novelWhy is the white poplar by the river shining alone? (6)
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Chapter 61: Chapter 61 Why is the white poplar by the river shining alone? (6)
The crown prince said, "I tried to be fair to all the participants in the hunting contest. So, I found out something about this giant Burgonu bear by ordering Sellington, a botanical professor with Jeddah Academy, Investa's Bilterhan and even royal stablekeeper John to investigate how the bear was killed. Okay, Bilterhan, tell us your opinion first. In your mind, who caught the bear?"
When asked, a man with gray hair stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I'm Bilterhan with Investa. Based on my 23 years of experience with investigation, the bear bled, shot by dozens of arrows, but I don't think they were fatal. What was more decisive than this was the bear collapsed from poison."
Wendy swallowed at Bilterhan's testimony.
'Why are you acting so learned!'
She clenched her teeth at the prince's funny idea of bringing in experts from all walks of life to determine the winner of the hunting competition.
'What's the big deal? Why are you harassing me like this by forcing me to participate when I'm not interested in winning the contest at all?'
She wanted to stomp out of the tent and felt furious as she couldn't do so.
"I could have ignored it without careful observation, but I noticed that there was something strange here on the bear's shoulder. You see the difference here, right? Yes, on this shoulder, the muscles are smooth without going through any muscle stiffness after it was killed. It is because of a poison called 'cymos'. This poison has the property of inhibiting muscle hardening. Accordingly, only this shoulder was not stiffened. When injected with just one drop of cymos any bear would have died in no time, no matter how big. This grayish white trace in the bear's eyes also shows one of the symptoms of cymos poisoning."
"Are you sure?" The prince asked with shining eyes.
Looking at his brown eyes sparkling like crazy, Wendy derided him in heart, thinking a couple of his eyes would light the night even if all the torches were doused.
"I swear on my grandfather's honor!" Bilterhand said confidently.
"Got it. If that's the case, as soon as I find the owner of the arrow on its shoulder, that person will be the winner of this hunting contest, " the prince said, smiling meaningfully.
"Let me check you guys' arrows."
Walking toward the bear, which fell on the ground, he looked at Lard, Wendy and Jean.
"Hey, Bilterhan, it looks like their arrowheads are different? Right?"
Prince Isaac smiled slyly at him. Bilterhan then nodded with exaggeration and signaled to him with his eyes. Wendy was convinced that looking at their exchange of eye signals, the prince was pretending to be briefed for the first time about the results of the investigation before the crowd when he actually got the full report in advance.
"Yes, Crown Prince. Based on my investigation, there were three kinds of arrows stuck in the bear's body: one of the arrowheads was wide, the other one was upward, and the last one was tapered downwards. Among them, this narrowing pin-shaped arrow on the bear's shoulder confirmed the one you gave to the noble daughters right before this hunting contest."
The prince, who was listening to his words with great expectation, opened his eyes wide.
"Oh, really? That's great!"
"Yes, I'm positive about it."
Satisfied with his reply, the prince looked at Melissa.
"Melissa, as you were threatened by the bear right up close, you couldn't shoot the arrow in that situation..." Melissa furtively checked his moods when he pointed to her.
"When you told me a little while ago, you never said you shot an arrow. Right, Melissa?"
When the prince cast a strong glance at her, Melissa reluctantly nodded. Her heartbeat was pounding hard.
Looking at her perplexed expression, Wendy heard a sound as if Melissa was moaning.
"Then, there's only one owner left. I think the owner's shooting abilities before the context were superb!"
Smiling brightly, the prince looked at Wendy's face. With her face turning white, she stared at the prince. She had no idea how to avoid this difficult situation.
"...Your Majesty!"
Right at that moment Jean suddenly stepped forward, calling him loudly.
When the prince looked at him with a suspicious expression, Jean first shut his mouth as if he tried to pull himself together before opening his mouth heavily.
"... I shot that arrow!"
