Every day, the week was approaching when soone would have to die, however, Norhox was always in a good mood after finishing a al with the emperor. Whenever he was in the palace, he felt anxious, thirsty, and so furious that he couldn’t think straight, but once he finished eating his al, or rather, during the al, all his irritation vanished as if swept away by a wave.
He was in such a good mood that sotis everything around him seed to waver like a mirage. Especially that day, it was even worse. He was so elated that he even forgot to go to the priest and check to see if he had discovered anything before leaving the palace. His mood was floating on cloud nine, and his body felt so languid that he staggered like a drunk and had to be supported by a servant to get into the carriage.
When he arrived at his mansion in this pleasant state, the servants greeted him with even more terrified eyes. From recent experience, they knew his good mood wouldn’t last until the next day. Usually, by dawn, the mansion was filled with his curses once again.
If they didn’t bring him what he wanted quickly, anyone’s head could fly off at any mont. At such tis, they all trembled and pressured one cook. Strangely enough, Norhox liked only the food made by this particular cook. Even if soone else made the sa dish, Norhox could imdiately figure it out and overturn the al in a fit of rage.
At first, those few attempts to deceive him, he let it slide. But eventually, Norhox beca dissatisfied and appeared with a sword himself, and such attempts ceased. The cook had recently beco unusually silent and prone to sudden bursts of anger, but no one cared about him.
The only thing that mattered was calming Norhox’s erratic temper. Thus, no one paid attention to the cook. Besides, they had taken all his money, practically his entire fortune, to prevent him from fleeing just in case he couldn’t stand it anymore.
However, when the unusually good mood Norhox started having a fit again early in the morning, everyone realized there was a problem.
Crash!
A plate, one of many by now, rolled and shattered across the floor.
“This isn’t right! You idiots, can’t you even bring a single proper dish?!”
Whizz— Crash!
Norhox swung his sword, hitting the cabinet and knocking it down to the floor.
Clatter—
As the ornants fell with a loud noise, a few servants inside the room crouched their shoulders in fear.
With Norhox’s sword capable of turning on them at any mont, the faces of the servants eavesdropping outside also turned pale.
“What are you doing? Go and bring a proper dish right now!”
As Norhox shouted, his bloodshot eyes glaring, one of the trembling servants barely stepped forward.
“Y-Your Grace, there is a problem.”
“What problem?”
Norhox growled like a beast, baring his teeth. The servant who stepped forward looked as if he would faint at any mont, and opened his mouth as Norhox’s sword pointed in his direction.
“The c-cook, the one responsible for the dishes, has run away.”
“Run away? Then just get soone else to make it!”
“All the food prepared by others has been rejected by Your Grace.”
That ant there was no food that would satisfy Norhox at the mont. Realizing the situation, Norhox looked down at the shattered plates and scattered food on the floor. His servants were trembling with fear, but Norhox’s hands were shaking just as much.
So, there’s no way to quench this thirst and hunger?
There is no way right now?
“Then find the cook. Bring him in now.”
****
The war profiteer remained silent in response to Ashler’s question. However, Ashler didn’t press him further. He quietly looked into the dull eyes of the other person and rely stated the facts he had co to know.
“I received a ssage from Sir Kin today. I asked him to tell how to reassure you.”
The war profiteer’s wavering eyes fixed on Ashler’s hand. In Ashler’s hand was the letter from Kin he received earlier that day as if it had been there all along. He deliberately lifted it slightly. Though the small piece of paper, no bigger than a finger, didn’t reveal its contents, the war profiteer couldn’t look away.
“Was the way to reassure too unexpected?”
Despite the mocking tone, his voice trembled slightly.
“Yes. It was unexpected. As I said, I thought you joined the King’s Heart purely out of greed. I believed that risking yourself as a spy within the King’s Heart was driven solely by your desire to amass wealth.”
“That’s right. That was the reason.”
The war profiteer interrupted Ashler’s words, spitting them out as if to get them over with and he then added.
“If I beca ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) a spy, His Majesty promised to grant the most valuable land. Besides, even as a spy within the King’s Heart, my tasks were insignificant, so there was no risk of being discovered. All the wealth I amassed as a spy would be mine. It was all for the money. That’s why I’m now one of the wealthiest n in the capital...”
“Did you accept other conditions for money as well?”
“......”
Ashler observed the war profiteer’s bloodshot eyes as if seeing them for the first ti.
“At so point, I started feeling uneasy whenever I looked into your eyes. At first, I thought it was just because they seed hazy, as if you were drunk, or that the bloodshot, cloudy look was different from ordinary people. But when I thought about it, it wasn’t just that. The real reason your eyes bothered was because they felt familiar.”
“Familiar?”
“I’ve seen soone with the sa eyes.”
“Who is it?”
Ashler answered the whispered question easily.
“The forr king.”
“......”
“Your eyes are similar to the forr king, who staggered around all day, heavily addicted to the black potion 12 years ago.”
“......”
“You’re addicted, aren’t you?”
Although he still didn’t speak, his hardened face was enough of an answer. Ashler looked into his cloudy eyes once again and recalled the past. He had seen those eyes when he stood before the forr king who ca looking for the prince after Abel’s death. Hazy eyes that seed to hold nothing but madness.
