Chapter 18
"Let's get it straight, what were you thinking?" A sudden question came out of Ruddy's mouth. "I don't understand what you were talking about?" Tiara questioned Ruddy to show that she did not understand him when in reality she actually knew but purposely acted naïve instead. Ruddy looked at Tiara seriously. "We were talking about our mission! You know what will happen to us if we do not succeed." Ruddy complained to Tiara.
"Then, answer my questions. Did you win your argument? Did they follow your order?" Tiara's eyes focused on Ruddy to observe his reactions. At that moment, he kept quiet and was unable to look Tiara in the eye. He leaned back against his seat and faced the window.
As she looked at Ruddy, Tiara knew the answers. She was very sharp in observing situations. Her awareness was the reason she looked calm. Ruddy opened his eyes to look at her, and he noticed how much she hid her feelings. This made him felt that there was something rather peculiar about her. It was as if there were many more secrets that she kept to herself. Now, he slowly understood what she had gone through until this very day.
Many nobles wanted to start a coup against Tiara and her people but unfortunately, they were embarrassed because all their evil plans failed and brought them bad consequences just like karma. However, the nobles never stopped. They launched a cold war as another method to bring Tiara down. Even though the effect was not immediate, this method weakened Tiara in many aspects such as her finances, her social status between the nobles, and her relationship with her supporters.
"Then, do you have any other way?" Ruddy seemed to know that Tiara had already come up with a new idea. "I assumed we were partners, but you just rely completely on me." Tiara was right. Ruddy could not have blamed her for what she said. He was supposed to figure it out together with her because they were in a team. "You were right, I'm placing too much of a burden on you." Ruddy looked down.
Tiara's eyebrows lifted after she saw Ruddy's face. Tiara did not know whether she was surprised at Ruddy or whether she sympathized with him. "How about this, I'll share what I know, and then we can figure it out together." Tiara gave a suggestion. Ruddy nodded his head in agreement with Tiara's opinions. Ruddy changed his sitting posture to a more proper and comfortable one in order to properly discuss with Tiara.
"There are many so many questions about that accident especially about Duchess Ariana that made me, I mean 'us' suspicious about the accident. " Tiara opened up. "You're suspicious of Duchess Ariana?" Ruddy interrupted. "I'm not sure, how about you? How can you assume her as your main suspect?" Tiara questioned Ruddy for proof.
"There was so much about her that made her my main suspect." Ruddy changed his posture. "First, as you can see, Duchess Ariana, why did she order her knight to kill that criminal? Secondly, why did she denied us from taking part in this case even though we have an order from the king? Lastly, did you see her gaze towards us?" Ruddy explained with eyes sharp with anger.
"In suspecting her, you may be right or you may be wrong." Tiara responded to Ruddy's suspicions. "What do you mean?" Ruddy seemed confused. "What I mean is, from what have we seen you are right. However, what you said earlier cannot be considered as proof. She answered Ruddy's question. "You mean I can't directly assume her as a suspect?"
"Not yet, because we have yet to collect any solid proof." Her eyes were randomly focused somewhere else. Perhaps she was thinking about something. "How about you?" Ruddy disrupted Tiara's thinking. "I don't know, there are so many questions that are difficult to answer." Tiara's mind focused on the mess they were in but she tried to arrange the information that she had already collected.
"When we wanted to enter Duchess Ariana's house, did you see how many guards were protecting that house? They were at every direction and every corner which made it so hard for us to enter the house." Tiara explained the situation the other day. "You are correct. It is strange how the criminal easily trespassed Duchess Ariana's house." Ruddy recalled the accident. "Then, about the explosion, I found something near the scene of the accident." Tiara said as she showed Ruddy a piece of Mana gem from the explosion that she had kept inside her handkerchief. Tiara kept it inside her handkerchief and made sure the piece was not damaged.
"Strange." Ruddy looked at that piece closer. "Does this remind you of something?" Tiara looked at Ruddy and then they both looked at that piece together. "Yeah I know, this is a fragment of the Mana gem. But strangely, it is supposed to support humans in creating elemental power, magic or to boost their power." Ruddy kept observing the fragment of Mana stone. "How did this fragment became explosive and exploded like a bomb?" Ruddy tried to uncover how and who created the bomb from the Mana stone.
"Right now, the important thing is we figure out who made this explosion because it may be connected to the explosion at the princess' coming of age ceremony." Tiara tried to conclude the case. "Nope, someone is targeting us. The explosions, letters of threats, and the death of Duke Harris - they're all connected." Ruddy tried to solve the puzzle.
