Chapter 50: 25

Chapter 25: Suspicions

Sarus Royal Palace. 

In the wake of such a major incident, all of the officials were already waiting in the main palace. On one side stood Governor Jenkins and Prime Minister Fuller with a group of other high-ranking officials, while on the other side stood Prince Lazaar and Archbishop Sirius of the True Light Church, also accompanied by a few important officials, several of which had only recently been recruited into Lazaar's faction.

It had to be said that Prince Lazaar had a great deal of political charisma. He had only returned to the capital city not long ago, and many of the previously neutral officials had already been swayed over to his side.

 King Cameron still hadn't arrived in the main palace yet, so all of the officials could only wait for now. King Cameron was understandably concerned about Princess Onean's injuries, so he had been waiting in her bedchamber this entire time for an update on her condition. After several hours of emergency treatment, Onean was finally in a stable condition. By the time Master Piro emerged from her bedchamber, his hair was completely disheveled, and his face was deathly pale, so it was clear that he had expended a lot of effort. The royal doctors with him were also quite ashen in their complexion, and some of them were even walking a little unsteadily. These were the best doctors that Sarus had to offer, and they had worked together with Master Piro, exhausting their magic power and all of their best medicines over the course of several hours to save Princess Onean's life.

Prior to going to rest, Master Piro went on a furious rant about Erwin. If that vial of Springlay Fox bone marrow potion hadn't been used on him, the treatment process for Onean's injuries would've been much simpler.

King Cameron was very relieved to hear that Onean was in a stable condition, and only then did he make his way to the main palace to deal with the aftermath of the incident.

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As soon as King Cameron arrived, everyone in the main palace immediately extended respectful bows. Both sides had already played out the war of words that was to come in their hearts countless times, and they had already thought meticulously about everything they were going to say so that they didn't misspeak and let loose something that could be used against them.

"Lazaar, what happened today? Your son tried to assassinate my daughter! Are you the one behind this?" King Cameron asked in a furious voice as soon as he sat down onto his throne, but his anger had clearly already died down quite a bit compared with when he was at the Pillow Sword Tournament venue in the afternoon.

Lazaar immediately fell to his knees with a fearful expression. "I take full responsibility for this incident, Your Majesty. It was my oversight that led to this tragedy, but please believe me when I say that I bear no ill will toward Her Highness whatsoever! I truly have no idea why that bastard son of mine suddenly decided to do something so cold-blooded and egregious to Her Highness."

"Even if you didn't instruct your son to carry out the assassination, you're not getting away with this without any repercussions!" King Cameron said in a solemn voice as he watched Lazaar with a cold expression. "What was the punishment for attempted murder on royalty again? Fuller, answer me!"

"Your Majesty, attempted murder against a member of royalty is a crime equivalent to treason, and according to the law..." Fuller paused momentarily as he looked up at King Cameron, then lowered his head again as he concluded, "It is a prime punishable by execution of the perpetrator's entire family."

"Is that right?" King Cameron mused in a cold voice. "What do you think I should do about this, Lazaar?"

Lazaar's forehead was pressed tightly against the ground, and he didn't dare to say anything.

"Your Majesty, Prince Lazaar has worked conscientiously for many years to defend our kingdom's borders, and he's built up a massive reputation for himself in the province of Burmen. If we hand down the same punishment as that of the crime of treason to him, there's a very good chance that Burmen will rise up in revolt," Governor Jenkins said.

"In that case, how do you think this matter should be handled, Governor Jenkins?" King Cameron was naturally aware that Jenkins wasn't going to pass up such a golden opportunity to strike at Lazaar's faction.

"In my opinion, this is a crime equivalent to treason, so it's an extremely serious matter. As punishment, Prince Lazaar should be confined to his manor until a punishment is decided once the circumstances of the case are clarified. Prince Lazaar's eldest son is still stationed at Burmen with a formidable army, and our top priority should be to summon him back to the capital city in case any unforeseen developments take place." It was clear that Jenkins wanted to wipe out the entirety of Lazaar's family once and for all.

"Your Majesty, I feel like this incident is a lot more complicated and suspicious than it appears on the surface. I feel that we should defer the matter of Prince Lazaar's punishment to another time. After all, Prince Lazaar has made significant contributions to our kingdom throughout his lifetime, and it would only benefit certain sly cowards if he were to be punishment for a crime in which he has been framed." Archbishop Sirius stepped forward to throw his support behind Prince Lazaar, and he took a subtle glance at Jenkins at the mention of "sly cowards''.

