Chapter 361: Kill Him [1]
"Who the hell was it?!"
"..."
Seeing Remzi’s silence, Arnold glared at him with seething fury in his eyes, but the former made no effort to acknowledge the anger directed at him.
"I won’t do a thing to them. Just tell me their name—"
"I can’t."
Remzi interrupted Arnold, his voice as calm as ever.
"The Duke is just a moment away from killing me."
"But you are still alive."
"..."
"That’s what matters."
Taking another sip from his cup of coffee, Remzi leaned back in his seat as he observed his ’friend’ with his usual eyes of calculation.
Arnold, on his part, looked defeated as he covered his face with both of his hands before resting his head on the back of the sofa.
Someone had reported to the authorities that he had been there when the attack on the auction house in the Levaith Duchy was being carried out.
Now, even though similar attacks on a far larger scale had taken place around the world... the authorities, after receiving the report, had now begun to suspect the Levaiths of colluding with the attackers.
The authorities believed from the statement of the witness that Arnold, despite being present in the auction house, had turned a blind eye to the slaughter of the people present at that point in time.
The moment the news reached Damian Levaith, the current lord of House Levaith... all hell had broken out.
Damian was a second away from killing Arnold, after the guy had somehow managed to escape from the wrath of his older brother.
And now, after meeting Remzi, Arnold had tried his best to fish out the name of the person who had reported his presence at the auction house, but Remzi... the guy seemed hell-bent on protecting the identity of the witness.
’It’s a principle I adhere to,’ was what Remzi had said, but Arnold knew better.
Arnold had now begun to suspect that the witness was related to someone at the top of the leadership among the authorities, or why else would Remzi go out of his way to protect their identity?
The attacks that had happened across all the businesses owned by or allied with Syma were found to be some organized terror campaign launched by the cults.
That had been a blessing for House Levaith as the focus of the world had shifted away from their duchy, but now... with someone reporting the negligence on the part of the blood of the Levaiths in protecting the subjects of their territory, the authorities had once again shifted their entire focus to the Levaith Duchy.
"Aren’t you one of the leading heads in the investigation against the cults? How about you tell your colleagues that I am innocent and not related to any of this."
"..."
"Damn, Remzi! If the authorities suspect the duchy of colluding with the cults, then consider me a dead man! The Duke would surely take my head for starters."
Arnold subconsciously bit his finger as he thought over the possible solution to his current predicament.
"I think there might be a way out for you."
Just as Arnold’s anxiety was reaching its peak, Remzi softly muttered the words, which made the former’s ears perk up in response.
"Tell me?"
Arnold asked with the utmost restraint in his voice.
Just a ray of light in the existing darkness of hopelessness was a boon for Arnold, given his current predicament, so it was natural for him to be filled with excitement after hearing Remzi’s words.
"It depends on how far you are willing to go."
Remzi shrugged his shoulders while uttering the words.
"Remzi, man! My life... my entire existence is facing a crisis right now. Do you really think I would not try to prove my innocence? I am willing to do anything—"
"Matthew Pierre."
"Hm?"
Seeing the confused look on Arnold’s face, Remzi stood up from his seat before walking towards a nearby window and gazing out over the market spread below.
"Matthew is one of the highest-ranked officers in the hierarchy of the authorities across the Veltran Empire and is also a major player in the decisions of the authorities across the world."
Remzi calmly described the person while moving the pieces of strategy inside his head.
"He was the one who had received the report from the witness, and he was the very person who had advocated detailed investigations regarding you and the Levaith Duchy and had also laid out his suspicions about your duchy colluding with the cults to carry out the attacks against the world—"
"That’s bullshit!"
Arnold roared as he stomped his foot on the floor before getting up from his seat.
"Why would we carry out an attack in our territory if we were allied with the cults? That just doesn’t make any sense."
"Well, for him, it does."
Remzi wasn’t affected by Arnold’s outburst in the least, as he stated the facts with absolute ease in his tone of voice.
"Tsk!"
Arnold clicked his tongue, though he didn’t utter another word, waiting for Remzi’s explanation.
"Now that the suspicions have been placed on you, and with the increased pressure on the authorities by all the major powers in the world to find the culprits behind the attack and bring them to justice... the anger of the entire organization is now focused on you and the Levaith Duchy as a whole."
"..."
Arnold couldn’t bring himself to respond in any way.
The words spoken by Remzi had brought him to the realization of the real extent and gravity of the situation.
At first, he had only been afraid of his older brother, but after hearing Remzi, Arnold’s narrowed vision had been restored to its normalcy as he had nearly forgotten that his brother wouldn’t be the only one after his head if some investigation pointed to him being related to the cults in any way... however fake it might have been, as no one would care for its authenticity.
Everyone just wanted to dump the blame on someone so as to salvage the situation in any way possible and save themselves from appearing incompetent in the eyes of the public.