I, reincarnate as the leader of the villainous knight order

Chapter 32: On This Side

I was taken to the headquarters of the Second Knight Order, located on the adjacent grounds to the Third Knight Order’s. Unlike the Third Knight Order, which only had dormitories and training grounds, this one also housed facilities for accommodating criminals in the capital.

Due to this, the Third Knight Order was closer to the royal palace, but it seemed that the Second Knight Order didn’t appreciate that much either. After all, nobles’ residences were more valuable when closer to the palace.

When we arrived at the entrance of their base, I made a proposal.

“Hey, can I leave my horse with the Third Knight Order? Or Arman, can you take her there? I trust you won’t handle her roughly.”

“Huh!?”

Suddenly being appointed, Arman, a squire of the Second Knight Order, was surprised. I remembered how he handled horses with care during joint exercises.

“Well, whatever. Arman, take the horse to the Third Knight Order, and while you’re at it, inform them that Vandière has been captured.”

“Y-yes…”

Dismounting from my beloved Eleanor, I stroked her muzzle.

“I’ll be back soon, so be a good girl and wait here. Follow Arman’s instructions to the stable. Alright, I’m counting on you, Arman.”

“Understood, I’ll take care of her.”

Arman nodded politely, still mounted on his own horse, and took Eleanor’s reins, heading towards the Third Knight Order. As for me, I was escorted to what you could call an interrogation room to be questioned.

“Yesterday, the fiancée of the Crown Prince and her maid returned to the royal palace in a clearly abnormal state, and there are witnesses who saw you with them. And… this!”

A dagger was slammed onto the desk, the same one I had thrown at the thugs during the incident.

“It’s certainly mine, but why am I being treated as the culprit?”

At the very least, the presence of this dagger here implied that it was either connected to the mastermind or the actual perpetrator.

“Don’t play dumb! You used this to injure someone who came to help! Or are you going to claim that you lost it somewhere!?”

From his attitude, it seemed that Constant was not aware of the whole truth.

“Someone who came to help, huh… Who’s the glory thief?”

“What? Glory thief!?”

I crossed my arms and leaned back in the chair.

“Poor investigation skills. It’s clear that whoever prepared this dagger hates me. But their plan is flawed; they didn’t think it through properly.”

“What… disrespectful!”

Constant’s overly straightforward personality was something the old me, Justin, used to dislike and ridicule. But the current me didn’t mind this fiery spirit. However, his slightly overbearing attitude was unacceptable. I gave him a disappointed look.

“Hmph, disrespectful… That means it was probably brought by the Crown Prince, right? No… He must have received it from someone, probably… someone from the temple. Whether it was the temple personnel who tried to abduct Miss Diane or someone who obtained it when seeking healing magic at the temple, I don’t know.”

“What do you mean?”

“What I’m saying is, if you can’t understand that, it’s proof that you haven’t heard from Miss Diane and her maid, right?”

“Well… But the Crown Prince said there’s enough evidence, and he’s planning to hold a trial tomorrow!”

“Ah, really now… Do you want to embarrass yourself that badly? Fine, I’ll go along with the trial. But in return, call either Miss Diane or her maid, Annabella, or both as witnesses. They’re the parties involved, after all.”

“Understood… I’ll relay that.”

For me, whether it’s a trial or anything else, if we can reach a conclusion quickly, I’m all for it. Especially if it means putting the Crown Prince in his place once again. When I read the novel, I thought he was just a nice guy, but in reality, he’s an annoying, hot-blooded nuisance who thinks he’s righteous.

Then, I was told to spend the night in a cell, but I almost screamed when I was taken to the underground dungeon. It was… incredibly filthy and smelly.

But the toilets are enchanted, so they shouldn’t smell bad, right?! Then could it be… the stench of the prisoners!?

“Hey, I’m not the culprit, so you don’t plan on letting me stay in a guest room later to reduce the amount of apologies you’ll have to make?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Desu-yone.”

Constant looked at me with a mixture of disbelief and disdain.

“Hey, isn’t that the Commander of the Third Knight Order! I knew you’d end up on this side someday!”

“Hahaha! It really is him! What did you do? Did you finally get it on with the Crown Prince’s woman?”

As the prisoners spotted me in the dungeon, they burst into crude laughter.

“Quiet down!”

The jailer knight yelled, but they ignored him and continued making noise.

“How naive. Well then… ‘Cleanse and Purify.'”

Using half of my magic power, I cleaned up the entire underground dungeon. Naturally, the prisoners inside were also cleaned up.

“…Phew, humans really do shut up when they’re surprised, don’t they? Haha.”

Even Constant, whom I addressed, was speechless, just like the prisoners.