Chapter 109 Because Of You
“So that’s it for the southern region!”
Onyx’s voice snapped Veronia out of her thoughts.
“You’re leaving for the South in the morning?”
“That’s right.”
“Take care of yourself. I don’t care if you get hurt in one place or another.”
“So this is the extent of our friendship.”
“Friendship? Is that what we have?”
“Ah… it wasn’t friendship, it was enemy?”
Children? Veronia couldn’t believe the banter between Killion and Onyx.
One was the highest ranking nobleman in the Empire, the other the Vice Guildmaster of the Empire’s highest intelligence guild, and yet they always acted like ten-year-olds when put together.
Veronia was shaking her head in frustration as she stifled a sigh, when Killion spoke to her.
“Actually, I have one more appointment. Would you like to come with me?”
“Where?”
Veronia nodded, and together the three of them made their way to the mansion where the Good Emperor had died in the fire.
***
“As expected, Nia, the magic tools you have developed are all very good!”
“Oh, I see!”
Inside the side room connected to the bedroom where the fire accident occurred. Seeing the faintly glowing traces of the magic circle, Killion and Onyx praised Veronia in unison.
They were surprised that the traces of the magic circle were still there after all this time.
Veronia laughed, not because she was flattered by the praise, but because she was amused to hear them say the same thing with the same expression.
“I’m sure you’ve tried several spells to erase the traces, but it’s impossible to completely wipe it away as if it never happened, even if you’re an omniscient archmage.”
Veronia said with a shrug. She was amused; after all, she thought planning the development of magic tools was fun.
“With these traces, finding the scroll maker should be a piece of cake!”
Haha, Onyx laughed happily and captured the traces of the magic circle in the sphere. Looking at it, Veronia asked.
“So… you’re saying that it’s most likely not Madame Brienne who killed the Good Emperor, and there’s still a third person hidden in the shadows?”
“Yes, that’s right, and I’ve commissioned Onyx to investigate.”
“Trust me!”
Onyx laughed hysterically and thumped his chest. Just then, he heard the sound of hooves outside.
“Huh? What is that?”
Late at night, in a burned-out mansion, there are visitors! They look out the window in surprise, and a carriage has just pulled up through the front door.
“Who could… be here at this hour, in this place?”
Veronia asked, and Killion and Onyx shook their heads in unison. It was unlikely that any of Killion’s aides or Onyx’s men would be here, as only the two of them were working on the re-investigation of the case.
As the three of them stood there in a daze, the carriage came to a stop and someone stepped out. The distance was great, and it was dark, so she couldn’t make out who it was. But she could see that the garment underneath the robe was a skirt.
“It’s a woman.”
At Veronia’s words, Killion and Onyx nodded, their eyes fixed out the window. The woman had stepped out of the carriage and was entering the mansion alone.
“What do we do now?”
“We need to find out who she is. For now, why don’t we hide around here and watch her movements?”
“But what if she comes right in here?”
Onyx asked with a raised eyebrow, as if Killion’s plan wasn’t brilliant enough. Killion responded to his question with a stern look.
“There’s no other explanation for him coming into the bedroom wing, except that he was checking for traces of the magic circle he erased. That would make it very likely that he is the real killer. After all, the culprit always returns to the scene of the crime.”
“Hmm…”
Onyx let out a shallow sigh and fell silent. It was a sign that she agreed with Killion.
So the three of them hid in the side room next to the bedroom with bated breath, waiting for the robed woman to enter the bedroom. If she didn’t come into the bedroom after five minutes, they were prepared to go looking for her.
Krrrrk.
Finally, they heard the old door move.
“Well, that saves me the trouble of finding her myself.”
“Shhh!”
Killion shot a sharp glare at Onyx, who breathed a sigh of relief.
***
“You shall wait here.”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.”
Sandra stepped out of the carriage alone, leaving the maid who had come with her in the carriage. The first time she’d come here, she’d had an escort as well as a maid, but now that she was more familiar with the place, she was comfortable traveling alone.
