Thief of Twilight

Part Three: Chapter 95

The imperial study was left in complete and utter silence after Elder Kang and Sinopia heard the emperor speak of Zurine's troubles.

Sinopia furrowed his brows only to lower his head in disbelief.

"...That...vile woman..." Elder Kang pursed her lips. "How dare she."

"Zurine...has been a little upset since then. She's begun to isolate herself."

"You don't think she'll run away again, do you?"

"No." the emperor shook his head. "For now, she is just processing what has happened. It is best to leave her be for now. She will come to me when she is ready."

"...Are...you sure?" Elder Kang questioned. "If she needs any help, I can-."

"She needs space to process her thoughts. I will not rush her. I have learned that that is not the best course of action when she is in her head."

Sinopia heaved a sigh. "Did she say what it was that caused this?"

"No." the emperor shook his head. "But I have been holding interrogations since then. I have only been asking the servants who shared a room with Hyo-rin. All have claimed that earlier in the season around the time that Zurine woke up, she had some flower that she would brew into tea every evening."

"A flower that she would brew into tea?" Elder Kang narrowed her eyes.

"They said it was a white lily with purple tips..."

"A purple-tipped lily." Sinopia spoke up. "I know of that flower. I am very familiar with it."

"What kind of flower is it?" Elder Kang questioned.

"It is a poisonous flower that is native to Guaonia. Once the flower petals are brewed in boiling water, they produce an odorless toxin. It isn't dangerous in the sense that it will kill you. But it will attack the mind and cause hallucinations that prey on your fears."

"Prey on your fears...?" Elder Kang narrowed her eyes.

"It seems that Zurine is afraid of this Oliver Baldwin." Sinopia cleared his throat.

"She is." Emperor Kang said. "That is why she kept saying that she saw him. But I didn't believe her. I thought she was lying. I thought it was the aftermath of her trauma. But I was wrong."

"We were all to blame." Elder Kang extended a hand to her grandson. "Do not blame yourself. We didn't know that she was..."

"There are reports of the hallucinations getting so bad that it causes the individual to commit suicide to relieve themselves of their terrifying visions and thoughts."

The emperor pursed his lips.

"But it would seem that Zurine didn't get that far."

"She ran away before that could happen..." the emperor sighed heavily. "Thankfully..."

"Where could she have even gotten a flower like that?" Elder Kang questioned. "If it's a flower as dangerous as that, surely the only way is by someone who sells it on the black market? Or perhaps she knew someone?"
"I will have to interrogate Hyo-rin myself. For now, I am keeping my distance. If I so much as look at her, I'll want to rip her apart."

"Yohan, she attacked Zurine." Elder Kang said. "You can easily execute her without a trial."

"I need to know why she did what she did."

"Yohan...will you execute her?" Sinopia asked.

"I could..." Emperor Kang crossed his arms. "But I can also send her to the north and she can slave away at one of Ji-hun's iron mines. She would have wished she was dead once they find out what she's done."