Chapter 19: Poison – 2

‘Be careful with food.’

I chewed over the note as I split the firewood.

Thwack!

The note, which had been secretly passed to me, had already been burned to ashes, but I could still vividly recall it as if it were still in my hand.

Since receiving the note, I had been searching for the maid who delivered it.

However, she vanished like a mirage, and I couldn’t find her anywhere.

I don’t know.

Maybe the person who gave me the note wasn’t a maid.

Perhaps it was someone pretending to be a maid.

“…Hah.”

My head was a mess.

That brief piece of advice was causing me a great deal of conflict.

The more conflicted I felt, the more force I put into swinging the axe.

Thwack!

First of all, who would give me such advice?

There was no one on this land who would side with me.

Unless I am dead, no one will care for me.

Unless they were afraid my father would trample this land if I died and were advising me out of fear?

…But my father wouldn’t trample this land just for me.

He might be able to crush Rondor, but he wouldn’t take on the Delrum Kingdom beyond it.

If we and Ronder went to war again, it would mean mutual destruction.

My father wouldn’t make that choice.

Of course, Ronder didn’t know this, and only I, who knew my father’s personality, was aware of it.

Or was it a spy from the Alan family trying to help me?

That doesn’t make sense.

If there had been such a plan, my father would have given me a hint before I left.

Next, the phrase “be careful with food” was also vague.

Was it advising me to be cautious because spoiled food might be served, or was it warning me that someone was preparing to poison me?

The former seemed like a ridiculous delusion, but with the limited information I had, I couldn’t figure anything out.

And if it was implying poison, does it even make sense that this information would reach me?

Such a plan would likely be prepared in utmost secrecy.

To make matters worse, I belonged to the punishment unit.

We generally scooped food from a giant trough, ladling it into wooden bowls, one scoop at a time.

There was no way to be careful.

Unless they intended to kill all the child soldiers in the punishment unit, they couldn’t just poison me alone.

Even if they tried, others would start collapsing one by one before I could eat, making it unlikely that I’d consume the food at all.

“Hah.”

I figured it was most likely that the note was a prank.

Maybe someone just wanted to make my life more uncomfortable.

…But dismissing it as a prank left me feeling uneasy, especially since this was Rondor’s territory.

I picked up the firewood I had chopped and headed to the forge.

Gulk, the chief blacksmith, nodded as he saw me.

“Alan, you’re here. Leave the wood over there.”

Thud!

I dumped the wood from the cart into the forge.

The forge was already bustling with activity.

The inside was dim, but the glowing flames of the furnace lit up the surroundings in a reddish hue.

The warm heat pushed the cold air outside.

At the center of the forge was a massive bellows.

One of the apprentice blacksmiths, drenched in sweat, wiped his forehead and kept working the bellows for his senior blacksmiths.

The smell of burning metal mixed with charcoal smoke, making the air suffocating.

But the things created here were what sustained Rondor.

Farm tools, weapons, and various other instruments.

Gulk, having nothing else to do, approached me and asked.

“The heat’s something, isn’t it?”

He was one of the few who hadn’t seen my execution.

He was so easygoing that he didn’t bother with other people’s rumors.

Because of that, he was one of the few people who didn’t harbor much hostility toward me.

“Indeed.”

I replied.

I treated people like him with respect as well.

I didn’t want to push away even those who didn’t show hostility toward me.

I was already overwhelmed dealing with the others.

I said.

“You seem quite busy.”

“It’s because of the march. Everything needs to be ready before it starts.”

“A march?”

“You didn’t hear?”

Gulk looked surprised.

Well, I had been so busy resting by the river for the past month that I hadn’t paid attention.

He explained.

“Lady Vivian has turned fourteen, so she’s decided to march around the territory. During that time, she plans to distribute farm tools and various other items to the people for free. Those farm tools we’re making now, you know.”

A march, huh?

I suppose it’s a way to reinforce her responsibility and authority as a ruler.

Even the Alan family occasionally held marches.

Especially when my younger siblings were born.

But above all, the main purpose of such an event was to manage the people’s discontent.

From that perspective, giving away farm tools was a good choice.

“Was giving out farm tools Vivian’s idea?”

“How would I know whose idea it was? But Lady Vivian herself came down and gave the order. She’s got a kind heart. It’s a pity she’s all alone.”

“…And where did the iron come from?”

“They cut down on unnecessary furniture in the castle. Iron candlesticks, tongs, things like that. Ah, and they even took some armour from the knights and melted it down.”

I stared at the heat rising from the forge.

