Black sail

Chapter 715 XCV. A Final Settlement.

The capital of Alan.

The Eternal Clock Tower pierces the sky, soaring into the clouds.

The city walls are majestic, and the watchtowers stand in rows.

Within Alan alone, Micah's fame has surpassed that of Lisite, making him a pivotal figure in the aftermath of the Continental Martial Arts Tournament.

Because Micah was an Aramean, and official records also contain a criminal record of poisoning the royal envoy at Dawn Harbor.

Only Micah himself knew that the royal envoy was a friend of Caesar, and that the envoy died from heart paralysis caused by the venom of the flying snake. Micah happened to have this potion at home, and the envoy had spent the night at his house that day, so he became the prime suspect.

Micah disagreed with the coroner's findings and appealed to the court, requesting a second examination.

However, his fiancée suggested that Micah, being a forensic pathologist himself, would be the perfect person to examine the body.

So Micah killed the man and examined the body.

Even with a hundred mouths, he couldn't exonerate himself.

The matter of murdering the royal envoy has been definitively concluded.

But now, things have completely reversed. Micah has been granted a pardon by Prince Soloren as a national hero, and even the crimes he was found guilty of have been wiped clean.

Legally speaking, he is now a free man, but due to the undercurrents within the royal court and the power struggles among various factions, he has been placed under house arrest under the guise of protection and is prohibited from communicating with the outside world, especially with Lisite's group.

To prevent Micah from being disturbed and from making inappropriate statements by the newspapers on provocative questions, the Aran royal court has secretly arranged for his safekeeping.

Inside the secret manor, groups of people come every day, searching for the same questions but different answers. The archives of Zote, the secret witch hunt agency of old Aran, are finally being sealed, the authenticity of the Overlord's descendants is being investigated, and the true intentions behind questioning Lister are being revealed.

Micah thought his answer was flawless.

Today, another group of people came to inquire about the death of the royal envoy from Dawn Harbor. So many years have passed, and Micah has fled again. Now they are going to conduct one last inquiry and seal the case.

Inside the manor.

A gilded fountain stands in the center of the courtyard, with a lion head statue spouting clear water. As the water falls, it splashes up tiny silver sparkles, reflecting off the neatly trimmed green hedge maze around it.

The marble path winds through the rose garden, with lush lawns in the distance and wisteria vines hanging down from the pergola. When the wind blows, the petals and fragrance spread all over the stone path.

In the library filled with the scents of ink and leather, Micah turned his gaze away from the window. Dressed in a plain robe, he felt as if he were in another world when faced with questions from the royal officials.

"Eight years ago, a royal envoy came to Dawn Harbor to handle confidential matters. At that time, the Kingdom of Aran was not yet strong, and the affairs of the Narrow Sea were in chaos. Therefore, a secret envoy came to Dawn Harbor to search for officials who violated regulations and sought personal gain. Obviously, you were used as the person to settle accounts, which gave all the officials of Dawn Harbor time to deal with the mess. Now that this matter is being investigated again, can you think of any suspicious points?"

The Wang Ting official, smoking a cigarette, crossed his legs, with his notebook on his lap, and listened to Micah's reply.

In the past few days, Micah has learned to distinguish who are from the Crown Prince's faction, who are neutral, and who still want to attack Black Sails.

The people who came this time are here to exonerate themselves. Since Micah has been elevated to such a high position as a national hero, even if he is pardoned, he should leave as few records as possible to appease the people.

The Continental Martial Arts Tournament has ended, Alan suffered a defeat on the Mulon front, and the advance has been hampered. The time for keeping the death a secret has passed, and the Emperor himself probably knows about it now.

The Aran military cannot afford to make mistakes; at best, they will be demoted, and at worst, they will lose their heads. Someone must be held accountable for the failure of this military operation. Crocodile Island is dead and cannot be held responsible. The main reason for Mulong's defeat is the Black Sail gang. How can the Aran military let them off the hook?

"A suspicious place..."

Micah remained silent for a long time. In the early days of his escape, he had certainly thought about countless suspicious places, tossing and turning day and night, unable to sleep.

But strangely enough...

If it weren't for this incident, with his position as a hanging officer and forensic doctor at the Ministry of Justice, and a fiancée, he should have had a happy family and a prosperous life.

The reason why he was able to overturn the verdict after nearly ten years of exile overseas was not because of justice, but because of the bloody struggle and the word of a big shot he won.

He had once thought about how to take revenge on those who framed him, how to torture his mind with medical reagents and perform live dissections, but suddenly… it all seemed insignificant. What's gone can never be retrieved, not even the desire for revenge.

He was no longer Micah Bruckner, nor a reflection of the past, but a completely different person.

But everything should eventually come to a conclusion.

"The envoy was a friend of Caesar. After a drinking session with Caesar and the envoy, the envoy got so drunk that he was unconscious and stayed at my house overnight. You know what happened after that. Although I examined the body, I did not kill the person. As for Caesar, he was a classmate of mine when we were in school. I don't know anything else about him."

Micah simply replied, showing no interest in meticulously plotting revenge against the existence that was both real and unreal.

Every gift of fate comes with a hidden price tag.

For me at that young age, the twelve golden dragons were already a heavy burden that could crush the entire family.

This is the price paid for the twelve golden dragons.

Just let things be as they are. Micah was powerless to ask for anything more and just felt indifferent.

"Caesar..."

After some deliberation, the royal officials determined that the man was the illegitimate son of a Grand Duke. Since this Grand Duke had no other children and had already inherited the title of Duke, this man was listed in the archives as one of the main beneficiaries of the various illegal operations in Dawn Harbor back then.

But nowadays, even a confession from a national hero is not enough to sway the Grand Duke.

It seems we'll have to hastily close the archive.

“We are aware of the situation. Your former tutor, who was involved in the case, has had his revoked clinical license reinstated and has been compensated. As for your former fiancée, I'm not sure if you want to know about her situation.”

The royal official closed the record book and looked at Micah. The man's fate was still uncertain. If Soloren's fate were not unknown, his influence could have been further enhanced. At present, he was just a prisoner of higher status.

McCarten paused for a moment.

Too many things from back then are now history; if time could be turned back, the whole picture would never be clear.

Micah did suspect her involvement, after all, she was the one who proposed the initiative.

Regardless of the circumstances, she is ultimately a part of my life, and it is impossible to cut her off.

If I had to say what I've learned from being in exile for so many years,

That is.

Pain cannot be eliminated; it is always buried within something eternal and unchanging. It is only that the container holding pain grows larger and larger, making it seem increasingly insignificant.

The important thing is not to heal, but to live with the pain.

"I want to know, please tell me."

Micah became serious, determined to bring a complete end to his nearly ten years of exile.

"Shortly after you fled, the engagement was naturally nullified. She seemed to have received a windfall and spent several months in Dugris in a life of extravagance and debauchery. In the end, she died from an overdose of hallucinogens. As a person from Heaven's Port, you should know what that stuff is. It's extracted from a kind of herbal plant from Mirror Sea. Of course, it's out of stock now."

The royal official adjusted his cufflinks, believing that Micah must be feeling a sense of revenge at this moment. With his years of criminal investigation skills and understanding of the internal affairs of the royal court, he had already figured out the truth.

However, Micah did not feel like he had gotten his revenge; he was just stunned for a moment.

"So that's how it is..."

His eyes were lowered, as if he had aged considerably all of a sudden.

(End of this chapter)