Sweet Cake, Bitter Tea
As Chris got to his feet, a thought struck Bianca and she raised her voice.
"That bastard was Alex."
"Pardon?"
"The one who went wild trying to kill you this afternoon."
"Yes. That was Alex. I thought you already knew."
"No. I didn't. If I had, I'd have seized him on the spot and questioned him."
"Alex isn't in the same position I am. It won't be easy to handle him roughly."
Chris bowed his head to the knights and went into the room.
Yan lowered his voice toward the others.
"We're taking Chris with us."
Michael spoke up.
"We've already heard everything there is to hear. Do we really need to drag a former slave around with us?"
"He's hiding something."
"He looks simple enough to me."
"He's playing the fool. Don't look down on him just because he was a slave. That man is anything but stupid."
Back when Chris lived in the barony, bread came hard as stone, and even that only now and then. Soft white bread he had tasted for the first time at the Lion Pavilion, and that alone had been enough to make life in the magic tower feel like happiness.
Now, in the dining hall of the VIP Guest Pavilion, he was eating dessert for the first time in his life. He worked his way through a slice of white cake, marveling aloud with every bite. It was soft, and it was sweet.
"I never knew the world had a taste like this."
Bianca glanced at him.
"First time having cake, I take it."
"Yes."
She pushed her own serving across to him.
"Finish this too."
Chris looked around, testing the air.
"Is that really all right?"
"What you ate was cream cake. This is cheesecake. They taste different. Today might be the only chance you ever get."
Chris smacked his lips.
"Thank you."
He drew the plate closer and lifted a bite on his fork.
"Whoa."
Dense, nutty, and sweet—a sweetness nothing like the cream cake. Praise slipped out of him before he could stop it.
Before he knew it the meal was over, and it was time to part. Chris watched their faces a moment, then stood.
"Thank you for the meal. I'll be going now."
Yan stopped him.
"Stay with us for a while."
"Why would I...?"
He didn't want to. Nothing good ever came of getting tangled up with people above you.
"Show us around."
"I don't know the tower well. I barely even know the roads."
"You know them better than we do."
"I have to get to work."
"You were given leave yesterday, weren't you?"
"Take your time with a leave and they'll cut you. Plenty of people want to work the forge."
"I'll put in a word for you."
As he said it, Yan laid his sword on the table. The memory of that white-shining blade rose sharp in Chris's mind. He swallowed and sat back down.
Bianca said,
"We'll pay you handsomely for the trouble."
John spoke next.
"I'd like a cup of tea."
Bianca rose.
"I'll have it brought."
A short while later a cup was set before them, steam curling off the surface. John turned to Chris.
"I doubt you've ever had tea this fine. You ought to try it."
Chris drank, expecting something as sweet as the cake, and his whole face twisted.
"Ugh, it's bitter!"
John laughed.
"That's the point. You drink it for the bitterness."
Drinking something bitter on purpose made no sense to Chris at all. After that he didn't touch the tea again. He only watched the others drink, and every one of them seemed to enjoy it.
If joining the upper class means drinking tea like this, then I don't want to join the upper class.
They didn't talk much, and they didn't ask him anything either. They simply drank and let the time pass. At last an hour had gone by, and Chris was so bored he squirmed in his seat.
"Bored?"
Yan asked.
"A little."
"Sounds like you're used to a busy life."
"When I lived in the barony, the slave overseer couldn't stand the sight of a slave at rest. Even after I came to the tower, I stayed busy enough in my own way."
He was just wondering whether he ought to go run a lap around the yard when a guest arrived.
Carl came to the VIP Guest Pavilion—the Jenyeom mage who, on the day Mark died, had been the first of the mages to set foot in the Lion Pavilion—and he brought Catherine and Frank with him. A brief round of introductions passed, and then John spoke.
"We'll need a fresh pot."
Before long they were drinking tea. No one else pulled a face the way Chris had. Even Frank, a commoner, praised it as he drank.
