- Present day -
When Rian finished telling his story, Careth and Merry started to see him in a new light. In truth, they did villainize him early on due to his behaviour—but after hearing his tale, the children began to regain their trust in him.
"Thank you for telling us the truth, Rian. I'm sorry about what you had to go through... that was terrible," Careth said sincerely. "I'm sorry for lashing out on you earlier too."
Rian waved his hand. "It's fine. I understand your anger. If I was in your place, I would be pretty mad too."
"But why didn't you offer us help in the first place? You scared us and we thought you would really kill Careth," Merry said.
"I had to put up that act so you guys would plan to escape," he explained, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "To be honest, I do not want to be heir, but I had to say that so there would be a sense of urgency."
Careth brought his hand to his chin. "So you revealed the Tradition because you wanted us to leave as quick as possible."
"That's right," Rian confirmed. "All the time I was underground, I wondered how to approach you and tell you the truth. Actually, if you didn't visit me that day, I was planning to abduct you."
The current heir laughed dryly. "It's a good thing we went to the library ourselves, then." He placed a hand on Rian's shoulder, grinning. "I really appreciated you telling us your story. Now that the misunderstanding's all cleared up, we should better return. My free time has been cut to thirty minutes only."
"Wait!" Merry said hurriedly, and the brothers turned to her. "Um, I have something to say. That time I was caught in the armory, it was actually the nurse who caught me."
"Nurse?" Careth repeated, frowning. "Nurse Rosetta?"
The girl nodded fervently. "She wants to help us, too. And I think she really means it. She has information on how you're going to be killed."
This new revelation struck the boys like lightning. Careth grabbed her shoulders anxiously, saying, "Do you know? How I'm going to be killed?"
A pause, before she said gravely, "It's poison. You will be poisoned."
—
Poison.
Out of all the ways and methods of death, Careth hoped it wouldn't be this one. If it was an execution, at least the pain would only last for a second. If it was by burning, he figured he would be unconscious by the time his skin fried as he would've inhaled too much carbon dioxide. But death by poison— that is a slow, suffocating death. The toxins would wade their way into your system, binding to your cells and toxify them, resulting in most cases, respiratory failure and other kinds of body malfunctions.
Careth lay on his bed, his mind racing a marathon. Now that he knew he would die by ingestion, he was paranoid of every food he was to consume. Would it be the rice? Or chopped onions? Or possibly...
The soup?
Careth sat up sharply. It made sense—the soup always tasted disgusting, having a slimy texture and revolting smell, and his father always instructed him to drink it.
He thought he would exclaim eureka, but after further thinking, Careth fell back to the mattress in defeat.
'The dish was introduced months ago. Unless the poison was one-of-a-kind, its effect would've taken place instantly, but I'm still alive right now,' he thought logically. Sighing at his fruitless pondering, he turned to the side and shut his eyes, leaving all the investigation to tomorrow, when they would confront Nurse Rosetta.
—
It was five minutes past six when Nurse Rosetta heard an odd knock on the infirmary's door. Upon answering it, two children and one youngster hurried in, closing the door in her place.
She recognized the three of them immediately. The Merry from two nights ago, current young master Careth, and her once frequent visitor, Rian.
"I see she told you everything," the nurse remarked, and the boy stepped forward.
"Yes, but I would still like to see the documents for myself," Careth extended his hand, waiting.
Nurse Rosetta brought him over to the worktable, pulling out the file and letting him see it for himself. Meanwhile, Rian pulled Merry aside and whispered into her ear.
"I did my big reveal already. What about you?"
Merry pushed him away, narrowing her eyes at him. "Don't bother about me. We should be focused on helping him now."
Rian made a thoughtful sound and leaned on the windowsill. "You're not planning to never tell him, are you?"
The girl was about to answer when the nurse and Careth returned, approaching the duo with news.
"I'll be poisoned during the tea party. And Nurse Rosetta has told me that the tea party will be held on my birthday, which is quite fitting," Careth explained, and the two of them were enlightened.
"Do we know how he will be poisoned? Like, which food or drink?" Rian asked, but the nurse shook her head sadly.
"I'm only called in when the heir has already died. The only people allowed in the room where the tea party takes place are the Willdyers, Merry's family, and some other nobles."
Careth sent Merry a comforting smile, and was guided by Nurse Rosetta to a bed. "At least I still have you in there."
