Chapter 419,
Chapter 121. Betrayal (2)
“Shit shit. I can’t. Hit me Dante.”
“What is it?”
“It means turn my chin until you feel better.”
seemed sincere. As Veradin pulled his chin, Jin and Dante looked at each other.
“Because my goddamn family and the imperial family are screwing over Hiran. If I lose until my anger is relieved.”
“Say something sensible, Veradin. If Dante hits it with even a little sincerity, it won’t end with an injury. Can your wretched body endure it?”
“Damn I know.”
“Why is someone I know talking nonsense?”
“I’m sorry, I’m dying, but I feel stuffy and crazy inside, so I have to say something… This is what I’m trying to become comfortable with after all.”
“Looking at the way he speaks, it wouldn’t be bad to just get hit.”
“There is nothing wrong with the ball.”
At the words of Jin and Dante, Veradin let out a sigh.
“I knew you would say that. If there’s anything I can do to help Dante, tell me…! I will apologize in some way on behalf of the family.”
Seeing Veradin looking at her with a confused face, Jin and Dante didn’t feel comfortable either.
If there is anything wrong with Beradin, it is only the fact that he was born as a ziplo and is being used by his father.
“There is no need to use excessive words like apology. I did not call you to argue, but rather to ask you as a friend. The situation may not be normal for Zipline, but I have to thank you just for coming.”
“Ugh… Dante is like this person!”
When Veradin hugged Dante with exaggerated tears in his eyes, Jin clicked his tongue.
Anyway, as Dante said, it was a risk of its own for Veradin to visit the Emperor’s Castle without his family’s knowledge at this point.
Zipple continues to insist strongly that it is not responsible for this situation. If, by any chance, Veradin’s secret activities were revealed, the argument would lose its power.
A faint smile appeared on Dante’s lips only then as he rubbed the shirt with a liquid that he did not know whether it was tears or fake tears.
It was the first time Jindo saw Dante smile after the incident. As much as that, the situation inside Hiran was not good.
It wasn’t enough that the royal family engaged in scandalous behind-the-scenes dealings with terrorist forces, and traitors appeared one after another inside.
Even the main pillars of betrayal were Dante’s brothers and relatives. He has always been treated as a ‘non-existent person’ by Ron Hylan.
They had never originally dreamed of betrayal. Rather than being dog-killed by Ron for messing with Dante, he was pinning his feeble hopes on the generation after Dante.
Ron had been in complete control of Hiran for a long time, and Dante was in the middle of a neat transfer of power.
Then, an opportunity came that would never come again. If it had only suffered massive damage from terrorism, they would not have even dreamed of betrayal as usual, but the imperial family offered to support them.
It was fine until here. Ron and his Hi-Lan are able to clear the rebels and stand up without anyone’s help.
However, the problem was that there were too many ‘victims who were not Hairan’ due to terrorism. There were not just one or two issues that had to be compensated not only to the imperial family and countless nobles, but also to the big warlords.
‘Sir Ron was somewhat expecting things to turn out this way. That’s why they gave me priority, just in case.’
Jin was also a little predictable.
However, there was one more story that Jin never imagined.
‘The reason why the imperial family pushes Hiran even by making some kind of deal with Kinzelo Ziple.’
It was for the purpose of obtaining a ‘thing’ that Hi-Lan had kept for generations.
To be precise, it should be described as an object kept by the ‘head of Highlan’.
In the first place, even the existence of an object is a matter that only the family head can know.
However, Ron announced the existence of the object from the moment he identified Dante as the family head, and Dante recently broke the taboo that the secret should be handed down only to the head of Hiran.
It also informed Jin of the existence of the object.
-…like a wedge pointing to the tip of a white stone ominous gravel. Successive family heads have called the stone by many names.
-So many names sounds like no one knows the real name of the stone.
– You might think so. That’s right. When he first informed me of the stone’s existence, my grandfather described it as the greatest enemy of the head of the Highlan family.
-The greatest enemy of the family head of Highlan?
-The significance of the existence of that stone, passed down only from household to household, is because it is cut. It is only Gaju who cut the stone that can engrave his name on the highest level of Hiran’s history.
-I don’t think there’s any reason for the imperial family to covet something that’s all there is to it.
-That’s right.
– I get it roughly. The stone must be dangerous enough to be unknown to anyone in the world. So, the family head of Hiran, who acquired the item for the first time, tried to cut it down and failed. After that, only the order to destroy it was left without revealing the identity of the object so that future family heads would not be greedy.
-You mean you inferred everything from just my brief explanation? That’s shocking.
