The hall where the mourning banquet had been held.
The Queen and mage showing symptoms of poisoning were urgently moved for treatment.
Fortunately, both had only lost consciousness so their lives could be saved,
But the Queen's condition was more serious than the mage's, so she required absolute rest.
However, except for those two, no one could leave their seats.
-There's an arsenic reaction.
The royal physicians and pharmacists who examined the cups of the Queen, who had become Queen Dowager, and the mage declared.
The Queen's silver wine cup they confirmed had its interior blackened.
Duke of Ophir, who was both one of the most powerful among Aquilonia's great nobles and the great feudal lord of the vast southern territory.
-Everyone who was there would have clearly seen that Her Majesty the Queen Dowager received wine from a servant called by the mage. Since the mage is also in a poisoned state, interrogate the servant first!
The servant who had poured wine for the Queen Dowager and mage was the first to receive brutal torture.
By the time the flesh of his thighs, seared with a branding iron, became tattered,
The servant could only repeat one testimony like a broken music box.
-I, I don't remember well. I, I just, just from the kitchen, since Her Majesty the Queen Dowager is pregnant, instead of wine, grape, beverage. I, I'm innocent. I'm innocent...
Next, everyone who had worked in the royal castle kitchen was dragged out.
From those with insignificant duties like dishwashing to the head chef who commanded the entire kitchen, all were confined in underground dungeons to undergo harsh interrogation.
-I, I know. It's that kid. That one made Her Majesty the Queen, no, Queen Dowager's beverage! I thought something was being added then? So please let me go. Only I have nothing to do with this!
-I don't know anything either, I don't know! I just added sugar because Her Majesty likes sweet things. The, the sugar jar was brought by another kid!
-That was just ordinary sugar! It was seasoning used in all the cooking too! I'm innocent! None of the tasting servants died! The wine and food were all tasted and they're alive!
Following the interrogations, soldiers thoroughly swept through the royal castle's kitchen. But there was nothing suspicious.
Then where had the arsenic found in the Queen Dowager and mage's cups come from?
People's gazes turned toward the royal castle's medical office. However, the royal castle's pharmacists and physicians actively participated in the investigation and dispelled suspicion.
They showed meticulously maintained pharmaceutical inventory lists, claiming that toxic substances like arsenic especially were stored with double and triple security so no one could take them carelessly.
Then had the arsenic been brought in from outside?
The pharmacist, watching people wandering around searching for the poison's source, very carefully broached the subject.
-I know this is an improper thing to say, but just in case... I understand there is someone other than myself skilled in medicine within the royal castle.
Hearing those words, people finally remembered Primavera Viscountess staying in the 3rd Prince's palace.
But she had not attended the late king's funeral, much less the mourning banquet.
Could Primavera Viscountess truly be connected to this incident?
Then someone whispered.
-Primavera Viscountess, isn't she from the family of the former royal physician?
-That's right. Certainly executed for failing to save the deceased 1st Prince and 2nd Prince.
-Her Majesty the Queen Dowager was deeply grieved then. Cases of royal physicians losing their heads aren't uncommon, but...
-Perhaps she harbored resentment over that incident?
Speculation built upon speculation.
Eventually, the Captain of the Royal Guard personally led his subordinates to the 3rd Prince's palace to interrogate Primavera Viscountess.
Those waiting for the 3rd Prince and mage who had attended the mourning banquet were puzzled by the sudden visit.
However, upon hearing the full details of the poisoning incident, everyone turned pale.
Primavera Viscountess opened her old medical bag herself with trembling hands.
The viscountess who, during her time wandering outside with the 3rd Prince, had stocked all kinds of medicines saying she must be prepared for any disease.
Among them were certainly medicinal ingredients containing arsenic.
Medicine and poison were separated by a paper's thickness, and arsenic too, if properly prescribed with other medicines, could improve anemia symptoms.
It had been purchased entirely for treatment purposes.
Primavera Viscountess opened her bag, looked at the empty space in the corner, and unconsciously muttered.
-It's gone.
The bottle that stored that medicine was gone.
The Captain of the Guard, who had been directly watching the viscountess open her bag, shouted.
-Search the mage's bedroom!
-No, that can't be. Adonis, Yesung couldn't do such a thing!
The fighter mercenary tried to block them but was outnumbered.
The knights began searching the bedroom where the mage had been staying. Vases toppled over and ornaments on tables fell, making loud noises.
While meticulously examining even the curtains of the four-poster bed, someone shouted.
-Captain! Found it! Here it is, the arsenic bottle!
What the knight brought in breathlessly was a small glass bottle.
Its mouth was sealed with cork and paper, and additionally wound several times with string for perfect sealing.
The white powder inside the bottle remained only enough to barely cover the bottom.
Even so, it was sufficient as evidence.
Medicine containing arsenic found in the mage's room.
