Chapter 285: Blood-Tied Conspiracies
I mused.
But I was sure he had never seen one as cute as Seren.
{Friend, are you making fun of me?} Seren glanced at me, squinting his eyes with mock indignation.
I averted my gaze with a smile, pretending not to notice his accusatory stare.
{...I can feel it, you know.} He looked away with a pout.
{Alright, I was just joking.} I replied. {But you do really look cute.}
{...} He was probably deadpanning me.
Or was feeling shy since he felt my words were true.
Anyway, after letting Vance marvel at Seren for a few moments, I decided to address something that had been nagging at me. "Hey, did you... did you really hear about the assassination plot by ’coincidence’?"
Vance’s expression grew confused as he looked up at me. Then, as if realizing something, his eyes widened.
He made a hesitant gesture with his free hand, shrugging uncertainly while shaking his head, which probably meant... ’I don’t know’.
...I’m getting the hang of this.
"I see," I nodded, studying his reaction. "Don’t mind it, it was just a simple question I was curious about."
He looked at me suspiciously for a moment, but eventually nodded and returned his attention to Seren, who seemed content to rest on his palm.
We reached the point where our paths diverged to our respective rooms, and Seren floated back to my shoulder as we parted ways for the night.
After reaching my room, I collapsed on my bed.
"..."
I couldn’t stop thinking about the inconsistencies.
It was really strange.
If the mastermind was truly intelligent, why would they use a guard with such a loose mouth? Or was it intentional, because they wanted Vance to discover the plot?
And those fake assassins... if they really wanted to kill the princess, why send amateurs instead of skilled professionals?
It was almost as if... they wanted us to find them. As if the entire situation was orchestrated not to succeed, but to create a specific scenario where we would react in a predictable way.
And that scenario was... making us believe that one of the princess’s siblings, probably the crown prince, sent assassins after her.
But it wouldn’t make sense.
Because my main suspect for the mastermind was the crown prince himself, or at least someone working as the mastermind’s accomplice. He wouldn’t orchestrate such an obvious plot against himself, right?
If he did, what would be the benefit?
Unless...
My eyes widened as a darker possibility emerged.
What if the crown prince wanted to ’eliminate’ the princess, but needed to do it in a way that would simultaneously remove any potential threats to his rule?
By making it appear as though he was being framed, he could justify a massive purge of his political enemies.
Or... He could make everyone think it was one of his siblings’ schemes to make him lose honor and lower his chances of succeeding to the throne. It would sound reasonable since he had the highest chances of inheriting the crown. His rivals would have a clear motivation to sabotage him.
Or it might be really one of his siblings’ schemes, and the crown prince had no hand in this at all.
There was also the possibility that this was orchestrated by an entirely different faction, perhaps foreign enemies or even corrupt nobles within the kingdom who wanted to destabilize the entire royal succession.
By pitting the royal siblings against each other and implicating the Shield Families, they could weaken the kingdom from within while remaining in the shadows.
Whatever the case, the situation was far more complicated than it appeared to be.
"..."
I took the black pill and observed it under the moonlight streaming through my small window.
Alas, there were still two more days before my scheduled meeting with Master and Zephyr. I could have asked him to examine the pill and consult about the case, since he was the only person I knew who was truly familiar with poisons and their effects.
Maybe Virion would know a thing or two as well. And perhaps, if there was really a way, I could save the remaining fake assassins from their cursed fate.
"..."
Actually...
...Let’s meet them tomorrow.
If there was a chance, I needed to grab it, so that I wouldn’t regret it once more.
However, I decided to meet with Lady Nisha first. Perhaps I could find answers from her... or ask her to intervene.
"Teacher Nisha, I’m ready."
I spoke and tinted my aura with darkness and let it out.
The next second, darkness enveloped me whole.
"Did you finish your work?"
I heard a familiar voice as I found myself back in that void domain.
I nodded. "Yeah, as you probably know already. And I want to ask something."
She gestured for me to continue.
I stared at her calmly and asked. "Do I need to ask it, or do you already know what I’m going to ask?"
She stared at me for a moment, then chuckled softly. "You’ve gotten a lot braver, haven’t you? Speaking like this. But I guess it’s my own mistake for encouraging that." Her eyes gleamed with amusement. "And yes, I know what you want to ask. I have the answer as well."
I nodded, feeling a mix of relief and anticipation. "That’s good. But... will you tell me?"
"What do you think?" She replied with a mischievous smile.
I stayed silent for a moment, then sat down cross-legged on the floor, beginning my daily affinity training as if resigned to her typical cryptic responses.
She giggled at my antics, clearly entertained by my reaction. "Alright, alright. I’ll tell you. You’re quite the stubborn student, aren’t you?"
I looked up at her, continuing my exercise.
She nodded approvingly and started explaining. "Most of your guesses are correct. They indeed have a killing mechanism installed inside their bodies, and it gets activated under either the specific conditions you already know or by the controller’s mental command. This method is called The Sanguine Tether."
"It’s a resonance-based curse, woven into the very blood of the host."