Extra's Path To No Harem-Chapter 210: Traitor [1]

"When we were disarming the bomb in the banquet hall," Anna continued quietly, "there was a concern raised—that there might be a spy within the imperial palace itself."

"Yes... I remember that," I replied.

"We found them," she said. "Once that happened, everyone’s attention shifted entirely to the traitor. Compared to that, your involvement stopped being the main focus."

I let out a slow breath.

It was a convenient explanation. Too convenient.

There were holes in it—obvious ones, even.

But with a crisis of that magnitude dangling in front of them, people chose not to look too closely. Or perhaps they simply didn’t want to.

Still...

"So there really was a traitor inside?" I asked.

Anna nodded once.

My fingers tightened slightly against the armrest.

That wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

The imperial palace wasn’t just any building—it was the most heavily guarded place in the Empire. For someone to plant bombs there, this wasn’t the work of a random extremist or an outside force acting alone.

Smuggling explosives in from outside was already difficult enough. Installing them without detection was another matter entirely.

And one of them had been placed in the ceiling of the Emperor’s bedroom.

That alone sent a chill down my spine.

"Who was it?" I asked slowly. "Who planted the bomb?"

There were only a handful of people with enough authority, access, and trust to pull something like that off. Someone whose movements wouldn’t be questioned. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Someone who belonged there.

Anna hesitated for just a fraction of a second.

Then she spoke.

"The Imperial Knight Commander."

"...What?"

For a moment, I genuinely thought I’d misheard her.

"Leonardo," she said, her voice steady but heavy. "Commander of the Imperial Knights. He was behind everything."

The room felt colder all of a sudden.

Leonardo.

The man entrusted with protecting the Emperor.

The sword and shield of the Empire itself.

The one person everyone believed would never, under any circumstance, betray the throne.

And yet, I knew of him.

Not personally, of course, but I knew of him.

Leonardo.

One of the strongest fighters in the world, a character who had only appeared briefly in the manga, yet left a lasting impression.

A Sword Master whose strength was said to exist on an entirely different plane from the rest of the empire’s elites.

A man whose name alone carried weight.

And now I was being told that this Leonardo was the culprit behind the incident?

That didn’t make sense.

It couldn’t.

"But surely he—"

"Isn’t he not that kind of person?" Anna said hesitantly. "From what I’ve heard, he was known to be a good person..."

The doubt in that voice echoed my own thoughts.

Unlike the stiff-necked nobles who hid behind their titles and bloodlines, Leonardo was different.

He was renowned not just for his strength, but for his character.

A knight who spoke politely to commoners.

A warrior who bowed his head in thanks after receiving a meal.

Someone who never flaunted his power, even though he had every right to.

Among the citizens, he was always one of the most beloved figures.

Children admired him.

Aspiring knights idolized him.

Veteran soldiers respected him.

To many, he wasn’t just the Emperor’s guardian—he was what a knight should be.

A living role model.

So why?

Why on earth would someone like him betray everything he stood for?

The room fell quiet before another voice spoke, lower this time.

"Apparently, Leonardo was an illegitimate child."

The words landed heavily.

"He was born outside the imperial bloodline. It seems Bane found out and used it against him. From what we know... Leonardo was completely swayed by his words and decided to join."

Illegitimate.

That single word carried more poison than any blade.

In this empire, blood was everything.

Loyalty could be questioned.

Merit could be ignored.

But lineage?

Lineage was law.

If what they said was true, then everything started to fall into place—uncomfortably so.

No matter how loyal Leonardo had been.

No matter how much he had sacrificed.

No matter how many times he had bled for the throne.

To the empire, he would always be less.

Always something that should not have existed.

So that was Bane’s angle.

Not promises of power.

Not threats.

But truth.

A truth that could shatter even the strongest will.

If Leonardo had spent his entire life protecting an empire that would never truly acknowledge him... then maybe, just maybe, betrayal wasn’t born from greed.

Maybe it was born from despair.

Creating a world where everyone was equal.

That had always been Bane’s ideal.

A world without invisible chains, without restrictions imposed by birth, lineage, or status.

A world where no one was treated as lesser simply for how they came into existence.

Where everyone, at the very least, possessed the same rights as human beings.

It was a naïve dream to some.

A dangerous one to others.

But to Leonardo, it had been something else entirely.

Perhaps that was why Bane’s words had reached him so deeply.

Leonardo had lived his entire life beneath the shadow of discrimination, branded from birth as an illegitimate child.

No matter how outstanding his talent was, no matter how much effort he poured into his training, the stain of his origin had never faded.

Whispers followed him wherever he went.

Contempt hid behind polite smiles.

Even when he climbed higher than anyone else, those eyes never truly changed.

Despite rising to the very top through exceptional skill and relentless perseverance, the wounds carved into his heart during childhood remained unhealed.

Power could silence voices, but it could not erase memory.

Recognition could not replace dignity.

And respect gained through fear was never the same as respect freely given.

Maybe that was why Bane’s vision had felt like salvation.

Not for himself—but for a world that would never produce another child like him.

"So, have you caught him?"

The question was asked calmly, yet the atmosphere in the room tightened the moment the name went unspoken.