Chapter 99

Tara ends up in an interrogation room with the Second Prince and is given a chance to exonerate her family.

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Episode 99: About 1 Year (26)

"This is shaping up to be even more interesting than I thought it would! Why did you order it? Did you really plan this, my disciple? No, that would be far too obvious for you. If you succeeded, you'd be labelled a traitor. If you failed, you'd be labelled an attempted traitor. Besides, there's no motive for it! No motive at all... Have I overestimated you too much? Did you lose a part of your brain alongside all that weight? Ah… I take that last one back. But isn't this too much of a coincidence? Hmm. What's going on with you my disciple?"

“Are you unable to keep your thoughts to yourself?”

"....."

Andrei propped his chin on his hands and grinned, silently demanding an answer from me.

I could practically see a long, invisible fox tail waving gently behind him.

What a wicked man...

I swallowed quietly. I needed to be utterly calm, because I was about to say something truly absurd.

I was about to use the same excuse on the Second Prince anyway. I might as well do the same with Andrei.

I started off by shrugging.

"I really didn't expect this either. I never anticipated such a perfect 'coincidence'. I'm baffled by this as well. If I'd known my family would get tangled up in this situation, I definitely wouldn't have started researching wolfsbane."

“This situation is ripe for a misunderstanding. So what countermeasures are you planning?"

My eyes widened in surprise at his question.

“You're not suspicious anymore?”

"What's there to be suspicious about? If that's indeed the case, my disciple, it is what it is. No disciple of my choosing would be this sloppy about committing treason."

Did he have faith in me or just faith in himself?

I didn't bother to ask what was going through his head. We were too close to the Palace to continue that particular conversation.

"If your researcher has gone to the Palace, the Prince would have already ordered an investigation into the importation of wolfsbane, and discovered that the orders were placed through the Palace Garden Department and Elias Pharmaceuticals. Funnily enough, the timing is perfect: the discovery of Scorpion's ledgers and the leak of military secrets that allegedly involved a high-ranking palace noble haven’t been publicized. I'm sure the Prince would have inferred as much. Don't you agree?"

"I find the timing of the two incidents very odd."

"Tsk tsk. Politics truly is a dirty game.... Here you go. You're on your own from here on out, I need to get off!"

Andrei spread his hands out towards me and looked out of the carriage to gauge his current position.

The carriages began to circle the circular driveway at the entrance to the Palace.

I pulled a stack of papers out of my blue cloak and placed it in Andrei's hands. There was another copy of these papers in my room that I had transcribed for myself.

I finally asked him what I had been curious about all along.

"Master, why did you make such a big move for this matter? Honestly, this doesn't have anything to do with the Black Society. I can guess to some extent, but it still seems like you've put in far too much effort."

"Some manner of guilt. I trained Orlando, thinking he was a good sprout, full of potential. However, he not only dipped his toes into the dirt but instead jumped headfirst into the mud. Now he's spreading his reputation as Andrei Pitt's disciple around the Empire, and I can't let him continue to track mud through the doorway and harass the good people of the Empire."

I furrowed my brow and turned to Andrei, speaking nonchalantly.

"Ah.... I didn't know you cared so deeply about the people. You must be a very righteous man. I just thought that your pride was hurt, because you had a student who acted so thoughtlessly, even toward his own master...!"

Frowning at my reaction, Andrei fumbled with the doorknob to get out and turned to face me.

"It was due to guilt I said! Guilt! Simple guilt!"

Oh, that surprised me. Him yelling about 'Guilt! Guilt! Guilt!' reminded me a lot of Na Moon-hee yelling 'Pumpkin sweet potato! Sweet potato! Pumpkin sweet potato!' It really overlapped a lot with the meme.*

"Yes, guilt, of course. But hasn't he already been taken into custody? Only the high-ranking noble involved hasn't been identified, and his involvement in leaking classified information is a foregone conclusion. The death penalty is very likely..."