Hearing news that evidence had been obtained, the ducal family was greatly enraged.
As the situation flowed this way, servants and maids who had only been reading the situation began voluntarily creating public opinion.
-There's someone who saw the mage coming out alone from the medical office early in the morning when he first arrived at the royal castle. Perhaps he failed while trying to steal arsenic?
-Her Majesty the Queen Dowager even had tea with the mage. Looking back now, there was no reason for that, was there? He probably tried to win Her Majesty the Queen Dowager's favor.
-Moreover, strangely, he tried to make contact with no one except Her Majesty the Queen Dowager.
-The reason the mage's poisoning symptoms were mild was because he drank less of the beverage? Certainly he drank the poison himself to masquerade as a victim and escape suspicion!
Their thoughts and facts became someone's credible testimony and eyewitness accounts.
And the knights were steadily building up the mage's crimes that people talked about on top of the confirmed evidence.
Moreover, there was one more fact everyone knew.
The mage had a special friendship with the 3rd Prince and was particularly affectionate to the guests staying in the 3rd Prince's palace.
And the 3rd Prince was in sharp conflict with the Queen over the next succession.
Then, could the reason the mage tried to poison the Queen be...
-...Did the mage excessively cherish the 3rd Prince, so he tried to eliminate the Queen and put the 3rd Prince on the throne?
-Perhaps Primavera Viscountess or other mercenaries also collaborated? I'm suspicious.
-Then perhaps the 3rd Prince is also involved in this incident...
No one knew for certain.
However, only the ducal family's anger and the Queen Dowager lying in her sickbed remained as the sole truth.
That afternoon, all of Yurik den Aquilonia 3rd Prince's associates except the 3rd Prince himself were confined to the 3rd Prince's palace,
And the books and belongings possessed by the 3rd Prince's mage were confiscated by the royal castle.
* * *
Late that night, in the reception room of the 3rd Prince's palace annex.
The room where the lights had not been turned off had no servants present.
In the middle of it, only Eva, Valter, and Cellinne sat as quiet as dead mice.
Yurik had to distance himself from his companions 'to deny the charges brought against him,'
So they had no choice but to move them to the annex.
Even that wasn't a big problem. They had experience rolling around on bare ground, so what was moving to an annex?
They were all hiding their respective anxieties by shaking their legs, biting their nails, or looking out windows so dark nothing could be seen.
Even so, as soon as footsteps were heard from far away,
All four people simultaneously looked toward the reception room door.
-Creak.
"Dardin! What about Yesung? Did you hear anything? How's the main castle? What about His Highness?"
Cellinne poured out questions like a waterfall. However, Dardin only shook his head with a dark expression.
"...I couldn't find out the details. The royal castle is unconditionally imprisoning anyone who had even one contact with Yesung. So I could get almost no information from those I had planted."
"Even one word would be good! You must have heard something!"
"First, they say the Queen Dowager has regained consciousness. The royal heir is also said to be safe so far."
"Forget about the Queen Dowager or Queen, whatever!"
"They say Yesung was in the main castle for treatment, then transferred to the Mage Tower in the evening."
"The Mage Tower? Not prison?"
"Since Yesung is known as a mage. The mages of the Mage Tower would have had to step forward to control his magical power."
Eva, who had been standing by the window listening quietly, spoke up.
"The fact that the mages gave the Mage Tower to the Queen Dowager means the Mage Tower and Queen Dowager have formed a strong collusive relationship."
"Similar. After all, isn't the Queen Dowager from Duke of Ophir's family? Duke of Ophir's family are founding contributors to Aquilonia, but they're also making large investments in magical research."
"Duke of Ophir would naturally have argued for Yesung's execution."
"You're perceptive."
Eva could tell that Yesung was at a tremendous disadvantage even without examining everything one by one.
Yesung had devised Yurik's eastern expedition to build a support base based on that,
But somehow the king had died precisely on the day they returned.
Since the sorrow over the king's death was greater than the joy that the east had become nationally safe, their achievements were completely buried.
Moreover, now they were covering Yesung with false charges of masterminding the Queen Dowager's poisoning?
At this rate, rather than the 3rd Prince creating a support base, it wouldn't be surprising if his prestige plummeted to the ground.
Furthermore... Yesung wasn't the type to endure such adventures.
He was someone who spent most of his time blinking and living leisurely like a deer grazing on grass.
Poisoning? Stealing arsenic from a medical bag without knowing it and feeding it to the Queen?
Even if Yesung opened her bag, he probably couldn't distinguish what was painkiller and what was arsenic.
...Still, there was currently no way to prove these facts.
She let out a long sigh.
It was detestable. Everything was tiresome.
The royal castle that drove innocent people as criminals.
Nobles who, when a big trend emerged, just rode along without any thought.
