Chapter 640: Complete Failure

The journalists looked around the Grand Royal Hall.

For a moment, they struggled to understand the reactions unfolding before them.

The guests had gathered around the commotion, yet the number of people standing farther back was noticeably greater than those who had moved closer.

Not everyone was interested enough to approach.

Some watched from a distance while continuing their conversations.

Others had stopped what they were doing, their attention drawn to the accusation against Ezra Ashenlocke.

A few had already begun discussing the matter among themselves.

The people who had gathered closest, however, were mostly Low-ranking Nobles and less wealthy non-nobles.

Their positions allowed them to observe the situation without worrying about being pushed aside by the crowd, because the other High-ranking Nobles and high wealthy Non-Nobles weren’t interested in moving closer.

And, of course, they all had their own thoughts.

A child had supposedly killed an entire household.

It was the sort of accusation that could ruin a person’s name, yet the reactions were far from uniform.

"But seriously, if Ezra Ashenlocke really did that, then that truly explains how strong he is."

A young Noble boy, a second-year student at the Royal Academy, spoke with an expression of amazement.

He seemed more interested in the feat itself than in the deaths behind it.

The boy standing beside him gave him a helpless look.

"Somebody committed a massacre, and you’re only thinking about how unique it was for Ezra to single-handedly take on an entire Baron House?"

"Well, when you put it that way, it does sound a little bad."

"A little?"

The second boy shook his head.

He had no intention of wasting more time arguing with his friend.

Nearby, another conversation had already taken a different direction.

"Wait, is Ezra actually not a regular Ashenlocke?"

"I think he’s one of those children who were given the right to bear the Ashenlocke name upon birth."

"That means his parents’ marriage was blessed by all the Elders, the High-board members, The Two Duchesses and the Duke himself."

"Wow. So, Ezra was a Sterling."

"I know the Baron House of Sterling,"

A young Noblewoman remarked.

She was the daughter of a High-Ember Noble.

After hearing the name, she rolled her eyes as though the family had hardly been worth remembering.

"Yeah, they’re the ones who used to handle some of the Ashenlocke family’s metal ore distribution. An insignificant House, though."

"But what would have caused him to massacre all of them?"

"My question is, how did he even pull something like that off?"

"Didn’t you watch the Unveiling Party of the Ashenlockes?"

"It happened years back, how am I supposed to remember something like that?"

"Yeah... I remember that chaos."

The young Noble who had spoken paused.

His eyes widened as he recalled something.

"Wait. Oh, my scholars! That was freaking Ezra! He was the one who crashed the Ashenlockes’ party!"

"I remember! There were two Ezras..."

The other boy burst into laughter at the memory.

"Hahaha! That was ridiculous!"

"Didn’t he also use that martial art skill he displayed at the Combat Festival?"

"Damn, that martial art was one of a kind. How could I even forget something like that?"

Their conversation continued, with one memory leading to another.

The accusation had given them a reason to revisit the earlier incidents involving Ezra, and the details they remembered only made the situation more interesting to them.

"If my family tried to play with my life like that, then I’m afraid to say it, but... a massacre is valid."

The statement came from someone standing a short distance away.

A few people looked at the speaker, though no one seemed particularly eager to challenge the opinion.

They had heard enough about the Sterling House’s treatment of Ezra to understand why some people might take his side.

That did not mean they all approved of what he had supposedly done.

It simply meant that the matter was not as straightforward as the journalists had expected.

The discussions grew louder toward the back of the hall.

Some guests were still trying to understand how Ezra could have handled so many people on his own, especially when he would have been only a Novice or Binder Alchemist at the time.

Others cared very little about the accusation itself.

To them, the Sterling House had been a Baron House with little influence. Its destruction was hardly something that would change their lives.

A few young ladies, on the other hand, had become visibly upset.

Some of the young Ashenlockes had told them about the incident that exposed the maltreatment Ezra had suffered while living in the Sterling House.

As they listened, the ladies’ expressions changed.

