Volume 4, Chapter 35 – A Suspicious Death

With Godley no longer obstructing, the situation was quickly brought under control under Yulisha’s direction.

Although Yulisha was an unfavored consort, she still held the status of Greyan’s daughter. In addition, she had not neglected her swordsmanship even after becoming a consort and would occasionally visit the military headquarters. Secretly, Yulisha actually held the title of the “Iron-Blooded Consort.”

A short while later, Fia’s group, including Kalsey, Prince Schain, and other nobles, arrived at Greyan’s residence. As he had been discovered dead in the early morning, the servants had not yet had time to prepare his body. When Fia arrived, all she saw was a white cloth covering Greyan on his bed, and beside it, the black armor he had worn his entire life.

Evidently, with his death, the cursed armor had also separated from him.

Although it was daytime, a dark and heavy atmosphere filled the room. The furniture was sparse and simple. At this moment, besides the maids, there were several male elves standing by the bed with their heads bowed. Although they were not shedding tears, anyone could see the grief in their hearts.

Hearing footsteps, the male elves turned around. Their somber faces first swept over Fia, then rested on Yulisha, who was in the lead. One of them, a young-looking elf who appeared to be in his late twenties in human years, asked.

“Yulisha, where is Godley?”

“I’ve locked him in the dungeon. That guy has gone mad and needs to cool down. What’s the situation? Have you found any traces of magic?”

With that, Yulisha gestured for the nobles behind her to wait outside the door, bringing only Fia to the bedside.

The young elf shook his head lightly, a look of helplessness on his face.

“We can find traces of magic, but they all belong to Greyan. There are no wounds on his body, and no signs of a struggle in the room.” At this, the young elf took a deep breath. “And with his strength, I don’t think anyone could have snuck up on him without him noticing. Although I am reluctant to admit it, all the facts indicate that he simply died of old age, not by assassination as the servants first said.”

“…Father was just drinking with us last night. How could he have died of old age today? I don’t believe it.”

“I don’t believe it either, but that’s the fact. Me and Greyan were friends despite our age gap. There are few in the palace whose magical ability can surpass mine. I would not lie about such a thing, unless the other party’s magic was far superior to my own, done so that I was completely unaware. To be safe, we can have Her Highness the Eldest Princess investigate as well.”

The young elf’s words made everyone look at Fia beside Yulisha. Only now did she notice that he was wearing an emerald crest on his chest. Fia remembered the meaning of this crest; it was the symbol of the Elf Towers. The one Liti had shown her before was Crystal-Gold grade, which allowed access to most areas. This emerald crest, however, represented a High Elf Tower.

There were ninety-seven Elf Towers in total. Apart from the Three Main Towers at the top, there were twelve High Elf Towers below them. This young man was the manager of one of them.

Almost subconsciously, Fia scanned the young man with [Wind of Exploration]. The result showed that his strength was at the upper level of the Sixth Rank.

Yulisha looked at Fia with concern.

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“Dofi, can you do it?”

“Let me try.”

“Hmph—”

Just as Fia finished speaking, a middle-aged man standing by the bed let out a low grunt. Even though he had his back to the door and she couldn’t see his expression, she could hear the dissatisfaction in his voice.

Judging from his attire, he belonged to the military.

Fia could understand the thoughts of Greyan’s confidants. She had just had a conflict with him yesterday, a major battle, and today he was dead. In addition, she had displayed power far exceeding his. It was only logical for his confidants to suspect her.

Although killing Greyan would only cause her trouble, it was too naive to expect everyone to think from her perspective—one couldn’t expect everyone to remain calm and rational in a tense situation. Otherwise, the world would not be in its current state.

In the eyes of these confidants, she held a grudge against Greyan, feeling that he had stood in her way, and had thus carried out revenge. Just as Godley had said before, in this world with magic, delaying a person’s death with a curse was not difficult. To make matters worse, she had just demonstrated the ability to use magic within the [Citadel of Silence]. A person whose strength already surpassed Greyan’s, plus the ability to use magic in the [Citadel of Silence], against a relatively weaker person who could not use magic and was sound asleep—a successful assassination was perfectly logical.

If this wasn’t a trap set for her, Fia would have to suspect that the gods of this world were playing a joke on her. She found it hard to believe that Greyan had died a natural death.

