Chapter 94

Chapter 94: Chapter 94

It was commonly called the Star of Roshan. It was the grass that he chewed while he was moving all the way from the cave to the temple. It was the flower that she separated the leaves from and threw away. It was the poisonous plant that should not be used without permission, often called scopolia japonica because animals could eat it by mistake and run wild.

“… This was the cause of the accident.”

“Yes. I think someone fed the horses this on purpose. It’s not the type type of grass that horsemen can mix in the feed by mistake. Not only the horsemen, but also the servants who work in the stable know how dangerous this grass is to horses.”

“Did you say Barton brought it to you?”

“Yes. I made sure he would not leak it to anybody else. I told him to report to me first about any other evidence he finds.”

“What is the probability that Barton stole the show to put himself in the clear after he had caused the accident?” he asked calmly.

“Well… I can’t rule out that possibility, but…”

She bit her lip once more.

“Please consider the possibility that he provided me this information as a favor.”

He encountered her clean and faithful eyes.

Her eyes showed she believed in his goodwill. Marianne would always check somebody’s background first, which was something he didn’t realize or didn’t want to see.

“Marianne, who do you think is behind this accident?”

At his random question, she pondered for a while and then opened her mouth.

“Well, it is a vicious and evil person who wouldn’t care even if you and your entourage were injured.”

He could not help but laugh at her reply unconsciously.

She immediately frowned and made a sullen expression.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Oh, I just…I just felt the way you express your opinion was a little different.”

A vicious and evil person? He admired her ability to describe her political enemy simply and clearly in this way.

“Don’t you think so? The suspect didn’t target your wagon alone. He put all of us in danger. Even if the suspect is included in your entourage, he or she is definitely an evil person. The suspect caused this accident at the risk of their life.”

“Okay. I agree with you. So, I think it’s unlikely that there is a suspect among the important men accompanying me on this journey.”

“Really? You don’t think the marquise could have plotted this accident at the risk of her own life?”

With her sparkling eyes, she asked this after he agreed with her. It had been a long time since he did that.

“For now, I mean. Of course, I’m bothered by the wounds on Mrs. Chester’s neck…”

Eckart put the bit d of anesthetic grass he had been rolling with his fingertips back into the glass bottle. As if he was lost in thought, he slowly touched the mouth of the bottle with his slender fingers.

“If she had been behind the accident, she never would have answered my question that way. She is not the type of woman who hides her weapon.”

There was something cold and terrible in his remarks.

“Mrs. Chester first raised someone’s involvement in this accident, assuming there were those involved and those responsible. In other words, she put more weight on the premeditated scheme than an accident.”

Marianne recalled her encounter with her a few hours ago.

Like he said, Mrs. Chester wanted to ‘reveal’ rather than ‘hide’ as far as the accident was concerned. Of course the way she revealed something was indirect. The fact that she messed up the recent ball by releasing a poisonous snake showed how blatant her tactic was.

“Besides, she didn’t have any exit out of her conviction. If she had known the ins and outs of this accident, she would certainly have secured a surefire exit to ensure her survival. At that moment, I realized that she didn’t know exactly who was responsible for the accident.”

Accordingly, there was only one thing which was close to “hiding” in her remarks.

In other words, her speculation about the true culprit. And her answer to the question of who really planned this terrible thing.

“Do you have any idea who might have planned this?” She asked.

“Well, if I can guess…”

Eckart recalled the figures of the anti-Eckart force one by one except for Mrs. Chester.

Ober who would choose the throne rather than his blood. Duke Hubble who wouldn’t care at all even if he lost all the people heading for Roshan. Count Lonestat who failed to install daughter Roxanne as the emperor’s wife. Count McMillan who might have had malice because of his sudden demotion. And those aristocrats in provincial areas who persistently opposed the new emperor and sided with Duke Hubble and Marquis Chester. Cabinet members who opposed the emperor. Attendants and maids included in the entourage.

If only one of them would be the true culprit, that would be a good thing. But there was a low probability that many were involved in the accident.

It might even have been committed by some of the aristocrats who seemed to be loyal to the imperial family.

“… I think it’s faster to pick someone that I don’t have to doubt.”

Having said that, he smiled bitterly. Ironically, the only person who had betrayed for too long could have made such remarks.

While listening to him, Curtis and Kloud couldn’t hide their sad expressions.

Marianne also cast down her eyes in that heavy and dreary atmosphere.

She could not understand how Eckart tested Iric by throwing a sword at him the day when he first visited the Elior Mansion. She thought back then that he acted excessively because she lived a life that was more accustomed to goodwill than evil as well as trust than betrayal. It was because she thought there needn’t be many conditions to trust and value people.

“The battlefield you must survive in the future is not a fake threat like this.”

But now, she could understand Eckart’s obsession with distrust to some extent.

In her opinion, he must have been faced with a ”real threat’ just like when he was stranded just few days ago rather than a ‘fake threat.’ And that for a long time, he had been dealing with some terrible things she couldn’t even imagine.

“Faith does not guarantee your life on the battlefield.”

He must have spent lots of days when he found it so hard to survive with naive faith or good faith. He would have been better off if he had been betrayed by love like her, or just deprived of power. Didn’t he hover between life and death when he was faced with the sharp sword right under his chin? If he did, why did he have such a lonely and dark expression every time he was faced with that?

“Marianne!”

She barely raised her head when he called her.

“You may feel sorry about what I have to say, but I don’t think we’ll be able to identify the true culprit of this accident.”

“…I guess you think it’s hard to find clear evidence.”

“You bet.” Eckart nodded slowly.

“Two days have passed since the accident occurred. Most of the traces of the accident must have been erased. Since the incident was so big that you and I went missing, the knights must have focused more on the search than on the cause of the accident. The suspect must have had enough time to take care of it.”

He stroked the glass bottle containing the anesthetic grass remnants over and over with his slender fingers.

“We were fortunate to obtain this evidence, but it won’t be conclusive evidence. After all, it must be a man who mixed anesthesia grass with the horse feed. One of the servants might have done so.”

Then he clenched the small bottle in his fist. Blue veins stood out from the back of his white hand as if they were angry.

“Well, I can summon all the servants in charge of the horse feed during the journey and interrogate them. Of course I can appease them by picking some of them for punishment and telling them I would forgive those who confess first. Suppose that a scared person confesses in the process. That could be a good option for us.”

Marianne slowly blinked her green eyes at his remarks.

“In that case, the suspect can name the person who gave him an order.”

“Right. And if we find the guy with that name, the guy will mention another name. The next guy will cite another name. At the end of the day, you might hear the name of the real culprit who planned this evil scheme.”

His method of investigation was the most basic and surefire method on the assumption that all those who were given the order would confess willingly. Furthermore, not any one of the suspects should have been killed or gone missing.