One pressed her lips together, while another lowered her eyes, no longer looking at the journalists with the same curiosity as before.

They could not understand how a family could treat one of its own children that way.

And now, that same child was being accused of killing them.

The circumstances were enough to make some of them question what they had initially heard.

The journalist from the Fair Tellers Broadcasting Group watched the reactions with growing disbelief.

"Why aren’t they reacting?"

He muttered the question under his breath, his eyes moving from one group of guests to another.

It was not that the people were ignoring the accusation.

Some were clearly disgusted by it. The thought of a person massacring their own family was difficult for them to accept, particularly when the accused was still a child.

They were reacting.

Just not in the way he had expected.

The journalist had anticipated outrage, condemnation, and perhaps even a demand for Ezra to be removed from the party.

Instead, the guests were discussing the circumstances, recalling his past achievements, and questioning the credibility of the accusation.

Worse still, some appeared to understand why Ezra might have done it if the allegations were true.

"This isn’t what he told me would happen."

A second journalist spoke quietly to himself.

His eyes shifted toward his colleague before moving back to the guests.

He had also expected a different outcome from the information they had brought into the hall. Now, the response was making him uneasy.

Ezra glanced at him.

That was enough to draw his attention.

That means I should assume there’s more than one culprit involved.

His gaze remained steady as he considered the words he had just heard.

No. Let’s put it at three.

He revised his estimate after taking the available information into account.

The journalists had said too much while discussing the situation, and their reactions had given him more to work with than they probably realized.

Their plan had not produced the response they wanted. That alone was useful information.

The situation felt clumsy, yet smart at the same time.

Ezra understood the purpose behind it. Someone wanted to damage his reputation, and they had chosen a method that would make people question his character. However, the evidence they had presented was weak. Even the guests could see that much.

But weak didn’t mean harmless. Sometimes, the most poorly constructed plans could still conceal something dangerous.

An Ashenlocke must have been involved in leaking the information. After all, only the Elders were present when the Duke gave me the Judgment Order.

That makes the first culprit the Elder.

As for the second...

Who has enough influence to hire journalists from different Broadcasting Groups and arrange for them to bombard me with questions at the same event?

The Elder could have handled both matters himself, but...

Ezra considered the possibility for a moment.

Knowing the kind of person he is, I doubt he’d leave everything to someone else. Still, arranging all of this alone would be possible for him.

No. I shouldn’t rule out the possibility of another person being involved.

Especially, because there is a more possibility of him wanting to hide his involvement as much as possible, because of the consequences he might suffer, if the Duke found out it was him.

Someone with considerable influence. For now, I’ll assume it’s Prince Two.

Then there’s the third culprit.

The person who helped those two idiots put the real poison into this plan.

Ezra’s gaze remained on the situation before him.

The accusation itself was too weak to explain the effort they’d put into exposing it. There had to be something else behind the scheme, something that would make the consequences far worse than a few people questioning his character.

Now, who’s the third person?

That’s the part I don’t know yet.

Ezra’s eyes shifted toward Vera.

Obviously, all of this is because of this girl.

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

Vera stood nearby, her expression as calm as ever.

She had been watching the journalists, but she did not bother approaching them or joining their discussion anymore.

Instead, she raised one hand and pointed toward the Royal Guards.

Then she pointed at the journalists.

She did not say a word.

The meaning was clear enough.

The Royal Guards immediately obeyed.

Several moved toward the Fair Tellers representatives, making it clear that their time in the hall was over.

One of the journalists opened his mouth as if to protest, but the guards did not wait for him to finish. Their orders had come from a member of the Ashenlocke family, and they had no reason to entertain the man’s objections.

Vera turned her head toward Ezra.

For a brief moment, she looked directly at him with her dull black eyes. Then she faintly stuck out her tongue.

It was a small gesture, almost childish.

Coming from her, however, it carried a different meaning.

She already knew why the incident had happened.

