SMR | Chapter 158

~Chapter 158~

“I had no idea about any of this. Everything related to the Pellon earldom… I only did what my mother told me to do…”

Lauren had certainly done many bad things, but hearing her son testify like that made even me feel a bit sympathetic. The expression on her face—the disbelief—was almost pitiful.

“It’s basically the same as being betrayed by her own son. Lady Marshall risked everything to make her son the Earl of Pellon, after all.”

“She brought this on herself. Trying to make Jayden the Earl of Pellon was nothing more than Lauren’s greed. But Jayden won’t meet a good end either.”

Trisha clicked her tongue and shook her head.

If Lauren hadn’t been blinded by greed, her life would have been the envy of many.

The Pellon family would have paid her a very generous allowance and living expenses. Maybe thanks to that financial stability, the Marshall family had always appeared quite harmonious.

But now, all of it was gone—shattered beyond repair.

“Jayden… Jayden…!”

While her son stepped up to the witness stand and then walked back down, Lauren stood frozen in place, calling his name over and over. Jayden didn’t look back even once.

Then, above Lauren’s stunned head, a cold voice fell.

“The second trial will be held one month from now.”

With that, the judge gathered his papers and left the bench. Roxana and Harriet supported Trisha and walked out of the courtroom.

Lauren simply stared blankly into empty space until the guards came to take her away.

***

After hearing the results of Lauren’s first trial, Cedric nodded lightly.

“It seems the Pellon family issue is more or less settled.”

He was the one who secretly framed this incident as “a crime that could shake the empire’s class system” and fed that narrative to the emperor—yet no one knew he was the source.

Even the emperor, who had become agitated and ordered the trial to proceed immediately, had no idea he was being maneuvered by Cedric.

But Edgar, who had long understood the meaning behind Cedric’s subtle actions, grinned teasingly from beside him.

“Wow. If it were me, I’d at least drop hints so someone would notice. But our duke here helps everyone quietly and never says a word.”

“Running around bragging about what you’ve done is the least cool thing a person can do.”

“Ah, that confidence! Even as a man, I could fall for you.”

“I refuse.”

Cedric looked disgusted, while Edgar laughed even louder.

But the reason they met today was not lighthearted. Edgar’s playful tone was probably his way of keeping the mood from getting too grim.

“So, were our suspicions correct?”

When Cedric got to the point, Edgar sighed and nodded.

“Pretty much.”

“Every time these incidents happened, the newspapers printed a small article, but none of them ever gave proper details.”

“Well, the people covering up these incidents aren’t exactly weak. And this sort of thing happens all the time.”

Edgar shrugged helplessly, and Cedric let out a long breath.

Recently, a man had murdered his wife and child and then killed himself.

He had been a royal treasury official who stole imperial funds. When he was caught, he chose suicide—and dragged his innocent family down with him. It was the worst possible outcome.

Although tragic, incidents like this weren’t uncommon enough to draw widespread attention. Only Cedric had looked at it from a different angle.

“There are plenty of people who kill themselves or commit murder over money issues. But never before have so many similar cases occurred exclusively among nobles.”

Cedric had only noticed this by accident.

He experienced a sense of déjà vu while reading the newspaper and realizing a similar article had been printed the day before. But when he compared the two issues, only the names were different. That made him suspicious enough to study the crime section carefully each day—and he finally understood that similar incidents were repeatedly happening within noble society.

“You’re right. When I looked into it, most of the dead had suffered sudden financial trouble—recently.”

“And I assume they shared one more thing in common.”

Cedric’s tone suggested he already knew the answer. Edgar smirked.

“They were all passengers on ‘that ship.’”

Just as Cedric suspected, every victim was a regular attendee of the Anghelic parties held on that infamous ship.

There were more cases Cedric had ordered Edgar to investigate.

“And what about those perverts? Same pattern?”

“Exactly as we thought.”

While those incidents never made the newspapers, Cloud’s intelligence network had picked up several horrifying cases.

Many had killed their partners during sadistic sexual acts, or died themselves during masochistic acts. Others didn’t die but had sexually abused their wives, children, or unmarried female relatives.

“All things they must’ve seen and learned on that ship. How else would ordinary people know such bizarre methods of torture and killing?”

Edgar shook his head, and Cedric clenched his jaw before speaking.

“How many people were used as playthings and killed on that ship? Someone is probably dying in agony even now.”

The papers Edgar had placed on the table crumpled beneath Cedric’s hand.

“It sickens me too. But you know what happens if we move recklessly.”

“I know. If we fail, those people will hide deeper underground. And even if we succeed, people who depended on Anghelic will suffer withdrawal.”

That was the biggest reason they couldn’t just attack Albert blindly. To destroy Anghelic, they needed a substitute drug ready—something that could stabilize those addicted and keep them from crashing.

“How far along is Simon’s development?”

“Ever since we discovered the ingredients of Anghelic, the progress has been fast. I heard it’s entering its final stage.”

“It must remain top-secret.”

“I’m on it.”

Edgar snorted softly.

“Albert really has no shame. Money is one thing, but supplying raw materials to an enemy nation?”

Cloud had discovered the main ingredient of Anghelic months ago. Albert had founded a pharmaceutical company specifically for this. They managed to persuade a factory worker to sneak out a sample of Darsenger, the raw ingredient. After several checks, they confirmed it was an herb that grew only in the Kingdom of Firma.

And the only place Firma exported large quantities of Darsenger to was Kingsley Pharmaceuticals of the Astoga Empire.

“‘Top-secret’ only stays true for a short while. All secrets are revealed eventually. Albert underestimated that.”

“And that’s exactly why we need to move fast—before our own ‘secret’ leaks out.”

Cedric nodded.

“When Simon is complete and ready for mass production, we strike Anghelic immediately. Fake angels deserve to fall.”

His eyes gleamed coldly.

***

Around the same time Cedric and Edgar were uncovering the truth behind the recent scandals, noble society started to panic. A mysterious illness was spreading—but only among nobles.

The symptoms varied: nightmares, insomnia, heart palpitations… and in severe cases, nerve damage or even heart failure.

“People are guessing all sorts of things, but to me, it looks like it’s because of Anghelic.”

Tez murmured while lying on his side with his head propped up. Next to him, Bella sat chewing her nails nervously.

“This is just rotten luck…”

Her fingertips were red from biting them, but she felt nothing—no pain, no sensation at all. She couldn’t feel temperature either.

Tez watched Bella biting her own fingers and asked,

“You’re gonna bleed at this rate. Doesn’t it hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt at all. It doesn’t even feel like my hand anymore.”

“Damn… I heard about the side effects, but seeing them in person is really creepy.”

She sounded more amused than serious.

“Do you think this will get better eventually?”

“Who knows? Nobody’s gotten better yet.”

“What does Albert Kingsley say?”

“He says Anghelic has side effects similar to normal medicines, but unless you overdosed, you should recover.”

“The person who knows exactly how addictive that drug is… and he says that? What a joke.”

Tez nodded and laughed softly.

But Bella wasn’t in the mood to laugh at all.

She herself suspected the strange symptoms came from Anghelic.

Nothing else in her life had changed—except taking that drug.

‘It’s not like I even took that much! Why is this happening to me? And Tez took way more but he’s fine…’

No matter how much she rubbed them, her fingertips still felt like they belonged to someone else.

And this wasn’t the only unlucky thing that happened.