Ch.170Somehow… #5

After Anderson fully accepted what Helena said, he carried out the task quietly and meticulously to ensure the king wouldn’t notice. This was thanks to his understanding of our intention that things would become more complicated if the king caught wind of it.

Finding the servant from Viscount Anderson’s household who had provided the food was easy, but what came next was the problem. We needed to determine whether it was truly a mistake, if he had been instructed to do it, or if it was motivated by personal grudge.

“P-please… spare my life! I-I was wrong!”

When we crossed the kingdom’s border and entered the imperial territory, a man knelt inside the carriage, begging. He was the one who had handed the poisoned ingredients to Hans—an ordinary-looking man named John.

“Spare me… please spare me…”

Spare me. Helena muttered the same words several times with a cold gaze, then raised her bowed head to stare down at the kneeling John. With her usual temperament, she would have immediately put a knife to his throat regardless of the reason, but having cooled down somewhat, she showed a composed demeanor. Perhaps it was largely because she had overcome the poisoning incident without nearly dying as she had in the past.

Nevertheless, she didn’t seem inclined to let this go easily.

“Whether it was a mistake or intentional… because of the poisoned ingredients you provided, my husband nearly suffered serious harm. How grave a crime this is… I hardly need to explain.”

“Ugh, uuugh…”

When Helena narrowed her eyes and glared at him, John broke into a cold sweat and trembled violently. It was understandable, as even Ellen sitting beside him felt the pressure. An ordinary person couldn’t possibly stand up to the intimidating presence of a Sword Master or a mercenary hardened by years of war.

“Yes. You seem to understand that this is a crime so severe that you deserve death, so you must pay the price. However, before that, answer my questions honestly. If I detect even a drop of falsehood in your answers…”

“Y-yes! How could I dare lie in this situation! I-I’ll tell you everything!”

John shouted with desperate sincerity, perhaps thinking he might survive if he answered the questions. Though still trembling with fear, a glimmer of hope shone in his eyes. Perhaps he believed that if he provided the answers she wanted, she would spare him, even though she had made no such promise.

“Good. Tell me in detail how you came to poison my husband.”

As soon as Helena gave her permission, John’s lips parted, but after hearing the whole story, I felt rather deflated. I had considered everything from assassination attempts to simple mistakes, but the conclusion turned out to be truly a simple mistake.

The circumstances were as follows:

Sprouted potatoes contain a poison called solanin, but normally, if you cleanly cut away the sprouted parts, you can eat them without any problem. The people here don’t know the poison is called solanin, but they do know that the sprouted parts are poisonous.

However, a few potatoes that hadn’t been properly processed were mixed in, and John claimed he had given them to us without knowing. They had looked clean on the surface.

Of course, this conclusion assumes John was telling the complete truth, but there seemed no reason to doubt him. Could he possibly lie while suffocating under the pressure—the killing intent—exerted by Helena and Ellen? I didn’t think so.

Moreover, seeing that the two women, with their sharper intuition than mine, said nothing, made me more certain of this conclusion.

“If what he says is true, I can’t say I’m without blame…”

It was hard to believe there were sprouted potatoes and that they weren’t properly processed… but I couldn’t say I was blameless either. By this continent’s standards, I would certainly be innocent, but as a cook, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had failed to properly check the ingredients.

So I subtly conveyed to Helena my wish for her to reduce John’s punishment.

“…I’ll think about it until tomorrow.”

Perhaps because of that, Helena showed hesitation and sighed briefly. While her saying she would think about it didn’t necessarily mean a positive outcome, seeing her sharp demeanor soften gave me some hope.

.

“Haaah…”

A few hours after asking for time to think, Helena sighed briefly as she gazed at the setting sun from the desolate campsite. Regardless of the reason, she desperately wanted to stab him to death right away, but it was difficult to refuse Jion’s request not to kill him.

The disconnect between reason and instinct. That was why Helena was sighing now, and why she couldn’t easily reach a conclusion.

“What should I do about this?”

“Well… since the Grand Duke asked you not to kill him, I don’t think you can just kill him outright.”

While most people here were busy preparing dinner or setting up tents, there were some who had leisure. The king, who was treated as the most honored guest, was one; Helena, who guarded him, was another; and Ellen, who had been called to follow Helena, was yet another.

“Even if it was a problem caused by improper potato preparation, poison is poison. And the poison in potatoes is nothing to scoff at. To feed such poison…”

“Of course, if the Grand Duke had been suffering from that poison, his head would have been long gone. But thanks to the magic item, we got through it without incident. Still, I suppose that makes it difficult to determine the appropriate level of punishment?”

She was grateful that, thanks to the magic item, she didn’t have to witness such a terrible sight as that day. Still, punishment must be given for providing something poisonous.

Helena nodded silently, contemplating how to punish John.

“Even so, I still intend to punish him. Even if it was a mistake, or rather, precisely because it was a mistake, we can’t just let it go. Especially when it comes to poison.”

