88
“I’m searching through the documents as quickly as possible, but I haven’t found anything strange yet.”
With little time left before the banquet began, Owen, who had suddenly arrived, handed over a thin stack of documents with these words. Since no one expected him to examine the vast amount of paperwork in just one day, there was no special reaction.
“This is information about the aides assisting your brother. Since you’ll be staying here for a while, it’s good to familiarize yourself with them.”
There were three aides in total.
A young woman and man, and a middle-aged man. The document, which simply listed names and basic personal information, was clean and thorough. Naturally, no suspicious points could be found even after reading it several times.
“Which of these is the person who suddenly went out?”
“If you’re referring to the one who returned today, it would be this one. The other two are still out.”
Owen’s finger pointed to the paper with the personal information of Kedwin, the middle-aged man among the three aides.
And now, before their eyes, the person they had only been able to confirm through written words was actively moving about. Plates decorated with neatly arranged dishes danced gracefully on his hands.
As occasional circus-like performances unfolded, Rohan’s eyes trembled with surprise. Riteran let out a low sigh, and Owen’s expression was half-grimacing. Only Arpel watched him with an emotionless face, showing not a hint of change.
“Kedwin. That’s enough, put them down. Aren’t you making the guests uncomfortable?”
“Haha, I guess I got too excited because they’re the youngest master’s guests. Since I couldn’t greet them properly, I wanted to leave a good impression like this.”
“Even that has its limits.”
A brief applause was heard from the side. The maids carrying trays were the source of the sound.
Although they disappeared in a fluster when eyes turned towards them, judging by their reaction, it seemed this wasn’t the first time he had shown such unexpected tricks to guests.
As the long dining table was being filled, small talk was exchanged. Riteran mostly led the conversation, and despite the rather one-sided flow, the atmosphere wasn’t bad.
“My other two younger brothers are holed up in the imperial knights’ order, saying they want to become knights. The youngest one is cooped up in the temple… So these days, life is too quiet…”
His light update on recent events turned into complaints, but unfortunately, no one was listening to his words. Riteran let out a short sniff.
Arpel quietly looked at the food and drink placed before him. A faint sense of discomfort, which he had felt before, arose. While others began to eat one or two bites, Arpel didn’t move his hand at all.
“Arpel? What’s wrong?”
Starting with Rohan, who first sensed something amiss, and then Riteran and Owen detecting the changed atmosphere, Arpel finally spoke.
“It’s poisoned.”
“…Poisoned?”
The smoothly moving utensils stopped as if it were a lie. The somewhat cheerful atmosphere that had been flowing shattered in an instant. Rohan’s eyes, which had turned cold as ice, were staring intently at the food placed in front of Arpel.
“Kedwin.”
“Yes.”
Riteran’s single word broke through the tense silence that had settled. Kedwin, who immediately responded to his words, used silver utensils to check the food placed in front of Arpel, and the spoon that discolored as soon as it touched the food provided a clear answer.
“It’s my oversight, Your Excellency.”
As soon as he confirmed this, Kedwin bowed his head. The light, almost airy demeanor from earlier had completely vanished.
It was his fault for not detecting any impure movements, and since he was also one of the suspects who could have added poison, he would submit to investigation. Despite Riteran looking at him with complex eyes, he maintained an unwavering attitude.
“Sigh, you stay here. I’ll call the knights outside to explain the situation…”
In the end, Riteran gave up trying to find sincerity in his eyes. Just suspecting him, who was no different from a close friend, made his head throb. While he thought that something unusual might be happening, he never imagined an assassination attempt on the very first day.
It was no small matter that Owen’s guest, moreover a guest who had come due to the Demon Sword’s revelation, had nearly been poisoned.
Whether by coincidence or necessity, the four people had each chosen different foods. So if someone knew exactly which types of food were chosen, there could be more potential culprits than expected. It might take more time than anticipated to gather solid evidence and deduce the perpetrator.
It was already embarrassing enough that they hadn’t known what was happening in the territory until the two who received the revelation came in person, but now it seemed they wouldn’t even have the face to meet them. It was around this time that Riteran was having such thoughts.
“I never said my food was poisoned.”
A calm voice broke through the tense atmosphere. It was a voice so composed that it was hard to believe it came from someone who had nearly been poisoned.
