I Will Be The New Me
CHAPTRE 40

The party atmosphere is still very lively. It seems Raiden's dinner tonight was a huge success, the guests loved it. The soft music of the reliable music players makes the atmosphere more soothing. All the nobles are clustered with their own groups.

Now Raiden was holding his wine glass while chatting casually with Bastien and Duke Wisteria.

The atmosphere is well controlled.

Raiden continued chatting casually while waiting for news of Quinn's death to reach his ears. "Who would have thought that the one who killed Quinn was Raiden himself? pffts. It's very exciting," thought the young man without knowing what had happened to the five Knights he trained under directly.

Brak!

The door of the hall opened wide, revealing Quinn's already messy figure and drenched in blood. The wound is still wide open. Several noblewomen shouted in shock at the sight of every trace Quinn left behind spilling blood.

"Your Majesty!"

Raiden faced the source of the sound. His eyes are wide open.

Is he still alive?!

Raiden accidentally dropped his wine glass on the floor. Bastien was also surprised not to play to see Quinn again hurt deep enough.

Quinn, who should have been dead, is safe again!

"Your Majesty..." Quinn walked over while holding his arm.

"Quinn! why you?!" Bastien was horrified to see his grandson bleeding until his black shirt was no longer black, the bitter scent of blood bursting into their nasal cavities close to Quinn's path.

How could?

The blood was still flowing from his wound.

That means my plan failed before my own eyes?

Raiden glanced in all directions. "I have to calm down, there are a lot of eyes looking," Raiden's inner self tries to neutralize his disappointment over the fact that Quinn is still alive and back at the party.

He's very clever at attracting attention.

Raiden looked at Quinn who was walking over "Quinn, what terj—"

Raiden was surprised that Quinn suddenly grabbed both of his arms with her hands filled with blood so that the blood also soiled Raiden's clothes. "Your Majesty Raiden, why are you here? his Majesty called me to come to the greenhouse. I was attacked on my way there..." Quinn cried in fear.

Bastien, Savero, Vincent, and Penelope who were watching looked at Raiden in disbelief. Quinn was slightly satisfied to see people start whispering things. As usual, the nobles were fond of making rumors and spreading it as if it was valid news, Quinn used that to corner Raiden.

"When I went there, there was no one there. They instead directed me into the forest and the Knights attacked me..."

Raiden covered his mouth with the palm of his hand, his eyes instantly glazed over. Raiden clasped Quinn's shoulders and said, "Say who called you? do you remember how he looked? I didn't expect that someone would dare hurt you by pretending to be my messenger. How could he do such a thing..." Raiden was inflamed, he looked so sad to see the girl covered in blood and her wounds were deep enough.

Justjust wonderful. So he came into acting to compensate me huh.

"Say. I'll catch him right now!"

"Yes, that..." Quinn still did not expect that Raiden would pretend to not know, though he was sure when they both might be the young man would confess. "There are five Knights. One of them had a cut on her right cheek, her hair was brown." The smart girl looked carefully at Raiden's face.

You feel confident you won't get caught because they're just secret Knights who don't wear royal emblems? then how are you gonna handle this one, huh?

Quinn held onto her chin while thinking, "But it's strange that they pretend to be someone else's messengers.." he muttered stealing the attention, "because those people brought me to our secret place," Quinn smiled bitterly while giving a disappointed look, "That area is not passed by ordinary people. I almost lost my life in such a special place."

"What does that mean?"

"Is there such a place?"

"Where do we know. It's also called a secret place."

"Then, what did he do was the one who knew his place...?"

People were already busy gossiping and saying things uncontrollably. All began to draw conclusions that could jeopardize Raiden's reputation as Crown Prince. Raiden grinned faintly, he felt challenged again by Quinn.

"Close all doors in the party area. I'll end the birthday party that's supposed to be three days and three nights."

All the guards closed the palace doors immediately after being given a direct order by the King's deputy. "From now on no one is allowed to leave the party area."

The nobles in there were panicked even though they were not the perpetrators of the Quinn attack. "Isn't this clear? how could an ordinary person intend to take me down from the position of Crown Prince. At least the one who had the courage to do so was a noble family. On a large scale, this is tantamount to the initial movement of rebellion."

They were all shocked to hear Raiden's heavier remark from the previous topic.

Kaisen's only son stared at the nobles in the hall. "I will follow up on this case very carefully. The culprit will be sentenced to death."

Some nobles objected to Raiden's actions, "Your Highness, it's a little bit of a roll—"

The eagle-sharp eyes looked at the man who dared to answer his words, "If anyone objected, just say so. I'll take him as the prime suspect" Raiden threatened to silence the other nobles.

