Reason to Doubt

Wendy didn't get angry.

She couldn't muster her rage.

And it was not because she was so gentle a person that she felt nothing after hearing that.

When new witches acted out of the line, she won't hesitate to scold them without waiting for other senior witches to move if she found out first. It was a rare occasion, but Wendy indeed could get angry. Some even said Wendy got very scary when she was angered.

But hearing something that should be a clear slander to their leader, she can't react properly. For some reason, her voice also stuck in her throat.

The witch was so confused that she only stared blankly at the speaker who had a calm expression.

After a while, Wendy managed to squeeze out her question from her trembling lips.

"Why?"

It was a simple question.

Why did Tyre, no, the prince said something like that? Did prince Roland knew about the snake witch and had some grudges from the past that made him spoke like that? When was Cara became someone so horrible that even the prince that didn't afraid of the church intervention had to send Tyre to help Nightingale convincing other witches to flee?

And why?

Why did that girl Veronica believe him?

Just because what he spoke to her was not perceived as lies?

Did he have some convincing evidence that there was something wrong with Cara and what she wanted?

"Why?"

Wendy could only repeat the question.

"Ask the prince yourself," Tyre replied indifferently. "All I got from his words are that Cara is dangerous."

It's not only about her ability as a witch, and Wendy understood the meaning between the line, although the reason was unknown. But following the words didn't mean she accepted it.

"Did Nightingale knew about this?" Wendy was unwilling.

"Yes."

"... Did Nightingale accept this proposal?"

"You can ask her yourself later."

Another round of silence covered the tent.

Wendy didn't speak. She didn't know what to talk, in her heart was only confusion and further confusion the more she pondered the issue.

Tyre didn't speak. She did know what to talk, but she kindly let Wendy a period to digest their conversation.

After a while, similarly like before Tyre spoke first. "You can start by questioning the validity of the information."

"Did you lie?" Wendy was startled.

"No, I convey what I heard honestly," Tyre replied truthfully. "He spoke like that in front of Nightingale and me."

"Then it's the same then." Wendy shook her head.

Nightingale was Nightingale; she won't accept his words if they were lies or covered by that stone.

"What I meant is you should doubt prince Roland," Tyre said.

"Is prince Roland a problem?" Wendy instantly became more animated, speculations in her mind flared up once again.

She couldn't even begin to imagine how a person could speak false words with Nightingale's ability, maybe besides another witch power. And what if he really could? Perhaps a witch helped him?

The thought itself was absurd, and Wendy was aware as much. After all, Nightingale's mist would allow her to see magic power even with walls in between. God's stone could cover her vision, but no way she wouldn't check it if that's the case.

Tyre looked at her funny before shaking her head, "He's a problem, but it's different from what are you thinking."

She could see the problem Wendy asked about had something to do with how she assumed Roland tricked Nightingale one way or another. But that's not what happened, at least she didn't think so.

"What do you mean by that?"

"He is way too suspicious," Tyre spoke plainly and let her eyes wandered to the side. "Don't you think so?"

"Yes." Wendy nodded, "But my knowledge regarding him is too limited to make a sound judgment..."

Wendy naturally didn't want to solely use the rumours, although it indeed had affected the perception of him in her mind to some degree. Nightingale's unexplainable affection didn't help either.

Tyre took a deep breath before she spoke what's on her mind these days.

"He knows too much."

Hearing that, Wendy looked at her puzzled and asked carefully, "Do you mean he's knowledgeable?"

"I wish it's as simple as that." Tyre frowned as she sighed. "He knows about me, about Nightingale, and about the camp."

"...Perhaps he has some informant?" Wendy offered a suggestion.

It's not uncommon for influential figures to have some channels that seek and gather information for them — but hearing that only irritated Tyre, because from her perspective it was just too absurd of an idea.

"You don't understand." Tyre tapped her thigh impatiently, "Are you saying he, a casted away prince with no one to depend on could have a way to reach you, a group that acted secretly and always on the run when the giant church themselves unable?"

Tyre interrupted Wendy that was about to speak by a firm 'impossible'.

"Three points made him stood out."

Wendy decided to keep silent this time.

"First, he strangely knew about the second witch in Border Town, Nana, without someone telling him about it."

