On the first day of the swordsmanship tournament, there was no attack from outside, which I’d been most worried about. The biggest incident, if you could call it that, was when one of the cats being cared for in the arena’s garden came in and the match had to be stopped briefly. But that was only officially speaking—personally, it was difficult.
Because every time a new knight appeared, His Highness would ask, “Who do you think will win this time?” I wasn’t an idiot, so I didn’t give the same answer as the first time. From the second time on, I deliberately picked the one who would lose. Since I’d seen it with foresight, there was no way the person I chose would win. It was a strategy to appear to have no discerning eye.
“The other side obviously looks stronger—is there a reason you chose that person? He’s short, so he doesn’t seem like Sir Aila’s type either.”
It was a dizzying thing to say. Seeing him smile faintly, it didn’t seem to displease him, but being subjected to these questions throughout all four matches left me mentally exhausted.
“This concludes today’s matches.”
These words couldn’t have been more welcome. At least now I could escape that question hell for today.
“We move to the Crown Prince’s palace.”
Though the schedule was only matches, it had started in the afternoon and various ceremonies were conducted together, so it was already sunset. I was relaxing my shoulders and heading toward His Highness’s bedroom when it happened.
‘Something’s strange?’
From the moment I walked through the Crown Prince’s palace corridors, the atmosphere felt oddly strange. I could feel on my skin that the knights standing guard were strangely on edge.
‘It seems something’s happened.’
Upon arriving at the bedroom, I could immediately tell what that ‘strange atmosphere’ was about. Someone who was clearly an assassin was dead, bound in restraints. His Highness and Sir Ken didn’t seem very surprised when they saw it, as if they’d already heard the news.
‘So that’s what it was when someone came rushing earlier and whispered something.’
After that, he kept asking me difficult questions, so I never imagined something like this had happened. It was the moment I realized what he meant by ‘you don’t need to worry about work.’
“He left a dying message before being killed.”
His Highness asked while lifting the corpse’s clothes with his scabbard. It seemed they’d already searched the body once, as nothing came out. That he wouldn’t stop that action despite knowing this well was because he was displeased.
“Yes. He said he came to retrieve Sir Tienas’s corpse.”
And the reason came from the mouth of the knight who’d been guarding the bedroom.
‘He came to retrieve the corpse? Why on earth?’
Even if rumors that the corpse was in the imperial palace had spread everywhere, I thought information that it was inside the bedroom hadn’t spread yet. But the fact that someone came to steal the corpse meant information was leaking from somewhere.
“It seems they targeted a busy time. Normally, this was an assassin whose level would have made even entry difficult.”
“That would be so. And the fact that they sent such a low-level person knowing Tiel is in my bedchamber means they wanted to be caught.”
His Highness had a bored expression as if hearing a story he already knew. After lightly wiping his sword and fastening it back at his waist, His Highness no longer looked at the intruder and headed toward the bed.
“Towel.”
His Highness received the wet towel offered as if it had been waiting, carefully wiped his hands, then touched Tienas’s corpse as if checking on it.
“They didn’t let him touch it, did they?”
“Yes. He couldn’t even get close.”
“Good.”
His Highness, who had skillfully arranged the corpse’s hair, straightened his willingly bent waist and swept the room once. I now began to contemplate who on earth had done this.
‘Did someone who noticed His Highness was acting strange cause this to make him come to his senses?’
Then I became anxious at the thought that rumors of His Highness’s madness might have spread. If not that, I couldn’t think of any other reason to target this corpse.
“Did this person have any belongings?”
“Yes. This is…”
Sir Heming, who had been standing right next to the corpse, immediately stepped forward and handed over a cloth. Inside it was poison prepared in case of failure. However, what caught my eye more than the poison itself was the cloth.
‘I think the Sayus Family crest is drawn at the end.’
It wasn’t a perfect shape—part of it was torn—but if you knew the original form, it was easy enough to recognize.
