Chapter 110

Chapter 110: Chapter 110

She almost wanted to give up. Not on leaving the Guild, but on the idea that they could expose Berthanon so easily. He stood before her without a scratch, while she could barely remain on her feet. Still, she had made a promise to Ingrid, and she wasn’t going to abandon it halfway through. Whatever happened now, she had to see it through.

Freya suddenly scoffed.

"Evidence? You want evidence, Berthanon? Then tell me, out of everyone in this Guild, who has the ability to kill a Hunter of Hunter G’s level? Do you think he was some ordinary Hunter who could be taken down by anyone? He was one of the strongest people in this place, yet he walked out of your office and started coughing blood immediately afterwards. How convenient!"

Berthanon’s expression remained composed, but Freya didn’t give him the chance to interrupt.

"Everyone here knows how you’ve treated Hunter G. You’ve treated him as if he were some horse you could use whenever you pleased. Whenever you needed something done, you called for him. Whenever you wanted someone to take responsibility for your decisions, you pushed everything onto him. But the moment he refused to follow your orders, you used his life to threaten him! You gave him an ultimatum. He had to find a way to make Ingrid reveal the secret she had previously promised to tell you before you went ahead with that ridiculous memory search. If she refused, you would let him die. Isn’t that what happened?"

The Hunters around them began exchanging glances. A few looked towards Berthanon, waiting for him to deny her words, but Freya was already stepping forward.

"And that wasn’t all! You poisoned him in your office, then you had someone put another poison inside his room. You thought nobody would notice, didn’t you? You thought you could keep poisoning him until his body finally gave out, and everyone would simply accept his death as an unfortunate accident!"

For the first time, Berthanon’s expression changed. It was brief, barely more than a flicker, but Freya caught it. His eyes narrowed, and the hand holding his whip tightened slightly.

"Poison inside his room?" he repeated.

Freya smiled. "What’s wrong? Did I say something you weren’t expecting?"

Berthanon didn’t answer immediately. His gaze remained fixed on her, and the silence around them grew heavier. Freya took another step, ignoring the sharp pain in her chest.

"All these months, you’ve been poisoning Hunter G, haven’t you? Yet, have you ever wondered why he never seemed to fall? You kept waiting for him to become weak, but he continued carrying out his duties. You probably thought he was pretending to be fine, or maybe you assumed he was hiding his injuries from everyone. But there were times when he couldn’t take it anymore. There were times when he was alone in his room, struggling to stay alive after another dose of poison. What you didn’t know was that he had a stash of antidotes hidden away. He had been keeping himself alive without your knowledge."

The surprise on Berthanon’s face was much clearer this time. His eyes widened slightly, and for a moment, he looked genuinely confused. However, he quickly recovered and let out a laugh.

"Freya, did you hear yourself? You’re contradicting your own accusations. I had no idea that Hunter G hid antidotes inside his room, how could I have poisoned what he hid? Am I some kind of god?"

Freya almost laughed. There it was. She had been waiting for him to say those exact words.

"Well, well, Berthanon." She tilted her head, her grin widening despite the blood still running down her chin. "Did you just admit that you poisoned Hunter G?"

Berthanon’s smile disappeared. The Hunters standing nearby went still. One of them even turned towards the others, seemingly unsure whether he had heard correctly. Berthanon’s face slowly reddened as he realised what had happened, his eyes narrowing.

Freya could barely contain her laughter. ’Ingrid was right.’

When a truth and a lie were placed together in the same sentence, people often became so desperate to disprove the lie that they forgot to pay attention to the truth. Berthanon had been so eager to deny knowing about the antidotes that he had completely overlooked the fact that his response confirmed he had in fact poisoned Hunter G and he had done it in front of everyone.

"How interesting," Freya continued, wiping the blood from her mouth. "I came here accusing you of poisoning Hunter G, and you just admitted to doing it yourself. I didn’t even have to force you. You were so eager to explain how you couldn’t have known about the antidotes that you forgot to deny the actual poisoning."

"Watch your mouth!" Berthanon barked.

"Why? Are you angry? Or are you regretting what you just said?" Freya chuckled, although the sound quickly turned into a cough. She pressed her hand against her chest and took a moment to recover before looking at him again. "You should have thought before speaking. Now everyone here heard you."

Berthanon’s gaze swept across the corridor. The Hunters who had been standing around were no longer looking at Freya alone. Several of them were staring at him, their expressions uncertain. Others whispered among themselves, trying to make sense of what they had just heard.

"Don’t listen to her nonsense!" Berthanon snapped. "She’s clearly distressed over Hunter G’s death, and she’s willing to say anything to make herself feel better. I never admitted to poisoning him. She deliberately twisted my words!"

Freya raised her eyebrows. "Twisted your words? I only repeated what you said. If you didn’t poison him, why did you say you couldn’t have poisoned the antidotes? You could have denied everything, but you chose to explain yourself instead. Are you going to tell everyone that I forced those words out of your mouth too?"

"Enough!" Berthanon’s voice carried through the corridor, silencing the murmurs. The whip in his hand moved slightly, and the air around him seemed to grow heavier. A few Hunters instinctively stepped backwards, while Jowe, who had finally recovered enough to stand properly, moved towards his grandfather.

"Grandfather, don’t listen to her. She’s deliberately trying to provoke you. We should take her away before she causes any more trouble."

Freya turned towards him and laughed again. "Of course. Here comes your loyal little defender. Jowe, are you ever going to think for yourself? Your grandfather just admitted to poisoning Hunter G, and you’re still standing there trying to protect him. At this point, I don’t even know whether you’re foolish or simply afraid of what you’ll discover if you stop defending him."

"Shut up!" Jowe shouted.