* * *
As a man named Angelo stepped forward, the people of Contarini, who were watching, looked desperate.
Living as a merchant in the city was rather familiar with betrayal itself because betrayal and conspiracy followed like a shadow. But the timing was too bad.
Carlo said to Angelo with a confident smile on his suspicious face.
“I'd like a brief introduction. ”
Angelo looked tired with saggy eyes, and it seemed like everything was bothersome. However, his eyes were slightly trembling.
“My name is Angelo, and I've been working in Contarini for 30 years, and I've been following you since I was a teenager, and it's been 10 years since Giovanni, the current owner, recognized me. ”
Carlo's confident smile grew darker.
“If you were in the vicinity, you would often attend secret meetings, wouldn't you? ”
“I always took care of everything from preparation to the day of the meeting. I was the closest thing the Lord had to a meeting. ”
“Then, did Giovanni most recently have a meeting with Hestein? ”
Carlo's words have been drawn to the heart of Contarini. The people of Contarini's heart sank. Is this the end?
“Recent meetings took place a month ago in the city of Lavio Bay. That's where Giovanni and Hestein met in person. ”
Lavio Bay was the place where Albrecht left Oberburn to join the Crusade.
There, he disagreed with Valentina and headed for the Pope's Ramus, where Valentina took a boat straight to Lucretia.
Albrecht remembers a moment when he met wildlings in the forest as Valentina warned him.
But it wasn't time to get sentimental, and I focused on hearing Angelo's testimony.
“Can you tell me about the meeting? ”
Angelo closes his eyes for a moment. It was to put a knife in the back of his patron saint.
Angelo betrayed Giovanni because of love. It was because he was in love with Carlo.
Angelo meets Carlo as carefully as he can, but Contarini is not a prize.
Recently, the family started sending suspicious glances to itself, and I intuitively felt that I didn't have much time left.
In the dark streets of the city, he was drawn in his head as he was stabbed to death by a dagger. I thought it would be better to send Giovanni here now.
Maybe it was because of love. It was because no matter how much he loved her, he didn't love her more than he did.
Angelo opens his eyes again and slowly opens his mouth.
“The meeting was about alliances. that Conterini and Hestein would join hands, and that Conterini would form an alliance with the rest of the League of Commerce. ”
“What alliance? ”
“An alliance to stand up to King Licence here. ”
“Oh, my God! ”
“It's over. ”
Among the guards, the Contrarians sighed. They seemed to think it was really over.
You're willing to form an alliance with Hestein against a man who is currently holding his own life in jeopardy?
It doesn't matter what trial or trial you tried to challenge the king, now you think you're dead.
Surprisingly, however, Albrecht's expression was bold. It was not Albrecht who feared that someone would stand against him.
It was just a question. You seem to have gotten along well with Contarini when she was Lord of Oberburn, but I wonder why she turned her back on herself.
Albrecht looks back at Giovanni. He raises his head slightly and closes his eyes with his head to the sky.
I had a gentle smile on my mouth, but I didn't know whether I was willing or relaxed.
But Angelo's words were not finished.
“Giovanni asked Hestein to have faith. by giving that family crest there. ”
Angelo points to the cloth left at the scene of the crime as the troublemakers flee. Now it turns out that Contrini was behind it all.
Valentina tries to step forward, almost crying, but Giovanni stops her.
“Father!"
Giovanni simply shakes his head. Albrecht's bold eyes look at Giovanni.
Albrecht thought his head was colder than ever. There were still corners that were not sharp.
Why did he leave Contarini's sentence on the scene? He's your ally. Why? Was it just because Hestein was stupid?
“I heard what you said. You may return to your seat. ”
Carlo smiles brightly. But right now, Angelo has nowhere to go. Angelo walks to Gianni's side on a footpath that won't let go.
Gianni's side did not even welcome him. It was because even one man's actions benefited him, he did not reap the traitor.
It was just a way of making sure you were safe, paying you money, and letting you go somewhere and live a new life. It was a separate matter of keeping a promise.
“Now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure you've all heard the truth of the case. It was Hestein who ambushed the messenger who was on his way to Wrightingen, carrying Illudia on his orders. and bought it from that nasty, cunning Contarini back there. Your Majesty, I think it's time you made a decision. ”
Carlo shakes the court with an exaggerated gesture as if he had become the main character in the play.
Albrecht only smiles in relief.
“What makes you think it's time for me to make a decision? Get lost. Giovanni, come forward. ”
Carlo flinches for a moment at Albrecht's words. But who wants to throw up?
He thought he was taming the culprit, but instead, he hurried away from him.
As Carlo returns to his seat, Giovanni comes forward with a bold look on his face. Albrecht also looked at him with bold eyes and said,
“When I was Lord Oberburn, I thought I was fine with you, but I don't understand. Why did you do that?”
Albrecht asked why, rather than give him an excuse. Giovanni didn't seem to want to make excuses either. He just smiled and said, looking at Albrecht.
