Condel didn’t laugh, and all traces of emotion disappeared from his already stoic face. Zich recognized the state he was in. Condel was so, so enraged that he had reached the point of emotionless.

“…Fine,” Condel said. His emotionless voice sounded like it was seeping into the insides of a dark cave.

“It seems like you all are quite suspicious of me, and I can’t do anything about it. What can I do when you have come with such a large number of armored troops? I will follow you all.” Condel appeared like an agreeable suspect who was willing to collaborate, but his next words struck their ears. “However, if you fail to uncover my crimes, you will find yourselves in a very difficult predicament. I wasn’t raised so delicately that I will look over the defamations you made about me so lightly.”

“Defamations? All I did was insult a servant and an ex-aristocratic lady for eloping. I don’t think there’s any need for you to feel enraged as an outsider, Mr. Siede.” Zich resumed his polite mannerism in place of his previous, outright snarky behavior. However, his words were still prickly.

“Your attitude was rude even if you were addressing a third party completely unrelated to the incident....