Savero carried the body of a feather belonging to his eldest daughter to be brought home along with Bastien. Only the three of them were allowed to exit the hall. "Most likely the culprit is inside the palace, so it'll be safer for you to wait at home. I'm sorry I can't keep you company, but I'll be checking you out as soon as I'm done investigating the case" Raiden said, stroking Quinn's head.

After which Raiden nodded at Savero and Bastien, "You can leave now. I promise to solve this problem tonight."

Bastien nodded in confidence, "I hope you can investigate it quickly. This is the second time my granddaughter has experienced such a terrible thing right now."

"Okay, Grand Duke."

The horse-drawn carriage of the Lombard family left the palace area. Savero took his handkerchief to tie up Quinn's arm wound, "Push a little bit of your belly so the blood stops coming out. Lie down."

The flat-faced man seemed to harbor a tremendous amount of anger, yet also bore an equally great anxiety. "I know you don't like being close to me, but just let me help you this time."

Quinn did not say a word at all, but as his strength drained away, Quinn finally obeyed his father's wishes by borrowing his thighs to serve as a cushion.

Bastien massaged the base of his nose, "Why does this always happen to you?! who hates you to such an extent..." Bastien growled furiously.

"Grandfather, come on, I'm fine. It's just a small wound."

"I can't let this keep happening. I'd better go with Raiden to check things out."

If you have decided something, Bastien can no longer be stopped. The middle-aged man got off the horse carriage to return to the palace before far away. "I have to see for myself what the people who hurt my grandchildren are like."

Now only Savero and Quinn remain in the carriage. The awkward atmosphere really felt. "Sleep so you don't suffer the pain of the wound" Savero covered Quinn's eyes with his palm. His face remained raised with a sharp gaze that seemed ready to bulldoze anyone who disturbed. "Sorry" said the man very slowly.

Quinn had just closed her eyes, but her consciousness was still awake. He did not feel the sense of haru with the attitude of attention from his own father. After all since the beginning Quinn had not been injured much, all of that blood belonged to the Raiden Conferred Knight. The wound had healed because of Zacchaeus.

The beautiful girl who had become half spirit imagined Raiden's expression as she was pretending to be surprised to hear Quinn being attacked.

Instead of looking for traces of the perpetrator, you will definitely look for traces of people who interfere with your plans.

"You guys over there, come with me."

"Okay, Your Majesty."

Raiden brought the six Knights of the palace with him towards the back area of the palace. "To be faster, we'll split up into two teams. The four of you check the greenhouse. Then you two come with me to the park."

Raiden accompanied by two Knights did not go to the park but the back forest. No need to be guided, Raiden already knows where Quinn's attack took place. Yeah, that's because he's the mastermind behind the attempted murder.

Raiden needs to pass through his shady shrubs to be able to take shortcuts. When he got there Raiden and his two Knights were surprised to see the condition of his secret Knights. The soil there is no longer visible as the soil in general due to the blood that washes it.

"They're all dead! W-how did they get to be like this...?" Secret Knights have powers comparable to the Knights of the palace, even on some occasions they move as shadow troops and spy on targets. Now none of them survived.

Raiden crouched down in front of one of the bodies, which was the person Quinn mentioned his features. "Identify the wounds of these Knights. I don't know how great the person who attacked them was, but there must be a clue left behind."

One of the Knights approached to inform him of his observation, "His sword is missing one. When viewed from the incision wound is also produced from a long sword, so it is likely that the perpetrator with his bare hands snatched our sword."

"Former incision if considered carefully, only one puncture causes fatal injury. He's a great man, it could be that the one who attacked him was a rather tall man or perhaps a tough woman."

Raiden holds the forehead of the dead Knight. "I didn't think they were all going to die. The mission I had planned for a long time had also failed. Though I've been looking forward to this for a long time," Raiden said.

The royal family, the,

Crown Prince's position,

And the dream of being the sole heir to the throne is not important to me.

If I had the power of Quinn, I would definitely be a human with a higher status. I will be equal to God.

"Hm?" Raiden found the emblem bearing the Rajawali emblem which is the identity of Vincent Van Marchetti's family there.

"Your Majesty, I found the brooch!"

"Bring here."

Raiden frowned confusedly, "This doesn't belong to Quinn, oh but it seems like I've seen this somewhere."

One sec..

two seconds...

Raiden grinned broadly, "Hahahaha so this is his plan? he wanted to leave it all to Penelope, what a cunning way to get rid of a rival."

