Chapter 2: Chapter 1, Part 2

"Clack" "Clack" "Clack" "Clack" 

I was awakened from my sleep by the sound of horseshoes on the road. I opened my eyes and met Lyanna's face. For a second, I felt like I was looking in a mirror. Lyanna was my twin and we were close to each other. Probably because of a strange connection between twins, since our personalities were quite different. We were both eleven years old and we shared the same features: eyes as golden as the sun at dusk and black silky hair. Naturally, Lyanna's hair were longer.

My head was resting on her thighs and I could see that her eyes were slightly puffy. I guessed she had been crying a lot. I couldn't count the number of times I've dried her tears since Mother's suicide. 'What a crybaby!' 

 

 

"...."

She tried to say something to me but as usual, no real sound came out of her mouth. Her face remained immersed in an expression of neutrality like a wax doll. It was disturbing. Seeing her like this, I felt no regret for what I have done tonight. This was all Aldrick's fault. 

Memories of a year ago began to pile up in my mind: our tenth anniversary, the great temple in the capital, the ceremony of the Almoran (Five Spiritual Beasts), drinking the liquid from the sacred fountain, our failure to receive the sacred seal, Aldrick's contemptuous look, the disappointment and shame we felt... 

I still have fresh in my mind the memory of that moment when he tried to kill us, seriously injuring Lyanna in the process. Whitout Gerald's intervention, we would have died. However the damage was already done. A deep scar was on Lyanna's chest. Aldrick's spiritual energy has affected her body, leaving her in this strange and supposedly incurable state. He took my sister's joy of living but this bastard is finally dead. I was relieved but still confused.

"Oh, you are awake, young master Rinne."

I heard a voice from the seat opposite the one I was lying on. I turned my head towards Gerald sitting cross-legged. His piercing gaze was watching me intently.

"I suppose you'll hand us over to the knights. Can you at least leave Lyanna..." I began to reply in a weak voice before being interrupted.

"I am not taking you to the kingdom's knights. However, I do have a few questions for you, Master Rinne, But first, I apologize for hurting you and Lady Lyanna." Gerald began to say calmly.

I hesitated for a moment , then answered.

"It's okay."

"Thank you for your generosity. If I may, Master Rinne, I would like to know how did you plan the murder of your father?"  

Obviously, he was going to ask this question. I sat up to face him. I was wearing a more modest change of clothes than usual and I felt no pain in my chest. 

"You saw the state of his body so I guess you understood that we used poison."

"Yes, but how did you get it? "

"A little over a year ago, in one of your botany classes, you introduced us to some well-known poisons. At the time, I had done more research in the manor's library. I remembered one poison in particular: the purple cigmund. Its composition is: 500 grams of limsone powder, 225 grams of simchees, 3 medicinal leaves, 4 silver lizard scales, and 50 cl of human blood. All I had to do was to get the ingredients and prepare the poison." 

"I see but you couldn't get the ingredients in the dungeon. Did you ask anyone for help?" Gerald's gaze became a little more inquisitive.

"More or less. Once every fortnight we were allowed a meal of our choice. Thus, I chose dishes that could contain the ingredients I needed. "

"Oh, so that's how you did it..." 

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 Gerald was holding his chin. It was one of his strange habits.

"Yes but some of them were quite hard to get. I've had a lot of luck on several occasions. We needed 63 days to gather all these ingredients. We kept the poison for 423 days at the right temperature to ensure efficacy. We also prepared paralytic gas to escape the repulsive cell in which Aldrick locked us. It was exhausting "

"Just amazing Master Rinne but there is one problem," 

 Gerald said suddenly.

"Hmm?" 

I reacted in surprise like a child. Well, I am a child... 

"To ensure the effectiveness of poison, it must be dosed, tested and those effects evaluated. Under the conditions of your confinement, you could not do this...."

"And yet I was able to do all of that," I replied, cutting Gerald off.

"How?" .

Curiosity could be read in his tone of voice. Which was unusual. I looked out of the carriage window. We were following a street on the Novius estate that I didn't know. We had passed the large square of the main village where a fountain with the effigy of Aldrick had been built. The carriage had turned into a small road that I had never taken before. It was dark, I couldn't discern anything outside in the dimly lit street. The road was completely deserted.

"The rats."  I finally answered.

"The rats ?" 

"When I was able to create the poison, I tested it on the rats in the dungeon. From there I could adjust the doses and see the effects. I used the results to produce the fatal dose to defeat Aldrick. " 

A smile spread across Gerald's face.

"Simply ingenious. I knew you were both brilliant, but to work on a poison with no equipment at your age is just outstanding. Even if the number of risks you took was particularly great, i am proud of you..." 

"No, it wasn't that brilliant," 

I looked Gerald in the eye for the first time.  

"What do you mean by that?" 

"In the minds of everyone in the manor, we are heretics, those rejected by the Almoran and unabled to use spiritual energy. Therefore we are not dangerous.. However, if you had paid a little more attention to us, you could have easily figured out our plan and stopped us. But you all made the same mistake. " 

"We underestimated you, didn't we?" replied Gerald who didn't let go of his chin.  

The horses neighed and the carriage slowed down before stopping. 

"No, you have made the mistake of thinking that we are heretics."

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