Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Manar answered, “That’s right.”

He handed me the letter without a fight. I opened it, and while I read it, Manar explained, “If we didn’t find this particular body this early, the murderer would have mutilated the corpse further and thrown them out all over the countryside. He would have also destroyed the letter, just like all the other times. Luckily, we found him in his act. He was just finishing beheading this body when he spotted us and ran. Some of our brothers went after him, but he was too fast. He disappeared.”

I finished the letter and returned it to Manar, who narrowed his eyes and looked down at my hand.

“I thought you would rip it into pieces, but I guess I was wrong, Juya.”

He was laughing at me, so I replied, “Why would I do that?”

“Hmm…”

It was true that the letter contained a message that would cause no good. It stated that contrary to the last message, which said all of the warriors in the capital were dead, one of them survived and traveled to one of the southern kingdoms. There, he was able to muster another army and recapture the capital. However, he was murdered in the end by one of the warriors from the southern kingdoms.

It was a ridiculous story.

So many of the Innocent Ones, my fellow brothers, were probably killed by now, many others too… Including the family and friends of those living in Minurd.

Letters containing these kinds of messages must’ve been sent to us before, but it seemed none of them arrived safely for a while now. Why is that?

Suddenly, I realized what Manar was suggesting.

“Ha… Hahaha…” I rubbed my forehead and asked, “So are you suspecting that I am the one who has been murdering the messengers?”

It was obviously not true. Not true at all, but… how should I prove it? Did I even need to prove my innocence? My fellow brother continued to look at me suspiciously, and I knew this wasn’t over yet.

Manar asked, “So you didn’t do this? Juya, you have been acting as Prince Camille’s teacher for a while now. In the beginning, you used to spend most of your time here in the selamlique. You would go to the training hall and then return here early. However, nowadays, no one has seen much of you. You leave early in the morning and return in the middle of the night.”

“It’s only because I was given more responsibilities in serving his highness.”

“But there haven’t been many people who saw you actually being with Prince Camille or being in his quarters. The training has been happening only every other day now, right? So, where have you been spending most of your time lately?”

“…”

I couldn’t tell him the entire truth because there were too many secrets I would have to reveal in the process. It was an unfortunate thing for me to lie to my fellow brother, but it was even worse to tell Prince Camille and the Goddess’ warrior’s private stories to Manar.

So I only told him the truth. A partial truth, but the truth, nonetheless.

“You are mistaken, Manar. I didn’t even know what was going on with the messengers until you told me now. I also didn’t know that you and the other brothers were working on this case.”

“You are only pretending ignorance, Juya. You never spend much time with any of the brothers, yet some of them reported to me that they saw you go into Eriez’s room secretly and spend a lot of time with him discussing something. What do you say to that?”

“Eriez has been going through some hard times lately, so I was trying to console him as a good friend would.”

Manar began to laugh, “K… Kkkk… Hahaha…. Console him? Eri has been suspected of being behind this entire situation. You do know that, right? Now you’re telling me you were ‘consoling him?'”

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“Think carefully, my brother. Even if you keep your mouth shut, the evidence will eventually lead us to the culprit. It was you who claimed to have abducted the Virtuous Priestess just to save your friend, right? Thankfully, the warrior corrected that situation, but it doesn’t mean you and Eriez will get away with it again. You better watch yourself, Iztal Juya.”

“Manar!”

He smirked and stood to leave. I grabbed his shoulder, but when I did, Manar turned towards me and put a dagger against my neck.

“…!”

Our abrupt move ended up knocking the head to roll down from the table. I didn’t even move to see where it went because the sharpness against my neck felt uncomfortable.

I pleaded with Manar, “I am not lying, Manar. Please believe me. I did enter the harem, and I said what I did because I really did it! As for killing the messengers… I certainly did NOT do such a thing. I am telling you I didn’t because I really didn’t.”

“Then who else could have done it? Among all of the brothers, the quickest and the best tactician is you, Juya, isn’t it?”

“That was before. At one point, I was considered the best, but there have been many new and young recruits who came to Minurd since then. Isn’t it natural that better and faster brothers appear and replace the oldies? Like I did to you, Manar.”

“…”

“And how could you be certain that the murderer is one of the brothers? You need to think carefully, Manar.”

Manar finally pushed me away, and I fell to the floor. He grabbed the head, and I assumed he was leaving.

However, to my surprise, he seemed hesitant. What was he thinking?

After a few seconds of silence, Manar asked me, “Then tell me, Juya. How did you sneak into the harem? If you tell me that, perhaps I will believe you. I will try, at least.”

“Why, Manar? Are you going to try to get into it, too, to rape the odalisques…”

“Don’t be ridiculous. If you could get in, then you must know that I will be able to find a way as well, but only if you really did succeed in sneaking in and out of it.”

“…”

“So tell me. Tell me how you got in, so I can believe your story.”

How much could I trust him? If I told him, would he cause an even bigger problem later? Manar looked genuine today, but… What if he really did commit rape?

… He was right, though. If I found a way in, he shouldn’t have a problem finding it as well eventually. He was almost out the door when I opened my mouth, “When you climb up the northeastern minaret and look down towards the harem, you can see a narrow path before the stone wall split into two. It is hidden in the shadow, and it looks almost like a staircase.”

Manar stopped at the door and listened to me. I pictured the path and continued, “Also, if you go up the northwestern minaret and look down towards the harem, you can see a pipe that leads into the inside of the harem. The entrance to this pipe is a water channel… If you look underneath it, you will find a secret staircase.”

These paths were narrow, so someone like Eriez wouldn’t fit, but a slim man like myself or an average woman could easily crawl in and out.

“…”

I wasn’t sure if Manar was satisfied with my explanation. When I was done, I looked up and saw that he was already gone.