Chapter 101 - 101: Zabaniyah
'Ah…'
Ixion looked over the ink-filled pages.
Few thoughts coursed through his mind. His stare was vacant.
Coraline had lost her memories and worldly cares. She'd become a husk living in Despair's memory.
After waking up, she acted no differently than a thrall of Despair. Not even. At least those bastards responded to Despair's words. Coraline merely existed. With her fractured soul yet to heal, she was lost to all desire.
Seeing her like that, Ixion couldn't bear to let Cecelia know what happened to her sister. He concluded that Coraline's death was a much more merciful reality.
So, that was the false truth he relayed.
He told Cecelia she'd been tainted by the Scourge just as Despair took her away.
The fierce and proud general was distraught… to say the least.
As for Coraline herself…
Ixion used [Noble] to forcefully alter her facial structure, made her wavy hair straight. He made her a little taller.
The only thing that remained of Coraline was her amber eyes.
It took a while for her soul to heal. And all of that time was spent in Despair's laboratory.
Despite what he'd done, Ixion didn't despise Despair, no…
He was mad, maybe. But Despair had explained his motives, and Ixion had concluded that the process was inhumane and misguided, but perhaps Despair's intentions were good. So, Ixion had let him off with the promise not to experiment on humans again.
Obviously, that promise was not upheld…
'Oh, how simple and naive I was.'
Eventually, with repeated nurturing from Ixion, Coraline was able to reclaim her desires. But that was all she reclaimed. Well, it was more so the creation of new desires — wrong, incomplete desires.
Ixion sighed as he pushed the book away from himself.
'Will I become like that?'
The Hollow Crowned King.
Was that his fate? To be hollow?
Ixion stood up and began to stretch when a knock sounded at his chamber door. The door that chamberlains were barred from touching after the moon rose.
'Huh?'
Curiously, Ixion looked at the shadows and saw they remained quiet.
Ixion walked toward the door.
"You may open."
The door began to creak, then slide open.
He was half expectant to see the jester standing on the other side, with the guards knocked out; however…
"Andrea?"
For someone as principled as Andrea to enter the king's chambers in the dead of night? Something seemed either incredibly wrong, or Andrea held a little more reverence and respect for him than he thought.
"Your Majesty, may I come in?"
Ixion looked behind Andrea, spotting Laplace not so sneakily stealing glances into the king's chambers.
His eyes narrowed.
"Of course."
Andrea slipped inside, the massive door behind her slamming shut.
"What brings you here so late at night? Have you been charmed by me?! Of course you have! I'm a hard one to ignore for so long!"
Her expression lay flat as she waited for the king to end his flippant spiel.
"Your… Ixion, I came because I need help."
'Huh… help?'
From Ixion?
That was rare.
"Oh ho? What seems the matter? Do you have a matter you need tended to?" Ixion's gaze lowered.
Paying the king's lecherous glare no mind, Andrea said:
"The people of the slums… they're all being poisoned."
Ixion shrugged while spinning his hands and walking over to his chair.
"There's little we can do about cholera and dysentery."
Dragging the chair across the floor until it was before Andrea, he sat in it and leaned back.
"It's not that… This is happening… Someone has been poisoning food, leaving it around for the rats. Then when the poor eat those rats…"
"Ah, I see."
'Did she come here to see if the culprit was me?'
Ixion yawned, then asked:
"But aren't you well versed in poison? Why do you need me?"
"Identifying an issue and doing something about it are wholly separate matters."
Ixion placed his elbow on the right arm of the chair and leaned into it.
"And?"
Andrea bit her lip.
"I've determined I cannot solve this issue secretly on my own."
"Secretly? If the people of the slums are being poisoned… how would it be a secret?"
A silence hung in the air for a moment as Andrea avoided his gaze.
"From what I've learned… the culprit is a noble."
'Oh ho?'
Sure, Ixion's soul outings had become lesser and lesser as of recently. Or more so, his outings had become more focused. But someone did this without him noticing?
'Impressive.'
Not to mention, it seemed to have been ongoing for at least a month. He couldn't help but think of the rat he'd stopped that kid Lance from eating. Ixion hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but apparently that rat being poisoned was no mere accident or coincidence.
"How did you come to conclude that?"
Andrea looked back at the door, then whispered, even despite the muted silence arrays in place.
"The poison used is a compound substance made by mixing potassium, thallium, and mish. I won't go over the specifics of how it's created, but these materials are not easily acquired and are also expensive…"
Ixion chuckled.
"Mish. Isn't that a byproduct of that one beetle race?"
"Yes… the one which lives in the jungle of Praxis."
'Ah! I see…'
"But, I humbly request your assistance. You're the only one I can rely on in a situation like this."
Ixion smiled as he stared into her brown eyes.
"It's well known I visited the Praxian Caravan. What if I'm the culprit?"
"All your actions were documented… You hadn't purchased mish. Nor do you possess the knowledge or capability of making the poison."
"Insulting a king to his face, saying I'm incapable of something…" Ixion shot from his chair and clapped. "Oh, how proud I am of you, dear Andrea! I didn't know you had it in you! Where was this spunk when I started placing the embargoes?"
Andrea's eyes held a slight agitation that was easy to read. It was as if she'd said, 'So… you know the embargoes are a bad idea?!'
"But, I have nothing else to do. So why not? Sure, I'll help. Tell me what you know."