Chapter 46: Stranger than Witch
"Didn't die?" Wendy thought she misheard and did a double take. "Because he didn't die?"
Tyre nodded, "He should have died."
A strange atmosphere was created, and the tent's every corner was enveloped by it. Meanwhile, Wendy almost choked from the nonchalant reply; she didn't know what to say in response. She could accept the first two, but what's with the last one? Her mind nearly crashed trying to rationalise it.
How could Tyre not seeing Wendy's disbelief and confusion? She elaborated the details, "The thing is, I had given him his due poison at that day."
To empty the vial of poison to his drink, she found such a task was hardly challenging to accomplish. After all, she, Tyre was the head maid that took care nearly of his every need. If she was being bold and enticed him with her body, she could probably do more.
"That poison failed, but I don't believe it." Tyre recalled a horrific test with a calm face, "I used it to rats, and while a single drop dilutes in water might not be lethal, it still crippled a mischief of them."
And she naturally didn't use just one drop to Roland, her target.
Wendy's heart trembled. Although Nightingale used to work a similar job too, it was different because she could see that behind the heartless facade was a delicate and kind girl that needed care. The person in front of her, however, was still a mystery and therefore the words about assassination honestly came out scary.
Tyre noticed a trace of fear in Wendy's eyes, but she pretended not to see it. She looked at the flickering bonfire below and continued.
"We're talking about alchemists and their creation earlier right? A famous alchemist supposedly created that poison. The main highlight is that the poison is both colourless and odourless, and a small dose has high lethality that could kill a person many times over."
The witch shuddered at the description.
What kind of poison was that? Something like that if truly existed was simply unstoppable.
"My point is, I gave prince Roland, and I could see he drink it." Tyre's face tightened, she lowered her voice subconsciously. "And he indeed dropped down as I thought he would, for a moment, before waking up and everything change."
She still remembered the event and the unthinkable changes that followed from that day onwards.
"... You mean prince Roland should have died, but didn't and he instead changed after waking up?" Wendy nervously summarised.
"Yes." Tyre let out a long sigh. Her heart felt much lighter after telling others what had been bothering her all this time. "And although he imitates the previous Roland habits very well, an action of his was strange."
Wendy tilted her head.
"Before, Roland Wimbledon often groped my buttocks with a lustful gaze. But after that, he still groped me, but with..." Tyre didn't realise her cheeks blushed as she struggled to say it out loud. "Appreciation gaze."
"Excuse me?" Wendy was dumbfounded.
"What I mean...!" Tyre gritted her teeth in embarrassment. "I could tell that the way he looked at me also changed."
The Roland from before that day always wanted to conquer her that he purposely abused his authority and made her the head maid that worked directly for him so he could keep her close. But after the change, he merely looked at her as if someone trying to appreciate a piece of fine art and rarely tried to harass her directly anymore.
"..." Wendy was speechless.
It was her turn to look at Tyre funny.
She suddenly felt like she was talking to a teenage girl about her crush. Once, a young witch gave her the opportunity to know what it liked to be a listener of such matter. Of course, such affair ended with the tragedy of going nowhere, but Wendy didn't dare to say it out loud as not to slight her.
"In my opinion, he's way too suspicious," Tyre said hurriedly, she belatedly also realised her words were awkward and might cause misunderstanding. "Who am I? I served him as his maid for some time now, not just any maid but the head maid that took care of him almost exclusively. His assistant and the head knight knew little about him when compared to me."
"What do you mean?"
"Even those two people felt something not right. How could I miss it?"
"What are you trying to say?" Wendy was alerted.
"He suddenly became a different person from that day I doubt he's prince Roland... No, I should say he's not him. Whoever that someone is, he took over Prince Roland's position."
Wendy wanted to laugh it off, but she can't. Although the conclusion was even more absurd than the three things she said earlier combined, goosebumps had spread through her arms; an uneasy feeling clouded her heart.
Tyre felt the same. Her hair standing on end, but she still gave a confident statement.
"Prince Roland Wimbledon is no longer the same prince Roland Wimbledon."
"Oh!"
Out of nowhere, a voice cut in.
Tyre and Wendy were startled, and the latter nearly cried out but managed to suppress it barely and hastily turned their heads to see a surprised Nightingale, and Leaf by her side who showed an awkward face. They appeared together following Nightingale's shout.
The only non-witch present quickly calmed herself after the initial surprise, because she had a feeling Nightingale would come and observed them from the side. Although Leaf presence was somewhat outside her expectation, it's not enough to rattle her. However, she still cursed Nightingale for that uncalled cry inwardly.
Meanwhile, Wendy was genuinely shocked.