Chris felt as if he were the only deficient one in the room, and the taste in his mouth went bitter. Bitterer than the tea.
Carl set his cup down.
"You've come to look into what really happened?"
John addressed the mage with careful courtesy.
"Yes."
"There isn't much left to look into. The suspects are all dead."
"That's precisely the point."
"What do you mean?"
"We still have to determine which of the suspects was the real culprit."
"Is that really necessary?"
"The victim's family wants it."
The victim's family was nothing less than the king. Carl gave ground.
"Then it can't be helped. Anyone at Jenyeom or below can be interviewed freely, but anyone above that will be difficult."
"You mean Randal, William, and Thomas?"
"Yes."
Bianca cut in.
"We'll handle that ourselves."
Carl warned them.
"They are not easy people. Be careful."
"We'll keep the advice in mind."
The way she clipped the words made her displeasure plain.
Carl pointed at Chris.
"Why is that boy here?"
"We took his testimony yesterday."
"If you've already heard it, why is he still here?"
"It was late, and we couldn't send him off. We weren't about to drive someone who doesn't know the roads out onto a path buried in snow."
"Ah. I see. Shall I go first?"
"We'd like to hear the mage's testimony last."
Bianca turned her gaze to Catherine.
"I'd like to hear Miss Catherine first."
Catherine put on a prim look.
"If you have questions, ask them. I'll answer honestly."
"Thank you."
The knights made her lay everything out, just as they had with Chris the day before. She had succeeded at Gyesin and spent many days away from the Lion Pavilion, so her account was neither as long nor as detailed as his.
Bianca stopped her at the part about the day of the murder.
"Did Alex really torment His Highness like that?"
"Yes."
"Would you explain it in detail?"
Catherine sighed, as if she would rather not.
"It started as light sarcasm. At the time I wasn't even sure it was sarcasm. Alex's way of speaking was aggressive to begin with, so there were plenty of times I just let it pass. Then, later, he started talking down to him. In that moment everyone understood. So that had been mockery after all. As time went on, the casual speech turned into disregard, and in the end the disregard became open contempt. Blatant harassment."
The knights groaned.
"The nerve!"
"A mere bastard of a marquis house!"
Bianca drew a breath and forced the heat out of her voice.
"What happened on the day His Highness died?"
Catherine described the day's routine, and named the colleagues who could confirm her alibi.
"I was talking with a friend when a mage from the Training Wing came looking for me. He told me to go to the Lion Pavilion at once, so I went, and then..."
She recounted what she had seen there. None of it differed from Chris's account. Only the interpretation shifted, subtly, in places.
John cut in.
"You were watching the suspects, weren't you?"
"Yes."
"Who did you think the culprit was?"
"I didn't think about it."
"Think about it now. Of the four suspects..."
Carl broke in and cut him off.
"There were three suspects."
"The tower sent us three bodies. One of the suspects was left out. We were dispatched here to clear up loose ends like that."
John looked at Catherine.
"Of the four, including Alex, who seems the most suspicious?"
"I don't know who's suspicious. I do know who was sacrificed without any guilt."
"Who was innocent?"
"Faye."
"Why do you think so?"
"Faye is a woman. There's no way she killed His Highness. He was a sturdy man."
John eased back.
"I see."
Yan stepped in.
"Do you know who the mage was—the one who advised that every suspect be killed?"
Catherine shook her head.
"I don't."
Chris remembered even the name... Hmm. Not the sharpest witness.
He looked at Frank.
"Did you hear that mage's name?"
"I was told it was Mage Perez."
"Sharp."
Frank shot a glance at Chris, who sat there like a sack of barley set in the corner.
"Chris would know too. Didn't you hear it from him?"
Yan lied.
"Chris couldn't remember. If he had, we wouldn't have asked Miss Catherine."
"Is that so? That's unexpected."
"Why unexpected?"
"Chris is smarter than he looks."
