After a few moments, Daneel"s eyes were finally able to focus again.
Well, now…he had the answer to the most glaring question, and it cleared a lot of things up and presented a way in which the timeline might make sense, even though quite a few things still had to be found out.
Seers had always been strategic resources, especially in the time of the Empire when they had apparently even been fought over by different forces.
Their only problem was that they weren"t very reliable, but even then, having one meant that a warning which might otherwise never have reached in sufficient time would be obtained.
It was a fact that visions of seers always came true, but they could frequently be misleading, often coming to reality in completely unexpected ways.
Here, though, Daneel could imagine a scenario where Xuan was free, and able to warn them of what was coming for them.
So many would have been saved. Angaria would still be whole. And the Church…might even have been lead into a trap, resulting in an incredible victory that could have changed the outcome of the entire war.
Alas, that had not come to be, and the most ironic thing was actually that it might be because of the jealousy of the woman in front of them.
At once, the gaze with which Daneel was seeing Molan turned into one filled with anger, and if it was up to him, he would have her quartered right now, right here, after extracting her consciousness and getting all the information he needed from it.
Her statement had already made everything clear: she had been jealous of the affection that Xuan had shown him, and she had fallen prey to the sweet promise that must have been delivered at just the right time in order to blur her boundaries of right and wrong and lead her to do something that had resulted in such death and destruction.
It was often said that wars could begin due to the littlest of things which might seem so unimportant but would transform into the sparks that set off the Heaven-reaching flames of destruction, and this was a prime example of the same.
"Speak! What did you do?! Give us all the details!"
In a sharp voice, Daneel barked out this order, before asking the Head to bind Molan.
Invisible ropes securely tied up the woman who had just snapped her head up due to Daneel"s question, and as if she knew that it was futile, she didn"t even resist.
A chair was conjured, and as she sat on rigidly, she continued to stare at Xuan while still mouthing apology after apology.
"Answer the King."
The Head"s deep and dignified voice echoed in the room, and once again, Daneel was exposed to the unique and supremely open-ended power of the Head"s Path. Instead of targeting one"s mind, the man directly influenced the World, and in this case, Daneel saw subtle changes taking place in Molan which allowed her mind to sharpen so that it could temporarily recover from the damage of the feelings that were attacking it.
It was almost like giving a drug to someone to make them speak, and sure enough, Molan finally answered.
"I was approached by a Hero who kept their ident.i.ty secret. They…told me that they had found out about my attempts, and as someone who had experienced something similar, they wanted to help. At that time, I was in the process of discrediting you using fake news that I would pa.s.s to Xuan while she was in isolation training. She never believed me, and continued to say that my sources were false. Each failure pushed me to try harder, and by then, I was desperate. I…agreed, because I told myself that it was for her own good. I swear I didn"t know that she would be harmed! I was only told that she would be taken to a special place where she would be persuaded, and I was told to mask her absence from anyone who asked. I never questioned them as they seemed genuine. When they talked to me, I felt the same emotions- that person had gone through something similar. My heart said it was the right thing to do, and I did it. She was supposed to be mine! We grew up together, we did everything together! We were supposed to be together, forever! I was supposed to be the most importa-"
"Continue your answer."
With a wave from Daneel"s hand, the Head"s Voice returned, and with a shudder and a pause, Molan spoke in a halting tone.
"One day, she said she saw something horrible, and that she should tell everyone right away. In isolation, she was cut off from everyone, including the Matriarch. That was when I suddenly got the message that I should bring her to a certain place. I was suspicious of the timing, but they said that it was then or never, and tempted me with everything I had always dreamed. I relented- I took her there, telling her that that was where the Matriarch was, and that"s…the last thing I heard from either of them. I continued to hope, and cover up her absence, but the next thing I knew was her testifying against you. Then, I was told that she had taken protection in the Order from you. It was so perfect! I was going to have my Xuan back! But then…that war happened. And I knew that it had all gone wrong, and that their intentions were never right in the first place- so, it was possible that I had done something to be punished for. I ran away, as I needed to stay alive for Xuan. For us to be back together. But now…"
The regretful gaze was back, and with the tears falling to the floor, Molan continued to stare at Xuan and mumble incoherently.
With everything out in the open, the first decision that Daneel took was to move away from the room.
He didn"t trust himself to stop from giving the order to have her killed in the most painful way possible. In fact, he had even been close to telling himself that he should do it, but in the end, he had managed to shut it down.