"Veronica, you're here?" She asked, astonished at what she just witnessed.
"W-well..." Nightingale finally snapped out of it and realised her present situation.
Because she saw that Tyre didn't speak nonsense, she connected something in her mind and was surprised to the point that their cover blown away. Leaf who she invited also received collateral damage.
Wendy revealed various emotions to her old friend wrong but usual antics and ended it with her fuming. She stood, reached out, and pinched Nightingale's cheeks. It was a rare show of physical action from her, and although she didn't use much strength, the witch of invisibility still had her cheeks stretched.
Leaf looked like she didn't know what to do and saw that Tyre was gesturing towards her to take a sit. The witch paused for a second before she complied and laughed wryly to the out of place ordinary woman.
"It's a mess, no?"
"Indeed a mess."
Tyre showed her brightest smile of the day. Nobody would believe if she said she wasn't enjoying the sight.
"Then, what's with prince Roland is not prince Roland?" rubbing her cheeks, Nightingale asked Tyre while still teary-eyed.
Tyre didn't wear any god's stone of retribution goods on her body, so Nightingale could see that she genuinely believed in her own words. It didn't mean what she said was a fact since it was just her belief, but it was an interesting take on the situation nevertheless.
But it's a ridiculous conclusion one could reach, normally speaking. With Nightingale's ability, she also knew that prince Roland didn't have even a tiny bit of magic power and similarly didn't give off even a slight fluctuation of it. Basing on the ability that never failed her, Nightingale safely assumed he was not someone with supernatural power like witches or being remotely controlled by others.
"Didn't you heard what I said earlier?"
"We did." Nightingale readily answered.
"Hey." Leaf complained helplessly.
"I meant what I said." Tyre pretended not seeing Nightingale sticking out her tongue to Leaf and explained earnestly, "Those rumours about prince Roland as good-for-nothing? They are all true, until that day."
"But how could that be?" Wendy was confused. It was entirely different from what she heard from Nightingale.
"What happened on that day?" Leaf asked the crux of the matter. Because she was further removed about the matter than Wendy, she could see the situation more clearly. She didn't even know those good things of his that made Wendy suspicious of Nightingale's words in the first place.
"That day was supposed to be when Anna died." Tyre explained.
"Oh, I heard about this before." Nightingale brought out her information, "Roland suddenly postponed her execution only to replace her hanging with other criminals right?"
"Right." Tyre already told them what she knew, "So my conclusion is that he did die, and somebody or something took over his position."
And then he saved Anna from her fate, and slowly, but surely changed Border Town. He also saved Nana, as well as befriending Nightingale and in the end made her came back in tow with a couple of people from the town.
Wendy and Leaf found the story ridiculous and looked at each other in disbelief, but Nightingale didn't even raise her eyebrows, although her face showed she was at least curious. Seeing her like that, however, made Tyre puzzled.
"You know I'm not lying right?" Tyre questioned the witch that should have the most reaction.
"Nn?" Nightingale turned her head in response to see Tyre's frowning. "What of it?"
Tyre went silent after hearing the casual reply, because Nightingale respond was really unexpected to her. It's not like she wanted her to get mad and started thrashing around in anger, but she'd never guess such lukewarm stance.
"But so that's the case." Suddenly Nightingale mumbled, her words immediately caught the others' interest.
"What is it?" Wendy hurriedly asked. She also felt strange Nightingale didn't have much reaction and grew worried.
Leaf was reminded the 'oh' from Nightingale that made them discovered.
"Well, back then His Highness asked me this bizarre thing." Nightingale chuckled. "He said, can you ask me whether I'm Roland Wimbledon."
Everyone's eyes widen, especially Tyre.
"It's a strange request but nothing much, so I readily complied. Then His Highness asked me whether he was lying. I was perplexed but answered honestly."
"Did he lie?" Tyre couldn't resist asking despite knowing the answer from Nightingale's face.
"Nope, and I thought it was obvious too, so I didn't think much of it." Nightingale pondered for a bit before adding, "Hearing you make me think he did have a purpose in mind asking that, but I don't know why he suddenly talked about it."
"To me, it's just more evidence he's not the same Roland Wimbledon."
"I don't know the reason you're pushing this," Nightingale said with a weird smile on her face. "But you miss a weirder thing about him."
"Something more?" Wendy felt her mind was being to put into a test today, how could there be a weirder thing from a person with so many of them already?
Tyre didn't say anything, but her eyes urged Nightingale to explain.
"Well, this is the thing. His Highness said he knew about the future," Nightingale smiled bewitchingly, "And you might not know, but we're here to prevent his prophecy."
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