Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Long Voyage

“Mother, are you all right?” Henry asked anxiously as he carefully helped Lady Beizen to her feet.

“I... I’m fine.” As she was steadied, a trace of life finally returned to Beizen’s eyes.

Seeing that his mother was unharmed, Henry finally had a moment to look around. He had meant to ask what had happened, but when he saw how pale she looked, he swallowed the question.

“Master Henry, leave this to us. You should help the lady back to her room and let her rest,” Rayl said as he stepped forward, looking at Henry crouched on the floor.

“Then I’ll trouble you, Uncle Rayl.” Henry had meant to refuse, but seeing his mother in such a state, he agreed.

He supported Lady Beizen and escorted her toward her room.

“What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and clean this mess, and get another dining table in here at once!” Rayl snapped at the soldiers still frozen around them.

“Easy, Mother,” Henry murmured as he slowly helped Beizen back to her room.

He guided her onto the bed, where she lay with her eyes closed, leaning weakly against the headboard.

“Mother, can you tell me what happened?” After settling her in, Henry recalled everything he had just seen and could not help asking curiously.

“Shius... Shius...” Beizen still seemed dazed. At Henry’s question, she kept repeating the name over and over under her breath.

“It was Shius who did this to you?” Fury surged through Henry when he heard his mother saying that name again and again. He turned at once, intending to go find Shius.

“No, no, don’t go!” Beizen finally came to her senses. Seeing her son’s angry expression, she hurriedly grabbed him and stopped him from seeking trouble with Shius.

“Promise me you won’t go after him.”

“But, Mother...”

“Promise me!!” Beizen cried out sharply.

“Yes!” Henry had never seen his mother so agitated. Though he did not know what had happened, he had no choice but to agree.

“You may go. I want to rest for a while,” Beizen said, motioning for Henry to leave first.

“Then get some good rest. I’ll come see you later.” Seeing that his mother did not want to say more, and noticing that she did not seem injured anywhere, Henry decided to let her rest.

“Shius already told me. He has no interest in the count’s heir. Just be yourself,” Beizen suddenly said as Henry reached the door and was about to close it.

Henry paused slightly at the words, then still shut the door and left.

Back in his room, Shius also grew restless. He had originally planned to leave the castle and go find Count Ulot, but then he remembered that Count Ulot and Count Clay were allied. If he went now, Ulot would not be in the castle.

“Chip, is there any problem with that poison I drank?” Shius asked, thinking of the mouthful of soup from earlier.

“Beep. Given the host’s constitution, the amount of toxin absorbed is insufficient to cause any effect.”

“That’s good, then.” Hearing that he was fine, Shius abandoned his worries.

He had initially thought Beizen would poison him with something deadly, intending to kill him outright.

But it had only been a slow-acting poison, one that required time and a large enough dose to work. Thinking about it, that made sense. If the count was away from home and Shius suddenly fell poisoned, it would have been far too obvious.

Lady Beizen could only have hidden such a slow poison in Shius’s soup. What she could never have imagined was that Shius possessed a chip of this kind, one that could scan the toxin out from just a single sip.

“Maybe I should leave,” Shius murmured, sitting on the bed and forcing himself to calm down. Deep inside, it felt as though some voice was telling him to depart from this place.

The area Shius had destroyed was cleaned up quickly, and a new dining table was placed in the same spot, as if nothing had ever happened.

At noon, no one sat at the table. Shius had no appetite at all, so he stayed upstairs and did not come down.

Still, rumors spread through the castle. The story went roughly like this: Lady Beizen had tried to poison Shius, but after being discovered, she was given a lesson by the sorcery Shius had learned.

The gossip grew more and more outrageous, until it became said that Lady Beizen only appeared unharmed; in truth, she had already placed a curse on Henry and herself, and when the time came, they would turn into monsters.

In short, the tale became more and more absurd, until Rayl could no longer bear it. He gave the people spreading such nonsense a harsh reprimand, and only then did it finally stop.

