Agur Suhi took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled. He still didn’t know if he was doing the right thing or if it wouldn’t be better to keep silent. But in the end, there was no real way to know. He could only go with what he believed to be the best path forward and hope that he wasn’t wrong.
Anyway, Shaun Reng was already dead. While he did not want to betray his friend and mar his image after his death, this could not impact his life anymore. On the other hand, whether it was the king or this zhireng Susha, the matter was different with them. If the truth wasn’t revealed, either of them might lose their life. He couldn’t let that happen.
While he might not care too much about Susha Unhuor, this man didn’t deserve to die either, and he naturally wouldn’t want for anything to happen to Jusha Lale. He was their king, the hope of Alo, and he had also seen him grow from a child into an adult. To say that he didn’t feel like he should take care of him a bit would be a lie.
"You asked me if I believe that Reng would have ever summoned a demon. In general, I would say no. What I said about him before still holds true: He was a good man. He was committed to his family, his friends, his work. There was nothing about him that isn’t praiseworthy."
Susha Unhuor nodded. "And yet, you believe that he is the one who summoned this demon."
Agur Suhi smiled faintly and shook his head. "No. No, I don’t believe it. I don’t want to believe it. But if you are asking me whether there was a reason for him to summon a demon, then I am afraid that he might have had one. Correct me if I am wrong but demons are summoned if there is a strong desire that cannot be fulfilled without some external help. And often, this desire is immoral, evil. It is something that no human, no good person, would ever be willing to lend you a helping hand to achieve."
Susha Unhuor nodded. "That is precisely right. The worse the wish is, the more likely it is that a demon can be summoned. But a good person usually wouldn’t have that type of wish. Since you feel that your friend was an upright person, why would you believe that he had such a desire?"
Agur Suhi sighed. "If it was some years ago, I would not have believed this either. But unfortunately, I found out about some things that I would rather not have gotten to know." He clasped his hand behind his back and then strolled deeper into the courtyard, standing still in the middle and looking up at the small patch of sky above them. "Reng and I grew up together. We were born just one week apart from each other and always were close. There was nothing that we could talk about. Everything that we ever experienced was always done together. No matter what happened, we always had each other’s back. I thought that I knew everything about him just like he knew everything about me.
"When I met my wife, he was the first one I told. On the day our children were born, we were the first ones to congratulate each other. There was nothing ever done that we did not know about. Save for one thing." He turned around, his expression unprecedentedly serious.
Susha Unhuor slowly walked over, stopping beside him, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "What happened?"
"It was a while after the late king’s death. Originally, Reng had a very good relationship with this brother-in-law of his. He had always gotten along well with his sister as well and there was never a problem with his nephew either."
Susha Unhuor slightly furrowed his brows. That sounded as if that was something of the past. Could it be that Shaun Reng’s thoughts had changed? Did the king’s death make him think of that family differently? Maybe that was what fueled his desire? To see that maybe there was a chance to actually get the throne? Was it that when it wasn’t in reach, he would never even think about something but when tempted once, he would also lose his mind over it? Considering what Jusha Lale had told him about how people had doubted his ability to lead the country, it would be possible. There would have been a chance for Shaun Reng to take over.
Agur Suhi said nothing of like though. Instead, he gave yet another sigh. "Everybody was worried at that time. The king’s son was very young, he had barely turned sixteen years old. That … is not an age at which one should be burdened by something like a kingdom’s well-being. Not only did he lose his father, but he was also suddenly the king of a country. There were some people that said that maybe it would be better for somebody else to take over.
"I can’t deny that at that time, I actually told Reng that maybe it would be good if he supported his nephew for some time from behind the scenes. Not to take his role from him but to make some decisions while his nephew was still too young. Yes, I did not believe in the dan. Now, after seeing how well he has done in the past eight years, I’m ashamed to admit this. I should have trusted him."
Susha Unhuor’s expression became even more confused. "You’re saying that you suggested it but it doesn’t sound as if he accepted the suggestion. He was of a different opinion?"
This didn’t make sense. If he wanted to become king, then why not take the chance eight years ago when everybody had been clamoring for the king to be somebody else anyway? It would’ve been so easy. He could have said that he was just trying to guide the king and then slowly take over from behind the scenes, maybe even make his nephew give up on that role himself by showing him that he would not be able to do it.
It would’ve been too easy. If he really wanted it, then he had had the perfect opportunity to achieve that desire on his own. But he hadn’t done it. So why now? It made no sense at all.
Agur Suhi turned toward him and then smiled faintly. "I can imagine what is going through your head. Back then, everybody else thought the same. They couldn’t understand. Was he really a man who had no ambition for himself? Did he not want to be king? But Reng really was such a person. He was content with being in the position he had. He never attempted to take the throne from the young dan.
