The Thunder Dragon Duke’s expression was a deep sea, with not a single ripple to be seen.

He didn’t even spare his son a glance, his gaze returning to Gaius.

"The witness."

As if he had expected this all along, a faint, cold smile played on Gaius’s lips. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He gestured toward the hall’s exterior.

The heavy doors of the hall were pushed open, and two towering Forbidden Guards walked in, dragging a figure with them.

The man wore a butler’s uniform, but it was now disheveled. His legs were weak, and he had practically been carried inside.

When he saw Eliot kneeling below, he began to tremble like a leaf in the wind. He immediately collapsed to the floor, burying his head deep in the crook of his arm, not daring to lift it in the slightest.

Eliot’s pupils contracted abruptly. A chill shot up from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

That was his butler, a confidant who had served him for over ten years.

"Your Majesty."

Gaius’s voice was like a death knell.

"This is Mr. Hall, the butler from His Highness Prince Eliot’s residence. Perhaps he can explain to us what was going on with that letter—the one His Highness personally handed to him, sealed with His Highness’s private Fire Wax Seal, and which he personally arranged to be sent through the most clandestine channels to the residence of the Angmar Duke in the Saint Violet Empire."

The butler, Hall, lay prone on the cold Stone Slabs, trembling like a sieve. In a voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, he confessed everything without omitting a single word: how Eliot had secretly summoned him, how he had been given a letter, and how he had been repeatedly instructed to use the most secure method to deliver it into the hands of the Angmar Duke.

Every detail, every timestamp, matched up perfectly. It was nearly irrefutable.

"You... you traitor!"

Eliot could no longer maintain his composure. He pointed at the butler, roaring in frustration and fury.

"You were bought! It was Gaius! He bought you to frame me!"

He turned to the throne, cold sweat pouring down his face, his voice tinged with sobs.

"Father! You have to believe me! I am your son! The matter of Raylo’s assassination has nothing to do with me! This is all a conspiracy!"

Inside the great hall, not another person spoke up to support him.

Things having come to this, the truth was already painfully obvious.

The Thunder Dragon Duke watched his eldest son’s unseemly display in silence.

He remained silent for a long time—so long that Eliot’s heart nearly stopped beating.

Finally, the Duke spoke slowly, his voice devoid of any warmth.

"Herast."

An Elder Mage in a Magic Robe stepped forward at the call.

"On him."

The Duke’s finger pointed from afar at the ashen-faced Eliot.

"Cast the ’Truth-Telling Technique’."

The Truth-Telling Technique!

Eliot jolted as if he had been struck by Lightning.

It was a High Tier Spiritual Magic that only a Tier Five Domain Mage could cast, a spell before which no lie could hide.

Once the spell was cast, his darkest secrets would be laid bare for all to see, with no room left for maneuver.

He knew he was finished.

Fear washed over him like a tide, but in the abyss of despair, he grasped at one last, desperate straw.

"No!"

Eliot’s head snapped up, his eyes flashing with a hysterical light.

He forced his spine straight and roared with all his might.

"I am a Prince of the Thunder Dragon Duchy, bearer of the Thunder Dragon bloodline! How can I be subjected to the humiliation of such magic, as if I were a common criminal!"

He scanned his surroundings, his gaze locking onto the Duke on the throne.

"This matter concerns my honor as a Knight! I, Eliot, hereby propose, in accordance with the most ancient tradition of the Continent..."

His voice echoed in the great hall, every word ringing with weight and conviction.

"I demand a sacred Knight’s duel with Count Raylo! In the name of Thunderbolt and Giant Dragon, with the blood and honor of a Knight, I will prove my innocence!"

...

「A few days later.」

The morning sun filtered through the stained glass of the study, casting mottled patterns of light and shadow on the floor.

Raylo sat behind his desk, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the tabletop.

In front of him rested a small, dark green Small Crystal Bottle, filled with a viscous, ink-black liquid.

"Sigh of the Giant Dragon."

Master Barnaby’s masterpiece, a terrifying poison capable of threatening the life of a Giant Dragon.

Its effects were undeniable, but its practical application left something to be desired.

Raylo’s thoughts drifted back to the ambush not long ago.

He and his Knights had used the strongest Alchemy Giant Crossbows from the armory, smearing "Sigh of the Giant Dragon" on specially made Armor-Piercing Crossbow Arrows. Their targets had been "Thorns" Graves and "Angel of Death" Sela.

However, the results were less than ideal.

Domain Level Powerhouses had a perception of danger that far exceeded ordinary people.

When they deployed their Domains, the powerful Crossbow Arrows, as if striking an invisible wall, were distorted, deflected, or even disintegrated dozens of meters away from their targets.

No matter how potent the poison, it was meaningless if it couldn’t reach the enemy.

’This is its greatest limitation. How can I get this deadly poison into the body of a Domain Level Powerhouse?’

Raylo frowned, unable to come up with any good ideas for the moment.

[Daily Intelligence Refresh]

[1: Following the expansion of the Eternal Giant Turtle, more and more Magical Beast populations along the Black Water River are submitting to it. Its brazen expansion has attracted the attention of a Water Elemental Lord upstream on the Black Water River, and a fierce conflict is about to erupt.]

[2: The Young Black Dragon of the Black Stone Mountain Range, "Black King," has defeated the Chimera entrenched in North Wind Canyon and has officially brought the canyon under his rule. The number of Kobolds under his command is rapidly increasing.]

[3: The newly appointed commander of the Light Holy See’s Holy Radiance Knight Order, the Holy Knight Gust, has publicly declared that "Giant Dragons are shadows that should not exist in the mortal plane" and has stated his intention to purge all "Fallen Nobles" who associate with them.]

[4: North of the Black Stone Mountain Range, the Frost Giant Tribe of Ice Wind Valley has come into conflict with the White Dragon, the overlord of the Frost Fall Mountain Range. The cause was the White Dragon stealing the "Frost Heart," a Holy Artifact the Frost Giant Tribe has worshipped for generations.]

[5: One thousand kilometers south of Black Stone Territory, in the Valley of Sorrow, the Harpies Queen "Wailer" Xilin has issued a notice to the surrounding areas: any creature that flies through her airspace without permission will be treated as an enemy.]

[6: Following the death of the New Baron of Eagle’s Nest Castle, his distant relatives are fighting tooth and nail over the inheritance, plunging the territory into chaos.]

[7: An Earth Knight named Anrust has won the championship at the Silver Moon Territory’s knightly tournament. He earned the favor of the Baron of Silver Moon Territory, who has betrothed his daughter to him and gifted him a prosperous manor as promised. This Earth Knight, Anrust, is secretly a member of the "Scarlet Covenant" and a Blood Servant to a Vampire Count.]

[8: After a period of consolidation, your Fighting Spirit cultivation has become more complete. You are now ready to attempt a breakthrough to a higher realm.]