Intervention
"Last time, on my way back from the merchant guild, there was a carriage accident. Tollin said some lunatic crashed into us by mistake."
It seemed Tollin had strictly ordered the knights to keep their mouths shut, as the Young Duke genuinely believed the carriage accident was just a simple fender bender.
"So, because a boy named Seya collapsed, I ran to get Tollin. But when we came back, they were both gone. I think it took too long because I got lost in the alleys."
The Young Duke laid out everything that had happened, speaking clearly and quite logically in his own way. Every now and then, he would pick up and munch on the walnuts he had laid out to share with me.
Some adult would have to teach him eventually that sharing food with animals like this could make him sick.
"Oh, and I met a nice mister in the alley. He showed me the way."
Just like that, I had become a "nice mister." Since it had been a while since I'd been called "mister" after de-aging ten years, a strange feeling washed over me. I stopped pretending to peck at the walnuts and stared at him.
The boy seemed excited, thinking I was listening intently.
"At first, I thought he was just a sick person... Next time, I definitely shouldn't doubt people so easily."
I could tell. I recalled the confusion and distrust that had been written all over his face when I pointed toward that dog-hole of an alley. Still, at his age, being suspicious of strangers was a wise attitude. To encourage him to keep up that healthy skepticism, I gently pecked his arm twice.
Giggling as if it tickled, the Young Duke finally brought up something I didn't know.
"Tollin said that to find the children, it would be faster to search through stolen goods at jewelers or black markets. He said he'd start looking there. But there's still no news."
What on earth is that guy telling a kid? While it was a relief to learn about Tollin's covert movements and the current situation, I wondered if I should peck the back of Tollin's head for filling a young child's ears with such things.
Leaving me to my thoughts, the boy smiled softly and continued.
"But you know... I was actually really happy that Tollin came looking for me so desperately. We hadn't been able to see each other much lately. I guess sometimes, it's okay not to act exactly as you were taught."
The Young Duke's expression looked much more at ease as he spoke. He wasn't wrong, but I wanted to tell him to hold back on that philosophy at least until the protagonist arrived. Still, seeing the kid smile like that, I could only resolve to keep a close eye on him for the time being. It also weighed on my conscience that I had played a part in driving his father to his (apparent) death.
Unaware of my thoughts, the Young Duke kept pouring out all the stories he hadn't been able to share.
"But I should stay quiet for now. I heard Tollin's brother came to visit, and Tollin has been in a bad mood ever since."
Since Tollin's eldest brother was supposed to be in prison, the one who visited must have been his second brother. My black eyes gleamed. This was likely where a gap between this reality and the original novel had formed. In the original work, Tollin's eldest brother wasn't supposed to seek him out until much later.
Specifically, after the Young Duke died and Duke Fides vanished. To a completely broken, venomous Tollin, his brother comes to beg for help with their father. In the original story, Tollin coldly rejects his plea. Consequently, the Crysa family turns their backs on Tollin entirely.
I had prepared myself for the changes that would arise from saving the Young Duke and sending Duke Fides to the protagonist earlier than in the original timeline, but Yigo Crysa was an unexpected variable. I had anticipated that he might seek Tollin out. Tollin's subsequent deviations from the original plot and Yigo Crysa's detention were within acceptable limits, but...
Why was Yigo Crysa, who should have sworn loyalty to the Second Prince, now acting as a puppet in the hands of the First Princess?
The First Princess, Mentil Abaran, possessed the power to dominate minds. Those brainwashed slowly over a long period lived in harmony with her control, which grew like weeds in their subconscious without them even realizing it. However, those subjected to multiple brainwashing sessions in a short span moved unnaturally, unable to support their own bodies, like paper dolls. Just as Yigo Crysa had last night.
It was only for a split second, but the moment Yigo Crysa's face was exposed, he had frozen and gone limp like a robot whose power had been cut. Then, immediately after, he had bolted toward the end of the hallway with a speed incomparable to his previous sluggish movements.
"Squeak!" I caught a faint shriek from the Squirrel, who had been hiding, terrified by the bizarre sight. But I couldn't afford to look back as I quickly pivoted to pursue Yigo Crysa.
The Eighth Prince had said that people vanished in an instant upon reaching the end of the hallway. I didn't know if there was some sort of device at the end of the corridor, but I flapped my wings harder, determined to at least see how he disappeared.
Unfortunately, it seemed the only thing Yigo Crysa shared with Tollin was his face. Unlike Tollin, who was relatively slender and couldn't even dodge a flying stone, Yigo was capable of running at an inhuman speed.
With every frantic flap of my wings, the distance between us closed, but so did the distance between me and the wall. At this rate, I'm going to crash.
Unlike me, who instinctively slowed down, Yigo Crysa—perhaps because he was unconscious—charged forward without any fear of slamming into the wall. And then...
Just as the Eighth Prince had said, he vanished in the blink of an eye. In the empty hallway where he had stood, only the moonlight filtering through the dawn air remained.
