Jenelly’s long explanation, which took a full 30 minutes, could be compressed and summarized as follows:

‘While tracking the vector of the plague, we discovered suspicious cargo abandoned near the western city wall, which showed signs of having contained wild animals.’

‘Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be traces of rats, leading to the inference that someone had brought rats into the city and released them.’

‘Under the assumption that these rats were likely the carriers of the plague, we caught as many rats in the city as possible and confirmed rats showing symptoms of the disease.’

‘Now we’ve begun full-scale rat extermination efforts and are also looking for possible cases of animal infections.’

And Jenelly added seriously:

“We need to catch whoever brought this cargo from outside. That person must be the culprit who spread the plague by releasing infected rats into the city.”

Thus, Jurgen mobilized his knights to thoroughly search not only the inner city but also the entire territory outside the outer walls.

Thanks to Vanessa’s divine word of healing and the treatment developed by Jenelly, the plague was no longer a major threat, so now the situation only required uncovering who was behind the plague.

After continuing the relentless search, the next day at dawn…

The knights found a peddler hiding in the basement of an abandoned commercial building.

Dragged before Jurgen, the peddler initially refused to testify and lied, but realizing it wouldn’t work on Jurgen who possessed the power of Vüs, he finally confessed.

“About two weeks ago, I stopped by Count Frambert’s domain… That’s when Lord Escal approached me. He said if I succeeded in this task, he would give me enough reward to live comfortably for the rest of my life…”

At this successive revelation, Jurgen clicked his tongue softly, and the vassals of House Drake were utterly shocked.

The mastermind who instigated the peddler to spread the plague in Valencia was none other than Escal Drake.

✦ ✦ ✦

“How could Lord Escal do such a thing…!”

Renee, who heard the news along with Vanessa, exclaimed in outrage. Garcia seemed equally angry, his usual playfulness gone, replaced by a cold expression as he glared into space.

“No matter how much he antagonizes Your Grace, still…! Spreading something like a plague would cause suffering to the entire domain!”

Renee’s anger was very justified, so Vanessa could only nod silently in agreement. Perhaps Garcia wasn’t adding anything because Renee was already saying all the right things on his behalf.

“I thought Lord Escal, as a member of House Drake, naturally had attachment and responsibility to Valencia… But now I see that wasn’t the case. He was a selfish and cruel person who only cared about himself.”

“He was always that kind of bastard. He just didn’t show it before because he was walking on eggshells.”

Garcia, who had been quiet until then, commented in a terribly lowered voice.

Escal believed that the reason he wasn’t respected by the vassals of House Drake was because he was living off the family, but that wasn’t the case.

The more fundamental cause lay in Escal’s own nature. The vassals had long ago realized that Escal was an opportunist hiding a vile inner self, and they didn’t want to associate closely with such a person.

It was true that Escal lacked ability both as a knight and as an official, but only three or four people had looked down on him and spoken ill of him for that reason.

If Escal held a grudge against the people for being badmouthed by those few, it could only be seen as narrow-minded. Or perhaps he couldn’t bear the deep sense of inferiority he had been harboring.

“…Did you say Escal is now at Count of Frambert’s house?”

At Vanessa’s sudden question, Renee and Garcia’s gazes shifted to her. Garcia was the one who answered.

“That’s what they say. Seeing that he’s still clinging to that family, it seems he’s done a good job of sweet-talking the former countess of Frambert and the current head of the family. Well, he was always quite the smooth talker.”

Garcia’s attitude was quite scathing as he snorted. His eyes were fierce, as if he would kill Escal on the spot if he were present.

“Now that it’s been revealed that Escal is behind this plague incident, if they continue to protect him, the Frambert family will also find themselves in a difficult position…”

In response to Vanessa’s muttered words, Garcia gave a faint sneer and retorted.

“Sometimes personal feelings take precedence over practical interests. The Frambert family harbors a deep grudge against our Duke for the matter of the previous Duchess of Drake.”

“Grudge? The matter of the previous Duchess of Drake…”

Vanessa was about to ask reflexively but then closed her mouth with an “Ah.”

The matter of the previous Duchess Drake must be about her death.

It was probably Jurgen’s revenge…

“In case you might be misunderstanding, let me tell you, the death of the previous Duchess had nothing to do with our Duke.”

“Ah…?”

Vanessa blinked blankly at Garcia’s unexpected statement. She naturally thought that Jurgen had killed the previous Duchess, both from what she heard from Escal and because Jurgen himself didn’t seem to deny it.

“The previous Duchess died in a carriage accident. We didn’t cause that accident. I swear to God, it was truly an unexpected accident.”

“I, I see…”

Vanessa felt very embarrassed for thinking it was Jurgen and his closest confidants’ doing without knowing the truth. She scratched her cheek and tried to change the subject subtly.

Seeing her like that, Garcia chuckled and then said in a tone as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Well, it’s true that our Duke did intend to take revenge on the previous Duchess. And also her biological son, Calius Drake…”

Garcia suddenly paused and closed his mouth, his expression darkening. As if an unpleasant memory had come to mind.

“Let’s stop talking about this. Anyway, both Livia Frambert and Calius Drake were people who deserved to die. There’s no need to feel guilty about it even now.”

“……”

Vanessa responded to those words only with silence, unable to find anything to say in return.

After all… she herself was also a target of revenge for Jurgen, though it’s unclear if it was truly her own will for abandoning him when he was young.

Of course, unlike the previous two people, she and Jurgen had a complicated relationship. Still, she couldn’t think of it as entirely someone else’s business.

‘I wonder what will happen to Escal now… Will Jurgen demand his extradition from the Frambert family? If the Frambert family refuses, there might even be a territory war. Knowing Jurgen, he’ll try to punish them somehow.’

Vanessa, who had a personal grudge against Escal for nearly killing her, hoped that he would certainly pay for his crimes. Spreading the plague in Valencia, which was also his hometown, was clearly an unforgivable serious crime.

A few days after Escal’s crime was revealed…

Jurgen set out for the Frambert domain, leading the Flügel Knights and elite troops.

✦ ✦ ✦

Before the empire emerged, the regional lords could wage territory wars without needing the king’s approval.

No matter who controlled which land and where, it was just a matter of the king receiving a portion of the taxes from that land from the lord.

However, since the Emperor established the empire, the lords had to obtain the Emperor’s permission first to wage territory wars.

This was the Emperor’s hard-line policy to reduce the power and authority of the feudal lords and to subjugate them more firmly to the central government.

In the early days when the empire had just been established, some lords expressed dissatisfaction or rebelled, but such individuals all had their heads cut off and their families exterminated, so the new system created by the Emperor gradually took root under a reign of terror.

The only family that enjoyed privileges in this system was House Drake.

House Drake, which had stood by the Emperor’s side and aided him from the founding of the empire, eventually reached the point of gaining the authority to wage territory wars without the Emperor’s permission.

As a result, House Drake dominated the north by force, subjugating the lords and establishing themselves as the undisputed rulers of the north.

In the Frambert’s domain, Marsini.

The villagers near the farmlands had already fled to the mountains or forests, or were hiding tightly in their homes, while the citizens in the castle town were trembling with fear that the castle might fall.

The military force of House Drake, densely surrounding the square-like outer castle walls from the southwest direction, was truly terrifying, as if exuding demonic energy.

The Duke of Drake, who stood at the forefront, made only one demand as soon as he arrived here 30 minutes ago.

‘Hand over the criminal Escal Drake, who spread the plague in Valencia.’

However, no positive answer had yet come from the Frambert family.