Declared Dead, Exiled, and Betrayed— Now I Walk Away, but I'll Save One Who Cared - Chapter 12

There was no one left in the guild except for the adventurers.

Taking advantage of the situation, we followed Michelle’s orders and began sealing off the dungeon entrance in the guild’s basement—thoroughly and meticulously.

Since we knew that monsters even stronger than the Orc King and Elder Wolf would be coming, we weren’t just sealing the underground entrance. We were also destroying the staircase connecting the basement to the ground level and, ultimately, demolishing the guild building itself to bury the entrance entirely.

Michelle urged me to seek permission from the lord, so I made my way to the manor.

Not that it was far—the guild and the lord’s manor were practically neighbors, with only a few buildings in between.

This city was built around the dungeon, so it made sense.

“I see… So such formidable monsters have appeared.”

“Yes.”

Father looked troubled, but he seemed to have already made up his mind.

“Wait. Is that really necessary? I don’t see why such drastic destruction is needed. What if it turns out to be for nothing?”

My sister was here too.

I still hadn’t mentioned that Jekyll had fled.

I had only reported that the Orc King and Elder Wolf had appeared, that Michelle had woken up and defeated them, and that they weren’t the true bosses of the stampede.

“If an even stronger monster is coming, this is far worse than the stampede three years ago. There’s no other choice.”

Restoring the guild later would be simple, so why was she making such a fuss?

That thought crossed my mind, but Father calmly tried to reason with her.

“You don’t understand, Father, because you’ve been resting. The past three years have been spent rebuilding everything!”

But my sister refused to back down.

Perhaps she really had put in effort behind the scenes.

Could the missing funds have been used for reconstruction?

“Eranda, give it up. This city thrives because of the dungeon. We cannot escape the threat of monsters.”

“But—!”

“I will go. You need someone to make a judgment call on the situation, don’t you?”

Even as she tried to argue further, Father cut the conversation short.

Time was of the essence.

With the aid of the guards, he headed for the guild.

“Lord Viscount!”

As soon as we arrived at the guild, the adventurers noticed us.

“Please evacuate, my lord!”

“It’s dangerous here! We don’t know when the monsters will emerge!”

“I have done nothing but rest while all of you fought. How could I possibly flee now?”

“Lord Viscount…”

Father was well-respected by the people.

He had spent years developing this city.

And he had suffered the same loss as many of them—his wife and son had been taken by a past stampede.

“Michelle, I heard you awoke and fought immediately. You have my gratitude. I’m relieved to see you unharmed.”

“The same to you, Lord Viscount. Are you well?”

“Yes… I seem to have burdened both you and my daughters. I am sorry. Now, tell me—must we seal the dungeon?”

“Yes. If Lax were here, it might be different, but… Where is he?”

Both Father and Michelle turned to look at my sister.

“He’s… out of town…”

Under their scrutiny, my sister still tried to lie.

I couldn’t believe it.

What did she hope to gain by lying now?

I couldn’t hold back anymore.

“That’s a lie!”

“Shifa!”

My sister turned to me sharply, trying to silence me with a glare.

But I wasn’t afraid of her anymore.

“Why? Why won’t you say it? Why won’t you admit that you betrayed him and exiled him?!”

“What?!”

“What did you just say?”

Father and Michelle were visibly shocked.

“Shifa! I never betrayed him!”

“By adventurer guild rules, if a party member goes missing for six months, they are presumed dead, and their rights within the party are transferred—that is standard procedure.

But you didn’t just declare Lax missing as an adventurer.

You manipulated his status to declare him dead as a citizen, stole his personal assets under the guise of an inheritance, stripped him of his citizenship, and then used his death as a reason to annul the engagement.

If that’s not betrayal, then what is?!”

“Tch… Shifa… You investigated this?”

“W-What…?”

Her reaction said it all.

I had uncovered the truth.

“No… it can’t be…”

I spoke in a single breath.

Because I couldn’t forgive this.

This was too much.

Father and Michelle stood in stunned silence, while my sister continued to glare at me, unyielding.

“Explain yourself, Eranda!”

“Lady Eranda, Michelle also told us that Lax—no, Sir Lax—never triggered the trap. That was a lie.”

“It was Jekyll who set it off. Lax only shielded him.”

“……”

As we confronted her, the adventurers joined in.

Even in front of the lord, their anger was undeniable.

“What’s going on here? You told us that Lax was the one withholding the bounty rewards, and that you and Jekyll were working to set things right. But Lady Shifa just told us that it was you who withheld the funds—and that the only money we ever received came from a trust Lax personally established. Even the pensions for fallen adventurers’ families came from his own pocket!”

“……”

My sister’s face had gone deathly pale.

She couldn’t say a word.

Because she had no defense.

“What’s the truth? What was real, and what was a lie? Say something, Lady Eranda!”

“……”

Even Lyla, usually indifferent, was demanding answers.

“And this stampede—you said Jekyll and Claire were leading the charge! But the first thing they did was run away! How do you explain that?!”

“W-what…?”

My sister had been sitting there in a daze, but the revelation that Jekyll had abandoned the battlefield shattered her composure.

Her face twisted in shock.

“Jekyll…? Where did he go?”

“No idea. By the time I entered the dungeon, he was already gone. Honestly, I doubt he even saw the Orc King fall.”

Michelle answered her frantic question with cold detachment.

“That can’t be… He’s… he’s a father!”

“……”

Silence fell over the room.

“What do you mean, a father? A father to who? Don’t tell me… you’re pregnant with his child?”

“……”

She went silent again.

That was always her way.

The moment things didn’t go her way, she refused to speak.