Elin returned to the tent where Varokar's body was kept and saw the sentry Riley and the Cooke Morris standing outside.
"Commander Niaes asked us to wait for you here," Riley said.
"So, you two are not very willing, I suppose. Where's Commander Niaes?"
"She has other matters to attend to, she said she'll come by later."
"That works out well. You two, come inside with me."
"Why?"
"I've found another witness who provided me with different information. I want to verify your statements."
"Why inside?" Morris said. "I don't want to spend the night with that guy's corpse."
"Because I don't want to make a scene, and I'm sure you don't either. There's no other place more suitable. Hurry up, get in."
The two soldiers entered the tent. Elin followed behind and immediately twisted Riley's hand and pressed him against the table.
"What are you doing?" Morris said.
"This guy is the killer, or at least the one who provided the killer with the opportunity."
"I didn't," Riley said, trying to break free.
"Don't move. If you try to attack me now, you'll only make things worse." Elin turned to Morris. "The food delivery guy, you seem pretty strong, you better do me a favor. Bring the rope from the corner over here, I'll need it. He killed your most important hostage, or should I say, guest? However you want to put it, your Commander Niaes is in big trouble. Galin won't take this lightly. If you want to help your commander, you'd better cooperate now. Maybe I can speak for you in front of Galin, like actively cooperating in catching the criminals..."
Riley suddenly pushed his body up, almost hitting Elin's chin. Elin pressed him down again.
"See, a stubborn criminal. Food delivery, are you going to cooperate or not?"
Morris looked at Riley, then at Elin. His body seemed ready to move rapidly in any direction, just unsure of which way to go. His eyes were filled with uncertain panic and anxiety.
"You haven't said," Morris began, "why he is the killer. How do you know it's not your woman..."
"Even if you don't want to help, at least watch your mouth. The rope that strangled Varokar had been tied around his legs for days, it was dirty and rough, not to mention the urine that guy dribbled on it. But Glocara's hands were clean, without any marks or scratches that would be left from using that rope. I don't believe you deliberately asked her to clean up before locking her in. She didn't kill anyone, which means, you..."
"I didn't," Riley spat out from the side of his mouth not pressed against the table.
"Maybe you didn't do it with your own hands, but you know who did. You locked Glocara in there for fifteen minutes, using that time to arrange your plan. You knew from the beginning that Glocara was impersonating a Seven-Sections agent, so you could frame her confidently, as she wouldn't be able to defend herself in such a situation. If he was killed by your hands, admit it now. If not..."
"It was her. No one else."
Elin grabbed Riley's hair and brought him to Varokar's body, using his elbow to push Riley's head closer to Varokar's face. Riley clenched his mouth and eyes tightly.
"Mr. Elin, what are you doing to my soldier?"
Niaes came in. She looked at Elin as if she could draw a sword at any moment.
"Almost done, Commander Niaes," Elin said. "I've already figured out who the main culprit is, just waiting for him to confess. Riley, he deceived us and let others in to kill Varokar before Morris went to deliver food—of course, it could also be him. He's causing you and your army a lot of trouble, but he's not willing to admit it now. Hey, food delivery guy, are you listening?" Elin turned to Morris. "Still not willing to help me? If it weren't for Glocara happening to run into you, this guy might have framed you too. Keeping you in that little room with the dead Varokar for fifteen minutes, you wouldn't have been able to defend yourself either."
Elin pressed Riley's head down further. Riley's face was almost touching Varokar's nose.
"It's..." he said.
"What did you say?" Elin said. "I didn't catch that."
"I'm the one who killed him. It was me alone."
"Louder. Let your commander and the Cooke hear."
"I killed Varokar..."
"That's enough," Morris said. "Let him go. It was me who did it."
"Oh?" Elin glanced at Niaes, then at Morris. "Explain."
"You know, don't you? You knew all along," Morris said. "You mentioned my help earlier, I got the hint. You deliberately treated Riley this way, emphasizing his major offense, just to make him confess for me. He didn't, but I won't let him take the blame for me."
"Listen, Commander Niaes. Listen to the confession of the culprit," Elin said.
"Let him go," Niaes said.
"The person in front of you is a suspect," Elin said. "Aren't you afraid that they'll both run away once I let go?"
"They won't do that. I know them both too well."
"Unfortunately, you obviously didn't know well enough to foresee something like this happening."