Chris hadn't known Frank thought of him that way. On an ordinary day he might have preened. Right now, somehow, the high opinion was unwelcome.
Yan turned to Carl.
"Was it indeed Mage Perez?"
Carl admitted it.
"Yes. That's correct."
"He seems to be a man who values efficiency."
Carl answered shortly.
"Yes."
Passing judgment on someone of that rank seemed to weigh on him.
Yan gave Catherine a look.
"Go on."
Catherine moved on to the part where the suspects burned. The memory seemed to pain her; her face went pale, and both hands, laid neatly on her knees, wrung at her skirt.
When the whole story was finished, Bianca asked,
"At the last moment, who was it that snatched Alex away with a hand of air?"
"I don't know."
"Did you hear anything about it afterward?"
"I didn't."
"You must have been curious. Didn't you look into it on your own?"
"What I went through that day was so horrible I tried not to think about it if I could help it. I wanted to forget."
"Is there anything else?"
"No. There isn't."
"Thank you for your statement. If something comes back to you later, please tell us."
"I will."
Bianca looked at Carl.
"Who was the mage that saved Alex?"
"I don't know."
Suspicion settled in her eyes.
"You truly don't know?"
"Yes. I swear by the heavens, I don't."
"No one you even suspect?"
"No one."
He let a moment pass, then went on.
"To be honest, I don't want to know."
"I thought mages were full of curiosity."
"Even curiosity has to be spent according to the situation. In the tower, you can be gone in a single blow."
Bianca indicated his robe.
"That's a rather weak thing for a mage to say."
"When I first entered the tower, it felt as if the world were mine. Then I met the first trial, and my pride shattered. After that I succeeded at Gyesin, and once again the world seemed mine, until..."
He stroked the robe.
"I came to understand how hard it is to earn the right to wear this, and I started seeing reality for what it is."
"Didn't your pride surge again once you put on the yellow robe?"
"By then, arrogant thoughts didn't occur to me."
"Why not?"
"Because I'd already run into the monsters crawling all over this tower. Until you're one of them, you live with your eyes shut and your ears covered. I hope that answers you."
"It's answer enough."
Whether she truly thought it was enough, Chris doubted.
Next it was Frank's turn. His statement was much the same as Catherine's. Only the people who could prove his alibi had changed.
When the story ended, the knights began digging from every angle. John pressed hard on the ties among the prince, Alex, and Tony, while Bianca asked who had seemed suspicious. A barrage of questions flew at Catherine as well.
By the time Frank was worn thin, the interrogation-like questioning came to an end. It should have been Carl's turn to testify, but he rose with an apologetic look.
"I have an appointment. I have to go."
Bianca's face darkened.
"Did you really have to make an appointment on a day like today?"
"I didn't know the testimony would run this long."
"Can't you cancel it?"
"It's with a high-ranking mage. I can't postpone it, and I can't cancel it. I'll come back tomorrow at ten."
Yan said,
"It can't be helped."
After Carl left, Frank and Catherine glanced around with awkward faces. Yan spoke.
"Thank you for cooperating today. You may go."
The two offered their greetings and stood. When Chris tried to slip out in the gap between them, Yan called him back.
"You stay with us a little longer."
Chris looked troubled.
"I don't have any more testimony to give."
"As I see it, your eye is the most objective."
"Mine?"
"Yes. While the others testify, listen, and judge whether anything sounds strange—or whether anyone is hiding something."
Chris waved it off.
"Someone like me? What could I possibly—"
"I hold you in high regard."
He looked to the knights and went on.
"Come. We should be going too."
Chris asked,
"Where?"
"We need to inspect the scene."
They stepped outside the building. John said,
"Chris, guide us to the Lion Pavilion."
"I don't know the way."
"Ah. Right."
"You'd be better off finding another guide."
Bianca drew out a map.
"We can follow this."
Chris stole a glance at the map in her hand. It was far more detailed than the one he had pinned to the dormitory wall.
"This way, then."
They set off toward the Lion Pavilion.