Chapter 326 - Find the truth

Chapter 326: Chapter 326 - Find the truth

Dican waited until Bian had left before returning to Nansich’s room.

The warriors had already taken Nansich away, leaving only two guards stationed outside. The maid was still there, pale and shaken, the small container held carefully in her hands.

"Give it to me."

She immediately bowed and handed it over.

Dican stared at the little pot resting in his palm. Something so small shouldn’t have frightened him this much. He closed his fingers around it and went directly back to the healing wing.

The head healer looked surprised to see him again.

"I need this tested."

Dican placed the container on the examination table.

The healer’s expression changed when he saw it.

"This is what was found in Lord Nansich’s chambers?"

"Yes." Dican swallowed. "Compare it with what you found in my blood."

The healer understood immediately.

This examination took much less time because they already knew what they were looking for. Dican sat on the edge of one of the medical beds while the healers worked, his hands clasped tightly between his knees.

He kept thinking about Nansich.

The furious disbelief on his face.

Why the fuck would I like you?

His insistence that he’d never seen the container.

The way he’d looked at Dican while being taken away.

Dican wanted the results to prove him innocent.

That realization bothered him.

He was supposed to want the truth, regardless of where it led.

"Your Highness."

Dican raised his head.

The healer approached slowly.

"The substance matches."

Dican stared at him.

"What?"

"The material inside the container contains the same Grayling compound we detected in your blood. There are differences in concentration because what remains in your bloodstream has already been metabolized, but the identifying structure is the same."

Dican felt the blood drain from his face.

"So this..."

His gaze moved toward the little pot.

"This is what poisoned me?"

"Unless another source contains an identical compound, yes."

Dican didn’t answer.

The evidence couldn’t have been clearer.

Grayling poison had been found in his body.

The same poison had been found in Nansich’s room.

That should have been enough.

So why did every part of him resist it?

Dican lowered his head and pressed his fingers against his temples. A dull ache had begun behind his eyes.

He didn’t know what to trust anymore.

His memories had betrayed him.

His marriage might have been built on poison.

Now even his instincts were contradicting the evidence directly in front of him.

The door opened quietly sometime later.

Dican didn’t bother looking up until a familiar hand settled heavily against his back.

His father sat beside him.

The Emperor didn’t immediately ask questions. He simply rubbed Dican’s back once, the same way he had when Dican was young and came to him upset after fighting with his brothers.

That small gesture nearly broke him.

Dican looked up.

His father’s expression changed when he saw the tears in his eyes.

"Dican."

"I don’t know what I’m supposed to believe."

His voice cracked.

The Emperor remained quiet.

Dican wiped his face roughly. "Everything says Nansich did it. They found the poison in his room. The healers just confirmed it’s the same substance that was in my blood."

The Emperor’s hand stopped against his back.

"Your blood?"

Dican nodded.

There was no point hiding it anymore.

"I’ve had Grayling material in my body. I don’t know for how long. Grandpa Rue told me my eyes used to turn purple. I found an old record about Grayling substances being used to control Farians." His breathing became unsteady. "The symptoms match me, Father. The missing memories, the way I apparently behaved... all of it."

The Emperor’s face had become frighteningly still.

"Who knew about this?"

"The healers and me."

"And now?"

"You."

The Emperor nodded slowly.

Dican stared down at his hands.

"I should believe the evidence against Nansich. I know that. But I can’t."

"Why?"

Dican laughed weakly. "That’s the problem. I don’t know."

He rubbed at his aching temple.

"My head tells me the poison was found in his room. My heart tells me he didn’t do it." Dican looked helplessly at his father. "And I don’t even know whether I can trust my heart anymore. What if that’s been manipulated too?"

The Emperor studied him for a moment.

"Do you love Nansich?"

Dican went still.

"I barely know him."

"That wasn’t my question."

Dican frowned.

The Emperor’s mouth softened slightly.

"You keep treating love as though it is something you must identify immediately. Perhaps because you were told for years that you loved Bian."

Dican’s throat tightened.

His father continued quietly, "You don’t need to decide what you feel for Nansich today. But you can ask yourself something simpler. Do you believe he would deliberately harm you?"

Dican thought about it.

Nansich threatening him with a sword.

Nansich throwing him.

Nansich angrily telling him to stop following him.

Nansich entering the healing chamber when asked and holding him despite clearly being uncomfortable with the entire situation.

"No," Dican whispered.

"Then don’t ignore that simply because someone placed evidence in front of you."

Dican looked at him.

"But evidence matters."

"Of course it does." The Emperor squeezed his shoulder. "Which is why you investigate it. You don’t discard evidence because you dislike what it says, and you don’t condemn someone because the first answer is convenient."

That silenced him.

The Emperor looked toward the container.

"If Nansich poisoned you, there will be more evidence. How did he obtain the substance? When did he administer it? How long has he possessed it? Who saw him with it?"

Dican slowly straightened.

"And if he can’t have done those things..."

"Then you ask who wanted you to believe he did."

Something shifted inside Dican.

The panic didn’t disappear, but it finally had somewhere to go.

He had been staring at the pot as though it were an answer.

It wasn’t.

It was only one piece.

Dican wiped the remaining moisture from his eyes.

"I need to find out how long that substance has been inside me."

"Yes."

"And where this container came from. Who had access to Nansich’s room. Who knew the search was happening."

His father nodded.

Dican’s mind was already moving faster.

He needed to speak to the maid again. He needed the palace access records. He needed the healers to determine everything they possibly could about the poison.

And eventually, he needed to speak to Nansich.

The Emperor stood and squeezed the back of his neck affectionately.

"Don’t rush because you’re frightened, son."

Dican looked up at him.

"Find the truth first."

Dican glanced once more at the little container.