I Stayed Loyal When My Teacher Was Betrayed

47 – With You 1

After organizing the situation, we immediately headed to where Queen Mikella was.

Despite this and that, the representative of the country attacked us,

And in retaliation, the situation was such that we killed the other party.

It was late at night, but this kind of thing should be dealt with as quickly as possible.

Without delay, we knelt down and met Queen Mikella.

We just told her everything as it was.

-“T..that’s right! All of this was ordered by Lancelon!”

-“For the sake of this country, we must… kill the witch Rosetta…”

-“R…Rosemary…? H…how could this…hik! I… I will talk! I…I…was ordered by Lancelot to assassinate Rosemary before!”

-“We just followed orders. Please…please spare our lives!”

…

Despite the late hour, Queen Mikella looked at the information recorded by magic with sharp eyes.

After seeing and hearing all of it…

She remained silent for a moment, leaning back in her chair.

“As I mentioned, Lancelot has already been dealt with by our hands. It is regrettable, but he was so fiercely resistant that we had no choice but to subdue him.”

“…”

Queen Mikella let out a deep sigh.

After closing her eyes for a while, she pondered something.

And…

Finally, what flickered in her eyes was a deeply profound determination.

The Queen, with a chilling voice, said, “Prime Minister.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Immediately order the soldiers to destroy the lineage of Rancelot, as he has conspired against us.”

“Y-yes?”

Prime Minister, who was listening to the situation beside me, was bewildered, and this story captivated us all in confusion.

But the Queen once again gave a resolute order with her unwavering voice, “Proceed, this is the command of the queen who rules this country. He dared to aim for the throne, conspired to rebel, and murdered the owner of the tower, the Grand Magician Rosemary, who may have been an obstacle, and now he is an ancient criminal who attempted to kill Rosetta, the Grand Master Adventurer and the Great Witch. I order that he and all those involved will be subjected to punishment.”

The Queen’s words showed no mercy.

Indeed, the fact that he plotted a rebellion seemed exaggerated, but… In the ominous momentum, the Prime Minister had no choice but to carry out the order with lowered head.

“U-understood. I will follow the order, Your Majesty.”

The Prime Minister urgently carried out the order.

However, we could see that this seemingly radical order was, in fact, the best course of action the Queen could take at this time.

The kingdom’s chief magician attempted to assassinate the Grand Master of the Adventurer’s Guild.

Moreover, he plotted and actually succeeded in murdering Rosemary, the former owner of the tower.

If such facts were made public, the kingdom’s losses would be of an unbearable level.

In the worst-case scenario, the two pillars of the continent, the Adventurer’s Guild and the Tower, could turn against us in an instant, a serious and extreme event.

Being pushed aside by these two forces, in this situation, was not much different from the kingdom being torn apart.

To avoid this worst-case scenario, the Queen quickly made a decision.

All of this… framing it as the “baseless conviction of Rancelot” by the one who died.

The dead cannot speak, and in fact, this is the best way to cover up the situation, even if it means eating the dead man’s corpse.

The act of destroying the 3 lineages of Rancelot was also a kind of performance to show the surrounding countries that “We killed this little rascal who conspired! We have nothing to do with his actions!”

After ordering the merciless punishment to protect the country,

The Queen, with a still shock-filled expression, said to us with a voice full of deep remorse, “Truly… there are no words I can say. Such an unsightly event happened because I put the Prime Minister in the wrong position. Please forgive me for this mistake.”

The Queen quickly apologized.

As the ruler of the country, she must have felt extremely uneasy in many ways, but still, she bowed her head and asked for forgiveness.

It may seem humiliating, but in fact, this, along with the punishment of Rancelot’s family, was the most efficient way to minimize damage.

It is not easy to ask for great responsibility from someone who casually bows their head without giving long-winded excuses.

Even in a situation where I took the position of a third party, it was even more so.

Furthermore, neither of us had any intention of criticizing or blaming each other for what happened here and now.

To be honest, from my perspective and that of my mentor, we resolved the long-standing grudge through this incident.

We were actually worried that problems might arise as a result, but thankfully, they paved the way called justification on their side, allowing the situation to be neatly resolved.