Those who babbled 'it can't be helped, truth isn't important. Now this has become the truth.'
While Eva was gritting her teeth, Cellinne shouted as if representing her feelings.
"Why on earth does Yesung have to go through this! Dardin, you know too. Yesung doesn't have the capacity to commit such acts!"
"I also believe in Yesung. But we're also under suspicion. Only because Yesung supposedly found arsenic in Eva's medical bag."
"But!"
"I know! This shouldn't be happening, I know something's strange no matter what! But why isn't anyone raising questions? Everyone who knows even a little is just keeping quiet. Because this Queen Dowager, the damn Duke of Ophir family, the Mage Tower, and many people are connected by interests!"
Dardin rarely let out harsh words.
"Duke of Ophir's family are both Aquilonia's greatest power holders and authority figures, and the Queen Dowager is a member of the royal family produced by Duke of Ophir's family. Don't you understand, Cellinne? If His Highness the 3rd Prince cannot ascend to the throne, the Queen Dowager will seize control of the royal castle. As one carrying the legitimate heir of Aquilonia, and as the current royal family's first-ranking member, she'll stand at the pinnacle of power!"
"If that happens."
"Naturally, His Highness the 3rd Prince's safety cannot be guaranteed. That woman will keep His Highness the 3rd Prince by her side even if she has to tear off his limbs, but we'll all be dead."
Those who had hated and wanted to eliminate everyone in the royal castle,
Were now about to be devoured by the royal castle.
Realizing this fact, they simultaneously despaired at the reality with no way out and wanted to deny it.
In the reception room where silence had fallen again, Valter raised his hand slightly and spoke.
"This old man doesn't know the details, but. Isn't the important thing now saving Yesung and the young 3rd Prince?"
"That's right, elder. Do you have any methods?"
"Nothing special, how about running away?"
"Running away? If a manhunt is issued, there's nothing more troublesome than that..."
"Wouldn't crossing the border work? Then it would be difficult for pursuit teams to follow."
Running away.
At the unexpected answer, Dardin's head tilted slightly.
"The border, you say?"
"Wouldn't that be better? If the young 3rd Prince's chances of winning are slim, I recommend going elsewhere. There's Vanaheim, there's Cimmeria, and if really necessary, there's the Barakan archipelago too."
"What about Yesung trapped in the Mage Tower?"
"Hmm? Bring him along. Smuggling out one person would be easier than fighting in the eastern wasteland, wouldn't it?"
Now even Cellinne and Eva stared at Valter.
Valter scratched his beard and asked.
"Did I say something strange? Well, looking at you young people like that makes me feel odd. I was just making a suggestion. Otherwise, I know a mercenary guild, so if I speak to them to register you as mercenaries-"
"No, elder. You spoke well. It's a method I'd never thought of."
"Right! Grandfather! You said well!"
"Huh?"
Leaving the bewildered Valter behind, Eva asked urgently.
"Is there a way to meet Yesung?"
"Setting aside everything else, that's quite a difficult problem, but it seems there might not be no method."
A way to bring Yesung.
No, they didn't even need to bring him. If they could just confirm the detailed structure of the Mage Tower, that alone would be a great harvest.
Dardin was lost in thought for several minutes before speaking intermittently.
"If the premise that Yesung is innocent remains unchanged."
"Of course! Dardin, did you eat something strange? Adonis is innocent."
"Then it means Yesung necessarily never touched Eva's bag. Since he's ignorant about medicines. Eva, is that right?"
Eva nodded.
"Right. The medical bag was in my bedroom. Since I knew it contained medicines, I told even the maids cleaning the room not to touch it."
"But an arsenic bottle was found in Yesung's room. For this, at least two people's collaboration was needed. Because to clean Cellinne and Eva's rooms required maids, and to clean our, Yesung's, and His Highness's rooms required male servants."
Cellinne raised her hand and asked a question.
"Two people's collaboration was needed? The maid who cleaned Eva's room could have directly taken it to Yesung's room. But two people were needed?"
"Cellinne, that's not usually how it works. They usually assign male servants to men and female maids to women. And though you didn't notice, male servants can't enter the direction where we stay."
"Was that so?"
"Eva's words are correct, Cellinne. If a maid from Eva's room had gone directly to Yesung's room, it would have been immediately noticed. So in the end, it means she met a servant and had it taken to Yesung's room."
"Yesung would never have dreamed such a thing would happen."
Cellinne thought carefully before casually throwing out.
"So, in the 3rd Prince's palace... there are as many as two spies who aren't on our side?"
Dardin smiled.
Just as he had done, the other side had also planted 'saplings' here.
He wouldn't complain now that he couldn't have known the other side would do the same or couldn't have predicted it.
It was just time to take back as much as he had been taken, since he had been had.
He answered kindly.
"Before Yesung's execution is decided, we need to find those spies. As quickly as possible."
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