Turning
chapter-166

"I was worried that the food might not suit your palate, but seeing this, I think you'll have no problem eating a regular meal for dinner. It's a relief. Do you have any food preferences or aversions?"

"No…"

As he shook his head to indicate none, a smile spread over the wrinkled corners of the servant's eyes.

"Understood. I'll prepare everything accordingly then. There's no time to waste if I have to prepare. Do you need to bathe before then?"

"… I'm fine."

He didn't know what Kishiar had told the servant, but the servant was exceedingly kind to Yuder. It was an excessive treatment for a 20-year-old young man who, despite serving the palace owner, was of humble origin and had only recently received a last name. Nevertheless, the servant diligently asked several times if there was anything else Yuder needed before finally turning away.

'I'd better tell Kishiar straight away that I'm going back to the Cavalry as soon as I see him.'

Soon, the sound of a door opening from afar reached his ears. The person who strode in with a large step was, fortunately, not the returning servant but Kishiar La Orr.

"You don't look well. Are you feeling better now?"

Kishiar was now clad in a white uniform, different from the last time he saw him. Meeting his slightly tired smile, Yuder was caught in a strange emotion and forgot all his thoughts. The determination to return to the Cavalry and everything else melted away from his mind. His response felt like someone else's voice, strange and unfamiliar.

"I'm fine…"

"Fine, you say. Your lips are all cracked."

As he chided him, Kishiar took a seat on one of the chairs nearby. Although it was quite a distance from the bed, there was no problem for conversation. The sensation of his gaze sweeping over him was so vivid that Yuder unintentionally held his breath.

Despite simply sitting across from him, it was clearly different from before the second gender manifestation. A new sensation that had not been there before recognized the clandestine and enormous presence Kishiar embodied. His more sensitive than usual sense of smell, as the heat was not fully over, detected a cool scent different from the sweetness of perfume.

Compared to before the manifestation, it was no exaggeration to say he had been looking at Kishiar with a thick wall between them.

'Was it like this before…'

He must have felt this sensation in his previous life, but something was different now. He couldn't identify what that difference was.

In an attempt to distance himself from the unfamiliar sensation different from when he had been talking with the servant, Yuder let out a thin breath. Upon that, Kishiar squinted his eyebrows and smiled.

"That's good…. It's only been a day and a half, but there was quite an interesting incident during that time. I've been looking forward to telling you when you woke up. Do you want to hear about it?"

His assumption that he would talk about his manifestation and heat period was pleasantly off the mark. Watching Kishiar talk about Lenore's letter nonchalantly, Yuder thought that perhaps his words were a form of consideration in their own way.

"Yes."

"The letter from Lenore Shand Apeto, the one you gave me. Did you read its contents?"

"No."

Yuder remembered the letter from Lenore he had handed to Kishiar, gathering his last ounce of strength before losing consciousness.

Inside, there was a pledge of allegiance written by Lenore Shand Apeto to the person he referred to as 'Your Highness'. After hearing words so compelling that he was willing to abandon his family and his father, he had promised to meet 'Your Highness' in person and seemed to have attended the party that day. If misfortune hadn't befallen him, he would have met 'Your Highness' and fulfilled his purpose.

Any remaining vestiges of fever disappeared completely at his words. With his mind having been in a daze, feeling a sudden sense of clarity, Yuder carefully opened his mouth.

"So... you're saying the letter merely referred to the recipient as 'Your Highness'?"

"That's right."

Various thoughts quickly moved within Yuder's mind. All the things he had seen and heard on the day of Lenore's death and the situations before and after were scrambled together, before neatly lining up under a single conclusion a moment later.

Kishiar watched Yuder's eyes, which had regained their sharp gleam, with interest.

"That's bold and clever."

"What do you mean?"

"I suspected that they might send someone from His Highness the Crown Prince's side to search Lenore's body after his death in an attempt to conceal evidence, but after hearing the contents, it may have been for a different purpose."

"Such as?"

Kishiar replied lazily to the question.

"Among those who attended the party that day, weren't the only ones who could be called 'Your Highness' the Crown Prince and Commander?"