“There are many competent criminal justice lawyers in the Black Community. It's likely he will be exiled for a very long time.”

"Ah!"

“As expected, my student is truly exemplary. Now, go ahead and neatly resolve this matter with the Palace.”

Just as he had when he'd arrived, Andrei opened the door and exited into the black carriage. He did it as casually, as if leaping an embankment. Then, the black carriage quickly changed direction and moved away.

Perhaps living in exile would be preferable to the Black Society's way of doing things...

"Oh my God...." Beth's mouth dropped open in admiration.

Right then, our carriage came to a halt. I announced myself to the guard post and entered the Palace.

Bernard and Beth followed me in, but were stopped at the guardhouse gates and forced to remain in the waiting room.

***

I had been sitting in the investigation room set up by the special investigation unit for about half an hour when the door opened and the Second Prince himself, Kyle Amure, walked in.

“For what reason did you call me as a witness, Your Highness?”

The Prince, who was pulling up a chair to sit down across from me, frowned with a hint of incredulity.

Even though the words had come out of my mouth, I was equally surprised to hear myself say them. Until just before he'd arrived, my intentions were to portray an attitude of ‘White Flag Surrender’.

I knew that my usual options; considering the variables, trickery, and manoeuvring, would all be useless here, whether I used my best effort or my worst.

If Josh hadn't arrived before me I could have made a deal with the Prince for the cure, but that would have been a shallow trick and wouldn't have worked.

So, I had decided to trust the Prince's investigative skills. I was banking on his ability to get to the bottom of things and find the truth.

What was wrong with me? My mouth had suddenly made me overly ambitious.

"They say a guilty conscience needs no accuser. So do you have a guilty conscience? Or are you putting up an act like your father?"

"....!"

Oof... What a great analogy...

I thought for a moment. If I corrected the bad impression too early, I could lose control of the situation.

At the same time I also wondered whether I should speak up or pretend not to know until the end.

My head told me the former, but my instincts were telling me not to speak so easily.

So I decided to believe the saying that it took 80% boldness to win a fight.

"Conscience. What the hell are you talking about...?"

"Josh Lucas, wolfsbane."

8... 80% boldness.

"....."

"The Elias Pharmaceutical orders."

B- Boldness.

"Seven whole months ago."

"....."

"Tara Elias. This is your last chance."

I believed so much in myself, and that had all gone to shit...

I was ready to raise both my hands and my feet in the air and shout, 'I lose!'.

I could rest easier knowing the Second Prince was the one in charge of this case. He was the only one who could clear away the powerful charges against the Elias family. If the case had fallen under the jurisdiction of the other two Princes, or even the Imperial Guard, instead of Kyle the Elias family would have been swiftly executed for treason.

Therefore, I had to cut the nonsense.

I immediately stood up and bowed deeply to apologize for my conduct.

When you realized you had made a mistake, a quick apology never hurt your chances.

"I, Tara Elias, acted too impertinently toward you. Forgive me, Your Highness.”

One of Kyle's eyebrows rose suspiciously.

Likely because it was such a drastic change in demeanor...

"Thank you for calling me here and giving me this opportunity. I will explain everything in detail."

Kyle crossed his arms and nodded. A sign that he was concentrating on my words.

I slowly sat back in my chair, sorting through what I was about to say.

"It started with a book called [The Fruit That Becomes Medicine]...."

I laid out the whole story in the interrogation room. Kyle was an excellent listener.

I unpacked everything. I didn't leave anything out or double down on excuses. I tried to explain the information I knew in detail, as if I were an expert. As if this whole thing really had to do with making medicine. That was the most important part to emphasize.

