Iris raised her eyebrows. Even though Elise was just giving an example, it felt like a nail pierced her heart.
“Let me give you some advice, sis. You don’t need to keep an anchor weighing you down. There’s always a replacement.”
Elise patted Iris’s shoulder and stepped back.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I told you. It’s advice.”
“You’re giving me advice because you want me to do well? Even a passing dog would laugh.”
Iris mocked Elise.
“Why don’t you understand my sincerity? You gave me a lot of advice too. Don’t you remember all the things you said while grabbing my hair and shaking me?”
In her childhood, Iris tormented Elise in the name of sisterly teaching.
She hit, pinched, and threw things at her. When Elise grew up a bit, the physical abuse lessened but more vicious torment continued.
Iris isolated Elise. She made Elise out to be the most incompetent and wretched person in the world.
And she called those words “advice.”
“If you just stay still, you’ll at least get something mediocre.”
Elise threw Iris’s words right back at her.
“Everything that happens to you is your own fault.”
Iris inhaled sharply. Elise’s lips were smiling gently, but her voice was as cold as frost.
“Don’t talk back and just stay still.”
Elise stepped back.
“Those were your words, right? You remember that advice…doesn’t it fit this situation perfectly?”
Iris froze. She wanted to shoot something back but couldn’t find the words.
Why is this happening, she was flustered even with herself.
****
Thump, thump. Her heart pounded heavily. Ever since meeting Elise, she couldn’t seem to calm down. Feeling resentful, Iris couldn’t sit still and paced around the room.
She shouldn’t have gone to see her. She shouldn’t have listened to Chase’s words that his imprisonment had to be lifted to escape this situation.
If she had just acted as usual, she wouldn’t have suffered the humiliation of being ignored by Elise.
[Sister, if you want to enjoy freedom too, it’s best to keep your mouth shut. It’ll only be the half-freedom of roaming within the palace though.]
After saying that, Elise immediately gave an order.
[Escort Lady Iris Worton to the palace where she will reside. She will only stay in the palace for the time being, so take good care of her. Also, from this time on, meetings with the criminal Chase are prohibited.]
Elise’s warriors moved swiftly, as if waiting for her command. They surrounded Iris and confined her to the palace.
Though she didn’t actually exercise force, it was as good as exercising real force.
As Iris stood dazed and confused, she was pushed into a room.
‘With just a wave of magic, these wretches would be blown away!’
Iris’s face flushed red with anger.
She resented her position as a prospective sage.
If she were just an ordinary magician, she could pretend it was a mistake, have an accident, and atone. But for the prospective sage Iris, a mistake was fatal.
So if she was going to cause an accident, she had to do it in secret, the sage Amber who adored Iris dearly had told her.
‘You don’t need to do it openly. Just do it quietly.’
Convincing Elise to release Chase was impossible anyway. So she had to make Chase’s crime disappear.
‘I have to do it quickly.’
She couldn’t delay. If what happened in Tetris became known in Bedrokka, Chase’s position would weaken, and it was clear the fallout would reach her too.
Iris quietly pressed her ear to the corridor wall. She sensed the warriors’ movements.
“Leaving through the door is impossible.”
This time Iris looked out the window. It was only two floors, definitely jumpable.
Only after planning her nighttime escape could Iris calmly sit in a chair.
“But what did she mean by getting rid of anchors?”
Even sitting, Iris couldn’t shake off Elise’s “advice.”
Was it advice? Or just nonsense?
****
Though she said she would investigate Chase, Elise only investigated the surrounding people and left Chase alone.
So he could imagine alone, grow frustrated alone, go insane alone.
The one she actually had to deal with was King Lange of Bedrokka. She didn’t even send an official letter of protest, believing he would contact her first when riled up enough.
A letter came from Deboa that news of Chase’s atrocities had spread widely in Bedrokka.
Chase had become a wretched man who disgraced the nation of Tetris.
There was even pro-Tetris sentiment emerging, as if the situation warranted war against the quiet nation.
Eating the mind-settling medicine Deboa kindly included, Elise smiled.
“Miss, I’ve properly received the personal protection request.”
“Thank you, Ruo.”