Ezra had interacted with her in public on several occasions, and his association with a few of the Flowers had made him more noticeable than he otherwise would have been.

Someone had gotten fed up with this relationship Ezra had with Vera and the other Flowers, and decided to get rid of him, before he could steal the heart of a precious Flower or even Flowers.

Vera had also worked out exactly who the culprits were.

She did not need to explain any of that to Ezra.

Her little gesture was enough to tell him that she understood why this was happening.

Ezra let out a sigh.

"Ahhh."

Should I really just kill that Elder and that Prince?

The thought passed through his mind with little to no emotion.

His black eyes grew darker as his attention settled on the situation. There was no dramatic movement, nor did he raise his voice. Yet something about his presence changed.

It was subtle at first.

Then the shift became harder to ignore.

Ezra’s expression remained plain, but the ease with which he had been observing the commotion disappeared.

His gaze was colder now, and the air around him seemed to grow heavier.

He had no intention of letting the matter pass simply because the accusation had failed to produce the expected response.

At the seating section reserved for the Kingdom’s highest-ranking figures...

Prince Daniel Aethelmont suddenly felt a chill creep over his body.

He shifted slightly in his seat.

The sensation was unpleasant, though he could not immediately identify its cause.

His attention was already occupied by the hall below, where the guests continued to react in ways that irritated him.

He had expected something else.

The revelation should have caused a much greater uproar.

Charles and Stella had reacted as he wanted them to, but that was all.

The remaining guests had failed to provide the response he had anticipated.

The Dukes and Duchesses were still talking among themselves. The present Heads of the Royal Alchemist Branches were occupied with their own conversations, as was the Vice Headmaster of the Royal Academy.

Even his mother, Queen Althea, was speaking with the other Dukes and Duchess of Derlis.

They were laughing and joking as though the accusation of a massacre had little importance.

Daniel’s displeasure grew.

Below them, Duke Galehart looked toward Duke Valentine Ashenlocke with an amused expression.

"I’m getting more and more curious about what you Ashenlockes did during that Trial of Steel you held."

He leaned back slightly, still looking entertained by the discussion.

"To think Ezra was able to do that all by himself. Wow."

His tone carried genuine admiration.

Whatever the circumstances surrounding Ezra’s past, the boy’s ability to deal with an entire household was not something he could dismiss.

The Duchess of Derlis, however, did not share his amusement.

"He still killed his own parents, though. Isn’t that risky? What if he turns against you Ashenlockes and runs wild, becoming a Rogue Alchemist?"

Her question was serious. She looked directly at Duke Valentine, as though she wanted to know whether the Ashenlockes had truly considered the possibility.

The Duke did not appear troubled.

"You are overexaggerating, Duchess of Derlis."

He replied calmly.

"I already told you all that I was the one who gave him the order in the first place."

His gaze moved toward the commotion downstairs. He observed the journalists being escorted away, then the guests who were still discussing Ezra.

There was no need for him to raise his voice or defend himself at length.

He had already made his position clear to the people around him.

Queen Althea, however, was not entirely satisfied with what was happening.

"It’s the fact that something that shouldn’t be spoken about is being revealed to the people... I don’t like that at all."

Her brows drew together.

The issue was not simply the accusation itself.

Information that should have been handled within the proper channels was now being spread throughout the Royal Academy’s social circles and the wider public. Whatever the truth behind Ezra’s past, the manner of its revelation was a separate matter.

And it was a matter she did not appreciate.

The Duchess of Drakes turned toward Duke Valentine.

"Your Majesty, it’s obviously the Ashenlockes’ fault for not being able to manage their people. I’m sure this was leaked out by a member of the Ashenlocke family."

Her tone remained calm, but the accusation was direct.

The implication was clear. If information about the family’s affairs had been exposed, then the Ashenlockes themselves should bear responsibility for allowing it to happen.

Duchess Regina Ashenlocke’s expression changed at once.

"How dare you..."

She was about to counter the Duchess of Drakes, but Duke Valentine raised one hand.