“As for the reason I told Josh to go to the Palace, I never seriously believed anything like this would actually happen. It’s just that Dragon Fruit is rare and only occasionally donated to the Palace, so I thought that if a problem with it ever arose, it would happen at the Palace. If you look into it, it’s a known issue in the Kingdom of Barron. Some people have allergic reactions to it, and it doesn’t go well with vegetables such as radishes or cucumbers, or wolfsbane. That's why I told him to do that seven months ago.”

"You thought something might go wrong based on that book alone? Seven months ago? Out of compassionate concern?"

I swallowed hard, my throat dry.

"Yes. In the past, I used to lock myself in my room for long periods of time entertaining various anxieties. My thoughts would chase their own tails and never stop, considering every potential option. I guess I'm now in the habit of doing so."

It was a spur-of-the-moment excuse, but it sounded plausible to me.

"....."

"Besides, many foods are just not compatible with each other and cause problems that you wouldn't normally see. As a result thorough testing is essential for Elias Pharmaceuticals, especially since we manufacture and sell medicines."

"Is the Head of House Elias really so desperate that he's researching and concocting dangerous medicines? Or is he just taking a risk?"

“My father didn’t know, and I assure you, this incident has nothing to do with the Elias family.”

"....."

Kyle searched my face thoughtfully. He was probably still suspicious because I'd told Josh to visit the Palace seven whole months in advance.

That's what I'd assume too. However, Kyle knew very well that there was no way to prove it was anything other than a 'coincidence'.

If it wasn't a coincidence, it could be claimed that my family planned this assassination in advance, but the longer you looked at the situation the harder it was to establish a motive for House Elias.

House Elias didn't have anything to gain from killing members of the Imperial Family.

It was possible that House Elias was leaning away from neutrality, but even so, this was too reckless. It was like a cautious moth suddenly casting themselves into the flames.**

“Don’t you think this points to someone else targeting the Elias family?”

"You're sure? You do realize your version overcomplicates things?”

"I don't think I'm making it too complicated, I think the people who planned this made it complicated."

"It would have been much clearer if Josh Lucas hadn't shown up."

"I really never considered that at the time, and truly didn’t think anything would ever come of it. The request I made seven months ago was made in haste."

I shouldn't have given Josh the password and sent him to the Palace. I had only been thinking of ways to receive promotion points for my achievements and raise the status of Elias Pharmaceuticals who would get credit for developing the drug.

Even without Jason's involvement, it had looked like the most advantageous move.

But what was the use of hindsight? At the time, obtaining even a little profit had seemed beneficial.

I lowered my eyes with the utmost politeness. Each second stretched like an eternity.

"You're hiding something."

My eyebrows trembled, but thankfully I kept my head down. I smiled and raised my head, pretending to be relaxed.

"If that's your perception, there's nothing I can say to change that at this point."

Okay. That was a decent answer...

I struggled to suppress my trembling and pounding heart. His grey gaze caught mine and did not let go.

It felt like his gaze was boring right through me, I needed to stop looking... Stop it!

A few more minutes passed before something unexpected came out of Kyle's mouth.

___

Editor’s Notes -

* Here Tara is referencing 호박고구마 'pumpkin sweet potato', which is a Korean meme originating from the 2006, K-drama "Unstoppable High Kick". In a family dinner scene the character played by actress Na Moon-hee yells  'Pumpkin sweet potato! Sweet potato! Pumpkin sweet potato!' at her daughter-in-law after said daughter-in-law tries to pedantically correct her pronunciation. Fans of the show thought the actress’s reaction in this scene was so funny that they memed it into a variety of places. 

Here's the iconic image typically used in the meme.

I found the clip the meme originated from. There aren’t any English subs but in my opinion it's just as hilarious without them -  https://www.youtube.com/shorts/djo18IBE37E

** This paragraph referenced a moth casting itself into flames as a metaphor for self destructive behaviour (불나방 fire-moth). It’s similar, but slightly different to the English phrase 'like a moth to a flame' which is about temptation rather than recklessness. I just thought it was interesting that moths immolating themselves is used as a metaphor in both languages!

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