"Azriel," a familiar voice called, and I rubbed my eyes to see the blurry image of the one calling my name. It's been a while since I got some sleep, and now someone's bothering me.

“Hey, wake up. We need to talk,” I gathered my energy to pull myself up and sat on my bed, still feeling sleepy. The voice became closer, and before I knew it, the person already held my cheek. It was a warm, gentle touch. Am I seeing things?

“Thyra?” I blinked, and I rubbed my eyes again to confirm if what I’m seeing is real.

“Yes, dummy. I was only gone for around a week, and you can no longer recognize me? Jerk.” Her words sounded quite insulting, but I know it’s not something meant to be offensive. It was my first time hearing her say words like that, making it feel strange.

“I thought you were in Eurhyia. Any news?” I asked, ignoring her insults.

“Isn’t that supposed to be my line? I had the thought that I should check on you so, something happened, correct?” she sat next to me on the bed, but I couldn’t see her facial expression clearly.

"I'm really sleepy, but long story short, Zera placed some liquid mercury in my mother's bath. That poisoned her since she inhaled the mercury's vapor without her knowing, and she's in critical condition right now. I almost lost my sanity and I interrogated the servants too, and I’ll deal with House Chavalleve by tomorrow.”

“Who’s Zera? And how did the duchy got involved? Don’t be reckless. You can’t just attack a duke’s house just like that. That will cause a civil war, and other nobilities will hear and get affected by the issue. Do you have evidence?"

Now that she put things that way, it made me realize that I don't have solid evidence to punish them just like that because I'm angry. Zera may have admitted her fault, but including the duke would be another story. It's surprising how Thyra catches on quickly given the small details. What can I do without her?

“Zera is an imposter. She’s been acting like she’s Kathrynne all this time, so she had us all fooled. Though she admitted everything, how then can we gather evidence to accuse the duke? She said that she was a slave and was bought since she looked like Kathrynne. The real Kathrynne died eight years ago, having her replaced by Zera. Naturally, the duke will have greater influence when Zera becomes empress. The bottom line is the duke’s greed, and I can’t let that pass. They almost killed the empress,” I ran my fingers into my hair as I recall the things that happened earlier.

Everything was fresh in my mind, but even though my heart is full of rage, my body still demands me to sleep. Why did Thyra come at this time of night anyway? I'm not complaining because I wanted to see her badly but this is just bad timing.

The silence between us makes me even more sleepy, and this is surprisingly a rare experience since sleeping is something I had trouble doing. It can't be because she's here, right?

She clasped her hands once as if an idea popped into her mind.

"Then why don't you use Zera?"

“What’s the use of a criminal? She's more useful to me when she's dead," Thyra slapped my arm, annoyed by my response. She had a ‘how can you say something stupid?’ expression.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

And I still don’t understand what she’s implying. I’m too sleepy to think.

"Use her. I mean, at this point I'm sure you already threatened her since you're overflowing with anger. Think of it this way – she wants to get spared, and she'll follow your orders for that to be possible. She may not be the duke's real daughter, but she has access to the Chavalleve manor. You can send her there to look for documents that can be used as evidence. If the duke did something like that, I'm sure there will be more crimes they're doing behind the empress' back. Are you getting me now?”

“I still don’t trust her. But if I’ll use my power to make her obey me, she’ll do everything I’ll say just fine,” her words are making sense to me now. But the big question of what she’s doing here is yet to be answered.

“I’ll do all of those because your suggestions are more reasonable than mine but … how did you end up here at this time of day as if you sensed that I’m struggling with something?”

“That’s –”

A blinding light appeared out of nowhere and faded as quickly as how it came. Only then I realized that the blinding rays of the sun were already shining through the window.

It’s … morning?

Everything was just a dream, but it all felt real. It was vivid enough for me to remember the things that Thyra advised, and I'll do exactly as she said. I can't think of any better solution than that. Executing the duke without evidence will indeed cause commotion and civil war. But if I'll have Zera search for evidence in their house, things will work better.

Words won’t be enough to describe how much I hate her, but I can’t imagine myself punishing her the way how I threatened everyone the other day. It's not because I'm worried that I'll be called a hypocrite, but being guilty would be my next problem if I’ll continue following what I feel is best.

I lay myself back on the bed, supporting my head with my arms as I look at the ceiling.

Thyra, you may not be here, but seeing you in my dream will suffice for now. Especially this moment when I needed you most.

──•~❉᯽❉~•──

Zera entered my study as I told one of my servants to bring her in since Ruford had his day off. Her hand was over the other, and she couldn't look me in the eyes out of fear.

“I gave everything some thought last night, and if you want your life spared, you have to follow what I’ll ask of you,” Zera raised her head, her lifeless eyes had a glimpse of hope in them.

"You'll go back to the Chavalleve manor, and look for evidence that can be used against the duke. I can't just punish him without evidence, for that will cause civil war and it will leave a question to other people in high society. Since you're the one who started revealing things, dig deeper. If you’ll see suspicious transactions, documents, or anything that can be evidence – bring them to me. I guarantee that your life can be spared once you accomplish that. However,” I paused, giving her a sharp look. “You’ll be exiled from the empire, not just Marrossi alone. It’s far from fair, don’t you think? Because you almost killed the empress, and we’re not even sure how long will it take for her to be cured, or if it’s even possible. But if the empress dies, your punishment would be different. Unfortunately, the second one will cost you your life. I won’t tell you the further, so just pray that things will go well so that no one gets hurt.”

“I will do as you ordered, Your Highness. Thank you for giving me a chance,” Zera lowered her head, her face slightly covered with her hair. “Duke Walchelin is a secretive person, and he has a violent nature – just as how his father was as if violence runs in the family. Aside from that, I overheard him funding doctors who are doing human experiments, but I’m not sure where they’re doing all of those. I don’t know what else but I’ll see what I can find.”

Human experiments? Now, this is new. How crazy can someone get? I don’t even want to think about it. I hope I can put all of this to an end.

“Try not to get caught. It would be better if the evidence available can also point out those people involved in human experiments. Act normally when you visit the duke’s manor tomorrow, like a daughter visiting her father. I’ll send a messenger to inform him of your visit. That’s all, you’re dismissed.”