“This is the prelude to war. It’s confirmed that Burgos sent envoys to Clifford. I and my subordinates who were in the palace at the time can testify to this, so there’s no need to distinguish truth from falsehood. There’s one question though—is it true that you tried to send a signal to the Burgos side through the envoys’ deaths?”
“Clifford said no envoys died, yet you’re asking while assuming they did die.”
“It was Burgos that assumed they died, and wasn’t it because of that position that war broke out? I’m asking accordingly. The deaths of the envoys that occurred in that process are not the fault of Bariel and Clifford.”
“You’re really cutting and pasting words however you please. That’s not something a person who considers it honorable to live in history should do.”
“What is history? History is descendants reading what has been recorded. Bariel wants to record everything based on the justification for participating in the war, and you’re sitting here based on the responsibility for starting the war. All of this can be called history.”
Ian flipped through the documents and looked toward the secretary. Following their conversation, her pen was moving very busily.
“I’ll ask again. Is it true that you attempted to send a signal through the envoys’ deaths?”
“…”
Damon kept his mouth firmly shut as if his tongue had been cut, only looking up at Ian.
Ian closed the documents with a snap and gestured toward Akorella. As if she’d been waiting, she immediately rushed over and roughly grabbed Damon’s jaw.
“How insolent!”
Damon tried to swat Akorella away with his bound hands, but she very leisurely caught it. Akorella flashed a look of madness and smiled lovingly. Could eyes that curved so much be so frightening? The mages turned their heads away as if they couldn’t bear to watch.
“Mmm. Not insolent at all. Ah, open up. Ah.”
“How dare you—”
“Or you’ll end up drinking it even more unsightly. King Damon. Want to drool while crying and sniveling? Or would you prefer to stick your face in a bowl like a dog?”
At the shameless remark, Damon hesitated, and Akorella didn’t miss the opportunity to pour the drug in. It was like giving medicine to a disobedient child.
Akorella roughly covered King Damon’s mouth to prevent him from spitting it out, and soon the truth serum flowed down his throat.
“I’ll ask again. If we start like this, you’ll be too full to eat dinner tonight. Is it correct that you tried to send a signal through the envoys’ deaths?”
“Cough! Y-yes, that’s right.”
“Hmm.”
Damon spat out the truth along with blood. At the sudden spray of blood, Ian frowned and looked at Akorella. Wasn’t this the side effect that had caused controversy in the early days?
“It’s about half mixed in. This makes it faster to produce. No problems except for the coughing up blood. You know that, right? And what’s wrong with being a bit full? This balances it out by coughing up blood. Come on, what’s next?”
Akorella urged Ian while shaking the pile of truth serum, and the secretary also showed agreement by scratching her temple with her pen. What problem could there be if the king of a defeated nation coughs up some blood?
Ian handed him a handkerchief and turned the page.
“Next is…”
The more Ian’s questions continued, the more vividly Damon’s upper garment became soaked. What stubborn determination—he hadn’t given a single cooperative answer even once.
Ian frowned as he looked at Damon swaying dizzily. The smell of blood was nauseating. Without saying anything, he kept his gaze fixed downward while continuing to drool bloody saliva. What thoughts were swirling through that head?
“Are you in great difficulty?”
“…”
“Akorella, from now on give him only the ones without side effects. We have a long way to go, but His Majesty is already tired.”
“Should I give him something to eat?”
“Insolent…”
“Insolent, you say?”
“Get…”
“Get lost, you say?”
Damon, crushed by anger and fatigue, simply closed his eyes. Then he collapsed onto the table, only letting out labored breaths. His whole body was dirty from coughing up blood, but he didn’t seem to have the leisure to care about such things.
Ian lightly fingered the edge of the paper and slowly continued his questions. This was just the beginning. The existence that would be important to him, and furthermore to Bariel.
“Next are questions about the Rutherford Trading Company. According to information obtained by Bariel, we suspect you’ve been dealing with them for quite some time even before this incident. Is it true that the Rutherford Trading Company helped the Burgos side in securing and distributing Idgal?”
Damon didn’t answer and only kept his gaze downcast.
Since he would end up telling the truth once the truth serum entered anyway, why was he hesitating like that? The mages all murmured in puzzlement, but Ian knew the truth.
This man was aiming for a third life. That meant he had already lived two lives, and his greatest secret was connected to Rutherford. Naturally, his lips wouldn’t open.
“Damon.”
Ian called him quietly. He could guess what thoughts were swirling in that head right now. If he died from refusing interrogation in the imperial palace, would he be given another new opportunity?
Ian tapped the desk and whispered softly.
“I don’t care if you start a new life next time. You’ll die here, but I’ll continue living, and won’t I be there in your third life anyway?”
Whether as bastard Ian or Emperor Ian.
Damon’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.
“The me there will also create such a situation again, regardless of whether you’ve lived three or four times. Remember one thing. It may be a new beginning for you, but not for everyone currently here. The people of Burgos definitely exist and are all watching your death, and they will pay the price.”
He had no intention of letting him die, but it meant not to irresponsibly escape the situation through death.
Even if he went to a new world, wouldn’t this world continue on?
It was advice that if he had risen to the position of king, he should definitely remember that and not abandon his people. This wasn’t something he was saying as a minister of an enemy nation, but advice as someone who had been a member of the royal family.
“Why? Does it look a bit strange? Someone with royal blood groveling in a minister’s position, while someone else seems to give up everything despite having it all as a king.”