“Pardon? But…”
“You naturally checked the food first. As if you knew the poison wouldn’t be detected in the drink.”
“…The food caught my eye first, so I tried it. Since the utensils discolored, I naturally assumed the drink would be fine. If I’ve offended you, I apologize. I’ll check it now if you’d like.”
His eyes seemed to waver for a moment, but his following voice was calm. Arpel looked at him with unimpressed eyes. Then, his hand moved slowly, putting a silver utensil into the glass and stirring it lightly.
“There’s no need for that.”
The silver spoon touched the drink, but there was no change in color. The pale crimson liquid swirling in the glass remained perfectly clear, as if it had nothing to do with poison.
Arpel held it out to Kedwin.
“Drink it.”
“…Why this?”
“If you drink this, I’ll apologize for my rudeness just now.”
“…It’s alright, you don’t need to apologize-”
“Drink it.”
The belated refusal was cut short by Riteran’s firm words as he observed the situation.
Kedwin swallowed dryly, noticing a hint of suspicion in his sharp eyes. His trembling hand moved slightly, but he ultimately didn’t take the glass Arpel was holding.
“Arpel.”
Amidst the tense atmosphere, a low voice cut between the two. One emotion that had been present all along suddenly swelled noticeably. It was an immense killing intent that didn’t match at all with the gentle voice that had murmured the name.
While distracted by this, the glass was snatched away. The series of actions where a large hand enveloped the right hand and carefully extracted what was held inside couldn’t have been faster or more natural.
Perhaps because he was distracted by the elegant hand movements? He belatedly realized that shadows had risen from the floor, extending like thin stems to bind Kedwin’s body in the blink of an eye.
“Why bother asking trash?”
“Urk!”
“We can just pour it into his mouth.”
The shadows forcibly opened Kedwin’s mouth, and Rohan tilted the glass over it. As the contents were about to fall into his mouth, the man who had maintained composure until the very end suddenly disappeared. Only a person screaming with muffled pronunciation remained.
“Ugh! Ugh!”
The movement of shaking his head desperately was truly pitiful. Even that amounted to nothing more than struggling against the binding shadows. Riteran, who had to watch this miserable sight, couldn’t help but waver.
“…Can you just free his mouth?”
Given how desperately he struggled, it was as good as admitting that he had put poison in the glass.
In that sense, Riteran really had many questions he wanted to ask Kedwin. How did he obtain poison that couldn’t be detected by silver utensils? Why target Arpel specifically?
He was curious about all of these things, but what actually came out of his mouth was just one question.
“Kedwin. Why did you do it?”
He had fallen into endless contradictions while hearing about the revelation. Although he knew there was a high probability of a traitor within, his desire to trust them also grew. Kedwin in front of him had trampled on those feelings.
While this ignited anger, he couldn’t understand the reason at all. What on earth had turned the person who had been smiling until just moments ago, who had stood by his side no different from usual, into such a miserable state? What had made him side with the wraiths?
The shadows loosely binding his body only freed his mouth. His panting breath and frightened voice were so broken that it was hard to believe he was the same man who had skillfully attended to guests earlier.
“A curse, my son is under a curse.”
“A curse?”
“I had no choice, to atone for my son’s sin, this was the only way… My wife received a revelation, a revelation from that person! She said that soon a black-haired outsider would visit the Marquis’s castle, and we must feed him the ‘seed’.”
The man’s fear-filled eyes weren’t looking at them. Neither the shadows binding his body, nor Rohan who couldn’t hide his killing intent, nor the glass said to contain that ‘seed’ seemed to be in his mind at the moment.
“Ah, aah… I failed. Now my son will die. Punishment from that person…”
“Hey, Kedwin!”
“I must beg, beg for forgiveness…”
Incomprehensible words poured out. Riteran called out to him several times, but received no proper answer. Muttering about needing to beg for forgiveness, he looked like a person who had completely lost his mind.
“Lord Riteran.”
With a small call, the shadow tendrils swiftly extended again, tightly binding Kedwin’s mouth. It responded to Rohan’s will to silence him.
Perhaps due to the emotion involved, the shadows, tighter than before, dug into the man’s skin, drawing faint blood.
“May I interrogate this person?”
What came out of Rohan’s mouth was completely at odds with the bright smile on his face. Arpel’s lips moved briefly, but he couldn’t stop him.
