Episode 48
By the time I reached for my second piece of bread, Marian broke the brief silence.
āAm I going to die now?ā
āMm. That depends on how much youāre willing to cooperate.ā
āHow kind of you. But I know already. No matter how much I cooperate, itāll be hard to keep my life. Selling out a prince is a crime you canāt repay even with your life.ā
Cough, cough.
I almost spat out the bread I was swallowing. I barely managed to keep it from coming back up, choking and reaching for something to drink. Marian poured juice into a glass and placed it in my hand.
Once I drank it, the lump of bread stuck in my throat went down. Thumping my chest, I tried to think quickly without letting Marian notice.
Sell out⦠who? A prince?
Thereās no prince in the Empire ā the emperorās sons are called imperial princes (hwangja). A prince would be the son of a king. Itās not like some other kingās son would suddenly appear here.
āA prince of Aint?ā
Did she mean she sold off the prince of Aint? For real?
If my guess was correct, then I had found the right Marian after all. And Iād stumbled onto an unexpected jackpot.
I calmed my excitement. I needed a few more questions to be sure.
āWhen did you work at Carrieās Bar?ā
It was a gamble. If this Marian was the Marian, sheād think I really knew everything. But if sheād been talking about something else entirely, Iād be exposed right here.
Marian quietly met my eyes, then let out a small sigh.
āI worked there for three years, starting from when Carrieās Bar first opened ten years ago. Sounds like an excuse, but at first I didnāt know it was a slave-trading den. I thought it was just a tavern. They paid good money even to hire a commoner like me, so I took the job.ā
āā¦And when did you find out about the prince?ā
āI knew of the boyās existence from the start. You couldnāt forget such a beautiful child, even in passing.ā
āDid you know he was a prince?ā
āNo. I swear, I had no idea at first. None of us did. If weād known, we never would have touched him.ā
My heart thumped hard. The more Marian spoke, the more the pieces fit together perfectly.
The prince of Aint really was sold as a slave from Carrieās Bar!
I felt a step closer to the truth ā though that didnāt mean I felt good about it. If sheād known he was a prince, she wouldnāt have touched him? So that meant all the other children who werenāt princes were fair game? She saw them sold into slavery and didnāt bat an eye?
And this woman had been at Mishiās side? What had she been thinking?
I shivered involuntarily.
āBy the time I learned he was a prince, heād already been sold. There was nothing I could do.ā
āSo you entered the Imperial Palace for that reason?ā
āYes. Because the place that bought him was the Imperial Family.ā
The place that purchased the prince was the Imperial Family.
If thatās true, itās obvious who bought him.
If anyone in the palace would buy a slave, it was the same name that had come up when I first dug into Carrieās Bar ā the emperor.
No wonder ten years had passed without incident after the princeās disappearance.
The one who hid him was the emperor himself, who could make the whole thing disappear. Maybe heād only realized the boy was a prince after buying him⦠or maybe heād known from the start and bought him on purpose.
One thing was certain ā the emperor had the prince of Aint in his hands, yet never used him to demand trade advantages or tribute from Aint. It could have been an overwhelming diplomatic weapon ā just as Aint was now leveraging Mishi to form a pact with the imperial crown prince ā but instead, the emperor had chosen to bury the matter entirely.
The reason was obvious: either the prince was dead⦠or the emperor was keeping him for some other purpose.
Other purposes⦠I shook my head before my filthy imagination could run wild.
Marian continued.
She said the reason sheād entered the palace to look for the prince was that she feared if it were ever revealed sheād been involved in his sale, sheād face severe punishment. So sheād joined the palace staff hoping to spirit him away first. While serving at Mishiās side, sheād used her spare time to search for him.
But no matter how hard she searched, she never saw the boy ā of course not. The emperor would have kept him locked deep inside the palace.
Eventually, the years passed, no child appeared, and she heard no rumors of a prince at all. Realizing the empire wouldnāt erupt into chaos, Marian left the palace to open this bakery and live quietly.
Watching her look relieved after spilling everything, I fought back my nausea. Maybe at the very start she hadnāt known Carrieās Bar was a slave den. But she soon learned everything.
And the only thing that had troubled her conscience was the fear she might be punished for selling the prince. All those other children, sold like chattel, didnāt matter to her.