‘Don’t tell me hyung did this?’
It would have been unimaginable before I died, but recalling that the Sayus Family had recently been in conflict with His Highness over my corpse, it seemed like a possibility that couldn’t be ignored.
‘But this would only intensify the conflict. He’s not someone who would commit such a foolish act.’
Unlike me taking it seriously, His Highness examined the cloth this way and that, then smiled faintly.
“How does this not deviate even an inch from expectations.”
His Highness put the cloth he was holding straight into the fireplace. The cloth that caught fire gradually lost its shape and became a handful of ashes.
“Sh-shouldn’t you not burn that?”
It was better for the Sayus Family that way, but I couldn’t understand burning something that could be evidence, so the question burst out urgently. It was behavior I shouldn’t have done as a knight.
“Why do you think so?”
“Th-that could be evidence…”
“Unlike Sir Aila’s messy romantic history, your personality has an innocent side.”
“Pardon?”
“Put that one in the underground dungeon for now and investigate his identity. Though he probably won’t be of much use.”
His Highness gestured at the assassin’s corpse with his chin and gave orders to the knights. Only after the corpse, whose face could barely be recognized, was taken out did His Highness look at my face.
“Don’t tell me you think the Sayus Family did this? Darian isn’t that stupid, nor does he love Tiel that much. Did you get the wrong idea because of what happened in the garden before?”
I was thinking exactly the same thing. When I answered “No,” His Highness continued speaking.
“Sir Kaeun might try to do something like this, but Darian wouldn’t have just stood by and watched. Then who put the cloth with the Sayus Family crest in there?”
His Highness spoke step by step as if to a child. Even when I was Tienas, I used to receive explanations like this one by one.
“Did they want to frame the Sayus Family?”
“Right. It’s something done by forces who want to create conflict between me and them. I’m not sure whether they thought I’d really believe this, or whether they wanted to confirm if I’d truly gone mad and become unable to distinguish front from back.”
So, it meant they tried to harm His Highness and the Sayus ducal family using my corpse as bait. Those who would casually try to use even a corpse gave me fresh chills. But at the same time, I suddenly felt I wished he would quickly dispose of Tiel’s corpse that was inviting such incidents.
‘It’s like that corpse brings misfortune.’
All the bad things happening to His Highness seemed exactly like things brought on by that cursed corpse. If possible, I wanted to drag it down from the bed right now and cremate it so not even bone dust remained. So His Highness couldn’t find even a trace, and could escape the curse.
“This time it seems they sent an assassin lacking skill just to observe the situation. If they really try to steal the corpse, I believe it will be on the last day, or perhaps during the banquet after the tournament ends.”
His Highness’s attendant and informant who had been summoned earlier advised.
“That would be so. The Arseins are persistent and cruel. Since they might commit some deed with the family’s power, don’t let your guard down thinking this time was nothing.”
His Highness seemed to presume that those leading this matter were the Arseins—that is, the Empress’s family.
‘Wasn’t the Arsein Family’s power detoxification? Don’t tell me they’ve been deceiving people by calling neutralizing poison with poison “detoxification”?’
The Arsein Family’s cunning exceeded imagination, so it wasn’t entirely impossible.
‘Still, poison doesn’t work on His Highness because of the imperial family’s power, so what could they do with that? It’s famous that most imperial family members have resistance to most poisons due to the power’s influence.’
Even if I didn’t understand, if His Highness said to be careful, I should be on guard. His conjectures in such matters had never been wrong. It was to the degree that I’d sometimes suspected whether His Highness could use foresight instead of me.
So this time too, His Highness would surely protect Tienas Sayus’s corpse as he desired. Even if the corpse’s owner didn’t want it.
“While it’s important to catch clues the assassins carelessly drop, there must absolutely be no incident of Tiel being taken.”
When His Highness emphasized this to the knights once more, the knights who were fired up answered in unison. I was the only one in the bedroom who couldn’t open my mouth.
