……? What are you suddenly talking about? What is it?”

His following silence felt even more ominous than before.

Under the stars twinkling like tears, he suddenly showed a bitter smile.

“I mentioned before that I have a younger sister, right?”

“……Yes. You’ve been saying that constantly. You mentioned it on Founding Day too.”

“She’s sick.”

Although I felt confused about why family matters were suddenly being brought up, I asked anyway.

“Is she injured?”

“No, she’s been ill since childhood. But you know. My ability can’t cure diseases.”

“……”

“It’s such a useless ability, isn’t it? It’s called a healing ability, but I can’t even heal one family member.”

With a bitter smile as if he had tasted something foul, Karl abruptly asked:

“You’re wondering why I’m suddenly saying this, aren’t you?”

“……”

When I didn’t respond, Karl answered first.

“Actually, I found a way to cure my sister. But the method is a bit dangerous. And it requires a lot of things.”

“……”

“To cure my sister, we need monsters. Apparently, implanting a parasitic chimera synthesized from monsters can have a healing effect on the disease. His Majesty the Emperor said so.”

“……”

“So with Reymont’s help, I brought the Deputy Commander here for a moment. It’s not easy for us to capture large monsters on our own, so I wanted to ask for help. I’m sorry for deceiving you.”

What on earth is this guy suddenly talking about?

My mind felt numb.

It felt like the ground was crumbling beneath my feet.

As my thoughts became increasingly tangled, I could barely manage to utter one question.

“……It was you?”

Stuttering, with trembling lips, I asked again.

“The one who brought monsters to His Majesty, it was you?”

Only then did Karl’s clothing catch my eye.

Despite saying he had rolled down a snowy hill, he was wearing clean clothes without a single snowflake on them.

The implication of this was simple.

“You…… you’ve awakened spatial movement abilities. You’ve been using that to smuggle monsters into the palace undetected all this time.”

When I thought about it that way, everything fell into place.

The story about rolling down a snowy hill was a lie.

He must have used his spatial movement ability to teleport to the bottom of the hill, then pretended to have rolled down in front of me.

That’s why his clothes were clean.

Why didn’t I realize it until now?

There had been so many times when Karl had appeared here and there without a trace.

I had simply thought that I hadn’t sensed his presence because I was preoccupied, or tired.

No. He had been using his ability to move around whenever no one was watching.

Come to think of it, during the Founding Day event, Karl had also talked to a suspicious character called a “partner” in the garden.

Was that partner also one of Ernant’s subordinates?

To think he had already been in contact with Ernant’s subordinates since then.

I should have found it suspicious earlier.

As I was regretting not having done so, Karl’s voice reached my ears.

“That’s right. I awakened a secondary ability.”

“Wait, but when we did the ability test, there were no signs of you awakening a secondary ability?”

The Commander had only mentioned Maximilian, Oscar, and Caroline as showing signs of awakening secondary abilities.

Since Karl wasn’t mentioned, it seems there were no signs of him awakening a secondary ability.

But that wasn’t the case……

Karl smiled and explained the reason.

“It’s easy enough to manipulate test results. I am a squad leader after all, you know?”

“……”

“But I was a bit hurt. I used spatial movement once or twice when others weren’t looking, but no one noticed. Both the Commander and you, Deputy Commander, don’t you pay too little attention to me?”

As if trying to lighten the mood, Karl grinned broadly.

It was the same smile as always. The smile that used to put me at ease.

But now, that smile didn’t bring me any comfort at all.

“You’ve gone mad. You’re thinking of participating in such an insane plan? If your sister is precious to you, you should be more careful! Implanting monsters in her body?!”

As I shouted, Reymont, who had been quietly listening beside us, intervened between us.

“Lord Schnesthern, please calm down first. His Majesty has seen sufficient potential—”

“You shut up!”

This was between Karl and me.

I had just been betrayed again by someone I held dear.

First Ernant, and now Karl stabbing me in the back.

This was not something for a third party like Reymont to interfere with.

After snapping at Reymont so fiercely, I turned back to Karl.

“I can’t let this slide. I’m going to tell everyone right away.”

“Deputy Commander. At this rate, my little sister won’t live even a year.”

“……”

“I only had one lifeline to grasp. The chimera… I couldn’t find any other way.”

“……”

“Please… for my sake, for my sister’s sake, won’t you cooperate? Please, I’m begging you, bowing my head like this.”

Even though he had deceived and betrayed me, Karl was still my long-time friend.

And now that Karl was earnestly pleading for the sake of his precious family member.

It would be a lie to say my heart didn’t waver.

But no matter how dear he was to me, I absolutely could not back down this time.

“I’m going to stop His Majesty’s research. By any means necessary.”

As a regressor, I knew what would happen if Ernant continued his research like this.

I still vividly remembered how many people of Brausenberg died from Ernant’s chimera attacks.

Since I couldn’t persuade Karl by telling him that fact, I simply said this:

“I’m sorry, Karl.”

Then I waited for Karl’s response.

If he said he would also withdraw from this, I was willing to pretend I hadn’t heard anything today.

After all, if Karl, the monster supplier, backed out, Ernant wouldn’t be able to continue his research anyway.

However, instead of Karl’s answer, what I heard was Reymont’s voice, tinged with anger.

“So you’re going to be like this after all.”

Glaring fiercely at me, Reymont drew his sword.

Immediately, Karl stepped in front of Reymont.

“Let me try to persuade him more. Put your weapon down.”

“He doesn’t seem likely to be persuaded. And His Majesty gave direct orders. If Lord Schnesthern refuses to cooperate again this time—”

Still glaring straight at me, Reymont emphasized the last words in a clear voice.

“Kill him, he said.”

Ernant had said it directly. If I was uncooperative, kill me.

Since it was conveyed by his personal guard captain, it was unlikely to be a lie.

The emotion I felt immediately after hearing those words wasn’t anger.

“I see, he said to kill me, did he?”

The voice that flowed from my lips sounded dry even to my own ears.

A perfectly colorless voice, devoid of anger or sadness.

Reymont seemed to feel the same, as he asked me:

“You’re calm. Aren’t you grieved?”

“I’d have to have expected something from that man to feel grief. To feel betrayed, you need to have had some expectations of the other person in the first place. How could I feel betrayed by someone I never trusted or expected anything from to begin with?”

“That man? Did you just refer to His Majesty the Emperor as ‘that man’?”

As Reymont showed his anger, I raised my sword and retorted:

“Emperor of a country or whatever, I don’t feel like using honorifics for someone who told others to kill me.”

“……I see I’ll have to eliminate you here, for His Majesty’s sake as well.”

At that moment, Karl once again blocked Reymont’s path.

“Both of you, please don’t do this. Reymont, please calm down, and Deputy Commander, please lower your sword. Let’s try to find a compromise through dialogue.”

“Karl, move aside.”

Keeping my gaze on Reymont, I continued speaking to Karl.

“I’d prefer to arrest you in one piece if possible.”

Unlike Reymont, I wanted to just turn a blind eye to Karl if I could, but he was still saying he would try to persuade me.

If he kept spouting nonsense like this, I would have to arrest him too.

Even if it meant cutting off his limbs.

Hearing my warning, Karl flinched and opened his mouth.

“Deputy Commander, I—”

Before he could finish his sentence.

Thwack! Reymont violently pushed Karl, who had been blocking his path, and charged towards me.