I Was Told to Drink Poison, So I Drank It - 32 - A Familiar Face
(Am I… not Chalize?)
Without thinking, I looked in that direction. A man was shouting while banging on the table.
“That woman is to blame! That woman…! If Lady Chalize were here… this never would’ve happened!!”
He shouted to no one in particular.
“I think so too!!”
Then, one of the customers—a young man—stood up as if he had been moved by the shouting.
He was holding a mug in his hand.
The young man sat down across from the drunken man.
He gulped down his drink and said,
“Ever since Lady Chalize disappeared, life got hard all of a sudden. It was hard before, but now it’s worse!”
“Whose fault is it?”
“The king’s, of course!”
One after another, the other men in the tavern joined in the conversation.
Some women with them and a man who seemed to be the shopkeeper tried to calm them down, but the drunken men wouldn’t listen.
“Hey, customers! You can’t do that! Criticizing the king in a place like this?! If the military police show up, we’ll be in real trouble.”
“Come on, let’s go? If the guards hear this kind of talk…”
But the men’s argument only grew more heated, to the point where it was impossible to stop.
“…Should we leave?”
With all this noise, the guards were sure to show up soon. If that happened, there’d be no chance to eat in peace—and some of the soldiers might recognize me or Louis.
When I said that, Louis and Cain nodded in agreement.
Louis and I were wearing black robes to hide our faces, but we couldn’t be too careful.
If the king found out that Queen Chalize was still alive—it would be a disaster.
And judging from how things looked here, the castle town was already in chaos.
We stood up to pay the bill.
At that moment—
“Hey, you—wait a second!”
A voice called out. I turned around.
Two young men stood there.
They held their mugs, but their expressions were grim.
One had his face lowered, the other stared straight at us.
“…Yes?”
I answered cautiously, without letting my tension show.
The man jerked his chin toward the group of men caught up in the heated discussion.
“What do you think? Who’s at fault—the upstart queen Stella, the foolish King Henry… or the wicked queen Chalize?”
“…………”
I held Louis back just as he was about to speak. I answered instead.
“You can’t say who’s to blame so easily. But—if I had to say, it’s everything. Not just those women. The world around them, too. It was all bad. That’s what I think.”
“Then what do you think we should do?”
The man challenged me.
At the center of the tavern, people of all ages had gathered around a round table, debating.
“The king is to blame!”
“Chalize was the people’s hope!”
“Stella should be executed!”
“The king was tricked!”
“Chalize was foolish!”
“Stella is the victim!”
They all shouted their opinions freely. But all of them, without exception, seemed deeply unhappy with the current government.
Who should they blame?
Who needs to fall for their lives to get better?
That’s what they were trying to find.
It looked like they were just searching for a place to aim their anger—but maybe that really was the case.
Life is hard.
Who should they blame, who should they criticize, who should they throw their pain at?
They’re desperately trying to find that answer.
And that’s a perfectly human feeling.
They have the right to protest.
(But—)
I thought of the people of Victoire.
How they were easily swayed by news articles.
How they were manipulated by the temple.
It was all because they didn’t have the education to think for themselves.
Before thinking, they just assumed it was the truth.
They weren’t used to thinking critically.
Naturally, my face grew tense.
“I think it would be better for Victoire to just become a vassal of Arcana…”
The man who had spoken to me muttered suddenly.
His words brought me back to reality.
“For the sake of Victoire.”
He said that—but his face was dark, and he didn’t look like he believed those words at all.
If things continued like this, the country would become even more chaotic and violent.
Whether a revolution happened or not, Victoire was already at a dead end.
He probably thought it was better for the country to fall under another nation than fall apart from the inside.
At the very least, he thought life would be easier that way.
“…We’d like the bill, please.”
I didn’t answer him. I just called for the server.
Just as we stepped outside the tavern, the military police stormed in.
Someone must have reported them.
“Hey! What are you all yelling about so loudly!!”
“Shouting criticism of the king? You traitors!!”
There was the sound of something breaking, screams, chairs being knocked over—rough, violent sounds followed.
“Whoa!! Let me go, you bastard!”
“You damn royal dogs! Aren’t you ashamed!? Are you even citizens of Victoire!? Where is your pride as Victoire’s people!?”
“Shut up! Be quiet!! You’re all under arrest for insulting their Majesties. You’ll regret those filthy words!!”
Smack! Thud! Crash!
The violent noises echoed into the main street.
The guards and the customers must have started fighting.
Without meaning to, I stopped walking.
“…Lady Chalize.”
Louis called to me. I nodded slightly.
With the guards now on the scene, staying here was too dangerous.
Thinking that, we quickly left.
Then—
“Hey, wait! You there!!”
A loud voice called from behind, and I froze.
I heard the sound of leather shoes—one of the guards was coming our way.
“You… I’ve seen your face before.”
The guard looked to be in his mid-thirties.
His body was strong—you could tell even through the uniform.
He had a beard, and under his officer’s hat, sharp eyes pierced straight into me.
“…………”
I didn’t look away.
If I did, it would be like admitting I had something to hide.
“…That blonde hair. Those green eyes—”