Something very small to lean on
Jess looked at his lord blankly and then opened the door to his laboratory.
Even though the door was wide open, Herhan just stood there with his eyes closed for a while.
The silence as he stood there was suffocating. Herhan, Jess, and Asion have never had a quiet moment since childhood. It was a difficult silence for the three of them.
Tak, tak, tak.
Soon, Herhan led the way inside, sounding like dry footsteps.
“I must admit, I have a slight dislike for Miss Riella. Because she is a woman who acts like dust in front of Your Majesty. yes. I drank a little bit. I did prepare a material to make stuffed when Your Majesty dies. But I….”
‘I am not a spy.’
Instead of trying to say that, Jess just relaxed his shoulders and smiled bitterly.
It didn’t make sense. It didn’t matter what the alibi was, what the logic was. The fact that he had to make such a protest to his lord was an insult worse than having his head cut off.
“What bullshit! Jess. There is no way His Majesty would doubt you. What happened to your head after being drunk all night?”
Rather, it was Asion who urgently raised his voice.
After giving Jess a ‘punch’ on the back, Asion desperately looked at Herhan. With eyes so pathetic and desperate that it’s hard to believe he was the captain of the Emperor’s knight, a valiant messenger of the Imperial family.
‘No, right? Please say no, please.’
Asion silently begged Herhan.
“Yes. The spy is not Jess.”
So when Herhan agreed with what he said, Asion was on the verge of tears, like he had endured ten years of suffering.
“Then why are we here?”
“Not here, but there, to be exact.”
In response to Jess’ question, Herhan pointed to the inside of the lab.
Jess’s lab was filled with tall bookshelves. Inside, there was a small secret room beyond the secret door that appeared when they pushed the heavy bookshelf on the wall to the side.
It was a secret space where Jess personally prepared and researched medicine for Herhan.
“Your Majesty. Are you kidding? We are the only ones who know of the existence of the secret room.”
“To be precise, not just us.”
Jess’s face immediately turned pale at Herhan’s answer.
Jess shook his head as if he understood what Herhan meant.
‘That can’t be possible, that can’t be possible. ‘
Jess opened the desk drawer where he always hid the key to the secret room. But Jess’s white fingertips fumbled aimlessly in the empty drawer.
“The spy is in there. That spy stole your key and went in, and that person worked hard to destroy the evidence.”
“What…? Destroying evidence?”
While Jess was shaking, Asion moved first, gritting his teeth and gripping his sword. Asion’s desk Asion pushed the desk aside, revealing an open door to a secret room.
Jess couldn’t believe it.
Just yesterday, this was the place where he stayed and studied his lord’s condition.
Now the tight, cozy space felt like it was about to explode with the intimidation and anxiety of the four men.
“This is not it….”
Jess shook his head, he couldn’t breathe properly due to the heavy air.
Inside the secret room, Carnel, holding a blue medicine bottle, was being held by Asion. The area under the table was already littered with pill bottles that he had spilled the entire contents of.
“Carnel. you. What are you doing there?”
Carnel remained silent without answering Jess’ question.
Herhan’s lips formed very slow words. Get him out of there, he said
* * *
“Sir Carnel. Please answer! That was the fake medicine Jess was analyzing the ingredients of earlier. You knew it well. That’s a very important piece of evidence needed to catch a spy. So why did you want to destroy the evidence? Was it really all you were doing? Answer me now!”
Asion grabbed Carnel by the collar.
Jess looked back and forth between Asion and the man in his grip, then slapped Asion’s hand away.
“Carnel is the one I taught and selected. So, it is me who questions him and it is me who takes responsibility. Carnel. say it. Why did you betray me? Why did you betray His Majesty? How on earth could you do that?
Contrary to the venomous words, Jess looked like he was about to cry.
However, neither Asion, who was excited in front of the spy he caught at the scene, nor Jess, who was distressed by the betrayal of the person he trusted, did not look as hurt as Cranel.
“I Don’t know…”
“Carnel!”
“I don’t remember.”
“You idiot! Words like that can’t fix it. It’s not something that can be done by saying you don’t know!”
“Really. I don’t remember anything! I am not lying!”
This time, Jess grabbed Carnel by the collar. However, his fist, which he clenched in an attempt to hit Carnel’s face, could not reach his face and shook in the air.
“How dare I betray Sir Jess? How dare I betray the imperial family?…How dare I betray His Majesty? Please kill me right here!”
Anyone who saw Carnel’s painful words seemed sincere.
“Last night at the West Palace, I attended to His Majesty’s urgent medical needs and escorted him to his bedroom. I was concerned that His Majesty might have another emergency, so I deliberately did not return to my room and instead waited in the medical office. I think I fell asleep there.…My memory ends there. I really don’t know why I was in Sir Jess’s secret room and what I was doing there.…!”
“You did it without conscious thought?”
“Yes. It was only after I was captured by Captain Asion that I came to my senses.”
“You know His Majesty’s power. Lying doesn’t work, Carnel.”
“I know.”
Carnel, whose eyes were wide open, immediately knelt down in front of Herhan. It meant that he was willing to prove his sincerity.
Herhan looked at Carnel quietly and slowly placed his hand on the back of his neck.
Everyone’s eyes turned to Herhan.
Once again, in suffocating silence, everyone eagerly waited for Herhan’s answer.
but.
“He doesn’t know.”
Herhan’s answer was nothing but despair.
