Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Following the Poison's Trail
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With permission from Veriht, we first unpacked our things at the lodging Jayvolg and the others had secured.
It was in a decent location.
I sat on the terrace there, savoring my coffee while listening to the sound of the waves.
What, you think we should be rushing off to hunt down the culprit right now?
Hardly.
A proper investigation requires patience. Haste narrows your field of vision.
You need to sketch the picture in your mind first, then move.
I was quietly gazing out at the night sea, pondering my own methods of detection, when...
Thud...!
A thick stack of documents landed on the terrace table.
"What's all this?"
Merina stood there, glasses on, her face full of determination.
"What else? We need to find the culprit! Everyone listed here is a suspect. What do you think? Pretty good, right?"
Merina had rolled up her sleeves, determined to catch the perpetrator herself.
"..."
Find the culprit?
By sifting through all these documents to narrow down suspects?
Narrowing suspects is fine, but doing it via paperwork? That's backwards. How long would that even take?
Inefficient.
Besides, this was a poisoning by a true poison master.
Could you catch someone like that with a conventional approach?
No chance.
"Why don't we try something else..."
Thud!
More documents right in front of me.
Merina ignored my words completely, buried in her papers.
Isn't her focus a bit too intense?
Merina fiddled unnecessarily with her glasses, scrutinizing one document deeply before tilting her head.
I glanced at the first page of the stack she'd set aside after reviewing.
The suspect she'd flagged was the duke's cousin, 'Christopher Jang.'
A plausible pick.
As the duke's cousin, the vast ducal territory would certainly tempt him.
But... his movements were far too routine.
The textbook path of a bureaucrat.
He'd risen to judge for good reason—handling the city's laws with expert efficiency.
A capable, diligent official.
"Not a single flaw."
No traces of secret meetings, no suspicious purchases of poison ingredients.
Nothing stood out.
Merina hadn't found anything special about him either, from the way she kept tutting in disappointment.
Spotting me looking at the papers, she asked,
"What do you think? He's not the one, right? Right?"
"Right. Merina, that's not..."
"..."
Merina cut me off before I could finish, flipping through another sheet detailing someone else's movements.
Diving back into her own world?
Then why even ask?
She was so absorbed, I didn't have the heart to tell her to stop.
After staring at the paper for a while, Merina showed me one sheet.
"What about this? This guy left the ducal territory three days ago!"
I skimmed the document she handed over.
Not him either. I hadn't expected it to be in the first place.
I shattered Merina's misplaced hope once more.
"Nothing suspicious. It was a pre-scheduled trip, even before the duke collapsed. Business dealings with a merchant group."
"He could have slipped away in between!"
"No, Veriht was with him."
"Oh..."
Merina pouted, deflated.
Then she jabbed at another paper as if piercing it with her finger.
"This one? The head of herbal medicine procurement looks shady!"
I shook my head.
"Wrong again."
Merina bit her lip, visibly frustrated.
"How would you even know...!"
She started to point accusingly but sat back down.
"I trust you... that's why I believe you. Sigh."
Surely not bringing up the Tang Clan again?
Her trust seems a bit misguided...
This is awkward. Embarrassing, even.
Anyway, before she dives back into those papers, I need to stop this pointless endeavor.
Otherwise, we might be up all night poring over stacks as tall as me.
"Merina."
"Yes?"
"How about we try a different approach?"
"A different... approach?"
Honestly, I wanted to call it a total waste, but she'd put in so much effort.
That would hurt too much.
I decided to teach her a new way.
"This is a poisoning case involving the duke, right?"
"Right...?"
"Then maybe the key isn't the culprit, but the poison itself?"
"Huh...?"
Whoosh.
The documents slipped from Merina's hands and fell to the ground.
What was so shocking about that?
Still, seeing her drop the papers meant some realization had dawned.
Whew, good.
I continued before she could start over.
"Listen carefully. Someone thorough enough to fool everyone like this wouldn't leave traces pointing straight to them in documents."
"So how do we...?"
"In cases like this, you grab the tail, not the head. Don't chase the culprit—follow the small clues. That's step one."
This was routine back in the Tang Clan.
We often got requests to track poisoners in the martial world.
The clan sent juniors to build experience and sharpen their eyes.
Of course, as clan head, I knew poisons best.
"Trust me. This is my expertise."
"...?"
Merina misheard "expertise" and shot to her feet.
Her glasses slipped down her nose.
"Ex-expertise...? Don't tell me you used poisons like that in the Tang Clan too..."
"No, that's not it!"
"I-I'll believe you."
Don't back away like that!
"Really, it's not! Sit down first. I told you, the Tang Clan..."
"Is for protection, got it!"
Merina bit her lip firmly, as if steeling herself.
"I understand. To vanquish evil, sometimes you need that. It's the mindset I need to learn!"