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you're saying, Archbishop Sirius. The fact of the matter is that Jeff Lazaar made a brazen assassination attempt against Her Highness. The incident was witnessed by tens of thousands of people, so how is the situation complicated in any way? Also, who were you referring to when you mentioned sly cowards?" Governor Jenkins countered with an enraged expression.

"That's enough! Be quiet!" King Cameron was in no mood to be hearing any bickering between political rivals. "Archbishop Sirius, can you elaborate on what you just said?"

"Your Majesty, I took some time to do some research on the incident, and I heard that during the match, Prince Lazaar's son was acting in an extremely unhinged and bloodthirsty manner. Those are clearly not the actions of a person in a normal state of mind. Instead, if you ask me..." Archbishop Sirius's voice trailed off here, as if he were unsure of how to proceed.

"What is your opinion on the matter? Go right ahead, Archbishop Sirius," King Cameron prompted.

"I think that Prince Lazaar's son was either overcome by a sudden onset of insanity, or his state of mind was influenced by some type of substance," Sirius explained.

The entire palace fell silent in the wake of such a statement. Everyone was focused on what the outcome of this incident was going to be, so no one had spared any effort to consider the causes of the incident. After all, it was an undeniable fact that Jeff had made an assassination attempt on the princess, and everyone had just taken that for granted. However, Archbishop Sirius's analysis had alerted everyone to the fact that this was perhaps not such a simple and straightforward incident.

"I can assure you that Prince Lazaar's son wouldn't have been under the influence of any substances during his match. All of the contestants undergo physical examinations prior to their matches, so there's no way that someone under the influence would be able to slip by under our noses," Prime Minister Fuller interjected. He was responsible for overseeing the tournament committee, so this fell into his realm of duty.

"Exactly! I think you're being far too overprotective of Prince Lazaar's son, Archbishop Sirius. With so many administrators on the scene, there's no way that Jeff would've been cleared to participate in the match if he had been under the influence," Governor Jenkins said.

"Then what if one of the administrators was the one carrying the substance in question? Or perhaps someone smeared the substance onto the equipment that Jeff was carrying with him into the match," Sirius countered.

"You're being unreasonable, Archbishop Sirius! Why do you feel the need to slander my work like this?" Prime Minister Fuller was also becoming quite heated.

"I had no such intentions, I was only raising a potential possibility. The reputation of Prince Lazaar and our entire kingdom is on the line here, so I think it's best to investigate this incident thoroughly and exhaustively before arriving at any conclusion or handing down any punishments. After all, there's no lack of people who would love to see Prince Lazaar fall," Sirius replied in a calm voice.

"That's enough!" King Cameron interjected once again to mediate the argument. "You are correct in your assessment, Archbishop Sirius. Lazaar has made significant contributions to our kingdom, so it would be unwise to arrive at any rash conclusions."

"But Your Majesty..." Jenkins was clearly dissatisfied with this outcome, and he still wanted to argue further.

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"I've heard enough about this matter for now. This incident has a direct bearing on the stability of our kingdom, so a thorough investigation is a must. Archbishop Sirius, Prime Minister Fuller, I'll leave it to you two to investigate this matter. That way, Archbishop Sirius will be able to investigate whether someone really did use any sinister substances to try and frame Prince Lazaar's son. If no such substance can be found, then that'll be indirect proof that Fuller and his subordinates are innocent. This is an extremely important matter, so I want you two to supervise each other during the course of the investigation and do your best to uncover the truth," King Cameron said in an implacable voice.

Archbishop Sirius and Prime Minister Fuller both accepted the order with respectful bows.

"You can go back for now, Lazaar. I've already sent palatial guards to surround your manor, and you're not permitted to go anywhere until the investigation is complete," King Cameron continued in a cold voice.

Lazaar hurriedly kowtowed once again upon hearing this, and he replied in a grateful voice, "Thank you for giving me a chance, Your Majesty. If any evidence is found suggesting that my son really did intend to murder Her Highness, then I would be sure to pay for his crimes with my own life."

After all of the officials departed, King Cameron still had some questions that he wanted to ask Master Piro.

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By the time King Cameron arrived at a peaceful courtyard in the royal palace, it was already deep into the night. He discovered that the light in the room still hadn't been snuffed out yet, so it was clear that Master Piro had been waiting for him as well. As he pushed open the door and made his way into the room, he discovered Master Piro taking a nap on his recliner chair.