"In fact, Reng and the dan grew closer at that time. He often went there to visit him, to make sure that he wouldn’t feel lonely, or be burdened too much by his new role. He took me with him several times and I witnessed not only once just how serious he was with not interfering with what his nephew did.
"When the young dan would ask him a question, Reng would only smile and then reflect it back. He’d ask him what his opinion was, why he wanted to decide like that and then, when he had that answer, he would probe further to find out what he thought was keeping him from doing so. Then, he would ask him what he thought the solutions could be and redirected him to ask the right people for help to make it work the way he wanted it to.
"Reng never told him what to do. He didn’t even suggest solutions himself. He always let him find the path on his own. In a sense, he guided him through the process but he never sneakily tried to take the power from him. Reng really was such a person."
Susha Unhuor showed a complicated expression. If all of this was true, — and he did believe that it was since they were past the point of having to pretend — then he really couldn’t understand how things had finally ended up like this. "He does sound like a good person."
"He was a good person. That is why I’m telling you this. I … I know it is probably pointless. After I’m done, you will think he was horrible. You will want to condemn him. But I don’t want him to be remembered as such by even a single person. He was my best friend after all. So at the very least, I went to tell you about his good sides.
"If you go to ask anyone else, they would all verify what I just told you. When people approached him, he once denounced the possibility of him acting as a regent instead of the young dan in front of everyone. Those are facts that you can find out from anyone. So it is not just me who thinks so, not just me who has this kind of perspective on him. He was a good man."
"But still, he had one desire that changes everything." Susha Unhuor smiled faintly when he said so, trying to steer Agur Suhi in the right direction to finally tell him what was going on. While just a few hours would not change the strength of the demon, he still did not want to wait too long. After all, Jusha Lale was still waiting outside. He did not want him to wait until it was dark. At that time, it would be more dangerous out there. If there was just one guard at his side at that time, it wouldn’t be right.
This time, Agur Suhi seemed prepared to go along with it. He nodded, the smile on his lips fading away and his gaze becoming despondent. "Yes, there was one desire that is able to change people’s perspective of him completely."
Once again, he looked up to the sky, slightly squinting at the small spot of bright blue that was slowly turning darker. "When I say that we shared everything, then that is not a lie. Whether it was our work or our private lives, they were completely entwined.
"Usually, we would both stay in the capital city, supporting the dan from there.
But there was one time when we needed to leave and travel to one of the regions at the edge of the kingdom. A disaster had struck there not too long ago and the dan deemed it best for us to go and take care of it personally to make sure that the people got what they needed and that nobody could take advantage. So naturally, we went.
"We were away for far too long. The region was difficult to reach because the paths leading there had been affected by the flood, bridges were destroyed and buildings at the roadside had collapsed. We helped to fix whatever we could on the way but we still had to go to the heart of the region struck by the disaster.
"When we finally reached there, the work was only just starting. We spent several months on it to make sure that the biggest issues had been dealt with and everything was on its way to returning to normal or at least to a point where the people living there were able to deal with the remaining issues on their own. Only then did we pack up and went home."
He sighed when he thought back to that time, his expression a little wistful. "Back then, we had been away from home for so long, separated from our wives and children, only with this friend at our side. We were burdened by the responsibility on our shoulders and worked tirelessly every day to make sure that things would return to normal for the people there.
"All of that had been … hard work. Not just physically but also mentally. Seeing the suffering of the people is never easy. Having to see that and often not being able to help … it certainly wasn’t easy on us. By the time we were on our way home, we were both exhausted. We were looking for a chance to just relax, to … decompress before we reached the capital city again. Well, we had been gone and alone for a long time. As a man that has traveled a great deal, zhireng Susha can certainly share that sentiment."
Susha Unhuor gave a noncommittal smile at that. While he understood how it was to be sexually frustrated, he had long stopped to act on that in the manner Minister Agur was probably suggesting. This did make him wonder how this was supposed to be related to the summoning of the demon. What could’ve happened when those two were 'relaxing' that actually made Shaun Reng form a desire so strong that he would do something like this? There was still no clue to be had so he could only wait for Agur Suhi to resume his tale.
"That night, instead of going to one of the guesthouses, we went to frequent a brothel. They served us food and quite a lot of liquor, and there were some lovely ladies to accompany us." There was a smile on his lips when he thought back to that, insinuating just how much the two of them had had to enjoy themselves that night.
Susha Unhuor still stood to the side cluelessly, not quite sure when they would finally get to the part where Shaun Reng finally committed some kind of sin. Obviously, the man in front of him did not believe that lying with another woman when his wife was probably worried sick about him back in the capital city was that kind of thing. Otherwise, his expression would look different.
Well, this was not for him to judge no matter what his own thoughts were. Thus, he kept quiet and just prompted the minister to continue. "What happened then?"
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