Just the fact that I came with the intention of seeking forgiveness made me feel incredibly relieved that I ended up being the one forgiven.

The revenge plan concluded smoothly overall.

Feeling a sense of liberation and contentment in knowing that it was over,

the two of us left Daejeon and headed towards our lodging.

“How do you feel, Master?”

“..It’s good. Truly… Is this what the pleasure of revenge feels like? Frankly, revenge only leaves behind emptiness, but that statement seems false no matter how much I think about it.”

“I also think so. In that sense, today, we can finally get a good night’s sleep.”

Revenge, which I had been wishing for and waiting for since finding myself in this situation.

Thinking that the danger within the household had completely disappeared,

a faint smile appeared on my lips.

At that moment.

“Um… Edward?”

“Yes, Master.”

Suddenly, she called me, my mentor.

Continuing as she had been doing since before, she began scanning her surroundings once again.

My mentor’s appearance seemed thoroughly prepared for something.

Upon seeing that, I couldn’t tell exactly what amazing story she wanted to share, but at least now that we had removed Lancelot, it felt like nothing would surprise me anymore.

But…

“Um… um… Well, since there doesn’t seem to be anything around, I hope you will listen to what I have to say.”

“Yes, Master. Please tell me anything.”

“Th-that… Well, you see…”

Unusually, my mentor’s attitude seemed stiff and hesitant.

Seeing this, I also began to feel my body tensing up for no reason.

And at that moment…

My mentor slowly approached me and cautiously reached out her hand.

Something I had never seen her do before…

Her face was flushed a deep red.

“…Mas… master?”

I asked with a trembling voice in an unsettling atmosphere.

And the master’s answer to my question was…

– “Come closer.”

“!”

Suddenly, the sensation of warm and intense lips.

I couldn’t help but feel quite bewildered by the master’s action of kissing me deeply.

However, despite the confusion, I couldn’t resist this situation.

Whatever the master’s intention may be, one thing was clear:

This is exactly what I have always wanted.

Just like when I rejected Freya’s confession before, the woman who truly captivated my heart was right in front of me, Rosemary, my master.

Even though I had some idea about the feelings of Bernarda or Freya, it was still her whom I felt this love-like emotion for.

But even so, I haven’t been able to confess these feelings until now.

It was due to the age difference that still remains, even if appearances have changed.

I was anxious about the possibility of her rejecting me.

And once a human relationship is distorted, it’s not easy to recover.

If she rejects me, our situation, which we barely managed to establish, might also become strained.

I didn’t want my master to taste such pain, so I couldn’t reveal my feelings.

Until now, I silently fulfilled my duty as her protector, both as a sword and shield.

But in this moment,

In response to these feelings of mine,

My master kissed me.

A sensation so incredibly sweet.

It made my heart flutter, feeling like I just bit into a dense and sticky candy.

After a while,

She cautiously pulled away her lips from mine.

Then, the master avoided my gaze, seemingly embarrassed.

And…

“..I’m… sorry.”

“Master…?”

“This… feels completely unfamiliar… Ha… However… I wanted to tell you… my feelings…”

“!”

The voice of my master seemed to crawl.

But right now, her voice was clearer to me than anything else.

She wanted to convey her feelings to me.

That’s why I kissed her.

I wasn’t a fool to the point of not knowing what that meant.

“If… If you were uncomfortable, I would like to apologize… But… even so… oh!”

Once again, this time with my own hand, a kiss.

As if she had taken my lips away,

This time, I took away her lips…

I expressed my feelings to my master.

That hot moment continued for a while.

Continuing that heat,

I held my master tightly and spoke in a trembling voice.

“I… I love you, Master. No… Rosemary… I have always… always loved you.”

“Edward…”

Tears welled up in an instant.

Such intense joy was expressed through tears, and now I seemed to understand the meaning of those words.

But as I felt the profound joy and held tightly to my hand,

My master spoke in a trembling voice.

“…T-Then… let’s… go inside next… Right? Are you… alright?”

A story that I couldn’t decipher its meaning.

I answered in a trembling voice.

“…Yes.”