“Well… that’s true.”

Having heard from Helena about what happened to Jion when he was young, Ellen understood her feelings well. She was certain that if she were in Helena’s position, she too would need to see the culprit’s blood to be satisfied. Especially since the delegation that came for the friendship treaty was from the Empire, and the negligence happened to manifest as poison.

Nevertheless, Ellen outwardly insisted that bloodshed should be avoided if possible. She didn’t want to make things messy. Moreover, she had heard Jion’s wish to end this quietly.

“Still, as I said earlier, you must avoid bloodshed. You’re planning to have a child next year, after all.”

“…A child.”

At the mention of a child, Helena recalled what Jion had said—that they should postpone having a child until next year because he couldn’t bear to conceive while covered in the blood of the many lives he had taken, even if it was unavoidable.

“Yes, a child. You said you wanted to cleanse your body for the remaining days to have a child, remember?”

“That’s right. I had forgotten in the heat of the moment.”

“I’m glad you remembered now.”

I thought the Grand Duke had persuaded her to change her mind about having a child, but it seems the second option remains unchanged.

Ellen briefly wondered if Helena would have enough maternal instinct to have a child, but she smiled wryly, thinking she wasn’t in a position to judge. While it was natural to cherish and love one’s own child, she thought it would never surpass the love Helena had for Jion.

“Cleanly, cleanly…”

Though still unsatisfied, Helena concluded that for now, the best option was to make him suffer without killing him, to make him realize his sin. She pondered how to do this, repeatedly muttering “cleanly” with her gaze lowered. Suddenly, as if struck by a good idea, she raised her head with sparkling eyes.

“Ellen. I think I’ll need your help. It might be quite troublesome.”

“It seems you’ve thought of something good. Tell me.”

When Ellen asked with curious interest, Helena eagerly shared the thoughts she had organized in her mind. It was the best method Helena could think of—one that would punish him sufficiently without bloodshed while also relieving her pent-up resentment.

My goodness. After carefully listening to Helena’s explanation, Ellen asked with her mouth slightly open, clearly showing surprise.

“Wow… how did you come up with the idea of directly cutting off his breath?”

“It occurred to me because you can control wind, and by extension, air. Anyway, it will need to be done continuously from morning to night… is that okay?”

“I don’t think it will be too difficult. I can take breaks as needed.”

There was still a long journey to the imperial capital, and the agony of having one’s breath cut off and restored throughout that long time would be indescribable. It would surely inflict suffering equal to, or perhaps greater than, being stabbed all over the body with a knife. As long as one lives on this earth, one cannot help but breathe, and without it, death comes in less than five minutes.

Of course, some people can hold their breath for more than five minutes. Superhuman Helena was one such person, as was Ellen, who would torment John by controlling the air.

But John, who would endure this torment, was an ordinary person, so they needed to carefully establish the parameters to keep him alive. One mistake could truly kill him.

“You’re going to… prevent him from breathing?”

“Yes. I’ve decided to start today. Every day will be torturous for him until we reach the imperial capital.”

After the discussion, Jion inwardly gasped when he heard Helena’s decision during dinner. He had expected something to happen when she and Ellen went off to talk privately, but the conclusion was beyond his imagination.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t oppose it, as it was a decision Helena had made while suppressing her anger. He couldn’t oppose for the sake of opposing, especially without a better alternative.

“Such torture for hours will put a great strain on his body. You know that, right?”

“Yes, I know. That’s why I asked Ellen to be careful. She was also very angry, so she’ll be quite enthusiastic about it.”

There’s a torture method where a wet paper is placed over the face to block breathing, but to recreate that with magic in such a simple yet cruel way…

Jion swallowed dryly at the idea, but thought it might be better than physical damage. The man would suffer great mental trauma, but he had to pay a price after all.

“…Alright. If that’s your decision, I won’t say anything. Just promise me you won’t kill him.”

“I know. Taking his life would be no different from getting blood on my hands. You can rest easy…”

Helena held Jion’s hand tightly and smiled, then suddenly widened her eyes as if she had just realized something.

“Oh, by the way, I don’t want you to see that man suffering… would you mind riding in Viscount Anderson’s or the king’s carriage for a while?”

Even if Jion agreed now, his compassionate nature might make him change his mind if he saw John writhing on the floor. Helena thought this, intending to watch the deserving man suffer where Jion couldn’t see.

However, for Jion, riding in the Viscount’s or king’s carriage would be even more torturous, so he decided to sit on the coachman’s seat next to Hans.

“I’ll stay on the coachman’s seat. Riding in the same carriage as the Viscount or the king would be too uncomfortable.”

“Hmm… if that’s the case, I can’t help it. Alright.”

The coachman’s seat wouldn’t be very comfortable, but she couldn’t force him into a situation that would make him mentally uncomfortable.

Helena nodded, respecting Jion’s decision, and soon began imagining John’s face as he would writhe inside the carriage.