"I don't know because I didn't get a letter of invitation and "threat" like the others." Tiara spoke the truth. "Someone's trying to frame you because you didn't receive any of those letters. With that, other nobles will suspect you as the mastermind behind all of this." Tiara was still confused about Ruddy's explanation.
"Did you say a mastermind? Does it means someone was behind all of this?" Tiara tried to confirm if it was true. "Did you remember what exploded during the princess ceremony?" Ruddy looked at Tiara waiting for answers. "Your…. Carriage?" Tiara was unsure of her answers. "You are correct." Ruddy smiled. "Why are they aiming me, a noble? Rather than the royal families?"
She started to think carefully. "You have a point." "The most important thing right now is, to determine their ulterior motives." Tiara and Ruddy felt pressured because the information they obtained was still limited. "There are so many questions and we still don't know where to start." Tiara shared the thoughts in her mind.
"If the criminal wasn't killed, we can get the biggest clue for this case." Ruddy tightly clenched his hands into a fist and smashed it on the carriage seat. Ruddy's action was not favored by Tiara. She knew that the criminal was the main source of any information but looking at the current situation, they knew that they could not change their circumstances as they can't turn back time.
Tiara tried to ignore Ruddy. She moved her body and leaned to the left side of the edge of the carriage because she wanted to get closer to the window. She brought out her smoke pipe from her pocket. Before she opened the carriage window, she lit up her pipe first. "A lady should not be a smoker." Ruddy tried to advise Tiara when she started to light up her smoking pipe.
Tiara just kept going with what she did. She didn't listen to what Ruddy had to say to her. "Don't worry, there isn't anyone who wants to take me as their wife." Tiara said as she liked mocking herself. Tiara kept smoking in front of Ruddy and slowly exhaled outside the window. Even though the smoke was sucked by outside wind, the scent still lingered inside the carriage. Although the scent was quite fragrant like a bunch of flowers in the garden, Ruddy still disliked it.
"It's not just that. I'm just saying this for your health." Tiara stopped smoking in a blink of an eye as she was shocked as to what Ruddy said to her. All of a sudden, her eyes were wide open. After that, she quickly looked somewhere else in an attempt to cover up her expressions. Ruddy felt that it was odd that Tiara suddenly fell silent. The both of them stopped their conversation.
It was quite a long time that the both of them kept silent. At that time, Tiara realized that Ruddy seemed to have stared at her for too long. "It's not polite to stare at a lady like that, there must be something on your mind or a question you are considering to ask me. Otherwise, you'll just come off as a pervert." Tiara smirked at Ruddy but in reality, she felt uncomfortable with his stare. "What are your objectives in holding this title?" Ruddy tried to dig up what Tiara had kept hidden.
"It seems you are quite interested in my personal matters." Tiara exhaled smoke while she made eye contact with Ruddy. "That's fine, I will tell you. I only do my job as the ruler of my faction. That's all". Tiara tried to tell him the truth but Ruddy still doubted her. Tiara slowly looked at her right palm. "I don't want this title, it is too much of a burden to me." Tiara slowly turned her head to face outside the window. "People like you will never understand why I am still standing here." Tiara's eyes met Ruddy's eyes. Her sad face was seen by Ruddy even when she gave him a smile.
Suddenly Tiara felt that there was something wrong with her body. Her heartbeat was unnaturally fast. Her head started to spin. She felt a stabbing pain in her chest, her body slowly weakened. She started to grunt as she could no longer hold the pain. "Hey Tiara, are you alright?" Ruddy saw Tiara was not very well. As her pain turned more severe, her body collapsed to the ground but she was still conscious. Ruddy made it in time to grab her before she fell to the floor. Tiara saw Ruddy shout to the coachman to change the course of their journey to head to the physician's house.
"Just… take… me home." Tiara's voice stuttered and was not clear. "No! You must seek the treatment of a physician." Ruddy denied her wish. "I did not ask for any treatment, I demand you to take me home." Tiara strained her voice. Ruddy did not know what to do. His face showed much confusion and he was very worried about Tiara's condition.
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At a certain dark place, the humming of a song and the sound of footsteps echoed the area. The person who was humming stopped when arrived at a certain door. When the door opened, it was revealed that there were three people tied down to the ground with each their mouths covered with a piece of cloth. One of those three people was Alan. That person then walked closer to Alan. "Hello, my new toy."