By evening, Count Clay at last returned, and Rayl told him everything that had happened during the day.

That night, Rayl came to call for Shius, saying that Count Clay wanted him to join them for dinner. Since Shius could not refuse, he obediently went downstairs.

When he reached the dining hall, he saw that Count Clay was already seated and eating, along with Henry, Lady Beizen, and Yara.

Shius took his place. After a whole day without food, the sight of so much on the table instantly whetted his appetite.

From the moment Shius sat down, Count Clay did not lift his head to look at him. Shius also made no effort to greet him. Father and son simply ate in tacit silence.

Shius knew the events of the day could not possibly be hidden from Count Clay’s ears. Since the count said nothing, Shius did not bring it up either.

When Count Clay had nearly finished his meal and saw that Shius was still eating, he recalled something Rayl had told him earlier that day and felt he had to ask.

“I’ve heard quite a bit today, Shius. About Henry and Beizen, their...”

“There’s no curse. Don’t worry about it.” Before Count Clay could finish, Shius answered the question directly.

Henry and Beizen, sitting nearby, both felt much more at ease at those words. Henry had already learned the truth that afternoon.

After hearing so many rumors in the castle, Henry had grown increasingly frightened. He knew that Shius had gone to the wizard academy, so the thought that Shius might have cursed him had left him uneasy as well.

“I’ve decided to leave in a few days,” Shius said, setting down his knife and fork and wiping the juice from the corner of his mouth.

This time Count Clay gave no reply. Henry and the others also sensed that something was amiss and, one after another, set down their utensils and excused themselves.

A heavy silence fell over the dining table.

“I’m going out for a walk.” After the two of them had remained silent for a long while, Shius stood and suggested that he wanted to leave the castle for a while.

Count Clay still did not react. Shius said nothing more. He bowed to the count, then left.

Just before going out, Shius thought it over and went upstairs again to fetch a few things before departing.

Count Clay remained seated alone, no one daring to approach him, and no one knew what he was thinking.

After leaving the castle, Shius walked along the road, feeling that a faint crack had appeared between him and Count Clay. Perhaps it had always existed, and only what had happened today had made it visible.

Still, Shius understood that Count Clay’s concern for Henry was only natural. He had already set foot on the path of a wizard, and there was no way he would ever become the count’s heir. Count Clay could only rely on Henry.

Lost in thought, Shius soon arrived at Count Ulot’s castle. He had decided to leave, and intended to bid Ulot farewell. He also had a few things he wanted Ulot to keep for him.

The soldiers at the castle already knew Shius. After all, they had all seen how Count Ulot treated him.

“You’ve come. What is it? Feeling down?” Ulot teased as soon as he saw him.

“You already heard about it?” Shius looked at Count Ulot in surprise. He had not expected word to spread so quickly.

“Of course. Our two castles are so close; news travels fast,” Ulot said. Seeing that Shius was not in high spirits, he did not say much more.

“I’ve decided to leave,” Shius said after a pause.

“So soon?” Ulot frowned at once.

“There’s not much point in staying any longer,” Shius said with a faint laugh.

“That’s true enough,” Ulot replied. Thinking of some of the things that had reached his ears that day, he felt Shius was probably right.

“If Pols and Lia come back, please hand these to them for me.” Shius gave Count Ulot several vials of potion and a scroll.

“What are these?” Ulot asked curiously, eyeing the little bottles. They looked oddly familiar.

“Don’t stare at them. Those vials are Focus Potions, the same ones you once had us drink. Don’t try tasting them. They can kill you very easily.”

Ulot gave an awkward smile. He had, in fact, been about to drink them just to see what they were like.

“These vials and the scroll—if the two of them return, give them to them separately. Remember, keep the two items apart, and absolutely do not let anyone know about them,” Shius said gravely.

I also recommend a similar novel, Empire Management Guide in Another World. If you like fantasy, you might want to give it a look. ^O^