However, beneath that madness, a last shred of sanity remained, which even the King’s Heart couldn’t find. That must have been why he managed to find a way to separate his son from the King’s Heart’s surveillance. No one would believe that he, who had indulged in pleasure and Regas daily, intoxicated by the black potion, had made a final sacrifice for his child.
Ashler realized what he had done only much later. So, there might be another person like him. Ashler looked down at the letter in his hand and recited its contents.
“I will ensure your family and lands remained safe and healthy, no matter what.”
It was a simple ssage. Given the war profiteer’s situation as a spy, it wasn’t surprising that there was a promise to protect his family in case sothing went wrong. If not for the word “healthy,” Ashler wouldn’t have been suspicious.
“Your greatest fear was that your family would be made to consu the sa poison that addicted you?”
He voiced his speculation, no longer considering it a question.
“Your family was held hostage.”
“......”
“As you said, you’re greedy but you also have a weakness for valuing your family, making you suitable as a spy. That’s why Sir Kin, who’s from the sa hotown and knows you well, recomnded you. However, there’s one thing that bothers .”
Ashler brought up the real reason he had called him here, his eyes darkening.
“If you were worried that Sir Kin, who knows your family well, might poison them, couldn’t you just avoid him? Or just hide your family. I don’t understand. Is there sothing else you’re truly afraid of?”
The war profiteer now looked at Ashler with a cold expression, twisting his lips.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“Even though it’s not your role?”
The ntion of “role” made Ashler frown.
“Is my role just to stay by His Majesty’s side without knowing anything?”
Though Ashler asked sharply, the war profiteer didn’t stop mocking him.
“Of course. You’re his most beloved subordinate.”
He has heard similar words before, but this ti, it felt more like a mockery than a complint, making Ashler’s expression turn cold.
“Don’t speak carelessly without knowing anything.”
“Compared to you who knows only half, I might as well know everything.”
Half?
Seeing the confusion appear in Ashler’s eyes, the war profiteer continued his explanation in a cold voice.
“A poison with the sa effects as the black potion. You know what it is, but not how it’s used.”
“That’s for the King’s Heart...”
“How.”
The war profiteer cut him off, emphasizing each word, and asked in a low voice.
“How do you think I poisoned them? You don’t think I visited them every day and fed them poison, do you?”
“Then what thod did you use?”
“I gave them gifts. When I was still trying to gain favor with the King’s Heart, I sent them all sorts of jewels and valuables mixed with it.”
The sharpness in his voice had disappeared, replaced with a bitter laugh as he recalled the outco.
“But Marquis Yan refused the gifts. The others accepted them, but only two were affected. One went bankrupt and the other was burned by His Majesty on the first day. I wondered why the gifts didn’t affect Truyde and Norhox, and then I realized there was only one reason. The servants, thinking the gifts were valuable, must have consud them. After all, a corrupt master had corrupt servants.”
****
The servant quickly lowered his head at Norhox’s order to bring the cook. Fearing that Norhox might completely lose his temper and swing his sword, the servant quickly added.
“We’ve already sent the servants to chase after him. He probably wouldn’t have gotten far since he only ran away with useless things anyway.”
Norhox’s mind wasn’t functioning properly due to thirst and anxiety. Thus, he didn’t catch the odd tone in the servant’s voice and absently asked.
“Useless things?”
****
“If it doesn’t work on Norhox and Truyde, then it’s completely useless, isn’t it?”
Ashler shook his head right after asking his question.
“No, Norhox’s recent behavior is strange enough. So, did you feed Norhox the poison separately? How?”
The war profiteer seed to find Ashler’s question amusing, shaking his shoulders with a chuckle as it was funny.
“You’re even more of a fool than I thought.”
Though Ashler’s face twisted in anger at the mocking, he could only narrow his eyes in shock at the war profiteer’s next words.
“Did you ever wonder why His Majesty dined with the King’s Heart every evening?”
Ashler, having never thought of it at all, froze and took a deep breath. A scene ca to his mind. Every ti he left them as they ate, he saw the sa thing. With no servants to attend to them, everyone except Truyde would reach for the seasoning bottles, sprinkle it on their food, and eat it hungrily with their whole face buried in it. At the ti, he thought they were just enduring the discomfort of doing sothing they’d never done before to keep an eye on the emperor.
What if this trivial behavior that was nothing more than a strange act actually had a different reason?
“Seasoning bottles? Did you switch them? By replacing its contents with poison?”
“Yes, the seasoning bottles. But what I actually tampered with behind the scenes was the food. Except for Duke Truyde’s. No, rather I took it out. So, he wouldn’t consu the poison.”
The fact that he spoke in the past tense, saying he had “took it out,” was bothering, but there was no ti to question it.
In any case, didn’t that an Truyde was excluded?
Why?
Questions arose in his mind, however, he was interrupted by the war profiteer’s words that followed.
“The rest of them had no choice but to sprinkle the poison themselves without having to touch them.”
“How?”
“Because I made it bland.”
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