Prince Lazaar's manor.

"How is your brother doing?" Half of Prince Lazaar's body was concealed within the shadows, while his eyes were shimmering with an indecisive gleam under the light of the lamps.

"They locked him up in the Fander Royal Prison. I wanted to go in with him to look after him, but they forced me out," Lana said with her head lowered, and her eyes were still a little red.

"How are his injuries?" Prince Lazaar asked.

"He's sustained extremely severe magic injuries. If they're not treated in time, there are most likely going to be permanent after-effects," Lana replied with a concerned expression as tears began to well up in her eyes again. "And his face..."

"We can only hope that he'll survive this ordeal," Prince Lazaar sighed. "He's a tough young man. If he's disfigured, then so be it, it's not like he relies on his appearance for his livelihood anyway."

"But with such severe injuries and no one to look after him in prison, his condition is only going to worsen over time," Lana said in a frantic voice.

"Whoever it is that did this to your brother, I'm going to find them and repay the favor a hundredfold!" Prince Lazaar said in a hateful voice.

"Who could've possibly poisoned him? With his powers, he would've definitely been able to detect the majority of mind-altering substances," Lana said with tightly furrowed brows.

"That's the one thing that I don't get," Prince Lazaar said. "With your brother's powers, who could've possibly been able to approach him with sinister intentions? If he wasn't approached, then how did he come under the influence of whatever substance he was affected by?"

Lana thought about this for a moment, then suddenly said, "Teacher Faye once told me that if you use some colorless and odorless ingredients to brew magic potions, the resulting magic potion will also be colorless and odorless. However, the process is extremely complex, and an extremely skilled potions master is required to brew such a potion."

"An odorless and colorless magic potion?" Prince Lazaar's eyes narrowed slightly in contemplation. "No matter how I think about it, the only way they could've gotten to him would've been through the equipment that he registered and submitted."

"That has to be it!" Lana agreed in a confident voice. "I was with him right before the match, and he was perfectly normal, but he immediately turned into someone else as soon as he stepped onto the competition platform!"

"Sirius will take care of investigating the tournament committee. However, it's clear that the perpetrator is well prepared, and if the magic potion in question really is colorless and odorless as you say, then he most likely won't be able to find anything," Prince Lazaar said.

"Judging from symptoms displayed by your brother during the match today, it seems that the substance he was afflicted by was designed to stimulate the mind to an extreme extent, thereby causing one to lose their rationality while significantly heightening their killing instincts. If we think about it that way, there are only around a dozen types of magic ingredients that can be used to brew magic potions of this effect, and the list is narrowed down even further if we only consider the colorless and odorless options. The few available options are all extremely rare magic ingredients, so perhaps you can conduct an investigation based on those ingredients," Lana suggested.

"No wonder Mistress Faye is always praising you for your hard work," Prince Lazaar said with a wry smile. "Your brothers and I are nowhere near as knowledgeable as you when it comes to magic potions. Write down a list of all of the magic ingredients that fit these criteria, and I'll get someone to conduct an investigation right away."

Lana nodded in response.

"However, in contrast with rescuing your brother, I'm actually more concerned about something else," Prince Lazaar said as he massaged his own glabella, and he was clearly feeling quite weary as well.

Lana looked back at him with a puzzled expression.

"I'm worried that His Majesty may take this opportunity to wipe out our entire family," Prince Lazaar said in a low voice. "What if His Majesty doesn't even care who the true perpetrator behind all of this is? What if his objective from the very beginning was to wipe out our family? What should we do then?"

He was clearly posing this question to himself rather than Lana.

"Master Piro is one of the best potions masters alive... Could it be that he and His Majesty conspired together to manufacture this incident?" This was a very imaginative theory from Lana.

Prince Lazaar shook his head in response.

"His Majesty is a father, just like me, and as a fellow father, I don't believe that His Majesty would be willing to risk his own daughter's life like this. Also, I've been serving His Majesty for many years, and I have a good grasp of his character. He's not such a cold and sinister person. Similarly, I would never risk the lives of you or your two brothers."

Prince Lazaar cast his gaze toward his daughter, who was impeccable whether it came to either appearance or talent, and his eyes were filled with pride and satisfaction.

"So whatever happens here, I'm going to ensure that you and your brother are sent safely back to Burmen, even if I have to sacrifice myself here. Once you return to Burmen, you'll be able to join forces with your brothers, and there's no way that the complacent nobles and soldiers of Sarus will be a match for our war-hardened warriors." Prince Lazaar was already planning for the worst.

"Father..." Tears began to well up in Lana's eyes again, but she didn't want to shed them here.

"It's alright, maybe the situation isn't so dire. I'm just planning for the worst-case scenario," Prince Lazaar consoled.

Lana nodded in response. 

"Lana, if we're able to make it back to Burmen alive this time, I want you to forget Erwin." Compared to last time, Prince Lazaar's tone was a lot gentler and more mellow.

Lana shuddered slightly upon hearing this, but she nodded once again as she clasped a hand over her own mouth.

...

After returning from the Pillow Sword Tournament, Erwin laid on his bed, tossing and turning for the entire night without being able to get to sleep. He wanted to know about Onean's condition, and he also wanted to know what was going on in Prince Lazaar's manor. The worry and anxiety kept him up all night, and at the crack of dawn, he made his way into Count Friar's room, hoping to be able to get some information from his father.

Unlike Erwin, Count Friar was an early riser, so by the time Erwin barged into his room, Count Friar was already standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of his room, appreciating the dawn scenery of Sarus outside.