I swallowed my urge to curse her out and finished my juice instead. Now wasnāt the time for insults ā there was still more I needed to know.
āYou were so afraid of punishment you searched for the prince inside the palace ā yet now youāre telling me everything. Youāre not afraid anymore?ā
āNo. I feel relieved. Even if they sentence me to death, I have nothing to say.ā
No.
If sheād gone so far as to enter the palace to look for the prince, this sudden enlightenment made no sense. Baron Barelās man must have said something to her yesterday. Promised to save her life? Told her all the records about Carrieās Bar were erased?
Whatever it was, Marian couldnāt be allowed to think she was safe. I set down my empty glass and fixed her with a steady look.
āIf youāre trusting Marquis Barel, Iām afraid I have bad news.ā
āWhat?ā
āHeās already been stripped of his title ā heās no better than a commoner. No power, no wealth, nothing. Soāā
āā¦ā¦ā
I let my lips curl into a small smile.
āLetās not make fools of each other.ā
I couldnāt tell how much my threat got through, but she did look pensive. Leaving her with the remark that she could come find me at the Marquisate of Metailor if she remembered anything else, I headed back to the palace.
Sheād flinched at the name āMetailor.ā Power really did matter in this world.
Once back in the palace, I went straight to see Marquis Orion. For some reason, the man who normally exuded an almost irritating air of composure was now frantically rifling through files.
āSomething happened?ā
āYeah. Something big.ā
āWas it during Sir Reinolfās trial today?ā
With a sigh, Orion recounted what had happened in court.
Trying to nail Sir Finance by interrogating all the maids had backfired badly.
Now that the name of Count Poison had been mentioned, the incident could no longer be dismissed as a mere personal misconduct among knights. One count accusing another of backing a crime ā this was now a direct confrontation between the emperorās faction and the crown princeās faction.
āWhat about Marian?ā
Even though he was clearly swamped, I couldnāt hide what Iād learned. After I explained everything from start to finish, Orion frowned and swore under his breath.
āDamn it. Thatās messy. So youāre saying the prince of Aint was sold from Carrieās Bar to the emperor?ā
āThatās just my theory.ā
āYeah. Just a theory⦠a damn convincing one, though, and thatās the problem.ā
The emperor was currently staying in the Inner Palace ā deeper inside the main palace, a place only members of the imperial family could enter. Not even I, let alone Marquis Orion, could investigate it freely.
āIāll report this to the crown prince. The Inner Palace is off-limits to anyone whoās not royalty anyway.ā
āGot it. Iāll dig further into Barel. If he still had enough sway to influence Marian despite losing his title, his connection to the emperor might still be intact.ā
āRight. But, Ailāā
āYes?ā
Just as I was about to leave, having said and heard what we needed, Orion stopped me. Sitting back in his chair, he studied me.
What now? I tilted my head slightly, and he suddenly asked:
āEver thought about working for the Intelligence Bureau?ā
āā¦Thatās sudden.ā
āYou topped this yearās palace exams. Donāt you think itās a waste being stuck in the knights? If you want, I could get you into Intelligence.ā
First the crown prince had offered to make me his aide, now Orion was trying to recruit me into Intelligence.
Being competent was exhausting ā everyone wanted a piece of you.
I shook my head firmly.
āNo thanks. Intelligence isnāt for me.ā
āThe way youāre working now, itās a perfect fit.ā
āNot really. Iām only doing this because of Mishi.ā
āMishi?ā
āAh, His Second Imperial Highness.ā
Orionās eyes narrowed, as though heād spotted a curious animal. I turned away quickly.
āIām not interested in Intelligence.ā
I made sure to hammer the point home. Behind me, I heard him chuckle.
āYou really are interesting.ā I thought I heard him mutter. I pretended not to notice and left the Intelligence Bureauās office.
Click, click.
The small cannon in his hand made a metallic clink as parts knocked together. Pull the trigger, let it go. Pull it again, let it go. Ron examined the palm-sized weapon that had attacked him, turning it over in his hands.
āHow do you even make something like this?ā
The fact that heād been attacked had already spread so widely it couldnāt be hidden ā but what heād been attacked with was a closely guarded secret. Outside, people believed Narein had pulled a hidden dagger on him.
Only a handful knew it had actually been this strange weapon ā Ron himself, the attending physician, and Sean and Ail.