Suddenly, I recalled Vivian’s words.

She said she would torment me later, didn’t she?

I don’t know how, but she did say she would.

It must be because of this march.

There’s no way they wouldn’t use me.

The best way to ease the people’s discontent wouldn’t be distributing farm tools; it would be publicly humiliating me.

Thinking back to the day I first arrived on this land, it was obvious.

“Gulk! Stop slacking off and get back here to help!”

One of the blacksmiths called out in a gruff voice from inside.

Most of the blacksmiths’ voices were raspy from dealing with the smoke.

“Yeah, I’m coming!”

Gulk looked at me and said,.

“You should head back. Thanks for your help, Sir Alan.”

I nodded and turned to leave, but I paused, bothered by a nagging feeling.

“…Gulk?”

“What is it?”

‘Be careful with food.’

That relentless piece of advice kept coming to mind.

“Could I have a piece of charcoal?”

***

I entered the punishment unit’s dining hall for dinner.

Inside, it was already bustling with people eating.

I lined up at the back of the queue to receive my meal.

A boy in front of me glanced at me and stepped back, widening the distance between us.

It was a familiar sense of distance.

Thud!

“Hey.”

Just then, someone slapped me on the back.

There were only three people in the punishment unit who would approach me.

Valon, Wallace and Martin.

Valon, who had lost some weight from recent harsh training, spoke.

“We’ve been waiting for you. Where were you?”

By now, I had grown accustomed to smiling wryly at them.

“I had some things to take care of.”

Despite me never telling them, they always waited to eat with me.

It was a strange kind of dedication.

As a former noble, I didn’t have many friends my own age.

And even when I did, there was always an invisible hierarchy that prevented me from truly relaxing around them.

Perhaps that’s why I hadn’t fully understood the concept of friendship, but these three were starting to show me a glimpse of what it might feel like.

Wallace, shaking his curly orange hair, pointed to my back pocket.

“Kailo, what’s that?”

Lately, these guys had been calling me by name.

I didn’t mind it much.

I looked at what he was pointing to and answered.

“Charcoal.”

“Why?”

“I might need it for something.”

“Planning to draw?”

“Do I look like I’d draw?”

“I heard nobles all know how to.”

“Well, the women do.”

“Do you think Lady Vivian can draw, then?”

I scratched my neck.

If she’d grown up as a normal noble lady, probably?

But as the head of the family and as busy as she was now, I wasn’t sure if she would’ve learned something like that.

Unable to come up with an answer, I just shrugged at Wallace.

The line ahead of us shortened, and we prepared to receive our meals.

I kept a close eye on today’s servers as they served the food, watching for anything strange when it was my turn.

Thud.

First, I was handed a wooden bowl.

I carefully examined the inside of the bowl.

If there was liquid, I checked if it felt sticky, whether it was just water, by touching it directly.

Martin, watching me, said.

“…You’ve been doing that since yesterday, haven’t you?”

“Mind your own business.”

Next was the spoon.

I inspected it in the same way, turning it around and checking if anything suspicious was stuck on it that could resemble poison.

Then came the food.

As the server scooped what I called “dog food” with a ladle, I carefully watched to see if it was served the same way as the food given to the person in front of me.

I kept an eye on whether anything was added.

I scrutinized them to see if they looked nervous or suspicious while serving me.

I couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary.

I took my meal and sat down at the long dining table, choosing an empty spot.

Wallace, Valon, and Martin followed me.

“You’ve been acting weird since yesterday.”

Valon said, tilting his head.

“It wasn’t just since yesterday. It’s been since the execution.”

Wallace replied.

“That’s not what I meant. You’ve definitely been acting strange since yesterday. Smiling to yourself, fiddling with your utensils.”

Smiling to myself was probably because I’d been thinking about Vivian, and fiddling with the utensils was obviously because of the poison.

I shook my head to dismiss their concerns.

“Forget it. Just eat.”

As I was about to eat… I couldn’t easily bring myself to lift the spoon.

I hesitated because of that tiny possibility.

I never imagined not being able to eat comfortably would be such an inconvenience.

I even lost my appetite.

Valon, sensing something, said.

“If you’re not going to eat, just give it to me.”

“I’m going to eat.”

I scooped up some food and put it in my mouth.

It wasn’t until I had taken a few more bites that I could shake off the suspicion that it might be poisoned.

As I continued eating, Martin nudged my arm with his elbow.

“Hey, Kailo. Did you hear about that?”

“?”

“They’re saying we’ll march to the territory in about ten days. Our punishment unit is included too.”