Of course, just because his confidants had the right to suspect her didn’t mean she had to take it without a word. No one wanted to be a punching bag; her patience had its limits. In the hall just now, if she hadn’t considered that Godley was Greyan’s son, she would have already put her foot on his head, without needing Anastasia to intervene.

Just as the middle-aged man expressed his dissatisfaction with his tone, Fia returned a cold snort without reservation.

“Anyone who suspects me can go and ask the servants in my palace. I did not leave my palace for a single step last night. Use your brains and think carefully, what good does this result bring me?”

“I don’t believe Dofi did this either. Father had already reconciled with her last night. It’s impossible for her to do such a thing.”

Yulisha’s words seemed to be directed more at the elf who had grunted than at the nobles at the door.

After a moment, as if having accepted her explanation, the man in the lead gave a slight shake of his head, and all those standing guard by the bed retreated. Although they found it hard to accept emotionally, their reason told them that this result brought no benefit to Fia. Even if she had really wanted to harm Greyan, she would not have chosen this moment when everyone would suspect her. A smart person would do it in a way that was hard to detect.

Once everyone had dispersed, Fia stepped forward and pulled back the white cloth covering Greyan’s head.

What came into view was his stubbled, aged face, serious and square.

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Even though he had been confirmed dead, the closed-eyed Greyan did not have the unique aura of death—a dead person and a sleeping person looked completely different. One could often feel an aura of terror and death from a corpse, but Greyan only looked as if he were sound asleep. Only his purplish-black lips indicated that his life had faded.

As the middle-aged elf had said, there were no wounds or bruises on his face or neck. Normally, one would suspect mental magic or poison, but he did not live in the noble district outside the Royal Castle like other nobles, but inside it, protected by the [Citadel of Silence]. No one could use magic.

As for poison, although there were many colorless and odorless poisons, putting aside the difficulty for an ordinary person to bring poison into the Royal Castle, first of all, as a Seventh-Rank practitioner, he could easily sense any changes in water. And even if he had really drunk poison, his powerful physique would not have allowed him to die instantly.

The young elf had already examined Greyan’s body once. For her to continue would surely yield no results, not to mention that she didn’t understand the anatomy of a male elf. It was more appropriate to start from the traces of magic.

With that thought, Fia used [Wind of Exploration] and [Mana Vision] together, searching for magical items and elemental distributions.

“…”

She found nothing suspicious.

The elements in the room were so thin they could be said to be nonexistent, which was consistent with the [Citadel of Silence]. As for mana, apart from the part that was unconsciously emitted by the people in the room, only Greyan’s body and the armor on the bed had a very small amount of it. But it was normal for a magic weapon to have residual mana for a short time after being separated from its owner, not to mention that he was with this scarlet gold-grade armor at all times.

After that, Fia checked the windows, the bedside, and other places where traces of magic might have remained, but still found nothing. Her conclusion was the same as the middle-aged elf’s.

Seeing Fia stand up, the young elf beside Yulisha asked.

“Well? Is Your Highness’s conclusion the same as mine?”

“I also found no suspicious traces of magic. All the traces in the room were created by Greyan himself.”

Fia knew this result would not satisfy anyone, but that was the fact.

The young elf pressed a fist to his lips, frowning in thought.

“If, and I’m saying if, if he didn’t die of old age, the only suspicious point is this cursed armor. I have investigated it before. There is no information about it in the kingdom’s records of high-rank magic weapons. Even Greyan himself couldn’t say where it came from, only that it was something the former king had happened upon in the Netherworld.”

“If we say that the curse of this armor, besides being impossible to take off once put on, also takes the life of the wearer after overuse, then that would explain today’s events. Don’t you all find it strange? In the past, he couldn’t take it off because he wasn’t strong enough. Now he’s at the Seventh Rank, yet he’s still helpless against this scarlet gold-grade armor. It can no longer be described as just ‘strange.’ Being in close contact with him and being unremovable, it would be extremely easy for this armor to take his life. Besides, it’s been at least several hours since he died, yet there’s still residual mana on the armor. An ordinary magic item couldn’t preserve mana for so long.”

Yulisha raised an eyebrow.

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“Nagg, are you saying that Father was killed by this armor?”

“I have no evidence. This is just my guess. Unless one of you can put it on and let time be the judge.”

“Perhaps it’s not that he couldn’t take it off, but that he had been wearing it for too long and had grown accustomed to its existence, developing an attachment. The founding marshal being killed by his armor is too absurd.”