“But why did you request protection for those people?”
Fiona added her curiosity to Ruo’s question.
The people Elise requested protection for were Duke Odilon and Chase’s collaborators.
From those who simply played messenger between Chase and Duke Odilon, to the one who brought a wolf cub’s scented blanket to a hunting cave–though not many, their interconnected stories varied.
They deserved punishment, not protection.
“You could say it’s protection, you could say it’s surveillance.”
‘Iris won’t just stay still. She’ll try any means to make Chase unrelated to this incident.’
Elise could easily predict how Iris would move.
‘She’ll get rid of obstacles.’
She couldn’t let Iris run free in Tetris as she pleased.
‘Since she’s imprisoned, she can’t easily get out. But even if she does sneak out, she won’t be able to find those people.’
Iris too would grow weary, eventually realizing her powerlessness.
‘At the very least in Tetris, I’ll make sure she knows things won’t go her way.’
That’s why Elise requested protection for those who committed crimes.
To the still perplexed Ruo and Fiona, Elise gave their next tasks.
“Miss, documents for your review.”
Regina entered the room, alternating with the other two. Though just staying in the room, Elise had no downtime.
‘It’s about time His Majesty Lange contacts me…’
No sooner did she think that than news came that Lange had made contact with Tyllo.
Elise was immediately summoned to Tyllo’s office.
“Since you decided to handle it, see to it directly.”
As soon as Elise finished greeting them, Tyllo’s aide presented her with Lange’s letter on a silver tray. It was a letter Tyllo had already reviewed.
Elise read the letter right there. Lange’s demands were simple:
One, hand over Chase’s person.
Two, cover up Chase’s issue.
Lange did not mention clearly exposing Chase’s crimes at all. He already believed Chase must have caused some kind of accident.
That was the extent of his trust in Chase.
However, considering the Bedrokkan royal family’s reputation, he requested Chase’s safe transfer – not out of denial, but for the sake of reputation.
“What will you do?” Tyllo asked Elise, who remained silent after finishing the letter.
“Blowing this up won’t help our nation.”
“That’s right. We can’t start a war when we need to focus on the gate issue.”
“But if we simply let it go, the people of Tetris who know about this will be disappointed in our royal family.”
“That’s also true. Our self-respect would be damaged.”
“So I will make two demands of Bedrokka.”
“What are they?”
“A letter of apology from His Majesty Lange, and the transfer of authority over some businesses.”
“A letter of apology…to you?”
“No, Your Majesty. This is a matter between nations. The letter of apology should rightly be addressed to Your Majesty.”
The king of Bedrokka apologizing to me–some insincere words possibly not even written by him. But just imagining a letter of apology from the Bedrokkan king lifted Tyllo’s mood.
“But won’t it do nothing for you, the actual victim?”
Tyllo lowered his voice to hide his buoyant mood.
“I intend to take the businesses in Bedrokka. If Your Majesty permits.”
What Elise would demand were the businesses operated under Chase’s alias.
‘Things I gave him with my own hands.’
So it would be like getting her own back from Lange. Strictly speaking it wasn’t a gain, but it would completely undermine Chase’s foundation, which was enough.
Now Chase would lose Lange’s trust, his money, and soon, Iris too.
Chase would die very slowly. He might even go insane.
“Will this be enough?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I will be satisfied with this treatment of Prince Chase. There is one thing I’d like to request of you.”
“Speak.”
She mustn’t give the impression she settled everything herself. Those who have always been on top change drastically the moment they feel things slipping from their grasp.
Elise carefully chose a request befitting a victim like herself, yet politically unburdensome for the king of Titres to grant.
“Please ensure Prince Chase and his fiancée can never set foot in Tetris again.”
Tyllo’s lips curved slightly upward. Elise lowered her eyes, feigning obliviousness.
“That much I can do. Additionally, I’ll issue a banishment order once the Bedrokkan king’s letter arrives.”
Though Chase’s guilty act may never be officially exposed, the Tetris banishment would make everyone aware.
That Chase committed a grievous crime.
“I’ll take my leave now.”
“Got a moment?”
As Elise started to rise, Tyllo stopped her. Elise blinked, standing awkwardly.