“I heard Carnel’s ‘voice’ all morning. It was the sound of a plan to go into Jess’ secret room and destroy the evidence. Carnel’s voice was clear, and we just saw with our own eyes that he was doing as planned. But…”
“…..”
“But now I can’t read the voice of that time or the memory of a while ago. As he testified that he fell asleep in the medical office, that’s where Carnel’s memories end.”
“It’s clear that Carnel did it, but he has no memory or consciousness. What is that…?”
After Asion’s sigh, silence filled the lab again.
Through the silence, Carnel’s angry and resentful sobs flowed as he knelt down.
His pitiful sobs became a harsh chain that strangled everyone.
Everyone’s desire to believe in Carnel’s sincerity and the situation where they had to doubt him were in bitter conflict.
“Your majesty. Please entrust Carnel to me.”
It was Jess who made the painful decision in a situation where there was no answer at all.
“I will lock this guy up so he can never do anything again, and whether it means pulling out his fingernails or beating him, I will take responsibility and find out the truth.”
‘That’s too big a burden for Jess to carry alone.’
Herhan thought that and tried to reject Jess’s request.
However, before Herhan could show his intentions, Jess first grabbed his lord’s arm and pleaded earnestly.
‘Please, please, let me do that, or I’m going to go crazy first, please, Your Majesty.’
Herhan couldn’t ignore Jess’s clearly audible thoughts.
“Do it.”
* * *
“I told them to cancel all plans for today. your majesty.”
Herhan, who returned to the inner room of the main palace, was exhausted and just nodded his head in response to Asion’s report.
The new Emperor of the Imperial palace, who hadn’t even been in power for a year, would never let things slide, but days like today were an exception.
‘A day like today when I witness an unbelievable betrayal and end up throwing away the person who was close to me.’
“Isn’t it perhaps sleepwalking or something?”
At that time, Asion, who thought he would quietly retreat, approached him again and asked.
“What he has done so far is too detailed to be judged like that.”
Carnel worked hard to stay by the emperor’s side for a long time, constantly changing the medicine, and blaming the crime on Riella Blinite.
He also tried to destroy the remaining evidence while everyone was paying attention to Riella.
These were actions with clear malicious intent that could not be considered simply something done unconsciously in his sleep.
“Then, is it possible that he was hypnotized from somewhere…?”
Asion thought deeply with a serious face and then bowed his head deeply.
“Sorry. your majesty. My delusions have gone too far.”
“No. I feel the same way that I want to hang on to my delusion.”
“There must be something going on.”
“Yes, I hope so.”
The moment when Herhan’s ability becomes a curse.
If he passes by without knowing, at least he won’t get hurt. At times like this, Herhan always had to accept and swallow other people’s hateful feelings towards him.
“Rest, Your Majesty.”
It was a pain that he wouldn’t dare imagine.
Asion just quietly retreated. What his lord needs now, as always, is ‘time’ to relieve the pain.
As soon as Asion turned around, Herhan fell down on the bed without even having time to nod.
Suddenly, the collar of his shirt felt tight, as if it was strangling him. He tried to button it, but his hands were shaking slightly from earlier, and the round button kept slipping off.
Herhan tried to button it a few more times and eventually nervously twisted and pulled the collar.
Tak.
Herhan took a deep breath as he heard the sound of a small button falling under the bed and rolling on the floor.
This was something Herhan had expected from the moment he found out there was a spy, and he’d braced himself for it, but that didn’t mean he was numb to it.
‘I can’t breathe.’
It’s not a disease. There were no side effects from the emergency medicine.
It was hard to breathe properly, and even though he was lying in bed, he felt dizzy and nauseous, like the world was shaking.
‘I need something’ Herhan thought desperately.
‘I don’t know what it is. If things continue like this, I feel like I’m just going to die. I thought that in order not to die, I needed at least something small to lean on.’
‘Should I call Asion again? Even if it looks a little funny, should I tell him to stay by my side today?’
Herhan hesitated, and after hesitating, he raised his hand.
Someone held that hand. The small hands of someone but very warm and soft.
“I thought you were in the next bedroom.”
“Actually, I was in here….I couldn’t find the right time to come out. Your Majesty and Captain Asion seem so serious.”
‘So, you’ve been hiding in a corner and peeking out at me.’
Herhan held Riella’s hand and stood up again.
Herhan chuckled softly at the sight of Riella pulling him up with a grunt. He hadn’t realized he had the strength to laugh like that.
“I did as your Majesty commanded me this morning. I sat comfortably and rested without moving a single step outside. I ate everything without leaving any food that the servants brought me.”
“Good job.”
Herhan responded to Riella’s endless reports.
As he listened to the calm and soft chatter, he felt like his complicated mind was gradually becoming refreshed. Even then, the two people continued to hold hands.
“Have you eaten, Your Majesty? Aren’t you hungry? Would you like some tart? I left one piece behind.”
Riella didn’t ask what was happening or why he was so distressed and exhausted.
Instead, she asked about the emperor’s meal, which even Jess and Asion had been too busy to ask about.
Herhan looked at Riella blankly.
‘This woman’s eyes were so clear and warm.’
“I heard you ate all of it without leaving any.”
“It was so delicious.”
“If it was delicious, you should have eaten it all.”
“I keep thinking, Your Majesty would really like it.”
It was a foolish action. There was no need to leave the food on the table.
The Emperor could have whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it. It was just a tart, and he could order a new one baked.
But Herhan was grateful for Riella’s foolishness.
Perhaps that was exactly what he needed most at this moment.
“Then bring it. Let’s eat it together.”
“yes.”
* * *
