Chapter 173
Chapter 173
“My Lord, I have a report for you.”
The knight, who had approached the Marquis, gave him a bow.
“Young Lady Clemence is nowhere to be seen.”
“What? Didn’t she go to get her treatment?”
“No, she has been tended to, but she said that it was such a waste to keep her all tied up since he was busy. So, she went back on her own.”
The Marquis’s desolate eyes began falling onto the Count.
“Count! It’s utterly useless if you’re aware of it and still hiding the Young Lady away. Turn yourself in before we force you to do it instead!”
“Oh, no! I have no idea about Arjan. According to the original plan, it would’ve been normal for her to be at my side by now…”
Marquis Werner, who could no longer trust the nonsensical Count’s behavior, turned his head immediately.
“Find the Young Lady of Clemence! Wherever she is, you must absolutely find her!”
“Yes!”
But Arjan still couldn’t be found even until dawn broke. Whether she had fallen to the ground or soared up in the tower—there was no trace of her anywhere at all.
The Count and Ferdinand, who had been in custody, felt even more intense as soon as they thought that she wouldn’t give her help in any way. Eventually, the Count and Ferdinand were first taken to the Imperial City.
The Emperor was genuinely infuriated by the incident. The Empire was just like a young seedling with weak roots, still. The Emperor wanted to pay much more attention towards the inside rather than the outside since it was just similar to a lumber that wouldn’t live for far too long and would then collapse, if the ground were to become too thick or too hard.
Meanwhile, Ferdinand and Philius had touched on the Emperor’s last line of reason. The Emperor’s wrath was then poured down onto those two men.
The Clemence were eventually deprived the title of the Count. All of its property was confiscated and all private ownership of its residence was transferred fully to the Emperor.
He also ordered the Count to live in the dungeon for his whole life. The Count wept at the sight of the work at the underground prison that even slaves had avoided, but the Emperor did not countermand it at all.
A moment’s mistake had caused a man to plummet from the sky right onto the ground. And no one was against it at all.
Everything was just Philius Clemence’s own karma.
Arjan Clemence, who had yet to be found until now, was also wanted. Her wanted papers were posted all over the Empire and a sum of reward was also placed on her head.
Clemence County, which seemed to have been shining all its life, crumbled just like that.
Ferdinand Werner’s punishment was equally severe. There had been a mention that Marquis Werner was imposed as a punishment of Ferdinand, but it was only a charge of fine considering the fact that the family had always been supportive ever since the beginning of the Empire and also, how the Marquis had no idea of his son’s plot as well.
The fact that the border guards could not be changed immediately had also contributed.
The Marquis eventually managed to retain his title by abandoning his own son. However, as the Marquis had already run out of money due to the excessive fines as well as his prodigal son’s life, he would be unable to break away from the financial difficulties for some time.
Ferdinand was then set to work on a remote island in order for him to be unable to interact with others. Being in a humid prison with molds all over the floor, he spent every day living in hell.
For him, who had always been enjoying luxurious food all his life, prison food tasted even worse than grass. The bed was utterly hard, so there were insect bites all over his whole body. Not to mention, the prison was deprived of even a small toilet which eventually caused a constant sore nose due to the pungent smell.
There was never such an insult to Ferdinand, who had always enjoyed the best in the world. However, the most excruciating pain was something else altogether.
The common people, whom he always looked down upon, thrashed him badly. It was a great opportunity for those who had been looking rather unsavoury towards the aristocrats.
Furthermore, even the guard had closed his eyes to his beatings, so there was no luck at all. The entire anger and stress that accumulated in prison were all directed at Ferdinan alone.
A life that couldn’t properly die slowly continued. No one had treated him like an aristocrat. His wounds were pounded and pus flowed out, and the body that hadn’t had any proper meal was just like a skeleton.