Nurse Rosetta produced an ointment from her pocket, removed Careth's bandages and applied it on his injuries sensitively. "I've heard about the attempted runaway. You guys were really brave, planning everything and going into Witherblaire." She then looked up at Rian, to which he averted his eyes. "Especially you, Darian."
"Please don't associate that name with me anymore," Rian said sternly. "I don't want to have anything to do with this family."
She nodded understandingly. "But I'm sure Witherblaire can't have been your only choice. Did you ever consider escaping through the town?"
Merry held her breath as Careth answered honestly, "We did, but Merry said the amount of people was still risky."
"I can help you with that, actually," Nurse Rosetta said as she rewrapped his bandages with care. "I'm going to the town's gates tonight to obtain new medicines. You guys can disguise as my assistants, and we can smuggle Careth out of town."
His eyes lit up at her suggestion, and he turned to his companions. "That sounds great. Do you guys agree?"
Rian gave him a thumbs-up, but Merry was busy coming up with an excuse.
"What about your servants? They'll notice if you disappear from your room. And what if you get caught again while gathering supplies?"
Careth gave her a scornful look; not targeted towards her, she was sure, but she almost didn't recognize him wearing this foreign expression. "I've bribed the servants. I can just ask Father for more money and do it again."
"And I can help with obtaining food and other supplies. I have more freedom in terms of roaming around this place," Nurse Rosetta added.
As Merry continued to blab excuses, Rian had a hunch on where this was going, so he waved to signal his leave, secretly forming the soundproof barrier. "I'll be here by ten tonight. I'll offer any help I can with my Talent."
Merry was getting unnerved, and Careth approached her with increasing suspicion. "Why are you so against me going through the town? Is there something you're not telling me?"
She twisted her fingers behind her back, not daring to look at him in the eye. Careth noticed her actions and was taken aback. "You are hiding something. Why? What is it you're so dreading to tell me? I want to know now."
Nurse Rosetta sighed as she cleaned up her workplace, not wanting to interrupt them.
"Merry," Careth pressed on.
She finally spoke shakily. "If you go into town... I was afraid... you might know..."
"Know what?"
Merry met his eyes and confessed. "That the whole town... they knew everything. They knew about the tea party. They knew about the Tradition."
Careth was breathless upon hearing her words. "What... what do you mean? Are you saying that not only the people in the manor... but the people out there, they— they all know that if I'm not Blessed, I'm going to die?"
She nodded. Careth's steps faltered as he moved back, and supported himself by holding onto the bed, as though prone to collapse any second. Merry went to help him, but he flung her off harshly.
"If the whole town knew, that means you knew too," Careth said, and felt a surge of anger threatening to explode. "And you saw me everyday, so you knew when I didn't show any Talent, I was going to die." A memory then flashed across his mind, to the time where they had the conversation in his room, and he shoved her, hurt and disappointed. "You lied!"
Merry couldn't do anything but look down, trying her best to hold back her tears. But Careth had already let his emotions get the better of him and he clasped her shoulders, shouting, "You lied about not knowing! You knew I was going to die and said nothing!"
"I couldn't!" She yelled, and Careth was once again silent with disbelief. "I wanted you to escape without knowing any of this! Because if you knew, imagine... imagine how hurt you would've been."
His fury hardened into stone, and Careth let her go and chuckled. "So you hid the truth because you thought I would be hurt. What else is there? Go on, tell me! I'm already so broken physically and emotionally I can't be anymore hurt."
Merry gripped her skirt tightly. "Please understand, Careth. You were in such a state I couldn't bear to—"
"No, Merry, I can't understand. I can't understand why you didn't tell me this in the first place. I can't understand why you lied when you knew I trusted you so much. You took advantage of my trust in you." He looked at her coldly, and now, there was a wall in between them. "I'll ask you one last thing. Since when did you know about all of this?"
She answered sincerely, unable to hide anymore. "Since the day I met you."
The corner of Careth's lips twitched, and he strode past her, not sparing her a look. "You've been a liar this whole time, for seven whole years. Heck, I wonder if your name is even Merry."
Before he left, he swerved around to glare at Nurse Rosetta, ordering, "Get the food only. Tonight, we're leaving."
He slammed the door, and Merry's knees finally gave in. She fell to the ground, her sobs pitiful and woeful, only audible within Rian's soundproof barrier.