His voice was unusually suppressed and split unlike his usual voice. Nobody was sure if it was because he was tense or he lied. Looking straight at the prince's eyes, he continued, "During the hunting, I heard that she put some poison on the arrowhead, so I was curious and received an arrow from her in advance. I was not sure if the poison would be so powerful, but when I was faced with the roaring Burgonu bear, I had to use that poisoned arrow hurriedly because I used up the other arrows."
Jean explained eloquently. Unlike his usual images of stupidity and indecisiveness, he was courageous and confident when he presented his opinion. But there was some faint sign of guilt reflected in his pale green eyes as if he was tormented by his lying to the prince against his conscience.
"Sir Jean Jacque Simuan, you shoot that arrow?"
"... Yes, I did."
As if to confirm the truth, the prince, who looked at his face for a while, was soon lost in thoughts without expressing any feelings. No one could guess what he was pondering at the moment, but Wendy bit her lip, thinking that the cunning prince was far from gullible.
Jean didn't move at all, with his head lowered before the prince.
After a while, the prince opened his mouth, "Okay, I got it. Hey, you guys have no objection to Sir Simuan's testimony? If you don't dispute, the winner of this hunt will rightly be Jean Jacques Simuan and his partner, Melissa Lowney because nobody else caught a greater prey than the bear today!"
The prince quickly recovered his usual smiley look.
Somehow he didn't continue the questioning session. Wendy expected he would ask what the source of the poison was and how the poisoned arrows were conveyed, but he didn't.
She felt relieved momentarily, but as she was not sure when he would ask her unexpectedly, she was on alert anyway.
"No objection."
Lard looked at Wendy then bowed, raising no objection. She also expressed she had no objection, either, hiding any suspicious actions. As if he expected such a reply, the prince said with a voice mixed with a sigh, "Okay. If that's the case, let me bestow the title of baron to Sir Jean Jacques Simuan and Melissa Lowney! The title awarding ceremony will be held in three days. So, please attend without exception, and celebrate them!"
After he was done, the prince glanced at Wendy and turned his mouth up with a significant gesture. Shrugged his shoulders, he soon walked away, escorted by the imperial servants.
"Oh, Professor Selington. Tell Sir Schroder exactly what you just reported to me. I can't keep that interesting story to myself. Then I'll leave other things to Sir Schroder."
Before leaving the tent, Prince Isaac turned back and directed the professor of veterinary medicine at Jeddah Academy. When Professor Selington bowed his head deeply, the prince left the place quickly.
Selington, who had to follow the prince's order, was a middle-aged man with a large brown spot between his eyes. Thanks to his round and wide face, he looked generous, but his big and bright eyes made him look stubborn and old-fashioned.
"Sir Schroder, I am Prof. Sellington with Jeddah Academy. A little while ago, while you were being treated here, I briefly examined your two horses to find the cause of this disturbance.
Let me start with the conclusion first. I found the white mare had been affected with a rutting drug. The reagent test for drug identification proved positive. Oh, the rutting agent found in the horse is a kind of estrus-inducing drug used to help horses get sexually stimulated. But this drug is not used well these days because of its many side effects. When I checked the symptoms of this horse running crazy, it seemed to have been exposed to far more dosage than recommended. In that case, it would not induce estrus, but it would create serious disturbances in the nervous system of the horse. Perhaps this horse suffered a lot when exposed to just a little stimulus."
Sellington pulled up his eyebrows once and then continued, "Selling and buying this drug is restricted on the market, so if you check the source of this drug, you might be able to find out the clue on this accident. Oh, of course, that's not my job."
Sellington shook his head as if he drew a line on his job description.
"John, you told me you also had something to say, didn't you?" Sellington said, pointing at John, the royal stablekeeper.
John nodded his face, approached Lard, and spoke with a quiet voice.
As he got close to Lard and whispered something, nobody could hardly hear what he was talking about.
Shortly afterwards, Lard called some of the knights and ordered them, and they immediately left the place. Wendy turned her eyes at them, frowning at the unfolding situation that she was kept in the dark about.
"...Ugh?"
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