His tone was polite, but it was threatening enough to Yan.

“Don’t misunderstand. I thought she was wrong and was just asking her a few questions. It seems Miss Adel got a bit excited.”

Yan tried to smile, clutching his trembling hand tightly.

I had forgotten momentarily. How terrifying and formidable a foe he was!

“Is that so? It looked to me like several people were threatening her. And you seem quite close to the Duke as well.”

Yan seemed to be trembling to his bones with fear.

Could he have noticed that I’m hand in hand with Stone?

But he answered with the full dignity of an emperor.

“Of course. Isn’t the Duke the winner of the tournament?”

Christine nodded sarcastically.

“A winner… Well, trickery is one way to win.”

“What, trickery?”

Ignoring Yan’s angry voice, Christine approached Stone.

At that moment, an unexpected scene unfolded. The surrounding wolves hesitated and stepped back.

‘Of course!’

Christine’s face was full of conviction.

The wolves instinctively obeyed the wolf tribe. So fearing Stone meant he was of the wolf tribe.

Of course, the wolves would follow the command of whoever held a higher rank between Christine and Stone.

Anyway, this confirmed that the brown wolf that had appeared in Wolf Valley was Stone. Startled by the sudden appearance of the tribe, Christine had been attacked and fallen into the valley without counterattacking. He had managed to avoid the shock by flying his body, but it had almost been a disaster.

“Peep!”

Christine, having confirmed Stone’s identity, put a finger to his lips and whistled shortly.

The wolves turned as one and returned to the Imperial Forest. The wild beasts looked like trained war dogs.

Meanwhile, Stone’s expression also hardened, seeing this. It was impossible for an ordinary person to handle wild wolves like this.

‘Could he also…?’

Suspicion filled Stone’s eyes.

He had definitely thrown Christine down to the Wolf Valley. He had seen with his own eyes dozens of wolves gathered at Stone’s call attacking the fallen man. No matter how heroic in battle, no human could survive that.

But he was unscathed and commanding those wolves like underlings?

Unless Christine was of the wolf tribe, this situation could not be explained.

‘If he really is of the wolf tribe…?’

Then Christine, standing in front of Stone, spoke.

“I learned a lesson from today’s match, Duke.”

“Not at all.”

“Then, is it my turn to counterattack?”

“What?”

Christine turned again to Yan.

“Your Majesty, I accuse Stone Oswald of being the murderer of my father.”
Caught off guard by the unexpected words, Yan’s mind became entangled as he recalculated.

“This matter is sensitive, so we must be very cautious. Is there evidence?”

Christine sent a glance to Zimmer. Suddenly, Zimmer, who had been unseen throughout the game, approached from behind. He was with two people wearing deep hoods.

“There are witnesses.”

At Christine’s words, the two hooded individuals stepped forward. They slowly removed their hoods and bowed to the emperor. One was a young woman, and the other was the palace’s physician, Mabin.

The young woman spoke first.

“My name is Vanessa. I worked as a maid for the Duke of Oswald until the day he passed away.”

(This is a time delimiter.)

“Your Majesty, Count Bice has bribed witnesses with lies for his fiancée! Do not be fooled by this shallow trick!”

The flustered Stone shouted and tried to rush at Vanessa.

“Kyah!”

Startled, Vanessa screamed and shrank back, but Christine quickly blocked her.

“You saw the boring drama of the Duke earlier, so now please listen to the story we’ve prepared. It might be more interesting than you think, Duke.”

At that mocking expression, Stone’s face twisted.

Christine and Stone.

They faced each other, shoulders touching, as if ready to come to blows at any moment.

Yan’s head throbbed, and he pressed his temples.

It would be a real headache if they clashed.

“Both of you, step back three paces.”

Yan decided that it was not yet time to let go of Christine’s hand. But what became clearer today was that he must eventually remove him. Otherwise, he would bite off his neck and then some.

“Vanessa, continue speaking.”

With the emperor’s permission, Vanessa looked at Stone with trembling lips, then pointed at him firmly.

“The one who killed the former Duke is Stone Oswald!”

As the story entered a new phase, people began to buzz with interest.

Vanessa looked at Stone’s fierce eyes and was afraid, but she reassured herself by looking at Christine standing strong beside her.

“The Oswalds locked young stepmother Adel in the basement and ordered her around like a maid. Even the maids called her the Mistress of the Basement. Especially Stone treated her harshly. The Duke was too ill to know this.”

At the unexpected story, many people held their breath.

“That night, Stone called Adel to his bedroom late at night. Somehow, the Duke asked me to go to Stone’s bedroom that night. And the moment I opened the door… he was trying to do something bad to Adel.”

Vanessa mixed in a small lie. Since Stone had falsely accused Adel, they couldn’t face him with the truth alone. Of course, Christine allowed it.

“The enraged Duke told Stone that he couldn’t leave him a penny of his inheritance. Then he poisoned the tea Adel was going to give to the Duke the next day. She, knowing nothing, served the tea to the Duke. I saw everything and told the investigators. But they were corrupt and kidnapped me, selling me to a brothel. Your Majesty, Stone is a vile son who killed his father, a cunning devil!”

Filled with emotion, Vanessa screamed at Stone, her voice filled with rage.