The Cat Who Weeps in the Dark - Chapter 64

“This is absurd. How could I possibly kill the Crown Prince…?”

It was a simple command with no further explanation. Wayne read the letter over and over. The words were written in a cipher only the kingdom’s spies could decipher.

He prayed, again and again, that he had misinterpreted it. But no matter how many times he deciphered the letters, the result was the same.

“Why me…? Why does it have to be me? There are plenty of other spies!”

His daze lasted only a moment before Wayne clutched his head and let out a silent scream. He was a doctor. His entire life had been spent saving people. When he was first recruited as a spy, the only reason he obeyed orders without resistance was out of a sense of duty—to protect the other spies.

But killing someone? Wayne couldn’t even bring himself to kill a single insect. And now, not an insect or an animal, but an actual human?

“I can’t do it… I can’t do something like that.”

First, he tore the letter to pieces and stuffed them into his mouth. The rule was to destroy all evidence immediately after reading. Even in his distraught state, he found it almost ridiculous how thoroughly he followed protocol—but at least watching the words disappear before his eyes made him feel slightly more alive.

Mechanically chewing, Wayne tried to steady his mind. Thankfully, the mindless motion of grinding the paper like cud had some effect. By the time he swallowed the last shred, the trembling in his hands had subsided somewhat.

With the initial terror fading, rationality slowly returned. Wayne carefully considered the order he had been given.

Why would the kingdom give such a command specifically to me?

Objectively speaking, he was far from being a good spy. He was cowardly and weak. His only strengths were quick perception and a sharp mind—neither of which were particularly useful for killing someone. That was why, unlike other spies who gathered intelligence, he was used solely as a liaison.

Moreover, Helion was someone who had survived war. Even the kingdom’s most elite warriors had failed to capture him. There was no way Wayne could possibly kill him.

The kingdom wasn’t foolish enough to be unaware of that. Yet they had deliberately singled him out for this order—there had to be a reason.

Surely… they don’t mean to discard me as a pawn?

Wayne shuddered violently at the sudden thought. No. The kingdom couldn’t possibly think of something so terrifying. Ahyul was a cruel and fearsome ruler, but he was warm to his people. Those who resisted were killed, but those who obeyed were spared. To those who submitted to his control, he showed boundless affection.

Even the hostages were proof of this. As long as a tribe offered one of their own as a token of submission, the rest were granted limited freedom. And it wasn’t as if the hostage was merely a sacrificial lamb—they were brought into the palace, where they received lavish treatment nearly equal to Ahyul’s own.

“Right. The king wouldn’t have chosen me for that reason. He must be expecting me to use poison. As a doctor, I’m the most knowledgeable about toxic herbs.”

Wayne quickly finished rationalizing it to himself. Seen this way, it made sense that they had chosen him—a herbivore, not a predator—for this task.

Still, one thing remained unclear.

“But is this really alright? If the Crown Prince dies, another war will break out.”

Wayne still remembered the horrors of the last war with vivid clarity.

He had been barely thirteen at the time. An imperial delegation had arrived in the kingdom.

The streets had been festive, brightly lit even at night, as if it were daytime.

But on the very first night, disaster struck. First Prince Helion, who had accompanied the delegation, was attacked by an assassin. The empire claimed the assassin had been sent by the kingdom.

How could they make such an absurd assumption?!