This was because he knew that in this case, it was Xuan"s decision. She was the one who had had to go through all that because of her closest friend. She was the one who had been betrayed. And so, she would be the one to decide Molan"s fate.
But still, right before leaving, Daneel did get one colorful idea that was the main reason behind him being able to control himself.
He knew that the regret that she was feeling and showing was genuine, and not an act, so he had given a simple order to the system.
"Set up a display trinket to show all the images of the torture that Xuan went through, in vivid detail. Keep replaying these in front of her- and make sure that she has no option but to keep watching. Also…make sure that she has no way to kill herself."
The system had done it with the help of the head, and hence, the last thing that Daneel heard before leaving was a very long, very loud and very satisfying scream of pain.
In a spot above the clouds, the Head and Daneel reconvened, and Daneel recounted what he had been told by the system before, about the vision.
For a second, the Head could only stare with bemus.e.m.e.nt, but after that, he clapped his hands and said, "It makes perfect sense, now! The same person the Overseer used was also in the employ of the Church!"
Daneel nodded, as the Head had hit on the same conclusion as him.
"Any force would target the Seers of a place they were going to invade, if possible, so the Church must already have had their eyes on Xuan. They found Molan- a perfect target to exploit, and they must have been waiting for the right time to take action. Somehow, they found out that Xuan had had a vision, or it was them being safe- if its the latter, they really won the lottery. After abducting Xuan, they started torturing her, and the initial torture must just have been to break into her consciousness and remove the signs of the vision. But they underestimated her- she resisted, and then, the Overseer came along, who needed someone to testify against me. Xuan was the perfect target. At this stage, it was either a coincidence that the same person who was employed by the Church was also given the task by the Overseer, or…"
"That the Overseer and the Church were working together, all along, in some form."
This startling possibility was uttered by the Head, who looked like someone who had just said something that they couldn"t believe, but which appeared to be true.
Daneel had the same expression of disbelief on his face, as he, too, had reached the same thing.
But how could it be possible?
Setting this aside, though, the more they thought about it, the more it made sense.
"Even if the Overseer- or, the ent.i.ty, as you"re the Overseer, now- had succeeded in his plan to take over the continent, what next? The Church would still be a foe. And despite his ident.i.ty as someone from the Mainland, it"s not possible that he would have been able to whip up magical defensive or offensive methods to win the War. In that case, what would anyone do?"
"Ally with the enemy. Even the timing was all circ.u.mspect- at first, it looked as if the Church had been waiting, biding their time, for the perfect opportunity. They struck when all the glorious Heroes of our land were incapacitated. But what if…knowing it would happen, they had planned it to arrive at that time, from the beginning?"
Together, the two of them gave the perfect a.n.a.lysis, but right away, Daneel realized something.
"How does it matter, now?"
The Head looked at Daneel in surprise, saying, "It has a lot of implications, King! This-"
The Head stopped what he was saying, mid-sentence, as he saw the King"s eyes turn completely red.
Daneel was currently just an apparition, but even then, the Will of someone who had made the World bow to them was truly a spectacle to behold when enraged.
Waves of anger radiated out from him, causing the Head to move back, and seeing this, with effort, Daneel put it all back in.
"All that matters…is revenge. The one who did this should pay. Both for allying with the Church, and for what they did to her. And as for who it is…"
"Mrs. Quenry."
Seeing the Head finish his sentence, Daneel was honestly surprised.
He had shortlisted her by checking those who had access to the teachings of the Empress of Torture, and then matching that list with those proficient in the consciousness. She had stood out, but even then, he had expected that he might have to put in the effort to verify it.
Seeing his curious gaze, the Head sighed and said, "A heart usually sees true- when that girl talked about speaking with someone who had gone through something similar, I was reminded of Mrs. Quenry, whose story is somewhat similar. She was also a close confidant of the ent.i.ty, and was entrusted with the most sensitive tasks. Also…she was one of those vocal about going over to the Church. That last part seemed like bravado, as everyone knew that she was already tightly bound by oathshackles, but apparently…it was her having fun. King, think about your approach. She is someone who has a lot of support in the Heroes- maybe it is for the best if we follow normal procedures, and give her a chance to surrender. This way, it will seem fair, so it seems like the safest path ahead."
The answer was given by the King in an icy tone.
"Head, sometimes, you listen to your head, and sometimes, you listen to your heart. This time, it"s the latter. F*ck the safe path. Today, Angarians will wake up to the sounds of a Hero begging for mercy, and not finding any. Let us depart- our prey awaits."