-It’s even more shocking that not even all the previous heads of Highlan have been able to cut the stone, even Lord Lorne. How the hell did you eat the stone?
– I’ve never seen one myself. Because your grandfather is keeping it.
-Anyway, the reason why the imperial family covets the stone is probably because they want to get their hands on the danger that the old heads of Hiran kept in check.
A conversation I had with Dante a few days ago.
As if the royal family had been waiting for this opportunity to come, they were in a frenzy to steal the ‘stone’ from Hi-Lan. Even if the imperial family instigated terrorism to obtain the stone, it would not seem strange.
The reason Dante informed Jin about the stone was because he concluded that it wouldn’t be bad to get some help from Jin to protect it.
Of course, it was Dante’s opinion, but Ron agreed more readily than he thought.
He has suffered serious internal injuries, the family’s status has declined, traitors have appeared, and the sword emperor has not yet started the restoration work, and there are no allies. The dragon knights also returned to the imperial family.
For example, a situation in which a grandson who would not hurt even if he put it in his eyes could be isolated if he pounced on him.
Above all, there is also the certainty that Jin is not the kind of person who covets stones and attacks them in the back.
Remembrance.
Jin removed the Beradin from Dante. It seemed like he was dealing with a child.
“Lord Beradin.”
Dante erased his smile and met Veradin’s eyes.
Both Jin and Dante had decided not to share the information about the ‘stone’ with Beradin yet. It’s only natural that we can’t be certain that Veradin’s mind is intact.
However, there was no problem helping Jin and Dante even if he did not know that information.
“Yeah, tell me. Dante. What do you ask of me?”
“Please force Ziffle to directly pressure Hailan.”
“Uh… what?”
“Currently, Jiple has only been exerting indirect pressure on Hailan through the imperial family. That’s not what it means, but it means to make it look like Jiple will come forward and attack Hylan directly.”
“What the hell why? hey gin. what is this sound?”
“Why do you ask me?”
“Dante couldn’t have thought of such a plan! Explain to me why?”
“For Hairan to more clearly distinguish between fias and fias.”
“what?”
“It means we need to find out which one the imperial family values more, Jiple or Hilan. If you push Hilan to the limit and the imperial family doesn’t change their attitude, Hilan doesn’t have to be a member of the empire anymore.”
To be precise, it was a move to determine what the royal family considered the most important among Ziple, Hiran, and ‘stone’.
“I know what you mean. Then, what if the imperial family chooses Jiple and decides to end Hailan together with us?”
“You know how to block that.”
“I’m not the family head of Zipple, but the next head family? Do you have enough authority?”
“It’s just a joke, and Runkandel will join Hiran at that time.”
“Likewise, you are not the head of Runkandel, but the next head of the family.”
“I have that much authority. To be precise, I have the confidence to commit an alliance with Hiran and then make the family follow suit.”
As if his words and attitude were cool, Veradin’s eyes lit up and he cleared his throat.
Now was not the time to play and praise Jin as usual.
“Okay, but aren’t there too many variables? And the imperial family would definitely abandon Hiran and choose Ziffle. The whole world is watching.”
“You don’t know that.”
“…If the main family steps out, Hiran could be irreparably injured.”
“Isn’t that a remark that disrespects Hailan too much? With Dante in front.”
“Hmm hmm. I am fine.”
“sorry. But since it’s such an important issue… Besides, since I’m not sane, what if I induce this plan to work in the best way for my family?”
“That case is really the worst, but don’t worry, there are safeguards in place.”
“oh? A safety device! What?”
“Can I tell you that?”
At Jin’s words, Beradin smiled bitterly.
“but.”
“Beradin, just be careful until you return to your mental state. We will take care of you too.”
Veradin nodded.
“Let’s sort out the enemy and find out the goals and priorities of the Imperial Family and Zipple. If possible, what did the imperial family use to make a deal with Kingelo Ziple?”
It’s Jean and Dante Beradin who are doing this behind the scenes.
It was up to Ron and his knights to hold the center internally and externally and support Hylan.
“Even if the families become thoroughly enemies externally, we only need the three of us to be solid allies. Then, when we seize the hegemony of our respective families, we can also restore our external relations.”
“You are right.”
“Oh oh.”
The moment the three of them said that, a knight visited the basement. It was one of the knights who led Beradin in the beginning.
“Lord Soga.”
“What is it?”
“That’s…”
The knight secretly looked at Beradin’s eyes before continuing.
“His Majesty the Emperor says he is looking for Jin Gyeong.”
“Gin? why?”
“I don’t know exactly, but rumors among the eunuchs… They say they’re trying to reward you for this.”
