“Okay. I understand it all now.”
“My incompetence is to blame. I’ll accept whatever punishment you see fit.” Myalo lowered her head. I couldn’t see her face, but the sorrow was clear from her tone of voice.
“Perhaps you’re right that you should’ve investigated more thoroughly at the first sign of suspicion,” I began.
Myalo didn’t reply.
“But I made mistakes too. The witches acted timid over the past year; they didn’t attempt any serious attacks on me. I should’ve known it was a sign of a larger plot brewing.”
I’d grown complacent. I knew the witches’ backs were up against the wall, but I hadn’t guessed they’d been sharpening their knives, waiting for the right moment.
“Not at all! This was my job! And you could never have known that they were in league with Carla!”
I could’ve decided not to place the blame on anyone and simply concluded that no one could’ve prevented what we couldn’t have foreseen. I didn’t want to look at it that way, though.
“You brought me an eagle. That was enough. It’s thanks to you that Carol and I are still alive. I also owe you my deepest gratitude for saving Sham and Lilly. Thank you.”
Without Myalo, it would’ve been the end of us. That much was certain.
“No, it was nothing...”
I turned away from Myalo to look at Tillet. “But what were the royal swords doing? You were in charge, weren’t you?”
If someone were to shoulder responsibility, it fell much more heavily on the royal swords than on Myalo.
I’d chosen to visit the castle since I planned to marry Carol, but Rook and Suzuya had been invited as guests. Anyone inviting guests into their home had a responsibility to ensure their safety. Rook and Suzuya hadn’t done a single thing wrong by drinking that wine. They’d simply accepted an invitation and consumed the meal served to them, only to learn it was poisoned. It was clear where the blame lay—with those who’d extended the invitation.
“Isn’t the food in the royal castle tested for poison? How did this happen?”
“Of course we taste everything,” Tillet replied. “If the poison had come from outside, we’d have stopped it. But Carla added the poison herself after the bottle had already been sampled.”
It would take a better excuse than that to satisfy me.
“Then you should’ve tasted it twice.”
“We trust in our queen, and unless our queen instructs otherwise, we trust the princesses too. If I insisted on leaving a peaceful dinner table to repeatedly try all the wine in the kitchen, I’d look like a drunkard. No one could have guessed that poison would be added in the kitchen without us noticing... At least, that’s what the sword responsible for tasting the food told me.”
“And now your queen’s dead because of that lack of suspicion.”
It did no good to berate her like this, but I couldn’t help myself. Rage was driving me mad, and I had to take it out on someone.
“You’ve got every right to be angry. If killing me would make you feel better, then do it.”
Tillet looked me right in the eye as she spoke. I knew she wouldn’t resist if I drew my weapon.
“Don’t be stupid... Killing you won’t fix anything. It won’t bring anyone back. It won’t ease Carol’s suffering.”
“I’m truly sorry.”
Tillet lowered her head once more. She’d lost her master too. I knew she was grieving.
“Let’s forget about all that. Tell me why you weren’t monitoring the witches.”
“We were busy monitoring you and your people.”
Huh? Me and my people?
“It was a real struggle thanks to Myalo here, and we’d been ordered not to take any drastic measures.”
“Haaah...” I heaved a great sigh.
“Her Majesty had grown suspicious of you. You’re a man of many talents. Yet, in the face of an impending crusade, you remained calm and did nothing to prepare. We began watching you and realized that dozens of people at a time were vanishing from Suomi in Ho Province, but we couldn’t figure out where they went. It was hard to learn anything because we’d been ordered not to kidnap your sailors for questioning.”
Is she serious? This is unbelievable.
It sounded like they’d been so concerned with distant threats that they hadn’t noticed the danger in their own home. To think that this was what had left them vulnerable to an assassination plot taking place in the royal capital left me astounded all over again.
“Then Queen Shimoné never trusted me?” I asked.
I lifted my hands to my head. The queen must’ve thought I was out to get her all along, yet she’d reacted with delight when I’d asked to marry Carol. I knew that those in politics tended to be two-faced, but I’d never imagined another such side to her.
“Because you hid things,” Tillet said. “It makes people nervous.”
I’d done many things in secret, but I’d done so with my own company and funded by my own coin. I hadn’t been obligated to inform anyone. And when I had shared information, such as what we’d learned through espionage in the Albio Republic, I’d never asked for praise or payment.
Yes, I was always under the Ho family’s protection, but I brought in extra taxes. I was the one who bore the expenses associated with moving soldiers to our residence in the royal capital. Whatever protection I gained, I always paid for it.
I’d only hidden what I’d been worried others might steal.
Things would’ve been different if I’d told Queen Shimoné about the new continent. She’d wielded a lot of authority, but that authority had been steeped in the toxic influence of the witches. She’d rarely acted independently of the witches, because then she’d lose most of her power. Needless to say, if the witches had found out about the new continent, it would currently be developing into another hotbed of corruption.
“So you got to the bottom of it and reported everything?” I asked.
“No, we didn’t learn a thing. Her Majesty disapproved of us even going to Suomi.”
If they’d been ordered to find out about the new continent without ever visiting Suomi, it sounded like an impossible task.
The queen must’ve taken great care to avoid doing anything that might’ve made me her enemy, but it’d turned out to be incompatible with both her ends and her means. Likewise, the royal swords had been following the same approach. The situation must’ve posed a troubling dilemma for Queen Shimoné.
“Haaah... What a mess. And now you’re working for me.”
“That’s right. The royal swords are currently under your command.”
“And so you’ve come to me because you’re their leader?”
“Exactly. After I protected Princess Carol during the happenings in Kilhina, I was chosen to succeed the previous leader.”
Apparently, Tillet was running the show. She’d most likely shown great potential even before our visit to Kilhina, or else she wouldn’t have been chosen to accompany Carol.