Elin pushed Riley away from the body. He looked at Elin with resentment, then spoke to Morris.
"Morris, you..."
"Let it be, Riley, don't mind. I never thought this should have been done in secret. I regret not killing Varokar openly."
"Before I let anyone in, I want to know exactly what happened," Niaes said. "Mr. Elin, are you not going to explain it to me?"
"The actual murderer is Morris, but they are accomplices. They've probably been planning for a while, but only got the chance to execute it the day before yesterday. Riley found out Glocara was lying and thought he could use her, so he locked her in the room for fifteen minutes, using that time to discuss with Morris. There was a crucial lie in the story they told me yesterday: Riley said Morris went in to deliver food but came out immediately — that's not true. He spent the time inside strangling Varokar. As for why they used the rope on Varokar's body and then re-tied it, it was to make them appear innocent and have the chance to say 'I don't know how he died' and other nonsense, framing the incident as someone else's conspiracy. It's still a bit of a puzzle, but unfortunately, you both picked the wrong person. I only need to know this, but I think Commander Niaes would be more interested in why you did this."
Niaes's right hand tightly gripped the sword hilt, not because she wanted to draw it. There were complex emotions in her eyes, as if facing an execution she didn't want to see, but lacking visible sorrow. As the room fell silent for a moment, she stared at Elin for a while, then said to Riley and Morris, "You two, tell me why."
"We wanted revenge for our sister," Morris said. "Varokar killed more than just her at Swiftwater Fort, so we're not just doing it for ourselves."
"I didn't know you had a sister," Niaes said.
"That was a long time ago, before Morris and I joined the army," Riley said. "Varokar tricked her into getting pregnant. We both knew something was wrong because Varokar had his own family, but our sister always trusted him. On the day she gave birth, she wouldn't let us call a doctor because she said Varokar promised to bring the best doctor and stay with her. But he didn't show up. He didn't even dare to appear at her funeral, just had someone send us two gold coins. That was her worth in his eyes."
"Seven-Sections, it doesn't matter if you catch me," Morris said. "But, Captain, we've caused trouble for you and everyone else. I'm willing to accept any punishment to try to mitigate the impact. If you want to publicly execute me, I won't complain."
"I'm in too," Riley said. "I can't let Morris go through this alone."
Niaes glanced at both of them one last time. The room fell silent again, with only the sound of part of the shroud slowly slipping down from Varokar's side.
After ordering Morris and Riley to be taken away and ordering the release of Glocara, Niaes brought Elin to her room.
"I said we'd resolve this before sunrise," Elin said, seating himself in a chair. "We probably have about an hour left. Those two not only caused trouble for you but for me as well."
"I want to apologize to you first..."
"No, that's not urgent. I want to understand why you're apologizing."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Why didn't you tell me they were brothers? Don't say you didn't know."
Niaes stood there, her left hand's four fingers pressing against the tabletop.
"Is that really important?"
"Of course, it's crucial. The relationship between suspects is a very important clue. You knew, but you didn't tell me. It makes me think of some other things."
"You're accusing me of being involved too."
"No, no. I didn't mean that, don't be too defensive. But you did have some... inappropriate ideas."
Elin walked up to Niaes, stood on the tabletop with his left leg on the chair. Niaes turned her face away.
"As I've emphasized many times, this is a big deal for you. Relations with Galin have been tense, and now Varokar's dead, which is serious. I can see you're not happy with the current situation and don't want it to worsen. But Varokar's death will inevitably lead things in a direction you don't want. You're a smart person, maybe you suspected the testimony of those two subordinates was flawed, but you didn't intend to investigate further. You'd rather accept the simple conclusion that Glocara killed Varokar and push the blame onto an outsider. Maybe that would work, who knows. Unfortunately, the problem lies in... as I mentioned earlier, picking the wrong person. Framing people associated with the Seven Sections to resolve conflicts with Swiftwater Fort? It's not a good idea, not safe at all, I must say. Were you apologizing for this kind of behavior just now?"
Niaes remained silent. She continued to look aside.
"Niaes, what are you afraid of?"
"I'm not afraid."