Count Friar didn't even turn around to look at Erwin, and it seemed that he had already predicted that Erwin would pay him a visit.

Erwin stood on the spot in silence, unsure of how to begin.

"If you want to ask me something, then go ahead," Count Friar prompted in a calm voice.

"Father, do you know how Her Highness is doing right now?" Erwin asked in a careful voice. "I heard that she sustained extremely severe injuries."

"I don't know." Count Friar's reply was very concise and straightforward. "How would I know about this?"

Erwin fell silent again.

"However, I presume that she's still alive," Count Friar said as he turned around to look at Erwin.

"Why is that?" Erwin asked with a puzzled expression.

"Think about it. It's been very quiet throughout the night, and nothing out of the ordinary has happened yet this morning. That should be enough to tell you that Her Highness is still alive," Count Friar explained.

It was certainly no secret to everyone that Princess Onean was King Cameron's most prized child. If she had succumbed to her injuries, King Cameron would've definitely flown into a thunderous rage, and in that case, there was no way that the previous night would've passed by so peacefully. With that in mind, Erwin heaved an internal sigh of relief.

"Have you taken a liking to Her Highness?" Count Friar asked as he watched Erwin with a calm expression.

Erwin was momentarily stumped by this question, and he didn't know how to respond to it. In the past, his father very rarely asked him about his private affairs, so this was very unusual for him.

"His Majesty would never agree to a relationship between you two, so you should give up on her," Count Friar said in a very matter-of-fact voice.

An awkward look appeared on Erwin's face. His relationship with Onean hadn't really progressed anywhere yet, so King Cameron wasn't even a factor of consideration that had crossed his mind.

"So what if he doesn't agree? What's he going to do about it?" Erwin finally replied in a very uncouth fashion.

An amused smile appeared on Count Friar's face as he turned to look at Erwin, and Erwin was growing rather uneasy at the sight of his father's expression.

"I guess you do take after me, after all," Count Friar sighed as he turned back to look at the scenery outside the window.

Erwin could only assume that his father was recalling memories of his mother, and he didn't offer any response. To Erwin, his mother had always been a very unfamiliar concept. There wasn't even a single portrait of her in the entirety of Count Friar's manor, and no one had ever told Erwin anything about his mother. Despite this, Count Friar had never displayed any intention of finding a stepmother for Erwin, and Erwin had a great deal of admiration toward him for that.

"What about Prince Lazaar's daughter? Aren't you going to ask about her?" Count Friar seemed to be very interested in Erwin's private affairs all of a sudden. "Don't you want to know about the situation in Prince Lazaar's manor?"

"Er, I do," Erwin replied with an honest nod. "What's the situation like in Prince Lazaar's manor?"

"Prince Lazaar isn't the type of brazen criminal who would instruct his own child to assassinate Her Highness during the Pillow Sword Tournament," Count Friar said in a calm voice. "At the time, His Majesty was understandably blinded by rage, but I'm sure that realization will dawn on him eventually."

Erwin was rather relieved upon hearing this.

"However, just because he'll arrive at that realization doesn't mean that he won't do anything about Prince Lazaar's family," Count Friar said as he turned to Erwin, and a meaningful look had appeared in his eyes.

"Father, you don't mean..." Only now was Erwin beginning to realize that things in the royal court weren't as harmonious as they seemed.

"You have to remember that when it comes to politics, the truth is often not very important." This statement from Count Friar went on to have a very profound impact on Erwin in the future.

A hint of mockery then appeared on Count Friar's face as he continued, "Only historians have an interest in uncovering the truth of history. Politicians couldn't care less about right and wrong, or truths and lies."

Erwin found himself struggling to process what his father had just said. He had always felt like his father was hiding some type of secret, as if he had seen some things that others hadn't. He always looked as if he were suffering from social anxiety, but his perpetual calmness and indifference didn't seem characteristic of someone with social anxiety. Thus, Erwin often wondered whether his father knew more than he let on, and it seemed that his suspicions were being confirmed here.

Count Friar could see what Erwin was thinking, and he asked, "Are you wondering why I know so much even though you don't ever see me go anywhere?"

Erwin nodded in response.

Count Friar turned back to the window, and a reminiscent look appeared on his face. Only after a long while did he heave a faint sigh. "Someone once told me that Sarus is but a small pond for the small fish and shrimp to play in."

Erwin didn't know what to make of that statement.

"However, the royal court has always belonged to those ageless turtles. I can't become one of them, and I have no interest in playing with the small fish and shrimp," Count Friar said in a calm voice. "However, you must always remember to be wary of those turtles."

Erwin didn't quite understand what was being said to him, but he nodded anyway, and it seemed that nodding was the only thing that he could do. In this instant, he was suddenly struck by a sense of surrealism. It seemed that from his birth to this point, all of the words that his father had spoken to him combined were still less than everything he had said to him on this day.

"This is no simple incident. If Prince Lazaar really is being framed, then the mastermind behind all of this definitely isn't just some ordinary criminal. Don't go anywhere for the next few days. School holidays have begun anyway, so just stay at home," Count Friar instructed. "What's happening in Sarus right now is not something that a kid like you can influence."

Erwin had no way to rebuke his father, and he was silent for a long while before suddenly asking out of the blue, "Was Mother the one who told you that Sarus is only a small pond?"

Count Friar's expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this. He continued to look out the window as the sun began to rise, and he was suddenly struck by a sense of solace, as if his son had grown up, but he offered no reply to Erwin's question.