“Precisely because it was trustworthy in the past, when it betrays, one is completely unprepared. After all, it is something of unknown origin. I just checked it again with [Advanced Appraisal]. Even with that, I can only get a superficial conclusion: scarlet gold-grade, astonishing defense, and cursed.”

The magic-caster Nagg’s words reminded Fia. She also quietly used her [Hyper-computation] enhanced [Beginner’s Appraisal] on the armor.

「Item Name: Cursed Armor」

「Quality: Scarlet Gold-grade」

「Durability: Always New」

「Owner: None」

「Description: A magic armor with astonishing defensive performance. Cursed to be unremovable once put on. Seems to have other side effects.」

Putting aside the subjective description, the content was indeed the same as what Nagg had said.

His words made a middle-aged elf raise his eyebrows, his tone filled with clear anger.

“I don’t believe it! This armor has been with the General through thick and thin for many years! How could it suddenly turn on him? Someone must be behind this!”

“Lord Nagg, I also find your statement hard to believe. It is a well-known fact that magic items have no self-awareness and can only be controlled by people. Your words seem to suggest that this armor has a consciousness, which is hard to believe.”

Nagg sighed a long sigh.

“It is just a guess. If even I and the Eldest Princess cannot find any clues, it is even more impossible for others to find the answer. I’m afraid that only when His Majesty comes will there be a chance for a breakthrough—seeking answers from the Holy Tree might yield results. But now we don’t know when he will return. All we can do is to preserve Greyan’s body and wait for his decision. Also, this matter has nothing to do with Her Highness.”

—You all had better stay rational.

Nagg did not say this out loud, nor was it appropriate to say it in front of Fia.

“How could this be…”

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Beginning with the Prime Minister’s sorrowful voice, the nobles who had been waiting at the door slowly entered the room, saying their goodbyes to Greyan one by one. Fia, in turn, was quietly pulled to a corner outside the door by Yulisha. The latter squatted down, placing her hands on Fia’s shoulders so that their eyes were on the same level, her amber eyes filled with complexity.

“Dofi, Mother doesn’t suspect you. Father’s death certainly has nothing to do with you. For it to happen at this point in time, someone must be deliberately framing you. Do you have any suspects?”

“…I can’t think of anyone suspicious either.”

Greyan’s death would certainly benefit Prince Schain. Normally, he would be the first suspect. But the problem was, she knew his level very well. The intelligence network left by the princess had clearly reported that the strongest person on his side was only at the Sixth Rank. It was impossible to assassinate Greyan. If he had really wanted to frame her, he would have chosen to assassinate Godley, with whom she had a greater conflict.

Yulisha clicked her tongue.

“As I thought, you also think it’s impossible for Prince Schain. That guy doesn’t have the strength. In any case, you should leave this place first. Although there are some impulsive fools like Godley in the military, I have sent people to keep an eye on that group, so you don’t have to worry about them doing anything rash for now. The trouble is the direction of the wind from now on. What if the people in the military privately reach a consensus that you killed my father—”

At this, Yulisha paused. A moment of hesitation flashed in her eyes, then it was quickly replaced by a fierce look.

“Forget it. Those fools will only cause you trouble in the future. If something like today happens again, with someone drawing their sword on you, immediately take the opportunity to kill them. Don’t give them a chance to regret it. No one would dare to plead for someone who drew their sword on a royal. That is the crime of treason.”

As if feeling that this was still not enough, Yulisha looked behind Fia and switched to a stern, commanding tone.

“You heard what I said, Anastasia. Do as I say. Even if you kill someone you shouldn’t, you can quickly draw a line between yourself and Dofi. This is your mission.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After giving her orders, Yulisha finally breathed a sigh of relief. She squeezed out a smile and stood up.

“Alright, leave this to me. If you have time, Dofi, go and see Mizuki. She may become the Holy Tree’s maiden in the future. The royal family and the maiden have always been bound together. You will be the elf queen in the future, so it’s always right to have a good relationship with her.”

“I understand. Thank you, Mother Yulisha. Then I’ll be heading back first.”

“Go on, quickly.” Yulisha waved her hand in a shooing motion.

Taking a deep breath, Fia turned around, a new determination in her ruby-like eyes.

—Just in case, she should brush up on her mid-rank and high-rank magic.