Hesitation. The secretary’s pen stopped for a moment. She adjusted her glasses and looked around, wondering if she had heard correctly.
The mages were puzzled about what he was saying and only frowned in confusion.
“Nonsense.”
“No, not at all. Isn’t that right?. Everyone around you must envy you, but you’re truly one of the most pitiful. The place you want to reach is far up there, but you can’t go.”
“Lord Ian. Shall we pause the interrogation for a moment?”
“If we stop, that will also be recorded.”
“Secretary, please be flexible. Yes?”
“What are you talking about? I’m not affiliated with the Ministry of Magic but with the imperial family.”
When the secretary snapped in displeasure, Akorella was left speechless, only gaping. Unlike the agitated others, Ian continued the interrogation without losing his composure.
“So, what’s the answer to the question? Do you admit there was some kind of deal between Rutherford and Burgos?”
“If only you admit you were born with royal blood.”
“My my, what a senile old geezer! Captain Akorella! Aren’t there more side effects from the truth serum? Why is he spouting such nonsense?”
“No, the only side effect is coughing up blood!”
“Everyone be quiet.”
Ian tried to calm the situation, but Damon’s momentum wasn’t easily broken. He snatched the truth serum from Akorella’s hands and gulped it down.
Soon, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he repeated his conversation with Ian like a puppet that only spoke the truth.
“Lord Ian. You gave me a secret, and I gave you one. You’re definitely of royal blood. I firmly engraved it in my memory that day.”
What he spoke without hesitation was the truth.
Akorella unconsciously drew in a breath and covered her mouth, and among the mages there was only silence filled with shock. Only the sound of the secretary’s pen moving continued without cease.
“Facts aren’t necessarily truth.”
Ian smiled and looked at Damon. Even if what Ian had said might be fact to Damon, whether that was truth was a different matter.
How could Ian’s royal bloodline be proven? Just by the testimony of Damon, a mere prisoner of an enemy nation?
“The effort is admirable, but you shouldn’t use truth serum for such purposes. I asked questions about Rutherford, didn’t I? Using it for other things is a waste of tax money. That doesn’t seem like something King Damon, who doesn’t pay a single penny in taxes, should do.”
“Rutherford. Right. I’ve met with them and exchanged help both big and small. You know about the Idgal pendant you touched in the war, don’t you?”
Damon deliberately looked toward the mages standing outside the door and shouted.
“Everyone who was on the battlefield then must have seen it! What happened to Ian when he touched the Idgal pendant. According to Rutherford, it reacts when it meets its master. Ian, are you the master of Idgal?”
Akorella reflexively turned her body around without thinking. She and Hale knew that secret.
When Ian was very young, so young he had no memory of it, he had unknowingly participated in Idgal manufacturing. Hadn’t Ian confessed everything when asking her to take on the position of next minister at Clifford Palace?
But she hadn’t expected it to be revealed again through King Damon’s mouth.
The mages who had been silent couldn’t stand it and threw out comments one by one, and the secretary gestured to her colleagues to record even their words.
Tap tap tap!
“Are you really insane? We are mages, King Damon! How could we, no, how could Lord Ian possibly be the master of Idgal?”
“Captain Akorella! It’s a side effect! That’s definitely a side effect, right? Please admit it now!”
“Damn it, it’s not a side effect! Everyone just be quiet!”
“Why would the Ministry of Magic minister be connected to something like Idgal? It’s something that oppresses mages and oppresses himself. Most importantly, Lord Ian couldn’t have done such a thing.”
“That’s right. King Damon, retract your statement! If you don’t—!”
The retraction process would also be recorded through the secretary’s hands, but it was much better than letting it pass like this.
The Ministry of Magic was just trying to regain stability in the imperial palace. Just as new light was about to enter the Ministry of Magic due to Jin’s control of the Imperial Defense Department. Could they pour cold water on it like this?
The secretary and her colleagues pricked up their ears and moved their hands busily so as not to miss a single word in the noisy commotion.
Scratch scratch!
“Bring a new pen!”
“Here it is.”
“Everyone would do well to exercise restraint. As a small piece of advice, everything in this place is being recorded.”
Akorella bit her lips finely and whispered to Ian.
“Wh-what should we do? Should we just say it’s a truth serum side effect?”
“That’s enough. If we do that, won’t everything we’ve done so far be in vain? And Akorella, you don’t seem to want to admit it very much.”
“What? Oh of course, there couldn’t be any flaws in my perfect work, but isn’t it important to move according to the situation? Most importantly, right now is a bit…”
Damon threw back the handkerchief Ian had given him and said.
“Ian, this time you drink the potion and prove your innocence. Whether there’s truly no connection whatsoever between Idgal and Ian.”
Ian looked down at the damp handkerchief and smiled.
“Why should I do such a thing?”
“If you don’t want to, then forget it, and I’ll tell His Highness Jin directly. In that place where all the officials are watching, or in front of my execution platform where all the empire’s citizens will be watching.”
When Damon gestured toward the truth serum, Ian hesitated for a moment. He was weighing what would be best to do.
But that was only for a moment. Akorella didn’t hesitate and swept all the truth serum on the desk and threw it to the floor.
Crash! Clang!
The floor became a mess with glass fragments and liquid. Akorella pointed to her throbbing head and gave Ian a look.
“…Fuck, I spilled it all. I’ll go make new ones. Lord Ian. Shall we take a break for a moment?”