That little cup of cocoa was indeed something miraculous, and Dia departed from the guardhouse with a small smile on her face. She indeed felt rather cleansed after two cups of cocoa, and the negative thoughts that had been swirling around her for the past few days had been bottled up once more.
It didn't take long for her to return to the cottage.
To her surprise, Risti was already waiting at the garden, and Dia hastened her steps. Stopping in front of her, Dia bowed.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said all this." She looked up. "I…don't function well under pressure. Please don't take my words to heart."
Risti blinked. "That's not important, really. Are you alright? I should have realised that you were still affected by the interrogation and the revelation. I probably set you off by accident."
"No, no. That was entirely my fault." Dia brushed her off. She didn't dare to examine the true cause behind her outburst; but Risti was getting dangerously close to doing that. "Anyway, Lucia wants you to go down to the guardhouse. There's something good waiting for you there."
"Something good?" Risti asked.
"A nice sweet drink called hot cocoa. It's something that came from another city, and it helps to sooth the nerves," Dia replied.
Risti glanced at Dia, and then nodded, understanding gleaming in her eyes. "I see, I see. I think I should try it too, then. Auntie also used that skill on me…"
Dia winced.
Shaking her head, Risti darted off into the direction of the guardhouse. Dia chuckled at how fast she was moving — clearly, Risti probably had a hobby of sampling new drinks or something.
Fortunately, nothing seemed to have changed between them.
After spending a few more seconds to look at Risti's departing figure, Dia tore her gaze away and entered the house. The Seekers of Truth were still inside, but this time, the dinner table was full of dried food. Scores of paper wrappers were stuffed inside a particularly large bag; the dried food probably came from there.
Norn glanced at Dia as she entered the house. "Where's Risti?"
"She went off to get some hot cocoa," Dia replied. "The officer at the guardhouse told me to send that message to her."
"I see." Norn picked up a sausage. "By the way, how's your father doing? Word has it that he was very agitated when you left."
"Huh? No, nothing happened to me when I escaped—" Dia froze.
"Huhu." Norn glanced at her. "Well, if you say so, Princess Dia."
"You…" Dia shivered. "You knew?"
For a moment, she wanted to do something, anything, but against a party of tetra-folders, Dia knew that there was little available to her. A fraction of their true strength would be enough to capture her.
"Relax, princess." Norn leaned back on her seat. "Interesting, though. I can see it in your movements. Your foundation as a bounty hunter isn't real. Illusory. Much like the murderer I saw in your vision, and the testimony from Risti herself."
She licked her lips. "Do you know something that wasn't in your report?"
Dia gulped.
"Ah, I thought so." Norn slid the sausage down her throat. "Interesting. You must have recognised or suspected certain issues, no? Tell me. And I shall keep this secret for you."
Dia looked at her other party members, who were lolling around the table. Norn followed her gaze, before rolling her eyes. "They're drunk."
"Doesn't seem like I have much of a choice, then," Dia murmured. "But why aren't you going to capture me? I'm a fugitive. It would be easy to extract information from me once I'm inside a prison or something."
"You're innocent."
Dia's heart clenched up at those words. For a moment, she found it hard to breath, as if something was stopping her from inhaling properly. It was only two words, but these two words were more than enough to stop her from thinking properly.
"I…" She took huge gulps of air. "I…"
Norn got up from her seat. "Relax. I'm the Seekers of Truth's leader. I know what happened. You are innocent. Ruler Umbra did not die of old age. The Thief of Time didn't have a role in his death. You, along with a few others, have been cruelly framed."
With all her might, Dia stopped her hands from trembling. "But what can I do?"
"We can only wait. No one knows what the Emperor is thinking. And unfortunately, you and the others who were framed are too unimportant for him to care about," said Norn. "Stay alive. Remain at liberty. This is all I can say. For a single person with little experience, you've done really well."
Norn rubbed Dia's head. "Don't give up, princess. My niece looks up to you. She'll be heartbroken if anything happens. It is hard to live up to those illusory expectations Risti has of you, but do you best."
"Do my best…"
"Yes."
Dia didn't dare to think about that, though. The look of disappointment in Risti's eyes earlier was too piercing, too painful. If Risti and the others ever found out about her true identity, Dia wouldn't know what to do. The disappointment that followed was bound to be immense; Dia had a feeling that her spirit would break from it.
Growing up with such looks was bad enough. She didn't want any more reminders of her inadequacy.
After patting her back for another minute or two, Norn returned to her seat. "Feeling better?"
"Yes. Thank you."
As it turned out, the hot cocoa really did work miracles. The knowledge that someone knew and understood her circumstances was more than enough for Dia to cheer up…even if the status quo for everything else remained the same.
"Alright." Norn smiled. "I'll be a bit honest here. I already know what you were looking at, and what knowledge you purposely withheld from the reports."
"What do you mean?" Dia asked.
"Because revealing your knowledge of Experiential Potions would only harm the cover story you created," Norn replied. "Yes. I believe this murderer, after being afflicted by the Absolute skill, was forced to ingest multiple Experiential potions."
"You know about Experiential potions…"
"Why would we not? These potions aren't an issue…if they were made normally, that is. However, judging from the spearsmanship displayed by the murderer, it seems that the potions he drank are slightly different," said Norn. "Normal Experiential potions are made with memories as a core, which result in a theoretical, incomplete understanding of the knowledge inside."
Dia nodded. She knew what Norn meant; her movements and her instincts were off whenever she tried to emulate a thief or a bounty hunter. Furthermore, these…instincts were so deeply ingrained that they hampered her from trying to relearn the trade from scratch.
"However," said Norn, "there are ways to increase the effectiveness of Experiential potions. For instance, by using brain matter extracted from a living subject."
Dia's stomach flipped at those words. "Brain matter…extracted?"
"Yes. From a living subject. The process is debilitating; it destroys the victim's ability to think or function." Norn had a disgusted look on her face. "And the same thing can be done to the victim over and over again as long as he or she stays alive."
"That can't be—"
"But it is." Norn narrowed her eyes. "We've been tracking multiple cases of missing people in the Julan Barony, but someone's done the work for us. The entire main house was destroyed, revealing an entire basement full of braindead people. There are so many clues that point at each other for us to make some very good guesses."
"What guesses?"
"First, the Third Bearer of Destiny approached the Julan family and got them to help. The culprit then created multiple Experiential potions and fed them to his thralls, turning them into beings capable of killing with ease," said Norn. "These cases have been going on for years. Decades. The Third Bearer of Destiny is clearly up to something…in fact, Ruler Umbra's death might even be related to him."
Dia tried to calm herself, but the blow-by-blow account of all these had frightened her. What kind of madman would do such a thing? And why?
"It's one huge web, from what I can see. The Third Bearer of Destiny might even be just a front, from how…reckless all this seems," Norm muttered. "Be careful. You can't tell who's an ally…I might even be an enemy."
She chuckled. "I'm just kidding. But you should really be careful. Ruler Istrel's inauguration is around the corner. Things are going to heat up. If I were you, I'll run straight back to Licencia and wait for the confusion to pass by."
"How about you?" Dia asked.
"Me?" Norm smiled. "I'll interrogate the Dusk Daggers and then turn in my report to HQ. I need a first-hand experience of what they saw at Julan, after all."
She sighed, before gesturing at the table laden with food. "Want some? Don't stand on courtesy with—"
The door flew open before she could conclude that sentence, and Risti rushed in, her face flushed. "Auntie, you didn't do anything weird to Dia, did you?"
"Rubbish. But good timing! There's a lot of food left. Help me eat the rest…"
[End of Book 3: Murders Under the Moons]