“We can’t confirm with these letters alone if the Bride is still supporting him, but even after her engagement with the Groom was announced, she was still sending him money.”
“Did they talk about anything else?”
“Oh, those two talked plenty about many things. It will take me some time to go through every letter in detail.”
Me and Kaduna walked behind the Bride, our steps rushed and hasty.
“What can you tell me now?”
She sighed. “Little of importance. The prince confided in her his desire to become the heir instead of his brother, and she supported his ideals.”
“Can you confirm they are lovers?”
“I can confirm their affection for each other. As for concrete evidence…”
I sighed, nodding a few times. “Yes, I understand. Can you keep reading them? And if you find something—”
“I will inform you, worry not.” Though both her smile and voice brimmed with confidence and assurance, I could not stop myself from worrying.
There were too many variables.
The coup.
The Bride and Groom unhappiness.
The relationship between the Bride and the 2nd prince.
Why would the Trial provide all this information for us if we were not to use it? All the unimportant documents had been translated so that we could read them, yet every piece of paper that contained sensitive information was in the strange language only Kaduna could read.
That was not a coincidence. It couldn’t be.
I had contacted Hil a few more times and was not surprised when she told me there had been five more attempts to poison the food. The mercenaries, they were growing desperate. Which meant they would definitely make a move during the reception.
[Yappy Dog is barking at you]
And apparently, I was not the only one who thought so.
[Do you wish to listen?]
I pressed ‘No’. I didn’t know if the system would keep sending me these notifications even after I used the skill since it was usable once per day. Being notified like this was almost better than listening to the actual premonition.
When he got to the Wedding Hall, I could see the Groom greeting every guest who entered the space. There were flower arcs and bouquets, with fabrics hanging from walls and columns. Aída and the Design Squad had done a great job, indeed.
As the Bride and Groom found each other, they acknowledged each other with a short bow, and that was it. While the Groom continued to greet the guests, the Bride strolled through the hall and talked with others. Apart from the servants and waiters, every single person had their features and bodies concealed by the flames and shadows.
But I was not paying attention to the guests.
[Yappy Dog is barking at you]
And apparently, I was not the only one who thought so.
[Do you wish to listen?]
I pressed ‘No’. I didn’t know if the system would keep sending me these notifications even after I used the skill since it was usable once per day. Being notified like this was almost better than listening to the actual premonition.
When he got to the Wedding Hall, I could see the Groom greeting every single guest that entered the space. There were flower arcs and bouquets, with fabrics hanging from walls and columns. Aída and the Design Squad had done a great job, indeed.
As the Bride and Groom found each other, they acknowledged each other with a short bow, and that was it. While the Groom continued to greet the guests, the Bride strolled through the hall and talked with others. Apart from the servants and waiters, every single person had their features and bodies concealed by the flames and shadows.
But I was not paying attention to the guests.
[Yappy Dog is barking at you]
I could see humans standing near the columns, some talking in pairs while others observed the surroundings in silence. What truly caught my attention, however, was the flames that poured out some of them.
I found Kurosawa with ease, standing only a few meters away from the Groom. The moment I stopped by his side, he spoke with a cold voice.
“If you have nothing useful to say, don’t bother.”
Employer of the year, he is not.
“There was another attack on the Bride, before we got here.”
“And there will be another soon.”
I raised my brows. “You saw?”
The way Kurosawa scoffed managed to be more condescending than his tone.
“You would have to be blind to miss it. I already informed the rest of my Squad, we are keeping a close eye on the impostors.”
“Hil told me there were more poisoning attempts in the Kitchen.”
“I am aware of this as well, so unless you have nothing else to share—”
“Yet apparently, after they analyzed the poison, they found out it was a non-lethal toxin.”
Kurosawa glared at me, his eyes turning even darker.
“This is of little importance to us.”
“The Bride is supporting the coup.”
“I don’t care.”
There was no way to hide the frustration in my voice as I spoke in low whispers. “Something is going on, something the Trial is trying to conceal from us. Making it harder to piece the clues together.”
The man got closer to me, his voice a stubborn block of ice.
“Again, I don’t care. We follow the Trial’s rules and complete the objective, and we survive. It’s just as simple.”
I clenched my fists, taking one step closer to him, or faces inches away from each other.
“If we had done that on the First Trial, none of us would’ve survived.” Kurosawa’s expression turned sour, angrier. I didn’t stop. “Not even once we were penalized for investigating the coup, just like weren’t penalized when we used our skills in during the Tower Defense.”
“Yet this is not the First Trial, is it?” Every single word he spoke burned, his anger matching my own. “We barely have Trials to compare with. From the one we completed before coming to this isle, to the previous two—every single case has been different. Their rules, their requirements, their conclusions. How can you be sure the same consequences will apply to this one? That we will be safe even with all this meddling?”
“How can you be sure we won’t?”
At that point we were almost at each other’s throats, our faces almost touching.
Someone cleared their throat, making both of us turn around. Standing only a few steps from us, with some documents on her hands, was Aída.
“Sorry for disturbing your conversation, but I had to give you these.” As her gaze locked on mine, I grabbed the small pile, my eyes already going over the contents.
I couldn’t read any of them, and that fact alone made me smile.
I need to bring those to Kaduna as well.
“Are you helping him?” By the way Kurosawa asked her, it was almost as if Aída had insulted his parents.
“Of course. Why shouldn’t I? We are all trying to survive together.”
The man narrowed his eyes. “We guarantee our survival by following the Trial’s rules.”
Aída’s voice became softer, her smile kinder.
“Cap, I know how great you are. I also know how you are doing your best. But after everything that happened, you could place your trust in us as well.”
He scoffed, glancing away. “Only a fool trust others blindly.”
“That, I agree,” I mumbled, my attention divided between them and the documents Aída gave me.
She let out a short sigh. “Sure, I agree with you. But weren’t you the one who chose to bring Eun-Woo to our group? You told me he showed promise.”
I raised my eyebrows, lifting my gaze just in time to see Kurosawa looking at me before he averted his eyes.
“Showing promise does not equal being reliable enough to be trusted. A mistake could cost all our lives.”
“Well, I trust him. So you should trust him a bit more too, cap.”
Her declaration was so sudden, it caught me off guard. Even if she had said the same thing to me, only a few moments ago, to hear her speak these words in front of Kurosawa Touma almost as if in defiance…
It made the blood rush to my face.
For a few seconds, Kurosawa said nothing, his eyes shifting from Aída’s to mine. As if he was thinking. Pondering on whether he should finally listen to me or not. The man opened his mouth, the words almost leaving his lips.
Then his expression became grim, his hand going for potions in his pockets.
“You two, stay close to the Bride. It’s starting.”
I didn’t even have to ask what he was talking about. When I turned, I saw the hidden mercenaries approaching. And in that moment, it became quite clear the 2nd prince had spared no effort with this operation.
[Yappy Dog is barking at you]
For their numbers were way higher than what I had previously anticipated.
[Do you wish to listen?]