With Yigo Crysa's trial not even underway yet, why had she sent him to the Eighth Prince's Palace of all places? The First Princess was mischievous, but she wasn't foolish enough to take such a risk just to scare or tease someone. Why had she suddenly started intervening in the life of an extra? Or was this a fragment of the original story that had simply been omitted from the text?
"Kamang?" Sensing something was off as I sat perfectly still without pecking at the walnuts, the Young Duke gently touched my wing.
It's nothing.
"Caw."
"Sometimes you really seem to understand human speech. Pigeons always fly away in a hurry whenever I try to talk to them."
You actually tried talking to them? I figured Tollin would eventually tell him not to do such strange things, since getting close to normal pigeons would only expose him to diseases rather than make them his friends. Yet, the conflicting thought of whether I could even trust a man who casually brought up black markets to a young child warred in my mind.
"I have to go first today. If I don't play at all during my playtime, my nanny will worry."
The Young Duke patted my wing once more and quickly got to his feet.
"You have to come back next time."
He thoughtfully left the window slightly open before leaving the room. Normally, I would have flown out the window without hesitation, but today, I felt like taking a different path. What kind of animal could wander around the mansion without drawing attention?
Tollin listened to Pale's report with a grim expression.
"They are all dead?"
"...Yes," Pale replied, looking at Tollin's terrifyingly stiff face.
"They all suffered sudden seizures and passed away. I was told there was no time to do anything."
"Was it poison?"
"No, it wasn't any kind of poison. They simply gasped for air and died on the spot."
Tollin furrowed his brow in bewilderment.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes. Their blood was clean, and there were no signs of suicide."
Tollin fell into deep thought as Pale spoke in a somber tone. Those men had been the ones guarding the Young Duke's carriage. The reason they hadn't noticed the Young Duke slipping out during the accident was because they hadn't been guarding the carriage properly. If the Young Duke had saved his own life because of that, it meant they had been complicit in a plot to attack the carriage. If the goal had been to lure him out, they had participated in a plan to abduct him. Either way, Tollin had no intention of letting them live, but he hadn't planned on them dying so pointlessly before he could uncover who was pulling the strings.
There had been too many strange things about this incident from the start. The captured knights reportedly hadn't put up much of a fight. Seeing them surrender so meekly without a single attempt to escape, Tollin had been on his guard, wondering if they had some powerful backing. Yet, for them to die like this inside the mansion, and all at once... Did it make any sense to die of respiratory failure, rather than poison or suicide?
"Jack must be devastated."
"He didn't say much, but he seemed deeply grieved. It appears some of them had served under him for a very long time..." Pale trailed off, recalling the haggard face of the knight commander as he secretly left the duchy today under Tollin's orders.
Tollin nodded silently. Yes, this made no sense either. The captured knights ranged from raw recruits to seasoned veterans, regardless of rank. The newly knighted punks were one thing, but why would those who had served the Fides family through even greater perils suddenly turn? Had they been targeting the Young Duke from the very beginning? Why now, of all times, after passing up so many other opportunities?
Having witnessed with his own eyes that comrades who had sworn unwavering loyalty even when the Fides Duchy was shaking were complicit in an undeniable betrayal, Jack seemed to have a lot on his mind. Tollin felt uneasy thinking of the knight commander carrying such unspeakable bitterness, but he was in no position to coddle him right now. He had sent Jack out to clear his head, but it wasn't without other motives, leaving a bitter taste in Tollin's mouth.
"Investigate the backgrounds of every single knight in the order. Find out if there were any suspicious movements, or who they met... including Jack."
"...Yes." In a situation like this, it was impossible to know who in the duchy could still be trusted. Pale understood this all too well, so he left Tollin's office without another word.
The moment the door closed behind Pale, Tollin let out a heavy sigh and buried his face in his hands. He had no idea what method had been used, but there was only one power capable of planting moles deep within the Fides Duchy to pull off such a stunt. The Imperial Family. But why?
"Keep an eye on the Young Duke."
The blunt, warning voice of Yigo Crysa seemed to echo in his ears. Was the Young Duke really their target? Had Yigo Crysa been trying to prevent it? What reason could he possibly have? If the Young Duke truly was their target—if they intended to lay their hands on the boy as well as the Duke—something inside Tollin was slowly beginning to crumble.
Things on their end were playing out in a way not too different from the original novel. Having transformed into a bat, I had easily nestled myself between the roof and the ceiling of the office, allowing me to eavesdrop on Tollin and Pale's conversation. The secret dialogue filtering through a small crack in the ceiling gave me confirmation. Though the method differed from the original work, Tollin would eventually realize this accident was orchestrated by someone in the Imperial Family, and he would draw his sword to protect the remaining Young Duke and the duchy. With that, he would fulfill his role in the novel. The flow of the original story remained unchanged.
The problem was the continuous intervention of another character. Death by unexplained respiratory failure was the signature assassination method favored by the First Princess in the original novel.