You don't need to learn that!
"You're misunderstanding."
"It's fine, really!"
"Ha..."
My head throbbed.
Better calm her down before I get more exhausted.
"Anyway, back to the point. This is a meticulously planned poisoning by a poison expert targeting the duke."
"Yes."
"So how do we track it?"
I swept my hand over the mountain of documents Merina had brought.
"These? Not at all. Look over there."
I pointed to Jayvolg swinging his sword on the rooftop under the moonlight, shouting kiais.
"Haaap...!"
Merina flinched at the sight of him.
"What about Jayvolg?"
"What is Jayvolg doing right now?"
"Training...?"
"Right. Jayvolg loves training. Now we've got info on him. So... what about over there?"
Nellin, munching crab meat baguettes in both hands, noticed our stares and widened her already big eyes even more.
"W-Why are you looking?!"
She's always eating at random times, yet startled now?
I pointed at Nellin and told Merina,
"See? Nellin's holding crab meat baguettes."
Merina replied as if it was obvious.
"Yeah?"
I used the crab meat baguette as an example.
"That flavor-packed crab meat baguette. Stuffed with mustard, cabbage, and crab meat—Quil's specialty, worth bragging about..."
"...?"
I got sidetracked.
I cleared my throat and continued.
"Nellin's eating food. She loves it."
"N-Not that much, young master! I'll share with Her Highness and you. But that's not—!"
Nellin bent at the waist in protest...
Thud...!!
"Ow!"
She slammed her forehead into a white pillar and clutched it.
Funny thing was, even while holding her forehead, Nellin kept tearing into the baguette. Impressive dedication, in a way.
I helped her up and said to Merina,
"See this? Even then, Nellin's obsessed with her crab meat baguette. Food is something she can't live without."
Nellin glared at me as she stood.
"Young master, that's mean!"
Nellin headed inside, still eating her baguette. Hey, aren't you sharing?
Anyway, Nellin was a perfect example.
But Merina still looked puzzled, head tilted.
I gave her the answer.
"This is how you find the poisoner."
"Huh...? Oh!"
Merina's mind cleared like the waves rolling far below, and her mouth fell open.
"Not chasing the culprit, but the poison."
"Exactly."
Top student material. If it were Ralph, I'd explain for a hundred days and he'd still get it wrong.
Definite talent.
"Right. We each have our hobbies and preferences. Poisons tie into that."
Do you know how poisons evolved?
Poisons developed to torment or kill foes.
But to poison someone...
Doesn't it depend on the person?
For example, could you poison Jayvolg training under the moonlight by dipping arrows in toxin all day?
But coat the hilt of his beloved sword, and he'd be poisoned every time.
For Marian, slip it into her chopping board or ingredients.
For me? Sewing. Of course, anyone trying poison on me would end up a pincushion.
Just an example.
Merina grasped the point instantly with her sharp mind—one hint and she got ten.
"To poison the target, you approach what's closest to them..."
"Exactly. Track the poison used on the duke, not the culprit, and follow the path..."
"To pinpoint the poisoner."
Merina murmured unconsciously, then looked at me.
"Gives me chills. Deyan, what kind of life did you live to know all this?"
Hmm, first life: betrayed and killed. Second: born Tang Clan blood, poisoned the Heavenly Demon, threw hidden weapons at the Sword Sage?
Anyway.
"Getting the hang of it? Poisons evolve based on the target. They connect deeply to daily life. And the one who poisoned the duke?"
Not some amateur sprinkling poison randomly or in food without understanding.
A master of lethal poison arts.
He'd know the basic rule of poisons.
A poison isn't a poison if the victim notices. Once they know, its value vanishes. Poisons must be subtle.
To achieve that, it has to tie directly to the target.
Make them ingest it naturally.
Same for the duke.
Despite all this investigation, no trace means he didn't poison face-to-face.
The best poison kill avoids contact.
"Means he's no amateur with poisons. To catch him, don't chase him—chase the duke."
"Let's start right now...!"
Merina grabbed her robe to head out.
Follow the duke's traces, and the culprit's face emerges.
I slowly rose to leave the lodging when
Marian, just returning, spotted us.
"Where are you going?"
"To check some habits."
"Habits?"
Leaving puzzled Marian behind, I opened the door. As she saw us off, she called,
"I'm making Quil stew for dinner tonight. Don't be late! I learned from the market ladies today!"
Marian chose tonight's menu.
Quil stew.
Quil's pride alongside crab meat baguettes.
Rich with seafood flavors.
Can't miss that. No way.
"Wait, on second thought, we can eat first."
"What...? What?!"
Merina, who'd been following with a resolute face, glared at me.
Don't look at me like that.
"Time's pressing. What dinner? Dinner!"
Knocking on doors late at night is rude, isn't it?
Let's eat first. Eat.