"As far as I know, you're definitely conflicted right now, which is a sign of panic before it sets in. On one hand, you concealed from me that they were brothers, but on the other hand, you treated Glocara kindly and didn't really obstruct my investigation. I have to thank you for that and apologize for some of the things I said earlier, hoping you can accept it— but the bigger contradiction is, you've always believed that leading a guard protest was the right thing to do, but never thought of truly opposing your country. Now Prince Galin represents the country to punish your army, and you're starting to doubt if you've made a big mistake, trying to find ways to rectify this still uncertain fault, and what just happened was a failed attempt. You're a mysterious collection of contradictions, I dare say this is not beneficial for you, nor for the soldiers who still follow you. Look at that pair of brothers..."
"Stop it."
"Perhaps you feel burdened by the current situation?"
"I said, stop it."
Elin closed his mouth and shook his head.
"I... never imagined the term 'treason' would apply to me," Niaes lifted her head. "But when I learned that the Tolkar Sword was stolen during the chaos I caused, that term stayed in my mind, unforgettable. I never thought of locking up Varokar, it was because he openly humiliated my soldiers in the refuge valley, I had to do it."
"Did you ever think about what you wanted to achieve from the protest?"
"I don't know, maybe I hoped Prince Galin would come forward and explain, and promise that such things wouldn't happen again. I just... couldn't help but do it. So many soldiers, didn't leave anything behind... I hope they could at least get recognition from their homeland. I was too naive back then."
"Naive? No, naive is the least suitable word to describe you. Otherwise, so many soldiers wouldn't have followed you."
"I knew things were wrong a long time ago. Things got out of hand. And I started hearing some other... I heard that Prince Galin wants to execute my father..."
"Your father?"
"Yes, I..." Niaes looked at Elin, furrowing her brows. "Have you met my father?"
"I? No, I haven't."
"You did. I saw you flick your eyes just now, like you wanted to say something."
"I didn't."
"Don't lie to me."
"Alright, alright, you're quite sharp too. If being a soldier doesn't work out for you, I can introduce you to our side to try. I saw him at Swiftwater Fort. Cookee Fielding, right?"
"What did you say to him?"
"I pretended to be one of Galin's men, just chatted with him casually."
"Did he say anything about me?"
"He did. A few things. Actually, I mainly went there to inquire about you."
"Tell me."
"Let it go. There's nothing particularly noteworthy."
"It's... not something pleasant, is it?"
"You got it. It seems you can anticipate what he might say. So, I won't repeat it."
Niaes sighed, walked to the cluttered cabinet against the wall, and fiddled with the mirror placed on top with her left hand.
"I don't remember him saying anything nice to me, but he's still my father, my only family. If I become a criminal against the homeland, and he suffers because of it..."
She fell silent, turning her face away.
"Niaes, what's wrong? Are you crying? Then I've really caused trouble..."
"Of course not," she said. "I haven't cried in seven years."
"That's good. Listen, although this whole thing started as a conflict between us, it seems to have been resolved quite well..."
"Resolved? How? Prince Galin will soon find out that my soldiers killed Varokar."
"Killed Varokar? Who did?"
"You..." Niaes looked back at Elin. "What do you mean by that?"
"No one killed him. He committed suicide. Hung himself, banged his head against the wall, who knows. Anyway, he killed himself."
"Why are you saying this?"
"What I say doesn't count. What you say does." Elin approached Niaes. "Listen, to mitigate the impact, a little trickery is okay, but choose smarter ways. And I have good news for you: Prince Galin doesn't care much about Varokar's life or death. You could say he doesn't even care much about what's happening here. When we talked, he did mention you, but it was all very routine bureaucratic talk—based on my understanding of Galin, that means he didn't give it much thought. He emphasized that I shouldn't help you, but the focus was on me. What he truly cares about, you should be able to guess, is the Tolkar Sword. He understands the sword's loss has nothing to do with you, and if he emphasizes your guilt in this regard to the public, it won't do him any favors. So, don't worry too much, Niaes. And I'm also on your side."
"I don't understand your intentions."
"I can't tell you the exact purpose of my coming here, but for now, we don't need to hinder each other. Besides, compared to Galin, who's quite temperamental, I'd rather trust you, and after going through all this, we understand each other better. When the time comes, I'll return to Swiftwater Fort to find that guy again, but for now, I'll stay here temporarily and continue investigating the assassin of the guards. At least, on this short-term goal, we have no disagreements, right?"
"When you first came here, I consulted you about finding the murderer. At that time, you didn't provide anything useful."
"Things are different now. Come on, shake hands to show everything's fine between us. It's almost dawn."