?

　　“What happened?” I asked in a whisper to Rodrick.

　　“The boy confessed.”

　　“Confessed? Are you talking about the drug?”

　　Rodrick gave me a perplexed look. “How do you know about that?”

　　“Anne mentioned it might be a theory but…it’s confirmed?”

　　Rodrick nodded. “And he also confessed to killing Declan.”

　　“Wait… Amir did it?”

　　Before Rodrick could respond, I could see movement from the corner of my eyes. I turned to watch Isaiah pull Amir’s hands off him and shove him away. The young boy stumbled back and fell onto his bottom.

　　“M-My Lord, please forgive me! I did what I did for your sake. I wanted to protect you!”

　　“You drugged me, Amir!” he growled, the indifference from earlier twisted into anger. Amir flinched from Isaiah’s intimidating glare.

　　“That’s because I had too…I was forced to do it, you have to understand, Lord Isaiah, they would have hurt you!”

　　“They?” I whispered to Rodrick.

　　“According to the boy, he overheard Lord Declan and a few others plotting to come after Isaiah the night before.”

　　“What provoked this?”

　　“No idea. But, someone then approached him and offered to help him, claiming that they knew what Declan was planning to do. This mysterious person told Amir to kill Declan before Declan could kill Isaiah.”

　　“Does he not know who this mysterious person is?”

　　Rodrick shook his head, indicating he did not know.

　　“You…do you think I am weak, Amir? If you believed that my life was in danger you should have told me! But you drugged me and killed a man in a foreign land!? Do you not understand the circumstances we are in?”

　　“I d-do…!”

　　“No, you don’t! If you did, you would have talked to me first!”

　　I took a step forward. “Isaiah.” I called out in hopes to calm him down from his rage. I understand why he is upset, his attendant from his own country betrayed him by drugging him and then killed someone, claiming to have done it for Isaiah’s sake. And yet, Amir’s reckless decisions only caused more trouble.

　　Isaiah looked over at me as though he had only noticed I was there. His features softened and for a moment, the empty walls of the dungeon had only Amir’s sobs echoing through. I could not even have an ounce of happiness in me knowing that Isaiah was not guilty because here a young boy had admitted that he had taken a life for the sake of his lord.

　　What was the right thing to do, I wondered. Should I condemn Amir just to save Isaiah? Do I try to save Amir and blame those who had manipulated him in the first place? But no one held the dagger in his hands and forced him to kill Declan. He did that on his own accord. This case was getting more complicated the more answers we found.

　　“Let me out, Rodrick.” Isaiah called out.

　　“M-My Lord, p-please forgive me!”

　　“Tsk.” He clicked his tongue, not even bothering to look at Amir scrambled to his knees.

　　Rodrick pulled the door open, and Isaiah walked out. He did not look at me as he walked back towards his own cell. Rodrick locked the cell door and just as he passed me to go to Isaiah’s cell, I stopped him.

　　“No one else is here, yes?” I asked him in a whisper.

　　“Yes princess. I made the guards leave and there are no other inmates present.”

　　“Okay, give me a second with Isaiah.” I said, following him into the cell. He turned around, furrowing his brows at me, clearly not expecting me to step inside his cell.

　　“What now, princess? We know who the culprit is, so what’s the next step.” He asked.

　　“There’s still many missing pieces to this story, we need to find who convinced him that your life was in danger.”

　　“Amir said the person wore a hood, hiding their face.”

　　“Someone must’ve seen something, so that’s the next step.”

　　“You really are optimistic. Even if Amir confesses that he was the one who killed Declan, people will still point their fingers at me since he is my attendant.”

　　“I know.”

　　“Even if we find who manipulated Amir, it won’t change anything.”

　　I took a step towards him, reaching out for his hand. He allowed me to hold his warm hand as we looked into each other’s eyes. “Did you forget?”

　　“Hm?”

　　“I told you to trust me earlier, didn’t I? Are you saying that you are losing faith in me?”

　　Isaiah rolled his eyes. “Of course not. I’m losing faith in everything else.”

　　It was understandable, truly, if I were in this situation, I wouldn’t have the ability to be trusting nor optimistic but right now all I wanted to do was let him feel a little bit at ease. “We’re one step closer to the truth. Please do not give up on me now.” I said, giving him a reassuring smile.

　　Isaiah sighed as he pulled my hand up to his mouth. His rough lips kissed the back of my hand. “As the princess wishes. Now go, you are needed up there compared to down here.”

　　“Will you be alright?”

　　“I’ll manage.”

　　*

　　The guards in charge of the dungeons returned shortly and Rodrick had informed them to not let anyone visit Isaiah and Amir unless it was himself or me. Both of us then promptly made our way back to the study, hoping that the rest would have some good news for us.

　　“You said that the maid, June, saw Amir with one Lady Marie’s maid?” Rodrick suddenly asked.

　　“That’s what Anne said.”

　　“Then, could that mysterious maid be the one who manipulated Amir?”

　　“That thought did come to my mind, but would an attendant believe in a maid of all people when it involves death threats?”

　　“He did believe that drugging Isaiah was the right thing to do, so it would seem that his ignorance and naivety was monopolised by whoever was responsible.” Rodrick said.

　　I nodded in agreement. “Whoever is pulling the strings here must have been watching and learning the type of person Amir was and used that to their advantage.”

　　“Hm.” Rodrick sighed just as we reached the door to then study. He pulled it open for me and it took me a moment to get used to the fact that the room was now filled with a group of people. They all turned to look at Rodrick and me.

　　“Oh! You’re back!” Cassian said as he manoeuvred his way through the group of people. I looked around, recognising them to be staff from this palace.

　　“That should be my line… you’re back so soon?” I asked, entering the study as Rodrick shut the door behind me.

　　Cassian made a face. “It’s easier and quicker to get information when you know what you are looking for. I got all the details about Declan Wright, just as asked for, my love.” He beamed.

　　I grimaced at how casually he used a pet name to refer to me in front of these people. “Thank you for your hard work, Cassian.” I said as I gave his arm a squeeze before making my way towards the two who I assumed to be June and the head chef. They immediately bowed their heads at me. “As you were.” I smiled.

　　“Thanks to these witnesses, we have more evidence against Lady Marie and the people who are working under her. As for the drug, Cassian managed to identify it immediately,” Augustus started.

　　I turned my attention back to him. “You did?”

　　He looked more smug than usual. “Of course! It is a rather popular drug in underground market called Ivy’s Kiss.”

　　“That’s a peculiar name.” Rodrick commented.

　　Cassian nodded. “It is made up of a mixture of herbs and rare flowers that affect the nervous system and the brain. It is a very potent drug, and you only need just a few grams of the powdered substance to make someone lose their memories. If you take too much, you might get paralyzed—some victims have even died.”

　　“It’s that dangerous?” I gasped, a fear that this drug could have harmed Isaiah built up in the pits of my stomach.

　　Cassian nodded. “Whoever mixed the tea with the drug knew what they were doing since all that happened to Isaiah was memory loss.”

　　I turned to June. “Do you remember who this maid was? The one who made the tea?”

　　“I only saw here from the back, Your Highness. The only reason I knew it was someone of Lady Marie’s is due to the cloak she was wearing. The pattern at the back is different from the cloaks of the others working in the palace because Lady Marie’s and her children’s workers all have the same type of cloak.”

　　Cassian chuckled. “How foolish of them to try to be different, it would seem that this will be their downfall.”

　　“We need more proof than just a different patterned cloak.” Augustus said.

　　I nodded in an agreement. “That’s right. Our next step is to find the drug.”