"Welcome." Master Piro didn't even open his eyes as he greeted the king. It was clear that he was still yet to recover from the taxing procedure it had taken to save the princess.

King Cameron strode into the room, then sat down onto a padded wicker chair.

"What did you do with Lazaar?" Master Piro asked.

"I didn't do anything with him for now. I instructed him to return to his manor for confinement," King Cameron replied. "I can't help but feel like there are some suspicious circumstances involved in this incident."

"This is why I told you I didn't want to bring Onean back to Sarus. She's a member of the royal family, so it's inevitable that people will try to plot against her, and that would put her in harm's way," Master Piro sighed.

"It's exactly because she's a member of the royal family that she can't just stay at Fort Glans to study magic her entire life," King Cameron countered in an unyielding voice.

Master Piro waved a dismissive hand, clearly not wishing to discuss this topic any further. "I think you're right to say that there are some fishy circumstances involved. Perhaps Lazaar is also a victim of a sinister plot."

"Earlier, Archbishop Sirius speculated that Lazaar's son may have come under the influence of some type of substance. What do you think of that theory?" King Cameron asked as he cast his gaze toward Master Piro.

"You saw what happened at the time. Lazaar's son was so determined to kill Onean that he was even willing to die in the process. Surely there's no need to go so far unless there's some type of blood vendetta between the two of them," Master Piro analyzed. "Also, I'm sure you've thought of this already as well, but there's no way Lazaar would be foolish enough to instruct his own son to murder the princess."

"Indeed. No matter how I think about it, there's simply no motive for Lazaar to do that," King Cameron agreed with tightly furrowed brows. "However, Fuller says that they couldn't find any signs that Jeff was under the influence of any substances during his physical examination prior to the match."

"I wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions. Firstly, Fuller belongs to Jenkins's faction, so his word may or may not be trustworthy. In addition to that, there are some mind-altering substances that have a delayed onset, so it wouldn't surprise me if they couldn't find anything during the physical examination. There are also some substances that are completely devoid of color, odor, and flavor, so even I would be fooled," Master Piro said.

"Do such substances really exist?" King Cameron asked with a curious expression.

"I can think of about five types just off the top of my head," Master Piro replied. "With that in mind, I don't think the investigation into the Pillow Sword Tournament's tournament committee will yield any leads. What I can do is provide you with a list of certain magic ingredients, and you can send out some people to investigate whether these ingredients have been sourced by anyone in the city recently."

King Cameron nodded in response, then asked, "What if we still can't find any evidence? What do we do then? Do I really just execute Lazaar's entire family?"

"Lazaar has always been a very ambitious man, so killing him wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. What you're concerned about is his eldest son stationed in Burmen, right?" Master Piro turned to look at King Cameron through narrowed eyes.

"Back in the palace, Lazaar was kneeling the entire time and sounded quite earnest, but if you ask me, he was only putting on an act. I don't think he regards Sarus as a prison capable of trapping him at all," King Cameron said in a cold voice. "If I'm going to strike at Lazaar's family, I must make sure that all of them are eradicated in one fell swoop. Otherwise, if any of them are left alive, then the province of Burmen will no longer belong to our kingdom."

"Indeed, this is a very sensitive situation. I've heard quite a bit about Lazaar's eldest son, and he's no less cunning and ambitious than his father, so don't expect him to return to Sarus and hand himself in. There's no way we can prevent Lazaar from sending news of his situation in Sarus to his eldest son in Burmen, and once that happens, Lazaar's son will know that the only way he'll be able to retain any leverage over you will be by remaining in Burmen," Master Piro said.

King Cameron fell into deep thought upon hearing this.

"Even though we don't have any evidence at the moment, I feel like Lazaar is most likely innocent. If you ask me, what you should be thinking about now is the objectives of the people trying to frame Lazaar for this crime," Master Piro suggested.

King Cameron was silent for a moment longer before an amused smile appeared on his face. "You say that you think Lazaar is innocent now, but you almost executed his second son on the spot with those spells of yours."

"Onean is my most prized disciple," Master Piro sighed. "How could I hold back after seeing her in such a terrible condition? It's a good thing that I still have some energy left. If I were a few years older than I am now, I don't think I would've had sufficient physical resources to save her life."

A serious look appeared on King Cameron's face upon hearing this, and he rose to his feet before extending a grateful bow. "Thank you for your efforts, Master Piro."

Master Piro took one final glance at King Cameron, then closed his eyes again as he began to nod off. "You can go now. I have grown quite weary..."

King Cameron immediately departed from the room as he was told.

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