"That's right."

"Lenore, who died, happened to be in a state of deep enmity with us and was about to stand trial as a member of the Apeto family. To pin the suspicion of murder on someone, there couldn't be a more plausible person than you, Commander."

However, from the perspective of knowing that Kishiar was not the culprit, there was in fact no reason for him to kill Lenore. What he wanted wasn't to overpower and kill his opponents easily, but to judge them under the law with clear justification and undeniable evidence.

At this point, where the elder priest Beltrail had gone mad, Lenore Shand Apeto was practically the most important person to prove the guilt of the Apeto family, so why would he kill him?

"…To those who don't know better, that letter would serve as great evidence for them to recklessly guess that Commander lured and killed Lenore to send a warning to the nobles, including the Apeto family."

It was likely that Prince Katchian was banking on this point, had Lenore write such a letter on purpose, and then killed him. He probably also calculated the chance to form an alliance with Aishes, who would benefit from Lenore's death, or the Duke of Apeto, who could breathe a sigh of relief from the disgrace of his family.

'And then he probably sent a subordinate to check if the letter was written as promised. If it wasn't written properly, he could simply annihilate it; if it was, he could release it at the right time.'

Even if Lenore hadn't written the letter properly, as long as the poison that he drank was known to have been meant for Prince Katchian, the prince wouldn't suffer any substantial loss.

How many in the world could guess that the prince had made such a bold move alone, risking his own life, unbeknownst to the Diarca family? If Yuder hadn't captured Kiolle and extracted information, he might not have been completely sure.

In his previous life, Katchian had never once opposed Duke Diarca until he ascended to the Emperor's throne. Hence, people speculated that, even after his ascension, Duke Diarca was the real Emperor, and Katchian was merely a puppet who followed his orders.

Therefore, Yuder believed that Katchian would not easily move independently, leaving Duke Diarca behind, until he became the Emperor. However, the outcome was unexpected.

Such a bold and flashy method, attempting to drag the opponent down while putting himself in danger, was quite different from the cautious and prudent Duke Diarca. It was also considerably different from the older Emperor Katchian that Yuder remembered.

In his previous life, Emperor Katchian was an extremely careful person who cared more than anyone else about maintaining his position. As the bloodline of the previous imperial family had ended and he had ascended to the throne, he was sensitive to external recognition, paid considerable attention to state affairs, and skillfully pacified and collaborated with the nobles. However, he was relentless if he ever suspected someone of coveting his position.

Yuder knew of his suspicious and stubborn nature, as he himself was often used as a tool of punishment when the Emperor suspected someone of treason.

The decisive reason Katchian had Yuder kill Kishiar in his previous life was due to the suspicion of Duke Peletta's rebellion, which had been bubbling beneath the surface throughout the first year of his reign.

'There might be a difference between those who ascended to the Emperor's throne and those who did not. Or perhaps he felt a much greater threat from the events that took place during this festival than I had anticipated.'

He felt fortunate to have intercepted Lenore's letter as he thought about it. Yuder wrapped up his musings with a final comment.

"I presume he would've wanted to expose the letter, attributing it to the Commander after confirming whether it contains any elements related to His Highness, the Crown Prince. It's fortunate that I found it first."

"Well, I'm sorry to say this when you called it fortunate, but actually, I returned that letter to the Crown Prince that day."

Kishiar replied with a slightly apologetic expression.

"What?"

"I wanted to understand the intentions of the Crown Prince more accurately to respond accordingly. I returned it pretending that I found it on the second floor through a servant. He immediately publicized the letter in front of everyone. Thanks to that, the first trial of the Apeto family ended in chaos before both parties could present their positions."

"…What?"

Kishiar's eyes narrowed at the repeated questioning in disbelief.

"I also have the second letter of Lenore Shand Apeto, which Gakane Bolunwald found on the day of the party. Its content is much more interesting than the first letter you found. You could say that this is the main topic of today's conversation."

Kishiar playfully shook a small letter that he had kept hidden in his hand.

"Do you want to read it? It's going to be so entertaining that it will make you forget your pain. I guarantee it."