oneirataxia

1.26 - the truth (2)

"The young miss was having tea with young master Blake."

....

With that, everyone turned quiet as they took a glance at the anxious young master who was looking at his half-sister with sadness in his eyes. There was no way a 7-year old would be able to procure poison... especially if he didn't have anyone he could trust wholeheartedly in the mansion. And vanenium was a rare type of poison only available from the far north. Far from the south, where they lived.

"What are you implying?" the duke asked. His voice was loud, sending chills down the nanny's spine as she shuddered under the duke's sharp glare.

"I... I am not implying anything, your grace," the nanny said, bowing her head, avoiding the duke's gaze as she fiddled with her fingers nervously.

"Your Grace, may I talk to all of you?" Aliyah looked over to the duchess and asked, pausing before she turned to the nanny who shot a not-exactly discreet glare towards Aliyah. Aliyah ignored her before turning back to the duchess, "...alone"

"Of course. Everyone except for miss Robenhouse, Blake and the duchess may leave," the duke said. As the servants were leaving along with the old physician, the nanny gave a slight glance to the duke and glared at Aliyah before turning to leave the room.

....

"So what was it that you wanted to say?" Cruella asked, her eyes wandering off to Flora's weak figure in the room on the bed, storing the child's forehead and wiping away the sweat with a handkerchief.

"Your Grace, it might be impertinent of me, however... isn't little Flora's nanny from the north?" Aliyah asked softly, afraid that some of the servants who just left would be eavesdropping from the door.

"...You do have a point. However, it doesn't make sense if it was the nanny. She has no connections to the north. She was an orphan who I picked myself up when I was younger when I went to visit the north. She hasn't had any contact with anyone there for the last 10 years," the duchess said, sitting down on the bed next to Flora and holding the small girl's hand.

"It won't hurt to look into it," Blake said, gripping onto his mother's dress.

"...Blake's right. It won't hurt to look into it," the duke said, glancing over to Flora before turning back to Aliyah.

"Alright. For this matter, it's best if we all kept this between to ourselves," the duchess said. She walked over to Blake and crouched down, patting his head and sighed, "remember, don't tell anyone, alright?"

"I won't tell anyone," Blake nodded and flashed a small smile.

***

"Sir Okumura, do you want to explain yourself?" the duke asked, his eyes staring down at the knight with a menacing stare.

"I have no words. The evidence is there, why should I explain?" the dark-haired knight revealed a mysterious smile.

"Lock him up in the dungeons before further investigation," the duke said simply as the knights pulled Sir Okumura to the dungeons.

....

The duke glanced over at Blake with a pitiful stare, sighing as he picked the child up, stroking his hair gently. "How are you feeling, Blake?"

The child turned to his father and lifted an eyebrow. "What do you mean, father? I feel fine,"

"...you're not disappointed about sir Okumura?" The duke asked.

"Why would I? If the betrayal was bound to happen, I can't stop it. It was his choice to poison Flora. Sure, I'm a little sad that he decided to do that, but it was his choice, father," Blake said, leaning his head against his father's shoulder.

"Sometimes, you can be scarily very mature for your age," the duke sighed and adjusted his arm and lifted Blake higher.

'well... I did turn 25 in my old world before I got here,' Blake thought, turning his face to look at his father.

****

Earlier,

The duke searched the mansion. The whole mansion was turned upside down from Aliyah, The duchess and the duke's magic searching through everything as all the servants and knights were required to stand outside as they searched.

Soon, all three of them walked out of the mansion, holding a pouch. Blake took a glance at the small purple-ish pouch in his father's hand and knew that that was the vanenium that caused his sister's sickness. Blake got off from the ground and rushed to his father's side. Gripping on his father's coat, he looked up at the taller green-haired man.

"This was found in the knight's quarters," the duke paused before he released his mana, suppressing everyone around them excluding Blake, The duchess and Aliyah. "It was the room with the blue ribbon hanging by the door. Confess now or face my wrath."

The ones being suppressed fell to their knees as they struggled to stand. Sweat dripped from their foreheads as they tried to lift their heads and look at the others.

Suddenly, one of the knights lifted their hand despite the difficulty, "Your grace! I might know whose room it is!"

The suppressive mana disappeared in an instant as the duke walked up to the knight and lifted him by the collar. "Tell us,"

"If it's the room with the blue ribbon by the door, it is SIr Okumura's, your grace," the knight said, his eyes shakily looking at the duke. The duke stared into the knight's eyes and saw no lies behind those eyes before letting go of his collar.

"Sir Okumura, do you want to explain yourself?"