Willas flicked Martin on the head.

“Of course Kailo knows that. The one who’s going to get yelled at the most during that march is Kailo.”

I ignored Wallace and sided with Martin.

But Martin, realizing he hadn’t thought about the part where I’d get scolded, stammered with a guilty expression.

Since it wasn’t his fault anyway, I continued the conversation.

“So, what’s the deal?”

“No, I just found out today too.”

“…Oh, I just thought it might be interesting since we’ll be touring the territory soon. But then I remembered, you probably won’t find it fun.”

Valon sighed.

“I wonder if I’ll get to see my siblings. It’d be nice if I could exchange a few words with them.”

Wallace, seemingly unwilling to talk about family, quickly changed the subject.

“By the way, what’s the point of this march?”

I answered nonchalantly.

“Honestly, it’s already overdue.”

“Why?”

“…The head of the house has changed, but she has not shown her face to the people of the territory even once. Maybe it’s because of that, but she is still living in a pathetic state, being disrespected.”

Wallace glanced at me nervously and spoke up.

“…The part about living pathetically is just your opinion, right? Don’t drag us into it.”

I didn’t respond.

“So, basically, this march is an event to clearly show the people of Locatana who the head of Rondor is?”

“That’s part of it, I guess…”

Hmm?

It was an obvious statement, but something about it caught in my mind.

What was it?

The thought slipped away before I could grasp it.

“…Kailo?”

“Oh. It’s nothing. Anyway, yeah, something like that.”

I tried, but ended up leaving some of the food on my plate.

Even though I knew it wasn’t poisoned, the thought of the possibility had killed my appetite.

For some reason, the food tasted worse than usual today too.

Feeling unsettled, I entered Rondor’s castle.

I was looking for the maid who had given me the note.

I didn’t know if she’d be there.

Even if I found her, I didn’t expect her to have any answers.

Still, it made me feel better to take some kind of action.

As I wandered through the castle, I encountered a few of Rondor’s retainers.

“…So, to Count Korod…”

“Br-Brynden…”

Brynden, who had been talking with a maid, stopped midsentence when he saw me.

He patted the maid on the shoulder and said.

“Anyway, just pass that along.”

Then, like a cockroach scattering, the treasurer quickly left the scene.

Nestor, the spymaster, gave me the same reaction.

“…A report, just in case… Oh, Kailo Alan, do you have a hobby of eavesdropping on others?”

“…Did you have a conversation you didn’t want overheard?”

“I just don’t want to share any information with the Alan family.”

Then the knights, guards, and maids…

Whenever they saw me, they all shut their mouths.

As Nestor had said, part of it was probably because I was a stranger and part of the Alan family.

But beyond that, there was a strange unease in the air.

There was something peculiar about the retainers of Rondor, something Vivian had mentioned before.

“Kailo Alan.”

Then, I heard a familiar voice.

It was Vivian.

She raised her eyebrows, surprised to see me wandering around the castle.

“…Why are you here?”

Seeing her standing apart from the retainers made her seem even more isolated.

I found myself feeling a reluctant sympathy for her, and I was about to make some excuse and leave… but I ended up telling her the truth.

“I’m looking for a maid. Can you help me?”

“…A maid?”

Vivian looked at me incredulously and asked again.

“Do you not realize… there’s no one here for you to order around?”

“That’s not it, I just have something to ask… Never mind.”

Seeing her expression, I realized there was no point in explaining further.

As I brushed past her without hesitation, Vivian shook her head and walked away.

“Hah.”

But once again, the note I had received came to mind and stopped me in my tracks.

“…Hey.”

At my call, she turned back, slightly frowning.

Should I ask her?

No matter how I thought about it, it seemed like I was overthinking things.

“…You…”

As I hesitated, unable to get the words out, Vivian urged me.

“Spit it out.”

In the end, I blurted it out.

“Do you… eat properly?”

“What?”

Vivian looked at me as if I was some sort of bug.

Her expression twisted into something strange.

She seemed to be misunderstanding.

“…Alan, do you perhaps have some strange ideas about us?”

“Forget it. Never mind. I said something stupid.”

Hating the awkward mood, I waved my hand dismissively and walked away.

Behind me, Vivian muttere.

“What the…?”

Well.

It was my note, so why was I even worried about her food?

Whatever happens, she, unlike me, dines under the care of the maids.

When it comes to poison or whatever, she’d surely have that covered.

Shaking my head, I brushed aside the strange notion.

It was better to focus on my own problems.