Episode 13.1 - A last try

I haven't noticed the boredom that's supposedly present here. Time and again, I find myself in situations from which I can barely be rescued. How is this going to continue? Even Otscharsan's relationship with one of the two doesn't change my suspicion that Tosa and Kyle are behind the poisoning attack. I have a bad feeling about it, but maybe Tosa will confess it in a conversation with her brother.

***

It's the evening of the fifth day that I've been lying in the infirmary when Otscharsan asks his sister for a conversation. Like the other days, I'm in my bed, unable to do anything else due to my condition. Standing before me are the blonde Otscharsan and the brunette Tosa. The half-siblings only resemble each other in their eye color—an interesting green, from which the girl usually glares at me venomously. But this time, her eyes are only on her brother.

"What am I doing here?" the girl demands to know. "What am I supposed to do with this bitch?"

Bitch? I raise my eyebrows and glare at the older girl. She's the one who has been hostile towards me from the start, even though I haven't done anything to her. But Marto told me how unlikable someone seems who is friends with Kaia and Gasard. She also shares the same opinion about Mak as I do, who often brought me delicious food.

In her place, I would probably react the same way.

"Tosa, I need to talk to you about something," Otscharsan seems to have a hard time bringing up my suspicion with his sister. "Janine said something that is a serious accusation against you."

"What?" the brunette demands to know from her brother. Her gaze is demanding, but when she continues to speak, it briefly turns hostile towards me. "What lies has this beast told about me?"

If I didn't feel so miserable, I would have jumped up to tell her my opinion. But I can't even do that. My throat hasn't improved much; it still feels dry and rough when I speak, and it burns like fire.

"She accuses you of having something to do with the poisoning attack," Otscharsan finally says.

"Excuse me?" Tosa spins around to her brother. "You don't believe that, do you?" Her voice sounds incredulous, though very angry as well. As if it's the last thing she expected to hear from her brother. At least that I can understand.

They both seem to have a good relationship. The blonde just shakes his head. "As if I could believe something like that about anyone." The smile forming on his face looks pained. It's clear he doesn't think his sister is capable of such a thing, but he also doesn't believe I'm lying. The next thing he says is full of seriousness. "So far, she's only told me about it."

A sigh escapes Tosa's lips, sounding relieved, too much so to my ears. I look at her suspiciously. It's as if she was already preparing for the worst, and that doesn't seem innocent to me.

"But if she goes to Gasard, he will surely investigate the matter." Otscharsan looks at the girl seriously to clarify her position. "If she's right, and you really have something to do with it, please tell me now."

Anger rises in Tosa.

"You really think I'm capable of this?" she lashes out at her brother. She no longer looks as unfazed as before, just angry about his words. Something I can also understand in her situation. But unfortunately, it's not the reaction I was hoping for.

Still... I don't think I'm wrong. Her behavior has been so suspicious. And then there's Kyle, who seemed eagerly anticipating something before the attack on me. I'm not imagining that!

"No!" says Otscharsan firmly. "But these are very serious accusations against you. Something we absolutely need to talk about."

"What's there to talk about?" Tosa gets worked up. "I have no idea how she came up with this, but it's great that you... That my only brother believes such accusations."

Her voice sounds so full of anger, while he looks at her almost pleadingly, as if silently begging her to calm down. Something Tosa seemingly has no intention of doing.

"Please, Tosa," he says.

"Not a chance!" she shouts. "You are my brother! You should defend me against such accusations and not believe this beast!"

"Tosa, what I believe is irrelevant in this case," says Otscharsan. Tosa looks at him in disbelief. "If she tells someone else, her word will count more than yours. So I want to clear this up."

"Why does her word count more than mine?" Tosa demands to know from her brother, looking confused. "If she were worth anything, she wouldn't end up in prison."

"She is the daughter of a legend," Otscharsan shakes his head, sighing. "Torsos is sometimes an idiot. Putting her in the death zone is madness on one hand, but it certainly has a reason on the other."

"Mak said something about there being no free rooms," I interject, to which Otscharsan just shrugs. I lower my gaze to the floor. I wonder if my father really is this Malgard and what he was like. "And about my father, I can't judge that."

A smile plays on his lips while his sister continues to glare at me venomously.

"What lies has she told about me?" Tosa demands in a clearly offended tone.

As if she really doesn't know what I've observed, I think. To me, she is not the innocent girl she pretends to be, even though she's good at her role.

"It's about a necklace." A sigh escapes his lips, his gaze shifts to the ceiling. "Just because she saw you with a necklace whose pendant had different colors."

A smile forms on her lips, looking confident as if she could easily dismiss my suspicion as nonsense. Something I even trust her to do. I know myself that it's not solid evidence. I need more than these small observations, I know that.

Tosa's reaction is as expected.

"Oh, that." The smile with which she looks at her brother appears nice and doesn't show that I'm accusing her of attempted murder. "I once bought a necklace, and someone special thought green suited me better." She looks at him embarrassed. "He searched for a long time until he found a pendant with the matching color. She just burst in when he gave it to me."

"I'll believe that when I see it!" I grumble out. Maybe it works with her brother, but she can't fool me with such a lie.

Tosa glares at me angrily. "I can get both if you don't believe me," she snaps at me.

"Janine! Tosa!" Otscharsan's voice sounds stern and reproachful. "Stop this bickering!"

"She's accusing me of attempted murder," she says harshly, her eyes briefly shifting to her brother, then back to me. "I have a wonderful boyfriend. Maybe she's jealous and doesn't want me to have him."

"Jealous?" I raise my eyebrows and look at her speechless for a moment. But the thought of that creep just makes me shudder. "If you like guys who prey on defenseless women." My voice is still a croak, but the anger is clearly audible.

"Kyle is nice and loves me," she snaps at me.

That her feelings for him are genuine is clear to me even now. It's also clear that she doesn't believe my words. But I have two witnesses to the attack. When I try to speak further, Otscharsan stops me with his look.

He embraces his sister and pulls her close. "It seems my little sister is really in love." A smile forms on his lips.

Knowing they are siblings, one might think they are a couple, I think.

"As long as the guy is serious about you, I have nothing against your relationship. But..." He pauses. His sister looks at him expectantly. "If Janine is right, and he's just playing with you, he better not dare to face me!" His hand strokes her cheek. "Anyone who hurts you will have to deal with me!"

"He won't!" she insists.

Otscharsan lets her go. "Please go back."

"Just one question."

The blonde looks at his sister curiously. "You're neither in the canteen where Torsos eats nor in your team's. Or are you avoiding me lately?" Her last sentence is meant as a joke.

"Poor me has been condemned to hard labor." He scratches his head, embarrassed. "The evil Gasard thinks I should suffer for what I cause and has put me on the repair team."

"My poor brother," Tosa says with a smile, then leaves my room.

"I don't believe her!" I say after she's gone.

"Tosa is a good girl!" he insists.

"Is she a slave?" My question makes him look confused, but then he nods.

"My family has always supported slavery; only I despise it," he explains. "Tosa is the daughter of one of our former slaves and my father. When her mother got pregnant, my father drove her away. I only found out about her late; since then, I've been taking care of her."

"That guy is just using Tosa and seems to despise her even." Even though he won't believe me, I continue. "Just talk to Mak, he witnessed the attack on me and the other girl in the prison."

"The sweet blonde?" I nod immediately. "I'll talk to him, even if I can't believe what you're accusing my sister of."

I nod.

Their relationship seems so good that I immediately believe it. If I had a brother and heard something like this about him, I probably wouldn't believe it either.

Otscharsan tells me more about his family before he leaves me again.

No one else visits me for the rest of the evening.