Chapter 89

Zair could not be sure of the thoughts that had come to his mind.

The soul is originally bound to the body it is connected to and cannot escape until the end of its lifespan. They can only roam freely as souls once the body dies.

That’s what he had always believed.

But there was one exception.

The image of the living spirit, shining in brilliant golden light and flying around as a soul while the body remained alive, was still vividly imprinted in Zair’s mind. At the time, he had believed the words of Eda, who said that it was possible if the body was ill and exhausted to the point where the connection would loosen. And since the first master of the Magic Tower had once chased the golden butterfly across dimensions, Zair had been nothing but excited by the possibility.

When Sethian had created a new body for him and kept him close, he had never seen the golden butterfly. That was only natural. With the new connection established, it was only expected that the soul would no longer be able to escape the new body.

But was that truly the case?

What had the golden butterfly looked like when Zair first witnessed it? The soul’s vibrant and affectionate presence, which had always sought only Sethian, still felt so fresh and alive in his memory.

‘It wasn’t that the soul was “bound” to the body, but rather that the soul had been “binding” the body… perhaps it was a truly free butterfly, one not constrained by the body at all.’ Zair felt as though someone else’s face was overlaying the Emperor’s face, a young man whose face and gaze were different, but whose image kept flashing before his eyes.

Roa, who had been watching Zair’s unsteady gaze with a bitter expression, turned his attention to the Emperor and spoke, “Fortunately, the First Prince is unharmed.”

Upon hearing his words, Mendel stepped forward and spoke clearly to the Emperor, “I apologize for the concern, Your Majesty.”

“I’m relieved that he is safe. Now, tell me what happened in detail.”

Mendel’s cold eyes turned toward Zair. He glared at Zair, who was still frozen, as if ready to devour him at any moment. “We had our usual tea time in the morning, but though the servant had tasted it first, I felt a sense of paralysis spreading through my body and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I found myself in a cave, accompanied by a servant that Sethian had secretly assigned to me in case something like this happened. By that time, Sethian had already been confined in the Stone Tower, and the servant told me that I had drunk tea laced with the poison of Idelo.”

Mendel briefly met Sethian’s gaze before continuing his account calmly. “Sethian’s servant saved me using the only antidote to Idelo’s poison, an herb called ‘Ivelo.’ Afterward, my fake body was made to look as though I were truly dead.”

“Why create a fake body, and why not disclose it immediately?” The Emperor’s question was directed at Sethian. Sethian, who had been silently listening, answered without hesitation.

“I had prepared it in case my brothers were threatened with assassination. I thought revealing it would make it more difficult to track down the true culprit behind the poisoning.”

No one in the court believed the part about doing it for his brothers, but they couldn’t dispute it either. The fact remained that thanks to Sethian’s actions, Mendel was still safe. The important point, however, was that Sethian had endured the humiliation of being locked in the Stone Tower as a suspected poisoner, all in an effort to uncover the true criminal behind the poisoning.

“The enemy would have had to believe that my brother, Mendel, was actually poisoned before they would move forward. So, I used the fake body I had prepared to mimic my brother. And, of course, I made sure to warn Remines and Elina as well.”

Sethian continued, recalling Remines and Elina with a slight unease, “I warned them to be careful if they did not want to be poisoned by Zair as well.”

The mention of Zair’s name caught his attention, and Zair’s gaze was finally torn away from the Emperor. His expression twisted with disdain, and his face gradually lost all emotion as his cold eyes settled on Sethian.

It seemed like some kind of signal, as Elina suddenly began to speak with tears in her eyes.

“After hearing Sethian-oppa’s warning, I was cautious at every tea time. The servants tested it several times, and this morning, I noticed that the rim of my teacup was coated with Idelo’s poison. How... how could you, Zair-oppa, do this to me...?”

“Do you have any proof? Everyone knows that Sethian is the only one who possesses Idelo in this empire.” Zair, who had remained silent until now, shot a murderous glare at Elina, as if he intended to tear her apart with his eyes.

Remines and Elina had checked their teacups during tea time, just as Mendel had described. Normally, the poison would be in the tea, but since the poison had been applied to the rim of the cups meant for the royal family, they would have been unable to detect it. Had Mendel not reported it, they too would have been poisoned by Idelo’s toxin and might have lost their lives.

Because of their contract with Canael, Remines and Elina had no choice but to cooperate with Sethian’s instructions. Like Mendel, they too made a Divine Command Contract with the man who had attacked them, agreeing to cooperate in solving this matter.

“There’s no need to lie. We’ll speak only the truth and say it at the right time,” Sethian had said.

His instructions were simple—no need for lies or false accusations. That made it easier for them to proceed with their cooperation. After all, by doing so, Sethian promised to erase the contract that involved the assassination order to Canael, which seemed to benefit them.

Once, Zair had been a trustworthy ally and brother, someone they had shared everything with, but now, after he had tried to kill them, everything had changed.

Remines, wiping away Elina’s tears with his fingertips, locked eyes with Zair, unwavering in his gaze.

“We suspected Sethian too, in relation to Idelo. But then, the Tower Lord shared something we hadn’t known.”

Remines’ words made Zair narrow his eyes, and he met Roa’s gaze, which had been filled with pity as he looked at him, “Didn’t the Second Prince bring in ‘Ivelo’ before?”

“It was a precious tea leaf that His Majesty’s health required, so I sent people even to foreign lands to obtain it. What’s wrong with that?”

“There’s no issue with that. However…” Roa seemed to hesitate as he chose his next words carefully before asking a question instead, “Do you know why Ivelo’s name is so similar to Idelo?”

This was something most people in the court didn’t know.

Ivelo was a rare tea leaf, cultivated in only certain regions in a foreign land at the southern end of the continent, and it was known as a panacea for internal injuries. Idelo, similarly, was also a flower known as a cure for all manner of external injuries, but its toxicity made it dangerous if not handled properly.

While everyone knew these facts, there was something only Tower Lord Roa and Sethian, the owner of Idelo, knew.

“Ivelo is originally the leaf of Idelo. In the southern part of the continent, they grow Idelo, but they cut the buds before the flowers bloom to remove its poison. After removing the poison, it is called Ivelo, which includes ‘vel,’ meaning ‘without flowers’ in that continent’s language.”

Zair’s eyes widened in shock as he looked between Roa and Sethian. He hadn’t known this fact.

“Let me add one more thing: Idelo, once its flower has been removed because of its poison, can hardly survive. Just look at how the Idelo in Sethian’s garden is withering away day by day, and you’ll understand.” As Roa pointed out, even at that very moment, another skilled gardener was carefully tending the Idelo in Sethian’s garden under the watch of the Imperial Knights. Even so, its rapid withering could not be helped.

“...The truth is, Idelo exists in another place besides Sethian’s garden.” Roa revealed a fact that only those in the Magic Tower and the Emperor had known until now.

“Idelo is a flower imbued with mana so potent that it cannot be approached. It was also brought across dimensions by the first master of the Magic Tower. We planted it underground and used the abundant mana from it to perform magic.” Roa clenched his fists tightly, his hands shaking in anger. “Now, no matter how much money you offer, you cannot obtain Ivelo’s tea leaves. So, how did you, Zair, manage to obtain them?”

His question was accompanied by a tremor in his voice. “Did you acquire them through some mage? Both Idelo and Ivelo?”

At that moment, the face of Eda, who had disappeared after the incident at the Stone Tower, flashed across Roa’s mind.