The first time she found out, Tyre was shocked. How could she not? She didn't believe it and thought the news might be wrong. After all, it was a classified matter that only a few people directly related then knew, and gossip leaked out because Roland did bring some knights and unintentionally causing some noise. But it was true that an unfamiliar girl was suddenly seen accompanying Anna.

Later, she checked the truth with Anna and Nana. The matter became clear, and that the rumour was not wrong. There was just a slight problem after knowing what happened.

In the beginning, she thought there might be some exaggeration, but it was actually the opposite. Back then in the school, Nana was just confessing to her teacher, another soul besides herself about her secret, only a moment later to see the prince came uninvited and welcomed her. It might not sound much to the innocent Nana, but how could it be a simple matter? And there was also that other thing.

"And he confidently went to her father, confident that he would still love his daughter as it is... And he's right. Nana's doting father only became worse in doting her from his worry that some bad guys might come and hurt her."

It was outrageous, especially considering Roland should know about Anna's matter. The first witch in Border Town had such terrible of a father that he didn't hesitate to sell his daughter even after the said daughter helped him out of danger. How could he easily go ahead with such circumstances close at hand?

It was not like he was close to Nana's family that he knew their personality well.

"Do you have a question at this point?" Tyre decided to give Wendy some break as well an opportunity to speak.

"That's..." Wendy didn't know where to start.

Explained so clearly, she knew why Tyre saw it as something strange, but what questions she should ask? After a moment of hesitation, she managed to point one, "Could it be that Anna could detect Nana's presence?"

It might be rare, but some witches indeed had such ability. Be it directly or indirectly; they could come from their main power, like Nightingale with her mist.

Tyre nodded, thinking it was a good question.

"Anna said she didn't have something like that, though I wouldn't know if she was telling the truth or not. However, if she really could then Nightingale that was hiding should be detected earlier, no?"

"Hmmm..."

"Let's move to the second point." Tyre knew wondering about it wouldn't give any reliable answer.

Wendy blinked and adjusted her posture; she was planning to listen more attentively.

"The second point is..." Tyre paused for a bit as she was mulling over her choice of words. "His knowledge."

"I wouldn't say he knows a lot regarding the know-how in administrating a town, but he has the knack to pick appropriate choices. This kind of skill isn't that strange for a noble to have actually, but he's Roland Wimbledon. However, let's skip the part and assume he at least received minimum knowledge regarding that."

"He flung the credit to alchemists back in the capital, but in reality, there were no such things like a new improvement that was resulting in the product he called cement. I implored Barov, the old former minister assistant and Carter, a knight with certain standing, and both didn't know a thing. It was the same for their assistants and knights as well as the construction supervisor."

"I also know a thing or two about alchemists from my profession. The thing they are researching for is typically either for making expensive products from cheap materials or something that can be useful to the bigshots. While a few of them are indeed eccentric and love to make new things, I doubt it will lead something like that. More importantly, this innovation that could shorten the time needed to build buildings is certainly a piece of news big enough to shook not only this kingdom but also the neighbouring countries."

"But the biggest suspicious part of this point is his cooking."

"Pardon?" Although Wendy didn't want to interrupt, she couldn't help but blurt it out.

She could understand if Tyre being suspicious about that cement product nobody knew, but why mentioned cooking all of a sudden?

"You never tasted his meal, so it's normal to feel strange hearing that, but it's too stupid not to think it's strange if you had. Why? Because damn his work is better than our chefs." Tyre didn't mean to but still ended up cursing.

Being a spy, she learned a lot to be a capable maid, and this naturally included cooking. Although she was not on par with the chefs, she was confident she could at least make some fine dining. Or so she thought until she tasted his 'exotic' meals.

"? Is it that delicious?" Wendy still didn't understand.

"You don't get it?" Tyre explained exasperatedly. "He was not known as some queer noble that loved to play being a civilian, far from it. As far as I and everyone know, he rarely if ever set his foot in the kitchen before. How could he suddenly cook so well that even some of the chefs acted like new apprentices around him?"

"That's... true." Wendy couldn't imagine a homely prince.

"Let's go with the third point." Tyre decided to change the topic.

Wendy noticed Tyre's face turned weird as she was about to reveal the last.

"He is suspicious... because he didn't die." The assassin confessed.