[Lifespan Remaining: 30 days, 9 hours, 10 minutes.]
Noct decided that if he was going to catch this person, he would have to go the full nine yards to make the suspect believe he did actually ingest the liquid.
Before leaving the balcony, he dipped one finger into the spilled liquid and smeared it beneath his collar.
More importantly, that caused the magical tether to attach itself to his clothes.
“Perfect.”
By the time Noct came stumbling back into the grand hall, all eyes were on him.
He dragged one foot behind the other, and he allowed his breathing to become heavy.
Consequently, comments about his rapidly deteriorating health started to emerge as well.
“Young Lord, a—are you okay?”
“Your condition looks terrible. Please sit down!”
“Young Master Noct, what are you doing out of bed?”
Yet he had ignored all the comments, trying to look around for anyone suspicious.
It was hard to deduce, mostly because everyone here was from Vivienne’s faction, the same one who wanted him dead as well.
It was hard to distinguish ordinary vultures from the real culprit.
But before he could try and offer some bait, Faust seemed to have seen the perfect opportunity to improve his image.
“Noct!”
Quickly, he moved closer and threw one of Noct’s arms over himself, ‘supporting his baby brother’ from underneath.
“What are you doing walking around in this condition?” Faust demanded, loudly enough for the nearby guests to hear.
“Someone call a physician!”
He really did wear the expression of a worried older brother flawlessly.
If he wasn’t part of Vivienne’s faction, then Noct would’ve asked him to become a stage actor easily.
Noct allowed more of his weight to fall against him while discreetly watching Faust’s reaction.
‘Could it really be him?’
It would hardly be surprising.
Faust possessed both the motive and connections necessary to orchestrate something like this.
But then again, Faust wasn’t an idiot.
And the magical tether told a different story.
A few attendants rushed toward them, and Noct followed the nearly invisible strand over his brother’s shoulder.
It wound between several of his attendants before disappearing toward the edge of the grand hall.
One man stood among them with an open ledger resting against his arm.
Now that everyone was crowded around Noct, Edward really was the odd one out.
But was it really possible?
A teleportation spell was something that would be classified as a 5-Star spell at least.
No matter how you sliced it, someone like Edward didn’t look like someone who was capable of doing so.
However, from a distance, Noct saw a folded piece of parchment concealed against his wrist.
It almost fell out, causing the man to quickly and clumsily shove it back inside.
But just enough of the parchment unfurled for Noct to realize what it was exactly: a teleportation scroll.
“Guards!” Noct abruptly straightened and pointed toward the edge of the hall.
“Seize Edward’s right arm! Now!”
The guards hesitated for a second, but upon realizing the strangely specific instructions, as well as all noble eyes on them…
The command was carried out.
The guards swarmed the bookkeeper, tackling him to the ground and causing the old man to squirm and struggle beneath their force.
“Wha—what is the meaning of this?! What the hell are you all doing?”
Noct abandoned his performance and rushed over.
With Edward’s arm pinned against the floor, Noct reached inside his sleeve and pulled out the folded scroll before the bookkeeper could activate it.
He had already prepared the perfect statement to condemn the culprit.
All Noct had to do was carry it out.
“This man tried to poison me!” he accused the bookkeeper in front of the entire crowd.
“If my sister Stella hadn’t been there to cure me, I would’ve died earlier than my destined death!”
An uproar spread through the hall.
“That’s absurd!” Edward retorted.
“I’ve done nothing of the sort!”
He raised the parchment for the entire hall to see.
“Then why did you reach for this teleportation scroll after you saw me collapse!? Shouldn’t you be concerned for my well-being and try to help?!”
“Ugh…” the man groaned, having no reply of his own.
“I—It’s not what it looks like…”
“That’s all the answer I need.”
Noct knew it wasn’t the scroll’s true purpose.
It had been prepared to transport the monster he was supposed to become.
But the crowd didn’t really need to know that.
All he had to do was spin a tale that was more believable at the moment.
“He believed his poison had worked,” Noct declared.
“And while all of you were distracted watching me die, he intended to use this scroll to escape before anyone could connect him to my death!”
If the hall hadn’t been filled with gasps and whispers before…Well, now it definitely was.
“Poison?”
“Why was he carrying that scroll? Was it really—?”
“But he’s merely a bookkeeper…”
The gathered nobles continued while Edward continued struggling beneath the guards, squirming to try and get out to no avail.
But that was when someone finally snapped.
“Enough!”
Faust’s voice silenced the nearest conversations.
He pushed through the crowd, his earlier concern replaced by unconcealed anger.
“This accusation makes no sense. Edward has faithfully served House Arcadia for years.”
A barrage of questions followed.
“All you’ve proven is the spatial scroll.
Where is this supposed poison?
Where is the evidence connecting Edward to it?
Why hasn’t Amelia been poisoned when she’s been working with him the most?
Noct simply sighed, answering all of his questions.
“Stella witnessed everything, and since she isn’t here. We can detain him until she returns.”
Then he finally turned to face Edward, still pinned on the ground.
“And for your other question…”
“Do you really expect me to know the motives of a criminal? How would you explain this teleportation scroll, which costs a fortune to buy?”
“On top of trying to poison me, he can get charged with siphoning from the family resources as well,” the youngest continued.
“Thank you for helping me remember, brother.”
But it seemed those words had been the final straw for Faust.
He spoke up through gritted teeth.
“Why would anyone bother, Noct?”
Faust gestured toward Noct, no longer caring to maintain the appearance of a loving brother.
“Everyone here knows you’re going to die anyway!
You have less than a minute left.
What could anyone possibly gain by killing you now?!’
The commotion had been so large that Vivienne now descended from the stairs above.
Her voice rang out in concern, mostly for Faust.
“Faust, don’t you dare say anything else!”
But it was too late to take what had already been said back.
The words were so insensitive that all attention that was on Edward had been shifted to Faust instead.
‘So much for the stage actor.’
Noct slowly raised his head toward the enormous clock overlooking the grand hall before pointing towards it.
“Thirty seconds until midnight,” he hadn’t raised his voice, but everyone could hear it.
“You’re right, brother.”
Noct turned away from Edward and crossed the hall.
The crowd parted before him as he approached the coffin waiting above an arrangement of flowers.
The one that had been decrepitly been set up for his eventual death.
He ran one hand across the polished lid before casually seating himself atop it.
“There’s no reason for us to argue when we can simply wait.”
A grin slowly spread across his face.
“If death wants me. It has ten seconds left to come and collect my body.”
Ding!
The second hand reached twelve, causing the first chimes to echo throughout the hall…then the second, and a third…
All twelve chimes reverberated throughout the manor, announcing the “official death” of Noct de Arcadia.
One by one, faces of the guests turned to stare at the youngest son of Arcadia, casually seated in his coffin, just waiting for him to fall over.
Yet when he didn’t…
Noct made eye-contact with Faust, driving the point home with a simple joke.
“Well, this is awkward, isn’t it?”