The gesture was simple.

Regina stopped speaking.

She held her tongue, though the displeasure on her face did not disappear.

She knew better than to interrupt the Duke after he had already signaled her to remain silent.

Valentine then rose from his seat.

His movement drew the attention of the people nearby. Even those who had been engaged in conversation began to quiet down as they noticed the Duke standing.

He walked toward the railings overlooking the main floor.

Below him, the hall was still occupied by guests discussing Ezra’s situation. Some were watching the Royal Guards escort the journalists away, while others remained caught up in their own conversations.

Valentine looked over the gathering.

Then he spoke.

"People of Britannia!"

His voice echoed through the Grand Royal Hall, carrying across the open space and reaching even those standing at the back.

The conversations gradually stopped.

Heads turned toward the upper floor, and the guests who had been occupied with Ezra’s situation shifted their attention to the Duke.

Valentine waited until he had their attention.

"I apologize for this commotion. I, the Duke of Ash, represent the Ashenlocke family, and I will give an appropriate answer by telling all of you to..."

The guests listened more closely.

Several people straightened, expecting him to explain what had happened to Ezra. Others waited for a formal statement, perhaps one that would clarify the family’s position or address the accusations spreading through the hall.

The Duchess of Drakes watched him from her seat.

She appeared confident that the Duke would acknowledge the disturbance and offer some explanation for his family’s failure to contain it.

Valentine’s expression remained unchanged.

"Mind your business."

The words came without hesitation.

For a moment, the guests seemed unsure whether they had heard him correctly.

Then several pairs of eyes widened.

The response was so blunt that even some of the people who had been expecting a strong statement were caught off guard.

A few stared at the Duke in silence, while others exchanged brief looks, trying to determine whether he had intended the words to sound quite so direct.

Valentine did not give them time to settle.

"Everything that happened with Ezra’s situation was carried out within my own awareness. So, your moral thoughts are none of my family’s concern."

His gaze swept across the hall.

He did not sound angry.

If anything, his calmness made the statement more difficult to challenge.

He had already acknowledged his involvement.

He was not going to stand there and justify his decision to every guest who happened to disapprove of it.

"Resume the party, Golden Matching Order Band."

He snapped his fingers.

The musicians of the Golden Matching Order Band immediately took up their instruments and began playing again.

None of them wanted to imagine what might happen if they disobeyed a Duke’s direct order. They had been instructed to resume the music, and so they did.

The first notes filled the hall.

Yet the music did little to restore the atmosphere that had existed before Valentine spoke.

The hall was quiet in a different way now.

Some guests remained stunned by the Duke’s response, while others struggled to hide their amusement.

The music continued around them, but conversations did not return to normal all at once.

The Duchess of Drakes stared at Valentine as he walked back toward his seat.

She could hardly believe what he had just said in front of the entire gathering.

He had not offered an explanation.

He had not defended the family in the manner she had expected.

Instead, he had openly admitted that he knew about Ezra’s situation and dismissed the guests’ opinions without a second thought.

Several of the other Duchesses from the remaining Duke Houses looked equally bewildered.

Two of the Royal Alchemist Branch Heads present in the hall also appeared taken aback by the Duke’s response.

They were not accustomed to seeing a member of the highest-ranking Noble Houses address a gathering so directly, especially when the subject involved an accusation as serious as the murder of one’s own family.

Valentine, however, seemed entirely unconcerned.

He returned to his seat and sat down as though nothing had happened.

He did not look back at the guests. Nor did he attempt to explain himself to the Duchess of Drakes.

The matter was finished as far as he was concerned.

Back where Ezra stood...

The Duke’s words had not gone unnoticed.

Ezra listened to the statement, his expression remaining as plain as ever.

Well, it’s not an easy feat to plan the death of a Prince and an Elder in the Arcanist Alchemist rank.

He considered the thought without changing his expression, as though he were contemplating an ordinary problem rather than the deaths of two powerful figures.

His attention remained on the situation before him.