Imagining Quinn's innocent face tingling Raiden's stomach, she never expected Quinn to go to the extreme. "When I wanted to kill you, but you made me like you even more. What should I do now," Raiden combed his bangs.

But who saved Quinn?

"You two please put this emblem and brooch into the plastic for proof."

"Okay, Your Majesty."

Srek

The knight stopped and prepared to raise his sword when he heard the sound of bushes being hit by someone. They sighed as soon as Bastien appeared. Raiden gasped in surprise, "Grand Duke, why are you back at the palace? what about Quinn?"

Bastien patted his shoulder cleaning the dry foliage attached to his velvet suit. "Just calm. He's already with his father, no one will be able to touch Quinn anymore" Bastien replied quickly.

The eyes of the man who had been more than half a century old looked at the bodies of the fallen Knights envoys of Raiden. "How can it be like this?"

"There's still no clue about Quinn's savior nor about who did it."

Bastien now turned his attention to the plastic emblem and brooch that one of the Knights Raiden had brought. His eyes are wide. Bastien violently snatched the evidence from the hands of the Knight Raiden.

"This...why is this emblem here?"

Raiden grinned thinly, Quinn instead helped him make an alibi. "It was found attached inside their robes" Raiden replied.

"...impossible.." Bastien covered his tensed face as well as panicked, "What did the child think?!" whispered annoyed.

"How will you handle it, Grand Duke?"

"Please don't tell Savero anything, he could've killed his own brother. I'll deal with my family's problems myself."

Raiden smiled wryly, "You don't need to be so tense, Grand Duke. It could be that someone set us up to conclude that Viscount Marchetti did it to get your family split up."

"The competitors of the business world are too much, how to narrow it down overnight."

"Please calm down, Grand Duke. I've got the identity of someone very suspicious."

Bastien raised his face, looking at Raiden in shock. "This fast? who do you suspect?"

"Of course it's the enemy who has made the Viscount business go bankrupt."

Then Raiden invites Bastien to return to the palace and check all the data that Raiden has been investigating for several days.

In Raiden's workspace, Bastien reads the entire information sheet provided. If you have entered the palace, the possibility of the validity of the information is ninety percent.

"The Viscount's gold business went completely bankrupt just a month after this guy opened a jewelry business and all the customers moved on to him. I was informed that he had paid people to riot and made the value of the Viscount's gold shop decrease by spreading its vices to the public."

"Oh, yeah. But it has nothing to do with Quinn, right? moreover, my eldest son did not take revenge against him."

"You remember her husband's case a few years ago? her husband had committed a criminal act by burning down Baron Cohen's house and its contents for defeating her in winning the territory of the jewel mine that now belonged to Count Savero."

Bastien gasped for a moment after Raiden reminded him of a case that was quite shocking to the Helldelune community a few years ago. "So you're saying he's after the mine back?"

After the burning of Baron Cohen's house, Baron Viridescens was able to take control of the mine. A few months later it was discovered that the fire that occurred was not an accident but a murder case committed by the Baron deliberately and planned. He was eventually arrested and sentenced to death. While the family of Baron Viridescens was subjected to property bleaching, so all his property was confiscated by the palace.

Two years later, the mine is back at auction and Quinn's father wins it.

After two years, his wife, Baroness Viridescens, managed to return his property after getting a loan from his family and damaged Vincent's business. Now that the first Savero mine had met with success, the Viridescens Baroness began planning to retake it.

Raiden gave a small nod "After finding success in the Count Savero mine, he definitely plans to damage it again. Moreover, he wanted to use Viscount Vincent as a cover for his mistake. He must have wanted to create a civil war to break the family ties between them. That way, he won't be suspected."

Bastien let out a long sigh, "What benefit would he have if he had to make such an action?" Bastien kicked the table in annoyance.

While Raiden smiled triumphantly. How not, all of it is a mere Raiden engineering. Not entirely, the case about Baron Viridescens is indeed true. But not with his wife. Baroness Viridescens did not pit the brotherhood at all, it was only Raiden's wits to make Bastien completely fooled.

"He's in this party, Grand Duke."

"Just like you, I'm also very unaccepting of his crime of having the heart to kill the ignorant Quinn," Raiden glanced at the evidence he found clinging to his Knight's body, "Then do you want what the emblem is? should the palace keep it?" raiden asked Bastien who was focusing on his anger.

"After we finish interrogating Baroness Viridescens, I'll keep it."

Raiden smiled wider "Then let's ask the Baroness directly now."

"Yes." Yeah."

Thank you, Quinn. After this it seems like I should give you an award.