Chapter – 61
I stared blankly at Joshua and waved my hand.
“Anyway, get lost.”
“I can’t! I still have something to say.”
“What is it?”
“You know that thing you asked me to investigate last time? I found out.”
My indifferent expression instantly stiffened.
“Can you at least find out when Hou disappeared from public view?”
I had once asked him to look into the time of Hou’s injury. Joshua continued with a proud look.
“The day you left for the academy.”
…Wait, what?
My heart dropped.
“From that day on, he hasn’t been seen.”
As soon as I heard Joshua’s words, the tangled threads in my mind began forming a single truth.
A deadly poison that even a purification-type summoned beast couldn’t cleanse.
My grandfather and Hou, both refusing to properly explain the situation.
Hou’s injuries being kept secret.
And the timing—too perfect.
A plausible hypothesis formed in my mind. Just thinking about the extremely toxic poison Hou once emitted sent a chill down my spine again.
I shot up.
“…Kiana?”
Joshua called out in surprise, but I didn’t have time to respond. I rushed straight out toward the greenhouse.
Hou was lying around in the greenhouse, yawning. He still hadn’t fully recovered from the poison, so he wasn’t allowed outside yet. But he was healing quickly and would soon be able to move normally again.
<Child?>
Hou flapped his wings happily when he saw me.
<Long time no see! And you’re still wearing that strange boxy outfit!>
“You summoned spirits really don’t appreciate the beauty of straight lines.”
I replied flatly and sat down in front of his nest.
“Hou, I’ve got a question.”
And then I asked directly.
“On the day I left for the academy… did you follow me?”
<…Huh?>
“Five years ago. Did you follow me?”
<…You already know the answer, don’t you?>
Hou clicked his beak awkwardly.
<I’m not sure I should be the one telling you. Skari really didn’t want you to know this story. He seemed kind of embarrassed…>
“You talk too much.”
I kindly helped him along with the truth.
“If I hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t even be able to click your beak right now.”
<……>
“You’d be lying collapsed in a corner of your nest, only able to weakly mutter ‘Go…’ in a low voice.”
<……>
“And then maybe two years later, when something happened to my grandfather, you’d finally drag yourself out—but be completely useless anyway.”
<That’s unnecessarily detailed.>
Hou sighed and rubbed his forehead with his wing.
<You really like to show off, don’t you… Skari and you are too similar.>
“Want me to keep going? I can do this for two days straight.”
At my reasonable proposal, Hou let out a long sigh. Since I had saved him, he had no choice but to answer me.
After a moment of silence, he finally spoke.
<…Anyway, it’s true that six years ago, after you got scolded by Skari, you left far away, right?>
Well, I chose to leave—but yes, that was the trigger.
<So of course Skari wouldn’t be happy about it.>
I quietly waited for him to continue.
<He told me to follow you from a distance. To make sure you arrived safely, weren’t sad, and weren’t feeling too wronged.>
Hou dramatically wiped the corner of his eye with his wing.
<And if you showed even the slightest hesitation, I was ordered to persuade you and bring you back!>
He shouted dramatically at the end.
<Because he was worried about you traveling alone to a foreign country at such a young age!>
I responded calmly.
“Oh.”
<……Oh?>
Hou frowned at me.
<That’s it? Just ‘oh’?>
“Should I react more?”
Hou jumped up in outrage.
<Aren’t you even moved at all?! You just learned a secret Skari kept for six years!>
“But it didn’t really help anything, did it?”
I said indifferently.
“I’m already on good terms with my grandfather now. It’s not like this improves anything.”
<……>
“In the end, it’s useless information from both past and present. I only care about results. I forget unnecessary things.”
<Wow.>
Hou shook his head.
<How can someone be so heartless? Just like Skari.>
“Anyway, then who were you trying to save back then?”
At my sudden question, Hou flinched.
<…Huh?>
“This poison. You purified it back then, right?”
<……>
“I never benefited from Hou. So who exactly were you saving by purifying such a deadly poison?”
Hou’s eyes darted around before he stammered.
<S-someone said they were sick and begged me for help! I just showed mercy! Who could have predicted they’d ingest something that toxic?>
“Wow. That sounds like a completely ridiculous lie.”
I clapped slowly, almost applauding his desperate effort.
“Even lying so blatantly to your benefactor… Hou, you really are ungrateful.”
<W-what?!>
“Did my grandfather tell you to keep it secret? Such loyalty.”
<I-I don’t know! I don’t know anything!>
“Forget it. You don’t have to tell me.”
Sometimes silence gives more confirmation than words ever could. This was one of those times.
“I think I already know even if you don’t say it.”
Hou’s face stiffened.
Without saying anything else, I turned and walked out of the greenhouse.
Things were becoming clear.
The Prillei family had always been loyal to the imperial family. Hou was not the type to offer help to just anyone. But if the target was royalty, it made sense.
‘The Crown Prince didn’t just fall because he slipped… he must have been poisoned.’
After all, how could a boy praised as a future Swordmaster die just by falling off a cliff?
‘Hou, who followed me, must have seen it by chance and purified it.’
But there was a much deeper secret behind it.
“Princess, they say the Teiles imperial family is blessed by the gods. Do you know why?”
“Yes. Imperial members of Teiles are immune to poison.”
Normally, the Teiles imperial family was immune to poison. The Crown Prince should not have been affected at all.
But for a poison so strong that even Hou, a purification-type summoned beast, was injured while cleansing it…
‘They found a poison that works on the imperial family.’
Good heavens…
That also explained why they couldn’t contact the Emperor.
“As long as they are hiding their identity, even secretly reporting survival is difficult.”
As Cesare had said, contacting the Emperor secretly would have been extremely difficult.
‘For now, they’re keeping the Emperor alive because he still has influence…’
But if contact were discovered, even the Emperor’s life would be in danger. Because this was a poison that worked on the imperial bloodline.
In the end, I could see the situation clearly now.
Hou must have returned in a ruined state and reported everything to my grandfather. The Crown Prince likely survived barely, thinking he had simply endured it himself.
‘He probably thinks he survived through his own imperial power.’
Everything finally clicked into place.