The mansion was deserted tonight, still bearing the indelible scars of the fire, the smell of ashes and abandoned buildings wafting through the night air.
Sandra hummed a tune as she stepped inside the mansion. At first it was a deliberate act to soothe her fears, but now it had become a habit.
Again.
The sound of Sandra’s shoes and her hum filled the silence of the mansion. Sandra was delighted to feel as if the entire sprawling mansion was focused on her alone.
It was very dark inside the mansion, with no lights and only the dim moonlight to guide her, but Sandra didn’t hesitate to take each step towards her destination.
She had been here many times before, and her destination was always the same, so she didn’t get lost.
Krrrk.
The old door swung open and she stepped into the bedroom where her husband, the Good Emperor, had burned to death.
“I’m home, honey.”
Sandra laughed softly to herself. “Honey,” she said to herself, a word she hadn’t said much when he was alive.
He was an Emperor before he was a husband, and she had always had to treat him with respect as an Emperor rather than as a husband. It was with a strange sense of pleasure that she could finally say ‘honey’ with ease after his death.
Sandra stretched out on the half-empty bed. She moved with ease, as if she didn’t care that her charcoal-black clothes were soiled.
“If you were alive, … our Caspian wouldn’t have to go away in such a blaze of glory, would he?”
Muttering to herself, Sandra let out a long, whooshy sigh.
“This is all because of you. You killed our son.”
Her voice rises and her breathing becomes ragged as her quiet emotions begin to boil over. Lately, I’ve been prone to sudden bursts of emotion, and this was one of them.
“If you were alive… I wouldn’t have Jonathan playing on my head, I wouldn’t have Tate ignoring me, so this is all because of you!”
Sandra finally screamed at the top of her lungs. Her voice was sharp at the beginning, but it cracked as it went on.
“My child… my beloved child… died because of you! Huhu… hmph!”
The sobbing broke out. Once it came out, it was a full-blown, uncontrollable sob.
“You took both of my children away from me! I lost them because of you! I trusted you! I trusted you enough to throw away the child I carried in my womb! I loved him so much!”
Sandra screamed so loudly that it echoed throughout the bedroom, her body-squeezing cries shaking the scorched bed and walls.
“I’ve lost everything because of you! I’ve lost all my sons! You’re the worst!”
Sandra looked like a madwoman as she screamed, then sobbed, then moaned in agony.
“So why did you leave the government, so why did you do what you did, so why did you die, so why did you die?”
Her empty cries ended in tears, and she lay on the scorched bed and sobbed for a long time.
***
Sandra was shouting so loudly that even the ears of the three hiding in the next room could hear her words very clearly. She learnt a few new things about her.
First, she believes that the Emperor deserves to die for playing games with the government. Maybe she was the one who killed him.
Second, Sandra had given birth to a son before her marriage to the Emperor, but had abandoned him. Veronia already knew this, but it was a startling revelation to Killion and Onyx.
Veronia, knowing that the son was Onyx, was nervous that she would make eye contact with him in the narrow chamber and have her thoughts read.
Thirdly, Sandra’s emotional outbursts seemed to be getting worse and worse. When she is in a state of emotional overload, even the most rational judgements become difficult to make, and she wields power only as her emotions dictate.
She feared that she would eventually bring about a disaster that would not only affect her, but also those around her.
It was not until a moment later, when the maid came in and helped Sandra, still sobbing, out of the bedroom, that the three hiding in the side room spoke.
“That’s the Dowager Empress, isn’t it? She must come here often. Isn’t she scared to be alone?”
“Of course not. She’s quite a lady in more ways than one.”
“…”
Veronia merely nodded in silence as Killion and Onyx recounted their midnight encounter with Sandra.
But then her and Onyx’s gazes locked directly into each other’s. For a moment, Veronia’s heart sank, but she looked away as awkwardly as she could; she prided herself on being quite natural.
Onyx, however, must have felt differently, for his gaze lingered on her for a long moment.
‘That look in her eyes, that look she gives me sometimes, it’s always been strange. It’s like she sees through everything…’
The thought that had once rattled so strongly in Onyx’s mind resurfaced.