“Your Majesty has declared war on the world in Calteren. So there are only two paths for me as a person in the world? I had to choose between surrender and confrontation, and I chose confrontation. ”
Albrecht wasn't particularly angry. Rather, he respected Giovanni. Neither did Amas, nor did he hate those who opposed him personally.
But when it comes to combat or fighting, it fights against everything and has no consideration for its opponent. The same was true of Giovanni. I felt like I had to kill him myself.
Giovanni continued, still smiling boldly. His cat-like eyes, beyond his mind, were showing some superfluity.
“If someone else had said this, they would have just laughed and laughed. But I couldn't laugh because of what His Majesty said. It's a war to end a war. It's a dangerous and terrible thing to say. Does that mean you have every reason in the world? Yes, you have declared war on the world, so if you fight the world, you will have it all. And in fact, you conquered the North and now you put it all under your feet to the center. What's next? West of Velez? Or Taranthus to the east? Is it him or the south? I'm a merchant. I don't know about the merchants in the North, but I can't imagine a man like the king or the lord on top of my head. ”
Giovanni was different from the others. He was talking to the king, not hiding his insides in his mouth with malicious, filthy plots or schemes.
Albrecht liked it, but it was bitter. I liked him, and he had to die. But it was also true that I wanted to talk more with him.
I thought that if he was his own man, he would have been a good sidekick in a different way than Zigmunt. It was just a waste.
“Behold the merchants of Halstadt or Lloyd Beck. I don't like you merchants, but I respect you. You hated it so much that you were underneath me? ”
Giovanni sincerely smiled and said. Whether he was intuitive at the time of his death, he became more honest.
“Haha, Your Majesty. Each fox has a different innate nature. As much as you respect the merchants, the monarch and the merchant are mutually exclusive. It may be a counterparty, but it is not a relationship that can be up and down. And I love Lucretia, my home and home. I can't give it to anyone. And in order to do that, we have to work with the cunning, the vulgar Hestein. ”
Albrecht did not agree with Giovanni's point of view, but he was impressed by everything else.
Suddenly, I remembered the old knight who fought bravely with himself when he conquered the North.
The war in Albrecht swept away not only the immoral and the wicked, but also the righteous and honorable.
Giovanni is different from that of the knight, but clearly honorable. He was a great hero who had never existed in the North continent with a heart of love for his hometown, and he wanted to fight against the conquerors of iron and blood.
Albrecht clearly admired him, but in the end he didn't think Giovanni would exist in his world. But the trial had to go on, and there was a question that had not yet been resolved.
“Then why did you hand over the family crest when you were at risk of being discovered? Hestein faked it without getting caught? ”
Giovanni's cat-looking eyes were still bold. He smiles slowly and answers Albrecht's question.
“It seems that the military alliance is not my area of expertise that gave the family crest. My mistake was right. At the time, when the Battle of Wrightingen was just beginning, we were in a hurry, and we wanted to share our beliefs with each other with a knight or prodigy, and this is how it turned out. I don't know. In my defense, I didn't think he'd attack your messenger. ”
Even if Giovanni had not anticipated Hestein's actions, his guilt was not eased. Like Carlo said, he wasn't behind this or behind it, but it was true that he was involved in an indirect attack on soldiers.
After Giovanni's confession, Valentina finally shed tears. Diego, who was watching the trial, has been looking at the scene with the expression mentioned above.
Rather, Giovanni, a party, confronted Albrecht with no tremor.
“And, Your Majesty, Hestein is a vulgar but not a fool. Rather, we are as cunning and as wily as we are. It can't be a coincidence that I left my family's crest on the scene. I have a hunch, but it would be inappropriate for me to say more as a body on trial. ”
Then he bowed down to Albrecht. Giovanni turns around and heads back to his seat. I returned to my seat and smiled at the Lords of Moronini and Gianni. They looked at each other indifferently and coldly.
As Giovanni returns to her seat, Valentina wept and hugged her father. He warmly hugged his daughter.
And he shook hands or hugged the Contrarians, as if to say his last goodbye.
The mood with the king was better than the other families' debates, but the content was not.
The Contarini side looks sad, some weeping and staring at their glutton. Giovanni just smiled at them comfortably.
Albrecht glances back at the scene, looking at Michele and saying, They were the ones who gave themselves the Elf's letter.
“I will pursue the trial. Michelle's advocate, step forward. ”
Then, this time, Michelle's party stepped forward. Giovanni came forward with the king's appointments, and Michelle was the first to do it herself.
Mikele's Party Bernardo was a stone expressionless person who could not have done such a thing.
His curly hair and beard were dark to the wrinkles, which made him look quite young.
It resembled the man from Pokerface who took the letter and delivered it to Albrecht. It seemed like he was rich.
Whether they were rich or not, it had nothing to do with the trial. Albrecht thought the trial was almost over because of Giovanni's confession.
< 199 > End